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Wizardry The Wizardry Series Thread

WarHamster

Augur
Patron
Joined
May 9, 2008
Messages
108
If the RNG gods smile upon you, the road to Arnika can be a breeze even with a level 7-8 party. Granted, it has only happened to me once, but that one time I met only two small groups (4 dudes or so) of bandits, in widely separated encounters, from the clearing with the Umpani outpost till Arnika. Which was nothing compared to the usual fare of large groups of bandits walking towards you with another large group in tow, and making it a properly FUUU moment, your retreat being blocked by a large group of those damn mobile plants (iron weeds and acid weeds, or whatever they were called). I'm not surprised that many have rage-quitted when they hit Arnika road and pounded their head against the wall of hard-hitting enemies time and again, not barely finishing the first encounter when another is already upon them.

Using the crevices/niches to position your party so that you can't be flanked is a lesson that you pretty much have to learn if you ever want to get to Arnika in one piece (but it sure doesn't hurt if you're lucky with the encounter rolls). I remember the enemies engaging me normally even if I was in one of the crevices (the instant they get LOS to me) and don't recall ever managing to hide in plain sight of the enemy in them.
 
Last edited:

Baron Dupek

Arcane
Joined
Jul 23, 2013
Messages
1,870,765
Road to Arnika - bapthism in fire for casuals, where wandering plants eat your lunch.
Actually I liked that one because it motivated me to change my team (first one, which sucked) and install some fixes (localized version was borked and unbeatable for some reason).
 

TheGameSquid

Scholar
Joined
Aug 23, 2014
Messages
124
Strange. I never recall having any troubles with the Road to Arnika in my playthroughs (I started Wiz 8 about 4 times without finishing it). I remembered being somewhat annoyed by the large amount of enemies yes, but never really had any real problems.

Speaking of which, I am now ever so close to finishing Wiz 8 for the first time. I'm currently at
the very last part of the game (I'm assuming), Ascension Peak. I've already put the Chaos Morili and the Destinae Dominus in place, but I have to deal with a huge Rapax army on the way to the temple for the Astral Dominae. Fights is kind of annoying with all those instant death spell, elemental summons and the HUGE gap you have to close at the start of the fight (two wasted turns). I'm so close to finishing it by this fight is really draining my last remaining strength. I hate those Rapax fights. Now THOSE are annoying!
 

Major_Blackhart

Codexia Lord Sodom
Patron
Joined
Dec 5, 2002
Messages
18,300
Location
Jersey for now
The Rapax are always fun as big meat shields. They just TAKE punishment.
I was always annoyed that the one Rapax character you get blows. A rapax samurai/berserker would have been soo much more awesome.
 

bloodlover

Arcane
Joined
Sep 5, 2010
Messages
2,039
Road to Arnika is probably hard the very first time. After you learn not to charge into fights like a retard, camp safely and explore the Monastery before going out, it's not that hard. I guess it might be easier with certain party compositions but that should not make such a big difference in the end.
 

Gnidrologist

CONDUCTOR
Joined
Aug 30, 2005
Messages
20,856
Location
is cold
It's just inconvenient for the most time. You want to make way to Arnika after monastery ASAP, so fighting three dozens of monster packs in one session, with sticks and stones just isn't as fun after fourth ot fifth time you start the game. I've beaten my way through there with normal lvl 8 party (which is a standard after exiting mon) and it's definitely doable most times, but why would i? Especially when i run small party of 3 or a solo run. Then it can get quite impossible. Especially for the lack of stamina potions.
 

DraQ

Arcane
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
32,828
Location
Chrząszczyżewoszyce, powiat Łękołody
Rapax are mentally weak and apparently don't wash very often.
:smug:
With the right magic support you can not only cut a path right through them but have them help you with that as well.

What do people prefer with regards to party sizes?
I've usually favored 4, but sometimes I just want the flavor and go for a big six.
As much flavour as I can possibly get.
 

