Wizardry The Wizardry Series Thread

[JarlFrank]

I'd play it.

Just because it has furries.

 

[Jasede]

Styx already? Damn I have some catching up to do then. But I do lag behind since I need to grind a wee every now and then, or the Expert bosses rape me. NOT looking forward to fighting that fire pharaoh in the pyramid.

I'm also thinking about making either my wizard or priest a psion so he can get the PK Crystal which always imports to 7, and is very useful.

I now have:

Lvl. 9 Lizardman Samurai with 100 Kirijutsu; with dual-swords that is a 16% kill chance with each hit, of each sword. Ignoring spells. Has the most kills. (Samurai have the highest to-hit chance and also get attacks/swings quickly.). Will import the Cameo Locket, the Muramasa Blade and a few Ankhs of Life.

Lvl. 9 Rawful Lord with 70 Kirijutsu; 14%/16% instant kill chance with his sword/dagger combo. I want to go for dual-wielding Diamond Eyes, but maybe I will just use the Excalibur and the +1.5 Hammer since Excalibur just kicks so much ass. Doesn't kill much, but due to auto-skill points to Theology, he is a very very good healer, basically as good as my Priest, except a few levels behind him in known spells and spell power and MP.

Lvl. 10 Fairy Ninja, 50 Kirijutsu, 45 Skullduggery. He dual-wields Sai at the moment so he has 17% instant kill chance each hit on enemies with HD 10 or less. Will import an Ebony Armor piece for the Lord. His AC is -4 right now, and that's the base AC. Told you Ninjas are the very best tanks.

Level 9. Human Bard; the least useful member in the party. Was VERY needed in the beginning for Sleep, but is really lagging behind now. I hope Bards are more useful in 7 and 8, so far I am not enjoying having one, except for in the first few levels, for their lute. Will import the Diamond Ring and another piece of Ebony Armor for the Lord.

Level 9 Gnome Priest; nothing to note here. Might make him a Psionic for the PK Crystal. That aside he will either import the Ebony Heume or the Mantis Gloves.

Level 8 Elven Wizard; meh. Very useful, but pure casters are still a very boring class. Might make him a Psion for the Crystal; and he'll import the Mantis Boots for the Lord to make 7's harsh beginning a tiny bit easier.


I am not going to train the party incredibly once 6 is over, but I will buy ~30 Heavy Heal potions and such. Wizardry 7's beginning is really hard, and I can only assume it'll be much harder on Expert. And the reason I am not making the Priest, Bard or Wizard into something more useful is that the beginning of 7 is even harder if you start out with too many Elite/Hybrid classes. When I played 7 the first time my party was ALL hybrids/elites and the beginning was SO incredibly slow it wasn't pretty. [My party back then: Sam/Mon/Nin/Val/Ran/Bis]

 

[Jaesun]

Killed the Giant Brothers with little trouble - 2 Toll Trolls were harder -, entering the pyramid now. Everyone is level 9, everyone changed class once to pick up Ninjutsu and Kirijutsu, as they speed up battles.

Wait... I though you were going to do a LP thread?

 

[sportforredneck]

Styx already? Damn I have some catching up to do then. But I do lag behind since I need to grind a wee every now and then

I'm now on the grinding part. I unfortunately don't have high points in silence. I do have magic screen but it doesn't have enough of an effect to keep me from getting destroyed.

NOT looking forward to fighting that fire pharaoh in the pyramid.

Hell, beware the giant crabs once you get to Styx, for 7 alone I have to use conjuration.

 

[Jasede]

Killed the Giant Brothers with little trouble - 2 Toll Trolls were harder -, entering the pyramid now. Everyone is level 9, everyone changed class once to pick up Ninjutsu and Kirijutsu, as they speed up battles.

Wait... I though you were going to do a LP thread?

Yeah, in September. Right now I am just getting used to 6/7/8 again and playing through with a slightly better party, to adjust to the difficulty. I wouldn't want to play something as big as 6 and 7 without playing them through first to see what things I need to pay attention to when I do make an LP. Remember, I never played either game on Expert, so some getting-used-to is likely a good idea. It's much harder than I would have though. Expert is likely more than twice as hard as Normal, simply because all bosses come in 2's now, and have more HP, resists, and their spells are more likely to succeed.

Edit: I am using this Cosmic Forge program liberally. Not to cheat, but to see all the hidden stats. I love numbers and it was incredibly satisfying to see that my favourite character, the Lizardman Samurai, has a whopping 20% instant kill chance with each when he uses Sai while dabbling as a Ninja for a few levels. Seeing the mana-regen rate is also insightful.

