why don't we have wizardry 1-5 on GOG? does anyone know?

I think they were never ported to PCs, only available on consoles, C64, Japanese PC-98 or so.

I wonder if there is some technical issue that makes it harder to release them on e.g. DOSBox?

https://www.mobygames.com/game-group/wizardry-games/offset,75/so,1d/

For PC, that lists the first five Wizardry games as "PC booter" instead of "DOS", which I presume means the game were run directly from a floppy disk on early IBM PCs.

Then there is this, which I actually might even own (I recall seeing it on a gaming store a long time ago, and I _think_ I bought it... EDIT: I am pretty sure I did, playing Wizardry Gold from it, I didn't play the earlier games):

https://www.mobygames.com/game/ultimate-wizardry-archives
https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Wizardry-Archives-pc/dp/B00001QEP9

which has a comment And considering its age, apparently that Archive retail release was optimized for Windows 9x, not sure if it runs at all in Windows XP or modern 64bit Windows versions.

Is someone happily running some "abandonware" version of the first five games on e.g. DOSBox? From my childhood I recall those early Wizardry games more like Apple IIc and Commodore 64 games, rather than MS-DOS games, so not sure if running them on some Apple IIc and C=64 emulator instead was preferable anyway... I think they were for IBM PC, but mostly known for their Apple IIc or Commodore 64 versions I think.

Maybe you are thinking of some early Japanese spin-offs or ports of those early Wizardry games? Maybe some Wizardry expert knows better, but to me there seemed to be two separate branches of Wizardry games, those made and released in the US and those in Japan?

Then again reading the Mobygames page for Wizardry games suggests that the first two games were apparently made by some US-branch of a Japanese gaming company, while starting from Wizardry 3 they were published by Sir-Tech...

They were released for PC. There's both the IBM PC versions (with a DOS version in the Wizardry Archives), and Japan-only ports of Llylgamyn Saga and New Age of Llylgamyn.

Unfortunately, these versions aren't really ideal, unless you really want to play Wizardry 4 (though Llylgamyn Saga isn't bad for 1-3). Specifically:
* In the DOS games, there is a bug that makes attributes far more likely to decrease than they should be. This makes it impractical to gain access to advanced classes by leveling, and to give you an idea of how bad this issue is, I've heard of young characters dying of old age. (This doesn't affect Wizardry 4, since you don't level up the same way.)
* In New Age of Llylgamyn, at least in the PSX version (the only one I've tried), BACORTU is non-functional, making the strategy less interesting (in the SNES version, it's both a useful spell and one that enemies can effectively use against you, and there is a counter to it). (This only affects Wizardry 5, as that spell isn't in either Wizardry 4 (New Age of Llylgamyn has both Classic and Arrange versions).)
* If New Age of Llylgamyn were to release here, they would need to either translate Wizardry 4 Arrange (which is the preferable solution) or exclude it, as most of the game's text is in Japanese.

(Also, I hear there's major legal issues with these games that have prevented their release in recent years.)

I've always wondered that myself. A real shame Wizardry V is not available here... such a masterpiece!

It wouldn't make much sense in selling text games that are almost 40 years old, the marked simply isn't there to warrant much time and money on testing, packaging and support. Only collectors and really hardcore fans are interested in these games, and even fewer would spend money on them. The real money lies in the original package with the disks (again, for collectors). That's my thought on it at least.

No one is thinking less of you if you went to wizardryarchives or archive.org to pick up a copy (for Apple, C64, NES or DosBox emulator). You can even play them in a browser on some sites, but given the nature of these games, time you'd need to spend, and inability to save you might as well just download it.

Like Captain Comic (which also uses the common .com,), it shouldn't be difficult running them in DosBox. I haven't tested Wiz1-5 personally, but others have played them successfully in DOSBox 0.73 and on early Windows.

It's actually interesting, technically, how some games communicated directly to the hardware via interrupts without going through an OS. See also Flopper for those games with disk version (PC Booter):
http://www.oldskool.org/pc/flopper/

Wizardry 1 on PC:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLhd6c_pILM

Wizardry 1 on NES:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QrRUsYm71s

There's more than just 2. Aside from the Sir-Tech Wizardry games (the ones that most non-Japanese Wizardry fans are familiar with), there's many different Japanese branches, which have their own quirks (the fact that they're made by different developers is a major factor here):
* Wizardry Gaiden, which seems to be the most mechanically faithful branch. The internal mechanics are pretty similar to Wizardry 5, though in WG3 they started to add some races and classes from later games in the series. (WG4 is rather interesting, as it has a strong focus on NPC interaction, enough that the game is as much of a WRPG as Wizardry 5 (despite being Japanese developed), and puzzles have multiple solutions, including brute force, charm (in at least one case), and just picking the lock instead of solving the puzzle.)
* Wizardry Empire. The GBC entries are not the same as the PlayStation ones here. You see some original classes in these games. The developers went on to make the Elminage series (including Elminage Gothic, available here on GOG).
* Busin. Two games, the first of which got released in the US (Wizardry: Tales of the Forsaken Land), but the second one is JP only.
* Labyrinth of Lost Souls (first game is on GOG, but the second is still JP-only).

And some others. Note the huge mechanical differences between these branches. Personally I'm more interested in Wizardry 4, as that game is far more unique; I haven't really seen any game like that.

(Before anyone mentions Paper Sorcerer, note that said game may have a similar story concept, but the gameplay is not similar.)

I admit they are unique, but the text only games doesn't appeal much to me. I really wish they would get a remastered version, if only to the simple graphics in ES:Arena... or even just Eye of the Beholder.

You are wrong lots of people would buy it

My best guess would be messy divided ownership rights. Just a month ago, Japanese company Drecom purchased the Wizardry trademark and copyright of the series, as well as specific rights to Wizardry 6, 7, Gold and 8. This implies that the specific rights to Wizardry 1-5 belong to someone else.

Honestly, I think that text based games look better than TES: Arena and Daggerfall.

I bought The Ultimate Wizardry Archives and still have it. Would definitely buy it again, if it were released here.

From a purely geometric and minimalist perspective I can understand that.

thank you all guys for explaining me
2 years ago i played wizardry 1-3 so i just asked why they aren't in here because i wanted to play them again
since there's no version on GOG i will play them on dosbox as abandoware i know these are old games
but why don't sell the 5 in a pack like might and magic
wizardry 1-5 pack for 3.99 or 4.99
i would buy that

I didn't write that no one would buy it or even insinuated it. But the fact is, relatively few are interested in these games.

I just think these text-games should be viewed as an important part of our gaming history, and played for free. Like public libraries and many museums and documentaries are free. Those that made these games are long gone anyway...