Of Over-Ambitious RPGs: Let's Play Wizardry 8

Wizardry 8 is approximately one of my favorite games fucking ever. And I own a copy! And while I reinstall it for the nth time, let's talk about the game.

Wizardry 8 is, of course, an RPG, hence the tag. It's a party-based RPG, with combat in a slightly odd variant on turn-based, and of course it had massive dialog trees before they were cool.



Your party consists of up to 8 people. Two of them (in this case, Vi and the open spot) are essentially hirelings; people who join your party for some reason or another. Vi and ... some Rogue guy are the two you have the first chance to pick up; she's a Valkyrie (2H specialist, I think?) and he's, uh, a Rogue (Daggers! Crits!).

The other people in this party are a Lord, Samurai (dual wield), Bishop (casts all varieties of spells), another Valkyrie, a Bard (uses instruments), and one other.

There are of course many races! Humans, halflings, space aliens of one stripe or another, lizardmen, elves, faeries, and more.

And lots of dialog options that aren't actually necessary.


Since Wiz 8 is an RPG, it of course has an inventory. And equipment. And stats.



There are racial restrictions on items, class restrictions on items, and sex-based restrictions on items (some very nice items are female-only, for example). Attacks from enemies target a specific location and roll AC based on that location.

See that "Load" stat? That's pretty self-explanatory. If you have too much Load, you get penalties. Party Items have their load split; Carried items don't.

The inventory system is actually kinda cool; you equip two weapon sets, and if one's ranged and one's melee, they'll automatically swap to the appropriate one when you are in melee range / not in melee range. Reach weapons (spears, pikes, etc) have, well, reach.

And as an RPG, of course Wizardry 8 has skills.



The Felupurr (catdude, duh) Ninja has as his Primary skills (skills which he gains a bonus to) Dual Weapons, Critical Strike, Throwing & Sling, Mace & Flail, and Stealth. These are indicated by yellow. Skills indicated by green show that he's the best in the party at that particular skill. Artifacts is item identification, Mythology is creature identification.

Skills increase based both on using them and on leveling them up when you level up (with your somewhat limited number of skill points). Past a certain point they only increase by using them, rather than by leveling them up. Skills also scale based on the stat you have associated with the skill (right-clicking on the skill gives more information).

But enough yammering!

I am requesting input as to what party I build. Class and race information is in the next post.

Shamelessly copy-pasted from here: http://i45.narod.ru/wiz/

• Str = Strength
• Int = Intilligence
• Pie = Piety
• Vit = Vitality
• Dex = Dexterity
• Spd = Speed
• Sen = Senses
• Fig = Fighter
• Lrd = Lord
• ...
• 1 Primary Statistic for given skill.
• 2 Secondary Statistic for given skill.
• + The Only Statistic for given skill (or I don't recall what is primary ;)).
• + = Class may progress in given Skill. Starting value = 0.
• * = Professional Skill. Class may progress in given skill. Starting value is set (to >4) according prerequisites during generation and is set to 5 (if less then 5 still) when changing into given class.
• B = Skill Bonus. Same as *, but has +25% bonus on the top of current value.
• # = Class may progress in this skill starting from 5th level (Schools of Magics)
• Empty Cell = Class can not progress in given skill. "Skill is closed".

Skills Dependancies Classes Allowed
Str Int Pie Vit Dex Spd Sen Fig Lrd Val Ran Sam Nin Mnk Rog Gad Brd Pri Alc Bis Psi Mag
Common Skills
Close Combat 2 1 B B * + * * * + + + + + + + +
Ranged Combat 2 1 * + + B + + + + * + + + + + +
Dual Weapons 1 2 + B + + * + + * + +
Critical Strike + + * B *
Artifacts + + + + + + + + + + + + + + B + +
Mythology + + + + * * + + + + + + + * + + +
Communication + + + + + + + + + + + B + + + + +
Engineering + + *

Combat Skills Str Int Pie Vit Dex Spd Sen Fig Lrd Val Ran Sam Nin Mnk Rog Gad Brd Pri Alc Bis Psi Mag
Sword + + * * + + B + + + +
Dagger + + + * + + + + * + + + + +
Staff & Wand + + + + + + + + * + + + * + + + +
Shield + + * + + + + + + + + + +
Bow 2 1 + + + * + + + + +
Throwing & Sling + + + + + + + * + + + + + * + + +
Mace & Flail + + + + + + + + * +
Polearm + + + + B + + +
Axe + + * + * +
Modern Weapons 2 1 + + + + + B
Martial Arts + + * B

