Fluent Plays Wizardry 8

[Deleted Member 16721]

So here is my party lineup:

Zar - Male Dracon Samurai
Karonie - Female Felpurr Valkyrie
Sam - Male Gnome Rogue
Clarah - Female Dwarf Priest
Ellie - Female Elf Bard
Garoth - Male Human Mage

So how bad did I screw up? I tried to cover all bases with Skills, etc.. And the stats layout is pretty direct and 'normal'. First time playing the game, it's great so far. Very nerdy and in-depth, which I like.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

What's your formation/weapon choice and which RPCs are you taking? Have you made it past Arnika road yet?

 

[Shaewaroz]

Don't get disencouraged on your way to Arnika. There are a lot of tedious fights there that are hard to avoid. The game will get much better and interesting once you reach Trenton and especially in Marten's Bluff.

 

[thesheeep]

Isn't a Gadgeteer pretty much a must-have or am I confusing things?

 

[Strange Fellow]

In Wizardry 8, nothing is a must-have.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Wiz8 is a melee paradise, you get gang-raped in the open areas so the more squishy doods you have the worse off your are. Fluent's picks are almost fine except I would ditch the mage and cleric, replace them with a bishop and fighter.

Bard or Gadgeteer is recommended for every party, Bard is more noob friendly with the easy heals IF he finds the Dulcimer of Mending early.

 

[Darth Canoli]

There's a good Rogue waiting for you in Arnika and a good Valkyrie too, i would have picked a bishop instead of a priest (specializing him in healing schools at first), very useful to identify items.
A Ranger is also a must for his scouting abilities (always scouting)
So, i would have picked another warrior type instead of the Valkyrie and a ranger instead of the thief.

Still, any party is playable, get chameleon before you hit Arnika road (not far outside the monastery), you can avoid some monsters parties by staying on the left side with chameleon always on.

I hope you got the fast anim + fast combat mods.

 

[Bio Force Ape]

Bard and Gadgeteer are fun but not necessary. A mage and priest are fairly solid, if a little boring. They'll spend much of their time just buffing/healing the rest of the party. Those same buff/heal spells can come from other classes, but it's just easier (especially your first time) to get them from the old reliable mage and priest.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

I just started so I have starting gear yet. My Rogue + Bard throw weapons (daggers and bullets, respectively) and the other classes have the default weapon skills, i.e. my Samurai has Sword, Valkyrie has Axe + Polearm, Rogue has Dagger. I notice skills go up with use so that's pretty cool.

 

[coldcrow]

Isn't a Gadgeteer pretty much a must-have or am I confusing things?

I used to think that way, too. But in the end the Gadgeteer is best at making Tripleshot Xbows and mediocre at his ranged utility role.

Wiz8 is a melee paradise, you get gang-raped in the open areas so the more squishy doods you have the worse off your are. Fluent's picks are almost fine except I would ditch the mage and cleric, replace them with a bishop and fighter.

Bard or Gadgeteer is recommended for every party, Bard is more noob friendly with the easy heals IF he finds the Dulcimer of Mending early.

Wrong. Wizardry 8 rewards specialization, be it Melee/Ranged/Spells. Ranged is generally somewhat weaker, but you do not waste turns getting into position. Ranged combat is best seen as a second mode of attack if your dudes can't reach the enemy. The best melee class is the Fighter and the Rogue, by far. The hybrid classes are weak and only shine in the endgame or if you grind excessively. 2 fully grown fighters obliterate anything in front of the party, so if you do not want the rest of your party standing idly by, plan accordingly. It is important to remember that charlevel is overall the most important ressource of power in this game. Almost all formulas take relative levels in consideration. That is why hybrids and especially bishops are generally weaker (except you love grinding), because over the course of a playthrough they lag behind.
For example a party: Fighter/Rogue/Bard/Priest/Mage/Alchemist is really easy to handle and very powerful.

