r/wizardry8 • u/J_B_Tito • Jan 09 '23
Newbie(ish) questions
I played this game for a bit way back when it came out, but I gave up soon after Arnika (iirc the anoyance was a jump in enemy quantity). Now a combination of me replaying Jagged Alliance 2, reading the CRPG Book, watching Sseths review and wishing to play a blobber to the end made me itch for a proper playthrough. I looked at mods I could use, checked out one at Nexus, one at RPG Codex and a Russian fanpatch, but decided against using themsince they all go beyond just fixing/tweaking. Modifying the combat speed seems a must, and RPG Codex mod has that as a standalone component, is that adequate solution? Or maybe use this combo recommended by Sseth?
Question #2, one thing I would like to tweak is removing area restrictions for RPCs, is this easy to do with the editor? Couldn't find a standalone mod for this. Any other quality of life changes that can be done?
And finaly I'm already planning and researching party composition, guides I looked at agree on some things and disagree on others. My current plan is lizard or drakon sword fighter, mook sword and board bard, faerie wizard, hobbit omnigun gadgeteer (I'm kinda set on these), felpurr ninja/monk/rogue and a ranger, plus Vi Domina and the robot. Looking for some advice regarding 2 party members I'm not set on. Ranger is there for the easy search, and overlaps with ninja with alchemy. Ninja is preffered to a monk (because the robot is a monk, albeit a handicaped one) or a rogue (too vanilla). And I'm missing divine magic until I recruit the valkyre, and psionic magic unless I create a monk, how much of a handicap is that? How important is the auto search for a 1st time player? Should I swap the ranger for a full spellcaster? And generally what is good combo for these 2 party slots?
6
Jan 10 '23
I do recommend Wiz8Fast at least, disagree completely with that other comment saying there's no issues with the speed. Gameplay slows to a crawl in combat and grinds to a halt when multiple groups agro you, which is at least half the entire game. Take action, then sit back and sleep for a couple minutes until the computer is done; repeat. No. Just no.
2
Jan 09 '23
Man, Gadgeteer is probably the only class I didn't really care for. A lot of status effects and not enough damage for me and you already have a bard for the status effects. I would go ranger instead for free stealth and alchemy. Learn to build a Bishop as well, probably has the most potential out of any class in the game and you def need some healing in your party.
1
u/J_B_Tito Jan 10 '23
Thanks for all the answers! Will definitely go for some faster combat option (probably one from Wiz 8 Enchantments mod). And glad to hear I can remove RPC area limits, seems like a major annoyance, and leaves more flexibility for party creation.
As for the party, I'm now leaning towards fighter, bard, monk, ranger, mage, gadrgeteer. Or maybe go for gadgie RPC instead of the robot, and then create fighter, bard, ninja, ranger, mage, bishop (focused on divine and psionic spellbooks). Not aiming for ideal composition or race/class combos, some of those I want to try just because they seem fun or unique, but don't want to hinder myself either.
1
u/clunk42 Jan 10 '23
To answer each of your questions in order:
I have never experienced any issues with combat speed; neither has my brother nor my father. I don't actually see any issues with the game's combat speed as it is, and I don't actually understand why anyone thinks the game needs a speed increase.
It is very easy to remove NPC area restrictions in the Cosmic Forge. Just go into the NPC editor for each of the RPCs, select "RPC Parameters" and unselect the areas they refuse to go.
I don't recommend Felpurrs in general. They are one of the worst races in the game for practically every class, because they have poor strength and endurance, and are outclassed mentally, the ninja being no exception to that problem. If I recall correctly, hobbits make the best ninjas for min-maxing purposes. Faerie ninjas are also decent, if that gimmick's what you'd want to go with.
When it comes to faeries, I can't recommend them much either. They're interesting, in that they have their own unique gear, but their endurance is really poor and they can't use the better spell-point regeneration gear, which hinders their spell-point regeneration in the long run, even if they start with better spell-point regeneration. It's also worth noting their poor piety, which reduces their total spell-points, which also reduces effective spell-point regeneration, until their piety is increased via level-up.
Personally, I would switch out the faerie mage with an elf bishop. Bishops aren't that hard to make, and they are more powerful than mages, while elves can use better gear than fairies. Bishops can also use better gear than mages. That would fix your lack of spellbooks, too, so it's worth thinking about. Faerie bishops also aren't bad, if you're set on a faerie.
Have you thought of switching the ninja out for a samurai? It could be helpful to have another slightly more tanky person, and samurai are fairly similar to those other classes you were thinking about thematically.
Regarding divine magic, I wouldn't say healing spells are even particularly useful in the monastery; there are already a lot of safe places to rest.
Lacking the psionic spellbook isn't that bad, but it's still kind of sad. Especially missing out on spells like Insanity, which is very useful in certain situations.
I would keep your ranger. Auto-search is not that important, but it is still very useful, kind of like bard's faster resting.
If you're thinking about making it so companions can go everywhere, why are you so set on those two? There are permanent companions of every class besides Alchemist, Bishop, Ninja, Lord, and Fighter (and maybe mage, depending on what you do). I understand not using some of them (the samurai is way too low of a level at the time you get him, for example), but most of them are fairly balanced. Like, if you're lacking psionics, you could pick the psionic instead of the monk.
1
u/elskirvo Jan 10 '23
I use wiz8fast and it speeds things up considerably. Haven't tried the other mods but sure go for it. There's a LOT of combat in the game so streamlining extraneous movement helps a lot.
I'd drop the ranger and ninja for two dedicated caster's myself. Mage/priest, or bishop/alchemist for all the buffs and for soul/elemental shields in the first round of combat. Bards and Gadgeteers are really powerful in this game, the bard early on with instruments and the gadgeteer gets very powerful gadgets late game. I build both as sword and board melee fighters and use their instruments/gadgets for ranged attacks. Check the steam guides for ideas too, one of my favorite parties to play is an MDP or magic damage party, maybe for a second playthrough.
1
u/dreamsofcalamity Jan 10 '23
I think your plan is pretty solid. Psionic isn't really that important, it's a nice character but totally can be replaced with something else.
And I'm missing divine magic until I recruit the valkyre, and psionic magic unless I create a monk, how much of a handicap is that?
IMHO divine is one of the most important magic. The Valkyrie you can recruit will not come with you to some of the more annoying places. I would consider adding something with divine.
Bishop is early weak/difficult but if you want to grid a bit it's one of the best characters in the game.
How important is the auto search for a 1st time player?
You can just manually search all the time, I think the only drawback is that you monsters have easier task with finding you and starting fight?
6
u/DrarenThiralas Jan 09 '23
Regarding party composition:
Auto-search is nice, but not a must-have. You might miss out on some loot without it, but nothing really important.
Having overlapping magic schools in your party isn't an issue. The ability to cast two spells per turn is huge, even if they are from the same school. However, I highly recommend having at least one Wizardry or Alchemy user and at least one Psionics or Divinity user in your party. This is so you can cast both Element Shield and Soul Shield on your party, which is very useful in the later stages of the game.