Wizardry The Wizardry Series Thread

[octavius]

Diablo 2 Zed rune was what 1 in 2 billion?

I played Diablo 2 for four months, completing the game on Hell with all seven classes, and never found a single high level (49-69) rune. Reminded of the chances of observing Proton decay.

 

[Desiderius]

This is why Auction House sucked so much in 3. Row after row of Uniques you really had to grind for in 2.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

This is why Auction House sucked so much in 3. Row after row of Uniques you really had to grind for in 2.

People traded for them in diablo 2
the people selling them had bot armies running 24/7 to farm them

 

[Desiderius]

Maybe I was playing it offline then lol? I feel like when they added that fifth act with the Barbs was when it went MMO and I remember reading about the Zed rune being theoretically worth I lot but never traded then.

Was it streamlined in 3 or was I just a dork? I never MMOed or did multiplayer at all until Guild Wars other than text MUDs.

 

[grimer]

how do you guys deal with savant controllers early on? i kept getting my ass munched in nyctalinth because these goons had such high resistances to everything (silence, blinding flash, hold monsters, web, sleep) and cast devastating aoe spells like psionic blast and hold monsters (even with magic screen up). i already beat them but im just curious if theres any strategy besides focusing them with melee and praying they dont cast spells.

my party consists of:
m dwarf lord (diamond eyes)
m felpurr samurai (muramasa blade)
f faerie ninja (rod of sprites)
f human valkyrie (maenad's lance)
f hobbit bard (sword of hearts)
m elf mage (quarterstaff lol)

 

[Desiderius]

There's a thing out there that tells you everything's resistances. They're vulnerable to Itchy Skin maybe?

 

[grimer]

There's a thing out there that tells you everything's resistances. They're vulnerable to Itchy Skin maybe?

yea i tried using madgod's cosmic forge tool but im playing the dos version and it only seems to work for wizardry 7 gold. cant find monster resistances online either.

 

[Desiderius]

There's a thing out there that tells you everything's resistances. They're vulnerable to Itchy Skin maybe?

yea i tried using madgod's cosmic forge tool but im playing the dos version and it only seems to work for wizardry 7 gold. cant find monster resistances online either.

I used it for DOS. The higher level Savant dudes have very high resistances to almost everything but there's a couple things where you've got maybe 50% chance?

 

[grimer]

yea i tried using madgod's cosmic forge tool but im playing the dos version and it only seems to work for wizardry 7 gold

nvm i figured it out. i had to set the file path to dsavant folder instead of just the game folder. he has 90-100 resistances to the status effects i used but only 0 acid and 65 fire/cold resistance.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Wizardry is one wacky game.

It's derived from 1e D&D, where bonuses only kick in at high or low stat levels. You need a 16 Str to get a damage bonus and a 16 con to get a HP bonus. 3E was kind of a revelation when it gave you +1 for a 12.

 

[grimer]

are the locations of the maps in wizardry 7 randomly generated? i just cleared old city and found the dragon map instead of the legend map which is what the rumors led me to believe

 

[Grampy_Bone]

The initial location of the maps is static but the other NPCs can grab them before you. I'm not sure if they swap them around though.

IIRC there's a map in the town early on that you pretty much need a guide to get, otherwise NPCs grab it instantly.

 

[jopopoe]

I have a big question about the Wizardry series (and yes I created an account just for it), and more precisely the first game :

Why is everyone acting as if the (B)ackup option doesn't exist ?

Everyone is acting like the game has permadeath and no way of saving progress, but it is not entirely true. You can backup your entire roster when you are in town.
It is an impractical affair, as you must exit the game, flip the disk once or twice, and then recruit your characters again at the Inn (and on original hardware the slow disk drive would have make the process even slower).
So it is not at all comparable to quicksaving/quickloading, but it does exist and you can totally use it once per hour to ensure that that hideous cemetery screen won't make you lose hours and hours of progress.

And it makes the necessity to import high characters in the second game much more logical. If you get wiped out in Wizardry II, you are not forced to go back to Wiz I to make new level-13 characters, you just use your backup disk where your precious Werdna-victorious-team is stored.

Am I missing something here ? I've read the Apple II manual and it never states you should play the game in ironman style.

So why is the backup option never mentioned anywhere ?

 

[octavius]

Maybe it's too obvious, since it's so easy to copy the one file from Windows Explorer?

 

[Desiderius]

I have a big question about the Wizardry series (and yes I created an account just for it), and more precisely the first game :

Why is everyone acting as if the (B)ackup option doesn't exist ?

