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Rockopolis posted:If you import a party from the previous game, would it be significantly beefier than the starting party for this game? My understanding is that imported parties are stripped down some, to fifth level, which I'll already be well past for everyone by the next update. So it's not a huge power boost in terms of stats... but what's a much bigger power boost is that some gear can be imported from the previous games, including some items that can't be found at all in Wizardry 8 normally. Some are sidegrades, while others are end-game power items.
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Jul 21, 2020 19:16
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PurpleXVI posted:My understanding is that imported parties are stripped down some, to fifth level, which I'll already be well past for everyone by the next update. So it's not a huge power boost in terms of stats... but what's a much bigger power boost is that some gear can be imported from the previous games, including some items that can't be found at all in Wizardry 8 normally. Some are sidegrades, while others are end-game power items. Nah, Wizardry 8 doesn't let you import endgame items like Crusaders does. 8's import list is actually pretty stripped down, the most powerful stuff you can import is all roughly mid-game gear from Bane and Crusaders that there's a decent chance you either never picked up at the time (or immediately sold) because you already had better gear when you found it, or sold it later in the game as you replaced it with endgame kit.
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Jul 21, 2020 19:53
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Cythereal posted:Nah, Wizardry 8 doesn't let you import endgame items like Crusaders does. 8's import list is actually pretty stripped down, the most powerful stuff you can import is all roughly mid-game gear from Bane and Crusaders that there's a decent chance you either never picked up at the time (or immediately sold) because you already had better gear when you found it, or sold it later in the game as you replaced it with endgame kit. There is one important item you can transfer up from Wizardry 7, but you can only get it by transferring up from Wizardry 6. Also weirdly enough there are a few polearms you can transfer up, in particular, that can last you until well into the game. Most other weapon types don't have much in the way of awesome stuff that transfers, but there's like three polearms that are solid mid-game weapons, one of which actually being a strong candidate for best polearm due to its secondary effects. That being said, all of those weapons can be found later on in Wizardry 8 so you don't actually lose much by not transferring.
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Jul 21, 2020 20:00
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Spear of Death crew representin 
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Jul 21, 2020 20:04
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There are plenty of good polearms that you can find early on in this game, so it's not that big of a deal. There are a few unique bard instruments you can bring over, although nothing mind-boggling. One casts Banish, a high level attack spell, but it only hits undead which are not that common or threatening in the big scheme of things. The other thing to keep in mind is that depending on your endgame choices in 7 you won't necessarily start on the monastery beach, so the level 1 crab experience is mostly reserved for fresh parties.
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Jul 22, 2020 03:56
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Straight White Shark posted:One casts Banish, a high level attack spell, but it only hits undead which are not that common or threatening in the big scheme of things. Perhaps not common, but definitely threatening. Undead tend to have high mental resistance, which makes them immune to a lot of lockdown options(especially if you're rolling with a Monk or Psionicist), undead melee combatants often have fear/paralysis as a side effect on their melee attacks and most undead casters are loaded to the gills with terror/insanity-causing spells. While undead aren't common overall, they're over-represented in a couple of places, and they will gently caress you up. Especially since one of those two places(and let's not talk about it in detail because spoilers!!!!!!) limits your other offensive options.
