One of my favorite RPGs, and one of the most unique RPGs that exists, even if it may be unconventional, is Wizardry 4, and I am wondering if there are any games that could be considered similar to it.

Basically, I am looking for an RPG with characteristics like the following:
* You summon monsters to help you in battle, and they persist between encounters. (In other words, these aren't just temporary summons that wear off; rather, they last until they die, run away (if that can happen), or you summon new ones.)
* You play on the enemy side of an asymmetric battle system. This may mean that your monsters are grouped into different groups, and group-target spells used by the opponents hit only one of these groups. (Combat does need to be turn based, however.)
* The monsters you summon are not controlled by the player; to compensate, they don't have the same resource restrictions that the main character has. Also, said monsters may have abilities like breath weapons and calling for help that aren't typically given to player characters.
* You do not earn experience from battles. Rather, you level up at specific locations, or alternatively you find your stats rather than improving them through combat. In particular, this limits how powerful you can be at any given point in the game.

So, anyone know of any games that are similar to Wizardry 4?

I haven't played Wizardry 4 but based on what you listed there is some similarity to Shin Megami Tensei series on SNES. You might want to check it (there should be a decent review on hardcoregaming101 for the series). There is monster summoning and all monsters and playable characters have alignments.

I've played Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, and the SMT series really isn't the same.
* Monsters are longer term companions, rather than short-term summons. You can't really switch monsters on a whim.
* You still level up via experience points, rather than by finding specific locations.
* Either the battle system is symmetric, or you're on the player side. Also, you control your monsters, and they have limited MP and don't have options like calling for help.

Have you tried Dragon Wars? It seems that it might be right up your alley.

Yes, I've played and enjoyed Dragon Wars, but it's nothing like Wizardry 4.

(As a side note, I tried Wizardry Summoner for the GBA, but unfortunately the game has one *major* issue; it seems the XP and GP rewards were switched, so you get way too little XP, while meanwhile you end up with tons of money and nothing to do with it.)

Paper Sorcerer?

Played that, and it isn't really what I am looking for. In Paper Sorcerer, you generally stick with the same monsters throughout the game, and they level up as you progress. (In particular, you level up by fighting monsters.) Also, all the monsters you use are player controlled, and the game very much puts you in the usual "player" role in the battle system.

I'm looking for one where individual monsters (or groups of them) are more short-term companions; I want them to last for multiple battles, but I want weaker monsters to become obsolete and be replaced by stronger ones instead of growing as the game progresses. In other words, from a combat perspective the game plays like a fairly standard RPG, but with monsters as party members; Wizardry 4, on the other hand, does not.

Iratus lord of the dead?
*you summon monsters to help you in battle and they persist between encounters
*you play on the enemy side , spells cast by opponents hit only certain positions
*said monsters may have special abilities
*you find your stats rather than improving them through combat

Hello,
Have you tried the geneforge series?
The game has a summoner class and you can customize the monsters you summon. They are part of your party until you unsummon them and they can level up.
Even the other two classes can summon monsters just no where near as well as the summoner.

You have a total ability and you can have multiple weaker summons or you can focus all the ability into one summon.

For instance the fighter class can have a weak summon that works as a ranged DPS focusing all the ability into that.

Looks interesting, but only 18 monsters seems rather limiting. (Wizardry 4 has 100 monster choices to choose from.) I played the first Geneforge (but didn't complete it), and while it is an interesting idea, it doesn't quite match what I am looking for here (particularly since XP is awarded and the combat is tactical, plus the summoned monsters are under your control), but there are also some issues:
* Biggest issue: Your monsters can level up, but the XP they gain decreases as your main character levels up. This discourages experimentation, as a monster summoned later on has no chance of catching up to a reasonable level of power, effectively discouraging the player from experimenting with different monsters. (The XP monsters earn should have been based off their level, not the main character's level.) I note that Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne has the exact same issue.
* There aren't that many different summons available in the game.
* Biggest problem is traps. The obvious way for a Shaper (the class I played) to deal with traps would be to have your minions trip them, but unfortunately way too many traps are set to only trigger for the main character, which is frustrating particularly when Shapers have very low HP compared to the other classes. (Of the other 2, one is tanky and gets enough HP to survive traps, and the other one I believe has a skill specifically to disarm them, so this really feels unfair to Shapers in this regard.) (I note that the HP differences between classes are smaller later in the series, but I don't know how that plays out in practice.)

Good question, and I've always been curious about other games like this as well. As far as I know it was really one of a kind.

Hmm, maybe I should try to actually beat Wizardry 4, heh. :)

Mordor, the depths of Dejnol?

Dark Half:
[url=]https://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/snes/dark_half[/url]

-Half the game you play as the villain.
-As the villain, you recruit monsters to your party. You have no control over them!
-There is no exp. points.

Not at this time (though never say never), but I might eventually look into that. If I make a game, it will probably be a SaGa-like game (possibly even a SaGa-like DRPG, so like Wizardry 1-3 and 5, except that growth is done SaGa-style instead of with XP).