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Starting party for Wizardry 8
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RPGDot Forums > Wizardry 8

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RPG Frog
Blade Runner
Blade Runner




Joined: 02 Jan 2004
Posts: 748
Location: the Matrix
Starting party for Wizardry 8
   

Wizardry 8 is sweet. I just bought it after playing the demo a few times. This game looks like one I can play for a year straight like Morrowind!

So far so good...this is my starting party...any suggestions?

Drac-Samurai(Male)
Human-Ninja(Female)
Elf-Mage(Female)
Dwarf-Priest(Male)
Mook-Ranger(Male)
Human-Lord(Male)


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Post Wed Jan 07, 2004 6:22 am
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Danicek
The Old One
The Old One




Joined: 15 Dec 2001
Posts: 5922
Location: Czech Republic
   

If you are experienced RPGer, it will be possible to play with this party (I do not suggest to change it, basicaly nearly all combinations of characters are possible to play with). However if you want stronger party, change Samurai or Ninja (or both) to fighers.
Yes - both Ninja and Samurai are fighter-like characters. However they have special abilities and lack strength and life in comparation to fighter.
Post Wed Jan 07, 2004 6:32 am
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Joeman
Protector of the Realm
Protector of the Realm




Joined: 03 Jan 2004
Posts: 254
Location: USA
   

Well, lord is the most ridiculed class in W8. I think in this game, the ridicule is justified. A lot of lord apologists will say it ain't so, but I think they're wrong.

In this game, nothing can out damage a fighter, because of berserk mode. It doubles the damage output. Fighter is the most powerful character in this game because of double damage and can wear the best armour. It is strong right at the beginning and unstopable in the end.

I do not like bard or gadgeteer in this game. They are cool in the beginning, but their magic is inferior to casters toward the end when all the critters have high magic resistence. Powercast from your casters will override the magic resistence, but powercast can benefit neither bard nor gadgie. Their instruments have some powercast built in, but no where near full level. Some people build bard like a fighter, but they can never be as good as a fighter. Gadgeteer's omnigun becomes a great disabler in the end, but it is never as good as ranger with the best ammo.

I do not like dracon and lizardman in this game because of their penalty to mental and divine. It becomes a big issue when you get to ascension peak. My favorite race is mook. Mook's disavantage is slowness, but you can haste to increase their speed from 35-125 assuming they wear the right boots. If you can cast haste in beginning of each battle, that negates the need to invest in speed.

Faerie Ninja is the best character in this game because of a ridiculous staff they get in this game that can be used only by faerie ninja.

The higher level you get in this game, the more the hybrid classes will become powerful. specialists will peak around level 18 and don't get any better. Hybrids will continue to improve until the end.

The most powerful party I ever built.

Mook Fighter (max out dex and strength)

Human Samurai (start as a mage and put as many points into intelligence as possible at beginning. Switch to samurai at level 2. You can powercast at level 9. Otherwise you get powercast at level 15, and that wouldn't be worth it) Play samurai as a mage for the rest of the game. At level up, don't put points in realm skills because they will increase easily on their own. Put all points in fighting skills. It will function very well as a mage, but in the end, the more melee characters you have the better.

Human Valkarie (max out dexterity and strength. Prepare to switch to fighter around level 18 so you can do double damage while you still can cast spells.)

Mook Ranger (get eagle eye ASAP that means max out senses. Max out dex as well. speed and strength after that)

Human Monk (start out as a psionics maxing out intelligence and switch to monk at level 2. That way you can powercast at level 11. Play your monk as a caster in first 3/4 of the game and as a melee character in last 1/4)

Faerie Ninja (train your ninja at lock and trap and get the cane)

In this setup, all 4 spell books are covered. Alchemy is covered twice. Make your ninja a caster since the cane is cursed. Make your ranger an archer. Your ranger will get criticals left and right toward the end, and will become the most powerful class.

Your valkyrie will become a fighter, so you get 2 fighters and 4 hybrids. As I said, hybrids become very powerful in the end.
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Post Wed Jan 07, 2004 6:58 am
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Michael C
Black Dragon
Black Dragon




Joined: 09 Jul 2001
Posts: 1595
Location: Aarhus, Denmark
   

My suggestion for the first time party:

Lizard fighter: (The only character that can start develop 2 useful elite skills already from level 12, his mental weakness is no problem later in the game as the spellcasters can protect the hole party with a bunch of powerfull protective spells)

Mook ranger: (The most versatile ranged fighter, with the special ability to discover hidden things.

