RPGDot: Please introduce yourself - what is your part in developing Wizardry 8?
Charles Miles: I'm Charles Miles, item and monster wrangler for Wizardry 8. That means I created the statistics for the monsters and items in the game, and put them into the game world. I'm also one of the writers.

RPGDot:  And straight on to the game: From which games can we import characters into Wizardry 8?
Charles Miles: You can import from CRUSADERS OF THE DARK SAVANT and WIZARDRY GOLD. You can't import from BANE OF THE COSMIC FORGE, since the  storyline assumes that the events of CRUSADERS have taken place. (If you really, really want to bring in your BANE party, you can import your BANE party into CRUSADERS, and then bring that CRUSADERS party into WIZARDRY 8.)

RPGDot:  Which of the old NPC-races are still in the game, and are there news ones?
Charles Miles: The Umpani and the T'Rang, the two rival races from CRUSADERS, have returned. The Rattkin also make an appearance. The new races include the Trynnie, who live in a city built in the trees; the violent Rapax, who are a very nasty bunch; and the peaceful, technologically advanced Higardi.

RPGDot: Can you still build alliances and thus make other parties your enemy?
Charles Miles: Yes. Doing quests for a race will tend to make that race like you, while killing members of that race will make that race angry. This gets interesting when dealing with the Umpani and the T'Rang, who hate each other.

RPGDot: Will there still be rival groups that may get quest items before you do?
Charles Miles: If you get a quest item and one of the other races wants it, they'll come after you.

RPGDot: Compared to Wizardry 7: Will Wiz8 be more difficult or about the same diificulty? Is is linear in story or can you visit every location from the beginning?
Charles Miles: It's easier than Wizardry 7, because we've toned down the random combat and made it easier to rest. We've also made much of the game optional. There are three main quests that are essential to win the game, and then there are many, many optional side quests and optional areas.
The game is very non-linear. Once you finish the initial dungeon, you are free to explore the entire world. Of course, some parts of the world are so dangerous that a low-level party won't survive for long there!

RPGDot: Is Class Change working in the known manner?
Charles Miles: Class changing works differently than it did in CRUSADERS. In WIZARDRY 8, you can only change classes when you go up a level. This makes changing classes a much more important decision than it was before, as you will spend at least one entire level in that class.
The new character system makes it easier make plans for your characters. In CRUSADERS, attribute points would be assigned randomly when you leveled up. In WIZARDRY 8, you decide where to allocate those attribute points yourself. So, for example, you might start with a fighter and then work on his speed and dexterity to make him into a samurai.

RPGDot: Can you describe the gadgeteer? What are his advantages and disadvantages to other classes?
Charles Miles: The gadgeteer takes items he finds during his adventures and uses his Engineering skill to transform them into gadgets. Gadgets can have quite powerful effects, and a gadgeteer with the most advanced gadgets in comparable to a very powerful spellcaster. Gadgeteers also come with an Omnigun, a hand-built handgun. As the gadgeteer goes up in level, he improves his omningun. A high-level omnigun can blind an opponent, knock him unconscious, or even kill him outright.
The advantages of the gadgeteer are that he's good with a gun and can essentially cast spells without using spell points. The disadvantages are that using his gadgets tires him out quickly, and he can only use a few gadgets at a time. Also, gadgets are heavy, and a gadgeteer with poor strength will quickly become overloaded.

RPGDot: Is there still the Dark Savant? What is his role in Wiz8?
Charles Miles: The Dark Savant is back. As you may recall, CRUSADERS ended with the Dark Savant obtaining the Astral Dominae, a powerful artifact containing the power of Life itself. The Savant has since learned that if he obtains two more artifacts, he can enter the Cosmic Circle and destroy the Cosmic Lords themselves. Your role in WIZARDRY 8, of course, is to stop him.

RPGDot: Will you use the same magic system as in Wiz6 & 7? Can you describe the system in a few short terms?
Charles Miles: Yes, the magic system is similar to the system used in earlier WIZARDRYs. What makes it special is that each spell can be cast at different power levels. This makes the magic system much more flexible than, say, the AD&D system. You can use your spell points to either cast seven weak Energy Blasts at power level 1, or one powerful Energy Blast at power level 7.

RPGDot: As for the combat system: What's it like, since I assume, there are significant changes now that the game runs in full 3D? Are there random encounters or fixed places for the monsters and will they respawn?
Charles Miles: Some monsters, such as guards blocking a door, have fixed positions. Other monsters are randomly generated. Once generated, the monsters begin to wander around the 3D world. Roaming monsters add a whole layer of strategy not found in earlier WIZARDRYs. For example, sometimes it's smart to walk on top of a ridge, because that way you can see monsters off in the distance. But of course, if *you* can see the monsters, the *monsters* can also see you! So you have to weigh the better visibility against the risk of being surprised by the monsters.
The new 3D nature of the game affects combat in so many ways that I can't possibly list them all. Here's one example, though: some spells, such as Magic Missiles, are cone spells: they affect a cone-shaped area directly in front of the caster. Other spells, like Fireball, are radius spells, meaning you aim the spell at a spot, and the spell affects everything within a certain radius of that spot.
When monsters are walking towards you, cone spells are devastating, because they hit many targets at once. But if the monsters have already reached the party and surrounded it, cone spells will only hit a couple of targets. So if you cast Magic Missiles, you're always biting your fingernails, hoping that you cast it before the monsters get too close. On the other hand, you can't always cast Fireball, because it's more expensive.

RPGDot: Will there be SciFi elements in Wiz8 and if so, how many?
Charles Miles: Since WIZARDRY 7 concludes the story begun in CRUSADERS, it contains the same eclectic mix of science fiction and fantasy -- starships and computers in the same world as swords and magic. That seemed very strange when CRUSADERS was released back in 1992, but I think Japanese games like the FINAL FANTASY series have made that type of world more familiar to CRPGers.

RPGDot: How large is the gaming world? What is the estimated time of play?
Charles Miles: There are more than thirty large levels (not quite EVERQUEST large, but close.) If you try to do all the quests, it can be quite a long game. Our testers are reporting that it's at least as long as CRUSADERS, maybe longer.
Of course, if you're playing with a walkthrough and don't do the optional quests, it's much shorter. I'd guess 60 to 200 hours.

RPGDot: Have you seen/played Wizards & Warriors? What is your opinion about it?
Charles Miles: I played a bit of WIZARDRS AND WARRIORS when it first came out. It was a bit strange, because both W&W and WIZARDRY 8 use CRUSADERS as their inspiration. So it was a bit like seeing what our own game would have been like in an alternate universe, where we made different decisions and did things in a different way.
I had fun with it for the brief time that I played. Playing it strengthened my belief that we did the right thing by changing many of the CRUSADERS features (especially the interface.)

RPGDot: Word is, that you entered a final beta testing phase ... if all goes well now, when will the title be finished? And I can't believe, there is still no publisher for Wiz8 - is there really none or are you just holding back the information? What possible publishers are you having in mind?
Charles Miles: All the game elements are done, and all we are doing now is testing and fixing bugs.
As for a publisher: All I can say is, if we did have a publisher in mind but hadn't announced it to the world yet, there must be a good reason for doing so. (This is just a complicated way of saying, "No comment" ;)