Can we just stop and appreciate that there are a whopping 36 unique character voices to give your party? And not even for short, repetitive quips; each will at times get full paragraphs of dialogue commenting on their quest, NPCs, or their surroundings. It's a really nice touch that does not go unappreciated. Couple this with the incredibly memorable NPCs and RPCs, and it's just another thing to love about this gem of a game!
You know, talking about the voice acting and style in this game reminded me of another Sir-Tech Canada classic: Jagged Alliance 2. That also had a ridiculous amount of voice acting and had some really silly/superb, mega-over-the-top caricatures! "If you're looking for someone to protect your interests, I'm the one. I have excellent credentials" actually sounds like a line straight out of JA2.
Right! I can easily write full-on backstories and characters in with a lot of these voices. The parts are there and the way you can mix-and-match them based on things like race and class is amazing. Honestly don’t know how more games don’t do this. You get the best of having established characters with their own personalities and also get to create your character. Like there’s character skeletons there and it’s your job to interpret what kind of character you want to see they are.
@@battlemode Fun fact: The voice-acting for both Jagged Alliance 2 and Wizardry 8 were done at the same time to save both time and money. If you listen closely you can actually make out some of the voices in the other game.
I used to hate this style of early 3D cardboard graphics back in the day when they were all the rage, but I gotta say they kinda grew on me over the years. I missed Wiz8 when it came out and I'm 10 hours in on my first playthrough and I seriously find it a joy to look at. While it lacks the richness and artistry of Wiz7's lovely pixel art I really enjoy the fact that with a little bit of fiddling I can play it in crisp, widescreen 1080p. The fact that everything is so blocky and simplistic makes my mind switch to perceiving it all in a more symbolic way, like in the even earlier Wizardry games when all you had was wireframes and ugly blobs of pixels. Sure, it's nice to look at all the pretty blades of grass in Witcher 3, but there's just something so welcoming about the clarity of the graphics in this. I immedietaly know EXACTLY where everything is, I can count the monsters, I can tell where ground ends and wall begins, it's just clear and streamlined with nothing distracting me from the gameplay. Puts me in a bit of a meditative state. Could definitely use less brown and puke green though, like so many games of the era... Thank you for this video, I'm really glad i gave the game a chance, having a blast so far :)
"You have to create 6 characters." I agree, creating a party is fantastic, and 6 is a great amount for it. In fact, my biggest complaint of Might and Magic 6 is that it only has four characters. Like, 4 characters means you need a fighter, a utility, a defensive caster, and an offensive caster. You get 6 characters, you get a lot more freedom.
Eh, it applies more to MM7 and MM8 than to MM6. In the latter, every character can master disarming traps, a druid can master body magic (for healing), and a sorcerer can master light and dark magic (for buffs). Also, melee combat can be quite dangerous considering some monsters can kill you instantly or break your equipment. Personally, I find the game the easiest with a party of two druids and two sorcerers bombarding enemies with implosion (or lightning bolts if they're immune to physical damage).
You can play Might and Magic 6 as a single Knight with three dead bodies. You'll just have to hire NPCs for the ability to Fly or heal... etc. Use NPCs. The game kind of misleads you into building a versatile party that doesn't excel in any way. I either go full aggro with 3 Knights and a Druid or full magic with 4 sorcerers. Knights can learn all of the miscellaneous skills in MM6. Water Magic is OP, you can just teleport to the temple for a full heal and teleport back. I don't know what I would do with 6 characters... I would get like 5 Knights and a Druid? Or 6 sorcerers?
Thank you for the video, Michael. It brought back very pleasant memories. 2001 was indeed a very fruitful year for role-playing games: Wizardry 8, Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Baal, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, Final Fantasy X, Arcanum, Shadow Hearts, Anachronox, Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter, etc. I can't believe it's already been 17 years! Time flies...
Halo was also released in 2001. Those games mark the end of an era, the pinnacle of gaming imo (all of those games not halo in particular) those were the days man, great times!
The most replayable game I've ever run into. Even the nth time through, there's the tension as you play - because every now and then you get careless and you rediscover that you can still meet your Little Big Horn no matter how many tricks you've learned... and also you get to be mighty caring and solicitous of your latest brood of chicks you're nursemaiding toward Arnika. You know all of their names, and you watch out for them.
I'm 40 years old and have been playing games since I was 6 starting on Atari, mostly rpgs and strategy. Wizardry 8 is in a handful of best I've ever played, and the best 'old school' rpg (create a party). It's a masterpiece and addictive as hell. Well worth playing now if you haven't before, it puts recent games to shame.
Definitely,sad most younger people prefer something trending or popular within their circles just because certain thing didn't passed their bar of popularity
Born 1984 and played many of the RPGs. I grow up with Dungeon Master, Might and Magic, Eye of the Beholder and Black Crypt on my Amiga 2000. I loved the Wizardry 7 game and also loved its last breath Wizardry 8 :( Sad that these style of RPGs is over. Skullkeep was also very nice to play. Legend of Grimrock looked good as a dungeon crawler. The Wizardry games had a good story compared to other games. Many Races and its unique "you have to decide" between umpani and t'rang.
Actually, one of the developers of original Might and Magic series - Tim Lang works on a game that could in theory interest you... www.dungeonbyte.com/aeolwyn-s-legacy
This is my absolute favorite RPG as well. I have played through the game many times, played with only 2 characters, 3 characters (my favorite), all mages, all warriors (never learning any magic) and so on. It is so much fun. Tried with a solo character, but I always get destroyed. I'm glad I'm not the only one who's greatly enjoyed this game!
I have soloed this game with a Dwarf Monk (great phys resistance dwarf+monk; max Stealth in the 1st dungeon and up Crit as much as you can stand) >> Alch >> Priest >> Mage >> Bishop (many levels) >> ends as a Fighter (armor, many weapons, huge stamina regen and Berserk). Normal difficulty, non-iron man (i'm not that crazy).
I cannot get into this game, because a new fight starts every 15 meters, wherever I try to go. Even inside a city. Just let me explore the world goddammit!
I wonder if there's a trainer out there that would let the player adjust the frequency of random battles? That does sound like an annoying random encounter system!
My method for getting characters where they dont want to go was simple: Load them up with stuff until they drain stamina faster then anyone else. Run around till they fall unconscious... then change area. I figured this out on my own the first time I played this game and I just love that they included those workarounds.
Btw sorry that you didnt like the Aestethics of the game. To be fair, When I first got it at release, I was a bit dissapointed, too. It seemed to follow this new "3D"-fad without having the resources or team to truly make use of these new systems. It was actually a bit outdated, when it was released. I mean, it came out the same year as games like Max Payne, GTA3, Halo:CE or Return to Castle Wolfenstein. BUT: Funnily enough, after all those years and having replayed it probably more then any other game, that dissapointment faded. Today I see it just as more retro graphics and I always loved the atmosphere. I´m sorry you didn´t feel that, maybe because you compared it to Wiz7 directly. For me, there were 10 years between those games and I never finished 7, because it was just too clunky for me. Though I did like playing 6 and 7 a lot, just restarting both. Dunno. Maybe I was too young back then. Finished 6 though, years later. Still a great game though even more clunky. Just has that nostalgia factor for me, though. Anyway, I loved the atmosphere and emptiness in 8. I agree on most of all other points with you, but not on this. It felt empty and ominous enough for me, and still does. And I dont hate the level scaling. I feel that while maybe you meet harder enemies, your characters get just the right amount of more powerful, too. They dont scale linearly, meaning, you get a much wider toolset the further the game progresses. So even if you meet stronger versions of early enemies, now you can freeze them, put them to sleep or blind them, where formerly you could only maybe slow them a little. So you get too feel more powerful, in my opinion, but without making those early areas trivial.
You can also go in without them, set a teleport point, then get the character and teleport in. Thing is they whinge constantly and their stats drops heavily.
It's kind of weird to say that the class system is "the best you have ever seen", and then quickly describe how some classes are "vastly overpowered". Anyone can make up a million classes with different abilities, the tricky part is in balancing them, otherwise it's just nonsense noise. Same with the races, having a zillion generic fantasy races plus dogpeople, catpeople etc. -people is hardly imaginative.
I had played through this game multiple times in the past and I’ve always thought its brilliant. Bought it again on Steam several weeks ago and been playing it almost non stop since. Absolutely my favourite cRPG ever.