Human gadgeteer/bard (Mostly for the fun of this special character, but he also can become a really good (ranged) attacker with some decent spells.

()Psionic: Mental strong spells, and is immune to mental spells

Farie Mage: The Farie is one of the most boring characters in the game, first the equipment is very limited to this character, and she can only carry a very limited amount, which is a very important issue for your party, but as a mage her special magic capabilities are unique.

Human Bishop: Is slower in development than the priest, but has a lot more spells availble in the end.

This party may seem very magic oriented, but I expect to pick up a Valkyrie and a Monk in the game, to give me the punch of 3 melee fighters. Remember only 2 fighters can be in the front line, but using the valkyrie with a spear, can also reach the enemy from the second row.
I do not recommend to change profession for your characters the first time during the game, as the really powerfull benfits from the one profession characters cannot be reached before showdown. Ex. a spellcaster may have all his/ her spells available at level 18, but will not be able to maximise power in his/her best spells before at level 22-25, which really penetrates the enemies resistances.

But as Danicek wrote any party can do the trick, but be sure NOT to make a jack of all trades out of your attributes on your characters, but max out (100) the 2-(3) most important attributes as fast as possible, to release the elite skills
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Post Wed Jan 07, 2004 10:43 am
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Danicek
The Old One
The Old One




Joined: 15 Dec 2001
Posts: 5922
Location: Czech Republic
   

Early part of game - Arnika Road - will clearly show you, if your party is "good enough". Of course it depends on your skills (I mean you, not your characters).
Post Wed Jan 07, 2004 11:47 am
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Joeman
Protector of the Realm
Protector of the Realm




Joined: 03 Jan 2004
Posts: 254
Location: USA
   

It's true that any party can finish the game, but that's NOT true if you play expert level ironman. The party I suggested above can withstand that challenge. I beat the game with it and had an easier time than any other configurations. Since you have played wizardry 1-7, you will learn fast. I felt normal is too easy and quickly switched to expert.

Lizard fighter IS a big problem if you play expert difficulty because your enemy is a lot more likely to cause status ailment than if you play normal. 7th level soul shield does help a lot, but unless if your caster have high level snake speed, your enemy will cause major havoc on first round. When your lizard fighter is insane, hide the women and children and cover your eyes.

Mook fighters have many advantages and disavantages over lizard fighters. In time, you will figure out what those are and decide for yourself. I personally prefer Mook for fighter.

You CAN switch classes if you know why and how. There are sources you can find over the web which explains that. http://www.geocities.com/jandrall is a good place to look. In some cases, there are good reasons to switch classes. If you play Elven bishop, I suggest you spend first level as a mage for skills boost and much earlier powercast. For faeries though, it probably doesn't matter.

Anyways, you should try different things and have fun.
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Post Wed Jan 07, 2004 2:36 pm
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Michael C
Black Dragon
Black Dragon




Joined: 09 Jul 2001
Posts: 1595
Location: Aarhus, Denmark
   

quote:
Originally posted by Joeman
It's true that any party can finish the game, but that's NOT true if you play expert level ironman. The party I suggested above can withstand that challenge. I beat the game with it and had an easier time than any other configurations. Since you have played wizardry 1-7, you will learn fast. I felt normal is too easy and quickly switched to expert.

Have tried the expert mode 4 times myself (not ironman), but without dying once, I would say quite a lot of combinations of a party could survive in expert level, mine varied a lot, but none were even close to your prefering. I know you wrote in another thread that that W8 was "easy" stratically wise, but I think you are very wrong. You may have found the perfect strategy for your super party, and it may be a walk in the park through expert with this party and the right startegy, but I have a completely different setups, and strategies which I dare to say works quite as well, but I think that is exactly the beauty of W8, as different profession combination require all new tactics to work well in W8. Many of us have probably our own preferable playstyle (Aggressive, preventive or more or less a combination of these two), and you have to weight each profession, to find the party that works best for you. And if you have Shadow Hound cast at all times on it's highest level, You party almost always gets the "first strike" (not only while camping), but just in case, my spellcasters are very fast, and normally gets the first action in a combat


