Wizardry The Wizardry Series Thread

[1eyedking]

So I see! What's he saying?

Words of wisdom.

But don't mind me, enjoy your glorified jRPGs guise.

 

[dr. one]

The only complaint I have is the difficulty setting, easy and normal are out of the question since I played the game twice already but expert is really frustrating.

i´ve played vanilla twice, once on normal, once on expert and the expert run was overall easier. granted, part of it came from better familiarity with the game, but i´m quite sure
part of it came from the fact that on expert characters tend to have skills trained higher for a given level because fights last
longer in the beginning stages. later, the game didn´t seem to offset this enough with its expert difficulty modifiers.
of course, this comparison only works for play style free of deliberate grinding .

 

[FeelTheRads]

So I see! What's he saying?

Words of wisdom.

But don't mind me, enjoy your glorified jRPGs guise.

This coming from someone who thinks The Witcher is a good game.

 

[Grunker]

I just fired this up and was really looking forward to playing it. Now I have a weird problem. I'm unable to fill out the "full name" and "nickname" boxes in character creation, which leaves me unable to create characters.

wat

halp

EDIT: Restarting the game for the third time resolved the issue. Weird.

EDIT2: Found the problem. Tabbing in and out of the game.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

i´ve played vanilla twice, once on normal, once on expert and the expert run was overall easier. granted, part of it came from better familiarity with the game, but i´m quite sure
part of it came from the fact that on expert characters tend to have skills trained higher for a given level because fights last
longer in the beginning stages. later, the game didn´t seem to offset this enough with its expert difficulty modifiers.
of course, this comparison only works for play style free of deliberate grinding .

It's true that chatacters' skill rise faster but I still find it harder than on normal. Ennemies spells are more powerful and your characters' resistance to spells lower. Ennemies who cast "terror" from instance, not only make your characters afraid but also make them unconscious. Since your characters fail 90% of their saves, you're toast. Same with a trio of crimson poppies I just met (funnily enough since I mentionned crimson lillies earlier), one of their ranged spore attacks was enough to put my whole party to sleep. I got my ass kicked without even being able to act since their melee attacks would briefly wake one character up, just the time needed to take damage and put him to sleep again.

All this is good sport though, it's not what I was complaining about. I was complaining about the fact that in one of these situation the only character who can act casts "blind" in a desperate attempt to save the day... and blinds the whole party.

 

[DraQ]

So I see! What's he saying?

Words of wisdom.

But don't mind me, enjoy your glorified jRPGs guise.

This coming from someone who thinks The Witcher is a good game.

It is a good game.
1ek's mind may be no more, but even a broken clock is right twice a day.

 

[Grunker]

Okay, now I've got a real problem. Shit.

Game freezes as soon as I recieve control on my characters. Once in a blue moon I'll be able to control them until I open the menu or attempt to quick save, at which point it freezes.

Only related problem I've been able to find is a Wine-user with the exact same problem.

Anybody know anything about this? Or am I screwed?

Win 7 64-bit. Tried compatability and lowering of resolution.

 

[DraQ]

Okay, now I've got a real problem. Shit.

Game freezes as soon as I recieve control on my characters. Once in a blue moon I'll be able to control them until I open the menu or attempt to quick save, at which point it freezes.

Only related problem I've been able to find is a Wine-user with the exact same problem.

Anybody know anything about this? Or am I screwed?

Win 7 64-bit. Tried compatability and lowering of resolution.

Restart and don't alttab?

It works on my laptop.

 

[Grunker]

Okay, now I've got a real problem. Shit.

Game freezes as soon as I recieve control on my characters. Once in a blue moon I'll be able to control them until I open the menu or attempt to quick save, at which point it freezes.

Only related problem I've been able to find is a Wine-user with the exact same problem.

Anybody know anything about this? Or am I screwed?

Win 7 64-bit. Tried compatability and lowering of resolution.

Restart and don't alttab?

It works on my laptop.

Doesn't work. The only thing I can do is use the OpenGL mod out there and set the graphics to OpenGL. Problem is, when I do that, I get this problem:

Sometimes, while I can look around, I still just can't move. Sometimes it lets me move around a little, then stops.

Even though I'm on an ATI-card (so it's not card-related).

It's a damned shame to, I enjoyed the hell out of what little combat I got to see

Judging from these this thread, I'd be able to run it with some slight graphics tinkering. Trouble is, I don't Catalyst has the same program-by-program-function as nVidia-cards.

 

[Varn]

One thing I noticed that helps with not being to control your characters is pressing "ALT" once. This seems to reconnect the keyboard to the game so you can play again. Pretty random but it is connected to Alt-Tabbing out of the game I think.

 

[darkling]

One thing I noticed that helps with not being to control your characters is pressing "ALT" once. This seems to reconnect the keyboard to the game so you can play again. Pretty random but it is connected to Alt-Tabbing out of the game I think.

I finally got the game working again today and that is indeed a part in keeping it going when you alt tab (also when you run it in windowed mode). When I was using my ATI card I used the DirectX6 mode and had only that problem. When I fried that card and went back to my Nvidia, DX6 mode was giving me unplayable framerates. I set up the exact app profile in my Nvidia drivers and it's working fine now. Also, no compatibility modes are necessary.

Did you try in DX6 mode?

 

[sportforredneck]

Didn't the American SirTech branch became bankrupt and their personnel left for other companies? Jagged Alliance 2 and Wizardry 8 were both done by Linda and Ian Currie of SirTech Canada (not sure about the original Jagged Alliance) and their team had afaik nearly no former employees of the US SirTech branch.
Because of that Wizardry 8 is in some ways more similar to JA 2 than to Wiz 7.