Misc. Skills Str Int Pie Vit Dex Spd Sen Fig Lrd Val Ran Sam Nin Mnk Rog Gad Brd Pri Alc Bis Psi Mag
Scouting + + *
Pick Pocket + + + * +
Locks & Traps + + + * * +
Music + + *
Stealth + + * * *

Magic Skills Str Int Pie Vit Dex Spd Sen Fig Lrd Val Ran Sam Nin Mnk Rog Gad Brd Pri Alc Bis Psi Mag
Wizardry + # * B
Divinity + # # B *
Alchemy + + # # B *
Psionics + + ? * B
Fire + + # # # # # + + + *
Water + + # # # # # # + + + + *
Air + + # # # # + + + *
Earth + + # # + +
Mental + + # # # # + + * *
Divine + # # # # # + + * +
Minimal Stats Required for Classes
Statistics Classes
Fig Lrd Val Ran Sam Nin Mnk Rog Gad Brd Pri Alc Bis Psi Mag
Strength 55 55 50 50 50 50
Intilligence 50 55 50 50 55 50 55 55 55 60
Piety 55 55 50 60 55
Vitality 50 55 55 50 50 50 55
Dexterity 50 50 50 55 55 55 50 55 60 55 60 55 55
Speed 50 50 55 55 55
Senses 55 50 55 50 55 55 55 55 60
To become eligible to learn new higher level spells for your class, you have to meet 2 requirements: 1) minimum level in *THAT* class (not overall), and 2) minimum skill, for *THAT* spell's spellbook & realm.

1) Minimum Level requirement:

Pure Caster Classes: Mage, Priest, Psionic, Alchemist, Bishop
Hybrid Caster Classes: Monk, Ninja, Ranger, Samurai, Lord, Valkyrie

Spell Level .... Min. Class Level
................. PURE .. HYBRID
1 ................ 1 ....... 5
2 ................ 3 ....... 7
3 ................ 5 ....... 9
4 ................ 8 ...... 12
5 ............... 11 ...... 15
6 ............... 14 ...... 18
7 ............... 18 ...... 22


2) Minimum Skill Requirement

To calculate your effective skill level for a given spell:
* Take your highest spellbook skill (Wizardry, Divinity, Psionics, Alchemy) that the spell in question appears in. Important for bishops or class-changed characters, since many spells appear in multiple books.
* Add 10% of your *natural* skill in that spell's realm. This doesn't include temporary skill bonuses such as those from iems.

Spell Level ..... Min. Effective Skill Level
1 .................. 0
2 .................. 15
3 .................. 30
4 .................. 45
5 .................. 60
6 .................. 75
7 .................. 90

It's not as complicated as it sounds. Example: A mage, a pure caster, must be level 5 AND have an effective skill of 30 to learn Fireball, a third level Fire realm Mage spell. If he has 30+ skill in Wizardry, he's all set. He could also qualify if he has, say 28 in Wizardry and 20+ in Fire skill (10% rule).

PLEASE NOTE: When you pick a race/class combo, you will always have enough for the minimum stats, but if that puts you at a deficit, you will have to level many many times before you can continue increasing your stats, f.e. Faerie Ninja. Races are:
Icon
Race
Minimum Attributes
Resistances
Special Abilities

Human
Str 45, Int 45, Pie 45, Vit 45,
Dex 45, Spd 45, Sen 45



Elf
Str 35, Int 50, Pie 50, Vit 35,
Dex 50, Spd 45, Sen 40
+20 vs. Mental
+10 vs. Air


Dwarf
Str 55, Int 30, Pie 50, Vit 60,
Dex 35, Spd 35, Sen 35
Fire (depends on Vit)
Natural dmg. resistance

Gnome
Str 35, Int 50, Pie 40, Vit 50,
Dex 50, Spd 35, Sen 45
+10 vs. Earth
Mental (depends on Vit)


Hobbit
Str 40, Int 40, Pie 30, Vit 45,
Dex 55, Spd 50, Sen 50
Earth (depends on Vit)


