Editorial Matt Chat 220: Matt Plays Wizardry 8

[Zed]

Tags: Matt Barton; Sir-Tech; Wizardry 8

Matt Barton just posted his video retrospective of Wizardry 8. It's about 40 minutes of gameplay from the beginning of the game and onward, with Matt's usual type of commentary.

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Also: Wizardy 8 is 50% off during GOG.com's XMAS sale.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

I've been playing Wiz8 through again recently and seem to have taken a bit of a break. This makes me want to get back into it.

 

[Wizfall]

Wizardry 8 and jagged alliance 2, 2 perfect games, the best in their category unlike all those "flawed" gems ny Obsidian or Troika.
And dialogs and voice acting are so good in these two games too.
The day Sirtech shut down we lose the best old school, hardcore, deep strategic and cRPG developer.

 

[Cenobyte]

That was quite funny to watch. I liked his perspective and thoughts about the game. And the final quotation was deep indeed

 

[Junmarko]

Man, the 2D variants have aged so much better than this - good 2D art is fucking timeless. I do love the Avatars though, bad-ass.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Man, the 2D variants have aged so much better than this - good 2D art is fucking timeless. I do love the Avatars though, bad-ass.

I am on board with loivng 2d art, it is indeed timeless. I find too that the 3d in Wiz8 is so well done given the available technology. The models are very serviceable by any standards and they animate wonderfully. It is always obvious what something is and condiering the game is a 13 year old 3d game that is remarkable. The lighting also is quite good and I appreciate the art direction.

The mixture of 2d interface, character animations, artistic implementation and solid technical implementation for the available technology is impressive IMO. I don't know of any 3d game that ages more gracefully.

 

[Dorateen]

Wizardry 8 is best appreciated by those who completed Crusaders of the Dark Savant. I have never played a cRPG since that ended with the antagonist getting away, and waiting ten years to bring the story to a satisfactory conclusion.

It was worth the wait.

 

[Luzur]

eh, guys, we have a Matt Chat thread already.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Beaten the game about two years ago, really entertaining. Arnika Road, ugh...
Maybe graphic is outdated but still cool artstyle.

Now I'm looking into some mods.

 

[catfood]

Beaten the game about two years ago, really entertaining. Arnika Road, ugh...
Maybe graphic is outdated but still cool artstyle.

Now I'm looking into some mods.

What's wrong with Arnika Road? Just sneak past the mobs straight to Arnika.

 

[theSavant]

What's wrong with Arnika Road? Just sneak past the mobs straight to Arnika.

Exactly. Most people think whenever they see an enemy they "must" engage them. The great thing in Wiz8 is, that you can avoid them by hiding in a corner or using Attack&Go tactics (enable attack mode (while enemy not seeing you), run to next hideout, release attack mode). This also prevents cumbersome battles. Of course it doesn't work everywhere, but on many occasions, and it's going to be a habit soon... also gets better later on when you get chameleon.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Plus, there is an easy way to avoid Arnika road being difficult for newbs - just withhold levelling past lvl4. Volia, wasn't so bad, was it?

 

[Lady_Error]

Something about the style of that game still rubs me the wrong way - even though W6&7 are two of my favorites.

But the portrait art is pretty nice nevertheless.

 

[Baron Dupek]

Sneaking wasn't my option because.... who the hell know what could happen here at the first time? No matter, my last and succesfull playthrough went better because I stopped exploring starting monastery and run asap to the city.

Most people think whenever they see an enemy they "must" engage them.

Kinda obvious action for low level party, isn't? Growing stronger etc. So it was nice surprise for fresh meats.
I was also surprised that Fallout 1/2 method (turn combat on -> move ->turn off) could work in other games.

 

[catfood]

Plus, there is an easy way to avoid Arnika road being difficult for newbs - just withhold levelling past lvl4. Volia, wasn't so bad, was it?

No, see this style of gaming is retarded. The point of the game is to get more and more powerful. This sort of metagaming nonsense with avoiding leveling up is contradictory to games as a whole.

There was an interview with the developers in which they stated that the reason they made Arnika Road so difficult was to teach players that they shouldn't jump into every battle thinking they have a good chance of winning, but to make players chose their battles more carefully and use things like chameleon to avoid high level mobs until they are strong enough to take them on. Also attack&go cheese like theSavant said, which while metagamey is still a much more desirable course of action than withholding leveling up.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

You do level up, just don't press this shiny "spend the skill points" button :shrug: I'm one of the people who never had problems with Arnika road or other stuff people moan about (combat speed, scaling) - just pointing out that there are easily accessible ways to avoid that. Oh, and Wiz8 is pretty metagamey, like it or not. It's even embedded in game mechanics, like ninja and bishop classes that suck without cheese/grind/metaknowledge.

 

[Kz3r0]

Wizardry has always been metgaming grinding JRPG style, no surprise considering that was made by a proto-Weeaboo, this explains why is still so popular in Japan.

 

[rpgcodexusername]

Matt reloaded several times -THAT'S CASUAL
Level scaling -THAT'S CASUAL

 

[theSavant]

Wizardry has always been metgaming grinding JRPG style

Wiz8 is absolutely no grinding game. Early parts of the series however do resemble much more the JRPG grinding style. As someone in the forums said: the Japs seemed to have taken the formula of Wizardry 3-4 and made a grinder out of it. It's really a shame. I don't expect any decent Wizardry game from them ever again. I wished they would return their license to someone capable of restoring the original lore.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

I was inspired to pick up my play-through last night after watching this video...

My party was fighting the spectres and Ghost in the final battle to escape the cemetery secret dungeon. In that last battle, several members of my party were at once nauseated, insane and afraid. The ensuing chorus of Ughs, OoooOohs and Hehahahehehahahas! was priceless.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Wiz8 is absolutely no grinding game.

It absolutely can be if one wants to - it has respawning mob, very high level limit, skills developing through usage + numerous powergaming possibilities thanks to open world structure. But it's also perfectly playable and completable with no grinding involved and a team composed of classes that do not require grind/cheese to unlock full potential, even on hard.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Wiz8 is absolutely no grinding game.

It absolutely can be if one wants to - it has respawning mob, very high level limit, skills developing through usage + numerous powergaming possibilities thanks to open world structure. But it's also perfectly playable and completable with no grinding involved and a team composed of classes that do not require grind/cheese to unlock full potential, even on hard.

There is some truth in that. My BIS is pretty much useless right now.

 

[DraQ]

Ok, that's the first time I've seen someone enjoying RT mode in Wiz8.

Edit:
Ok, it's always fun to see someone enjoying Wiz8, but the guy just isn't very good at it.
And I don't mean the lack of meta-knowledge here, but common sense stuff.

 

[DemonKing]

I enjoyed Wizardry 6 more than 7 or 8 - but probably because I don't like mixing sci-fi with my fantasy. 7 and 8 were still great though.

 

[Doctor Sbaitso]

Ok, that's the first time I've seen someone enjoying RT mode in Wiz8.

Edit:
Ok, it's always fun to see someone enjoying Wiz8, but the guy just isn't very good at it.
And I don't mean the lack of meta-knowledge here, but common sense stuff.

Agreed, I thought "what an odd way to play". Maybe its me but unless I am just conserving mana in the interest of pummeling the last one or two creatures, I never want less than absolute control over a fight.