Wizardry The Wizardry Series Thread

[BrecMadak]

Compatibility mode, is there any for Windows 7 ?? Before opening this thread, i searched on net a lot but couldnt find any reasonable-like solution, please be a tad more specific.

 

[Jaesun]

I forget how exactly, but only SOME versions of Win 7 you can download and install the compatibility mode option for windows 7. I'd try googling compatibility mode windows 7. Then after installing it, right click on the wizardry 8 icon and perhaps start with Windows XP SP2 compatibility mode.

 

[desocupado]

Derailing the thread, why on earth would you install windows 7, specially if you play older games?

I still use XP, play old and some new games alike, and have felt no need to install the win7.

 

[Nael]

Win7 blows

I play Wiz8 in Vista64 with no problem though and I don't have to run it in compatibility mode. Not sure what the differences are between the two OS's though. I didn't think there was anything changed radically in the API.

 

[hicksman]

I don't think you need to download anything to get to compatibility mode for windows 7. Right click on the executable, select properties and go to the compatibility tab.

For the record, W8 works fine on my Win7 install. No compatibility options selected.

I see that there is a patch in my folder: Wiz8Patch2001_12_23_release.zip... try that.

 

[Gragt]

Derailing the thread, why on earth would you install windows 7, specially if you play older games?

I still use XP, play old and some new games alike, and have felt no need to install the win7.

I got Win7 x64 and so far it plays old games without much trouble. Wizardry 8 is fine for instance, if I select OpenGL with the fixed OpenGL driver.

 

[Grunker]

Win7 blows

I play Wiz8 in Vista64 with no problem though and I don't have to run it in compatibility mode. Not sure what the differences are between the two OS's though. I didn't think there was anything changed radically in the API.

Vista blows

I play Wiz8 in Win7 with no problem though and I don't have to run it in compatability mode. Not sure what the differences are between the to OS's though. I didn't think there was anything changed radically in the API.

 

[Jaesun]

Are you playing a pirated copy of Wizardy 8 BrecMadak?

 

[hanssolo]

Win7 blows

I play Wiz8 in Vista64 with no problem though and I don't have to run it in compatibility mode. Not sure what the differences are between the two OS's though. I didn't think there was anything changed radically in the API.

Win 7 has a significantly smaller memory and harddisk footprint than Vista, but neither really have any advantage over XP. I've never had any problems with Wiz8 on 7, though. The only issues I've run into in running ANY old games on Win 7 has been the result of being 64 bit.

 

[Nael]

Win7 blows

I play Wiz8 in Vista64 with no problem though and I don't have to run it in compatibility mode. Not sure what the differences are between the two OS's though. I didn't think there was anything changed radically in the API.

Vista blows

I play Wiz8 in Win7 with no problem though and I don't have to run it in compatability mode. Not sure what the differences are between the to OS's though. I didn't think there was anything changed radically in the API.

 

[Achmed1974]

Thanks for the suggestions. I am glad someone brought up the crackling sound on Wiz 6 as that has been a bane for me as well. Everything looks about as good as one can expect from a 20 year old game.

Amiga game is superior but as the one poster said above I am not entirely sure you can import the characters to 7 whiich is a big negative.

Now the waiting game for those golden rolls. Took almost the majority of the night t o roll my Fairy Ninja as I got a 25 just before bed haha

 

[Jaesun]

Glad it's all working for you now Achmed1974. I really do need to try my all Mook VI/VII/VIII playthrough someday.... someday...

 

[BrecMadak]

sorry confusing for you all, firstly i found out that the problem's cause that whenever i install the game i erase "Sirtech" folder and directly installing Wizardry 8 folder under Program files. Dunno why a stuipid problem as this gets very big blockage to my gameplay, though. Thanks for all who replies.

 

[Phoot]

Wiz 8

Just googled Wizardry 8 since I played it a ton back in the day. Hell I didn't know people were still playing and it makes me want to play. It's cool seeing new people playing too, since I was always getting people to try it out. Anyways, from what I remember there is a ton of combat in the game so you need to work around that. Like someone said earlier direct damage isn't that great except to get uses early. Immobilizing and insanity are awesome. Nothing beats watching a juggernaut beat one of its parylized brothers to death. Don't forget about switching classes, especially in the beginning. The single class spellcasters (mage priest alchemist and psionist) get skill boosts that come in handy. If you want a well developed ninja, start him off as an alchemist and get to like level 5 before switching. That way you can work your spellcasting and throws with a sling. The 5 levels you spend as ninja just dump all your points in to lockpicks and when you finally get access to your spells you have a big head start with little skill loss. Another semi exploit is not leveling past 5 until you get to arnika. You will still gain skill uses but all the creatures will be a much more managable level since it scales. Level up before you get in to town though. The items in random chests scale with level and are set the first time you enter the new area. Wiz 8 is a fun game to just mess around with different class combos, that is the draw for me. Oh yah any first timers get a ranger, their autosearch is almost necessary in the beginning and their IKs are insane at higher levels with their huge rate of fire. Damn wall of text, must end now.