I spent probably 40 hours into Wizardry 8, the year that it came out. I was a very happy with the graphics at the time. Sorry I don't get why you say they underwhelming at the time. In the soundtrack is still one of my favorites to date
Agree about the graphics. Objectively they were certainly competitive with other RPGs of the day. The design is more subjective. That said, I agree that many games that made the move to 3d lost something in translation. "It would be a few years before we got something like Mass Effect or Fallout." Understatement much? It would be the better part of a decade (7 years) and multiple applications of Moore's Law between.
Arnika Rd is one of the most difficult (depending on the Level) (Heading to Umpani) yet that's what those tight crevices in the rock comes in handy, only one can come at you at a time and one can fight of waves after waves, great for increasing Exp Points.
I love Wizardry 8's music. Sure, it gets a bit repetitive, but it does a good job of conveying the various settings. Trynton's theme is very mystical, the IUF theme is appropriately militant, and the Cosmic Circle's music is fitting for a place where gods dwell.
W8's gfx look good for its era, especially when compared to Deus Ex. W8 looks way better. I think he's mainly harping about the artstyle, of which I can agree that W7 looked way more sinister & dark. W8 has more of a campy Sci-Fi Kirk-era Star Trek aestehtic to it which matches the voice acting.
I was born in 1977 and I played all the Wizardry games quite a bit as I grew up and this was the only one I ever actually won. I still remember that moment of complete disbelief. I had no idea it was actually possible to do that.
I really respect you for covering this series. A major reason people don't cover it is because these games are too long and obscure. But they are really important RPGs and need to be discussed.
Ultra important to cast pre buffs BEFORE you run into monster groups that give status effects like blind, poison, paralyze etc. Most buffs run for minutes or hours so it is very doable.
Actually, it looks really good. It's a taste thing. I, for one, love the late 90's to early 2000's aesthetics in graphics. Wizardry 8 is clean looking and colorful.
I agree. The graphics do their job, and do it fine. It’s not ungodly ugly or anything like that. I can’t mistake one enemy for another, the towns all are unique in design, and the environments are distinct. The obsession some folks have today with graphical perfection is absurd and it hurts games in the process, look at the Elder Scrolls games, Daggerfall and Morrowind both looked fine and were fun to play, but oblivion and Skyrim both lost out because the devs put more focus on a good looking game than on the mechanics or story.
My man! This is one of the best, most in-depth reviews I've ever seen. Please keep producing content because this is incredible. I love this game and you're the first person to articulate how awesome this game is so amazingly well. 🤓
I recently started playing Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land on PS2 and love it. Have you tried that one? I plan to try Wiz 8 on Steam next. Great video. I always enjoy historical commentary on classic games.
Wizardry 8 was so amazing. I bought it new in the store around the time it came out, I remember the gfx were really dated even when it was new but everything else about it won me over. Freakin' loved it so much
There actually ARE quite a few safe places, provided you haven't angered the native inhabitants. The Mook outpost in Arnika is safe once you get inside, as are some rooms in Arnika's temple. Most of the offices in Mount Gigas and the main room with Z'Ant in Marten's Bluff is safe, as is the inside of Crock's shop in the swamp, Fuzzfas' shop in Trynton, He'li's bar in Arnika (the one room you can clear out notwithstanding), and a safe space in a Trynton temple you can set up by burning some incense on the floating braziers. There's also a teleporter room in Marten's Bluff which is perfectly safe if you haven't angered the T'rang. Not to mention most of the Rapax Castle is safe once you become a templar, provided you don't anger them later... which you probably will in order to advance the story. There are many other safe rooms as well, but these are just a few.
This game is one of my all time favorites. 100% agree with the internal roleplay. Playing games like these helps me with the creative process when writing short stories.
to prevent many spells and status effects I usually had two things active - one was this long lasting spell that granted improved armor and such, and other was magic screen, which was a spell much improving any magic resists :) walking around without those, especially in that dark forest with those evil unicorns (those give me nightmares till this day lol) who could do turncoat stuff, was usually a bad idea :)))
Thanks for making this, your passion really comes through. This brings back great memories of slowly blundering through this game where everything, including towns, is hostile... in college years on a constantly overheating laptop. Drove me crazy, but in a good way that's impossible to put down.
I played Wizardry1 on an Apple IIe when it was the only game in town. My favorite of all these are Bard's Tale 1-3, which had an expanded world, great narrative and the first buffs. Might and Magic was also great but considerably more difficult.
Somehow I never caught on to the fact that the leads of Jagged Alliance also made this entry in Wizardry, which bumps it to the top of my list of old RPGs to check out. The influence of JA on this game is obvious with the approach to characterization and combat. Something Sir-Tech achieved with Wizardry that I think no other company from that era did, was to maintain high continuity of the production team between games, even with the huge gap between releases - this is a game made by people who playtested some of the earliest games, and know essentially as much about how they work, and what made them good, as any fan. It's hugely underappreciated in the game industry how important it is to keep teams together, because a lot of the knowledge on how to make a certain "type of game" is tacit - you learn by doing it over and over. You can hire a lot of people and make a bigger production very easily, but without that thread of knowing why things should be done one way or another, it's still baby's first game design, while with this game, the "8" in the title really means something substantial about how much thought and experience went into it.
This is a great tribute, and made for a really enjoyable viewing. I played the first three Wizardry games, then missed 4 and 5, then played 6 and missed 7. So yeah, I suppose I wasn't as dedicated a fan of the series as I should have been. But I've been championing Wizardry 8 ever since I first played it. Such a fantastic game! One thing that drove my then-roommate crazy was the vocal acknowledgements that your characters give when you click on them. I forget which PC voice it was, but the "Taken care of" order acknowledgement could apparently be heard from anywhere in our house, LOL.
Fantastic review, as glowing as this game deserves. You've inspired me to have another go at it. Years ago, I made it to the 2nd area but got weary of all the random battles on the way to... anywhere! You mention it in the video, along with a lot of other good and honest observations. I would definitely trust future reviews of yours.
Where is the magic in this game? All I see is fights fights fights. Where is the RPG? You can only role-play a slaughter machine, no matter what you choose. Where is the interesting content? Did I miss something? The world is bland, empty non-interactive, there is literally no writing or interesting NPC, so what is this? A combat simulator? Certainly not a role play game, as you can't play a role in this dull environment. I tried more than once to play this game, it didn't click with me. Tho, I appreciate your ambition and the amount of work that went into this video. 🎉
@12:40 - Ok, sir well played. The full Wookie Party with fitting OST made me laugh way harder than it should. Here, have a like and some virtual love for your effort!
i stumbled upon this video a few years back (was already a fan of sirtechs work on the jagged alliance series) and I really have to thank you for making such an excellent analysis of what makes this game so great. It sparked my interest enough to check it out and i can safely say its become one of my favorite RPG's of all time, up there with ultima 7 and the first two fallout games. Seeing how well baldurs gate 3 has done recently, along with the remake of the first wizardry, gives me hope we could see a remake of the entire dark savant trilogy one day. Im not a huge graphics snob in general, but i can just imagine how much a purely visual overhaul (barely touch gameplay, maybe just bring 6 and 7 more in line with 8 in terms of quality of life features) would benefit these games. I think people would be blown away by how in depth and fun the gameplay still is
Excellent video! I've always LOVED this game, and series. Glad to see the passion and enthusiasm for the Wizardy games. So many people gloss over them.
Ever since I bought this game at the early 2010 (I bought the disk set that was actually translated to Hebrew), I always find myself coming back into this game every so often. Once I found it on Steam, I immediately got it and started playing again. This is by far the best RPG I've ever played, and it always boggles me that non of my friends know of it. Shame it didn't stick
You got me inspired to play it again. Thanks. I'm now running with a human lord, mook ranger, hobbit ninja, hobbit samurai and two elf bishops, at hard-level... I have this thing where I try to reach Crock in the swamp without meeting any enemies, which usually works... then to find out the only good thing he had to sell was the ring pro magic, no books whatsoever (level 9)...
Marten's quest for knowledge closely mirrors that of Xorphitus, the wizard from Wizardry 6 who stole the Cosmic Forge to begin with. He wished for all knowledge, but the pen (that's what the forge is), twists its users' intent when used outside of the Cosmic Circle. As such, Xorphitus was split into a ghostly half without a body and a living half without a soul, as the nature of knowledge is divided between what is and what is not. Both Xorphitus' body and soul were mad, each possessing incomplete knowledge, knowing all things between the two separate halves. Marten's quest to gain all knowledge through the Destinae Dominus drove him mad, and while he isn't split in two, this division is alluded to when you meet him as a ghost, as his body and soul are similarly divided as Xorphitus' were.