People tend to dismiss the specialist spellcasters, but nothing could be more wrong. They grow powerful quickly, do not need grinding and their AoE and CC spells mean that you can fight in open areas aswell. They also mean quick access to Portals.
Take for example Blinding Light, lvl 2 Alch spell. This is simply one of the best spells throughout the early and midgame, you do not need to reposition, your Fighters/Casters pick off the running enemies with their ranged weapons and Spells and often they trickle in after the blindness runs out.

PS: I have to add that some gear is class-locked which is the only reason to choose hybrids.

 

[Bio Force Ape]

The insta-kill classes are probably worth it in the long run, but it is a long run. Rangers can insta-kill with bows and it's just awesome when it happens. Some of the really high HP stuff you fight near the end can get popped by a single arrow. When you're facing your tenth big rock golem guy and you're just like "shit, this is gonna be a slog" and your ranger just pops it like a balloon it's pretty great.

 

[Shadenuat]

no gadgeteer = no fun

Zar - Male Dracon Samurai
Karonie - Female Felpurr Valkyrie
Sam - Male Gnome Rogue
Clarah - Female Dwarf Priest
Ellie - Female Elf Bard
Garoth - Male Human Mage

There is no wrong way to play if you're familiar with the game, but some things to consider on your first playthrough: you party doesn't have gadgeteer, and that means = no fun
you lack Psionic spellbook, meaning you lack Mindread = no fun
You have Valk & Priest and Priest spellbook only good for buffs, so drop Priest
You have mage book on Samurai so you may replace mage with Alchemist - more useful lategame anyway
You lack Fighter in party, which would make early game more difficult before Samurai/Valk/Rogue level up enough and get proper equipment to kill shit.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

But...but...I have Pickpocket, so that's fun, right???

If I knew those things to start I would have rolled a different crew. Ah well. Maybe for the 2nd playthrough I'll use Gadgeteer and Psionic.

 

[Shadenuat]

Pickpocket was nerfed with patch 1.something massively. This is why I did not include it in Fun category.
In unpatched version it was glorious, patched = sawyered.

 

[Strange Fellow]

Don't listen to these spergs. Every Party Works. There's no such thing as a gimp party in Wizardry 8. Yours is well balanced and takes advantage of most schools, skills and toys. Enjoy the game.

 

[Shadenuat]

Every party works, but some are more fun than others. And unless you have some cool shit from Wizardry 7 like good weapons, on your first playthrough it would be a lot easier with a Fighter for example. And not picking Gadgeteer makes you miss on fapping on every MK-upgrade he gets for his rofltoy which endgame stops being pewpew toy and suddenly explodes things with 1258159 shots per round.
And Priest as a class just doesn't have much reason to exist imo (except for 1 level start and then multiclassing into Lord etc.). Might as well pick up 2 school Bishop, even in party of 6.

Oh right I forgot: Alchemy

Alchemy actually allows you mixing potions = fun + $$$
So you want Ranger/Ninja/Alchemist/Bishop

Also can't you have Pickpocket on a Bard? I forgot.

I also forgot SCOUTING

Scouting (Ranger) or Detect Secret (Psionic book I think?) and I believe high Senses (so again Psionic) allows you detect some secret items. They are generally not critical but important for = Fun.

 

[coldcrow]

The insta-kill classes are probably worth it in the long run, but it is a long run. Rangers can insta-kill with bows and it's just awesome when it happens. Some of the really high HP stuff you fight near the end can get popped by a single arrow. When you're facing your tenth big rock golem guy and you're just like "shit, this is gonna be a slog" and your ranger just pops it like a balloon it's pretty great.

They are not worth it, as the instakill per critical strike is skill and LEVEL dependent so until endgame you will see it in 1% per hit. Don't let them talk out of the Priest, especially if you are new to the game, he is a massive boon, as he is the only guy who can actually heal compentently in the early and midgame. In the end he will keep your frontline intact and can cast his instakill spell.
I see from many comments that there is the "but-in-endgame-this-rocks" issue. This is pretty much bs, when your journey to that point sucks.
Also the omnigun is not that good. A tripleshot Xbow tops everything.

