Wizardry The Wizardry Series Thread

[Primordial Soup Nazi]

Goddammit I love this game.

 

[Kaucukovnik]

Thanks for taking your time to share the info, Majk! Appreciated.


EDIT: NEVER play Wiz 8 Ironman unless you have played through already and know the environment collision deathtraps. On your current computer, if possible. You can get crushed by a door or elevator and not see it coming, thinking you are out of harm's way. Different machines seem to handle the physic in different way, I had only 1 computer that gave my party slight suicidal tendencies, but some have reported that they could barely get through certain spots, WITH reloading.

 

[Majk]

Huh I didn't think Wiz8 forums would be this active after all those years. :D
While i agree that general combat speed is usually not an issue (aside from what is fixed by wiz8fast), but after i had my first standard party (2 rangers, bard, gadgeteer and 2 bishops) and discovered the marvel which is Tshot xbow i HAD to do something.
When your rangers, bard and gadgeteer start firing 3 times in a round with 1-3 extra shots in addition to 2 extra shots from the xbow i had a choice of either mod the projectile and hit animation speeds or go batshit crazy from staring at the screen while my party pelts the enemy with a hail of plain quarrels (couldn't find enough hunter quarrels when one character could use up 15 quarrels per round).
Anyway... feel free to try it out, it really makes the game much more enjoyable.

 

[Majk]

Oh yeah since i've been bored (had to take a break from my 1bar+5 bishop party, it's the most fun i had playing this game so far) i started browsing forums and i couldn't find any info on how to speed up animations with cosmic forge. I kinda figured i should opt to sticky this post someplace, is it possibly on rpgcodex? And if so where and how could i do this?

 

[Kaucukovnik]

It would be most useful in the form of a mod. If my patience doesn't run out, I will put one up for download sometime soon. Along with some more changes, already discussed in an earlier thread. Wiz8 really needs an "unofficial patch" kind of mod, after all those batshit insane player-made addons. Because I just can't enjoy mods that disturb the consistency of such a gem of a game, no matter how good they are otherwise.

And yes, this is the place where discussions about forgotten obscure turn-based games last the longest...

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

It would be most useful in the form of a mod. If my patience doesn't run out, I will put one up for download sometime soon. Along with some more changes, already discussed in an earlier thread.

 

[DraQ]

5 bishop party

Isn't that a bit overkill AND redundant? I'd expect four dedicated casters with bishop or hybrid to work better if you wanted a party this magic heavy.

I kinda figured i should opt to sticky this post someplace, is it possibly on rpgcodex? And if so where and how could i do this?

Eh, go pester a mod or an admin, and they should sticky it.


Also, watch your step, the 'Dex can be rather abrasive at times, though you've made a rather nice entry that should help people warm up to you.

 

[Majk]

Five bishops? Redundant?
It's not redundant at all, with this setup my party can take anything with little/no effort at all and without the boring knock knock/divine trap crap.
Something with weak hp yet numerous at the beginning? Shrill sound x5!
Something tougher and singular? Mind stab x5!
Hogar? Paralyze x5! Good luck resisting that.
In a mood for some melee combat? Mauler+thieves buckler x5 with each bishop powercasting guardian angel and superman and if you are feeling inadequate even toss that stone form or whatever the name was and good luck taking damage after that.
The funny thing is that all important spells are low 1-4 level, and can be easily gained if you just toss spells liberally without powertraining. Anything higher is just icing on the cake when it comes.

Who needs tanks when my nerd squad is smacking unbelievers with might through magic.
The bishie horde!

 

[indika_tates]

I will say two of the best parties you can get on Wiz 8.

The classical:
1x Mook fighter with Giant sword & Bow. This guy can attack at range, and extended range with the giant sword. Just awesome. Fighters are easy to develop and can afford developing a second skill. Also you can equip a blunder-buss if wanted.
1x Faeria ninja with Cane of corpus. The best weapon in the game with the best class available. Hard to develop.
1x Bard. I can't find a reason fot not having a female bard in your party. Having rousing drums allow the party to avoid spending useless skill points in speed. You can focus on dex & str for your melee chars.
1x Thief. With fang. Swords with thrust do more damage than daggers. Thieves are one of the best melee classes of the game. Just raise up senses after you max str & dex.
1x Bishop. Alchemy > Psionics > Wizardry > Divinity. Why? You want that healing spells raise Alchemy instead divinity. That way in the end-game you can have a monster with huge mana.
The last one you can choose a monk for staff of doom, a gadgeteer (a class I don't like), another fighter is not a bad option, even a samurai.

