Wizardry The Wizardry Series Thread

[dr. one]

Am I missing a shitload of dialogue here or something?

dunno if shitload, but yes. once you acquire one and more of the three main artifacts, certain npcs (Braffit, for example) will have new dialogue and few changes in the gameworld occur. after that try entering Ascension Peak behind Bela and you´ll get pointers towards Rapaxland, for example. talk with Ferro to get other pointer, etc.

personally i love how the game handles open endedness and how some optional quests intertwine with the main goals.

 

[DraQ]

I've a question about the general storyline: I've done all quests for the Umpani and T'Rang up until their final "kill the other side" quest - How, according to the story, am I to know what to do now? I checked the various walkthroughs and have currently murdered my way into Rapax territory and become a templar, but has anyone ever TOLD me to go here? I was also told by the dragon-thing Bela on top of Ascension Peak that I should disarm the bomb in Arnika, but nobody tells you HOW to get into the tower or even hints at the location of the teleporter in Rapaxland.

Am I missing a shitload of dialogue here or something? Did somebody say "Hey, maybe you should go look in the Rapax areas for no fucking good reason, I hear they've got the key to ascending." Really, I've come across no good reason to go to Rapaxland, which is universally talked about as being hell by everybody you ask. The T'Rang and Umpani questlines gave you a good reason to go to Bayjin and Fishville, but when does anyone tell you to go to Rapaxland?

.
Use it.


*wanders off muttering about the decline brought by oblivious quest compasses and walkthrough popups*

 

[Darth Roxor]

Am I missing a shitload of dialogue here or something? Did somebody say "Hey, maybe you should go look in the Rapax areas for no fucking good reason, I hear they've got the key to ascending."

Uhm... yes? A whole damn lot of times even? It's said quite many times that the Savant has allied with the Rapax, and they both blocked out Ascension peak because Rapax are very butthurt about not being able to Ascend and now want DS to help them.

Also:

I've done all quests for the Umpani and T'Rang up until their final "kill the other side" quest

I take it you've never been to the Rapax field camp and you've never found Rodan and Drazic, right?


Also:

*wanders off muttering about the decline brought by oblivious quest compasses and walkthrough popups*

 

[Eyeball]

Well, yeah, I got the 3 dragonballs, sorry, artifacts of ascension and went to A.P the direct way, but all the Rapax there told me was "LOL GTFO, ROAD CLOSED" before dying of sword poisoning. Nothing about there being another way in from anywhere IIRC, and Bela didn't seem to offer any advice either. And I've heard several times about the Rapax being allied with the Savant, but nobody has seemed to say "Hey, maybe there's a way into the tower the from Rapax areas!"

The two prisoners make more sense as they're told to have gone missing "spying on the Rapax" and Ferro even tells you about them, but the Away Camp hadn't spawned last time I visited it despite having all 3 dragonballs. Guess I gotta go back and see if anyone there talks about bombs and shit.

 

[DraQ]

but nobody has seemed to say "Hey, maybe there's a way into the tower the from Rapax areas!"

NVM, go play oblivion instead.

 

[Eyeball]

No thanks, Oblivion was dull.

 

[hoverdog]

but it had a quest compass!

 

[Eyeball]

I also didn't like Oblivion's quest compass. I'm just wondering about the logic of Wiz8 expecting you to go into Rapax territory looking for things (a way of disarming the bomb and a way into Ascension Peak) which nobody's even suggested to be there. My first instinct upon finding the Ascension Peak roadblock was to try to find a bomb in the vicinity to blow it away, but none seemed to be found, and I ran all over Arnika looking for, I don't know, a secret tunnel or grappling hook something which could get me into the tower but no, you gotta get there via a teleporter in Rapaxland.

It just seems an odd leap of the game to assume that you would NATURALLY walk into Rapax areas without much of a valid reason to go there for, unless you are looking for the prisoners who aren't even anywhere near the teleporter into AP, especially considering that the game pretty much tells you "Maybe you should go to MB/Arnika/Umpaniland/Trynton and ask them?" for most of the other content in the game. The only thing you ever hear about Rapaxland is "stay the hell out."

 

[DraQ]

but it had a quest compass!

And walkthrough popups!

 

[Darth Roxor]

You know, one might think that if the way to Ascension Peak is blocked by Rapax and it is said a gazillion times that they're now controlling it, it would be obvious that the way to Ascension Peak lies, indeed, somewhere within Rapax-controlled territory.

But I guess logic doesn't sit well with 2010 members.

 

[DraQ]

You know, one might think that if the way to Ascension Peak is blocked by Rapax and it is said a gazillion times that they're now controlling it, it would be obvious that the way to Ascension Peak lies, indeed, somewhere within Rapax-controlled territory.

Same with Myles mentioning that there must be a way into the tower, but not in Arnika and Savant allying with Rapax - it doesn't really take Einstein to put two and two together here.

I'm deeply displeased with the influence of handholding on average gamer's mental faculties.

 

[Jaesun]

I do have to say my Wiz 8 run through with my Wiz6/7 party imported was an awesome experience.

 

[Eyeball]

Bonus question: Some people are saying not to recruit the RPCs - why would you not do this? In my games, picking up Vi, Saxx or especially RFS-81 has made my team win battles easier, plus the added commentary is always welcome. Is it because they leech a bit of party experience?

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Gotta love Wizardry 8. Old school non-handholding beat your ass with a whipping stick goodness. Fuck new games have made us weak as a people.

 

[Eyeball]

Indeed - actually having to run like a bitch from a spawn of level 4 giant ants or highwaymen early in the game is a refreshing change from the Diablo-style 1 man army type of RPG.