Faerie
Str 25, Int 55, Pie 35, Vit 30,
Dex 50, Spd 60, Sen 45
+15 vs. Air
+15 vs. Earth
+15 vs. Mental
+15 vs. Divine
+2 to base Armor Class
Faster Magic Power recovery
Reduced Carrying Capacity
Equippable item weight limit
Unusual starting equipment

Felpurr
Str 40, Int 40, Pie 30, Vit 35,
Dex 50, Spd 60, Sen 50
-15 vs. Water
+10 vs. Air
+10 vs. Earth
+10 vs. Mental


Rawulf
Str 40, Int 30, Pie 55, Vit 50,
Dex 40, Spd 40, Sen 50
+10 vs. Water
+5 vs. Earth
+15 vs. Divine


Lizardman
Str 60, Int 25, Pie 25, Vit 70,
Dex 40, Spd 50, Sen 30
+15 vs. Fire
+10 vs. Water
+10 vs. Earth
-10 vs. Mental
-10 vs. Divine
Slower Magic Power recovery

Dracon
Str 55, Int 35, Pie 30, Vit 60,
Dex 50, Spd 40, Sen 30
+15 vs. Water
+15 vs. Air
-5 vs. Mental
-5 vs. Divine
Can breathe acid

Also: No hybrid casters. Fuck hybrid casters.

Why? Because you have to very deliberately pick your spells and level your skills in certain ways so that you keep actually getting skill increases in your various skills, otherwise your hybrid caster falls way behind the power curve. By midgame, much less lategame. So no Bishop, no Alchemist, no.

Also, copy/paste is for losers and I suck at it, but I'm tired and headachy and fuck it.

Also also, if you want me to name a character after you, lemme know (and feel free to ask for a race/class combo) (other than fucking hybrid casters). Otherwise they're all Faerie Ninjas named Elyscape who only Like everything.


Intro cinematic:

Since I pretty much always roll with a Bard and a Ranger, I'm going to create both (as soon as I can get this stupid install to work right, grrrr) and post screenshots of the character creation stuff.

I might also stream it, I dunno, depends on how masochistic I'm feeling.

I so don't remember the megaboobs in the first photo.

Tell me you're using the mod that really, really speeds up the enemy movement animation.

There are fucking mods to this game? That speed up enemy movement animation?

*runs off to google that shit right the hell now*

Wizardry LP? Awesome.

Can I be a Hobbit Mage? Please and thank you.

I so want in on this. I'm not sure what to pick, though. I know I want to be a Male Drakon, but I'm not sure what class to aim for. My first thought was actually Mage (because it fits both my username and personality, and I like making non-optimal builds)... but you'd have to pump a lot of points into Intelligence to make up the deficit. Samurai would be my second choice.

In any event, you can go with either my full username or simply 'Eru'... whichever's easier to see yourself typing repeatedly.

Doot de doo, Wizardry 8's CD check fails even with the CD in the drive, doot de doo, time to go find a no-CD crack for a game I legally own, ISN'T DRM FUCKING WONDERFUL.

Okay. I'm theoretically streaming as Pastafarian, channel Wizardry 8. I'm theoretically recording the stream. We'll see how it goes.

NOPE, stream's not working, you'll just have to make do with a flood of pictures!

Meet our party's Mage:



(I actually changed the stats, I think, to have more Vitality instead of Senses.)

Maxing out a stat lets you spoiler spoiler, which is pretty handy.



Skills! Light for seeing better and Frost for doing damage. Casting spells will increase both her Wizardry skill and her skill in that element.



Wizardry is based off of Int alone, Magics are based off of Int/Piety, and I put one in Ranged/Sling just because.



Jaq, welcome to the party.

I am a badass. A cunning one, at that.

This pleases me.

ETA: Do the personalities do anything or is that just flavor?

Ahh. Forgot about the portrait choice. If possible, I'd like to be green. Also, while I know it's a screenshot LP, and likely won't matter... Let's go with an Intellectual personality. Not sure on the voice type, though.

Some beefcake signs up next. Dracon are pretty cool, and can breathe acid and stuff.

Lightning Strike is a Samurai ability that grants multiple strikes on the same target. Doesn't proc often, but hits goddamn hard.



A Samurai needs Strength (for just about everything), Dex, Senses, Speed, and Int. Yeah, um, bout that.