Everyone is acting like the game has permadeath and no way of saving progress, but it is not entirely true. You can backup your entire roster when you are in town.
It is an impractical affair, as you must exit the game, flip the disk once or twice, and then recruit your characters again at the Inn (and on original hardware the slow disk drive would have make the process even slower).
So it is not at all comparable to quicksaving/quickloading, but it does exist and you can totally use it once per hour to ensure that that hideous cemetery screen won't make you lose hours and hours of progress.

And it makes the necessity to import high characters in the second game much more logical. If you get wiped out in Wizardry II, you are not forced to go back to Wiz I to make new level-13 characters, you just use your backup disk where your precious Werdna-victorious-team is stored.

Am I missing something here ? I've read the Apple II manual and it never states you should play the game in ironman style.

So why is the backup option never mentioned anywhere ?

At the time we were all used to coin-ops so Ironman would have been no big deal. Many of us didn't even really grok any alternative.

Still remember sweating bullets on last two screens of perfect 2600 Pitfall II run, then leaving final screen up for days on downstairs TV.

 

[jopopoe]

@ octavius : You're talking about Windows Explorer so I guess you are referencing a later version of the game. So yeah, nowadays you can just copy a file or make a quicksave in Applewin. But when Wizardry was released in 1981 on Apple II, you had to use the backup option to save a copy of your team on a blank disk. And, given that the option is present, I am wondering why the "way it's supposed to be played" became the ironman way.

Desiderius : I was used to playing games without a save system when I was a kid (and I too let some systems on overnight to keep my progress), but I never shied away from using the save system when it was present.

What puzzles me is that the "Wizardry is a permadeath game" school of thoughts seems to have appeared later than 1981, since there's a backup option on the first version of the game.

 

[gman42]

At the time we were all used to coin-ops so Ironman would have been no big deal. Many of us didn't even really grok any alternative.

I think this is it. The manual said that the backup option was just to protect against disk corruption IIRC, and back in the stone age of PCs I bet most of us who were playing would have taken that as gospel and thought that somehow "they'd be able to tell" or something if we tried to use it as a way around losing our party instead.

I think I would have been fine trying that, but honestly I was too lazy to wait for the damn disk to copy. I eventually did figure out that if you opened the lever on the drive (which basically is the same as ejecting it with a 5.25" floppy) right as your party got wiped or was about to, the death would never get written to disk, and the only issue is that your characters would be left marked as in the maze but alive. If I'm remembering right, you could just use the R)ecover option to get them back with no ill effects, but no record of their past expedition either.

 

[CallMeSnek]

Was looking through the Wizardry Alternative Neo OST (since it'll be a million years before the game gets translated, even with the current £1000 Bounty), and found this gem:

Wizardry Alternative Neo - OST - Guild


There's a couple other cool tracks (church and shop themes); but couldn't find them on youtube.

You can find the game-ripped soundtrack on Zophar's. It's not even on KHinsider, weirdly.

The tracks you want are:
PACKDATA_0000082A.mp3 (Church)
PACKDATA_0000082B.mp3 (Guild)
PACKDATA_0000082F.mp3 (Shop)


Also, to anyone who hasn't played the first Wizardry Alternative ('Tales of the Forsaken Land' on the PS2), it's guild theme there was pretty ballin' too:

 

[Shackleton]

Was looking through the Wizardry Alternative Neo OST (since it'll be a million years before the game gets translated, even with the current £1000 Bounty), and found this gem:

Wizardry Alternative Neo - OST - Guild


There's a couple other cool tracks (church and shop themes); but couldn't find them on youtube.

You can find the game-ripped soundtrack on Zophar's. It's not even on KHinsider, weirdly.

The tracks you want are:
PACKDATA_0000082A.mp3 (Church)
PACKDATA_0000082B.mp3 (Guild)
PACKDATA_0000082F.mp3 (Shop)


Also, to anyone who hasn't played the first Wizardry Alternative ('Tales of the Forsaken Land' on the PS2), it's guild theme there was pretty ballin' too:

Diablo1_reborn how's the translation coming along?

 

[CallMeSnek]

Diablo1_reborn how's the translation coming along?

Oh shit!

 

[d1r]

Diablo1_reborn how's the translation coming along?

Oh shit!

You theoretically could play through the game already. But I am replaying it for at least another time to get most of the side quest stuff done (since some of them can have completely different outcomes depending if you do them on time or not) + I need to proof read A LOT.

Some stuff like XP tables, MP tables, and Part-Time item list are completely absent yet. Though I think that those will be added in later iterations of the guide.

