Wizardry The Wizardry Series Thread

About hybrids... how well do you guys think a hobbit ninja/rouge or rouge/ninja would work? They got almost the same skills but rouge gets a nifty multiplier with backstabs and ninjas get critical strikes, thrown criticals and thrown auto-penetrate.

 

The problem is that your rogue's backstab multiplier grows with levels, so you generally want pure rogues. And critical strike, the ninja's main skill, is not trainable while you are taking rogue levels. Also, the two (backstab and instant kill) don't synergize all that well, since one is about huge damage, and the other about killing instantly so you don't have to do huge damage.

 

Fighters are not really any better than hybrids(you could make a case they are worse) so I prefer hybrids like Samurai but I usually include one fighter for variety's sake. In all of my games the samurai and gadgeteer and Valkyrie managed to get as many or near as many kills as the fighter while being more versatile.

I do not care for Lords but that is more due to the silliness of the class' name. Same with Bishops. D.W. Bradley has some idiotic ideas that unfortunately carried through to W8.

 

I played lots of Wizardry and I'd really not recommend Expert on your first time through in 8 unless you thought 7 on Normal wasn't really, really hard. (weirdo)

Also bishops are the best class in the game; but my advice is still: any party you like. I just used my Wiz 6->7 party; and got lots of surprises because of it. (Diamond Ring Quest!)

 

What is the secret code to make the characters shut the fuck up in battle

 

How long does it take for the gadgeteer to make useful stuff and use something other than guns? Can she make and use lazers?

 

Wiz8 on expert isn't all that hard. It can be a bit frustrating, though, as it makes monsters almost impervious to your spells.

Go die in a fire.

Gadgeteer starts being fucking useful somewhere around Trynton (lava lamp - hypnotic lures is probably the most tactical spell in Wizardry8). Later on she can make regenerating stone (heal all), negatair (asphyxiation), microwave ray (boling blood) and water cannon (tsunami).

Additionally, the fully upgraded omnigun is so powerful it isn't even funny. Accepts almost anything as ammo, fires in bursts and can inflict almost any harmful status effect, including instadeath.

Those class names are pretty meh. Additionally lords fail somewhat by not having any special ability that would give them some edge over other combat classes. They are basically berserkless, K.O.less fighters with no stamina regeneration, but with priest spells. Sure they have HP regen, but it's only useful with cursed items, and are good at dual wielding, but anyone can.

 

Oddly enough, I'd argue the single most powerful class in the game is...the bard.

And not just because I like playing bards in rpgs.

They are tougher than pure casters, have almost all of the best spells available if you get all the instruments, can be useful in melee, and can substitute for a rogue. Now obviously you can't buff their melee, range, and caster stats at same time. But where they become uber-powered is that you hardly have to. Keep buffing stamina at level-ups, sure, but even with mid-stamina it is MUCH easier to maintain via regen items than mana. Put all your level-up skills into the rogue stuff (picking, traps), give him the bezerk sword (you'll be using instruments at range), and you'll get enough skill-ups just through usage for him to be decent at melee. Enough to hold a flank, anyway, which is more than your primary casters could do.

But the two biggest advantages? First: single-stat caster. You don't need to lvl up to learn spells, or buy them via books - just get the instruments that you're almost guaranteed to run into over the course of the game. And I am serious when I say that the bard will get most of the best spells that straight casters get. Second: when you are going along a high-mob zone, ala Arnika Road, your casters will run out of mana real quick, and won't be effective again until you rest. Your bard, with a single stamina-regen item, will be back at full casting capacity at the start of EVERY combat. That makes for one hell of a back-up caster. It also means that you can spam AoE snares and stuns every combat.

I still wouldn't suggest dropping your main casters though - use the bard instead of a rogue.

Mind you, rogues are much better in combat late-game than in most rpgs. Great game, really great game.

 

No fairy ninja? Missing out on the best stuff!

You'll want to find something to speed up the battles... they get annoying long later in the game. I remember having to wait like 10 minutes for a turn to be over with those damn Rapax

 

Almost any party can and will work.

I tried a funny 4 pure spellcaster party increasing INT, PIETY and then VIT. You get iron will pretty fast that way which means later on you either don't have to waste one round casting your shields or WITH the shields you are pretty invincible vs status effects. Piety also give spellpoints galore. I think I even hit the vitality special skill with one or 2 guys... took forever to level it up though.

 

I wonder how cool an all samurai partywould be. Insta kills galore, and what isn't inst killed is sushied.

An all ninja party also sounds sweet.

 

Alright I have a question guys: Both gadgeteers and bards look very interesting, and Id like to have both in my party on my first playtrough.

I was thinking about the following setup:
Valkyrie
Fighter
Ranger
Bard
Gadgeteer
Psionic

Now does it make sense to have 2 "support" clases like bath and gadgeteer in your party?
I was reading that priests are pretty much fucking important because of their healing spells, so maybe I should replace the gadgeteer with a priest? Or will a priestless party manage without greater problems?

