Wizardry How to best enjoy Wizardry 7?

[Shaewaroz]

I'm seriously considering starting my first real playthrough of Wiz 7. I'd appreciate some tips from fellow Codexers on how to get most out of this masterpiece of a game.

I'd prefer to avoid as much pointless wandering around and fighting trash mobs as possible and get to meet interesting characters, solve interesting mysteries and do exciting quests as soon as possible. I don't want to end up playing 50 hours doing nothing but pointless grinding and aimless exploration.

I've watched some let's play videos, but I don't know more than the absolute basics of the game. I will of course read the manual and some basic guides before starting the game. I've finished Wiz 8 years ago.

Some major points I'd like to hear about:

1) What route should I take? As I understand it, after gaining some levels and being able to deal with basic enemy mobs you can pretty much go anywhere you like. So where should I go to find the most interesting NPCs and quests?
2) How many different factions can I do quests for / ally with? Are some factions clearly more beneficial / better than others?
3) Are there any essential character class / gender combinations that I should consider? I read that there are equipment that are only usable by characters of a specific gender or a specific class.
4) Are there any fail states that I should try to avoid? Like misplacing a particular item or killing a particular NPC.
5) Are there any particularly useful items that I should try to get ASAP?
6) How to make combat go as smoothly as possible? Any spells / skills / equipment that makes it less tedious?
7) Should characters carry multiple weapons or is one weapon per character enough?
8) Starting party suggestions + class combination suggestions.
9) Tips for roleplaying. How to best immerse myself into the game world?
10) Your memorable experiences (both good & bad) with the game. No major spoilers please.

 

[Sweeper]

The best way to enjoy Wizardry 7 is to play Wizardry 8 instead.

 

[Sweeper]

FUCKING GODDAMN IT INFINITRON

 

[Lady_Error]

1) After New City, do the Gorn, Munks and Umpani, then the Rattkin. After that either the mountains or the Dane.

2) Only Umpani and T'Rang are real factions. You can do both and double cross one or both.

3) Most powerful weapon is only useable by a fairy ninja.

4) Quest items usually cannot be dropped anyway.

5) Swim a bit up the river at the T'Shober crossing for a nice stash for the Lord class.

6) Just git gud.

7) Up to you.

8) Up to you.

9) The game creates a, dream-like experience all on its own. Allow your imagination to fill in the blanks, if you do not do this anyway already.

10) When it came out, there was no walkthrough and I played and explored for months. Bad experience might be a couple of the more esoteric puzzles, but it's also a part of the fun.

 

[Piotrovitz]

If you're not into grid cartographer, install the automap mod - for the ones like me it's essential.

There is a map you can get quite early in the game, but accessing it from your inventory is a major pain in the ass.

 

[Dyspaire]

Get a notepad and some pencils. Get some grid paper. Print out the manual and have it bound and organized nearby.

Use the in-game map. Don't use the internet to look things up. TAKE NOTES.

Turn out the lights. Put your headphones on. Relax. Start the game and pay attention.

Play the game the way it was meant to be played.

2c

 

[Butter]

Wizardry 7 is overall quite fair. The random encounter rate probably should've been lowered, but you're rarely going to be in over your head with the combat. They mercifully added the option to quit the game during combat so you don't have to wait for a party wipe like in Wizardry 6.

An auto-map tool like Grid Cartographer is nice, but it's better to use the in-game map that they give you, even with the hassle of having to access it from your inventory.

As far as party composition goes, remember that top 2 plus middle left are all considered frontline. If you've only got one guy who can afford to get hit, you're going to have a rough time.

Always side with the Umpani over the T'Rang. Those rhinos are badass.

You have to take notes during the game, and avoiding looking up hints as much as possible. It's going to take you a while to finish the game.

 

[octavius]

Either play Wiz 6 first to import better weapons against the endless hordes of HP sponges you'll face, or start with base classes to get as much skill points as possible so you can cast spells like Cure Poison and Cure Diseases ASAP. Starting with prestige classes will yield too little skill points. Unlike Wiz 6 it's divided into sub-categories, so you can't spend all on magic skills, but have to spend some on useless (because they will increases quickly through use) weapon skills.

Start with a Bard for the free Sleep spell which is very useful in the beginning.

Only females can be Valkyries.

