Wiz8 debate

I've got my ironman crew thru Marten's Bluff and back to Mt. Gigas. So the debate is which side to take in the alliance this time. I've done all 3 options in previous wins, so it's just a question of which one appeals at the moment. I'm thinking I might go Trang this time. It's been a while since I've cleansed Mt. Gigas. Thoughts?

Hi dteowner, good to see you here.
I thought going double agent was a lot of fun.

Yep, that's how I went all those years ago too!! However, I never really liked the Trang; I always felt they weren't to be trusted!! I wiped them out as best I could in Wiz 7!!

Isn't there 4 options? T'rang, Umpani, Double Agent and Rapax king?

Hmmm. I've never tried to stay with the Templars long enough to be on good terms with the King. Sounds like I've got a direction. Thanks, bjon45!

Rapax King?? How come I don't remember hearing about that option?

I hadn't either. Will give it a spin, although I only get to play on weekends for a while here.

I still need to play this game for the 1st time (for more than a couple of hours, anyway).

It's still one of the best old skule games ever made!! Go for it!!!!

@josephwatson - You do that…

I am pretty sure the rapax areas weren't fully finished (rapax castle and rapax away camp). It kind of seems like there should be a whole storyline involving restoring the queen to power but as it is when I play a rapax game I simply wipe out the Umpani and the T'rang and kill the rapax queen and the 2 spies. Would have been nice if it had been fully implemented like the T'rang and Umpani missions.

How does this game run/install on XP? Haven't played it since my Win 98 days.

Originally Posted by magerette
How does this game run/install on XP? Haven't played it since my Win 98 days.

No problems at all. I don't think I'm even running in compatibility mode. I'd have to check to be sure. Make sure you patch up to v1.2.4 and install the Wizfast utility.

one problem with all these replayability options they put in CRPG's..I never do.

There are still a lot of active fansites out there--saw that Flamestryke has one, and there even seemed to be some relatively recent activity on the Sir Tech page. Thanks for the heads-up on the patch and utility,dteowner.

Ran fine under win2k when I last played a few years ago, XP should be the same.

As to old school: the game system/mechanics are like the games of the good old days before RPGs were dumbed down, i.e. made more "accessible". The engine, however, is fully 3D, and I thought, pretty good for when it first came out. Battles can be tediously long towards the end, so if you've only got limited play time this may not be the game for you.

A good strategy for beginners is when outside and about to face mobs, find a niche to back into so your party doesn't get surrounded. i.e. your wimps in the back will quickly be killed otherwise.

Originally Posted by cutterjohn
Ran fine under win2k when I last played a few years ago, XP should be the same….
…A good strategy for beginners is when outside and about to face mobs, find a niche to back into so your party doesn't get surrounded. i.e. your wimps in the back will quickly be killed otherwise.

Yes, I am presently backed up with my Fairy Mage smothered behind my Mook Ranger with the meat sheilds to the fore, huddled into a tiny crevice on the Arnika road, desparately fending off wave upon wave of Higardi ne'er-do-wells. It is running great on Xp without any problems, and the 3D is really not that bad--certainly no worse than the original Gothic.

This is really a much better game than I realized when I got it. The characters do indeed have distinct little personalities due to the nice scripting and competent voice acting--it has a lot of qualities that you just don't see anymore--like it's hard!… er, …challenging. I can see how the fights could get a bit tedious, but I did find a site to download the Wiz8Fast utility, which I will probably break out later. All in all, a true rpg, deep and layered--and I'm just at the beginning.


Thanks, Role-Player, for getting this started with your review over at the Codex. And of course, RPGWatch for newsbitting it.

Ah, the Arnika Road!!! I spent many an hour or two engaged in multitudinous, multifaceted, melodramatic, and metacognitive mayhem there, as I made my way from point A to B!!

Extra points for 'metacognitive' play, right? Does this require more than two lobes of brainpower? This could be my problem.

@dteownwer
Ironman is definitely impressing me. I am more at the Limp Spaghetti Man level.
I can't imagine this game without the death-cheating reload feature.

Well, I didn't play Ironman for a long, long time. I've got 6 wins, 3 Rapax Rifts, and over a hundred monestaries on my resume at this point. After 1000+ hours of gaming, Ironman isn't quite so daunting, although I must admit I'm being pretty careful about my progress.

See, the "real man" plays a solo faerie ninja on difficult level with ironman. I've done that thru Arnika, but I had been playing too much of the game when I tried that and I ended up quitting.