Wizardry The Wizardry Series Thread

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

Also, did anyone ever work to the point to get excaliber or any of the other super weapons? Gotta be a fucking ridiculous level for that.

Excalibur is a rare drop from the Davy Jones Locker (Nessie's chest). If you'd like to reload Nessie fight about 20 times then you'll get it, probably.

Then there's *light* sword (which is the best weapon in vanilla)... and to get it be ready to reload >100 times (Buccaneer drop, same level as Nessie)...

Then again all this is just for show, since Wiz8 is an easy game - unless you're Ironmanning like DraQ. E.g. with *light* sword you could probably just turn autocombat to win the last 1/3 of the game.

 

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

Started replaying this recently, my party:

Mook Fighter
Dwarf Valkyrie
Hobbit Gadgeteer
Faerie Ninja
Elf Alchemist
Elf Bishop

My valkyrie will concentrate on being a good fighter first, so I'm pumping STR + DEX. Later I'll pump SPD + VIT.
The bishop will concentrate on Divinity and Wizardry.
The alchemist will cover Alchemy (obviously).
Psionics gets left behind.

My question is: realms skills go up very slowly for my bishop. I'm forced to waste 6 skill points in Divinity and Wizardry every level up and only get another 3 to distribute between the realms. Should I play like a retard, casting non-combat spells like Light whenever I can or should I just play "normally"? Also, what are the most useful realms for a Divinity/Wizardry caster? Should I save spell picks for later and buy books for the weak spells?

Bishop is the strongest spellcasting class by far, if you play it right. Every level put skill points into "Realms" (like Divinity, Wizardry), ignore "Schools" (like Fire, Earth) - they'll level naturally. Pick only *essential* spells from lvl-up, you get a lot of early-mid spells from spellbooks and those spell slots you wanna save for the time the really useful stuff starts popping up (like the party buffs, teleports). The key to making Bishop strong ASAP is abusing the spell system (e.g. maxing out earth + Alche/Wizardry by spamming Knock-knock on the Vault door). read this http://www.zimlab.com/wizardry/jandrall/Wizardry8/SpotlightBishop1.htm

 

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

Train your spells if you can but don't let it slow you down.

You definitely need someone who can pickpocket for that tho, a good thief really.

Or you could abuse Alchemy (still doable even with all official patches) and get infinite gold making pickpocketing useless.

There's no stuff in the game that you can *only* pickpocket, AFAIR.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

I don't like bishop because that class requires skill grinding to unlock its potential. It also has pretty pointless bonuses/special abilities, pointless class skill bonus and highest exp requirement.

As for spell picks that is the only thing I would contact a walkthrough about - just check which books you can find. Nothing more irritating than wasting a spell pick and then finding a book half an hour later.

 

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

Bishops are great when you don't want to have any other specialized casters (like when you're running a small party, or wanna have a lot of variety for weapon-wielders like ninja+gadgeteer+ranger). Or when you're running "challenge mode" (like Dodd's, or ironman) and you want to min-max.

They're completely unnecessary for a normal party with more than 1 specialist caster. - I agree, they would be too much of a hassle to be useful for a 1st/2nd time, normal, non-grindy playthrough.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Yes, bishop is most useful when going with a small party or even solo ninja/bishop for example. I still don't like it. As for the Dodd mod I'm not so sure, you would probably get butchered time and time again in the first few hours when depending on a bishop to cast a vital spell like paralyze.

As for priest and wizard spellbooks:

Priest - divinity and water mostly, but you have to remember that the most useful spell in the game - Armorplate is earth
Wizard - well, you need water for freezing spells and some offense, earth for elemental shield, knock, knock, armormelt and some offense, air for missile shield, portals and some offense, lastly - there is a very useful spell called enchanted blade in divinity

 

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

In Dodd's you just want to have as many fighter/hybrid characters as possible since later monsters have 100% resists to all schools of magic and you'll be praying for a Power Cast to proc if you want any offensive spells to work, and you don't need that many anyway - one cast of those lvl8-9 "cloud of death" spells is enough. Buffing is taken care of by hybrids.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

I never really got that far into Dodd because I simply deem it quite shitty, still, I remember that some of the initial encounters were virtually unbeatable if a spell like paralysis didn't kick in.

 

[Renegen]

Do not go stingy on the spellpicks, it will handicap your casters quite a bit. It's like having a Bishop without realm skills at level up, all those things mean that in some eventual end-game you'll have an awesome caster but you suffer 80% of the game for it. If you do it right, you can end up with a strength 3 fireball right out of the monastary. On the other hand, the Fireball spell can only be bought in the Umpani camp, if you're lucky (I sincerely believe there's some level checks for item stocks). Usually I use a rule such as getting 2 lvl 3 spells, 3 lvl 4 spells, 3 lvl 5 spells, 4 lvl 6 spells and all lvl 7 spells at level up. It makes the casters good enough.