 

[cardtrick]

Anyone want to do a quick rundown of the character/skill system in Wizardry 6 and 7, targeted at someone (me!) who understands Wizardry 8's system quite well?

I'm definitely interested in playing 6 and 7, and I think I can stomach the graphics (although, seriously, 6 is ugly as sin, and 7 doesn't look much better . . . I wish 6 and 7 looked like the SNES version of 5), but the character generation seems remarkably different and the manual is extremely vague. I think it would be easier to get into if I didn't already have preconceptions from 8's system. For example, you keep talking about switching to a class for a single level to pick up Kirijitsu (which I assume is equivalent to critical strike) and Ninjitsu (stealth, I guess?). In 8 that would only make sense if you planned to stay in the new class for a level and train the skills through use for a long time -- e.g., switching to thief for a level in the Monastery and switching to real-time combat while just barely within range of a group of Seekers to increase Stealth. That's because in Wizardry 8, you can only increase skills that are allowed by your current class. Is the same thing true in 6 and 7, or can you increase a skill through use as long as you already have it, regardless of whether your current class can use it?

Or just more generally, how does multiclassing in 6 and 7 differ from in 8? I've always heard that mutliclassing got nerfed in 8 -- and certainly it's true that there are only very specific circumstances where it's a good idea. Off the top of my head, the only good reasons to multiclass in 8 are bards after level 18 switching to fighter, ranger, or rogue to improve combat abilities after they can use all instruments; bishops and samurais starting as mages for the extra starting skillpoints; anyone switching to rogue or ninja for one level to train Stealth; hybrid classes starting as their base magic class for one level to gain a couple of starting spells for the monastery without hurting their late-game casting level; lords starting as priests to begin the game with a mace and some mace skill so that you can eventually use Diamond Eyes (the best off-hand weapon, which happens to be a mace), or rangers/ninjas starting as alchemists for the nice starting stock of potions and the boost to Alchemy skill . . . that's pretty much all I can think of, and it sounds like a lot, but in the vast majority of cases multiclassing actually harms more than it helps. In contrast, I've gotten the impression that in 6 and 7 multiclassing is almost always a good idea and practically required to survive -- why is that?

 

[sportforredneck]

although, seriously, 6 is ugly as sin, and 7 doesn't look much better .

How dare you spit in the face of my childhood.

 

[Jasede]

I am not good at explaining things.

Wizardry VI
Character Creation

There are eight stats:

STR-
In 6, due to a bug, your carrying capacity is set at creation. Thus it is wise to start at least two to three characters with the maximum, 18. STR adds +1 to melee damage at 16, and +2 at 18.

VIT-
In 6, there is another bug: your mana regeneration is set at creation. To get a good mana regeneration, put it to 18. If you put VIT to 16, you get +1 HP on all HP rolls. If you put it to 18, +2. This is important - give 18 to your wizard or run in danger of having a 12 HP Wizard at level 7.

DEX-
Dexterity is irrelevant at creation. It affects to-hit chance, though. 16 for +1, 18 for +2. Having a high Dexterity allows characters to get an additional attack per round.

SPE-
Speed is good, but again, irrelevant at creation. 16 SPE gives -1 AC, 18 SPE -2 AC. AC works like in AD&D 2.0; Baldur's Gate. Like high DEX, high SPE gives an additional swing/ per round to higher level characters.

INT-
Irrelevant. Some say it affects MP gain; I have noticed no such thing.

PIE-
Irrelevant, unless you import into VII. In VII, the Vitality = Mana Regen bug is fixed; so you might want to end the game with a character with 18 PIE to get better mana regeneration in VII.

PER-
Irrelevant.

KAR-
A stat that effects calculations in a MINOR way. Don't sweat it. Irrelevant.

When you create a character, you first pick a name and a gender. Males have +2 STR, females have +1 Karma and +1 Personality. It is clear that males should be preferred, except for the Diamond Ring, and the Stamina Necklaces in 8. Making your Bard and/or your Wizardry 8-Gadgeteer a Female might be a smooth move. But 8 is fine without the necklaces.

Now you roll bonus points. Use the Cosmic Forge editor to hack the game to give you better rolls, else you will spend DAYS here. I am not even kidding. You roll, I think, 3-26, with 26 showing up about once in ~5 hours of real-time rerolling, and 18+ being a once-in-an-hour thing.

Certain race/class combos need certain amounts of bonus points to be rolled.

Take the Ninja.