Only Elf Rangers can use a certain bow but it's not that powerful to be worth it.

Only Samurais can wield the Muramasa Blade.

IIRC only Lords can use a powerful Sword, and only Valk can use the Manaid Lance.

Class changing can be useful to get much skill points quickly, but all combat calculations use the level of you current class in the calculations, so don't overdo the class changing.

Wizardry 7 is overall quite fair. The random encounter rate probably should've been lowered,

"Probably".

 

[Piotrovitz]

Get a notepad and some pencils. Get some grid paper. Print out the manual and have it bound and organized nearby.

Use the in-game map. Don't use the internet to look things up. TAKE NOTES.

Turn out the lights. Put your headphones on. Relax. Start the game and pay attention.

Play the game the way it was meant to be played.

Quit your job.

Look for the original game on floppy disks

Buy 14" CRT

Move to your parents basement.

Plug off your phone

Get some pergamin paper, quill and inkwell for map drawing and creating your characters' charts, along with their dozen multiclass schedules/plans

Succumb to the patrician experience that lies ahead of you.

 

[V_K]

Get a notepad and some pencils. Get some grid paper. Print out the manual and have it bound and organized nearby.

Use the in-game map. Don't use the internet to look things up. TAKE NOTES.

Turn out the lights. Put your headphones on. Relax. Start the game and pay attention.

Play the game the way it was meant to be played.

Quit your job.

Look for the original game on floppy disks

Buy 14" CRT

Move to your parents basement.

Plug off your phone

Get some pergamin paper, quill and inkwell for map drawing and creating your characters' charts, along with their dozen multiclass schedules/plans

Succumb to the patrician experience that lies ahead of you.

You both forgot the most important part: drop your pants and bend over.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Lady Error's route is solid.

The best way to enjoy the game is to play through Wiz 6 first and then import the Muramasa blade, the Avenger, Zatoichi Bo, Maenad's Lance, etc.

For class changing you can just do the classic 3x fighter then change them to lord/samurai/ninja as you see fit. For mages and priests I swapped them back and forth before making them Bishops to fill out their spell lists. I also cycled everyone through a class with Kirijutsu in order to get instakill attacks on the whole party but that's overkill. Also nice to have a priest change to a valkyrie so you have a healer who can attack decently from the back row.

In Gorn you will find vendors who sell Spear +2s that are pretty nice for much of the game, buy a couple because it's the only place to get them. I did all my class changing in Gorn castle because the enemies were easy and still give decent XP. From there the foes mostly get harder and more aggravating but without much XP increase.

After Gorn I would recommend rushing for the final dungeon. The enemies there give like 10x the XP compared to the whole rest of the game, so it's much quicker to level there than anywhere else. You need many levels for the final battles so be prepared to grind there.

 

[Shaewaroz]

A few questions about combat:

1) How is To Hit % calculated? Is it tied to a particular Attribute, Character Class Level or the Weapon Skill?
2) How is Attack Penetration calculated? Is it tied to Attributes, Skills or something else?
3) Are some weapons better at Penetration than other? (other than different weapons being able to Thrust, Shoot, Bash, Lash etc.)

 

[Lady_Error]

The manual has all you need to know. And yes, Attributes, Level and Skills all play a role. Different attack modes also have different penetration and damage, eg. Melee is best in both.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

A few questions about combat:

1) How is To Hit % calculated? Is it tied to a particular Attribute, Character Class Level or the Weapon Skill?
2) How is Attack Penetration calculated? Is it tied to Attributes, Skills or something else?
3) Are some weapons better at Penetration than other? (other than different weapons being able to Thrust, Shoot, Bash, Lash etc.)

The main hit roll is based on class levels. There's a hidden Hit chance stat that gets better each time you level up. *however* class changing can fuck with it. When you class change you don't get hit chance increases for levels re-gained. So if you level up to fighter 5, change to samurai, you won't get hit increases for levels 1-4. Possibly you get them for level 5 though. This means you could power-game by re leveling to the exact level you class changed over and over again, and stack massive hit chance increases.

It's totally unnecessary though. Just know that fighter-type classes get better hit chances than others. I believe Samurai have the highest. Going up in levels is all you really need to do.

skills confer a hit chance bonus and extra swings. It's not really worth fretting over though because you'll naturally hit 100 sooner or later no matter what.