Well, the Wizardry license is now owned by the Japanese who are still creating new games in the series... but most of them aren't translated to English, are more inspired by the original Wizardries than 6-8, and have anime artstyles, so... meh.
Dude this channel caters to so many of my tastes. You love twin peaks, D&D games and its lore (NWN is my all time fav game), Lovecraft is one of my favourite authors...definitely going to spend some time scouring your channel from top to bottom! ps your twin peaks character breakdown vids are wonderfully insightful.
Oh man, I almost forgot to link this fantastic Wizardry anime OVA from 1991: th-cam.com/video/kOTHNoODYmY/w-d-xo.html . I would imagine that most folks here have at least heard of it, but until yesterday I myself had not. It is really neat from the perspective of a Wizardry fan, but it's also a time capsule to a particularly beautiful style of 80s/early-90s anime.
The level scaling isn’t so bad when you consider the fact that you can bank level ups and cash them out later. Arnika road is SIGNIFICANTLY easier if you do this and make sure not to go past level 5
About the level scaling... yes it scales, but within limits, both lower and upper ones. For instance, going into the caves too early and you get totally slaughtered no matter how well you play, but going to the monastery after having past level 12 with a full party will be an absolute breeze. Some areas, like the Swamp, however scale almost from 0 to 40 (the max level of the ennemies)
I too would love to see cursed items make a return. The main reason why you never see anything that punishes the player anymore is because modern Rpgs are made as power fantasies where every NPC treats you like a god & every build you make is viable. Modern Rpgs are built around a Jack-of-all-trades mentality which is what makes them so shallow, coz you never need to pay attention to the ruleset, let alone read.
I cringed at my past comments lol. Basically I meant to say that if they wanted to create a new wizardy 9, it would be smart not to rely on their past customers too much- or at all really.. so please don't call it wizardy 9! Also that developement costs could be much lower if they went full on procedural generation like minecraft. The story would likely suffer a bit because of it though. Daggerfall is a great example indeed. Mature and gritty, the feel of both of those games is really similar too. Great fit I think, I would love to see something like it.
You peaked my interest! Might and Magic VI, VII and VIII are my favorite games ever. These games can be laborious or fun, depending on your playstyle. Most novices play in turn-based mode, cast spells and shoot arrows. You'll die often and dungeons will take forever that way. The secret to Might and Magic is: turn off running during combat. You'll strike twice as often. Knowing this, you can have a ball playing with 3 Knights and a Druid or Cleric. Just tank loads of damage and bludgeon everything. Play in real time. These games aren't too hard if you know how to hire NPCs (for flying, town portal etc...), use potions/magic/scrolls...
i started buying wizardry 8 because of this video not really like it at first but after replacing the combat music with extended version of anime and other games bgm i started falling in love with it, thanks for the recommendation man
In games where you create a whole party of characters, you create a whole party of empty characters without character, history, personality, charisma, who don't even interact with the world, characters, or each other. You can create whatever characters you want, of course, choose their race, class, stats, invent any story for them... it's interesting and great in its own way, but characters are empty.
I bought Wizardry 8 at Electronics Boutique shortly after it came out, as I had been eagerly awaiting it's release. Unfortunately, the discs had a critical installation issue that prevented me from ever playing it. I returned the game, but because Sir-Tech had gone out of business, it wasn't being offered for reorder. Which seemed appropriate as advertising had been minimal. It went from coming soon and on my radar to released and suddenly unavailable. In the end, I could only exchange it for store credit, and I opted for Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon by Red Storm - twice burned as I had to come out of pocket again to make up the difference in purchase price.
The era of PC gaming where devs weren't afraid to create games with extreme depth and variety, and players welcomed it. When it was perfectly okay if a game wasn't made for "everyone". Before "accessibility" and "streamlining" became law, and games became dumbed-down for the least common denominator.
Exzellent review, this was really worth to watch. Your DOS rpg reviews are really marvellous, keep on doing this work which is kind of a CRPG archeology.
At the time, which is what my comments are based on. This game looks great. I haven't seen a game that looked any better. And the music really sunk in, I still have the battle music in my head
Agree with you on this one, Mr. Snow - this has been one of my all-time favorites since it first came out. I finished it, and loved it. Shelved it for years, broke it out and did it all again, and it didn't feel old, so I did another replay, then another... Just love this game. I wish SirTech would come back and make a proper sequel to this, with vastly improved graphics and even more refinements to this fine formula.
Thank you for your in depth review of this amazing old school game. I remember buying it the day it hit the shelves and was very involved in the online player community. We didn't know much at first and I remember reloading more times than I can count. As I recall Linda and Ian Currie were unable to find a publisher so they ended up self publishing the game and I don't think they made any money at all. So Wiz 8 was purely a labor of love for the fans. They dropped by our forum a few times and were the kindest people and very proud of their work. I had played Wiz 6 and 7 and I remember being a bit disappointed with Wiz 8 at first, particularly with the ending. However a lot of this was my own bias since I was a huge D. W. Bradley fan and was upset that he wasn't involved with this game. However I eventually grew to appreciate it and looking back it is indeed a masterpiece. I played it over and over in the early days and then forgot about it for many years. I purchased it on GoG some years back but quit after a while so perhaps it is time to give it another go.
After 30 years, Wizardry 7 & 8 are still the best crpg's I have ever played. Still love Crusaders of the Dark Savant a little more than 8 but mostly because of the unfinished elements. I miss these types of games.
I wish the best/biggest/most versatile CRT monitors weren't so rare that they costed so much money nowadays. Many people only really think of pixel art games when they think of CRTs, but early 3D games look way better on them too. (I'm just so used to these big screens and have such limited space that I probably should just get a nice OLED monitor and use filters to mimic the look of older displays though)
57:00 ... You can also take NPCs anywhere if they are unconscious at the time. Give them all of the heaviest gear and run around in circles till their stamina drops to zero and they pass out.
This was my first Wizardry game. I remember seeing it on the shelf of Electronic Boutique, recognizing the name. I loved JRPGs so I asked the clerk if this one was any good. He exclaimed it was amazing and if I liked RPGs not to ship around any more, and get it, so I did. I played until the early hours of the next morning. While laying in bed unable to sleep I decided I wanted to do my party differently now knowing a bit more about the game, so I went back to the computer, and later woke up at my keyboard on a character I hadn't finished making. The only other Wizardry game I loved as much as 8 was Wiz 7. I tried playing them all newest to oldest, but after 6 I didn't beat any of the others
I agree with him though that the t'rang look like shit. Rubbish little ant people, whereas in wizardry 7 they looked great. Brown cobweb robed creatures with those cool looking shock rods
I first played the demo for Wizardry 8 on a CD-ROM that came with a PC Gamer magazine. I remember playing through the demo over and over, even though it was a pre-rolled party and you couldn't leave the Lower Monastery. I think it was the better part of a year before the actual game came out, the last release of the dying company Sir-Tech Canada. I'm glad it still exists for newer gamers to find and experience one of the best of that era with one foot in the tabletop DND world and the other boldly going into CRPGs. I'd also recommend trying MM6 & 7, Baldur's Gate 2, and KOTOR 1&2 for other great turn-based games of that era. I think I played Wiz8 more than all those games put together, so that says a lot of how addictive it is. Thanks for the review.
A request: upload content like this without the black borders, so we can play it on 4:3 screens if we want, or at least let it display larger on phones. Accursed Farms does this, and it's one of the reasons that's basically my favourite TH-cam channel.
Thanks for reminding me how much I both loved and ... well ... how frustrating this game was. Definitely way more fun than not. The NPC personalities are fantastic! Wizardry 8 is on my "must complete" list. I played the first Wizardry on the PC (I still have the box) but didn't have the time it required back then. I bought Wizardry 8 when it first came out (still have that box too). I'm retired now and I'm replaying some old favorites. 6 & 7 are on sale on GOG, so maybe I'll try them. But I'm in the middle of Baldur's Gate right now. Planescape Torment is on my "must complete" list as well. And yes, I found Trynton to be quite frustrating and I quit more than once in this area. Much the same with the T'Rang/Umpani quests. Yet ... I always come back to the game. Again, thanks for this great video essay on one of my favorite games. Now to fire up my old PC and I'm off to flood the Cloakwood Mines ...
