Wizardry The Wizardry Series Thread

[Daniel Valiente]

Say folks, I'm going to make a new party (yes, a third one this month), so what do you think of the following build:
3 Lizardman Fighters with swords.
2 Human or Hobbit Gadgeteers.
1 six-school Elf Bishop.
Sparkle.
Madras.

As you can see, I intend this as a ranged combat party with devastating missile damage starting around level 13, when the Gadgeteers make their Repeaters. I am going to fight using focus fire of my 4 specialised ranged attackers, and the Fighters as shields. Triple crossbows for them later on are also nice. I know that I'll be able to have only two portals (Bishop and Sparkle), which is kinda lame, but then again less chance to fall through the ground at Return to Portal... Do you think I should make one of the Fighters dual mace wielding (The Mauler + Diamond Eyes)? I've tried this with Vi, and honestly, she sucked. So, though it looks like a good combination, I'm not so sure...

 

[Jasede]

6-school bishop? I can think of some more exciting things to do than train 6 different spell skills.

 

[Daniel Valiente]

6-school bishop? I can think of some more exciting things to do than train 6 different spell skills.

Yeah, well, I need all the spells like Missile Shield, and Armorplate, and Enchanted blade, so I'll have to be extensive here. Worry not, it's not the first time I'm doing this.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Since when were there six schools?
Divinity, Alchemy, Mage, and Psionic.
You mean the elemental stuff?

 

[Daniel Valiente]

Since when were there six schools?

Since 2001, when Wizardry 8 appeared. I believe that in the previous games there were six of them as well.

Divinity, Alchemy, Mage, and Psionic.

Those four are not schools, they are books, or Spellbooks, as they are called in the game manual. You can look it up if you do not believe me. (Or did you, heaven forbid, actually go and download the game?)

You mean the elemental stuff?

Yes. I've just checked: they are called realms by the game authors, so I've made a major arse of myself in the previous post. Realms, not schools.

 

[DraQ]

Yes. I've just checked: they are called realms by the game authors, so I've made a major arse of myself in the previous post. Realms, not schools.

Indeed, and:

As the study of magic evolved, four different schools of magic were
formed.

I guess Major_Blackhart's honor will now make its demands.

 

[Daniel Valiente]

As the study of magic evolved, four different schools of magic were
formed.

Page number, please, or I call you, sir, a liar.

 

[Gnidrologist]

I've heard that bishops are by far the slowest learners, especially when you make them do or 4 schools, so the chances are that half of the game you wont even have most of the useful defensive buffs. I'm not talking from experience as i've never taken a bishop. Will probably finally do the next times, but the ''party'' will most likely be duo due to what's said above.

 

[Daniel Valiente]

I've heard that bishops are by far the slowest learners, especially when you make them do or 4 schools, so the chances are that half of the game you wont even have most of the useful defensive buffs.

True, but by level 13-16, Bishops start to shine with about 300 SP in each realm and pretty much every spell there is, with the exception of the top ones. Provided you saved your picks, of course.

 

[DraQ]

As the study of magic evolved, four different schools of magic were
formed.

Page number, please, or I call you, sir, a liar.

76.

Third paragraph at the very beginning of the "Magic" section.

Can't believe you somehow missed it - with all those accusations and aggressive defensiveness that would make JCD jealous I expected you'd at least have it memorized, possibly even including precise page numeration.

Of course, I'm using .pdf version - my own manual is in Polish (and presumably at my GF's home, along with the CDs). It's also somewhat badly translated in some places.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

So now you go in manual and look at page 76 under magic spellbooks.
"As the study of magic evolved, four different schools of magic were formed."
Just above that is where you would find your realms reference.

He deered to kill a king's dare!

My honor must be sated after the young newfag dared to challenge me.

So pray tell, which hole do you want to hurt first?

edit:
And I got the book, because I fucking bought the game when it first came out newfag.

 

[DraQ]

Brotip:

If you're fast you may be able to fetch some lube before you imminent date. Asking Jaesun or Jasede has probably the most chance of success.


In before piercing the second aperture.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

So Draq, as far as interesting builds go, what is the one that is your favorite but not necessarily a common build (i.e. something out there but not normally recommended for beginners).

 

[Shannow]

In my manual it's on page 39...
4 spellbooks
6 realms
4 schools

The funny part is: I wouldn't have given a fuck...

 

[Gnidrologist]

I've heard that bishops are by far the slowest learners, especially when you make them do or 4 schools, so the chances are that half of the game you wont even have most of the useful defensive buffs.

True, but by level 13-16, Bishops start to shine with about 300 SP in each realm and pretty much every spell there is, with the exception of the top ones. Provided you saved your picks, of course.

Yeah, but how long is to get him to level 13-16? I never used the bishop, but even seeing how my ninjas usually lag behind the squad with some 300k xp at least, and knowing that bishops are even worse at this and then considering that learning all 4 schools of magic makes it even slower to get anything useful, it just seems that you need to purposefully grind him to the point of actual efficiency. I know it would work better if small party, but in the full squad of 6-8?
Ok, it doesn't matter because i'm not turning back to big parties anyway. Just love that additional xp now playing with 4. Will gradually lower it till finally try out my first solo in the near future.

