Wizardry The Wizardry Series Thread

[Dorateen]

I would agree with this. But on the opposite end, I believe it is fine to import the party from Crusaders to Wizardry 8. The same technique is used to de-level characters to about 5 and reset stats and skill points as well as strip items. The monastary and Road to Arnika was still tough. It is the conclusion of the Dark Savant saga so it seems to make sense to continue that confrontation with the same characters. Also, how great was it that the developers expected players to have their Wiz7 end game saved on a disk from 10 years ago.

 

[Lady_Error]

Correction, the areas do clear, but still, I'd be interested in the consequences of allying with T'Rang.

Don't have any, not absolutely sure though.

I remember something about different possible endings if you ally with the Umpani or the T'Rang. Never saw those myself though.

 

[cvv]

Wizardry 7 is balanced to be played with a fresh party. Importing messes things up. Imported characters usually are reduced to level 5 with visible and invisible stats crippled, sometimes too much, some times too little. And it's not necessarily a good thing starting with weapons doing up to 10 times as much damage as any weapon you can find during the first 90% of the game.
One could say W7 is broken anyway so just cheese your way through it but why not just play the game how you were expected to play it and many did in the past without importing or class switching.

Chars at lvl 5 are more or less fine, no problem there, but as I lately found out importing the superweapons from W6 completely breaks the first 3/4 of the game. I say import the party, sell the weapons and have fun.

 

[octavius]

I lately found out importing the superweapons from W6 completely breaks the first 3/4 of the game.

That was not my experience.
Do you rely on magic and resting a lot?

 

[mondblut]

importing the superweapons from W6 completely breaks the first 3/4 of the game.

And that's awesome, no?

 

[mondblut]

Wizardry 7 is balanced to be played with a fresh party. Importing messes things up. Imported characters usually are reduced to level 5 with visible and invisible stats crippled, sometimes too much, some times too little. And it's not necessarily a good thing starting with weapons doing up to 10 times as much damage as any weapon you can find during the first 90% of the game.
One could say W7 is broken anyway so just cheese your way through it but why not just play the game how you were expected to play it and many did in the past without importing or class switching.

Riiiight, a rival developer slipped into Sir-Tech compound and coded in the party import in the dead of the night. You are totally not expected to import your party from Wizardry 6 the way Bradley invisioned it.

(ok, I was drunk and overreacted a bit, but it is still silly)

 

[cvv]

importing the superweapons from W6 completely breaks the first 3/4 of the game.

And that's awesome, no?

It's not awesome in the slightest, at least not for me. You may get off on the numbers but my favourite part of any RPG is the itemization and W7 still does it best of them all. A fuckload of items and weapons and gear, all of them usable by different races and professions and genders, finding and trying new stuff, ooooh yeah baby, that's my kind of fun. But what's the fun in wearing the same ebony plate and swinging the same sword for dozens of hours of playtime? Where is the challenge when nothing can even make a dent on you and you just mow through the trash? Nah.

 

[cvv]

I lately found out importing the superweapons from W6 completely breaks the first 3/4 of the game.

That was not my experience.
Do you rely on magic and resting a lot?

Yeah but I'm starting to think W7 is not balanced awfully great when it comes to magic. If you don't use the Mad God resting fix mana simply doesn't replenish on its own and there aren't nearly enough fountains and magical food to make up for it. And if you do use the fix then it's more or less a Breivik rampage as soon as you get the mass nuke spells.

I'd actually be very happy with the "non-replenishing mana/fucksomely powerful spells" concept if there was a practical way to get the mana points up by other means.

 

[octavius]

I lately found out importing the superweapons from W6 completely breaks the first 3/4 of the game.

That was not my experience.
Do you rely on magic and resting a lot?

Yeah but I'm starting to think W7 is not balanced awfully great when it comes to magic. If you don't use the Mad God resting fix mana simply doesn't replenish on its own and there aren't nearly enough fountains and magical food to make up for it. And if you do use the fix then it's more or less a Breivik rampage as soon as you get the mass nuke spells.

I'd actually be very happy with the "non-replenishing mana/fucksomely powerful spells" concept if there was a practical way to get the mana points up by other means.

Which is excactly why I found that importing the super weapons didn't unbalance the game for me, with my playing style. I don't grind at all, I rely mainly on might, and I use magic only sparingly due to how long it takes to regenerate. And in all games with day/night cycle I try to rest only 8 hours per day.
So with my playing style and the super weapons I imported I still found plenty of challenge in the Orkogre and Munkharama areas, but the game got easier after that.
I agree that not finding any better weapons until the end game was a downside, but then I think itemization is not one of the Wizardry games' strengths, espacially not compared to the Might&Magic games.