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Jul 22, 2020 09:46
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Part 003: The Umpani So the votes have, as I had kind of hoped, fallen in favour of heading north to Mt. Gigas! Let's see how that turns out by taking a right at the first intersection rather than a left.   The Arnika/Trynton/Mt. Gigas road is mostly a linear, woody path with the occasional small side area, with the section leading towards Mt. Gigas being the most linear of it. The road has an assortment of low-level enemies you can run into, though it's primarily plants, ants and bats you'll be meeting, with the occasional group of Higardi bandits to spice things up. Of course, those are the random encounters, Wizardry 8 also has a good number of set encounters which are the main threat when going "off-road." The random encounters will to some extent be levelled to match us(though they may still well kick our asses), but the set encounters will almost certainly be well above us in level and danger. Enter the Hogar.   He has no special tricks whatsoever except that he will gently caress you up by being a huge lump of HP and damage output. Hogars are normal spawns elsewhere, but this one is specifically placed here, probably as a "go to Arnika first, you fool"-barrier for new players.   This is what two rounds of combat against him looks like. He shakes off pretty much anything you can throw at him and kills one of your characters. Webbing him only lasts one round because he's strong enough to bust out of it, Sleep the same because we'll inevitably hit him. I settle in for the idea that maybe I'm going to have to try and run past him, or simply give up and go to Arnika, and proceed to bounce off him multiple times(and every single time he targets Aurora first, what a dick).  Take two at the fight doesn't start off much better. Once again Aurora gets flattened by the big boy right out of the gate.  Lady and Chewbecka are the only party members that can survive a round of attacks from him, though that still messes them up real good. Then this happens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jSQTwhUtS8 The slow-motion replay is that Chewbecka sets off one of the rarer Samurai abilities, a LIGHTNING STRIKE where she hits four times in one action with her weapon, and one of them is a critical hit that instantly gibs the Hogar. It leaves behind a tusk, and a shitload of XP. The tusk is an item for the... pseudo-crafting system that we'll get introduced to once we find the right merchants(some of them will essentially take certain items in trade for giving you a unique item back, stating that they're going to hammer, say, some crab shells and a small mirror into a suit of unparallelled plate mail).  Did I mention characters also have voice samples for being resurrected? The amount of voice work is mental.  A quick overview of the area as explored so far. You may notice a small gap in the cliffs off to our right...   It hides a small side cave. I rather like how caves look in Wizardry in general, they all have a sort of curving, organic nature to them which makes them mildly unsettling and makes you worry that at any moment you could slide down them and get stuck somewhere.   The only really interesting thing about it is that it holds a new type of enemy, the Forest Mites, which look like walking nutsacks with fangs. Awful things, usually come in big swarms and their main thing is just overwhelming you with a bunch of small attacks and being in large enough numbers to surround your party and have a go at your back line. I flatten them in short order and get back on the road which ends just around the corner.    The Northern Wilderness is very unlike the Roads. While it's bounded on all sides by cliffs and rivers, it has effectively no obstructions anywhere in the entire central area preventing you from going where you want. There are roads that'll direct you(though it's smarter to stay off the roads, because the high ground to the sides makes it harder for enemies to surprise you), and a few caves at the south, and a small structure or two, but it's mostly just open area to explore as you please... Assuming, of course, you can handle the locals. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2Pt30u8sts This is also the theme that plays there. I promptly get owned by the first encounter I run into, while checking the southern bounds for caves.    Sorceresses are uncommon enemies that rarely show up on their own, usually leading packs of other creatures. In my experience they tend to mostly roll with mental, water and air magic and have a tendency to, much like the player would, lead with party-wide debilitating spells like Terror. The Piercer Modais, on the other hand, are Hogar-like big blobs of HP and punchy attacks. So this is a nasty combo the game's coughed up.  The sorceress leads by terrifying the party and pelting them with ranged attacks while the modais get stabby, and it just ends poorly with me getting worn down faster than I can wear the enemy down, even after I snipe out the sorceress. One reload later and I try out the northern side instead.    While doing so I come across one of the set encounters for the Northern Wilderness, a group of high-level Higardi Bandits camping at a small ruin.   Tons of HP, about as many of them as there are of the party. I make the wise decision to save and engage after circling around to a better angle of attack.   It does not go well.   After bouncing off them a couple of times, I decide to bypass them, which is easily done as they're not even a patrolling encounter, just a static one, and head onwards to where I really want to go.    This out-of-place looking steel bridge is the inviting entrance to the northern map exit of the Northern Wilderness(we entered from the South and there's also an exit to the East).   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROVsClAanrI Predictably, the Umpani Base Camp has a shitload of Umpani hanging around. They tend to patrol in large squads with an officer leading a group of privates and they are uniformly non-mages, though they tend to wield muskets or pistols that give them a ranged option and besides that just hit for assloads of damage with their swords.  The generic Umpani are curt but polite, though, and don't want to talk to us. So let's go hassle a named NPC.  Also of note you can steal the Umpani flag to resolve a T'rang quest later if you're an idiot, as I believe lowering the flag off the flagpole and stealing it aggros the entire base. Why this is idiotic will be revealed shortly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8h84tlnkWQ Private Panrack is a good fellow and waves us through after a brief chat.   