Wizardry 8 Advice

StackSmasher

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So... I'm starting up Wiz 8 again for the fourth and final go around. I seem to have misplaced my save games from my last, and most successful, bout so I'm forced to start from scratch once again. I've resigned myself to play it through to the end this time.

My question to you Wizardry experts out there is this: What party should I choose for a challenging and rewarding yet not impossible game experience? I still have the game manual, so I have the race/profession matrix but I'm asking for your personal recommendations :)

Previously, I have found a Samurai, Bishop, Ninja and a Mage fairly fun. I remember some crazy talk about a fairy ninja getting a corporeal staff and pwning that sounded interesting but, really, I'm just interested in a satisfying game experience.

Also, should I just play through as fast as I can without worrying about 'power leveling'? Seems to me that when I played last that the enemies were stronger/weaker for a given area based on my parties level almost like Oblivion. I don't usually power level too bad but I recall doing so in Wiz8 due to the massive ant and hornet armies...

I'd be interested to hear about real world experience with the Samurai, Ninja, Lord, and Bard classes. I'd also love to hear about any race/classes that worked surprisingly well for you.

Any advice?
 
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The special classes in Wizardry are interesting and not so easy to build up:

Valkyrie/Lord = Cleric + Fighter
Samurai = Sword Fighter / less armor
Bishop = Mage + Cleric
Ninja = Alchemist + Fighter + Rogue

Simple classes - boring, but effective.
Fighter
Rogue
Mage
Priest
Alchemist

other classes (interesting, too)
Gadgeteer
Bard
Psionic
Ranger
Monk

more hints about Wizardry classes.
 
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Pull up a chair... ;)

I'm going to assume you're playing a 6 character party, even though you only specifically mention 4.

#1- ranger - if you want a little extra melee power, make him a mook and work on his sword stat for a mook-only item you'll get later in the game. Otherwise, mook, halfling or human are all good choices. The autosearch is insanely useful. Plan on boosting his alchemy when you can, and make him your potion mixer.
#2- healer - you can use a priest (dwarf or rawulf), or you can add challenge and flexibility with a bishop (elf, faerie). With the bishop, emphasize divinity and psionic schools. There's more overlap there.
#3- caster - you've got lots of choices here. The mage is the easiest to work with. A psionic is probably the most interesting. An alchemist is different but a poor choice. If you didn't take a bishop in the 2nd slot, one will fit here. You could go with 2 bishops, but you'll find the early game frustrating. Lots of race choices.
#4- locks-n-traps - you can go rogue, bard, or gadgy. With pickpocket being nerfed in v1.2.4, rogues aren't very useful. Bards are very good in the early and mid games. Gadgys turn into killing machines in the late game, but aren't so good early. Female is highly recommended. Although halflings are most suited, humans get more stamina which is very important.
#5 and #6 - tanks - lots of choices, pick any 2. I really like monks, but that's just me. Valks turn out pretty boring. Ninjas are a real bitch to develop well (I wouldn't recommend the faerie ninja + CoC option for a first time thru the whole game). Lords are surprisingly challenging to develop, but a dual-wield with 2 particular maces you can get around the 2/3 point in the game is a total meat grinder. I'm not a fan of sammys since their critical hit isn't very good, but they aren't bad. Fighters are boring but solid. Fighters are best as lizzys or dracons. Monks are best as human due to stamina issues. Felpurrs make good sammys. No reason to take a ninja unless you're doing the faerie + CoC.

While the autoleveler will tempt you to powergame, I wouldn't recommend it. The road to Arnika can be a real challenge, but otherwise the game will match wherever your party is pretty well. The game was supposedly designed for you to hit Arnika at level 7 and Trynton at level 10, which will happen pretty naturally if you just play the game. You'll want to make EXTENSIVE use of funnels (corners you can back into) in battle. That will make those ant armies manageable.

I suppose that's enough to get you thinking. Feel free to ask more if you want- I'm always willing to pontificate on my favorite game. ;)
 
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Dte is the acknowledged Wiz8 Master here. :meditate::worship:

As for me, I had a mixed bag in my last party, with a Valk, Bishop, Ranger, Priest, Rogue(?) and Mage being what I remember atm. I was pretty much outclassed when I got to the late middle game though. I desperately needed more killing power than I had. The Bishop was beginning to shape up as quite a powerhouse, however and if I'd followed the Master's advice more closely, I think I could have made it. I never did finish the game...

Wonder if I still have my saves....(damn you, dte!!!)
 
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You're too kind...

Your party was definitely magic heavy, magerette. As with practically any Wiz8 party, it could probably be made to work, but it certainly wouldn't be easy.

Who needs old saves? Probably ought to just start from scratch. You could try a different party with different voices. You know you wanna! Wouldn't that be fun?!?
 
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Awesome, thanks for the great advice! I played a few hours last night with:
Lord, Monk, Mage, Bishop, Gadgeteer, Ranger.

It was a lot of fun and definitely interesting. I would have never considered the Gadgy, Lord or the Ranger previously so it should be a fun time.

I will, most certainly, have some questions but I'm going to get my 'sea legs' back before I ask. The only exception being this one since I don't want to get hours in and realize that I've made a horrible, horrible mistake:
For allocating stat points when leveling, is it best to focus on the attributes listed in the character's class description? I'm assuming yes but the professions skill attribute requirements and the primary skill attributes differ. For instance: Monk's primary attributes are INT, PIE, DEX, SPD and SEN however the skill Martial Arts defines SEN and one other I can't remember. So, should I be dumping primarily into the primary skills required attributes, or balancing between the class attributes?