 

[SkeleTony]

The monastery is not a bad dungeon at all but once you've played through it 2-5 times you will wish someone would do a "Dungeon be Gone!" mod(like the one for BG2's first dungeon) so you can skip the bloody thing. The game gets much more fun when you get to Arnika and beyond.

Well, actually you can skip the bloddy thing. since Wiz8 directly follows the storyline of Wiz7, there are actually 4 different starting points to the game, equal to the possible endings of Wiz7.

So all you need to do is a nice quick playthrough of Wiz7 with your favourite party and you're set

However, as always, you can cheat, in a fashion. The nice gentleman here: http://r0k.us/rock/games/wizardry8/ offers some import savegames. Catch is, you have to get used to his chars.

Yeah none of that is what I am looking for. Using someone else's characters is damned near like watching someone else PLAY. Half the fun of RPGs is creating your characters and I don't want to play anyone's pre-generated furries and shit.

And while I have been playing Wizardry 7 off and on again and may actually finish the damned thing at some point, I would not bother importing characters into Wizardry 8. It is one thing to take a bunch of god-like characters and gimp them(necessary or not) but to make them all level 5 with a select few of their items? That is not "importing" at all. it is just allowing you to keep your Wiz 7 PC names for your Wiz 8 characters.

 

[DraQ]

Bonus question: Some people are saying not to recruit the RPCs - why would you not do this? In my games, picking up Vi, Saxx or especially RFS-81 has made my team win battles easier, plus the added commentary is always welcome. Is it because they leech a bit of party experience?

This and only this. I prefer extra commentary and versatility to moar XP, though, so I always use full party with RPCs.

 

[nuclearglow]

The monastery is not a bad dungeon at all but once you've played through it 2-5 times you will wish someone would do a "Dungeon be Gone!" mod(like the one for BG2's first dungeon) so you can skip the bloody thing. The game gets much more fun when you get to Arnika and beyond.

Well, actually you can skip the bloddy thing. since Wiz8 directly follows the storyline of Wiz7, there are actually 4 different starting points to the game, equal to the possible endings of Wiz7.

So all you need to do is a nice quick playthrough of Wiz7 with your favourite party and you're set

However, as always, you can cheat, in a fashion. The nice gentleman here: http://r0k.us/rock/games/wizardry8/ offers some import savegames. Catch is, you have to get used to his chars.

Yeah none of that is what I am looking for. Using someone else's characters is damned near like watching someone else PLAY. Half the fun of RPGs is creating your characters and I don't want to play anyone's pre-generated furries and shit.

And while I have been playing Wizardry 7 off and on again and may actually finish the damned thing at some point, I would not bother importing characters into Wizardry 8. It is one thing to take a bunch of god-like characters and gimp them(necessary or not) but to make them all level 5 with a select few of their items? That is not "importing" at all. it is just allowing you to keep your Wiz 7 PC names for your Wiz 8 characters.

Well, all in all, I agree. I wouldn't do those things too. As a last resort, you might wanna try cyberman's fucking wiz8 trainer, which supposedly gives you a level jump in 3D mode - whatever that means, maybe teleports you out of the monastery, don't know for sure.
http://dlh.net/chtdb/chtindex.php?lang= ... Wizardry+8
Myself, won't touch the thing.

 

[Kashrlyyk]

Yeah none of that is what I am looking for. Using someone else's characters is damned near like watching someone else PLAY. Half the fun of RPGs is creating your characters and I don't want to play anyone's pre-generated furries and shit.
...

You can actually replace characters right in the middle of playing, but you need to have enough money to buy the start equipment.

 

[Cenobyte]

Bonus question: Some people are saying not to recruit the RPCs - why would you not do this? In my games, picking up Vi, Saxx or especially RFS-81 has made my team win battles easier, plus the added commentary is always welcome. Is it because they leech a bit of party experience?

This and only this. I prefer extra commentary and versatility to moar XP, though, so I always use full party with RPCs.

The XP requirements for each new levels also raise quite disproportionally, and once you are around lvl. 20 you need so much XP for the next level that it really isn't that important if you have two party members more or less. The difference is really diminuitive.

 

[coldcrow]

It actually is because of the disproportional XP reqs, but that just depends on your goals for your party.
For example 4 character party vs. 8 character equals around 10 levels more at endgame. Which enables roughly 2 more superskills and gives HP&SP.

 

[SkeleTony]

It actually is because of the disproportional XP reqs, but that just depends on your goals for your party.
For example 4 character party vs. 8 character equals around 10 levels more at endgame. Which enables roughly 2 more superskills and gives HP&SP.

I would rather run around killing random shit for XP if I needed those extra few levels that bad, than go with a 4 PC party. 4 PC parties just suck to me. In ANY CRPG I feel 6-8 members is much more fun(JA2 was the best for allowing 18 freaking PCs!). having less than that inevitably leads to less specialized roles for your PCs. Your thief is no longer a thief but is instead a 'tank/mage/Thief' and your mage has to become a 'Mage/cleric/merchant' and so on.

 

[DraQ]

It actually is because of the disproportional XP reqs, but that just depends on your goals for your party.
For example 4 character party vs. 8 character equals around 10 levels more at endgame. Which enables roughly 2 more superskills and gives HP&SP.

I would rather run around killing random shit for XP if I needed those extra few levels that bad, than go with a 4 PC party.

This.

I may try solo, or pair once in the future, but only to experience it differently, my usual way of playing Wiz8 will always be full party + RPCs.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Yeah, but if you solo, what class do you pick? That's the toughie.

 

[JarlFrank]

Started a new game. All-female humanoid team as usual, one human Valkyre, one fairy Ninja, who are my two frontline fighters, then one gnome Gadgeteer, one human Ranger, one Elven Bishop and one elven Mage.