One thing i wanted to ask bishop lovers. What seems to be optimal magic school combo for two bishops in the party that both specialize in two schools? I suppose combining alchemist with mage would be kinda wasteful as you could have both bishops having knock and wipping rocks instead of just one. Haven't studied all this nerdy shit, but i recon there are more similar considerations. What are your general tactics with this?

In before scaly.

 

[DraQ]

So Draq, as far as interesting builds go, what is the one that is your favorite but not necessarily a common build (i.e. something out there but not normally recommended for beginners).

Honestly? I have none. I like experimenting and I tend to play suboptimal parties.

I generally don't solo or use reduced parties because party banter is so important part of my enjoyment in Wiz8.

I generally play a lot of furfags and scalefags, but that's to be expected, isn't it?

One thing i wanted to ask bishop lovers. What seems to be optimal magic school combo for two bishops in the party that both specialize in two schools? I suppose combining alchemist with mage would be kinda wasteful as you could have both bishops having knock and wipping rocks instead of just one. Haven't studied all this nerdy shit, but i recon there are more similar considerations. What are your general tactics with this?

In before scaly.

Well, two school bischops don't suffer from dramatic shortage of spell picks, but you'd still want to conserve them for the useful stuff at least until you get an extra book. Having two bischops casting the same spells (albeit from different schools) is generally superfluous, unless for some reason you really need that extra versatility.

Additionally, you can develop faster if you minimize the amount of realms each bishop will specialize in - which isn't all that easy if you want all the interesting spells - for example, it may seem a good idea to disregard earth spells with your psionic and mage (so it may be nice to combine them into one of the bishops), as they are pretty much all covered by the alchemy and divinity - with the exception of armormelt.

Finally, try to distribute spells in such manner that both bishops cast roughly equal amount of utility spells and other commonly used buffs - this really helps keep them developing at similar rate.

 

[Calem Ravenna]

The one time I played this game to completion I used a mage/divinity bishop and alchemist/psionic bishop. Don't recall missing any of the useful spells on either.

 

[Jasede]

The one time I played I had

1 Samurai for direct damage mage spells
1 Ninja for alchemy
1 Ranger for spells the ninja didn't take
1 Monk for the few good psionic spells
1 Valkyrie for healing & utility divinity spells
1 Bishop for Mage/Divinity high-end spells

This worked out great. I had every magic I could ask for. You may notice that I am not covering Psionics too well, but it's not the best school/element/realm/banana anyway. I think I used Vi and the robot.

 

[DraQ]

few good psionic spells

I think I'm beginning to rage inside.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Psionics were fucking amazing.

 

[Gnidrologist]

You may notice that I am not covering Psionics too well, but it's not the best school/element/realm/banana anyway.

It may not be as rich in diversity and as devastating as, say, alchemy or wizardry, but i say just one word - insanity. This is probably the best spell in the whole game. There is nothing like watching a bunch of crocs or tanto wasps devastating themselves without your involvement. It is cheap too and you gain it early.

DraQ, from what you said i still didn't get what is your preferable combo? Or do you vary all the time?

 

[DraQ]

You may notice that I am not covering Psionics too well, but it's not the best school/element/realm/banana anyway.

It may not be as rich in diversity and as devastating as, say, alchemy or wizardry, but i say just one word - insanity. This is probably the best spell in the whole game. There is nothing like watching a bunch of crocs or tanto wasps devastating themselves without your involvement. It is cheap too and you gain it early.

And then you get Hypnotic Lure. And essential buffs like Haste. And less essential, but nice stuff like Eye-for-an-Eye (good against clouds of all kinds). And various debuffs. And a whole lot of incremental upgrades to mindstab (Psi Blast, Cerebral Haemorrhage) and so on. The only non-awesome Psi spells are Slow (useful, but somewhat meh) and Prismatic ________ (high level + fire = fucking Rapax laughing your epic spells off).

DraQ, from what you said i still didn't get what is your preferable combo? Or do you vary all the time?

I vary a lot. I generally try to avoid repeating classes in my party (save for 2-school bishops) and to include all the essential roles (tank, caster, and so on), but other than that I change my composition a lot.

 

[Gnidrologist]

Yeh, but how do you combine two schools of bishop?

 

[DraQ]

Yeh, but how do you combine two schools of bishop?

Variously.

Previously I went for psi-alc and div-wiz for thematic reasons, but div-alc and psi-wiz seems to be much better option from mechanics PoV, as long as you don't actively develop earth realm with psi-wiz bishop.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

It's funny, but I really tend to avoid bishops even tho the first time I played the game the first party I made had a bishop in it.
The reason? For one, loss of class specialty stuff. Two, can seem a little... op maybe? Usually I like to compose a party like this: Psionic, Alchemist, Priest (scaly pref due to ability to take major damage, later a lord), samurai (melee oriented and later on trained heavily in magic for buffs) and either a bard or a ranger. If I choose bard, I make the character a melee oriented one, and if ranger obviously ranged oriented.