The Ninja must have:

12 STR
10 INT
10 PIE
12 VIT
12 DEX
14 SPE

So assume your race is human. Humans start with 9/8/8/9/9/8/8. So to roll a Human Ninja you need exactly 19 Bonus Points. If you roll 26 instead, your new Human Ninja will have the Ninja base stats, and you can spend 7 points as you like. I'd suggest putting them all into STR or VIT. But do not split them, since anything less than 16 in a stat has no benefits.

A Fairy Ninja, without the hack, will take a solid hour of rolling - he needs a 21, and 21 leaves you no points to spend on anything. So use the hack, or learn to love rolling. I rolled on my first time through 6-8, but I do not want to spend three hours like that again.

You also get 2 spell when you create a mage/priest/psion/alchemist.

Pure casters get 1 spell each level.
Hybrid/Elite casters get 1 spell each level too, but they start getting them later. Ninja start at 5, all others at 3. (or 4).

The Bishop is not ALL casters in one; only Priest + Wizard. Resistances are like in 8, as if mana regen (Fairy get more, Lizardmen less).

Skills

Kirijutsu = Critical Strike; very effective
Ninjutsu = Hide; also contributes something like -1 AC all 10 or so skill levels.
Theology = Priest/Valk/Lord/Bishop spell skill. Must be high to pick high level priest skills.
Theosophy = same for Psionics/Monks
Alchemy = same for Alchemists/Ninja/Rangers
Thaumaturgy = same for Wizards/Bards/Samurai/Bishop
Scribe = Artifacts, but for use with scrolls
Artifacts does not identify things; it is there to use consumable combat items, like Sparkle Stix.
Skullduggery = Open Locks
Legerdemain = Pick Pockets


Skills rise no matter what class you have, so if your Wizard happens to have Ninjutsu, it will rise, even when he is no Ninja/Bard/Monk.

Skills that rise from practice are all except for: Theology/Thaumaturgy/Theosophy/Alchemy/Kirijutsu/Legerdemain.

Multiclassing

You do not NEED to do it in 6/7, on Normal. From what I saw so far, you do on Expert though.

In 6 and 7 there is NO penalty for multi-classing but one: your stats revert to the minimum for that race/class combo and your level is set to 1, with you needing as much XP as you would need if you were level 1 at the very start of the game. So assume you make your "all stats at 18" fighter into a Ninja; then he will revert back to 12/10/12/12/14. However, you get: 1 HP for each level get in the new class that is lower than the old level. Spells each level, starting at level 1 for pure caster classes, 3 for most hybrids, and 5 for Ninja. Spellpoints. Ability points each level, as if you levelled normally. Skills. Skill points.

Example:

Mork the Lizardman Fighter would like to become really hard to hit and be able to use Critical Strike. All his stats are at 15. He changes class to Ninja. He now gets skills he didn't have before: Martial Arts, Critical Strike and Hide. As long as he puts at least one skillpoint in each, he will have these skills forever, and he can train them forever, even if he changes back to Fighter.

When Mork changes to Ninja, all his stats drop to the Ninja minimum: 12/10/12/12/14.
If Mork, after five levels of Ninja, wants to be a Fighter again, his stats drop further to the Fighter minimum. He will have lost a lot of stats, but has gained the very valauble skills of Hide and Critical Strike, as well as one Ninja spell he can cast even as a fighter. He can put points into Hide and Critical Strike at each Fighter level-up now, and train Hide by using it.

The problem is just that all his stats dropped really low. Not to worry: each level up you get at least +1 to one stat, often to 2 or 3, sometimes even all. So you will get these back, slowly. That's the one drawback. Still, having Hide on everyone, and Critical Strike on everyone, is a lot better than that.


Lots of people like multiclassing in 6/7. I don't; just doing it to make Expert mode barely survivable. You don't need to do it to play Normal.Some do it lots and, for example, give every party member all skills, or all spells, using/abusing it.



There is no difference between the mechanics of 6 and 7, except that the mana-regen was fixed, so now Piety gives a bonus to it, not Vitality.

Use the hack, give 3 front guys 18 STR and 16 or 18 VIT, the wizards 18 VIT and 16 or 18 STR.

 

[Ammar]

BTW how did your Samurai get to 100 Kirijutsu at level 9? Some switching back and forth?

 

[Jasede]

I never put a skillpoint into anything else until level 8. At level 8 I switched to Ninja for 9 levels, still putting all skill points into Kirijutsu. Now he is a Samurai again at level 9 and has the most kills of anyone, 499 - that's 50 more than my wizard, who does nothing but destroy huge mobs with Iceball; he's just that useful.