I've watched your reviews of Wizardry 7, Wizardry 8 and Wizards and Warriors multiple times in their entirety now. It is a shame that, as you lament near the end of this video, there aren't as many people talking about these games on this platform, or really anywhere outside of some forums and discord channels. I'm not particularly fond of watching play throughs so there isn't much content on this series to enjoy, but on the other hand your videos are so brilliant, so engrossing and well composed that it more than makes up for the absence. All of the main series Wizardry games are fantastic and I like some of the earlier Japanese entries as well, but Wizardry 7 has to be my favorite. That said this game is right up there with it, and I'm so grateful for your review of it and the others.
stumbled upon your channel today, and enjoying it. I'm not even a hardcore RPG gamer, Darklands is my favorite. But I really like your detail and low-key passion, and always enjoy info on the old games..
I have been playing the Wiz games my whole life, and have played Wiz 8 about once a year since its launch. i agree, it is a masterpiece. It has an amazing amount of replayability. Wiz 8 has a lot of epic parts, and battles, It was not 100% finished. There were quests involving Rattus Rattus (the payoff), as well as other quests, and crafting that were never implemented. Wiz 5 is my second favorite wiz game, ported on SNES for the controls. It was the pinnacle of the 2D, just as wiz 8 is the pinnacle of the 3D. My current is built for speed, and horsepower. Dracon fighter, dracon fighter, mook ranger, fairy ninja, elf bishop, elf bishop. The 2 fighters are very durable. The ranger adds alot with his scouting, and mythology. fairy ninja speaks for itself. and 2 bishops provide all the casting power I need...books....lots of books. The power of the bishop, and the magic in general is often underappreciated. They are essential for large mobs, and smaller hard fights. Few things to keep in mind when developing a bishop. the only spell there is no book for is mind stab. start with mind stab. Buy every book you come into contact with. you can cast divine trap on a trap over and over, you can cast knock knock on a lock ...untill you unlock it to farm skill points. Water and air magic are hard to develop. be sure to cast paralyse over and over as soon as you can so that you can land one on the don. Your bishops should be casting a spell nearly every turn, and keep all buffs up. Put all of your points into the 4 types of magic, or air/water Every toon needs to have healing pots, cure poison pots, and stamina pots, all melee need to have some doubleman, or superman pots, all casters need to have magic nectars. You do not need to take all 6 toons. chameleon works best when there is just one or two of you. You are only as stealthy as your least stealthy toon. the spell does help a little bit. The worst mobs are the mages with the modai. If you camp for 24 hours (3 times) the mobs will have moved on, and different mobs will likely be there. to make the keyboard work again after alt tabbing press alt
Thanks for the review, this is my fav RPG game. Am currently replaying and finally got a Fairy Ninja and recruited a Gadgeteer. From the details it’s easy to see how much TLC developer has put into the game, this game stands the test of time and it’s still enjoyable today.
To me it's a strongly stylized and somewhat timeless graphics style. With the tech. they had at hand, it would have aged way worse had they attempted a more "realistic" look.
@@soppaism My first computer was a 48k zx spectrum, so I remember a time when graphics like that would have looked absolutely amazing. Mind you, you should see what they could get one of those old speccys to do once they'd stopped trying to push it and worked out where it's limits were. :)
I have had this game for, but never got very far. But I am determined to beat it this year. I'm going to tackle 6 and 7 first now that I finally have the whole trilogy on Steam.
Thanks for such a full and great review. I bought the game when the localized version came out and completed it after spending enormous amount of time. Sadly my friends were playing Arcanum and I couldn't share the fun of the game I was getting while playing with them. I wanted to mention two tricks I used. My characters weren't skilled wisely enough, I remember in the middle of the game I even decided to change the class of one guy in my party and he become a dual class with obvious cons. Because of that I couldn't fight some powerful enemies like this big army you mentioned and unicorns guarding an artifact First, it's possible to get around this army at all. You should stand at the mountain on the right side at the edge of the zone which triggers the battle. Then you need to enable the step-by-step mode where you have this bar showing how further you can go. Move along the mountain. That will trigger the battle at the end of the movement but continuing moving away during the battle will cancel it. Second, I didn't manage to kill this unicorns which guarded an artifact. Instead I decided to pay not to fight with the stone giant I had come across before. And during the fight with the unicorn I retuned back to the giant which was my ally. Then I waited a bit while the unicorns were killed by the giant. Anyway somehow I managed to kill the butterflies guarding another artifact and the Dark Savant. Sadly the game was a bit buggy and I didn't see the final video. The patch was required and I saw the video only in about 10-15 years on TH-cam. Also, as at that time I had no Internet Connection, I remember I went to the internet cafe to read how to defuse the Dark Savant tower as I missed this secret button in Rapax castle to get to the tower... It was so hard playing such game without having a walkthrough...
I'm always looking for a newer "create your entire party" game. Heck even the simplicity of Final Fantasy for the NES would be appreciated... but whenever people do it now its super basic mechanics. Like I tried Amberland for a bit and it was so boring I returned it. Bring back the retro party creation depth! Great videos man.
Mechanically its pretty good but grapics are terrible. Bad 3d ruined the immersion for me the 2d style of 7 if improved upon wouldve been much better. I think BG2 beats this thing
Kickass game, this. Think I had a Lord, a samurai, a bard or gadgeteer, a rogue, and two bishops grinding two spellbooks each. In terms of dealing with huge groups like the rapax army, summoning elementals, using insanity and using cloud spells helps a lot. At that point you should have death cloud (I think it's called) which has a chance to insta kill anyone within it. I loved summoning elementals though. Give everyone who can't cast it directly a canned elemental and you've got a sick army. Cheesed Nessie with this.
Can we just stop and appreciate that there are a whopping 36 unique character voices to give your party? And not even for short, repetitive quips; each will at times get full paragraphs of dialogue commenting on their quest, NPCs, or their surroundings. It's a really nice touch that does not go unappreciated. Couple this with the incredibly memorable NPCs and RPCs, and it's just another thing to love about this gem of a game!
You know, talking about the voice acting and style in this game reminded me of another Sir-Tech Canada classic: Jagged Alliance 2. That also had a ridiculous amount of voice acting and had some really silly/superb, mega-over-the-top caricatures!
"If you're looking for someone to protect your interests, I'm the one. I have excellent credentials" actually sounds like a line straight out of JA2.
Right! I can easily write full-on backstories and characters in with a lot of these voices. The parts are there and the way you can mix-and-match them based on things like race and class is amazing.
Honestly don’t know how more games don’t do this. You get the best of having established characters with their own personalities and also get to create your character. Like there’s character skeletons there and it’s your job to interpret what kind of character you want to see they are.
@@battlemode I once grabbed a broken item and my player said, "Can we stop shoppin' in the dumpster?" That has stuck with me to this day.
@@battlemode Fun fact: The voice-acting for both Jagged Alliance 2 and Wizardry 8 were done at the same time to save both time and money. If you listen closely you can actually make out some of the voices in the other game.
@@steveweidig5373 I had no idea, that's really interesting! And I'm not at all surprised at that now you tell me.
I was skeptical about your assessment at first, but at 3:26 you acknowledged MM6 as a close runner for best so thumbs up.
I used to hate this style of early 3D cardboard graphics back in the day when they were all the rage, but I gotta say they kinda grew on me over the years. I missed Wiz8 when it came out and I'm 10 hours in on my first playthrough and I seriously find it a joy to look at. While it lacks the richness and artistry of Wiz7's lovely pixel art I really enjoy the fact that with a little bit of fiddling I can play it in crisp, widescreen 1080p. The fact that everything is so blocky and simplistic makes my mind switch to perceiving it all in a more symbolic way, like in the even earlier Wizardry games when all you had was wireframes and ugly blobs of pixels. Sure, it's nice to look at all the pretty blades of grass in Witcher 3, but there's just something so welcoming about the clarity of the graphics in this. I immedietaly know EXACTLY where everything is, I can count the monsters, I can tell where ground ends and wall begins, it's just clear and streamlined with nothing distracting me from the gameplay. Puts me in a bit of a meditative state. Could definitely use less brown and puke green though, like so many games of the era... Thank you for this video, I'm really glad i gave the game a chance, having a blast so far :)
"You have to create 6 characters." I agree, creating a party is fantastic, and 6 is a great amount for it. In fact, my biggest complaint of Might and Magic 6 is that it only has four characters. Like, 4 characters means you need a fighter, a utility, a defensive caster, and an offensive caster. You get 6 characters, you get a lot more freedom.
