Wizardry 8 Party Creation Advice

Way to go Cormac.
That's a flavor I really wanted to try, but couldn't fit in. Maybe next time--but I promise, it won't be a solo Ironman fairy ninja--not in this lifetime, anyway :-/
 
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Hey Cormac, forgive me for being dense, but what did your party actually end up being? And while we're at it, what's yer makeup, magerette?
 
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I've got a plain vanilla human fighter, human valk, Mook ranger, Hobbit bard, Elvin bishop and Fairy mage.
At the moment I have one RPC(Vi), but that will probably change--I enjoy the RPC contributions to the storyline, but really six characters are more than enough to manage.
 
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Pretty similar to my current crew- human valk, lizzy fighter, human monk, mook ranger, human bard, faerie bishop. I designed the party melee heavy.

During one run, I wanted to hear Vi's commentary, particularly at the very end of the game, but I still hated to pick up any RPCs since they take a share of the XP. I ended up taking her to the final map as a level 7 or so. Needless to say, she died instantly and often (most people seem to finish the game in the low 30's), but I brought her back before all was said and done. I was actually a little disappointed, but it was interesting to see what she had to say.
 
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The voice acting is really great in breathing life into all the characters. In more recent games, there don't seem too many npcs with a personality that isn't whiny, irritating or just yawnable. My whole party is fun to listen to, even tho they repeat themselves a lot. ("Vinning this battle vill be as easy as finding flies on a cow!")

As far as the xp leeching, I agree that is a factor, too. It really isn't necessary to have the extra firepower most of the time, and those level ups are getting few and far between now that I've survived past level ten.
 
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I've used all the voices at one time or another, although I certainly prefer some of them. I admit I would have liked a few more. A stereotypical (and probably offensive) black male and female would have been nice. I'd enjoy starting a battle to something like, "Oh no you didna!" (maybe animate the portrait for an equally offensive head bob) A John Cleese would have been nice, too. Maybe a Canadian or two-- "It's all aboot da ice, ya hey." Maybe a New York Jew. How about a true intellectual, in the dry overbearing professor vein? No guy from India- a criminal omission! The possibilities are endless, even if most of them would have gotten them sued. Perhaps a hick Hoosier (in the interest of fairness).
 
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Here's my jolly bunch:

Human Lord
Lizard Fighter
Fellpurr Samurai
Elf Bishop
Faerie Mage
Fellpurr Ninja (I really hesitated for this one's race).

Oh, it's a jolly bunch, hey.

While I'm at it, what's the deal with all the cursed items ? WTF ? But I'm guessing that my bishop's ability to remove cursed items works, because I've equipped a bunch of the stuff and unequiped it without problems . . . or is it something I'm not getting ?
 
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@ dteowner
Yeah, it would be nice to see that kind of variety--I for one am all for sacrificing any needless political correctness in the interests of humor anytime. I think that clueless Hoosier has been done, tho-in Baldurs gate--that guy that follows you around til you long desparately to kill him?:p

@ cormac
Of course you had to make the ninja a Fellpur--obviously you can't trust the fighters with the ale supply, and a fairy couldn't have hauled around enough cold ones w/out becoming encumbered. ;)

AFA the cursed items, other than as a role-playing element I could't possible explain why they are there--I guess the idea is a sword that gives you 3 massive skull-pulverizing hits per turn should come with some balancing. (Damn them.)
 
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Dte, don't you think there should be at least one Aussie in your mix!! :)
 
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Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. How could I forget Crocodile Dundee?

re cursed: a party without a bishop or access to the remove curse spell could be seriously inconvenienced by a cursed item. As magerette points out, it can be a balancing issue as well. Sure, Bloodlust is a cool sword, but doesn't it suck having a character that can't switch to a bow? If it's a fighter, he just has to sit a pick his nose until some critter wanders into range. It's all about choices, which is the beauty of Wiz8.
 
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Yeah Dte, can't you just see one of your chars going- "You call that a sword? THIS is a sword"!! :)
 
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If you give bloodlust to a sam or lord, you can cast spells. I don't usually do the back into a crook thing. I charge. It just doesn't feel right making the enemy close with you.

But I play diferent than most i think. I don't use sleep or paralyze or terror, etc. I cast damage spells. And healing spells. And I rush and attack. Guardian angel my fairy mage, and lay waste to the enemy.
 
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With careful strategy, a kamikaze approach can work. Eventually, you're going to get mobbed by some challenging critters, but that's a tradeoff you can make. Yet another example of flexibility that makes this such a great game.

@Corwin- I was originally going to vote for a Steve Irwin voice, but thought that might seem a little inappropriate. Find a new item, and he says, "Crikey, she's a beauty!"
 
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Shakespeare:
Cry havok, and let slip the dogs of war !

Roqua:
Guardian angel my fairy mage, and lay waste to the enemy.

:)
 
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The other people here sure gave a lot of advice.... I've spent a lot of time of this game each year. The people here have already given you good advice! I disagree with one thing though, I do think the race matters.

I'd like to put some extra props for the Valkyrie, and the Bard. I love the Bard because I don't like resting, and having one means I can always assure all party members are in full health, has the strongest blessing, all the time, that they're fully rested, strongest haste, etc etc etc without wasting a single MP, besides they can take care of traps and locks.. and use a shield, to not die so easily :D As for the Valkyrie everytime I play through the game, my Valkyrie ends up with 0 deaths, and the highest killing count in the party, in usual she often beats my mage ( even if she has a lot of area effect killer spells ) by about 100 kills. This is because she can be amazingly powerful with one of the good polearms!