 

[7hm]

Just started my first ever playthrough of Wizardry 8.

Very fun so far. I'm into Arnika and have rescued Vi.

I'm not playing on hard mind you, but so far the game has been fairly straightforward if not easy. The most fun I've had is leaving the inn in Arnika and finding about 16 Savant troopers and gunners standing outside waiting for me. Luckily some Lay Brothers distracted the gunners for about 8 rounds before finally dying and I had the doorway as a tactical advantage. Managed to kill the entire group in about 15 rounds.

I do have one question though. I have most of my party outfitted with bows or slings (throwing weapons for Myles) as well as primary weapons. Most of them don't seem to switch though. Even when one person in the center of the formation switches weapons sometimes the other ones don't. It seems specific to certain characters. Any ideas? I have checked to ensure that the weapons aren't locked.

Edit: the party I went with after reading some tips on here though trying to not be too spoiled.

(that dog furry) valkerie
faerie Rogue
Mook Ranger
Gnome Bard
Elf Bishop (priest / mage)
Human Bishop (psyonic / alchemist)

 

[Nael]

Just started my first ever playthrough of Wizardry 8.

Very fun so far. I'm into Arnika and have rescued Vi.

I'm not playing on hard mind you, but so far the game has been fairly straightforward if not easy. The most fun I've had is leaving the inn in Arnika and finding about 16 Savant troopers and gunners standing outside waiting for me. Luckily some Lay Brothers distracted the gunners for about 8 rounds before finally dying and I had the doorway as a tactical advantage. Managed to kill the entire group in about 15 rounds.

I do have one question though. I have most of my party outfitted with bows or slings (throwing weapons for Myles) as well as primary weapons. Most of them don't seem to switch though. Even when one person in the center of the formation switches weapons sometimes the other ones don't. It seems specific to certain characters. Any ideas? I have checked to ensure that the weapons aren't locked.

Edit: the party I went with after reading some tips on here though trying to not be too spoiled.

(that dog furry) valkerie
faerie Rogue
Mook Ranger
Gnome Bard
Elf Bishop (priest / mage)
Human Bishop (psyonic / alchemist)

Are you taking weapon reach into account?

Personally, one of the things I hated about Wiz8 was the party formation shit. That's why I never ever played the game with a full party. It's inane.

In fact the most fun I have had with Wiz8 was the solo Faerie Ninja/Bishop. There's a write up about it on Gamefaqs and after you've gotten your feet wet with the game I recommend giving it a shot.

 

[7hm]

Just started my first ever playthrough of Wizardry 8.

Very fun so far. I'm into Arnika and have rescued Vi.

I'm not playing on hard mind you, but so far the game has been fairly straightforward if not easy. The most fun I've had is leaving the inn in Arnika and finding about 16 Savant troopers and gunners standing outside waiting for me. Luckily some Lay Brothers distracted the gunners for about 8 rounds before finally dying and I had the doorway as a tactical advantage. Managed to kill the entire group in about 15 rounds.

I do have one question though. I have most of my party outfitted with bows or slings (throwing weapons for Myles) as well as primary weapons. Most of them don't seem to switch though. Even when one person in the center of the formation switches weapons sometimes the other ones don't. It seems specific to certain characters. Any ideas? I have checked to ensure that the weapons aren't locked.

Edit: the party I went with after reading some tips on here though trying to not be too spoiled.

(that dog furry) valkerie
faerie Rogue
Mook Ranger
Gnome Bard
Elf Bishop (priest / mage)
Human Bishop (psyonic / alchemist)

Are you taking weapon reach into account?

Personally, one of the things I hated about Wiz8 was the party formation shit. That's why I never ever played the game with a full party. It's inane.

In fact the most fun I have had with Wiz8 was the solo Faerie Ninja/Bishop. There's a write up about it on Gamefaqs and after you've gotten your feet wet with the game I recommend giving it a shot.

Yeah, I was taking weapon reach into account. Right after I posted that I figured I'd go look to see if I had the ranged weapons set as primary weapons for the people who wouldn't switch normally. I did for some of them and changing that seemed to make a difference.

 

[Serus]

Just started my first ever playthrough of Wizardry 8.

Very fun so far. I'm into Arnika and have rescued Vi.

I'm not playing on hard mind you, but so far the game has been fairly straightforward if not easy. The most fun I've had is leaving the inn in Arnika and finding about 16 Savant troopers and gunners standing outside waiting for me. Luckily some Lay Brothers distracted the gunners for about 8 rounds before finally dying and I had the doorway as a tactical advantage. Managed to kill the entire group in about 15 rounds.

I do have one question though. I have most of my party outfitted with bows or slings (throwing weapons for Myles) as well as primary weapons. Most of them don't seem to switch though. Even when one person in the center of the formation switches weapons sometimes the other ones don't. It seems specific to certain characters. Any ideas? I have checked to ensure that the weapons aren't locked.

