Wizardry The Wizardry Series Thread

[Silvanus]

Nikanuur Wow! Thanks for all the great info. I've been playing isometric cRPGs for many, many years (and a fair number of JRPGs in my youth) so I'm hoping that nothing systems-wise will be too alienating, but I'm a little too young to have come up with any real familiarity with blobbers. With the state of this year's releases, this seems to be as good a time as any to change that and I'm genuinely interested in getting to experience games that I've missed out on. Widescreen support is a great plus, and I'll stay away from anything affecting gameplay for my initial playthrough.

Depends.
Wiz 1-5 have the simplest game mechanics, but also the worst UI and audiovisuals.
There's also the fact that you can transfer characters from 1-2-3-5, and from 5-7-8.

I figured that I'd acquaint myself with the format while having the niceties of a somewhat accessible UI (and hoping that I'm not missing out on crucial gameplay concepts or plot points) before exploring the rest of the 6-8 trilogy (and the earlier games) but I might be overthinking it. Some of the remakes of the earlier games (like the Llylgamyn Saga) look very readable to me, and even quite beautiful in their spritework. Pretty sprites tend to age more gracefully than 3D models anyhow.

 

[Strange Fellow]

Silvanus gameplay-wise there are essentially three eras of Wizardry: 1-5, 6-7, and 8. (4 is an outlier, but you don't want to start there anyway). Each has good things about it, so what I'd do is look at 1, 6 and 8, maybe give each a quick spin and see which one you prefer. You can always come back to the other ones later. I prefer 8.

Widescreen support is a great plus, and I'll stay away from anything affecting gameplay for my initial playthrough.

You should also stay away from any min-maxing advice. The game doesn't need it. The best way to play Wiz 8 is to pick whichever party sounds the most interesting.

As for mods, there is one more essential one besides Wizfast:
https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/wizardry-8-enhancements-a-call-to-arms.79581/
This mod has a faster combat component which can be installed (via the installer) without the other additions. Wizfast only speeds up enemy movement, but this one speeds up enemy attacks as well. You want both.

 

[Nikanuur]

Silvanus gameplay-wise there are essentially three eras of Wizardry: 1-5, 6-7, and 8. (4 is an outlier, but you don't want to start there anyway). Each has good things about it, so what I'd do is look at 1, 6 and 8, maybe give each a quick spin and see which one you prefer. You can always come back to the other ones later. I prefer 8.

Widescreen support is a great plus, and I'll stay away from anything affecting gameplay for my initial playthrough.

You should also stay away from any min-maxing advice. The game doesn't need it. The best way to play Wiz 8 is to pick whichever party sounds the most interesting.

As for mods, there is one more essential one besides Wizfast:
https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/wizardry-8-enhancements-a-call-to-arms.79581/
This mod has a faster combat component which can be installed (via the installer) without the other additions. Wizfast only speeds up enemy movement, but this one speeds up enemy attacks as well. You want both.

Yeah, as if your subjectivity is best for most or whatever.
I said that the game doesn't 'need' to be min maxed in the first place.
Not that you bothered to reflect upon it...
What a prude.

 

[grimer]

not 100% sure about not beign able to find an Omnigun later, someone please confirm this?

there's only one other omnigun in the game which can only be obtained by either pickpocketing it or by killing the owner. gadgeteers are perfectly fine without it imo since they can wield the tripleshot crossbow instead which deals more damage or rely on gadgets and spam the strongest aoe spells in the game.

 

[Nikanuur]

Nikanuur Wow! Thanks for all the great info. I've been playing isometric cRPGs for many, many years (and a fair number of JRPGs in my youth) so I'm hoping that nothing systems-wise will be too alienating, but I'm a little too young to have come up with any real familiarity with blobbers. With the state of this year's releases, this seems to be as good a time as any to change that and I'm genuinely interested in getting to experience games that I've missed out on. Widescreen support is a great plus, and I'll stay away from anything affecting gameplay for my initial playthrough.

I figured that I'd acquaint myself with the format while having the niceties of a somewhat accessible UI (and hoping that I'm not missing out on crucial gameplay concepts or plot points) before exploring the rest of the 6-8 trilogy (and the earlier games) but I might be overthinking it. Some of the remakes of the earlier games (like the Llylgamyn Saga) look very readable to me, and even quite beautiful in their spritework. Pretty sprites tend to age more gracefully than 3D models anyhow.

I forgot to mention that you should invest as much points into Critical Strike on level-ups, as you can—that is, if you choose to min-max right from the start.
As mentioned before, you'll be alright playing Wizardy 8 the usual style, choosing some fighters, casters, healers, a thief, etc.
The game is designed well in that regard.

 

[Nikanuur]

not 100% sure about not beign able to find an Omnigun later, someone please confirm this?

there's only one other omnigun in the game which can only be obtained by either pickpocketing it or by killing the owner. gadgeteers are perfectly fine without it imo since they can wield the tripleshot crossbow instead which deals more damage or rely on gadgets and spam the strongest aoe spells in the game.