This illustrates why multi-classing is so good, Cardtrick: my pure Ninja, who never switched class, and who puts all his skillpoints into Kirijutsu, only has 36 of it. And for what? His only benefit is that he has much better ability scores - but the Samurai will catch up in time - and that he is level 10 instead of 9. Wow.

 

[cardtrick]

Whoah . . .

Thanks, that's exactly what I wanted. It's amazing how despite having the same class names and (apparently) a similar "feel" the actual mechanics of the character system are completely different than in 8.

So it seems from what you've said that a solid option would be to start every character with an 18 in STR and in VIT in a base class, to maximize carrying capacity and mana regen. Have the other stats as close as possible to allowing the character to change into the class you eventually want him as. Strongly consider spending an intermediate level to pick up Ninjitsu and Kirijitsu. Eventually transfer over to the final class you want, resetting your stats to the minimum for that class, but retaining the benefits of carrying capacity and mana regen, along with all the other skills you've learned.

Just to make sure -- for your Fighter/Ninja example, after he changes to Ninja, the experience required to go from level 1 to level 2 is the same as would have been required if he were starting the game as a Ninja, right? That's what really kills multiclassing for most purposes in 8: if you take a fighter to level 10 and then change to a ninja, it takes as much experience to hit level 1 of Ninja as it would to get to level 11 of fighter, and as much to get to level 2 of Ninja as it would for a character that had started as a pure-class Ninja to go from level 11 to level 12. Since experience costs increase with level, this means your multi-classed characters will have roughly the same total level as your other characters, but in each of their individual classes their level will be much lower (which cripples many classes, since things like instant kill chance actually depend far more on class level than on skill level in critical strike). So anyway, it's not like that in 6 and 7, right?

 

[Binary]

I never put a skillpoint into anything else until level 8. At level 8 I switched to Ninja for 9 levels, still putting all skill points into Kirijutsu. Now he is a Samurai again at level 9 and has the most kills of anyone, 499 - that's 50 more than my wizard, who does nothing but destroy huge mobs with Iceball; he's just that useful.
.

How do you check the number of kills?

BTW your advice is great. When I finished Wiz6 I had some advice I had received from a guy I knew who was an expert, but I don't remember half of it anymore. I'd be interested to know how to best capitalize my party for Wiz7 and/or 8...

oh and does anyone know by heart the keycombo in DOSBox to let the mouse "out" of the window?

 

[DraQ]

I'd play it.

Just because it has furries.

Sirtech's wizardry has better furries.

 

[Jasede]

Indeed, it is not.
Let me make numbers up.

Say it takes your level 10 Fighter 100.000 XP to level 11.

Instead he becomes a Ninja.

He is now a level 1 Ninja and needs 1500 XP for level 2, 3000 for level 3, 6000 for level 4, 12000 for level 5, and so on.

So by the time your level 10 Fighter turns level 11, the smarter level 10 Fighter, who turned into a Ninja, will be level 9 again, except he will have much more useful skills and fine spellcasting skills.


About multi-classing: yeah you got it, that's exactly how you should do it if you don't want to overly abuse it.

A sidenote: only bards can use musical instruments, having the Music skill is not enough.

Second sidenote: when I played Wizardry 6, I did it like you said you would: started with easy base classes, multi-classed in the middle of the game, finished the game. This is a great strategy, but it does have a flaw: the beginning of 7 will be VERY hard if you only have elite/hybrid classes. You might, for a slightly easier time, think about changing your Priest->Bishop and Wizard->Samurai back to their base class before you end 6, because having a pure Priest, Wizard and/or Bard in 7 will make the very, very tough beginning a lot less painful.

 

[Jasede]

>> How do you check the number of kills?

MKS, top-right of the Review menu, when you look at the character sheet.

>> BTW your advice is great. When I finished Wiz6 I had some advice I had received from a guy I knew who was an expert, but I don't remember half of it anymore. I'd be interested to know how to best capitalize my party for Wiz7 and/or 8...

I love games with a lot of numbers. Yeah, this is RPG Codex, but honestly, I will take a game with hundreds of numbers and a few sprinkles of C&C over Fallout. Okay, what do you want to know? How items import? How importing works? Ask away.

>> oh and does anyone know by heart the keycombo in DOSBox to let the mouse "out" of the window?

ALT+F10 OR CTRL+F10. I think the latter.