Again, thanks for all of the great information!
 
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How about a Solo Fairy Ninja? Before I put that game to rest my last play through was to complete the game as a solo Fairy Ninja. The beginning was pretty difficult but the end was too easy.
 
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I played the solo faerie ninja as far as Trynton. I just didn't have much fun with it. I enjoy the complexity of balancing 6 skill sets more than the challenge of the ultimate powergame.

@Stack- different people have different approaches, so I won't advertise mine as the "end all, be all", but here's what I do: you want to unlock the bonus skills as quickly as possible, so dump all your points into 2 stats until you get them to 100.
Lord: STR, DEX (hit hard, hit every swing)
Monk: SPD, DEX (hit multiple times, hit every swing)
Ranger: DEX, SEN (hit every shot, "see" everything)
Gadgy: INT, DEX (better engineering, better aim)
Mage: INT, PIE (Powercast, spell points)
Bishop: INT, PIE (Powercast, spell points)
 
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Who needs old saves? Probably ought to just start from scratch. You could try a different party with different voices. You know you wanna! Wouldn't that be fun?!?

You are SATAN incarnate :cm:

(..where is that manual??? and those speadsheets....)
 
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I've always been a big fan of temptation... :p

I have those spreadsheets if you need them. Free sample. Just a little taste for ya. You'll be able to stop any time you want. Let me hook ya up...
 
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This be YOU ( unless its chamr--I think we also had this kind of conversation.)
 
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I's just a bidnezman. I see a need and I fills it. For the good of the peoples. I's all about the happy peoples.
 
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Rogue is actually a pretty good fighter towards the endgame. If you are duel-wielding a couple of those weapons with 10% critical chance you can get a lot of instant kills while being able to evade most attacks. They are very weak at the start of the game which can be problem if you don't have many tanks.
 
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you want to unlock the bonus skills as quickly as possible, so dump all your points into 2 stats until you get them to 100.

I agree completely. You can do some interesting things though, I had my bishop get iron skin for example. You can get great results from raising stats that are not class ones as well. But especially you should get the power casting ability as fast as possible for a magic user, at least I always go for that!
 
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Rogue is actually a pretty good fighter towards the endgame. If you are duel-wielding a couple of those weapons with 10% critical chance you can get a lot of instant kills while being able to evade most attacks. They are very weak at the start of the game which can be problem if you don't have many tanks.
Valid point, but very few of those weapons are rogue-only. You can get those same dual crit-hits with a lord, and get better armor, spells, and more HPs to boot. Still, similar to my mook sword-wielding ranger, the rogue can be a valid way to get "partial credit" in melee while still covering the L&T need.
 
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I loaded up my last save and my party actually was Fighter, Valk, Mook Ranger, Elf Bishop, Bard and fairy Mage. I thought I looked pretty badass, so( I was in the undersea passage) I tooled ahead full steam and suddenly found myself faced with something called ....Nessie.

So after I reloaded...

I was also picking up strange scuba gear and clues to who knows what as I apparently have forgotten nine-tenths of the plot. Perhaps a restart is an option. But it took a long time to get this far and I do like my little mouthy party members. Any tips on how to maximize what I've got?

I noticed the spellbooks on my casters were spilt all over the place between all the schools..is this one of the reasons I was getting trounced? IIRC, you have to diversify quite a bit to get all the buffs...Also, is a restart worth it just to dump the bard for a gadgeteer?
 
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Nessie is a very challenging battle, particularly if you get to her too soon. I wouldn't gage your party by that yardstick. You should probably be in the upper teens before taking a swing at Nessie, IIRC. Elemental shield is your best friend there, BTW. A canned elemental to serve as a distraction can be useful as well. That looks like a well balanced party to me.

If you've made it that far in the game, you're probably doing OK on development. Even if your casters aren't optimized (I'm not sure that's the case, anyway), you should be OK. Do you have 5 buffs going at all times (light, magic screen, missle shield, armorplate, enchanted blade)?

Since I like bards better than gadgys, I certainly wouldn't restart just to ditch the bard. That's just my preference though.
 
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Nessie is a very challenging battle, particularly if you get to her too soon. I wouldn't gage your party by that yardstick. You should probably be in the upper teens before taking a swing at Nessie, IIRC. Elemental shield is your best friend there, BTW. A canned elemental to serve as a distraction can be useful as well. That looks like a well balanced party to me.

Actually, I think I can take her if I wake up and remember how to play the game--I just waltzed in and got crazy. And as I recall, I built that party with a lot of help from you and everybody else that got into that old thread where we first discussed your future estrogen crisis, so you're probably right on the balance.

Do you have 5 buffs going at all times (light, magic screen, missle shield, armorplate, enchanted blade)?

Yep,I noticed I had all those glowy icons above the heads of my party shortly before I charged. (I think it was the charging part that wa the actual problem.;)..)

Since I like bards better than gadgys, I certainly wouldn't restart just to ditch the bard. That's just my preference though.

Mine too--plus she has some really cool instruments by now --Jericho Horn, Pipes of Pandemonium--and looks just like Janis Joplin. :) I kinda would like to also finish this game at least once, as the OP also said, so I think I'm good to go--I just have to go read up on the plot again--all I remember is something about the Dark Savant at this point.


@chamr--glad you aren't going to put a cap where I don't want one. :)
 
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You people sound so passionate about this game.
Makes me feel like I should give this one a try too sometime.
And yes, I am a wizardry virgin :-/
 
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