Wizardry The Wizardry Series Thread

[Magellan]

Every time this thread is active I get the urge to replay wiz 8 again. I was hoping that amidst all the coming incline that we would eventually get an updated Wizardry of some kind but it doesn't seem to be happening.

Grimoire is the only chance. Unless there is another game I'm missing?

Elminage Gothic is coming out soonish. It's very very Wizardry, though of the Wizardry 1 - 5 variety.

It's coming out on Sept. 18th. I just saw that the pre-order is 20% off (7.99) on Steam. I've never played an Elminage game, but this looks pretty damn cool.

[Puke]
Anime artwork.
[/Puke]

Octavius, I'm normally with you on the pukey anime artwork. However, the artwork in this game actually looks damn good.

When I think of pukey anime artwork, this is more of what I personally think of.......

 

[octavius]

Yeah, that doesn't look too bad. Better than the images that turned up after a quick Google search.

 

[Jaesun]

Yeah. most jRPG artwork (for me) is RAGE INDUCING, but that actually doesn't look that bad.

Is the game any good?

 

[KoriTama]

Wizardry 7 Automap Mod Version 0.1a.

This is not tested well yet, so it may contain many bugs. Final version come out when I finish my Wizardry 7 walkthrough which I even doesn't start.

 

[Magellan]

Yeah. most jRPG artwork (for me) is RAGE INDUCING, but that actually doesn't look that bad.

Is the game any good?

No idea. The Steam release is a few days away, and I've never played any of the series on PSP or Vita or whatever they were on before.

 

[TigerKnee]

Hardcore Gaming 101 is starting their super Wizardry overview.

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/wizardry/wizardry.htm

So what do you hardcore Wiz fans think of what they've written so far?

Spoiler

Angry at the part about Wizardry influencing JRPG series before they declined?

 

[Darth Slaughter]

they link an interview with robert woodhead in our prestigious magazine...

 

[Grauken]

I read in the another Wiz thread on the codex that part 2 and 3 got switched in all the console ports, but this http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/wizardry/wizardry5.htm mentions only the NES versions are switched. I still wonder which it is

 

[Malignant Manor]

The Wizardry 7 auto-map allows you to resize the automap with the mouse and should also work with Wizardry 6. The automap does not load data from old saved games so only areas explored while running the mod show. It supports multiple saves i.e. save.dbs and save2.dbs have their own automap save files. It shows the squares surrounding as darkened out (which is nice). The in-game map shows them as completely black.

for KoriTama

KoriTama

I got this error when trying to run it in XP.

The procedure entry point strcpy_s could not be located in the dynamic link library msvcrt.dll
​

I ended up compiling it, but my old gcc environment didn't compile right for the tooltips so I commented it out. strcpy_s (which seems to be Microsoft specific but maybe maybe it would work if GCC was updated) was also missing so I didn't get the window title. Updating GCC would require me to backup yet another compile environment for old projects and recompile libraries so I'm not going to be doing that anytime soon.

In cdrom_aspi_win32.cpp, you needlessly changed some includes

#if defined (_MSC_VER)
#include <ntddcdrm.h>       // Ioctl stuff
#include <ntddscsi.h>
#include <winioctl.h>       // Ioctl stuff
#else

#include <ntddscsi.h>
#include <winioctl.h>       // Ioctl stuff
#include <ntddcdrm.h>       // Ioctl stuff
#endif

should be

#if defined (_MSC_VER)
#include <ntddcdrm.h>       // Ioctl stuff
#include <ntddscsi.h>
#include <winioctl.h>       // Ioctl stuff
#else
#include "ddk/ntddcdrm.h"     // Ioctl stuff
#include "ddk/ntddscsi.h"
#endif

(this code shouldn't even be compiled for people building the automap anyway since it requires >= SDL 2.0.2.)

 

[KoriTama]

I got this error when trying to run it in XP.

The procedure entry point strcpy_s could not be located in the dynamic link library msvcrt.dll​

http://www.moddb.com/mods/wizardry-7-automap-mod/downloads/wizardry-7-automap-mod-01b

The build with Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Runtime should work in Windows XP.

 

[Malignant Manor]

http://www.moddb.com/mods/wizardry-7-automap-mod/downloads/wizardry-7-automap-mod-01b

The build with Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Runtime should work in Windows XP.

Thanks, it does work in XP. Tooltips on the automap stay ghosted instead of disappearing (or moving) and refreshing the map when the mouse moves. Were you able to get the in-game automap save info from Mad God so that you could support preexisting saves and maybe not need to save explored squares anymore?

 

[KoriTama]

Tooltips on the automap stay ghosted instead of disappearing (or moving) and refreshing the map when the mouse moves.

Hmm... I can't reproduce the issue in Windows XP under VirtualBox. This only occurs in automap window or in the main window, too? It happens only for Wizardry 7(do it works normally for Wizardry 6)? Can you do a screenshot when tooltip displays half outside of window(when it must show and when it must disappear)?

Were you able to get the in-game automap save info from Mad God so that you could support preexisting saves and maybe not need to save explored squares anymore?

I didn't understand you. I save explored squares for Standard Mode and use info from preexisting saves in "Skill & Spell" Mode. Did "Skill & Spell" Mode(run via playwiz7_sns_mode.bat) works for you(like in second half of YouTube-clip)?