The Base Camp is really just two large sheds in front of Mt. Gigas, most of the Umpani operations are inside the mountain itself. Still, let's go hassle the locals.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr6KalqQqAU Some Umpani won't give us the time of day if we don't sign up, though. Saxx is actually a recruitable NPC, or an "RPC" a decently skilled bard. Most RPC's, being made out of the same building blocks as PC's, are useful, so generally the main way of assessing their usefulness is how cowardly they are. See, most RPC's(with one notable exception) have areas they won't enter, usually on the grounds of their being scary. The only options you then have are either to let them leave(most will return to their recruitment area, though the one exception to the earlier rule will just stay where it is)... or to make sure they can't complain. If you get them killed or knocked out(sprint back and forth a lot until they pass out from exhaustion) you can haul them in and revive them, at which point they ceaselessly bitch(and get a 25-point malus to all skills) until they're back somewhere they feel safe again. Though once you've settled on a certain pair of RPC's, you may as well do that so they can at least get XP and help carry loot, rather than having to haul your rear end back to pick them up again. Saxx will complain about going to most late-game areas, but for now he would be useful muscle. Now let's see what's in the other half of the building.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ggRNYiJV34 Sgt. Kunar is kind of a dick. But he does at least sell replica Umpani flags so you can just get one for your T'rang quest that way. He's also a T'rang agent. If you try to play both sides, you need to silence him before he rats you out to his handlers, thus locking that option away permanently. For now, though, he's not a threat, just an annoyance, but your first action on signing up with the Umpani should be to buy everything you can and then murder him.  Maybe the folks on the other side of the road will be more friendly.     Large groups of patrolling Umpani will regular enter and leave the barracks. The only threat they pose to us, as we're currently unaligned, is that they can cause a very annoying traffic jam. It's not possible to shove peaceful creatures out of the way, best you can do is try to squeeze past them. That Trynnie in the middle, though, is Private Sparkle. An RPC we can actually recruit without joining the Umpani first. Unfortunately she'll cry about going to even more places than Saxx would, but there's no cost to recruiting her at all. She also has a decent bit of dialogue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09lJtEP2LvY  Okay with that conversation done lemme just squeeze past the bulky lads and...  Into the barracks. Every single locker in those sections of 3 has loot in them, every single footlocker has loot in it. We're going on a picking spree.  The lockers tend to be locked, and the footlockers trapped, and Stony, for the first time ever, manages to actually get the party perforated with poison darts and flung knives a couple of times. He also levels up his lockpicking/trapfuckling skill multiple times, so that's good.  One of the lockers also has a spicy surprise in it. Guess the Umpani like their women thicc.  I don't think I've ever triggered an Alarm trap before. It doesn't piss off any of the currently-friendly locals, but if I remember right, if there are any hostiles around, they instantly zoom towards your location, rather than the trap spawning any.  Mostly the haul is gold, potions and greaves for everyone, upgrading their pants situation for higher AC. It's a small boost for most of them, but every little thing counts.      The other side of the building has a bunch of military intelligence and propaganda scattered around, as well as Balbrak, the local recruiter.   He's chill about a polite no, but won't really talk to us besides that unless we sign up.     And Sergeant Balbrak is the last Umpani NPC we can meet here without breaking in or allying with the Umpani. Obviously there will be a couple of votes coming up at the end of the post. After having the camp tapped out for now, I go back to the Northern Wilderness to explore a bit more and get some levelling in.   Monsters don't really have formations as such, but if you don't close the range with ranged enemies right away, they'll usually set up a firing line like this to try and maximize how many of them can hit you at once. This can be beneficial because if you rush right into the center of it, monsters can hit each other. Ranged attacks use "real" projectiles which means that a miss on the intended target could hit something else. I know some people have used this for bugged purposes to kill NPC's without aggroing their faction or to kill very powerful friendly NPC's before you're technically able to, but there's really no need to make use of it.   A bit farther east I encounter an enemy I have literally not, in like a dozen playthroughs, ever met before! Umpani Renegades! They're unexceptional, they're really just big strong lads with swords.   I manage to defeat a small group of Piercer Modais despite Werdna backfiring a Terror spell on to the party, thankfully most of them shake it off before it fucks anything up. Goddammit Werdna.  Not having anyone to cast Stamina, by the end of the fight, half the party is literally passed out on any given combat turn, getting in one or two swings and then taking a nap.    Being a genius I do it before saving and right next to a lake regularly patrolled by family-size Emerald Slimes.  On the bright side one round of attacks wakes up everyone still napping, on the less bright side he's soon got almost everyone nauseous and missing the occasional action as a result(and also paralyzes Chewbecka and Lady a couple of times). What prevents the battle from going poorly is that all those attacks raining down on the slime zeroes out its Stamina and makes it fall asleep before it can kill anyone. It wakes up every second round, but it still results in a lot of missed attacks. It also gets a lot better when I think to put up Missile Shield which negates an unspecified percentage of ranged, non-spell attacks, I think somewhere between 50% and 75%, since most of what the slime attacks with is spitting. I also then realize that I could probably have taken the rogues from about an hour's gameplay ago with that spell since every second attack of theirs tends to be throwing knives rather than stabs, even in melee.  This is really just to get out east, I don't yet have the power to properly "clear" the area and raid all the small caches of stuff(or enter the zone's special dungeon), and show off what I have to put up with if I want to keep going off-road.    