 

[Jasede]

Importing from 6 to 7

* Level is dropped to 5.
* Abilities are dropped, but high scores give a slight benefit.
* HP/MP are cropped to what they'd be at level 5.
* Spells are remembered randomly from those the character knows, but only up to spell level 3 (Fireball and below).
* Carry Capacity is fixed, as is Mana Regeneration
* Skills import as-is, except they are reduced to 1/5th. 20 is the highest you can have in any given skill. If you had Hide in 6 you will have it in 7. Scribe is gone in 7, that means that you need both 100 Scribe and 100 Artifacts in 6 to have 20 Artifacts in 7. If you have 100 Artifacts in 6 and 0 Scribe, you start with 16 Artifacts in 6. If you have 0 Artifacts and 100 Scribe in 6, you start with 4 Artifacts in 7.

ITEMS

Always import: PK Crystal, Fairy Stick, Diamond Ring, Ring of Stars, Cameo Locket, Ankh of Life, all Potions, all minor things (Sparkle Stix and such). Stock up on healing potions.

Super items import 1/each. To make sure your Excalibur is imported, put everything else into the char's swag bag and have him equip only the super item you want. All items should import, even Excalibur. And Excalibur OWNS. So that's 6 guaranteed Super Items.

You get also some of the stuff you'd have if you were just starting out that class, so your imported Samurai might have a Wakizashi, and your Fighter maybe a piece of random armor. You also get a Map Kit.

STARTING LOCATION:

Take ship: Near T'rang base
Fly with Bela: Near Umpani base
Take Forge: Near Dane Tower

Ending has no other consequence, except for different intro movie. Sadly! But still, better than nothing. And we get a lot of nothing these days.

 

[Binary]

So I was all happy to start and try Wiz7... but I don't know why, the mouse on DosBox now won't leave the right side of the window for any game.

It was working fine yesterday I'm afraid I might have clicked on the wrong place or pressed the wrong keys while searching for the Ctrl+F10 combo

Haylp

EDIT: apparently has to do with dual monitors in Linux. ARGH

 

[giantgnome]

Importing from 6 to 7

* Level is dropped to 5.
* Abilities are dropped, but high scores give a slight benefit.
* HP/MP are cropped to what they'd be at level 5.
* Spells are remembered randomly from those the character knows, but only up to spell level 3 (Fireball and below).
* Carry Capacity is fixed, as is Mana Regeneration
* Skills import as-is, except they are reduced to 1/5th. 20 is the highest you can have in any given skill. If you had Hide in 6 you will have it in 7. Scribe is gone in 7, that means that you need both 100 Scribe and 100 Artifacts in 6 to have 20 Artifacts in 7. If you have 100 Artifacts in 6 and 0 Scribe, you start with 16 Artifacts in 6. If you have 0 Artifacts and 100 Scribe in 6, you start with 4 Artifacts in 7.

ITEMS

Always import: PK Crystal, Fairy Stick, Diamond Ring, Ring of Stars, Cameo Locket, Ankh of Life, all Potions, all minor things (Sparkle Stix and such). Stock up on healing potions.

Super items import 1/each. To make sure your Excalibur is imported, put everything else into the char's swag bag and have him equip only the super item you want. All items should import, even Excalibur. And Excalibur OWNS. So that's 6 guaranteed Super Items.

You get also some of the stuff you'd have if you were just starting out that class, so your imported Samurai might have a Wakizashi, and your Fighter maybe a piece of random armor. You also get a Map Kit.

STARTING LOCATION:

Take ship: Near T'rang base
Fly with Bela: Near Umpani base
Take Forge: Near Dane Tower

Ending has no other consequence, except for different intro movie. Sadly! But still, better than nothing. And we get a lot of nothing these days.

Not completely accurate. Where you end in 6 does have consequences in 7. If you start with the T'rang the Umpani are instantly hostile toward you and you have no money. Starting with the Umpani begins you with, I believe, 10000 gp and friendly relations with the Umpani. Also the Diamond Ring will go from 6-7-8 but the Cameo Locket will only go from 6-7, so not killing the endbosses is probably the way to go.

Also from 6-7 what your skills start at isn't the same system as 8, which is the 1/5 rule. In 7 my skills have started out, somewhat randomly, as high as the mid-40s. Actually to get the most starting points put as many things as possible in the 40-50 range. It has worked for me. I believe your overall level also affects this. Going into 8 you need as many skills as possible at 100 so that they will start out at 20. Artifacts and scribe are both in 7, they merge in 8.