 

[Malignant Manor]

KoriTama

Oops, sorry. "Skill & Spell" mode does read the map data. It would be nice if you would import that data into games without existing auto-map mod data files when S&S is disabled (no blank map when using old save game).

The ghosting (probably not the proper definition) is an issue with W7 auto-map window only with tooltips and the marker popup window. The auto-map window also doesn't redraw when the window regains focus so if it was underneath another window, that part will not update until something forces an update. Here is a screenshot, but I'm still not sure if it is what you want.

 

[KoriTama]

Malignant Manor

Done. http://www.moddb.com/mods/wizardry-7-automap-mod/downloads/wizardry-7-automap-mod-02a

 

[Malignant Manor]

KoriTama , thanks. That seems to work well.

 

[logrus]

So, finished Wizardry 8 again and this party was my all-time favourite, lots of fun!

Male Human Samurai - Dual wield Sword + dagger, in the later stages I have also developed him as an offensive spellcaster
Male Felpurr Monk - fast Martial Arts specialist, psionics were also developed
Female Dracon Valkyrie - dual wield sword + mace "battlepriest"
Female Human Bard - archer, pickpocket specialist
Female Hobbit Gadgeteer - modern weapons sniper, locks & traps specialict
Female Faerie Bishop - all schools developed, but not enough to learn all level 7 spells (I did no grinding for magic skills, they were developed only through natural usage)

I had tons of fun with this class, everyone could do some melee or ranged combat or cast spells - directly or through instruments or gadgets. I had multiple characters able to heal, cast buffs or remove status effects. Slow start but after 12-14 levels this party was just awesome, ascension peak was walk in the park on normal and also pretty reasonable on expert. I really recommend this party, it's balanced between might and magic, you are never weak nor overpowered and you can use nearly all cool items you loot.

I'm still not burned with Wizardry 8, but don't know what to try next... I prefer 6-man parties with no joinable NPCs, but I finished Wiz 8 multiple times with such setup - time to try something else. I'm not sure solo faerie ninja run is my cup of tea... I tried it once (cleared the monastery) and while I like some challenge, the battles become really random - after 20 minutes of battle one lucky shot or applied status effect is game over without a possibility to counter. Not really fun after 3rd reload.

I think I could try some smaller 2-4 characters party with intensive multiclassing. Anyone tried and succeeded with such setup?

 

[Major_Blackhart]

You haven't lived til you've done a 1 man army.

 

[dopefisher]

You haven't lived til you've done a 1 man army.

Agreed, I've read about people soloing the entire game as a bishop in Wiz 8, although I don't remember what race, if it matters.

 

[Gnidrologist]

I did solos with rogue and bishop. They both turn into demigods pretty fast after Arnika. Think the bishop was elf (duh) and rogue felpurr (duh nr2). Also played duo (bishop + lizardman warrior) and 4 men party (forgot the setup - guess it was samurai, warrior, some sort of magic class and bard or gadgeteer)). The later is probably most fun for me because there is enough variety and options to use items, but not too much to micromanage both in combat and inventory.

I think i did some stealth grinding in monastery with my solo bishop.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

How do people stealth grind in the monastery?

 

[Gnidrologist]

Make rogue/ninja with stats that accommodate switching to your prefered class right from the second level. Find some weak ass enemy like a single crab from starting area or low level poison seekers. Allow them to pummel you in defense only mode. When health gets low, run away and recover. Return for some more. Rinse and repeat. Switch to prefered class when you think it's enough.

No more than some 10-15 minutes are needed to rise your stealth in 20-30ish. It's cheesy as fuck, but i really don't think my bishop would've survived till Arnika without ridiculous amounts of savescumming otherwise as he has piece of shit magick at those low levels, no means to attack physically and no defenses/hp whatsoever. A little bit of stealth is a life saver. No such problem with rogue, obviously. Rogue is probably the easiest class to solo and gets into fucking Dirzzt in no time.

 

[Lilura]

Approx how many hours did your solo take?

 

[Gnidrologist]

I never count my hours and i'm veeeeeery slow player so it's probably a lot, but not more than it would be with full party. In fact i probably spent more time with 6+2 party because of all the added micromanagement and combat options to handle. On top of that, after about level 17-19 solo guy turns into such a killing machine that it is faster to annihilate life with him than a large medium level party.

 

[logrus]

So, decided to start Wizardry 8 again, this time with Dodd's mod. So far it looks cool, I have already encountered new quests and items, some stuff is moved do other places - exploration is fresh again.
Difficulty is higher, but most fights I can handle. One exception is group of rogues lead by 2-3 Treasure Hunters .
These fuckers are insanely strong as for my low level party. They are capable of casting Freeze All, Sleep, Toxic Cloud, new AoE spell also inflicting poison DoT. It also seems that they have infinite mana. Really tough fights. In Arnika I lead them to guards and it helps a lot since guards are nice meatshields and can stun frequently, but the road to Trynton is hell.
One group is currently blocking my progress, can't silence treasure hunters fast enough and they paralyze half of my party with toxic cloud running on top and rogues backstabbing my toons to death. For the first time playing Wiz 8 I really start to think of power training and grinding for levels in Arnika.
Anyone who played with Dodd's mod can share some strategy for dealing with Treasure Hunters?

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Yeah, I played that mod for a bit:

1. Have someone with paralyze spell and hope it works. Otherwise reload.
2. Delete the mod, it's a complete mess and a typical case of herp derp imma mod this gaem overload.