Fighting that thing is going to suck, but if that's what everyone ends up voting for, I'll do it. I end the expedition by looping back to the rogues for some revenge. Besides my epiphany about Missile Shield, I've gotten some level-ups off fighting enemies(the Emerald Slime was the single biggest chunk of XP we've gotten so far, for instance).   They still hit like trucks, but this time I actually kill one of them before they kill one of my own goons.    And soon they're whittled down to just the leader.  Who, of course, kills Werdna literally the round before going down, the absolute fucker.  Thankfully I get Werdna rezzed on the same turn the rogue leader goes down, so he doesn't miss out on any XP.  The only relevant drop is a big-rear end diamond. It can be sold for a decent amount of loot, but is also one of the pseudo-crafting items we care about.  Looks like a good place to take a nap until the next adventure. VOTES Allegiance Probably the biggest choice for any party in Wizardry 8 is who to ally with. We have five choices. #1: Ally with the Umpani, destroy the T'rang #2: Ally with the T'rang, destroy the Umpani #3: Ally with both the T'rang and the Umpani, reconcile them with each other #4: Ally with neither the T'rang or the Umpani, destroy both #5: Ally with neither the T'rang or the Umpani, ignore both My favourite option is #3, since it shows off the most content and I can easily show off the "faction kills" in short side videos/updates. And the only one I'd argue against is #5 since that misses out on a lot of content. Recruiting Who, if anyone, should we bring? Private Sparkle: We already have a Ranger, but one more could be useful, at least until we get a better RPC or reach somewhere she won't go. Saxx: We don't have a Bard, and while Saxx won't enter some end-game areas he will in fact enter the last end-game area with us. Not an option unless we join the Umpani, however. None: We'll wait for someone cooler. Recruits also have set starting levels. If we recruit someone "late," would people be okay with me editing up their XP so they can still play along and things don't become a huge pain to bring? Normally it wouldn't be an issue, but going around in the reverse order, it may get a bit fucky. Travel If we align with the Umpani they'll decide our next destination(into Mt. Gigas, which will likely consume an entire update). If we don't, however, we have two options: Turn back south and head towards Arnika or travel East and enter the Mountain Wilderness(if I can somehow manage to defeat that Marble Golem guarding the bridge)?
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Jul 22, 2020 18:05
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3, neither There's two better companions will go anywhere that you can pick up pretty early, IIRC.
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Jul 22, 2020 18:22
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3, both. There's little reason NOT to pick up these two now. You can always get rid of them later on when you come across better companions, and Saxx in particular will be handy to use all the bard instruments that the "real" party can't. There's a lot of useful stuff in there (including his own personal instrument, which I steal from him in games where I have a bard along).
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Jul 22, 2020 18:28
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Cythereal posted:3, neither I mean, yes, and those are who I usually bring. But I'm leaving these things open to votes because they'll make me do things I usually don't.  Besides, we're not tied to our current companions, we can leave them in a dumpster somewhere and tell them to suck eggs when we find a better recruit.
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Jul 22, 2020 18:31
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3, Saxx Saxx is a rhino that plays jazz, your arguments are invalid
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Jul 22, 2020 18:36
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Maybe it's because I grew up playing the old Bard's Tale games but no adventuring party is complete without a bard, especially if they can play smooth jazz. Oh might as well take the ranger along too even if we already have one. If nothing else they can be used as a meat shield. And yeah we should totally try to work with both the Umpani and T'Rang since it's both profitable and adds more content to go through. wafflemoose fucked around with this message at 23:05 on Jul 22, 2020 |
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Jul 22, 2020 19:02
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3. Is good for me And sparkles 
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Jul 22, 2020 19:03
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other reasons Saxx is good 1. he has a ~completely unique~ bard instrument attached to him and it's one of the best ones in the game (you can finagle it away from him for your own bard to use, but it takes some doing) 2. he is OK going to 2 late game areas that most RPCs aren't 3. there are sneaky teleporters into most of his no-go areas so by the time you reach the midgame you can easily get him anywhere you need to go if you know what you're doing 4. bards have a bunch of stat bonus gear that takes the edge off the penalty for hanging out in places he doesn't want to be
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Jul 22, 2020 19:13
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3, Both No reason not to fill the RPC slots for the time being, but be ready to dump them in favor of better/more interesting characters. Also, for where to go next, just head to Arnika. The place I really want you to go from the Northern Wilderness would definitely be impossible for the party right now. Also, on the topic of Sgt. Kunar (since you mentioned it), wasn't it also possible to find evidence that he's a double agent and rat him out to avoid him turning you in to the T'rang as well? Seems like a more elegant solution than directly murdering him. EclecticTastes fucked around with this message at 19:22 on Jul 22, 2020 |
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Jul 22, 2020 19:20
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Selecting Defend in combat will recover some stamina if you don’t get hit. Getting around beefy solos you can Sleep involves casting status effects while defending with the rest of the group. Sleep the hogar and you buy a few rounds to run past it, at which point your main danger is bumping into a second group of enemies and getting caught from behind by the one you are fleeing.
