Incline Wizardry 8 Enhancements - A Call to Arms!

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

Btw buffing damage spells goes some way to reverting the original over-compensation for hybrids being gods in Wiz6-7 to them being weak damage dealers compared to Fighters and Thieves (who gain Berserk and Backstab) - maxed-out critical hits don't really make up for dealing 1/2 less damage normally, esp. considering no enemies really are dangerous HP sponges (apart from Nessie and MAYBE pee-wee though he's normally a cakewalk by that point) where having a critical hit would actually be more useful than just 2x more damage.

Hybrids dealing more damage through spells (due to spells being more damaging in general) would go some way to correcting that.

 

[Kaucukovnik]

I was also thinking to give samurai some better off-hand sword to bring a bit closer to his old glory. The secondary sword's damage always seems to be minor compared to all other attacks in a party.

I think more unusual specializations should be encouraged as well. Like a polearm samurai, sword or axe wielding lord... Ideal case would be making every available combat path also viable one.

The problem is the game could become overcrowded with good equipment. So I'll probably keep those upgrades for the added areas.

 

[I_am_Ian]

Was I supposed to get 15,000,000 experience points for killing the three crabs on the beach at the beginning?

 

[Kaucukovnik]

I could swear I set them back to 223 exp before packing the beta. Sorry about that!

Here's the fixed file, put it in Data\Databases and overwrite.

 

[I_am_Ian]

It's actually a nice option in case I ever feel like cheating. Otherwise I can simply avoid them and play as normal.

Also, are the increased amount of bugs/bats/slimes in the first hallway part of this mod?

 

[Kaucukovnik]

Nope, the only area with altered enemy placement is one spot at Arnika Road.

Well, I HOPE I didn't cause anything like that. Unless there are really big hordes, I'd say it's just the random number generator liking you.

 

[I_am_Ian]

Really? I've never encountered so many enemies in that first hallway in all of my playthroughs. Thank you RNG, that was fun.

Is anything being planned to make the game harder?

 

[Kaucukovnik]

I think I will have to address the game difficulty and progression sooner or later as the added content grows and the already existing problems get emphasized further. As far as I know there is the possibility to have an in-game difficulty choice (spawns linked to global variables, I guess). I'll try to do that at some point.
You know, I'd also like to recommend the game to some people who would definitely love the world, themes, characters with personalities and such, but not revel in the combat. The above sounds like the perfect solution for everyone.

I'm also thinking of rebalancing the game altogether. Some ideas for that:
* Tweak resistances so that ~100 in all resists isn't commonplace late-game (for players and enemies likewise). No fire-based monster should be 100% water resistant, no matter how strong. And picking a race with a resistance penalty should matter.
* Tone down insta-kills from enemies and make up for them in a different, less luck-based way.
* Make level progression slower, for multiple reasons:

- more areas and enemies will speed up level progression​

- game balance tends to get messed up at levels above 25 or so, as previous mods have revealed​

- higher skill levels will be achievable through normal play without powertraining​

- even most "endgame" areas DO have low level monster spawns prepared in vanilla game, but there is very little chance to encounter them as it is now. What use are lvl 6-20 monster generators, when a level 15 monster is guarding the entrance?​

I'm not sure how much of this is doable, and it's definitely a long-term goal, for a time when I have expanded the game world considerably.

 

[Kaucukovnik]

Preview of Marten's Pagoda available. OP is updated.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Looks good.
What kind of enemies can we expect in there?

 

[townltu]

Hello there

The tree appears to be an accellent lookout point for huge winged creatures :D

Like a polearm samurai, sword or axe wielding lord... Ideal case would be making every available combat path also viable

To avoid changes on the clsss, i.e. i did not want to allow Samurais the use of all polearms,
i added a "Samurai only" Naginata, which is used with sword skill.
The weapon is not powerful in terms of damage, but sum of benfits, only one weapon skill @ up to 125 for extended weapon, incl lighting strikes

Another nice variation are weapons which use martial arts skill
(martial arts is, afaik, the only skill aside from the "classical" wiz8 weapon skills that can be assigned to a weapon)
Such weapons will increase their damage with rising lvl like MA/hand&feet


The increase of locations is rather new, all avail mods were, again afaik, created before that.
The imo more important aspect is the avg amount of exp one will collect in a mod.
All mods i know suffer from adding monsters (=XP pts) without compensation(=removing other monsters or general reduction of all monsters xpp)
not to speak of unbalanced items

I think the best way is a non linear reduction of xp/monster,
only little to no reduction in the beginning, perhaps 2 dozen handselected monsters, the rest in a row
(use the xpp column from monster list -> reduce -> dezINhex -> hexedit into .dbs)

As far as I know there is the possibility to have an in-game difficulty choice

requires much scripting/tests, the "adjustable" encounters with low number/single boss probably difficulty specific variations of single monsters, and all have to be tested.
Switchable or "autosensing" monster generators will require lua scripts.

 

[DraQ]

To avoid changes on the clsss, i.e. i did not want to allow Samurais the use of all polearms

Why 'all'?

They should be able to use all spears and naginata, as well as being able to specialize in polearms.

They still won't be getting +25% class bonus to them, and they have plenty of mostly synergistic skills (close combat, sword, critical strike, 2W) to specialize in, so putting points in spears will not be a decision that comes lightly.

