Wizardry The Wizardry Series Thread

[Valky]

How much of the game do I have left after Arnika in W8? I just got to the town and found a shop and new NPC.

 

[Jason Liang]

So I'm about to pick up Wizardry 6, but having never played a Wizardry game (or any other 90s rpg for that matter), I don't know what to expect.

Does it require you to powergame or grind or savescum or some combination of those to beat the game on normal? Is it very luck based?

Reading other wiz6 threads left me with an impression that if I don't class switch I'll have to grind and reload aplenty to stay afloat. On the other hand you have to regain levels lost to reclassing. Does class switching make it less or more tedious?

I'm especially concerned with skullduggery, not sure if I can omit a thief from the party without having to resort to the reload grind technique that seems to be mentioned a lot.

Last but not least, why is the char building system so well regarded if, apparently, the best build is having everybody become some monstrosity of a fighter/mage/rogue? Is it just because it's complex?

You are confusing Wiz 6 and Wiz 7.

The "best" build is subjective. If you mean "best" by most powerful, of course it's best if everyone can cast every spell, hide and use all of the rarest weapons found in the game. If you mean "best" by efficiently reaching the end of the game with the least grind, then it is something else.

 

[Average Manatee]

Does it require you to powergame or grind or savescum or some combination of those to beat the game on normal? Is it very luck based?

At level 1 you might need to savescum a little bit, because bad things can happen and its not worth the difficulty trying to recover from half your party dying to a bad random encounter. Past that the game plays well when played straight. It doesn't require powergaming unless your definition of powergaming is the post-2000 "can't be a complete retard who makes a 6-mage melee group" mindset.

Reading other wiz6 threads left me with an impression that if I don't class switch I'll have to grind and reload aplenty to stay afloat. On the other hand you have to regain levels lost to reclassing. Does class switching make it less or more tedious?

I'm especially concerned with skullduggery, not sure if I can omit a thief from the party without having to resort to the reload grind technique that seems to be mentioned a lot.

Regaining levels lost from reclassing is very quick. Experience uses an exponential-like system, if you're in an area designed for level 10 characters then sending a character back to level 1 means they'll be at level 4 or something after a single fight and quickly be back at something reasonable. If anything the people who need to grind and reload are the class switchers, since levelup stat growth is random you have to savescum those if you want to class switch multiple times. One class switch is a good idea and starting with the necessary stats to do it avoids savescumming, but that's more than enough.

Bards get Skullduggery, and starting with a bard in the party is one the very few things that comes highly recommended (one of their starting items is very useful). Once you have Skullduggery as a skill it will stay around even if you class change and you can always put points into it at level up. It doesn't take much points to quickly shift the minigame in your favor and from there it levels up on its own well.

Last but not least, why is the char building system so well regarded if, apparently, the best build is having everybody become some monstrosity of a fighter/mage/rogue? Is it just because it's complex?

Ehh, it is? I think Wiz 6/7's character system is one of the worst I've seen due to all the randomness of stats, how easily exploitable certain things are, and stupid bugs like carrying weight being locked on character creation forcing anyone not wanting to gimp themselves to start with certain stats. Maybe you meant Wizardry 8's character system?

 

[octavius]

stupid bugs like carrying weight being locked on character creation forcing anyone not wanting to gimp themselves to start with certain stats.

That's only in 6, and can be fixed with a small, fan made patch.

 

[Average Manatee]

stupid bugs like carrying weight being locked on character creation forcing anyone not wanting to gimp themselves to start with certain stats.

That's only in 6, and can be fixed with a small, fan made patch.

Both true, but its a good example of how the system was haphazardly designed and clearly needed some more testing and thought put into it. Wiz 8 is unbalanced and all but at least it doesn't encourage you to do the exact opposite of what makes sense in order to become more powerful. Like casters picking a race with strong physical stats because it improves the overall minimum stat ranges when rolling, or the absolute silliness that is the to-hit improvement stuff.

Wiz 7 obviously fixed some things but there's still nothing particularly "good" about the system unless you are a powergamer looking for a game that lets you create 6 characters who are masters of everything.

 

[Whisper]

I'm especially concerned with skullduggery, not sure if I can omit a thief from the party without having to resort to the reload grind technique that seems to be mentioned a lot.

Thief and Skullduggery are absolutely not needed in W6 and W7. I am not sure why people insist you have to have someone with Skullduggery in party.
All your needs are covered with Knock-knock spell, though you will want to cast it at lvl 3+, where it is reliable.

Last but not least, why is the char building system so well regarded if, apparently, the best build is having everybody become some monstrosity of a fighter/mage/rogue? Is it just because it's complex?

You are fine with no class-changing for melee for both W6 and W7.

but i recommend to do 1-2 class changing for mage.
In W6 ff you dont want to savescum, just make mage->bard->mage (at lvl 6 each change).

 

[Whisper]

Finished W6.

People say it is easy game - seems they play it on Normal. On expert difficulty some fights are quite brutal. Like fight with twisted fairy, first of them casts AOE hold on your party and it lands on 5 people. It goes first, no matter you try. And its only 1, there are 8+8=16 of them Just example of one of fights.


Magic screen does work? I saw message about reduced effect for word of death (instant AOE kill) but character it proteced just died. If it reduces damage it is by 5-10% max. It should be noticable because i play all Fairies who also have highest and best resists of all races.

Thing debuffs are working very good, you almost never resist. Exception being Psionic spells.
But resist silence or blind? No way. Magic screen doesnt help at all vs them.

