So my adventures in Wizardry 8, the "last of the (mainstream) old-school RPGs," has come to an end. It's a good thing that a game doesn't have to be new for me to enjoy it. Plus, I no longer need to kick myself for missing out on it.

One of the many reasons I love RPGs is because, at the end, I don't feel so much like I've won the game so much as I got to live it. At least if its good. Wizardry 8 was definitely one of those experiences
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There are, unfortunately, a couple of glaring issues that continued to bug be me with combat:

First of all, the differences between monsters were often not particularly noticeable. Instead of having strengths and weaknesses, at higher level monsters typically had strengths and bigger strengths. This was especially noticeable with upgraded "versions" of monsters, or different classes of monsters. The defense were relatively predictable, and there wasn't much of a feeling of "gotchas" or of the enemy working together to form a particularly interesting tactical puzzle most of the time. Boss encounters were an exception, and I felt the earlier stages of the game were better about monsters hitting the party with "signature attacks" than in later levels. It feels like they maybe ran out of ideas later in the game.
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And admittedly, having your own demonic daughter attack you near the end of the game was something of a first for any game I've ever played. Kudos to whomever came up with that optional plotline. And I hope said designer has since received psychiatric help.​