Review Wizardy 8 re-visited by Rampant Coyote

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: Wizardry 8

<a href="http://www.rampantgames.com/blog/2008/08/wizardry-8-running-gauntlet.html">Tales of the Rampant Coyote are playing Wizardy 8</a>. Here's a bit on how much they like:
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<blockquote>Now, if you've been following this blog for a while, you may remember how I complain about how games these days hold your hand and expect you to "brute force" your way through every encounter, never requiring you (or even allowing you) to considering alternatives that don't require killing everything in sight?
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This ain't one of 'em.
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...
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Now, it could be that Arnika Road was designed to teach players the importance of fleeing from bad odds. And it may be that they had some flaw in their encounter-scaling logic that overdid it at level 5. And it could be that the designers deliberately made Arnika Road a speed-bump in the game.
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While I couldn't see much of it in my flight to the nearly abandoned city, I really only noticed one "interesting" feature of this area (besides some items sprinkled across the landscape): a building with an impenetrable barred door. I can totally understand the reason why the door was barred, considering the threat level of the creatures roaming the road. And now I'm very curious as to what is inside. That's exploration for you. You get teased by seeing something you can't quite reach, and wonder what lay beyond.</blockquote>
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Old games were hardcore. Oh wait, I said that yesterday too. Oh well.
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Spotted @ <a href="http://www.rpgwatch.com">RPGWatch</a>

 

[elander_]

Wasn't W8 released in 2001 ?

http://www.mobygames.com/game/wizardry-8

 

[RampantCoyote]

It was indeed released in 2001.

I am playing it in 2008.

Sadly, it is still the best RPG I've played all year.

 

[sportforredneck]

Old games were hardcore. Oh wait, I said that yesterday too. Oh well.

YOU ARE SO COOL DU WHAT EVER WOULD WE DO WITHOUT YOU????????!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!

 

[FrancoTAU]

Even Arnika City is pretty dangerous if you have lame equipment. That's pretty hardcore when you're running for your life INSIDE a town.

Hey Jay, you should install the quick combat patch that makes the enemy movement delay much more bearable. Also, the difficulty of the game moves into the fun type of hard after you buy equipment in Arnika. Arnika Road was a bad design decision in that it was a big negative first impression that turned off a lot of players. Buy some equipment in Arnika and start to constantly use buffer spells and the game rocks from than on out.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Wasn't W8 released in 2001 ?

Yes, hence the "re-visited" bit in the title.

YOU ARE SO COOL DU WHAT EVER WOULD WE DO WITHOUT YOU????????!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!

You're damn right.

 

[Jasede]

I like the name "Rampant Coyote" and I like the game. If I had a boxed copy of Wizardry 8 I'd cuddle it to sleep at night, instead of that plush-bunny.

 

[sportforredneck]

I like the name "Rampant Coyote"

furfag comment here.

If I had a boxed copy of Wizardry 8 I'd cuddle it to sleep at night, instead of that plush-bunny.

addendum to furfag comment.

YOU ARE SO COOL DU WHAT EVER WOULD WE DO WITHOUT YOU????????!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!

You're damn right.

 

[thesheeep]

Goddamn it!

Everytime I read about the game, I want to replay it. Everytime I replay it, I forget to save for like 30 minutes, die, become frustrated and uninstall. Then I read about it again

Almost as frustrating as ToEE, where it always is savegame corruption that prevents me from going on.

 

[St. Toxic]

Goddamn it!

Everytime I read about the game, I want to replay it.Almost as frustrating as ToEE...

Curse you! Now I must install ToEE, to be sorelly disappointed.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

I'm finally playing it right now after years of waiting. Very good game. The only complaint I would make would also be about random encounters that scale to your level and make almost every fight dangerous and long. But then again, it's still better than meaningless fights with ridiculously underpowered enemies as in many other games.

Arnika road is a pain, it took me hours of fighting to clear it, and then to travel it again to go back to the monastery with the wheel key... and back again. But as far as I can see, it's like this in every outside area. Not much better in the city, but the robots are easier than those goddamn poison plants, plus you get help from the patrols.

Even if the spawning system is a bit set on overkill, the depth of combat really makes up for it. I'm amazed at what Sir Tech did, I couldn't imagine giving such tactical depth to a "first person party crpg". Then I heard one of those comments from one of my party members and I went : "I know that voice ! It sounds like one of those badass mercs from Jagged alliance 2." Of course it does. Sir Tech ruled and still rules.

 

[ghostdog]

You don't have to fight all enemies, especially in arnika road, since it will take ages to travel back and forth before you get enough teleportation spells. Also every area has a level cap, so after a while the enemies won't level up with you.

The only design problem I found was that it's possible to get diseased in the early stages of the game , and don't have any means to cure your player. It gets really frustrating when you realize that after a while the character's hitpoints start to decrease. I had to reload a much earlier save because of that. Also some of those cultist mages you encounter in arnika road , early in the game, are almost impossible to defeat and you are forced to try and avoid them.

 

[Elwro]

Now, it could be that Arnika Road was designed to teach players the importance of fleeing from bad odds. And it may be that they had some flaw in their encounter-scaling logic that overdid it at level 5.

Yeah, that area actually taught me that to succeed in this game I probably shouldn't even try to level up.

 

[thesheeep]

Goddamn it!

Everytime I read about the game, I want to replay it.Almost as frustrating as ToEE...

Curse you! Now I must install ToEE, to be sorelly disappointed.

Nooooooooo.....!
What have I done?!

 

[RampantCoyote]

I'm still kicking myself for not playing it back in 2001 when it first came out. But better late than never. At least I don't have to worry about posting spoilers.

I noticed that the game gave me some freebie resurrection items early on - resurrection powder and a resurrection scroll. Was this just random luck, or did other people get these items? Sounds like a way to relieve the pressure of early-game deaths.

 

[Jasede]

There's 2 bags of ressurection powder in the monastary. Rather 2 batches with multiple bags, idk.

 

[FrancoTAU]

Yeah, they give you a couple resurrection items. That's a nice part about Wiz8 vs Wiz7, which really made it hard to continue if you had characters die. D&D and Wizardry don't handle death the best possible way.

 

[Mefi]

D&D and Wizardry don't handle death the best possible way.

Yeah, the ability to resurrect people is way too expensive in comparison to Britain's NHS.

Wizardry 8 was fun.