Critical Strike is pretty badass. As you can see, he has a lot of skills to pick up as well; I'll be maxing Sword, because as the primary skill, it gets a +25% bonus.



Welcome to the party, Eru.


So! Anyone else want to join the party?

The personalities give your character voice-lines throughout the game. On taking large amounts of damage, dealing large amounts of damage, getting kills, getting low on stamina / health / mana, leveling up, and more.

I actually went with the Intellectual personality before you even asked. Hilarity! :D

Hooray! Also... damn, I want to play this game myself now. I so wish this was on GOG.

Ohoho, this looks pretty cool. How have I never heard of this game before?

If you're not adverse to having a Felpurr Rouge in your party, I'm game to join.

EDIT: there is a Chaotic personality option. YES PLEASE.

Two more people join the party! Meet Speak With Bread:



A Felpurr Ranger is not the obvious choice, but who cares? It's hilarious. Cat-woman with a bow!



Rangers have the option to be always searching whenever they're walking, so they're the obvious choice to level Scouting on. Ranged Combat and Bow are the obvious other choices; even in melee combat, she'll be using her bow.

My roommate joins us as well.



Mooks are the obvious and quintessential Gadgeteers in this game, being the only remotely high-tech race.



Modern Weapon, Engineering, and Ranged Combat. No reason not to be using the gun even at melee ranges.

Engineering is an odd duck. High levels of Engineering improve your Modern Weapon (e.g., your gun), and also allow you to combine items you find lying around to make Gadgets. I believe Engineering also improves the effects of your gadgets.

Rogues backstab, always, which is kind of hilarious. They can pickpocket, which I'm pretty much never going to do, and Stealth gives them a passive AC bonus for every 10 points they have in the skill.



Kinda low starting combat skill levels, and I wish I could take those points out of Pickpocket; oh well.



Welcome to the party, Leriel.

Now, who wants to be the Priest? Because there will be at least one goddamn person who can heal. :)

It's good to know we have Chewbacca on our team.

Oh good, I wasn't the only one whose first thought was "Hi Chewy!"

I will be your faerie priest. ☆;:::...

oh man we're so screwed oh well.



Eheheh a Faerie Priest is kinda funny, what with getting exactly 10 bonus points, but hey, at least it's a positive number. Unlike most Faerie/Class combos!



Stamina is super-important because doing just about anything takes a lot of it. Heal Wounds is super important. Because our Priest is the only one who can cast it.

Once.






And thus was the party born, and departed on their grand journey. (Note the two spots for recruited PCs. Also note that we are made of paper.)

I should note that, with the exception of Ozzo and Jacquelle, our party is entirely composed of beast-people. This pleases me.

...Actually, I'm kinda surprised... I know some RPGs tend to have some sort of beastperson as a racial option, but I'm pretty sure Wizardy 8's the first one I've seen that has so many different kinds. For that matter, it's pretty neat to see so many varied races and classes in general.

Again: I totally need to find a copy of this game.

The game begins with a cinematic, wherein we learn that some Mook dude has hired us to be his guards and protection. There's some sort of super-powerful artifact associated with the Ascension ritual on this ... planet, whatever that means, But then some guy named the Dark Savant totally shot our ship down and we crash landed on a beach! Oh no!

And of course, our Samurai puts it perfectly.



Over there, barely discernible in front of us, is a pack of giant crabs. Between us and them is a chest... full of loot!

We'll grab the loot, reorganize our party, and then it's time to HIT THE GIANT CRABS IN THEIR WEAK SPOTS.

Speaking of which, we reorganize. The Samurai is in front, the Ranger and Rogue have the sides, and our squishies are in the center, hopefully not dying.



Yes, position really matters in this game. Whether you're at range to an enemy or in melee is determined by your position and theirs, and being struck FROM BEHIND (it's in all-caps in game) is bad mojo. On the left, where the radar window is, you'll be able to tell where the enemies are in relation to the party, and on the right is where the party's marching order is.

I was not expecting to be the most human-looking one. It's like "Crazy beast faerie party! And also Jacquelle." Not that I'm complaining, mind you.

I am pleased at us being 50/50 male/female, as well.

I wasn't expecting the party to be so beast-person heavy, either. Though I do love how we're basically Team Who Needs Humans.