Eh, it applies more to MM7 and MM8 than to MM6. In the latter, every character can master disarming traps, a druid can master body magic (for healing), and a sorcerer can master light and dark magic (for buffs). Also, melee combat can be quite dangerous considering some monsters can kill you instantly or break your equipment. Personally, I find the game the easiest with a party of two druids and two sorcerers bombarding enemies with implosion (or lightning bolts if they're immune to physical damage).
artificial complexity
@@Microphunktv-jb3kj i hate you
You can play Might and Magic 6 as a single Knight with three dead bodies. You'll just have to hire NPCs for the ability to Fly or heal... etc. Use NPCs. The game kind of misleads you into building a versatile party that doesn't excel in any way. I either go full aggro with 3 Knights and a Druid or full magic with 4 sorcerers. Knights can learn all of the miscellaneous skills in MM6. Water Magic is OP, you can just teleport to the temple for a full heal and teleport back. I don't know what I would do with 6 characters... I would get like 5 Knights and a Druid? Or 6 sorcerers?
I think that if you are ennemy with the rat mafia, they leak the info that you work with the umpani and the t'rang.
Thank you for the video, Michael. It brought back very pleasant memories.
2001 was indeed a very fruitful year for role-playing games: Wizardry 8, Baldur's Gate II: Throne of Baal, Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, Final Fantasy X, Arcanum, Shadow Hearts, Anachronox, Icewind Dale: Heart of Winter, etc.
I can't believe it's already been 17 years! Time flies...
Arcanum. Oh man.
Wizardry, Ultima, and The Bards Tale were pioneers of PC RPG's. Can't believe its almost been 40 years!
Halo was also released in 2001. Those games mark the end of an era, the pinnacle of gaming imo (all of those games not halo in particular) those were the days man, great times!
The most replayable game I've ever run into. Even the nth time through, there's the tension as you play - because every now and then you get careless and you rediscover that you can still meet your Little Big Horn no matter how many tricks you've learned... and also you get to be mighty caring and solicitous of your latest brood of chicks you're nursemaiding toward Arnika. You know all of their names, and you watch out for them.
I'm 40 years old and have been playing games since I was 6 starting on Atari, mostly rpgs and strategy. Wizardry 8 is in a handful of best I've ever played, and the best 'old school' rpg (create a party). It's a masterpiece and addictive as hell. Well worth playing now if you haven't before, it puts recent games to shame.
Definitely,sad most younger people prefer something trending or popular within their circles just because certain thing didn't passed their bar of popularity
@@Zero_Tester Ah well I suppose we all suffer more from peer pressure and groupthink when young, not that we are immune later!
Born 1984 and played many of the RPGs. I grow up with Dungeon Master, Might and Magic, Eye of the Beholder and Black Crypt on my Amiga 2000.
I loved the Wizardry 7 game and also loved its last breath Wizardry 8 :(
Sad that these style of RPGs is over.
Skullkeep was also very nice to play.
Legend of Grimrock looked good as a dungeon crawler.
The Wizardry games had a good story compared to other games. Many Races and its unique "you have to decide" between umpani and t'rang.
Actually, one of the developers of original Might and Magic series - Tim Lang works on a game that could in theory interest you... www.dungeonbyte.com/aeolwyn-s-legacy
I also hail from that orwellian year
*cursed armor
In Baldurs gate there is a set of armor once you put it on it turns into a giant demon and gibbs/kills your party member in the process.
This is my absolute favorite RPG as well. I have played through the game many times, played with only 2 characters, 3 characters (my favorite), all mages, all warriors (never learning any magic) and so on. It is so much fun. Tried with a solo character, but I always get destroyed. I'm glad I'm not the only one who's greatly enjoyed this game!
I have soloed this game with a Dwarf Monk (great phys resistance dwarf+monk; max Stealth in the 1st dungeon and up Crit as much as you can stand) >> Alch >> Priest >> Mage >> Bishop (many levels) >> ends as a Fighter (armor, many weapons, huge stamina regen and Berserk). Normal difficulty, non-iron man (i'm not that crazy).
Possibly try the Faerie Ninja->Bishop build, I've heard it gets good results.
played many times, but 2x solo. First time samurai, second time monk. Both expert. Some fight were for like an hour :)
I cannot get into this game, because a new fight starts every 15 meters, wherever I try to go. Even inside a city. Just let me explore the world goddammit!
I wonder if there's a trainer out there that would let the player adjust the frequency of random battles? That does sound like an annoying random encounter system!
welcome to classic gaming, noob. Play harder.
My method for getting characters where they dont want to go was simple: Load them up with stuff until they drain stamina faster then anyone else. Run around till they fall unconscious... then change area. I figured this out on my own the first time I played this game and I just love that they included those workarounds.
Btw sorry that you didnt like the Aestethics of the game. To be fair, When I first got it at release, I was a bit dissapointed, too. It seemed to follow this new "3D"-fad without having the resources or team to truly make use of these new systems. It was actually a bit outdated, when it was released. I mean, it came out the same year as games like Max Payne, GTA3, Halo:CE or Return to Castle Wolfenstein.
BUT: Funnily enough, after all those years and having replayed it probably more then any other game, that dissapointment faded. Today I see it just as more retro graphics and I always loved the atmosphere. I´m sorry you didn´t feel that, maybe because you compared it to Wiz7 directly. For me, there were 10 years between those games and I never finished 7, because it was just too clunky for me. Though I did like playing 6 and 7 a lot, just restarting both. Dunno. Maybe I was too young back then. Finished 6 though, years later. Still a great game though even more clunky. Just has that nostalgia factor for me, though.
Anyway, I loved the atmosphere and emptiness in 8. I agree on most of all other points with you, but not on this. It felt empty and ominous enough for me, and still does.
And I dont hate the level scaling. I feel that while maybe you meet harder enemies, your characters get just the right amount of more powerful, too. They dont scale linearly, meaning, you get a much wider toolset the further the game progresses. So even if you meet stronger versions of early enemies, now you can freeze them, put them to sleep or blind them, where formerly you could only maybe slow them a little.
So you get too feel more powerful, in my opinion, but without making those early areas trivial.
You can also go in without them, set a teleport point, then get the character and teleport in. Thing is they whinge constantly and their stats drops heavily.
Like getting BA barachus on that plane in the A team, that’s hilarious
It's kind of weird to say that the class system is "the best you have ever seen", and then quickly describe how some classes are "vastly overpowered". Anyone can make up a million classes with different abilities, the tricky part is in balancing them, otherwise it's just nonsense noise.
Same with the races, having a zillion generic fantasy races plus dogpeople, catpeople etc. -people is hardly imaginative.
I had played through this game multiple times in the past and I’ve always thought its brilliant. Bought it again on Steam several weeks ago and been playing it almost non stop since. Absolutely my favourite cRPG ever.
I spent probably 40 hours into Wizardry 8, the year that it came out. I was a very happy with the graphics at the time. Sorry I don't get why you say they underwhelming at the time. In the soundtrack is still one of my favorites to date
Agree about the graphics. Objectively they were certainly competitive with other RPGs of the day. The design is more subjective. That said, I agree that many games that made the move to 3d lost something in translation.
"It would be a few years before we got something like Mass Effect or Fallout." Understatement much? It would be the better part of a decade (7 years) and multiple applications of Moore's Law between.
Arnika Rd is one of the most difficult (depending on the Level) (Heading to Umpani) yet that's what those tight crevices in the rock comes in handy, only one can come at you at a time and one can fight of waves after waves, great for increasing Exp Points.
I love Wizardry 8's music. Sure, it gets a bit repetitive, but it does a good job of conveying the various settings. Trynton's theme is very mystical, the IUF theme is appropriately militant, and the Cosmic Circle's music is fitting for a place where gods dwell.
I find it interesting you harp on the graphics, but that's the main allure to the game for me. Love the old 3D era
Yeah! Honestly I think this game still looks amazing. Its held up way better than most other games from this era in terms of graphics.
W8's gfx look good for its era, especially when compared to Deus Ex. W8 looks way better. I think he's mainly harping about the artstyle, of which I can agree that W7 looked way more sinister & dark. W8 has more of a campy Sci-Fi Kirk-era Star Trek aestehtic to it which matches the voice acting.
Right. Its when 3D was still very primitive. Its actually quite charming that they made all of this with such graphics.
Its my favorite era of 3d along side ps1 and ps2 3d
I prefer the 2d sprites used for elder scrolls. Makes it age much better than early 3d graphics.
