Wizardry 8 Party Creation Advice

I admire your zeal on avoiding mage-types, as I do the very same thing. This certainly can be done with any of the wizardry games, although it is a pass less taken. Bard is a solid pick, and the ninja can solve your thieving conundrums, albeit a bit slower. The samurai/ninja duo is quite powerful, and should serve you well. Whatever you choose, if you find any class not pulling their respective weight, just try another till you get a group that functions for you.

I liked most of the straight classes. The hybrids (ninja, samurai, ...), 'cept for valkaryie, are more difficult. The ninja Farie has a nice late game option but is very very fragile early game.