 

[Viata]

I don't get it, but for me the best way to enjoy the game is just to play it and get fucked over and over as you learn the game. Following some route that someone told you to follow feels like the opposite of "how to best enjoy wiz7".

 

[mondblut]

I'd prefer to avoid as much pointless wandering around and fighting trash mobs as possible and get to meet interesting characters, solve interesting mysteries and do exciting quests as soon as possible. I don't want to end up playing 50 hours doing nothing but pointless grinding and aimless exploration.

You are doing it wrong.

2) How many different factions can I do quests for / ally with? Are some factions clearly more beneficial / better than others?

Two. Umpani teach you firearms and give you thermal pineapple. T'rang are just being assholes.

3) Are there any essential character class / gender combinations that I should consider? I read that there are equipment that are only usable by characters of a specific gender or a specific class.

A female fairy means free thief/bard chass change at will. You do need a fairy for the best weapon in game and you do need a bard for an easier start, so that's a no-brainer starting character...

...except that a fairy bard does not get a lute, so you'd need someone else to start as bard, hand his lute to the fairy and change class

4) Are there any fail states that I should try to avoid? Like misplacing a particular item or killing a particular NPC.

There is a tiny chance for a key *MAP* to end up in the possession of Don Barlone with no way to reach and kill him, so either make sure the wandering rattkin NPCs die quickly, or try to stay on good terms with the rattkin.

5) Are there any particularly useful items that I should try to get ASAP?

Make sure you take a stone from Gran Melange. Regen and hp drain on items do not stack, and that's the only item with +2 regen to offset the -2 drain cursed items.

Also make sure you are transfering the party from Wizardry 6 and have the ring.

6) How to make combat go as smoothly as possible? Any spells / skills / equipment that makes it less tedious?

Nuclear blast. Recharged thermal pineapple if you like exploits. For melee, look for weapons with "melee" attack and KIA ability, and drill everybody in kirijutsu. Better yet, drill everybody in everything.

7) Should characters carry multiple weapons or is one weapon per character enough?

A class change can leave you naked and unarmed in the middle of nowhere (unless your items are cursed, which good stuff thankfully tends to be), so prepare your new set of equipment in advance.

8) Starting party suggestions + class combination suggestions.

Female faery bard/thief.

Felpurr, rawulf, mook are solid races with good mana regen and balanced stats.

If you intend to play the class change game, avoid races with pitfall stats. If you wish to get far, dump stats are your enemies that will smother your class-changing progression.

Also, smaller party = more xp, and this is a rare case where more xp actually trumps more manpower. You can get half your party killed early on and keep them around as luggage carriers. After kickstarting the survivors, you can resurrect those and get them into shape later on.

Harder difficulty means more enemies means also more xp, which makes is easier difficulty in the long run.

9) Tips for roleplaying. How to best immerse myself into the game world?

...what?

10) Your memorable experiences (both good & bad) with the game. No major spoilers please.

Fighting moths that put the party to sleep while on shrooms. The most exciting 3 hours long encounter that I've had.

 

[Viata]

...what?

Best reaction to that question. We finally know to who this page was created: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Roleplaying

 

[Jasede]

It's hard to recommend you where to start because the game changes a good bit depending on your choices in Wizardry 6, which can lead to fairly different starting positions in the game.

Personally I started somewhere near New City and the Umpani and did those two areas first, then Gorn castle, and then it's really up to you.

As for party advice, that depends heavily on whether you plan on playing Wizardry 8 after (with an imported savegame) and how much cheese you are willing to allow.

Keep in mind even with heavy cheese Wizardry 8 is quite difficult... as is 7.

 

[AArmanFV]

Take a 4 months vacation, the rest it's done automatically.

 

[Reality]

Not going to give super munchkin advice but a couple short things

Priest, Mage, Psionic, Alchemist learning spells faster than Elite classes matters a lot, but so does big HP - my personal experience - all but the Samurai can get away with it but he specifically feels like he doesn't develop as a charather for the longest time because mage's want their higher level spells the most, while the others have low level utility spells that kind of overshadow their big stuff.

Bard is your god for the first 10 hours of a playthrough.