Warning play W8 and there is no going back! All other CRPG will suck... I really wish they remake W8 with updated graphics and a new storyline... woa
I'd love a new storyline, new spells, new things, SO MUCH
W8 is shit compared to some other crpgs
There is two new games which can compete with old gems like Wizardry. Dark Souls and Zelda
@@matle000 while both are great they are different genres
I doubt it tops baldur's gate or planescape... But I'll give it a shot after wasteland 3
I don't know if it's the greatest RPG ever in general, but it's the best party based, first person dungeon crawler ever.
Until crusaders, I didn’t really consider the wizardry series an rpg, great dungeon crawlers, but not role playing games.
I was born in 1977 and I played all the Wizardry games quite a bit as I grew up and this was the only one I ever actually won. I still remember that moment of complete disbelief. I had no idea it was actually possible to do that.
I really respect you for covering this series.
A major reason people don't cover it is because these games are too long and obscure.
But they are really important RPGs and need to be discussed.
It is not that good. it is ok.
Ultra important to cast pre buffs BEFORE you run into monster groups that give status effects like blind, poison, paralyze etc. Most buffs run for minutes or hours so it is very doable.
I love this game and I don't think it looks bad, I think it looks charmingly low quality
loved the graphics
I think it looks good even today
Actually, it looks really good. It's a taste thing. I, for one, love the late 90's to early 2000's aesthetics in graphics. Wizardry 8 is clean looking and colorful.
@@mariuszj3826 I agree. When the texture quality itself is terrible art design has to be more of a focus in order to compensate.
I agree. The graphics do their job, and do it fine. It’s not ungodly ugly or anything like that. I can’t mistake one enemy for another, the towns all are unique in design, and the environments are distinct.
The obsession some folks have today with graphical perfection is absurd and it hurts games in the process, look at the Elder Scrolls games, Daggerfall and Morrowind both looked fine and were fun to play, but oblivion and Skyrim both lost out because the devs put more focus on a good looking game than on the mechanics or story.
My man! This is one of the best, most in-depth reviews I've ever seen. Please keep producing content because this is incredible. I love this game and you're the first person to articulate how awesome this game is so amazingly well. 🤓
I recently started playing Wizardry: Tale of the Forsaken Land on PS2 and love it. Have you tried that one? I plan to try Wiz 8 on Steam next.
Great video. I always enjoy historical commentary on classic games.
Wizardry 8 was so amazing. I bought it new in the store around the time it came out, I remember the gfx were really dated even when it was new but everything else about it won me over. Freakin' loved it so much
There actually ARE quite a few safe places, provided you haven't angered the native inhabitants. The Mook outpost in Arnika is safe once you get inside, as are some rooms in Arnika's temple. Most of the offices in Mount Gigas and the main room with Z'Ant in Marten's Bluff is safe, as is the inside of Crock's shop in the swamp, Fuzzfas' shop in Trynton, He'li's bar in Arnika (the one room you can clear out notwithstanding), and a safe space in a Trynton temple you can set up by burning some incense on the floating braziers. There's also a teleporter room in Marten's Bluff which is perfectly safe if you haven't angered the T'rang. Not to mention most of the Rapax Castle is safe once you become a templar, provided you don't anger them later... which you probably will in order to advance the story. There are many other safe rooms as well, but these are just a few.
This game is one of my all time favorites. 100% agree with the internal roleplay. Playing games like these helps me with the creative process when writing short stories.
Excellent video! More people need to know about these great classics; it's a good thing we have people like you to document them!
Thanks!
Man your videos have really stepped up,informative,funny an just overall a really well done video. Hope you do more of these!
to prevent many spells and status effects I usually had two things active - one was this long lasting spell that granted improved armor and such, and other was magic screen, which was a spell much improving any magic resists :) walking around without those, especially in that dark forest with those evil unicorns (those give me nightmares till this day lol) who could do turncoat stuff, was usually a bad idea :)))
I played 7 when it was a new game and loved it. 8 has been on my “to play” list for decades. I think the time has come.
Thanks for making this, your passion really comes through. This brings back great memories of slowly blundering through this game where everything, including towns, is hostile... in college years on a constantly overheating laptop. Drove me crazy, but in a good way that's impossible to put down.
I played Wizardry1 on an Apple IIe when it was the only game in town. My favorite of all these are Bard's Tale 1-3, which had an expanded world, great narrative and the first buffs. Might and Magic was also great but considerably more difficult.
Somehow I never caught on to the fact that the leads of Jagged Alliance also made this entry in Wizardry, which bumps it to the top of my list of old RPGs to check out. The influence of JA on this game is obvious with the approach to characterization and combat. Something Sir-Tech achieved with Wizardry that I think no other company from that era did, was to maintain high continuity of the production team between games, even with the huge gap between releases - this is a game made by people who playtested some of the earliest games, and know essentially as much about how they work, and what made them good, as any fan. It's hugely underappreciated in the game industry how important it is to keep teams together, because a lot of the knowledge on how to make a certain "type of game" is tacit - you learn by doing it over and over. You can hire a lot of people and make a bigger production very easily, but without that thread of knowing why things should be done one way or another, it's still baby's first game design, while with this game, the "8" in the title really means something substantial about how much thought and experience went into it.
This is a great tribute, and made for a really enjoyable viewing. I played the first three Wizardry games, then missed 4 and 5, then played 6 and missed 7. So yeah, I suppose I wasn't as dedicated a fan of the series as I should have been. But I've been championing Wizardry 8 ever since I first played it. Such a fantastic game!
One thing that drove my then-roommate crazy was the vocal acknowledgements that your characters give when you click on them. I forget which PC voice it was, but the "Taken care of" order acknowledgement could apparently be heard from anywhere in our house, LOL.
Fantastic review, as glowing as this game deserves. You've inspired me to have another go at it. Years ago, I made it to the 2nd area but got weary of all the random battles on the way to... anywhere! You mention it in the video, along with a lot of other good and honest observations. I would definitely trust future reviews of yours.
Where is the magic in this game? All I see is fights fights fights. Where is the RPG? You can only role-play a slaughter machine, no matter what you choose. Where is the interesting content? Did I miss something? The world is bland, empty non-interactive, there is literally no writing or interesting NPC, so what is this? A combat simulator? Certainly not a role play game, as you can't play a role in this dull environment. I tried more than once to play this game, it didn't click with me.
Tho, I appreciate your ambition and the amount of work that went into this video. 🎉
@12:40 - Ok, sir well played. The full Wookie Party with fitting OST made me laugh way harder than it should. Here, have a like and some virtual love for your effort!
Old RPG portraits look better than the screenshot images used by many modern rpgs. Baldurs gate, FF 6, etc. had amazing portraits.
Played this around 2008. It's definitely one of those great games that you never forget. Great review and really enjoyed watching. Thank you!
>"Sometimes NPCs get in your way"
>Tabs back
>Trynton
Of course :P
I started playing this game because of you. thank you so much!
i stumbled upon this video a few years back (was already a fan of sirtechs work on the jagged alliance series) and I really have to thank you for making such an excellent analysis of what makes this game so great. It sparked my interest enough to check it out and i can safely say its become one of my favorite RPG's of all time, up there with ultima 7 and the first two fallout games.
Seeing how well baldurs gate 3 has done recently, along with the remake of the first wizardry, gives me hope we could see a remake of the entire dark savant trilogy one day. Im not a huge graphics snob in general, but i can just imagine how much a purely visual overhaul (barely touch gameplay, maybe just bring 6 and 7 more in line with 8 in terms of quality of life features) would benefit these games. I think people would be blown away by how in depth and fun the gameplay still is
Excellent video! I've always LOVED this game, and series. Glad to see the passion and enthusiasm for the Wizardy games. So many people gloss over them.
Ever since I bought this game at the early 2010 (I bought the disk set that was actually translated to Hebrew), I always find myself coming back into this game every so often. Once I found it on Steam, I immediately got it and started playing again. This is by far the best RPG I've ever played, and it always boggles me that non of my friends know of it. Shame it didn't stick
You got me inspired to play it again. Thanks.
I'm now running with a human lord, mook ranger, hobbit ninja, hobbit samurai and two elf bishops, at hard-level...
I have this thing where I try to reach Crock in the swamp without meeting any enemies, which usually works... then to find out the only good thing he had to sell was the ring pro magic, no books whatsoever (level 9)...
Marten's quest for knowledge closely mirrors that of Xorphitus, the wizard from Wizardry 6 who stole the Cosmic Forge to begin with. He wished for all knowledge, but the pen (that's what the forge is), twists its users' intent when used outside of the Cosmic Circle. As such, Xorphitus was split into a ghostly half without a body and a living half without a soul, as the nature of knowledge is divided between what is and what is not. Both Xorphitus' body and soul were mad, each possessing incomplete knowledge, knowing all things between the two separate halves. Marten's quest to gain all knowledge through the Destinae Dominus drove him mad, and while he isn't split in two, this division is alluded to when you meet him as a ghost, as his body and soul are similarly divided as Xorphitus' were.