The piety party:
1x Fighter
1x Bard
1x Priest
1x Ranger
1x Samurai
1x Monk

Just raise piety to 100 as primary skill for all of your chars and train iron will. There won't be any incapacitating spell that can hurt your party in the end-game. You will have a party plenty of stamina and magic points.

 

[Dorateen]

I imported our party from Wizardry VII, which yields the most satisfaction, from taking your characters through to completion of this massive campaign.

1 x Ranger
1 x Dwarven Lord
1 x Faerie Ninja
1 x Elven Bard
1 x Bishop
1 x Mage

 

[Majk]

)I know that mixed parties work best, i've been playing this game probably longer then any other as it's just THAT awesome. gotta try everything it can offer.
The reason i love my current 5bish 1 bard party is that i have to put some effort and use tactics instead of waltzing everything like a steamroller.

On previous game for example i had 2 valkyries, 1 samurai, bard, gadgeteer and 1 bishop(for covering buffs, he did bother with offensive spells) and everything was too easy. Melee doinkers like fighters, valks and whatnot are just too overpowered and slicing&dicing everything without effort gets boring fast.

With 5 bishops and a bard i have so many possibilities i just CAN'T get bored. I can use damage spell (5x shrill sound is like giving the middle finger to the dreaded trek from monastery to arnika), after buffing up i can play as a bunch of melee dudes smacking shit with enchanted maces, or i can just use doubleshot slings to pulverize stuff from a distance(you'd be surprised how accurate supermaned bishop can get.:D)
Oh and uuuh i'm playing this nerd rage party on hard from the start and it seems to work loads better then any doinkers party i tried so far. Only my previous STR/Sense 3rangers,bard,gadeteer, bishop party worked better then this one. It's really satisfying when 5 bishops whallop a paralyzed, insane, puking, webbed and blind hogar with maces while wearing only what they found in chests and laugh maniacally doing so.
<---this is pretty much what this party feels like right now.

 

[Majk]

I also kinda figured i'd post a best 4 book bishop crafting i managed to discover so far. It's not a 'perfect' bish build that skimps on spells, it's one that is actually fun and easy.
On startup put 5 in wizardry, 5 in mind and air realms and pick mind stab and heal wounds.
On level two put 3 in wizardry, alchemy and mind realm.
On level three pump wizardry alchemy and divinity and Pick shrill sound and if you have more then one bish have one pick enchanted blade and the other missile shield.
That's it, from there just punt things with mind stab and shrill sound and heal up with heal wounds. It will beef up your wizardry, alchemy and psionics nice and fast and by the time you hit arnika you should have enough for level 3 spells in wizardry and alchemy, buy divine trap to bump divinity to 30 and that's it. After that there is a big enough bump in exp needed to level up so your skills will just train by doing. And if you can't pick you wanted spell right away? No biggie, getting spells at the minimum required level just means you can safely cast them at level 1 which sucks anyway.

Oh and uuuh, i didn't include psionics book in this cuz i'm a real freaking hardcore fanatic of mind spell. I spam it so much that book just seems to grow in it's own.

 

[DraQ]

How are your bishops' schools allocated?

You definitely won't have enough picks to fully deck them all in just really useful spells.

 

[Majk]

How are your bishops' schools allocated?

You definitely won't have enough picks to fully deck them all in just really useful spells.

As i said, it's not a perfect bishop build, it's a fun one and the spells you really need end at level 4 (sould shield, element shield, x-ray) and most of those can be bought. This build kinda assumes you know enough about the game to visit the Higardi, buy their stuff, then do the same with umpani. It takes the load from your spell picks and to be honest i find most level 7 damage spells a big letdown so i rarely bother with them anyway(mostly due to the fact that i finish the game before reaching them, grinding gets dull fast).

 

[Majk]

As for schools?
I just go for bull rushing wizardry and alchemy as high as i can first so that wizardry reaches 30(from there it skyrockets by using fireball), alchemy once you hit 50 goes up by it's own by mixing potions, no other school can be trained so fast after 50.
15 points in divine book so i can play divine trap till it reaches 30. No point to pump it higher, rest all alone will be bringing it up quite well.
I do not allocate any points in psionic book as i use mind stab as often as a ranger uses his/her bow.
once all schools are up to 30 i just pump 2 in psionic, divinity, wizardry and 3 in alchemy. Realms go up on their own so screw them.

 

[FrancoTAU]

I have to replay this game again. Its easily in my top 10 of all time, but I know it will take a couple months out of my life. I wish someone would kickstart a Wizardry clone. A real clone though, not just blobber lites.

 

[Majk]

I have to replay this game again. Its easily in my top 10 of all time, but I know it will take a couple months out of my life. I wish someone would kickstart a Wizardry clone. A real clone though, not just blobber lites.