Finally some props for the Lord, I use to have him dual wielding with a curse weapon with bersherk on it.... it gives him an insane amount of attack rounds. My favourite party I made though I kind of regret the samurai is like this, I always play on the hardest setting ( no ironman LOL ):

Mylord - Dwarf Lord 490 kills / 1 deaths
Feli - Human Bard 470 kills / 3 deaths
Xoria - Fearie Alchemist 450 kills / 4 deaths
HariKiri - Felpur Samurai 296 kills / 2 deaths
Valkyrie - Human Valkyrie 580 kills / 0 deaths
Rav - Rawulf Priest 68 kills ( LOL ) / 0 deaths

Formation
Front Mylord, HariKiri
Left Side Valkyrie ( long range polearm )
Right Side Rav ( or middle if NPC on right side, long range staff )
Middle - Feli,Xoria ( slings )
 
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I thought about taking a valkyrie, but since my priority was having a lord and a samurai, I found it preferable to have a fighter in my last melee spot and not having to worry about a trickier character progression for that one.
 
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@gothicgothicness
Yes, this is a very supportive board and I for one am grateful to everybody who's helped.
I definitely am with you on the bard and valk.
I've played a bard in several rpgs, but this is the first one where she wasn't just a passive in the background entity. She has as many or more kills than the Ranger, but that may be because I have yet to get the positioning just right-;)-half the time he doesn't seem to be able to use his bow.
@Cormac
Keep us posted on how the Lord works out for you. I think you were probably wise not to try all the elite characters in your first party. Though my bishop is giving me no trouble at all.
It really illustrates what dteowner said, the variety and possibilities of the game--and obviously the replayability that all these different choices give you. There's always next time.
 
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I'm going to practice a bit of necromancy on this topic since it's such a great wealth of info... and to ask an opinion.

I was going through the party creation motions to finally complete a [full] playthrough...

So far, have:
Samurai, human
Valkyrie, dwarf
Monk, human
Bishop, faerie
Alchemist, elf
Gadgeteer, hobbit

My main concern is that I'd like to have a good variety of classes so that items I find don't necessarily get relegated to merchant fodder. I was thinking of replacing the monk with a rogue for more potential sword-wielding + pickpocketing? Or perhaps, instead, the valkyrie with a lord?

Any comments, suggestions?
 
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I'll let Dte comment on this as he's the expert, but I wouldn't have a Sam and a Valk. Also, I was never a fan of the Gadge. I like a Ninja (fairy of course).
 
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Do I hear my name? ;)

If you're running anything after the 1st patch (the "final" patch was the 3rd), pickpocket has been completely nerfed. Completely worthless skill. Don't make any party plans based on pickpocket.

Don't know if you're looking to min/max, so that will change any advice significantly. The good news is that Wiz8 is so well done that *any* party can be made to work. Some will be very difficult, but there's no party that's hopeless. I'll give you some ideas on a party that's pretty optimized, but you can vary it however you choose. Overall, I emphasize melee rather than hocus-pocus, so that will color my recommendations. There's nothing that says you have to be a Disciple of the Pointy Stick, so again you can consider my bias as you review my thoughts.

1) If this is your first run to completion, you want a ranger for autosearch. There's just no substitute. Humans and mooks are decent choices. Although you'll want to emphasize bows, rangers actually do quite nicely in melee with polearms if they're developed for it. With your proposed party, I'd drop the alchy to make room for the ranger. You'll be a little weak on casting overall, but it won't be a crisis.

2) I love Wiz8 monks and humans are a good race for it because they get good stamina. When you get to the later parts of the game, your monk will be getting numerous attacks per round and battles will last dozens of rounds. You'll need stamina for every one of those whacks.

3) Gadgies can be a lot of fun. They stink in the early game but can be very strong by the end. I'd take human over hobbit, though. Gadgies use stamina to use their items and hobbits tend to be a little weak on stamina. With the party you're proposing, your gadgie is going to be your locks-n-trap guy. Make sure you spend your skill points appropriately.

4) Samurais are generally underwhelming. Their access to the wizardry spellbook makes for some interesting options, but you're not really positioning him to be a caster, even a secondary one. Vanilla fighters might be a bit boring, but they really bring the noise. A lizzie fighter with a certain sword you can get early in the game is a beast early on (and eventually you switch to better swords and keep kicking mucho butt). Up to you.

5) Bishops are hard to develop properly. Certainly, it can be done, but it's not a cakewalk. Yours is positioned to be the party healer. Make sure you emphasize the divine spells. For attacking, you might consider the psionic book since it pairs nicely with the divine book.

6) Alchys largely stink. At high levels, they get some very interesting spells, but getting them to that point is less than entertaining, and your gadgie will actually be able to do most of those interesting spells via gadgets. That said, you want to get somebody in your party built up in their alchemy skill so you can get into potion-mixing-for-profit. I usually use my ranger for that, but you could use an alchemist if you wanted to.

7) Unlike Corwin, I don't mind Valks. The "cheat death" thing isn't all that useful unless you really screw the pooch in a fight, but they bring some real damage with their polearms and (since they don't have many skills they need to spend skill points on) they make excellent secondary healers.

Hope that helps. Feel free to ask more--I just hate to talk about Wiz8. ;)
 
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