 

[Shadenuat]

What a bunch of fuken nonsense.
%chance to kill is also items property, and some of these items are class dependant and fit these classes - for example shit like Sai or high level Katanas make you kill things even more often. And it's not like Samurai can't beat hell out of things with Berserker sword early either.
Priest can be easily replaced, Alchemy book also has heals, Bard can heal, so can Gadgeteer I think. And that is not even talking about that, if you play your cards right, lategame you can easily kill things and not needin much heals.
And Omnigun is awesomesauce already when it gets Blind attachment.

Git out with your sawyerism, if your party doesn't have samurais and gadgeteers and ninjas and other crazy stuff, you're playing it wrong.

the power of Fun compels you
the power of Fun compels you
the power of Fun compels you

 

[luj1]

The party is fine. You will love your valk

 

[Tse Tse Fly]

I'd take a fighter instead of the samurai if it's your first playthrough. The game is pretty tough early on, more so if you haven't a proper damaging class in your party. Valkyrie and rogue (especially the latter) are not so effective in the early game. Also, most importantly, when your casters get access to Magic Shield, Element Shield, Soul Shield spells, DON'T HESITATE TO GET THEM RIGHT AWAY. They'll save you a lot of pain and tears when dealing with enemy casters (certain locations become pretty much impossible to explore without protection against magic).

 

[ShaggyMoose]

On my first playthrough, I was lucky enough to select a non-gimped party that got me to the end. Fun game that picked up a lot after the monastery was complete (watch out for disease).

Gadgeteer
Mage
Alchemist
Fighter x 2
Bishop
Lord
Monk

 

[coldcrow]

What a bunch of fuken nonsense.
%chance to kill is also items property, and some of these items are class dependant and fit these classes - for example shit like Sai or high level Katanas make you kill things even more often. And it's not like Samurai can't beat hell out of things with Berserker sword early either.
Priest can be easily replaced, Alchemy book also has heals, Bard can heal, so can Gadgeteer I think. And that is not even talking about that, if you play your cards right, lategame you can easily kill things and not needin much heals.
And Omnigun is awesomesauce already when it gets Blind attachment.

Git out with your sawyerism, if your party doesn't have samurais and gadgeteers and ninjas and other crazy stuff, you're playing it wrong.

the power of Fun compels you
the power of Fun compels you
the power of Fun compels you

This shows that you have no idea of the underlying formulas. My point was that critical strike is underwhelming, item kill chance is lvl independent and higher in most cases. So why would you need a hybrid, when the fighter deals 2xdmg with his berserk option. Same goes for the rogue with bakcstabbing. A Priest can be substituted by other classes, but no other class will be as good a healer as he is. And to reiterate, in the lategame you often refer to, you only need 2 fighters in front to fuck up everything. The rest of your party will be attacking at range anyways.
And really what difference does it make to have a Sammy over a Fighter? You will use both for melee mostly, the difference is that the Sam has mage spells as ranged option which will be pretty much useless later in the game except you get powercast. Which you get at the expense of not maxing out Str or Dex. also his progress will be abysmally slow due to lackluster piety.
The problem is the system, it favors specialization to an absurd degree.

 

[Ranselknulf]

If you haven't already done so, install the "Wiz8fast" patch.

http://www.zimlab.com/wizardry/patches.htm

This patch allows you to increase the combat speed on the fly. If you like regular speed leave it at regular speed.

If you get swarmed by 50 monsters and get tired of waiting 30 seconds for each monster to move and ur still only on round 2.. bump up the speed. Then return it to normal afterwards.

It's an "essential" mod imo.

I played this game when it was released, before the wiz8fast patch, and I can tell you it makes the game experience much more enjoyable.

Purism in this regards is not a benefit.

 

[Sjukob]

Stack magic defense, enemies like to throw various shit at you including mass instakill spells. No idea how parties without mages deal with that.

 

[Ranselknulf]

There are a lot of magic items end game. If you are stealthy and careful enough you can acquire these items and become "quasi-mages" for any member of the party. Although the items use a lot of stamina.

The real fun in the game is fighting the optional tough bosses which are more difficult than the end boss.