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Jul 22, 2020 19:27
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Combat XP is just divided between characters, so having RPCs along means you get 25% less XP. Quest XP is not, however, everyone gets full value no matter what the party size. Anyhow: do 3, grab Sparkles, delay doing Umpani stuff and go to Arnika. I'm all for cheating the RPC XP values to more freely switch between them, but bringing along that one character you're expected to bring along to most places is probably a good thing in an LP.
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Jul 22, 2020 19:35
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EclecticTastes posted:Also, on the topic of Sgt. Kunar (since you mentioned it), wasn't it also possible to find evidence that he's a double agent and rat him out to avoid him turning you in to the T'rang as well? Seems like a more elegant solution than directly murdering him. The problem with Kunar... Is that no one quite knows what his triggers are as far as I've been able to search up. People know that leaving him alive at some point after joining the Umpani will alert the T'rang. Some people think it's a time trigger, others a quest trigger, some that it's buying anything from the Commissary on credit slips you get for doing Umpani missions. But no one's quite sure. And the way to rat him out non-violently involves getting a password from the T'rang so he'll hand you the evidence you can pass on to Balbrak and get him busted, so we can't do that right away. There's a way to avoid Z'ant ever going hostile, though, even if Kunar rats you out, though it's somewhat silly.
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Jul 22, 2020 19:47
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3 and for now Saxx. Rhinoceros Bard is an MTG creature type and a half, and worth using at least in the short term.
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Jul 22, 2020 20:32
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3 and both. I don't see any reason not to fill up your slots. Also Sparkles is too precious for this crab-infested shithole and you need to keep her close at all times
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Jul 22, 2020 20:45
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3 and Sparkles I can't resist someone named Sparkles.
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Jul 22, 2020 21:27
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3, both. All the things!
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Jul 22, 2020 22:17
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3 and both! Why not?
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Jul 22, 2020 22:39
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3 and both. A few extra bodies never hurt and RPC's can be easily ditched if needed.
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Jul 22, 2020 23:08
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The votes seem pretty conclusive, but you never know, there could be a sudden surge of folks who want to see everything burn. Unrelated, a lot of RPG LP's tend to have spell overview posts, listing the various types of wizardry you can get up to and talking a bit about their various applications. Is this anything that would interest people? Or are you all just here for the great voice acting and to watch me cry when I try to beat a monster well above a level for half an hour in a row?
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Jul 22, 2020 23:22
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PurpleXVI posted:The votes seem pretty conclusive, but you never know, there could be a sudden surge of folks who want to see everything burn. I've played Wiz8 but I also do not remember most of the spells and it'd be neat to know what the party's working with since I've also forgotten which spells are on which lists.
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Jul 22, 2020 23:38
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I'm an absolutely sucker for spell overview posts. Hell, sometimes I just like to go to the Etrian Odyssey lps in the archives and just kinda...read the class overview posts.
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Jul 22, 2020 23:44
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I have played 0 wizardry games and you're making me want to change that. Tell me more things. Tell me ALL things...
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Jul 23, 2020 02:03
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Spell overviews would be great. They really help me get a feel for a game.
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Jul 23, 2020 03:00
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3 and eh, whatever.
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Jul 23, 2020 03:05
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3. If the temporary companions don't suck up experience, then there's no reason not to bring them along.
