Wizardry 8 - Retrospective Review @ RPG Codex

RPG Codex has posted a pretty nifty retrospective on Sir-Tech's classic, Wizardry 8. Here's an excerpt:

Still, the diversity in character classes opens way to some very specialized parties. While it’s expected of games of this genre that you can create and combine certain character archetypes which result in several party concepts, Wizardry 8 gets into the thick of it by presenting an intricate character system. Since all races have their own statistical strengths and weaknesses, especially against certain types of spells, these must be carefully contrasted with some classes’ potential benefits and handicaps. Sure, a Lizardman Fighter might seem a good idea due to their Strength but the race is particularly weak against spells of the Mental magic realm so you may want to consider if you want the frontliner crying like a baby or being charmed into executing your spellcasters. On the other hand, having a Dwarf’s natural damage resistance stack with the Monk’s own damage resistance may provide good results. And since a Samurai develops both melee combat and spell casting, it’s up to the player to decide which he will focus on depending on what use he has to the party.

More information.

nice review - Wizardy 6-8 is still the best series.

Ah, those were the times … *sigh* If only they had cut the combat a bit … I got bored by too much combat by the time.

Still, I consider this an the height of old RPG gamings.
A bit like High Elves in Lothlorien; it is gone and will never come back.

I think wiz 7 is far better than 8, but you are right about the combat in general. But before 8 it didn't take 15 years to fight a battle. Wiz 8 is still a great game though.

OOOOO Wiz 9 where art thou? I think wizardry 8 is better than 7, even if I loved 7 too… I happen to like the long battles in Wiz 8, when you've played for awhile it's only the really hard battles that becomes long… since you can kill a lot of lesser creatures with a killer area spell or two. I still play it a lot of hours every year. This game has such a great replayrate…… I love the idea to play through the entire game with a Faerie on Ironman and on the hard setting Though I didn't even make it out of the monastary……. I think I'll go with easy… and drop the ironman first LOL.

Love those games, but I doubt there will ever be a Wiz 9. The closest we'll get get is when Cleve finally releases Grimoire, which is VERY much like a Wiz 7 clone.

I haven't gotten far in Wiz 8 … have to retart that next year as well …

Wiz 8 really did have an intricate character/class/race system---and as I recall, it was the first game where you could ride a horse(or was that Wizards & Warriors?) Anyway, I'll never forget dying on the beach, slain by some funky looking crab-things. That was a tough learning curve!

You could ride horses in Wizards and Warriors. Not in Wizardry 8, as far as I can remember.

You're right--I remember wondering how the horse felt having seven various creatures, one of whom was an elephant mage, leap up on it's back.

A great and underappreciated game, which was what mainly led me to writing the review/retrospective. There were some talks about Sir Tech getting back on their tracks but I've heard nothing new ever since.

Thanks for the feedback.

Originally Posted by magerette
You're right--I remember wondering how the horse felt having seven various creatures, one of whom was an elephant mage, leap up on it's back.

There was a load of humorous fan fiction about the Uber Horse back in the day, complete with screen shots of the horse swimming, climbing walls, and other fantastic feats, all while fully laden.

Originally Posted by GothicGothicness
OOOOO Wiz 9 where art thou? I think wizardry 8 is better than 7, even if I loved 7 too… I happen to like the long battles in Wiz 8, when you've played for awhile it's only the really hard battles that becomes long… since you can kill a lot of lesser creatures with a killer area spell or two. I still play it a lot of hours every year. This game has such a great replayrate…… I love the idea to play through the entire game with a Faerie on Ironman and on the hard setting Though I didn't even make it out of the monastary……. I think I'll go with easy… and drop the ironman first LOL.

I was hoping, but I guess that they didn't make enough off of Wiz8 to do it.

The worst part about that review is that it makes me think that it's the last truly good crpg that we'll ever see, given Oblivious and the general trend toward accessifying genres, or a euphemism for dumbing down rpgs so much that even koko could play.

(…and to make it worse I've gotten to thinking about who Bethesda has working on Fallout 3… sigh… )

Wiz 8 rocked. Wiz 7 had quite a few more options with factions if I recall.

Nothing beats Wizardry 1 though. At the time it blew anything and everything away in terms of gaming.

The spell system was the best and its a shame they got rid of it. Oh no, Kobolds! Tiltowait! And then when you are crawling back you hope you have enough power for even a Badios!