Wizfall

Cipher
Joined
Oct 3, 2012
Messages
816
What do people prefer with regards to party sizes?
I've usually favored 4, but sometimes I just want the flavor and go for a big six.
I have tried solo to party of 2/4/6.
4 is the most enjoyable for me but maybe playing a full 8 and not using as much the environment would be even more enjoyable.
I always play on normal difficulty and don't powertrain.
Speaking of which, I am now ever so close to finishing Wiz 8 for the first time. I'm currently at
the very last part of the game (I'm assuming), Ascension Peak. I've already put the Chaos Morili and the Destinae Dominus in place, but I have to deal with a huge Rapax army on the way to the temple for the Astral Dominae. Fights is kind of annoying with all those instant death spell, elemental summons and the HUGE gap you have to close at the start of the fight (two wasted turns). I'm so close to finishing it by this fight is really draining my last remaining strength. I hate those Rapax fights. Now THOSE are annoying!
You won't have big fight like these anymore so go on.
The final fight was so easy it was disappointment. It really surprised me because otherwise i found the balance very good, don't know what happened there.
 

Zboj Lamignat

Arcane
Joined
Feb 15, 2012
Messages
5,523
The only times I go "fuuuu" on the Arnika road is when a bunch of wild Crimson Poppies appears. Other than that just stick your ass to the wall and fire away, nothing that difficult.

I always play with 6 characters, party building is just too much fun in this game. Also, don't solo chars or two-chars teams suffer from initiative penalties caused by overencumbrance all the time?
 

Zetor

Arcane
Joined
Jan 9, 2003
Messages
1,706
Location
Budapest, Hungary
That W6 automap mod looks interesting. Doesn't it bypass some mapping challenges (teleports / dark rooms) though?

I've been considering a 4-char team in W8 to force a generalist approach... but that'd also mean using hybrids as primary spellcasters, which just doesn't work that well until lategame in my experience.
 

Avellion

Erudite
Joined
Jan 9, 2014
Messages
756
Location
This forum
The only times I go "fuuuu" on the Arnika road is when a bunch of wild Crimson Poppies appears. Other than that just stick your ass to the wall and fire away, nothing that difficult.

I always play with 6 characters, party building is just too much fun in this game. Also, don't solo chars or two-chars teams suffer from initiative penalties caused by overencumbrance all the time?
Never had any big problems with it, but I usually dont carry more than I need to anyway in solo runs. Not like my faerie (no, I am not gay) bishop had any use for that luggage anyway.

But yes, party building is fun in wizardry so I too prefer party sizes of 6. Nice break as well from the typical 3 party man sizes as well.
 

Gnidrologist

CONDUCTOR
Joined
Aug 30, 2005
Messages
20,856
Location
is cold
What's so fun in that? It seems the same kind of chore like needing to eat, shit and find a bed in game to not die. Can't it be automatically assumed that your in game chars map the areas they have been through just like that they take dump when needed without the need to play ''excretion minigame'' once in the while?
 

Zetor

Arcane
Joined
Jan 9, 2003
Messages
1,706
Location
Budapest, Hungary
I dunno, W7's automap didn't make any of the dungeons less difficult to navigate (dark zones, invis walls, teleporters; I assume those aren't neutered by the mod); and in Wiz Gold, you had the automap in a separate window like this mod. I also dislike the "manual mapping" concept of Etrian Odyssey games because drawing walls after every step instead of actually focusing on the dungeon is a not-particularly-fun chore -- worse yet, it even has ingame quests/rewards attached to it. Didn't like graph paper mapping in 198x when playing Bard's Tale, don't like it now.

The automap is only mapping the places you've already explored, and most dungeons are easily explorable by hugging the left/right walls anyway!
 

Sinatar

Arbiter
Joined
Jan 25, 2014
Messages
569
I didn't enjoy drawing maps 30 years ago and I certainly don't enjoy it now.
 

Gnidrologist

CONDUCTOR
Joined
Aug 30, 2005
Messages
20,856
Location
is cold
It can, but it makes the unknown and mysterious dungeon seem less unknown and mysterious when you can just go ahead paying little attention to your surroundings with no worry about getting lost.
How so? You don't get full map of the place from the start, only when you have already been there and only areas where your foot has stepped. And automaps usually don't show any secret passages, levers, trapdoors n stuff, only general directions/hubs. If you're a masochist with a lot of time on your hands, who likes to either wonder around in circles for hours to no end or scribble every single wall/turn/room for hours to no end, well, you go girl.
 

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