Although I love 6-8, 8's system is far superior, IMHO. The battles, autoswitching between range and melee, free-roaming, reduced randomness (the randomness is something I hate, whether it's rolling a character or leveling up) as well as limiting some of the exploits of 6-7, such as switching classes. I never liked that exploit and I don't use it.

Anyway looking forward to your let's play thread.

 

[sportforredneck]

Getting through the game unscathed unfortunately didn't happen, I finally managed to kill the samurai in the Hall of the Dead, but he took my Ninja, Ackbar, with him. I guess it's what he gets for being a muslim...and dracon. So he's ressurected and I'm about to take on the last few parts.

 

[Jaesun]

STR-
In 6, due to a bug, your carrying capacity is set at creation. Thus it is wise to start at least two to three characters with the maximum, 18. STR adds +1 to melee damage at 16, and +2 at 18.

VIT-
In 6, there is another bug: your mana regeneration is set at creation. To get a good mana regeneration, put it to 18. If you put VIT to 16, you get +1 HP on all HP rolls. If you put it to 18, +2. This is important - give 18 to your wizard or run in danger of having a 12 HP Wizard at level 7.

Ok that finally answers my frustration with Wiz 6 when I played it last.

So at Character creation, if say my Fairy has 18 STR... but then changes class (and their STR drops) they STILL keep their carrying capacity that they had at 18, provided I get the STR stat back up to 18? Did that make sense?

 

[Binary]

Also the Diamond Ring will go from 6-7-8 but the Cameo Locket will only go from 6-7, so not killing the endbosses is probably the way to go.

Not the end bosses... you mean the Gorrors I presume? The ones you have to kill in Wiz7 to exchange your diamond ring?

 

[Jasede]

I think he means the Rebecca and the Bane King. The only way to get the Cameo Locket is killing Bela in 6, though it might drop somewhere in 7.

Sorry about messing up the import rules for 8, I forgot them. http://www.flamestryke.com/wizardry8/fl ... es_w8.html <- there.

I am SURE there is no Scribe skill in 7, but I often am sure and it's wrong.

I didn't know there were consequences. I knew about the starting GP, but I have read that no matter what ending, you can side with anyone. I guess the truth is in-between: you can still side with anyone you want, but they are just friendly/hostile at the start?

Also, damn, you're right. Practically nothing good imports from 7 to 8, not the Cameo Locket and not the PK Crystal. But the Locket will still be helpful an 7, and it can be gotten in 8, but it's a 1/209 drop from an unique monster.

So at Character creation, if say my Fairy has 18 STR... but then changes class (and their STR drops) they STILL keep their carrying capacity that they had at 18, provided I get the STR stat back up to 18? Did that make sense?

Bob the Fairy has 18 STR at creation. This gives him ~199 CC. Bob changes to a Wizard and now has 7 STR. His CC remains at 199; but he does lose his +2 to melee damage.

 

[giantgnome]

I think he means the Rebecca and the Bane King. The only way to get the Cameo Locket is killing Bela in 6, though it might drop somewhere in 7.

Sorry about messing up the import rules for 8, I forgot them. http://www.flamestryke.com/wizardry8/fl ... es_w8.html <- there.

I am SURE there is no Scribe skill in 7, but I often am sure and it's wrong.

I didn't know there were consequences. I knew about the starting GP, but I have read that no matter what ending, you can side with anyone. I guess the truth is in-between: you can still side with anyone you want, but they are just friendly/hostile at the start?

Also, damn, you're right. Practically nothing good imports from 7 to 8, not the Cameo Locket and not the PK Crystal. But the Locket will still be helpful an 7, and it can be gotten in 8, but it's a 1/209 drop from an unique monster.

Right, you can side with anyone in 7 but how you end 6 determines whether or not certain groups are friendly or hostile. How you end 7 has no affect on how the different factions in 8 view you, though. That dissapointed me a little. And I did mean Rebecca and the Bane King, I like getting their side of the story at the end and the diamond ring is nice.

A few good items will transfer from 7-8, but some of them aren't so great in 7 like the stun rod. I really like starting out with the stun rod in 8. Also the elven bow. Those two items will always transfer as will the siren's wail for the bard.

 

[Jasede]

Yeah, but none of the really good items will transfer from 7 to 8, unlike from 6 to 7, which makes me a sad panda.

 

[Jasede]

This is what my party looks like after -1- round against Expert Mode Amen Tut-Butt, using Fire Shield and Magic Screen. He just does 40 damage to everyone, 25 if I am lucky, and that twice, and the Pharaohs also throw Fireballs.