 

[Kaucukovnik]

Hey, good to see you here!

The pagoda itself is going to be a non-combat area - that is my personal wish. So even IF a huge winged creature is added, it will be a friendly one. But I have started a new, large dungeon, so no worries, there will be tons of additional unbalancing experience and equipment. And the pagoda quest line will include some new battles as well. Just peace at the pagoda itself.

Martial art weapons sound excellent. All the pretty much useless specific-skill-requiring ninja stuff could be turned into end-game boost when unarmed attackers lag behind in damage output.

Additional experience must be offset somewhere and large amounts of uber equipment shall not be given. I'll first make a few more areas, and after some testing they all will be combined into the next version of the mod, including new items and balance adjustments.
I still need to fix a few inconsistencies in the base mod and a lot of item graphics is still missing. Its final "vanilla-like" version will ideally be 1.0, and added content will come in further versions.
That way 1.0 will be "vanilla, but polished" and the latest one will include all the more radical changes, both balancing and content-wise.

Bummer about the difficulty, I guess I'll settle on single well-balanced difficulty level. By the way - what does the in-game difficulty setting affect?

EDIT: DraQ:
That's what I thought, they may not become the best, but let them be decent when they have that training choice.

 

[DraQ]

I'd also overhaul Valks to be something else than yet another lords, with very few skills they need to specialize in.

Maybe boost them to elite status and give them second magic skill (psionics)?
This way they would pay for their auto-revive with more XP cost per level and have more skills to waste points on, while also bieng capable of more awesome.

Also, specialty weapons should be better than their generic counterparts.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Oh, I dunno if Valks need that. I thought they were good enough as the female opposite of lords.
Explain yourself DraQ

 

[Kaucukovnik]

Yeah, a hard to kill half-bishop sounds too badass. I'd rather make some more unique equipment for both Valk and Lord.

EDIT: A crazy boost of similar proportions for all classes could be excellent for solo play/tiny parties...

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Hmm, is there something that gives fighters extra berserk power?

 

[Kaucukovnik]

Equipment that gives additional berserk damage? I'm afraid that high damage + fighter-only restriction is the best we can do.

That actually sounds good, for now Fighter has the berserk ability and that's it.

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Cool.

 

[I_am_Ian]

What happens when a fighter equips Bloodlust and berserks? Do they stack?

Also it would be great to have some more of the high end weapons have unusual requirements such as your Zizka Star. It helps inspire unorthodox character builds like a lord with high piety. Maybe something like a samurai sword or polearm that requires high intelligence or psionic-only staff that requires high strength.

 

[DraQ]

Oh, I dunno if Valks need that. I thought they were good enough as the female opposite of lords.
Explain yourself DraQ

Gladly.

First, female counterpart of lord is female lord.

Second, Valks and Lords make each other pretty much redundant - both are melee-heavy fighter/priest hybrids using heavy armour and almost the same weapon selection and having nearly identical stat reqs (actually, Valks have it 5 points easier).

Third, Valks easily out-awesome Lords by fair marigin - HP regen may be neat but it's just lulzy compared with fair chance to fucking refuse to die when killed, Valks are arguably the easiest class to develop too - they have none of the point distribution dilemmas of Lords.

We have a definite problem here.

Elevating Valks to elite tier (along Bishops and Ninjas) would arguably solve those problems - elite classes are more costly to advance, and an additional skillset would mean Valk wouldn't feel bored on level ups. The problem is choosing that additional skillset.

RL mythology valkyries were choosers of who lives or dies in battle (they also outawesomed mundane fucks with ahiny armour and healing magic by fair margin, further supporting elevation to elite tier) - this should mesh nicely with psionics skill as the level tier names for Psionic class imply seeing into the future as general theme (seer, psychic, etc.).

There you have it - elite tier fig/pri/psi valkyries, who no longer overshadow lords in their fig/pri role, have more interesting skill choices on level ups than they originally had and fit their name better but are more demanding (stat and XP requirements) to develop. They would also make proper toe-to-toe elite class not present in vanilla game.

---------------------------------------------

Now, since we're talking Wiz8 - mine got borked, presumably by some driver update, and refuses to start, due to error involving either StackHash_0a9e or userenv.dll depending on which version of userenv.dll I'm using.


bogs? dafty? halp me
pls halp me

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Hey, my game's been fucked since we started first talking about this subject.
Toughen the fuck up.

 

[Rpgsaurus Rex]

What happens when a fighter equips Bloodlust and berserks? Do they stack?

Nope. Bloodlust is way OP on thieves and such (stacks with Backstab for the lulz), though - should be nerfed as it's weird how a weapon in the first town can outclass every front-row weapon for non-fighters until late game (2x damage at measly stamina cost and no ranged attack).

Also it would be great to have some more of the high end weapons have unusual requirements such as your Zizka Star. It helps inspire unorthodox character builds like a lord with high piety. Maybe something like a samurai sword or polearm that requires high intelligence or psionic-only staff that requires high strength.

Definitely. Hybrids need more unique, hybrid-only equipment. IMO buffing offensive magic is the most important step (which Kauc is already taking).

 

[Kaucukovnik]

No Bloodlust for thieves, bards and gadgeteers? Sounds fair I think.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Bloodlust should stay as is, but it should be obtainable much later in the game and much more difficult to get.