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Jul 23, 2020 09:19
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Yes, please tell us about magical nerdery
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Jul 23, 2020 09:48
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Part 003.5: Fire and Water It took me a bit to decide how to organize the spell list, since it's essentially organized in three ways: by spell school(wizardry, divinity, psionics, alchemy or a combination), element(fire, air, earth, water, mental or divine) and level. Ultimately I decided that element was the only way there'd be some logic to the organization and no crossover between the lists. Spells are learned in two ways. Either from spellbooks, if the caster has high enough skill levels, or from level-ups. All casters get to learn one spell per level, and they unlock new "levels" of spells every time the relevant elemental spell skills gets high enough. The "school" skills also contribute, but only at a 10:1 ratio, so they're less relevant. Especially for the Bishop. It should also be rapidly obvious that some caster types are very under-represented in certain elements, or have huge gaps from spell to spell. I believe the point of this is to encourage cross-classing so you start out as, say, a Mage to get an early start on Fire Magic and then swap over to a Psionicist so you actually have the Fire skills necessary to cast their big Fire spells. Fire and Water magic have few "weird" spells, mostly just Big Damage of various kinds. One thing of note is also that all condition spells' durations scale by Effect Level(the thing I mentioned in the first game post where you could cast spells at a higher level at a risk of backfiring) and all damage spells' damage done by effect level. However! While higher-level spells usually have a greater damage ceiling per level(for instance Dehydrate is like 2 to 38 per level), they often have almost the same damage floor as lower level spells(generally the lower bound of each effect level varies between 1 and 3, at most). So this means that a high-effect low-level spell is a "safer" cast than a low-effect high-level spell(which you usually lack the magic skills to jack up to their maximum power). In practice this tends to mean that you won't really cast the highest-level spells as much as you might expect. Fire Energy Blast (Level 1, Wizardry, Single Target) The workhorse combat spell for early game Wizards. It does respectable damage, but rapidly becomes outclassed by better spells that can hit more enemies at once or inflict status effects. Against single large enemies, it does remain a good option because it can be cast at bigger effect levels than higher-level spells without risking fizzling or backfire. Light (Level 1, Divinity, Wizardry, Alchemy, Party Buff) Light doesn't mechanically do anything other than light the area up. Most items you can interact with, i.e. pick up, are 3D objects which stick out like a sore thumb in any case, and most parts of the game are also generally well-lit anyway. However, it's extremely cheap to cast and Light casts still count towards levelling up your Fire magic and relevant magic school, so you should actually always be casting this worthless spell. It's also worth noting that Light is the only level 1 Fire spell for Alchemists and Clerics, so it's their only way to passively level Fire. Blinding Flash (Level 2, Alchemy, Radial AoE) Blinding is both a great and an awful status effect. Enemies affected by it take 2x damage from melee hits and can fail their combat actions, or will often miss with those they do take, and they can't bust out of it with high strength like being Webbed. Unfortunately it also tends to make enemies run away, which can sometimes be good(scattering enemy melee formations) and sometimes be bad(making that enemy you almost had whittled down run behind cover). The Radial AoE also means it can be great for hitting all enemies in combat if they've got you surrounded. Unfortunately, as you have no Energy Blast spell to train your Alchemists with Fire on, you're unlikely to have an Alchemist well-set to cast this unless you're rolling with a Bishop. Fireball (Level 3, Wizardry, Radial AoE) Doing slightly more damage per effect level than Energy Blast, it's almost ALWAYS a better option for casting unless you're dealing with fire resistant enemies. The game also has no friendly fire at all, so feel free to cast it right in front of you to hit every enemy currently stuck in melee. It's one of the reasons your Mage is likely to start off going Fire heavy before anything else. Hypnotic Lure (Level 3, Psionic, Radial AoE) This is an odd one. It places a beacon that will attract enemies towards it. I've never used it much myself because I've had mixed results from it, but it could be useful for bunching enemies together for cone-blast spells or simply for drawing them out of cover or out of melee with the party. Note, though, that level 3 is the first level Psionics get access to Fire spells at all, so you're unlikely to be using these spells much except via a Bishop or after considerable level-up investment. Or possibly a cross-classed mage of another type flipping into Monk or Psionicist Psionic Fire (Level 3, Psionic, Cone AoE) Slightly more damaging than Fireball in exchange for having a worse AoE type. Psionics don't really have another option, though, and in some cramped areas like tunnels and hallways, it may be able to hit everyone anyway. My Bishops never made great use of it. Fire Bomb (Level 4, Alchemy, Radial AoE) Straight up just an upgraded Fireball that does more damage. Haste (Level 4, Psionic, Party Buff) This one is GREAT. It provides a huge buff to speed even at low levels(+10 per effect level), which means attacking and casting faster(always great) and for physical combatants possibly getting more attacks per round. It's an all-round force multiplier. Unfortunately it can't be prepared outside of combat, so it should be the first think your Monk/Psionic casts on combat starting up. Ring of Fire (Level 4, Alchemy, Self AoE) This is a weird one. It does less damage than any previous fire-damage spells, at a higher cost, but to all enemies within Extended Range so on all sides of the party but pressed up against it. The problem is that a Fire Bomb or a Fireball centered on the party would hit those enemies, too, do more damage and do it cheaper. It does continue doing this damage for multiple rounds, so if it's an early cast, it may pay off over time, but I'd probably rather be casting Fire Bombs. Boiling Blood (Level 6, Alchemy, Single Target) This does absolutely massive damage to a single target. For comparison, Fire Bomb does 2 to 10 points of damage per effect level, while Boiling Blood does 2 to 38. This does make it a bit swingy in effect, unfortunately, but if it lands a kill, the target will explode damaging nearby enemies. Usually I'd say that an Alchemist would have better things to do, especially as there's a Gadgeteer item that replicates this spell. Firestorm (Level 6, Wizardry, Radial AoE) It's like a Fireball except it keeps doing the damage every round. One of those spells that pays off in a long battle but for shorter encounters you're better off just casting a couple of Fire Bombs or the like instead. Lightning (Level 6, Divine, Cone AoE) This one really kicks rear end, with twice the potential damage of a fireball. Unfortunately it's also the first Divine fire spell since level 1, so having the necessary skill to learn it, cast it effectively and really leverage it is doubtful for non-Bishop, non-crossclassed characters. Prismic Ray (Level 6, Psionic, Cone AoE) Ah, yes, gacha, except as a spell, complete with the high cost and high odds of disappointment. It can theoretically inflict any condition on the enemies hit, so you might get really lucky and, say, Turncoat half your enemies into fighting for you, or turn them Insane. But if you want to do that, you could just cast Insanity and be assured of not getting, say, Sleep, and since you could cast Insanity at a higher level, also be assured of a worthwhile duration on it. Nuclear Blast (Level 7, Wizardry, All Enemies) It doesn't do an awful lot of extra damage, but there are some insanely large fights later in the game where All Enemies vs Radial AoE can actually make the difference between hitting a shitload of enemies. So it has a niche, albeit a rare one, specially as the positioning necessary not to be right in the middle of a huge mob of enemies, but instead having them come at you down a hallway or other narrow area is a gameplay fundamental anyway. Prismic Chaos (Level 7, Psionic, All Enemies) The target-all version of Prismic Ray which makes it considerably more useful for, as mentioned, those few late-game battles where it's you against the world in a big open area and you can't ruse the AI into coming at you single file. Level 7 spells do in general suffer a bit from the issue, though, that without intentionally doing some levelling, you'll likely finish the game before you've really got the level and skill ratings necessary to wholly leverage them. Water Acid Splash (Level 1, Alchemy, Single Target) Just the Water version of Energy Blast. Frost (Level 1, Wizardry, Single Target) Just the Wizardry version of Acid Splash. Paralyze (Level 1, Divinity, Psionic, Single Target) Paralyze is probably the single best condition you can land on an enemy since it has no get-out-of-death-free like Web or Asleep do, and doesn't make enemies run away like Afraid or Blinded. A single target going down quicker and being able to ladle on more hurt can sometimes be what turns a fight around. Stamina (Level 1, Divinity, Alchemy, Single Ally) Restores a huge pool of Stamina. Great for keeping fighters on their feet in long fights, or for recharging Bards and Gadgeteers when they really go hog wild with the instruments and gadgets. Cure Lesser Condition (Level 2, Divinity, Alchemy, Psionic, Single Ally) Reduces/cures fear, sleep, blindness, nausea, or irritation. Being able to cure Blindness is really the big use case for CLC since you're usually better off just toughing out the other conditions and keeping your caster on the offense. Dracon Breath (Level 2, Alchemy, Cone AoE) It copies the Dracon's native breath attack, which remains disappointing past level 1. It does some undocumented level of DoT damage that doesn't scale with spell level. I've literally never cast this. Holy Water (Level 2, Divinity, Radial AoE) This spell is necessary, in my mind, for getting anywhere if you want to tackle certain areas of the game early, or for certain later areas where you can't cast Fire spells. It's a level lower than Fireball, but slightly cheaper to cast and does the same amount of damage, though only to demons and the undead. Slow (Level 2, Psionics, Group AoE) Like any Group AoE spell, the effectiveness is determined by how generous the game is with grouping enemies. It's the inverse of Haste, no real surprise there, and does its best work when the two are combined so enemies are slower and you're faster, giving you a massive initiative advantage and making enemies easier to hit. Cure Paralysis (Level 3, Divinity, Alchemy, Single Ally) The only way to cure Paralysis except for waiting it