Wizardry Just started a new Wizardry 8 run...

[DraQ]

Monk has stealth, which is p op. And additional instakill chance as well.

Samurai has instakill too, better armour and *might* be able to lightning strike with staff occasionally.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Stealth is better than armour and samurai is actually the most squishy of the front liners (no stealth and not as good armour and hp as fighter/valk/lord).

The lighting strike is great, I just realized I never tried a non-sword samurai, but if I had to guess I'd say it would work with any weapon.

Samurai also has better spell school for a hybrid.

Anyway, from my experience staff monk is the second best front line killer after the rogue.

 

[King Crispy]

Anyway, from my experience staff monk is the second best front line killer after the rogue.

Not so far for me. I'm a little concerned about mine since he has yet to come into his own on any aspect, such as with my samurai and his lightning strike which, when it procs, is awesome. The samurai has a much better hit percentage, so far, as well.

Now I realize that the monk may be rather slow to develop, and I'm waiting for him, and he's only up to 8th level so far -- have I nothing to fear? Will his effectiveness start to sharply incline soon? I've been steadily improving his DEX, SPD, STR, and SEN, as well as his Martial Arts, Stealth, and Critical Strike. I've been letting Close Combat increase mostly on its own.

Edit: Whoops, just noticed you specified staff monk, my bad. Questions and concerns still valid though, would appreciate reassurance.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

I'm talking about about staff monk specifically and only after you get the staff of doom (which you can later on replace witch zatoichi, but which one is better is debatable).

It doesn't mean that martial arts monk is bad, quite contrary, you get lots of attacks with critical chance and no need to develop dual wield and dmg rising through skill increase. Personally I always pump dex and spd exclusively to maximize these profits. I always pick two stats and pump them exclusively to get the expert skills asap.

Monk also has very good specials.

Unfortunately, the critical hit skill in Wizardry is pretty chimeric, you can sometimes go through literally half of the game without seeing a single instakill. That's what makes the instakill chance from weapons combined with natural critical skill so sweet.

 

[I_am_Ian]

What makes a rogue or monk better than a fighter at melee? I know they're both capable but better than a fighter? I don't see it. Enlighten me.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Rogue has the highest dmg, monk has good dmg and inflicts the biggest amount of instakills and the worst status effects (paralyze, hex) which make killing affected mob piss easy.

They both have stealth which is better than heavy armour.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Pfff. Mook Samurai with Giant's Blade and super high Str and Con and Speed.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Also, Rogue with that Berserker Blade, what was it called? The one in Ferro's vault. Basically an I-WIN situation in a majority of fights.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Pfff. Mook Samurai with Giant's Blade and super high Str and Con and Speed.

It's a great build, but it's not that good, so I'm not really sure what warrants that "Pfff".

 

[Major_Blackhart]

It's awesome.

 

[Wizfall]

Crispy don't want spoiler guys....
A martial art monk build is a very good one.
He should become much better but you have skills and stats threshold for the number of swing and attack your PC do (not the same thing).
Once these threshold are hit you gain one attack or one swing by attack which is a huge improvement right away (a bit like gaining +1 attack in BG for example).
I won't spoil you by telling you those threshold though (moreover i don't have a very accurate idea of those).
You should not raise Sense, dex/speed/strength and in a lesser extent vitality are way more important stats.

 

[Shadenuat]

I find that before that threshold (which one can speed up using Haste spell) monks are kinda slacking, although psionics is useful school. And after, other classes are not behind them, a regular fighter can outperform monk, just as valkyrie or samurai (not to mention a specific kind of cheesy ninja). It's probably easier to make monk with staff work sooner and better than fists monk.

 

[King Crispy]

He leveled up last night and immediately started hitting more each round, two attacks back-to-back and I think even more than once in total so three or four attacks per round? He even had his first instant kill which surprised the heck out of me -- I had to scroll up in the combat text to confirm what happened!

In fact, all my characters are slowly increasing their attacks and efficiency, although I am constantly getting upset with Vi and her missing with that Awl Pike of hers (which will be replaced soon). I'm working on her.

Thanks, though. The joy of discovery is really what makes these games great, everywhere from hidden items in the terrain to places that you have to backtrack to to surprises in your characters' development.

Feels a lot like the old days.

 

[DraQ]

It's awesome.

*chases Zboj Lamignat away with pike-sized sword*

Improved.

 

[Coriolanus]

He leveled up last night and immediately started hitting more each round, two attacks back-to-back and I think even more than once in total so three or four attacks per round? He even had his first instant kill which surprised the heck out of me -- I had to scroll up in the combat text to confirm what happened!

In fact, all my characters are slowly increasing their attacks and efficiency, although I am constantly getting upset with Vi and her missing with that Awl Pike of hers (which will be replaced soon). I'm working on her.

Thanks, though. The joy of discovery is really what makes these games great, everywhere from hidden items in the terrain to places that you have to backtrack to to surprises in your characters' development.

Feels a lot like the old days.

You are playing a great RPG, savour its every moment while it lasts.

 

[King Crispy]

Looking for another slight nudge in the right direction.

I've finished up everything in Trynton, now ready to head for swamps, Marten's Bluff, etc. I can't seem to figure out on the roads how to get there, the only thing I've found is the cemetary area to the SW of Trynton (which I've only circled around once). Is there some other road I missed? I do remember an insane-looking crystal golem or something like that way up north in the wilderness, but I assume that's something I should go back to later.

Little help?

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Road to the swamp is sitting right next to the Trynton (protected by a set encounter with a swallower).

 

[DraQ]

o_O
I have always found the swamp road environmentally obvious.

 

[ghostdog]

All those hours with Oblivion and its ingenious quest compass obviously left their mark on Crispy

 

[King Crispy]

Fuck you, ghostdog.

And thanks, Zboj. I think my problem is that I was so busy constantly avoiding the respawning monsters in Trynton (or the grounds around the tree) that I may never have fully explored the entire perimeter of that map thus missing the swamp entrance. I thought the entrance to the swamp / Marten's Bluff would be somewhere east of Arnika, which is where several NPC's tell you it is.

 

[HiddenX]

Here is an overview-map:
http://www.zimlab.com/wizardry/flamestryke/wizardry8/flamestrykes_w8.html

 

[King Crispy]

Ha!

That lower-right section is specifically where I didn't go. Thanks for the confirmation, HiddenX.

 

[DraQ]

Ha!

That lower-right section is specifically where I didn't go.

So let me get it straight:

You've seen beaten paths on the ground.
You knew you had to go to another location, swamp, which whereabouts you more or less knew, but couldn't find exact way.
You can be assumed to know that roads, paths, tracts and so on tend to lead from one place to another.
It didn't occur to you to follow a beaten path into an unexplored portion of the map.

 

[King Crispy]

Blame the dozen ants, the queen ant, the two dozen iron weeds and the three or four hogars that are roaming around, not me.

(actually, you're right -- a completely shamefur dispray on my part. I'm usually very thorough in my exploration)

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Goddammit I wish I could install this fucking game on my system.