I seriously doubt that's possible, games nowdays are all about bling instead of actualy fun gameplay. I must be an old fart cuz i started to think 'back in the old days games had character instead of quick time crapola events'
Slap me a cane and call me grandpa.

 

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

Five bishops? Redundant?
It's not redundant at all, with this setup my party can take anything with little/no effort at all and without the boring knock knock/divine trap crap.
Something with weak hp yet numerous at the beginning? Shrill sound x5!
Something tougher and singular? Mind stab x5!
Hogar? Paralyze x5! Good luck resisting that.
In a mood for some melee combat? Mauler+thieves buckler x5 with each bishop powercasting guardian angel and superman and if you are feeling inadequate even toss that stone form or whatever the name was and good luck taking damage after that.
The funny thing is that all important spells are low 1-4 level, and can be easily gained if you just toss spells liberally without powertraining. Anything higher is just icing on the cake when it comes.

Who needs tanks when my nerd squad is smacking unbelievers with might through magic.
The bishie horde!

 

[Majk]

So i've been poking wizardry 8 again with a 1bard and 5 bishops on hard from start to finish and the whole game seemed to flow like a dream. Whenever i got surrounded i nuked them dead, when something resistant like the djin came i smacked them with maces after buffing up (or just used dehydrate, concussion and whatnot, powercasted high level single target spells actually CAN break past that). Now that i'm done i've been wondering what was YOURS favorite setup and why?

Other party i had loads of fun with was the ranged party. 3 rangers up front, 1bard, 1 gadgeteer, 1bishop.
Bishop got turned into a ranger as soon as he could cast portal and superman at proper level, bard and gadgeteer got turned to rangers at level 18, rangers were rangers heh.
The whole setup was focused on tripleshot xbow and the only problem was with missile shield casting samurai rapax but that's when dread spears came and made short work of them anyway.
The best thing about this party is immense satisfaction. There is something freaking awesome about a ranger firing up to 15 quarrels at some poor sucker. :D

Another was a martial arts party. 4 monks, 1 ninja(for element shield) and 1 bishop turned ninja right after he could cast x-ray. Another awesome fun, monks and Nin Joe whacking shit with bare fists was incredibly satisfying and to top it all since i used dex/sense on everyone with eagle eye wrist rocket proved to be almost as cool as tshot xbows. Good bullets seem to be plentiful and the 10% stun from the rocket combined with stun from a quality bullet led to some ridiculous situations(ever saw 6 rapax stunned after 1 round of ranged combat?).

What was your no.1 setup i wonder? Gotta get something juicy for my next game. gotta beat the shit out of this game.

 

[Snufkin]

You have to try monk with 125 MA, high str, and then dual him into fighter for berserk. Watch insane DAMAGE!

 

[DraQ]

I always try to avoid redundancy and duplicating classes, with the exception of 2-school bishops, so my parties are usually somewhat conventional. I do indulge in non-standard race-class combinations, though.

I really need to play around with dual-classing, BTW.

 

[Majk]

Worst of the 4 spell realms.

Yeah yeah I hear you cry out already, but if you had to ignore one of the 4 realms of magic, make it psi.



And the best way to play the game is still: take whatever party you like. Who cares? Just play it.

Ok this is the oldass post but i gotta say no! I had 3 dudes capable of casting pandemonium and prismic chaos and both of those spells seem to have irresistable debuffs as long as the target is not immune to the condition. Having 3 dudes duke it out with those spells even at low level pretty was very satisfying. Try it on the Rynjin when you end up fighting 20 or so of them at hard setting. What would be an annoying and dangerous fight (unless you were bored and leveled everyone to 25-30 or so) turns to lolfest when rynjin gather so many beautifull conditions above their names. This school is an absolute beast when it comes to level 6 and 7 spells. Other schools just have damage spells, status spells that can be easily resisted and instant death crap that almost never works on hard setting.

 

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

They're not irresistible, it's just that highest spell level and power both affect the chance of it working and the duration. So Pandemonium at power level 3 has a higher chance to proc a debuff than Insanity at power level 3.

 

[Majk]

They're not irresistible, it's just that highest spell level and power both affect the chance of it working and the duration. So Pandemonium at power level 3 has a higher chance to proc a debuff than Insanity at power level 3.

Probably, it's just that from my experience those were the only two debuffs worth a damn after rapax castle. Prismic chaos is very random but it saved my ass many times and if pandemonium is not irresistable then it has a ridiculously high fear chance cuz i had buffed up warmages and samurai and whatnot fleeing from me like scared chickens.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Alchemy and Psionics are expendable because they don't have any buffs that are both vital and exclusive to them. Actually the only exclusive buff from one of these schools that I can think of is the body of stone which is not even remotely as important as stuff like magic screen, missile shield etc.