All those years,im still waitting for w9.Will keep waitting few more years,till death i guess. Whichever come first :)
hahahah
Well, the Wizardry license is now owned by the Japanese who are still creating new games in the series... but most of them aren't translated to English, are more inspired by the original Wizardries than 6-8, and have anime artstyles, so... meh.
Actually, there are Labyrinth of Lost Souls, made by Japanese fans of Wizardry, released in 2020 on GOG
you end wiz 8 as a god. How can it carry on from there?
@@tornadoe13 There still is a "save party" option in the end. So, hope remains.
Dude this channel caters to so many of my tastes. You love twin peaks, D&D games and its lore (NWN is my all time fav game), Lovecraft is one of my favourite authors...definitely going to spend some time scouring your channel from top to bottom! ps your twin peaks character breakdown vids are wonderfully insightful.
Oh man, I almost forgot to link this fantastic Wizardry anime OVA from 1991: th-cam.com/video/kOTHNoODYmY/w-d-xo.html . I would imagine that most folks here have at least heard of it, but until yesterday I myself had not. It is really neat from the perspective of a Wizardry fan, but it's also a time capsule to a particularly beautiful style of 80s/early-90s anime.
Hey Hey People
Thanks to the bankers guild for their support.
Yeah we haven't really seen him in a while perhaps the merchants Guild finally got to him
Sseth riders
SSETH HERE
You convinced me to try this game out (while sheltering in place).
“Most replayed”
>Showing appreciation for a brilliant game designer, no doubt!
The level scaling isn’t so bad when you consider the fact that you can bank level ups and cash them out later. Arnika road is SIGNIFICANTLY easier if you do this and make sure not to go past level 5
About the level scaling... yes it scales, but within limits, both lower and upper ones. For instance, going into the caves too early and you get totally slaughtered no matter how well you play, but going to the monastery after having past level 12 with a full party will be an absolute breeze. Some areas, like the Swamp, however scale almost from 0 to 40 (the max level of the ennemies)
I loved how you could transfer characters forward from the previous games. That was what got me hooked on Wizardry.
Though transferring into Wizardry 3 was kind of a bummer.
I too would love to see cursed items make a return. The main reason why you never see anything that punishes the player anymore is because modern Rpgs are made as power fantasies where every NPC treats you like a god & every build you make is viable. Modern Rpgs are built around a Jack-of-all-trades mentality which is what makes them so shallow, coz you never need to pay attention to the ruleset, let alone read.
I agree. I love Wizardry8, I wish there was more like it. Do you know another thing that is more similar?
Best rpg game, ever! When are they going to come out with Wizardry 9!? So disappointed they never followed up with this game.
@@Habib_Osman Daggerfall's world is procedurally generated. Definitely not a prime example, since the story is lacking, but still an incredible game
I cringed at my past comments lol. Basically I meant to say that if they wanted to create a new wizardy 9, it would be smart not to rely on their past customers too much- or at all really.. so please don't call it wizardy 9! Also that developement costs could be much lower if they went full on procedural generation like minecraft. The story would likely suffer a bit because of it though. Daggerfall is a great example indeed. Mature and gritty, the feel of both of those games is really similar too. Great fit I think, I would love to see something like it.
You peaked my interest! Might and Magic VI, VII and VIII are my favorite games ever. These games can be laborious or fun, depending on your playstyle. Most novices play in turn-based mode, cast spells and shoot arrows. You'll die often and dungeons will take forever that way. The secret to Might and Magic is: turn off running during combat. You'll strike twice as often. Knowing this, you can have a ball playing with 3 Knights and a Druid or Cleric. Just tank loads of damage and bludgeon everything. Play in real time. These games aren't too hard if you know how to hire NPCs (for flying, town portal etc...), use potions/magic/scrolls...
I adored this game back in the day. I also really liked Wizardry Gold which I think was based on 7.
I played the first three, but life got in the way and I didn't come back to gaming until Wizardry 7 & 8. Thoroughly enjoyed them.
i started buying wizardry 8 because of this video
not really like it at first but after replacing the combat music with extended version of anime and other games bgm i started falling in love with it, thanks for the recommendation man
In games where you create a whole party of characters, you create a whole party of empty characters without character, history, personality, charisma, who don't even interact with the world, characters, or each other. You can create whatever characters you want, of course, choose their race, class, stats, invent any story for them... it's interesting and great in its own way, but characters are empty.
Sounds like you lack complete imagination
@@anthonykarnes6804, Imagination doesn't fix empty characters.
I bought Wizardry 8 at Electronics Boutique shortly after it came out, as I had been eagerly awaiting it's release. Unfortunately, the discs had a critical installation issue that prevented me from ever playing it. I returned the game, but because Sir-Tech had gone out of business, it wasn't being offered for reorder. Which seemed appropriate as advertising had been minimal. It went from coming soon and on my radar to released and suddenly unavailable. In the end, I could only exchange it for store credit, and I opted for Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon by Red Storm - twice burned as I had to come out of pocket again to make up the difference in purchase price.
The era of PC gaming where devs weren't afraid to create games with extreme depth and variety, and players welcomed it. When it was perfectly okay if a game wasn't made for "everyone". Before "accessibility" and "streamlining" became law, and games became dumbed-down for the least common denominator.
Exzellent review, this was really worth to watch. Your DOS rpg reviews are really marvellous, keep on doing this work which is kind of a CRPG archeology.
At the time, which is what my comments are based on. This game looks great. I haven't seen a game that looked any better. And the music really sunk in, I still have the battle music in my head
6:00 for a 2001 game it looks fine
Agree with you on this one, Mr. Snow - this has been one of my all-time favorites since it first came out. I finished it, and loved it. Shelved it for years, broke it out and did it all again, and it didn't feel old, so I did another replay, then another... Just love this game. I wish SirTech would come back and make a proper sequel to this, with vastly improved graphics and even more refinements to this fine formula.
Thank you for your in depth review of this amazing old school game. I remember buying it the day it hit the shelves and was very involved in the online player community. We didn't know much at first and I remember reloading more times than I can count. As I recall Linda and Ian Currie were unable to find a publisher so they ended up self publishing the game and I don't think they made any money at all. So Wiz 8 was purely a labor of love for the fans. They dropped by our forum a few times and were the kindest people and very proud of their work. I had played Wiz 6 and 7 and I remember being a bit disappointed with Wiz 8 at first, particularly with the ending. However a lot of this was my own bias since I was a huge D. W. Bradley fan and was upset that he wasn't involved with this game. However I eventually grew to appreciate it and looking back it is indeed a masterpiece. I played it over and over in the early days and then forgot about it for many years. I purchased it on GoG some years back but quit after a while so perhaps it is time to give it another go.
Yes, the Arnika soundtrack is eternal.
After 30 years, Wizardry 7 & 8 are still the best crpg's I have ever played. Still love Crusaders of the Dark Savant a little more than 8 but mostly because of the unfinished elements. I miss these types of games.
I wish the best/biggest/most versatile CRT monitors weren't so rare that they costed so much money nowadays. Many people only really think of pixel art games when they think of CRTs, but early 3D games look way better on them too.
(I'm just so used to these big screens and have such limited space that I probably should just get a nice OLED monitor and use filters to mimic the look of older displays though)
57:00 ... You can also take NPCs anywhere if they are unconscious at the time. Give them all of the heaviest gear and run around in circles till their stamina drops to zero and they pass out.
This was my first Wizardry game. I remember seeing it on the shelf of Electronic Boutique, recognizing the name. I loved JRPGs so I asked the clerk if this one was any good. He exclaimed it was amazing and if I liked RPGs not to ship around any more, and get it, so I did. I played until the early hours of the next morning. While laying in bed unable to sleep I decided I wanted to do my party differently now knowing a bit more about the game, so I went back to the computer, and later woke up at my keyboard on a character I hadn't finished making.
The only other Wizardry game I loved as much as 8 was Wiz 7. I tried playing them all newest to oldest, but after 6 I didn't beat any of the others
I really like the monster models in this game. They're low poly of course (like the whole game world), but well crafted and animated.