Linda Currie is a bitch. I know this from experience.

 

[Takeda Kenshi]

Didn't the American SirTech branch became bankrupt and their personnel left for other companies? Jagged Alliance 2 and Wizardry 8 were both done by Linda and Ian Currie of SirTech Canada (not sure about the original Jagged Alliance) and their team had afaik nearly no former employees of the US SirTech branch.
Because of that Wizardry 8 is in some ways more similar to JA 2 than to Wiz 7.

Linda Currie is a bitch. I know this from experience.

Care to elaborate, oh writer of Wizardry LPs?

 

[Topher]

I'm in the process of acquiring this game. Are there going to be issues getting it to run on Win7?

 

[Grunker]

Solved! A combination of the ALT-thing and switching to DirectX 6 with Miles Positional 2D sound worked.

Still in the monestary, probably only played like 15 minutes, but actually having a blast.

I'm in the process of acquiring this game. Are there going to be issues getting it to run on Win7?

I had the ones listed here, but all in all Wizardry 8 seems to run fine; the hiccups it had for me were weird ones that seemed fixable (and luckily was).

EDIT: Are the artifact- and mythology skills checked automatically?

 

[Cenobyte]

Yes, they are passive, like most other skills in the game.

Mythology also rises very fast from my experience, so it's usually not needed to invest too much points into it. Artifacts is VERY important, if you want to identify your magical items. Always level this skill up for one of your characters.

 

[Grunker]

Yes, they are passive, like most other skills in the game.

Mythology also rises very fast from my experience, so it's usually not needed to invest too much points into it. Artifacts is VERY important, if you want to identify your magical items. Always level this skill up for one of your characters.

Hmm. Okay. Two more questions:

1) How do I use the special abilities of my classes? Like the Samurai's Lightning Strike or the Valkyrie's Cheat Death?

2) Communication, which my bard invested heavily in, has so far been pretty useless. Will this continure?

 

[DraQ]

1) How do I use the special abilities of my classes? Like the Samurai's Lightning Strike or the Valkyrie's Cheat Death?

By attacking and dying respectively. Note the element of chance involved.

2) Communication, which my bard invested heavily in, has so far been pretty useless. Will this continure?

Yes.

 

[Grunker]

By attacking and dying respectively. Note the element of chance involved.

Yes.

 

[Cenobyte]

Yes, they are passive, like most other skills in the game.

Mythology also rises very fast from my experience, so it's usually not needed to invest too much points into it. Artifacts is VERY important, if you want to identify your magical items. Always level this skill up for one of your characters.

Hmm. Okay. Two more questions:

1) How do I use the special abilities of my classes? Like the Samurai's Lightning Strike or the Valkyrie's Cheat Death?

2) Communication, which my bard invested heavily in, has so far been pretty useless. Will this continure?

to 1) Many people claim that the chance for Lightning Strike is purely random. I'm not so sure about it, I think I've seen it more often later in the game, so maybe it's linked to the Sword, Close Combat or Critical Strike skill. But that's only a guess.
Cheat death happens automatically if your Valkyrie would normally die. And only once per encounter.
The Berzerk option can be selected in the context menu for the fighter. Or you can use the respective shortcut on your keyboard. The same goes for the Dragon Breath ability.

to 2) Communication rises also very fast, nearly all talking should raise the skill. It has only one effect, I think: Sometimes NPCs charge money from you in exchange for information. With a high Communication skill, you have to pay less money or none at all.

 

[DraQ]

By attacking and dying respectively. Note the element of chance involved.

Lightning strike also appears to depend on low encumbrance, although I don't know if it's confirmed. Just give your samurai some good sword, take all the unnecessary burden off his shoulders and let him amaze/amuse you by cutting enemies into thin, transparent slices.

Yes.

Now you know.


Fortunately bards are incredibly versatile and generally don't suffer from shortage of skills to develop.

 

[Serus]

Lightning strike also appears to depend on low encumbrance, although I don't know if it's confirmed.

Read this in other fora too, not sure if true.

Damn, i reinstalled the game, can't decide if i want to play vanilla or a mod...

 

[1eyedking]

I'm exaggerating. Wizardry 8 isn't terribad. Wizardry 8 would be awesome in fact if it's world were more coherent, and things actually made sense. There's no thought put whatsoever on the ramifications a medieval versus high-technology clash would have, and it's impact upon a world's culture, professions, education, and whatnot.

It's a game that doesn't feed the brain any succulent morsels of imagination. A real pity since the combat isn't half bad.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

I'm exaggerating. Wizardry 8 isn't terribad. Wizardry 8 would be awesome in fact if it's world were more coherent, and things actually made sense. There's no thought put whatsoever on the ramifications a medieval versus high-technology clash would have, and it's impact upon a world's culture, professions, education, and whatnot.

It's a game that doesn't feed the brain any succulent morsels of imagination. A real pity since the combat isn't half bad.

Wait.


Who are you again?



Also, on communication: the effects get more noticeable as the skill rises and increases. Decreased price options, can friendly with NPC's easier, and I believe NPC's react less poorly if you do something bad in a conversation.

 

[Serus]

"Do badly in conversation", in Wizardry 8 ? Are we talking about the same game ?


@1eyedking
The world of Wizardry never made much "sense", in the sense you are looking for. Most rpgs don't make much sense. Want a coherent word in CRPG, go play Darklands. Or Fallout 1.