Edit: the party I went with after reading some tips on here though trying to not be too spoiled.

(that dog furry) valkerie
faerie Rogue
Mook Ranger
Gnome Bard
Elf Bishop (priest / mage)
Human Bishop (psyonic / alchemist)

Are you taking weapon reach into account?

Personally, one of the things I hated about Wiz8 was the party formation shit. That's why I never ever played the game with a full party. It's inane.

In fact the most fun I have had with Wiz8 was the solo Faerie Ninja/Bishop. There's a write up about it on Gamefaqs and after you've gotten your feet wet with the game I recommend giving it a shot.

You know that if you leave your front space empty all party members in center AND flanks are able to reach the enemy with short range weapons, right ? In this aspect the number of people in your party doesn't make much difference, you can have 8 sword users if you really wanted to.

 

[ZbojLamignat]

Isn't having two bishops in a party a bit over the top? I always thought of bishop as a class for people that have only one space for dedicated caster. So you get a guy that can cast all the spells, but levels up slowly, has trouble advancing in skills and has a rather meh special ability and skill bonus.

If you decide to take two casters, Mage/Psionic/Alchemist/Priest really should be anough to get a wide arsenal of useful spells quickly and they will advance in levels and skills quickly with useful bonuses to boot. Especially considering that you're almost guaranteed to have some hybrid classes that will help with the schools your dedicated casters lack (ranger and valkyrie for 7hm).

Also, the main problem with party formations is that you can't use them to protect weaker characters from ranged attacks. Monsters can block each other just fine, but the enemy can always hit your sickly mage with two huge fucking armored brickwall guys protecting it from the front.

 

[DraQ]

You know that if you leave your front space empty all party members in center AND flanks are able to reach the enemy with short range weapons, right ? In this aspect the number of people in your party doesn't make much difference, you can have 8 sword users if you really wanted to.

This.

I find Wiz8 formations to be important and fun element of the gameplay, so my reaction more or less boiled down to:

 

[DraQ]

Isn't having two bishops in a party a bit over the top? I always thought of bishop as a class for people that have only one space for dedicated caster.

I'd say no, two-schools bishop develops much faster than four school one, if you want all four schools covered right from the start, but can only spare two slots, you take two bishops.

Also, bishop is hardly lame in terms of special abilities getting priest's turn undead AND remove curse for free. There are many awesome cursed items you might nevertheless want to unequip in certain circumstances. As for artifacts bonus, this affects use of all the scrolls and pretty much all items with spell charges.

They are lame in terms of initial casting performance, but you still get 2 or 4 in 1.

 

[Ladders & Snakes]

This cool game doesn't run anymore! Fucking copy proetction!1!

 

[ZbojLamignat]

I'd say no, two-schools bishop develops much faster than four school one, if you want all four schools covered right from the start, but can only spare two slots, you take two bishops.

But that's the point - why would you want to have all the four schools covered for the cost of slow level ups and skill problems (I hate cheesing skill advancement in games, it's elder scrolls all over again) when mage+psionic have all you really need and you can support them with valkyrie and ranger?

Also, while bishop's bonuses aren't useless I'd still take bonuses to school skills and things like potion mixing or even wizard's extra resistances over them any time.

 

[7hm]

My front line is empty. I have the Valkyries and Ranger sitting in the center and the rogues on the flanks. The rest sit in the back.

Meh. The bishops are both fairly lame still, but I wanted to get all 4 schools in and not spend more than 2 spots on magic peoples. + having heal right out of the gate was key.

I'm probably going to experiment with class switching soon enough.

Is it because I'm playing on normal that I haven't found the combat to be annoying yet? I was expecting to meet about a hundred enemies on the way to Arnika from what I've read, but all I saw was three or four groups of plant things and a few bandit groups.

Should it be worse than that or were people just exaggerating the numbers (or maybe is my tolerance just higher than some... so far Dark Spire, which I'm also deep into a playthrough of, has far more useless combat encounters than Wizardry 8).

 

[DraQ]

or maybe is my tolerance just higher than some...

Probably this.

I'd say no, two-schools bishop develops much faster than four school one, if you want all four schools covered right from the start, but can only spare two slots, you take two bishops.

But that's the point - why would you want to have all the four schools covered for the cost of slow level ups and skill problems (I hate cheesing skill advancement in games, it's elder scrolls all over again)

I merely burn the unused MP pools out before resting. It can be done quickly so it isn't terribly annoying, doesn't feel like abuse, and individual pools regenerate in parallel, so it doesn't prolong my camping.

when mage+psionic have all you really need and you can support them with valkyrie and ranger?

There goes early Heal All and all the Clouds.

Also, while bishop's bonuses aren't useless I'd still take bonuses to school skills and things like potion mixing or even wizard's extra resistances over them any time.

Any class with alchemy can mix potions. Alchemists sometimes do create them from scratch, but it's a random occurence and not all that frequent.