Also, it seems obvious to me that if you already played Wiz 6 you were supposed to import your party into Wiz 7. Why else would there be multiple possible endings in Wiz 6 and ditto starting positions in Wiz 7?

 

[cvv]

I agree that not finding any better weapons until the end game was a downside, but then I think itemization is not one of the Wizardry games' strengths, espacially not compared to the Might&Magic games.

Nooo dude, W7 is at least equal with MM, I'd say even better. I love the concept of items being usable only by certain races/professions/genders, even though admittedly it's not "realistic". Too bad nobody uses it anymore.

Btw, as for my earlier problem - I found out if you ally with T'Rang then H'Jenn-Ra gives you three missions: find Shritis, fetch her the Boat map and lastly she tells you to murder all Savant troopers in the Nyctalinth and never come back. She claims she'll reward you when "T'Rang victory is complete" (yeah, right). If you still come back, an army will attack you. Moreover if you fetch K'Borra the Umpani coordinates (the first Umpani mission), he'll tell you to claim the reward (10000 g) from H'Jenn. Problem is you never get to speak to her. She always pops out behind her window, barks a few orders at you and disappears. So no luck there either.
I think allying with the Umpani is way more rewarding (don't remember exactly though).

Maybe Bradley wanted to let you know you simply took the wrong side, basically suggesting one race (Umpani) is better than the other which is certainly bold but ultimately a downer.

 

[treborSux]

Yeah but I'm starting to think W7 is not balanced awfully great when it comes to magic. If you don't use the Mad God resting fix mana simply doesn't replenish on its own and there aren't nearly enough fountains and magical food to make up for it. And if you do use the fix then it's more or less a Breivik rampage as soon as you get the mass nuke spells.

I'd actually be very happy with the "non-replenishing mana/fucksomely powerful spells" concept if there was a practical way to get the mana points up by other means.

Mana regen in the first half of the game can be rough, but the second half of the game where you get many rechargeable mana potions (Milk of Magmanasia, mana stone, Bottle of Old Jake's), you will never run out of MP.

 

[treborSux]

Btw, as for my earlier problem - I found out if you ally with T'Rang then H'Jenn-Ra gives you three missions: find Shritis, fetch her the Boat map and lastly she tells you to murder all Savant troopers in the Nyctalinth and never come back. She claims she'll reward you when "T'Rang victory is complete" (yeah, right). If you still come back, an army will attack you. Moreover if you fetch K'Borra the Umpani coordinates (the first Umpani mission), he'll tell you to claim the reward (10000 g) from H'Jenn. Problem is you never get to speak to her. She always pops out behind her window, barks a few orders at you and disappears. So no luck there either.
I think allying with the Umpani is way more rewarding (don't remember exactly though).

Maybe Bradley wanted to let you know you simply took the wrong side, basically suggesting one race (Umpani) is better than the other which is certainly bold but ultimately a downer.

Yeah Wiz 7 certainly made it so you would hate the T'Rang. The T'Rang were less of douchebags in Wiz 8, but you never really have to pick between the Umpani and T'Rang in Wiz 8.

 

[DraQ]

Wiz8 actually moves them away from unambiguous durr evil, though they are still quite a bit slimy.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

Bradley missed a good opportunity to shake up genre expectations a bit and make the giant spiders the good guys and the bipedal rhinos the evil empire.

They are not ?

 

[DraQ]

Wiz8 actually moves them away from unambiguous durr evil, though they are still quite a bit slimy.

true but that's on brenda's watch, no?

True.

 

[cvv]

Finished W7, for the fourth time, and once again I've enjoyed the shit out of it. God what a fantastic game.

Well except the puzzles. Not even in the fourth playthrough couldn't I for the life of me figure out a few things without a hintbook: to use she Longstem Spade at the Phoonzang Statue in Ncytalinth and to use the Tydnab Emyt statute at the double alcove (which is fine, you don't really need the Serpent Map), couldn't find the Locket of the Tomb (this one almost drove me to madness), couldn't figure out the second Crusader test (you can bash the door though), didn't think of saying "Phoonzang" at the ship in the Sky City and didn't think of using the Legend Map at the Gaelin Stone (is there any hint beforehand that it's called the "Gaelin Legend"?).

Those are the important riddles. I would also never though of using the Diamond Ring to get an additional item at the Hall of Preservation (then again, I'd had never got the ring in W6 without a hintbook in the first place) and to lie to Vi Domina that I hadn't found a ship (and thus got an alternative ending). Still, helluva game.

Right, on to 8 then.

 

[mondblut]

I remember something about different possible endings if you ally with the Umpani or the T'Rang. Never saw those myself though.