Thief - I like the starting skill bonus so much that I accept their deadweightness for the first 5 levels before reclassing (in Wiz 1-3 I take one full time even) -- I know it works for some people but I personally think that Bard/Ninjas substituting for traps slows down a playthrough for more than it's worth. Once you hit a breakpoint of about 40 skillpoints then you are good to go. If you insist on going without them be prepared to either A: Save/Reload at chests in first 2 dungeons or B: Ignore chest in first 2 dungeons/town entirely and/or come back to them once your wizards have leveled up to cast Knock at a decent level.

Status resistances - You'll notice their are 6 spell types, but the game has 13 actual resistances - Some resistances (Light/Blind) are unfairly blessed and tons of enemy types are vulnerable to it throughout the entire game. Other ones are super useful earlygame but later practically everything is immune to it (Sleep//Nasuea). Their is a spell to lower resistance but it is level difference based and quite finnicky in my personal experience (don't expect it to be as godly as Baldur's Gate Greater Malison) - Direct damage resistance (fire/water mostly) tend to be blanket resisted at 50% later on, but that's still comfortably in range of usability when multible enemies are concerned. Finally Silence is REALLY good, almost all actual spellcaster enemies either have 15% or 35% with other resistance numbers being fairly rare.

Weapon Skills - You can change weapon types entirely with very little penalty because they raise themselves quite quickly - don't get in a D&D esque "weapon specialization" mindset if you find the Vulcan Hammer (or suchlike) and the only charather class that can equip it is your "sword" user - it will be their best possible weapon for a long time before swords itemize high enough to overpower it (this is more for wiz 6 than wiz 7 where items come more frequently)

Monks and Ninjas - having a bad earlygame is kind of a myth, because martial arts gives huge initiative bonus (which indirectly turns into swings/attacks per round) which makes them one of the most useful offensive charathers at low levels, and the easy weapon skill switching above lets them get ready for the strong mid-lategame (less so for monks than ninjas ofc)

Lategame you will almost inevitably find good fixed equipment for Samurai, Valk, and FVL(Fighter/Valk/Lord) - but I've thrown away some/all of it before so I wouldn't really worry about it.

As an experiment - one Mage never reclass, one Mage was in a Mage>Priest>Mage>Preist loop - for the same amount of experience the latter had all L7 spells for both schools at the same time the pure one had his very first L6 spell (Wiz 7 does give bonuses to charathers with high attributes so this is an improvement over the Wiz 6 Pure who only his very first L5 spell in the same experiment) - The +40 HP secondary benefit is kind of noticble in both games though.

Don't level grind in old areas, After a reclass the "crippled" charather shouldn't stop your 5 men from fighting in the latest place at all, and especially if one of the on-level people is a mage, could be regaining many levels in a single battle.

Non Fairy Ninjas still have a respectable power curve, they just end up being the 3rd~ ish most useful instead of the no1 MVP charather lategame.

I average Wiz 6-7 with 4 pures and 2 reclassers, Wiz 1-3 / 8 with full party of pures - So it's really up to you if you want to or don't want to, even though it's far more incentivized here than any other game in this series.

 

[Lady_Error]

"a couple short things"

 

[Casual Hero]

You're thinking about it too much
Just read the manual and get started

 

[Shaewaroz]

I don't get it, but for me the best way to enjoy the game is just to play it and get fucked over and over as you learn the game. Following some route that someone told you to follow feels like the opposite of "how to best enjoy wiz7".

I try to strike a balance between learning the essential game mechanics vs. going in blind. I tried playing Wiz7 years ago - played for a couple of hours before realizing I wasn't happy with my party, and quit because I didn't want to waste hours creating a new party and starting over. I prefer to know at least basics like which Attributes determine To Hit chance, which skills are essential early / late game etc before creating a party. I'd also prefer to meet some of the interesting NPCs early on instead of wandering around fighting trash mobs for dozens of hours before learning anything about the various factions.

However I definitely don't want to read detailed guides about what keywords to use or where to find specific items - that'd completely spoil the wonder of exploration. A smooth and interesting start is all I'm after.

 

[Jasede]

If a smooth start is what you are after, try having a Fighter and a Bard and a Priest and a Mage in your starting party.

 

[Curratum]

The best way to enjoy Wizardry 7 is to get your autism card punched and stamped before you start the game. Having done that, you're guaranteed to have fun with the entire game.