For bishops, without grinding they can be pretty good but won't be powerhouses in all magic, just 2 magic schools, lagging a bit your pure alchemist. Note that you can't spam light spells and the like, you only get experience for casting a passive spell that is not active. Making your bishop the guy to cast all passive spells is a nice way to boost him up a bit. Some passive skills are really awesome for experience, like Chameleon and Detect Secrets.

 

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

I never really got that far into Dodd because I simply deem it quite shitty, still, I remember that some of the initial encounters were virtually unbeatable if a spell like paralysis didn't kick in.

That it was

If only it wasn't for that horrible nostalgia sting and too much spare time...

 

[Deitti]

few questions i still want to ask just to be sure. is it necessary to cover up all the 4 magic types when making a party? or would it be possible to pass on to one or two of them?

also can a party that doesn't have a lockpicker work? do i miss anything important if i don't have a rogue,bard or gadgeteer in a party to handle locks?

 

[catfood]

few questions i still want to ask just to be sure. is it necessary to cover up all the 4 magic types when making a party? or would it be possible to pass on to one or two of them?

also can a party that doesn't have a lockpicker work? do i miss anything important if i don't have a rogue,bard or gadgeteer in a party to handle locks?

In my current party the Wizardry and Alchemy skills are covered by dedicated spellcasters, i.e. a mage and alchemist respectively. For Psionics and Divine I use hybrids, a Lord and Monk, and they are suficient for casting much needed buffs and debuffs. Damage spells are debatable in usefulness but buffs like armor plate, soul shield, enchanted blade, magic screen and element shield are spells that are extremely useful, so when making a party I always consider them when creating characters. It is also important to know that some spells are cross-domain, such as soul shield being a divine realm spell covered by both psionics and divinty. That being said, during my first playthrough I didn't have anyone who could cast wizardry or alchemy spells and I could certainly finish the game. But now that I have all of the schools covered the game is a lot easier.

As for the second question, idk what to say. I always have someone to pick locks, preferably gadgeteer or bard since rogues and ninjas are better left developing their combat skills. There are some locked chests that contain very nice stuff. I guess if you don't want to invest too much in the lockpicking skill you could always put a point in it here and there and rely on the knock knock spell. You can buy the book in shops or find it, so you won't have to waste a sell pick. On the other hand, you may not be able to affford it early on since you might not have enough money for it because you couldn't open chests. This game is full of choices and consequences like that.

 

[Shadenuat]

Without grinding Bishop is still probably best support caster class, you can just pick every buff spell there is and carry him around for that specific purpose. Good for low-magic parties I guess.

is it necessary to cover up all the 4 magic types

It's hard to tell without going into metagaming much, because Books (magic types) can be also mimicked by bardic instruments and gadgeteers toys. You can definitely pass on psionic Book - it's fun and helpful in the beginning, and even in the end, but it's more like tops the cake. Priest book is by far the most helpful, and next will be Mages. But there is a trick that Alchemist gets lot of stuff what Mages get, yet he is more effective in the endgame.
You know, most of it really comes down to simple matter of buffs. You must have all buff spells, which are low level spells (usually), before you reach second part of the game. From these first place take spells which protect you from magic: Magic Screen (Priest) the most important spell of them, there are also Elemental Shield (Mage or Alchemist) and Soul Shield (Priest or Psionic). And there are all those utility spells you need to get like Knock
http://www.tawmis.com/wizardry8faq/wizardryweb.htm
There are also two spells which are best to have sooner than later: Portal and Summon Elemental. And to have them soon you'll need specialist casters. Any of four can do Portal, but only Alchemist or Mage can summon elementals. Of course, non-specialists can do that too, but for that they need to be really highlevel (7 levels higher than specialist I think? I don't remember).

can a party that doesn't have a lockpicker work?

Sure you can cast Knock, but somebody actually have to open last few pins. You probably want somebody with at least average skill.

 

[catfood]

Oh yeah, like Shadenaut mentions above, a lot of the magical effects can be mimmicked by bards and gadgeteers, but make sure to invest in their stamina if you want to use them consistently, otherwise they'll fall asleep after a couple of uses or so.

 

[Shadenuat]

make sure to invest in their stamina

by making them female

 

[Renegen]

make sure to invest in their stamina

by making them female

That doesn't work during combat.

 

[Shadenuat]

That doesn't work during combat.