Lizard fighter IS a big problem if you play expert difficulty because your enemy is a lot more likely to cause status ailment than if you play normal. 7th level soul shield does help a lot, but unless if your caster have high level snake speed, your enemy will cause major havoc on first round. When your lizard fighter is insane, hide the women and children and cover your eyes.
Mook fighters have many advantages and disavantages over lizard fighters. In time, you will figure out what those are and decide for yourself. I personally prefer Mook for fighter.


Insane fighter is not a pretty sight indeed, but have a pure high level priest/bishop cast Soul shield, and Magic Screen on top of this, and approximately no magic ailment will harm your party not even in expert mode in Ascension peek (Magic screen can be cast before combat starts), but as I can see from your super party, you got no pure casters, so that's probably why you have to go for the much slower mook fighter (BTW forget the big 2H Mook fighter only sword (Death warrior), Dual wielding is much more effective, when maxed out)


You CAN switch classes if you know why and how. There are sources you can find over the web which explains that. http://www.geocities.com/jandrall is a good place to look. In some cases, there are good reasons to switch classes. If you play Elven bishop, I suggest you spend first level as a mage for skills boost and much earlier powercast. For faeries though, it probably doesn't matter.

I never said You couldn't switch classes, but as a beginner I just suggested that he don't, because you have to be very precise not to end up with a totally jack of all trade character, which really isn't good for anything in the end-game.

Anyways, you should try different things and have fun.

Agreed, the best way to find the right party combination to your preferable playstyle



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Post Wed Jan 07, 2004 3:46 pm
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dteowner
Shoegazer
Shoegazer




Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia
   

I don't have much to add that hasn't already been said, except that the lord can be more effective than a berserked fighter if he is properly developed and equipped. Accomplishing said development is rather difficult even for experienced players, so I wouldn't recommend it for rookies.

The often overlooked secret of melee types is that raw damage is NOT always the best way to go. Which is better, 10 points of damage, or two hits of 5 points each? The latter is better for several reasons.
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Post Thu Jan 08, 2004 6:28 pm
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Danicek
The Old One
The Old One




Joined: 15 Dec 2001
Posts: 5922
Location: Czech Republic
   

quote:
Originally posted by dteowner
Which is better, 10 points of damage, or two hits of 5 points each? The latter is better for several reasons.


Which (of course I know it, just forget... :]).
Post Fri Jan 09, 2004 6:42 am
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shinoSetsuna
Village Dweller
Village Dweller




Joined: 19 Jan 2004
Posts: 3
   

quote:
Human Samurai (start as a mage and put as many points into intelligence as possible at beginning. Switch to samurai at level 2. You can powercast at level 9. Otherwise you get powercast at level 15, and that wouldn't be worth it) Play samurai as a mage for the rest of the game. At level up, don't put points in realm skills because they will increase easily on their own. Put all points in fighting skills. It will function very well as a mage, but in the end, the more melee characters you have the better.


hi there... i was trying this configuration out last night, and ended up a bit confused; after switching my mage to samurai at level-2, i found that i didn't even have any option to add skill points to magic realms after the switch, and since i didn't have any in any realm except 'fire' to start w/, how will the realms go up on their own? at level-up's as a samurai, i was no longer offered new spells so how do i train up my magic abilities after switching to samurai? any clarification would be great, thx..!
Post Mon Jan 19, 2004 10:51 pm
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dteowner
Shoegazer
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Joined: 21 Mar 2002
Posts: 7570
Location: Third Hero of Erathia
   

Welcome to the boards!

I took a stab at answering your question in the other thread you started.
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RIP Red Wings How 'Bout Dem Cowboys!
Post Mon Jan 19, 2004 11:16 pm
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DBear
Village Dweller
Village Dweller




Joined: 29 Apr 2004
Posts: 18
Location: East of Eden, West of Memphis
Uber parties? Feh
   

I always go with theme parties--Lord of the Rings, A Song of Ice and Fire, the Belgariad, etc.
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Post Sat May 01, 2004 5:37 am
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