 

[MpuMngwana]

I decided to replay Wizardry 8 on a whim. As a gimmick, I decided to try a no-caster party (potions, scrolls, instruments & gadgets are all fair game though), we'll see how far I make it. Went with two fighters, two rogues (probably should've taken a third fighter instead of one of them, but no use crying over spilled milk), a bard and a gadgeteer. So far they've been doing pretty alright, they're level 10 and I've explored most of the swamp, where I found the haste drums and armorplate gadget, both of which should be plenty useful.

I haven't yet decided whether I'll be taking any RPCs along. I'll probably end up taking RFS-81, since he's IIRC unable to cast spells in spite of being a monk, and will go mostly anywhere. Also I would like to put my paws on Saxx's instrument, hopefully without getting him killed, but if all else fails, well...

 

[Baron Dupek]

Thanks for the list from there I've learned more about mods for Wiz8, more that you could learn from their readme files or websites dedicated to the saga.
Still waiting for the rest...

I've picked White Wolf mod because it's sounds bit (t)witcher-y, huh.

So far it's not so hard, in fact it's quite opposite... even though I did some mistakes like picking Lord for Bloodlust sword (when you can get better stuff in shops and drops, also berserking is optional for Fighter, which become default when you develop your combat skill high enough) and taking Bishop instead of dedicated caster. I have yet to find any decent cursed gear, normal items from mod are way better. And you can find even better items from trader but they cost a lot.

There are two guilds in Arnika, both require password but you get them when you explore road to Umpani base.
There is option for training in Thieves and Mages guild, but can't start training in the latter no matter what. In the former you ask for skills and pay almost 462k gold for little boost. Which is fine since magic is easier to grind.
Mages have access to LVL6 spells, only 44k gold for a book...
Both guild offers new quests but they are way beyond your level. I've tried to get RFS-81 but got nuked by LVL25 mages that you have to decimate for the guild. That's their first quest btw...

You can find minibosses offroad. some new caves there and here, so far nothing extraordinary. Maybe other mods changes and add more locations, WW is more cosmetic in that regard...
Found two statues in the Monastery, which give +5 to some stats for every character, gives easy puzzles

Spoiler

One asks for "Time" and other for "Darkness"?

groovy

Dwarfs are from Cardia, lore confirmed

mages are dicks

training are nice but they cost arms and legs, I rather play with the vault lock under the bank for an hour on boring day/night

 

[MpuMngwana]

The no-caster party is still working rather well, much better then I initially expected. Once you find the items that cast Heal all resting becomes pretty much obsolete (unless friendly mobs are blocking your way). I decided to take RFS-81 with me for a bit of variety, the collection of useful spells I can simulate is growing, and I got my hands on both Astral Dominae and Chaos Moleri. My greatest enemies so far are stamina management (since I can only restore it with potions, and I'm a hoarding type when it comes to consumables) and some of the nastier status effects such as insanity and turncoat (fucking unicorns ). Two rogues were definitely a mistake, another fighter or even another bard would probably be more helpful. Nevertheless I'm getting more and more confident that this party will be able to finish the game.

 

[MpuMngwana]

I spent a ridiculous amount of time on my no-caster party over the last three days, and they've just ascended. In the long run, they were much more powerful then I initially expected and I'm this close to recommending a similar concept for a newbie party. The difficulty started off relatively low, then it spiked a bit around Trynton (breeder rats were the most troublesome fight this entire run) and the swamp, and from there it gradually grew easier as I accumulated gear and levels. By the end of the game, most of the opposition melted before the insane damage output of the fighters and the non-shitty rogue, while the bard and gadgeteer started most fights by buffing with haste, superman and, if necessary, soul shield, and from there they would either attack or heal. Positioning stayed important for the duration of the game, as I wanted as few enemy spellcasters attacking me from a distance as possible. Another virtue of such a party is that it has no real squishies, and they can heal up to full after each fight without any real consequence. Also, all of the non-caster classes level up fast, which is nice.

The unexpected problem I had was with item identification, and I ended up with a bunch of unidentified stuff, including some of the bard instruments. That is partially on me, however, as I had forgotten that you can't raise skills on level up past 75, and was pumping artifacts mostly on my mook fighter, since he had most skill points to spare; he didn't get much past those 75 until the end of the game. I briefly entertained the degenerate strategy of ID-ing bundles of consumable one by one to try and power level artifacts, but that was soul-crushingly boring and by that point the game was already easy enough, so I didn't bother.

Overall, this party was much stronger than I thought it would be; even within the concept of a no-caster party these guys were hardly well-optimized and a better player could make them even more powerful, but even with one character that was pretty much dead weight they ended up as a whirlwind of destruction that effortlessly dispatched the Dark Savant in two rounds straight and ascended to godhood.