We loot the chest that was in front of us. Unfortunately, nobody in the party can use heavy armor, so those Steel Gauntlets are going to waste; the other items will come in handy.



For some reason, Fox's Omnigun doesn't come pre-loaded with the rocks in his inventory. I fix that posthaste.



He is, after all, one of our only two ranged guys, and it's time to fight some crabs.



I AM NOT AMUSED, YOU TWO, KNOCK OFF THE GOOFBALLERY.

Alright, no big deal, we still have a round of long-range combat before they get close. Surely someone will -



Or not. One knife throw, one bowshot, and one omnigun round all do no damage. And I just realized that the formation change didn't take, so this is going to be somewhat



- painful. Ow. But hey, one crab down! From Eru hitting it in the face with his Katana, predictably. I had the move queued during last turn to delay everyone's actions so that my melee guys would actually get a chance to attack.



More damage happens, followed by our Mage - because I forgot to have him cast a spell (it's been a while since I last played Wiz8) killing a crab with a quarterstaff.



Magic!

Note the mana pool: It's per discipline rather than total. It increases every level in each discipline based on how many spells you know in that school and your Piety.

The power level you can cast something at depends on how skilled you are in the spell school. Power Level 2 requires twice as much mana as Power Level 1, and is orange; this means it has a moderate fail chance, a smallish chance to backfire, and a good chance to give skill points.

Of course, she doesn't actually get to cast a spell, because our lovable Rogue stabs the crab in the face.

We begin our explorations and notice an item! But we can't seem to get to it at the moment. Maybe later (hint: definitely later)!



Note that it appears on the radar as well.

We continue our explorations of the beach on which we crashed, and we find a ramp of earth heading up out of the water.



We find Bullet Stones on the ground! And uh, we increase our Artifacts skill. Oookay.



Someone is unhappy with where we are. Now why ever could that be?



Well, I suppose that's a good reason and all.

Half our party is ladies, Game!Me. Suck it up and freeze some crabs.

To be fair, Game!Jaq has only 6 HP. It's a miracle game!you could even speak after the crab pinched your foot.

I am the squishiest of wizards.

We begin combat. Jaq leads off with Frost...



While Ozzo uses Pray to great effect.



If Jaq is taken down and would otherwise die, that guardian angel will save her life. Quite handy!

The next round comes and Jaq duly prepares a Scroll of Magic Missile to blast the crabs. Eru likewise gets ready with a conal acid-breath attack.



Jaq fizzles...



But Eru hits a few crabs for some decent work, and goes back to the weapons.



Another round of combat goes by, with both Speak With Bread and EruditeDragon taking no-damage hits to the legs from the crabs - good thing Eru upgraded those pants, with the quilted ones he found in the chest! - and Fox lands a decent shot on a crab, knocking it unconscious with a rock to the head from his Omnigun. It will take no action and have reduced AC for a few rounds or until it's hit.

The fight goes well enough, with our noble adventurers putting out some decent hits, when they manage to land their blows...



... but the crabs are tough and do get the occasional hit in. Not that that detracts from someone's pleasure at landing a kill.



The last couple of crabs get another couple hits in, but Fox lands another knockout bullet to the head on the very last crab just as Eru takes an almost fatal blow.



Experience is gained, and more importantly, skills are improved.



Skill increases are much more important than experience because monsters scale with your level to a large extent, but don't scale with your skill levels. And maybe if people get some more skill, they'll bloody miss less.

Also super important: Loot! It's what makes the kids, uh, get up and shoot.



Unidentified blue, purple, and red potions (not having anyone with Artifacts is a little annoying, actually), a Waraxe, and a Sling, which we give to Ozzo, who currently doesn't have a reach weapon and therefore sits there doing absolutely nothing most turns in combat. He can't use a bow, throwing knives, or shuriken, but he sure can use a sling!

Finally, our heroes make camp for a few hours to rest and recuperate, to recharge their mana and health.



And their adventures, as well as my Let's Play, shall continue on the morrow... when they explore the large building they crash-landed in front of.

Oh shoot, I guess I'm too late to join the party.

Fighting crabs, eh? You could even call it a...crab battle.
You were lucky to survive*.

*Link contains some gorey imagery.

I can't take a crab battle seriously. It just sounds like we have a pubic lice problem.