That choice happens by the endgame, if you didn't find a spaceship yourself (or lied to Vi that you didn't). Previous choice with whom to align has no matter for that encounter.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

importing the superweapons from W6 completely breaks the first 3/4 of the game.

And that's awesome, no?

Yes that way you can appreciate the story and not have to worry about all that silly "game" part of the Videogame Experience. Such an innovation wouldn't be seen until decades later, with the arrival of Dragon Age 3 and the "Skip Combat" option.

 

[cvv]

importing the superweapons from W6 completely breaks the first 3/4 of the game.

And that's awesome, no?

Yes that way you can appreciate the story and not have to worry about all that silly "game" part of the Videogame Experience. Such an innovation wouldn't be seen until decades later, with the arrival of Dragon Age 3 and the "Skip Combat" option.

:D

 

[mondblut]

importing the superweapons from W6 completely breaks the first 3/4 of the game.

And that's awesome, no?

Yes that way you can appreciate the story and not have to worry about all that silly "game" part of the Videogame Experience. Such an innovation wouldn't be seen until decades later, with the arrival of Dragon Age 3 and the "Skip Combat" option.

In a series of RPGs with character transfer, any preceeding game is just a glorified character generator.

Also, what's that "story" you speak of? The "game" part is raking up experience as efficiently as possible. Anything which makes this process more efficient, improves the game.

 

[Agesilaus]

Hmm thanks for the responses. So it's a trilogy, and I'm supposed to play 6 and 7 to fully appreciate what's going on? I will likely try them out now that I know the grind isn't crippling. I just hate to drop a game because the gameplay becomes a chore, that was my main reservation in playing wizardry.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Also, what's that "story" you speak of? The "game" part is raking up experience as efficiently as possible. Anything which makes this process more efficient, improves the game.

Something involving space furries and penis monsters, I'm told.

Spoiler

"Hey son! Are you playing your girl games again?"

"No dad, this is called a RPG. It's a serious game played by all kinds of people all over the world. Watch for a bit."

 

[kryminator]

Hi guys,
I bought W7 in today's GOG promo (I don't know why so late..) and I am planning to start my W7 adventure today. I played it about 10-15 years ago and remember it as great game although didn't finished it. So I have a couple of questions to You as series veterans.
1. How long is it? 200h or more?
2. You were talking about two versions in this thread: CD one and floppy disks one. What's the difference apart from characters pictures?
3. As far as I remember I have never change profession in any of Wizardry games I played (which are 7 and 8) nor in any other game which lets You do that. From what You are writing here I figured out that it is vital decision in 7th Wizardry part, but since I have no experience on that field I have to ask You. The profession change usually means getting ninja skills, am I right? Is it then good idea to start with 6 ninjas and make immediate profession change? Or maybe it shouldn't be so hard to finish game without changing professions?
4. What do you think of such team in case of no profession change: ranger, ninja, alchemist, samurai, lord, thief?

 

[octavius]

1. It's probably the longest cRPG I've played.

2. Diplomacy doesn't work in the CD version. Auto-map is slightly better in the CD version, I think. Also, something about text scrolling too fast in the CD version.

3. I used class change mainly to get high level spells ASAP and to get a better mana regeneration in the long run. Mana regeneration is based on starting class, so it may be an idea to start with many base spell casters and switch them either ASAP or after 5-7 levels.

4. Thief is a weak class. I'd get a Monk instead. Ninja can do the thieving. If you take a Ranger I think there is a nice bow only usable by a (female?) Elf Ranger. Or was that in Wiz 6...?

1. How long is it? 200h or more?

Without guide for first timer, I'd estimate half year to a year for one first play trough.

I used two months, which is more than double the time I've used to complete any other old school CRPG I've played the past three years.

 

[kryminator]

Thanks for responses. I think I would rather use floppy version if it is in GOG package. A couple of further questions:
5. Is there any other class which have Map making skill (or whatever it is called)? I consider that skill as great idea for maps in cRPG and that's the reason for picking ranger (also I want someone for bows), but maybe I am wrong and this skill will be rather annoying and not worth such choice?
6. Who uses bows efficiently except ranger? bard maybe?
7. How configurable is the formation if any? or always three in front and three in back?
8. Are there polearms which can be used from back?

My current plan for the team (I am trying not to have duplicate race or class):
ninja dracon
lord rawulf
monkhuman?
thief (and after improving skullduggery)->samurai felpurr or samurai from start (or maybe fighter (i think he is good at beginning) -> samurai)
bard hobbit (or elven ranger)
elven alchemist and switch to ranger after some time (good idea?) (or alchemist faerie/elf only or gnome priest)

monk, lord and ninja in front, rest in back if it is 3+3 and samurai can attack from back (I remember it is possible although I may be wrong)