Hmm weird. Seemed like my gals with their robes and necklaces actually waked up after their stamina went below zero faster than anyone else.

 

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

make sure to invest in their stamina

by making them female

That doesn't work during combat.

It does... it's just that +1 stamina regen feels very slow in combat.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

few questions i still want to ask just to be sure. is it necessary to cover up all the 4 magic types when making a party? or would it be possible to pass on to one or two of them?

Don't think magic types. Think specific spells. Check out the lists on Flamestryke's site:

http://www.zimlab.com/wizardry/flamestryke/wizardry8/flamestrykes_w8.html

Some spells can be cast by more than one school, some can be cast by gadgeteer/bard, some are easy to learn and use for a hybrid, some require a dedicated caster. Planning and developing your party is the best thing about Wiz8. Look for buffs and debuffs first, as already explained. I'd say that having a high-level armorplate and magic screen is pretty much a must unless you're playing on easy or sth, note that the former can be cast by a gadgeteer and latter by a bard. Missile, soul and elemental shields are also extremely useful, enchatnted blade is another one worth having up all the time. Check the rest for yourself, just remember to not rely too much on damage-dealing spells, status ailments are where it's at, for pure offense instakill spells are the best.

also can a party that doesn't have a lockpicker work? do i miss anything important if i don't have a rogue,bard or gadgeteer in a party to handle locks?

It can work, but you'll lose tons of stuff and having a bard or gadgeteer in your party is highly recommended for less experienced players.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Personally, I never liked playing with a Bishop. I always thought it lacked the funness and flavor of the other casting classes.

 

[DraQ]

I love Valks. And Draq, your sarcasm is not necessary. The HP regen of Lord certainly did not counter balance the effect of draining curses. The ability to ignore the unremovable effect (or act like a bishop or priest and remove it with a spell-like ability) would have been a boon.

I'm just saying it would work both mechanically (gameplay, balance) and thematically (cool take on holy warrior type).

And HP regen at the very least greatly reduces the magnitude of +HP items needed allowing you to heap much more cursed gear on your Lord.

My question is: realms skills go up very slowly for my bishop. I'm forced to waste 6 skill points in Divinity and Wizardry every level up and only get another 3 to distribute between the realms. Should I play like a retard, casting non-combat spells like Light whenever I can or should I just play "normally"?

Cast whenever it won't hamper your progress, for example just before camping.

Should I save spell picks for later and buy books for the weak spells?

Not necessary for 2 schools Bishop. Do conserve your picks and buy whatever you can, but also do take whatever seems really useful if there are no alternatives at hand (not half of the game away - at hand).

few questions i still want to ask just to be sure. is it necessary to cover up all the 4 magic types when making a party? or would it be possible to pass on to one or two of them?

You don't need to cover all, but of course all of them are useful.

also can a party that doesn't have a lockpicker work? do i miss anything important if i don't have a rogue,bard or gadgeteer in a party to handle locks?

Well, technically you can bash stuff open (difficult), taking all the traps on your face or cast knock and use stuff like Poseur's Cap to pick remaining tumblers, but it won't be as good as having locks&traps dude.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Having someone with the lockpick skill is fucking necessary. It's why I've often chosen a hobbit rogue (yeah powergaming) simply because it's such a damn useful skill with all the chests.

 

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

Rogue is definitely the best lockpicker and second-best melee fighter (next to Fighter, lol), though a Gadgeteer or Bard fits just as well (you don't need a high lockpicking skill if you have anyone who can cast Knock-Knock), and provide a bit of flavour (unique Instruments/Gadgets + omnigun).

 

[I_am_Ian]

You really don't need magic at all, or even lock picking as these can be accomplished through other means. Scrolls exist that can activate most of the important defensive spells and locks can always be bashed.

Using a party of six fighters is a challenging way to test your mettle at Wizardry 8. Stockpiling scrolls and potions and then saving them for certain encounters where they might be the most useful makes for a completely new game experience. Suddenly you will realize how important training skills like throwing and artifacts can be if you want to use your bombs and scrolls effectively in battle.

 

[Shadenuat]

Personally, I never liked playing with a Bishop. I always thought it lacked the funness and flavor of the other casting classes.

It goes the same for me. Overall most joy you can get from Wizardry 8 is probably a classic balanced party: 1 pure melee character, 2 hybrids who can do melee, 2 specialist spellcasters (for two portals), 1 flavor character (gadgeteer or bard)
The amount of classes and races allow for each party of that composition still be unique
Of course it would't be Wizardry if you could't beat game with most exotic parties, like full ranged party for example: 1 fighter with ranged weapon, a ranger, ninja, gadgeteer and 2 spellcasters. Blunderbuss rocks..