Also psionics AoE psi attack also almost always work as insanity debuff. Also for some reason your fighters do 2x (3-4x?) more damage on insane enemies same as on blinded ones.
It was only saver because fights with 9+8+7+8+9 knights with 120+ hp each can go for long. Especially since Target all enemies spells simply dont work (nuclear blast etc. works only on castle rats/bats).

 

[Whisper]

Air pocket + Magic screen = still zombies make character Nausated with 100% chance.

W6 combat feels like W8 but wihout defence buffs actually working. Also you cant put defence buffs at every fight in W6, unlike W8 where you never travelled without them. Reason being W8 buffs being longer, 1 sleep regened all mana in W8, less interrupts in W8. Completely different feel of combat.


So fights with several groups of 7-9 enemies each of whom can do 15-20+ aoe dmg with fireball (despite magic resist + fire shield up) is fun.

 

[ionic atomic]

Started playing with a party line-up of a Dwarven Valk, Mook Samurai, Elf Monk, Felpurr Bard, Rawulf Priest and a Faerie Mage. The only problem with the party I've had so far is the monk's squishiness.

I have no idea what is a good class to switch my Farie into. Samurai use the same spellbook, but Faerie Samurai is a bad idea, no?

Also draw distance

 

[k0syak]

Started playing with a party line-up of a Dwarven Valk, Mook Samurai, Elf Monk, Felpurr Bard, Rawulf Priest and a Faerie Mage. The only problem with the party I've had so far is the monk's squishiness.

I have no idea what is a good class to switch my Farie into. Samurai use the same spellbook, but Faerie Samurai is a bad idea, no?

Also draw distance

I'm assuming you are talking about Wiz8 (cause draw distance).
Mook samurai is a personal favorite, but it's not a traditional samurai build - you don't need dual wielding since Giant's Swords are 2H, so this leaves you with more skill points (kinda same principle as the valkyrie, but must also take crits). Stamina is a serious consideration, multi-hits with Giant's Sword will potentially drain you in a single round, so if the samurai is male, maybe there's still time to reconsider and make a 5 female 1 male party.
Also, I'm not a racist, but other than mooks for the above-mentioned sword and fairie ninjas, take only humans and hobbits

 

[TigerKnee]

On the other hand - why would you reclass in Wiz 8?

Mage -> Bishop is nice though. You give up 1 level of spellcasting on the non-Mage spellbook, but the starting level isn't as painful as starting as a Bishop 1.

 

[Wayward Son]

Is there anywhere that I can get the pre-Bane Wizardries legally, but not physical copy as I do not have a floppy drive, nor the want to wait a week for it to be shipped?

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

Could you guyz recommend good party for Wiz5:HotM?

I've started this few time but still dunno if my team is ok... playing PSX port.

 

[octavius]

Fighter (Lord)
Samurai
Thief
Bishop
Priest
Mage

Swap the Bishop for a Lord if you don't mind not being able to ID items in the field.

 

[oddech_wymarlych_swiatow]

My party is more of psychical hitters... With Ninja so couldn't team up with Lord.

This game has pretty slow levelling up, so slow that I consider solo run with pre-made Ninja or Lord, possible?

 

[Jason Liang]

I'd front rank a cleric before front ranking a thief... and a bishop is a lousy character. You would max both spell schools faster via class change than raising a bishop.

Everyone needs to stop trying to solo the Wizardry games. It's suicide.

Ninjas fwiw are ridiculously overrated, and Lords don't become holy tanks until you get them Armor of Lords and Cusinarts.

You can start with any class except Lord and Ninja (and you can get a Lord with a ridiculous bonus roll). If you want a Lord but don't want to try rolling one, take an extra mage and class change him to Lord once he maxes out his mage spellbook. Also don't make him Human, since getting reset to 5 piety is crap.

2 samurai
1 priest
2 mage
1 thief

 

[octavius]

Yes, the Bishop is lousy and another warrior is better, but unfortunately he's the only one who can ID items in the field, which is rather useful.
IIRC the Thief can occupy third slot in the front due to his ability to Hide.

 

[Fenix]

Hello guys, I decided to play Wizardry 8, I never played any Wiz-games before, not even any M&M games.
So, what should I expect?

Lol

Is it right that the only max avielable resolution is 800x600 16 bit?

 

[TripJack]

Is it right that the only max avielable resolution is 800x600 16 bit?

no http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Wizardry_8#Widescreen_resolution

enjoy

 

[Fenix]

Virustotal said this https://www.virustotal.com/ru/file/...a1b31b3b2913684577d5d772/analysis/1489783504/

Anyway, resolution doesn't matter.

Can someone help me with some tips?
I want to do singleton, picked Fearie-Ninja, later planining to switch to Bishop, he can learn all 4 magic books, but slowly, also I read that he can focus on two.
Looks lke most useful support spells are in Alchemic and Psionic books, but I found also quite few useful in Priest and Mage.

So, can someone help with it?
Also tips for Ninja, I can't beat second group of crabs lol, difficulty - Expert. (lol)

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

Metagaming much ? How can anyone play a game for the first time this way is beyond me. Crabs seem to agree.

 

[Fenix]

Not much, not at all.
I spent today half a day on reading game manual.

 

[Jason Liang]

The Wizardry games are not fucking retarded rtwp Baldur's Gate games that you can solo.

 

[Fenix]

OK, just tell me which weapon class I should focus on my Ninja?
Spears, Polearms, maces, daggers or swords?

 

[TigerKnee]

Wand & Staff for Cane of Corpus, I guess.

But it's gonna be a painful journey.