out. I'd say this spell is a necessity for beating certain fights without taking casualties. Freeze Flesh (Level 3, Wizardry, Group AoE) Oh man THIS SPELL. It's Paralysis except Group AoE and it's so good so good so good. It's the sort of spell that singlehandedly turns battles around if you manage to stick it, letting you chunk piles of enemies unopposed. Rest All (Level 3, Divinity, Party Buff) It's Stamina except it recovers everyone's Stamina. Again, one of those unexciting spells that's nonetheless a necessary workhorse for longer battles, unless you want to load everyone up with Stamina potions AKA meth in a bottle and have them waste turns chugging it that they could instead be using to hew enemy combatants in half. Acid Bomb (Level 4, Alchemy, Radial AoE) Another damage-over-time effect. For certain areas where enemies are water-vulnerable, it can be decent to use, but by that point in the game you're usually better off focusing on status effects than raw damage from your casters in any case. Cure Disease (Level 4, Divinity, Alchemy, Single Ally) Another one of those cure-a-condition effect. Frees you from reliance on Cure Disease potions, which is a godsend. There aren't a lot of disease-causing enemies in the game, but the potential permanent statloss from it is still a butt-clencher when it shows up. Iceball (Level 4, Wizardry, Radial AoE) Blue Fireball. Superman (Level 4, Divinity, Single Ally) This one buffs all stats by 5 points per level, thus capping out at +35 to all stats, which as mentioned go on a scale from 0 to 100. Not very big for mages, but for your physical combatants, it can be extremely worthwhile. I'm not sure if it also effects your chance of getting skill-ups, however, if it does it might certainly be useful to cast on everyone in a fight. Gadgeteers can replicate this one with one of their items, so I rarely ever cast it with an actual mage of any sort. Dehydrate (Level 5, Wizardry, Single Target) The Water version of Boiling Blood without the corpse explosion. Still has the insanely high damage, though, so if you've got a boss where it's the only option, it can be worth a cast. Freeze All (Level 5, Wizardry, All Enemies) Absolutely the best spell in the game. Target-all Paralysis. This should be your primary spell for all Wizardry-capable casters as soon as you've learned it. Blizzard (Level 6, Wizardry, Cone AoE) Pelts your enemies with disappointing games if cast after the year 2000. Okay I kid, it really just does decent cone damage and has a chance to blind enemies. Just cast Freeze All instead and beat the enemies to meaty chunks with your melee combatants. Tsunami (Level 7, Alchemy, Cone AoE) The potentially most powerful damage-dealing spell in the game that affects more than one target. Since it's one of the Gadget-replicable spells, I never bothered to learn it in any game of Wizardry I ever played.
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Jul 23, 2020 14:42
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There's also a gadget for Hypnotic Lure. I've used it a few times, it's handy for distracting multiple groups of ranged attackers for a few turns.
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Jul 23, 2020 16:30
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Hypnotic Lure is weird, it's theoretically very good but it seems to work very inconsistently. I think there might be some kind of mechanic where you can't really reapply it once enemies have overcome/ignored it? I don't know, I don't like psionics very much and bishops have better uses for fire MP so I don't have a lot of chances to use it.
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Jul 23, 2020 16:50
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IIRC you can also use it out of combat so you can use it to essentially scout around corners. It's certainly not a very good spell (and it's not a gadget I keep in my very limited personal inventory space long-term), but it's got niche uses.
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Jul 23, 2020 17:45
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*Sigh* Got to Trynton and now a wandering monster encounter of 3 Willow Elders and a Wood Spirit (4 levels higher than most of my party) have spawned where I can't get round them, and they are annhiliating my party with contemptuous ease with spammed elemental attacks and I've no idea how to deal with them. Thanks RNG!
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Jul 23, 2020 21:27
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Buffs. There's a buff spell that greatly increases your elemental resistances that should take the bite out of their spells. You can also leave the zone and rest for several days straight (I forget the exact number) to reset the encounters.
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Jul 23, 2020 21:33
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I found the best solution to be very carefully seeking out and completing as much quest content as I could in each area, to make sure my team was at the highest possible level, and had the best gear they could. Even so, I recall Trynton being pretty rough at first. Once you've cleared some encounters and gained a couple levels, it'll get much easier.
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Jul 23, 2020 21:39
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Trynton kinda sucks and my preferred route is usually to save most of it for later while I run around racking up other early game quests.
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Jul 23, 2020 22:08
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