 

Yes. Gadgeteer's stuff is mainly offensive, while the bard has a mix of defensive/offensive instruments.

AFAIK, psionics also have some healing spells. You could also swap him for a bishop and get all the spells you want.

 

As for engie vs bard, personally I prefer engie.
X-ray, armorplate, tsunami, instant death, earthquake, asphyxiation, superman, fucking hypnotic lure, prismic ray, boiling blood- all of them are credit to the team. Not to mention Omnigun, it gets blind so fast and shoots so often it's a joke.
And yeah, psionics have heal wounds and bards and engies have heal all. Psionics also have soul shield.

 

Bard+gadg are fine, but you'll need to have someone casting a lot of stamina spells (like the valkyre). However, you need, as in NEED a mage or bishop, since the the wizardry school has the all-important missile shield spell. So I suggest swapping your psionic (and possibly ranger, you don't really need that guy) for a bishop.

 

Rangers are fucking awesome thanks to instakills and constant scouting. I'd say he should either drop the fighter or the valkyrie, preferably the valkyrie, since you can get a valkyrie henchman very fast.

 

thanks for your answers, I think Ill be going for a Fighter, Valkyrie, Ranger, Bard, Gadgeteer, Mage party.

 

Rangers are awesome in a ranged party, I agree. But If you have two melee fighters, I think it's better to either add another than take a ranger if you are going for melee, or take one melee guy away if you are going for ranged. If you play a melee-heavy party, you'll have to move every turn to keep in range of the enemies, especially later in the game. If you play a range-heavy party, you'll be standing still and shooting, and you only need one tank. If you play a mixed party, you have to either move an get penalties in order for one half of your party to take part in combat, or not move, not get penalties, but have half your party not contributing.

So it's better to pick a focus and stick with it, in my opinion. Although actually, if you are going bard+gadg, a ranged party seems in order. You certainly want to keep the valkyre for the stamina spells.

However Tales, I think I was not clear. It's vital to have a mage-spell capable character (i.e. bishop, mage, or at least the weak samurai) for missile shield. It's silly to go without it unless you know what you are doing. But it's also vital to have a good amount of healing spells (in a six-man party, one of your chars will spend all their time healing unless someone helps out), and a psionic for haste is handy. So basically, of all the spell schools wizardy and divinity are absolutely essential, psionics is useful, alchemy is not vital (of course in terms of offense the usefulness is reversed, with alchemy by far the best and mages not so great).

To put it short, take a bishop instead of the mage and have him get divinity and wizardry. Also consider dumping the fighter and adding another bishop focusing on alchemy and psionics.

 

Don't listen to anyone anymore, keep playing this party you made. That is the spirit of Wizardry 8. Don't replace your Mage or anyone; just trust me on this.

Embrace the shortcomings of any given party you made and pull through.

That is the spirit of Wizardry 8 - not looking up the perfect party and breezing through everything.

As a bonus, here's my comments on your party:

* Fighter, Valkyrie, Ranger, Bard, Gadgeteer, Mage *

You have chosen a perfect party for a first playthrough of the game. Bards are an incredible help early and will later on help to compensate for the lack of Bishops. The same is true for Gadgeteers, who later on gain the same benefits- in addition to getting the very best ranged weapon. Your party has good melee power, very good ranged power (Listen to no-one, do not replace your Ranger- go with what you felt was right. A ranger is an incredible help on your first time through.) and is only lacking in mental magic (optional). The one flaw your party has is a lack of divine magic. You will have to make sure to use and buy a bunch of healing potions until your Valkyrie and Ranger can heal the group reasonably well.

It's a great party. Like every other party in Wizardry 8, including six halfling bards. Bishops, Ninjas and Samurai are hard to use if you are new to Wizardry, especially in 8 where they need a lot of attention. Psionicists have the dubious honor of being almost as terrible as Lords - but of course they're still valuable to have if you choose to have one, one will just have to learn to live with their flaws and strengths.

 

Get yourself a fairy bishop

 

There's no point in taking a psionic only for haste when you have a bard. You get rousing drums relatively early in the game

wat

 

:facepalm:

First, lords are not terrible, merely sub-par. They are strong frontline fighters, only lack special skills other hybrids have. They will still both dish it out and take it plus they will heal and buff, if necessary.

Second, psionics is absolutely fucking awesome school of magic. Even low level psionicist will reduce huge groups of opponents into in-fighting clumps of gibbering idiots. Then, they will gain potent spells like haste and hypnotic lures and powerful offensive ones, like psi-blast. If anyone thinks psionicists are weak, I dare him to go to Bayjin with no magic screen and no soul shield - The party will be instantly mindraped by Rynjin wielding mental magic.

 

Thanks for your help everyone!

<3

 

Oh god. I had a field day with this shit when I was playing Wiz8. I only discovered (and started using) non-combat castable buffs after getting my face caved in by these Xaviers.