That’s a great point, thanks! I agree that the Omnigun isn’t vital, but I liked it because it felt original and stood out to me.

 

[Silvanus]

You should also stay away from any min-maxing advice. The game doesn't need it. The best way to play Wiz 8 is to pick whichever party sounds the most interesting.

As mentioned before, you'll be alright playing Wizardy 8 the usual style, choosing some fighters, casters, healers, a thief, etc.
The game is designed well in that regard.

Got it. My plan is not to do any "hard" min-maxing for the first playthrough. i.e., not anything that would require knowledge significantly beyond what I organically learn from reading the manual and playing the game, but some trial and error is acceptable. I'll definitely fit a gadgeteer into the party though, since the novelty of the omnigun and the class as a whole is enough to get me curious about trying it.

As for mods, there is one more essential one besides Wizfast:
https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/wizardry-8-enhancements-a-call-to-arms.79581/
This mod has a faster combat component which can be installed (via the installer) without the other additions. Wizfast only speeds up enemy movement, but this one speeds up enemy attacks as well. You want both.

Thanks! I'll remember this. All of you guys are very helpful.

I'll be sure to check out other installments in the series at some point anyway, so I think I shan't fret too much over my starting point.

 

[coldcrow]

Isn't a maxed critical strike only giving 5% crit rate? Seems like a waste investing lvlup points in it.

 

[Reality]

I was never impressed by critical strike in wiz 8 the way it was in 6-7.

Fighter/Thief with Berserk and Backstab feel so much better

 

[Butter]

I was never impressed by critical strike in wiz 8 the way it was in 6-7.

Fighter/Thief with Berserk and Backstab feel so much better

Wiz8 is like if Sawyer made a Wizardry game. Kirijutsu was too strong (fun) so it had to be nerfed. Class changing was too strong (fun) so it had to be nerfed. You can't spend all your skill points on one skill when you level up, because that would break the careful balance of the level-scaled garbage.

 

[Strange Fellow]

Imagine whinging about muh nerfs instead of building a crit-focused party and gloriously cutting through muh HP-bloated Rapax like a hot knife through butter.

 

[Reality]

That's what Death Cloud and Quicksand is for.

Never thought about it but, while instant death magic is great on Wiz8, I don't think I ever used it in Wiz 6. Guess it makes up for having a worse ninja.

 

[TheDeveloperDude]

Silvern Castle - I have only a Level2 party, but this game is better than Wiz5 so far. And you can exercise a lot of mathematics:

 

[TheDeveloperDude]

Can you decipher this?

Btw in Wizardry 6-7-8 the shops are always open? Antone for example?

 

[octavius]

I don't remember the details about Silvern Castle, but there is a thread dedicated to the game.

As for better than Wiz 5, does it have such a memorable NPC as Lord Hienmitey?

 

[Desiderius]

not 100% sure about not beign able to find an Omnigun later, someone please confirm this?

there's only one other omnigun in the game which can only be obtained by either pickpocketing it or by killing the owner. gadgeteers are perfectly fine without it imo since they can wield the tripleshot crossbow instead which deals more damage or rely on gadgets and spam the strongest aoe spells in the game.

Carrying all those Bolts is a pain and not trivial to keep the good ones in stock.

If you train up Ranged and Modern Weapons Omnigun is fine by midgame and good value late.

 

[Desiderius]

That's what Death Cloud and Quicksand is for.

Never thought about it but, while instant death magic is great on Wiz8, I don't think I ever used it in Wiz 6. Guess it makes up for having a worse ninja.

Instakill effects are almost entirely reliant on party size (relative level). Smaller the party better they are. In general the Nip classes are for smol parties.

 

[Toffeli]

 

[Latro]

Rest in peace

 

[Latro]

Infinitron

Need a news post to mark his passing

 

[j2alg]

The ghost of Trebor finally got him lads

.

I'm sorry

 

[dutchwench]

If I understand correctly, a situation extremely similar to my one has already happened almost exactly a year ago in this exact thread, but it bears repeating: holy shit, the fucking droppable cross thing. This is evil, but also genius. This is how they kept you coming back years ago.

 

[unseeingeye]

Somebody translated the Japanese remake of Wizardry VII - Jewel of Guardia for the original Playstation; I woke up to a message from a friend letting me know:

https://romhackplaza.org/translations/wizardry-7-english-japanese-translation-playstation/

 

[d1r]

Somebody translated the Japanese remake of Wizardry VII - Jewel of Guardia for the original Playstation; I woke up to a message from a friend letting me know:

https://romhackplaza.org/translations/wizardry-7-english-japanese-translation-playstation/

Time to replay Wiz7!

 

[Butter]

Isn't it amazing how 1992 sprites still look magnificent, but mid-90s 3D has aged like milk?