I agree with him though that the t'rang look like shit. Rubbish little ant people, whereas in wizardry 7 they looked great. Brown cobweb robed creatures with those cool looking shock rods
The samurai is also my favorite, mostly because not many wrpgs have monk ninja or Samurai which are more Japanese rpg style classes. It's awesome
I first played the demo for Wizardry 8 on a CD-ROM that came with a PC Gamer magazine. I remember playing through the demo over and over, even though it was a pre-rolled party and you couldn't leave the Lower Monastery. I think it was the better part of a year before the actual game came out, the last release of the dying company Sir-Tech Canada. I'm glad it still exists for newer gamers to find and experience one of the best of that era with one foot in the tabletop DND world and the other boldly going into CRPGs. I'd also recommend trying MM6 & 7, Baldur's Gate 2, and KOTOR 1&2 for other great turn-based games of that era. I think I played Wiz8 more than all those games put together, so that says a lot of how addictive it is. Thanks for the review.
A request: upload content like this without the black borders, so we can play it on 4:3 screens if we want, or at least let it display larger on phones. Accursed Farms does this, and it's one of the reasons that's basically my favourite TH-cam channel.
Thanks for reminding me how much I both loved and ... well ... how frustrating this game was. Definitely way more fun than not. The NPC personalities are fantastic! Wizardry 8 is on my "must complete" list. I played the first Wizardry on the PC (I still have the box) but didn't have the time it required back then. I bought Wizardry 8 when it first came out (still have that box too). I'm retired now and I'm replaying some old favorites. 6 & 7 are on sale on GOG, so maybe I'll try them. But I'm in the middle of Baldur's Gate right now. Planescape Torment is on my "must complete" list as well.
And yes, I found Trynton to be quite frustrating and I quit more than once in this area. Much the same with the T'Rang/Umpani quests. Yet ... I always come back to the game.
Again, thanks for this great video essay on one of my favorite games. Now to fire up my old PC and I'm off to flood the Cloakwood Mines ...
That Falcon Northwest ad alone arguably makes this the best CRPG ever produced
I've watched your reviews of Wizardry 7, Wizardry 8 and Wizards and Warriors multiple times in their entirety now. It is a shame that, as you lament near the end of this video, there aren't as many people talking about these games on this platform, or really anywhere outside of some forums and discord channels. I'm not particularly fond of watching play throughs so there isn't much content on this series to enjoy, but on the other hand your videos are so brilliant, so engrossing and well composed that it more than makes up for the absence. All of the main series Wizardry games are fantastic and I like some of the earlier Japanese entries as well, but Wizardry 7 has to be my favorite. That said this game is right up there with it, and I'm so grateful for your review of it and the others.
Thanks! Have you seen the channel called "dfortae" he regularly streams Wiz 6, 7 and 8 on twitch. Thats where i go to get my Wizardry fix.
stumbled upon your channel today, and enjoying it. I'm not even a hardcore RPG gamer, Darklands is my favorite. But I really like your detail and low-key passion, and always enjoy info on the old games..
I have been playing the Wiz games my whole life, and have played Wiz 8 about once a year since its launch. i agree, it is a masterpiece. It has an amazing amount of replayability.
Wiz 8 has a lot of epic parts, and battles, It was not 100% finished. There were quests involving Rattus Rattus (the payoff), as well as other quests, and crafting that were never implemented. Wiz 5 is my second favorite wiz game, ported on SNES for the controls. It was the pinnacle of the 2D, just as wiz 8 is the pinnacle of the 3D.
My current is built for speed, and horsepower. Dracon fighter, dracon fighter, mook ranger, fairy ninja, elf bishop, elf bishop. The 2 fighters are very durable. The ranger adds alot with his scouting, and mythology. fairy ninja speaks for itself. and 2 bishops provide all the casting power I need...books....lots of books. The power of the bishop, and the magic in general is often underappreciated. They are essential for large mobs, and smaller hard fights.
Few things to keep in mind when developing a bishop. the only spell there is no book for is mind stab. start with mind stab. Buy every book you come into contact with. you can cast divine trap on a trap over and over, you can cast knock knock on a lock ...untill you unlock it to farm skill points. Water and air magic are hard to develop. be sure to cast paralyse over and over as soon as you can so that you can land one on the don. Your bishops should be casting a spell nearly every turn, and keep all buffs up. Put all of your points into the 4 types of magic, or air/water
Every toon needs to have healing pots, cure poison pots, and stamina pots, all melee need to have some doubleman, or superman pots, all casters need to have magic nectars.
You do not need to take all 6 toons. chameleon works best when there is just one or two of you. You are only as stealthy as your least stealthy toon. the spell does help a little bit.
The worst mobs are the mages with the modai. If you camp for 24 hours (3 times) the mobs will have moved on, and different mobs will likely be there. to make the keyboard work again after alt tabbing press alt
Thanks for the review, this is my fav RPG game. Am currently replaying and finally got a Fairy Ninja and recruited a Gadgeteer. From the details it’s easy to see how much TLC developer has put into the game, this game stands the test of time and it’s still enjoyable today.
Phoonzang is basically Prometheus. Like the Greek titan, he wanted to share the power of the gods (or fire) and was punished by the gods for doing so.
Did i miss you mentioning the twofold character progression? As in: Your skills improve when you use them AND you can buff them after level ups.
I may have forgotten to mention that. I don't quite remember.
Funny thing is that I was just thinking about how much I like the graphic style when you said how bad it was. :)
To me it's a strongly stylized and somewhat timeless graphics style. With the tech. they had at hand, it would have aged way worse had they attempted a more "realistic" look.
@@soppaism My first computer was a 48k zx spectrum, so I remember a time when graphics like that would have looked absolutely amazing. Mind you, you should see what they could get one of those old speccys to do once they'd stopped trying to push it and worked out where it's limits were. :)
I have had this game for, but never got very far. But I am determined to beat it this year. I'm going to tackle 6 and 7 first now that I finally have the whole trilogy on Steam.
I personally really like the 3D look but it's because of the nostalgia from my Everquest days
Thanks for such a full and great review. I bought the game when the localized version came out and completed it after spending enormous amount of time. Sadly my friends were playing Arcanum and I couldn't share the fun of the game I was getting while playing with them. I wanted to mention two tricks I used. My characters weren't skilled wisely enough, I remember in the middle of the game I even decided to change the class of one guy in my party and he become a dual class with obvious cons. Because of that I couldn't fight some powerful enemies like this big army you mentioned and unicorns guarding an artifact
First, it's possible to get around this army at all. You should stand at the mountain on the right side at the edge of the zone which triggers the battle. Then you need to enable the step-by-step mode where you have this bar showing how further you can go. Move along the mountain. That will trigger the battle at the end of the movement but continuing moving away during the battle will cancel it.
Second, I didn't manage to kill this unicorns which guarded an artifact. Instead I decided to pay not to fight with the stone giant I had come across before. And during the fight with the unicorn I retuned back to the giant which was my ally. Then I waited a bit while the unicorns were killed by the giant.
Anyway somehow I managed to kill the butterflies guarding another artifact and the Dark Savant. Sadly the game was a bit buggy and I didn't see the final video. The patch was required and I saw the video only in about 10-15 years on TH-cam.
Also, as at that time I had no Internet Connection, I remember I went to the internet cafe to read how to defuse the Dark Savant tower as I missed this secret button in Rapax castle to get to the tower... It was so hard playing such game without having a walkthrough...
there is so much creativity in the game
Another SirTech title, Jagged Alliance 2, was also very good IMO.
I'm always looking for a newer "create your entire party" game. Heck even the simplicity of Final Fantasy for the NES would be appreciated... but whenever people do it now its super basic mechanics. Like I tried Amberland for a bit and it was so boring I returned it. Bring back the retro party creation depth! Great videos man.
Mechanically its pretty good but grapics are terrible. Bad 3d ruined the immersion for me the 2d style of 7 if improved upon wouldve been much better.
I think BG2 beats this thing
Kickass game, this. Think I had a Lord, a samurai, a bard or gadgeteer, a rogue, and two bishops grinding two spellbooks each.
In terms of dealing with huge groups like the rapax army, summoning elementals, using insanity and using cloud spells helps a lot. At that point you should have death cloud (I think it's called) which has a chance to insta kill anyone within it.
I loved summoning elementals though. Give everyone who can't cast it directly a canned elemental and you've got a sick army. Cheesed Nessie with this.
After more than 1000 hours of playing W8 I agree
I love the goofy ahh saturday morning cartoon look of the characters, especially the Dark Savant, it's just so fitting
Watching this again. Almost better than the first time! Getting old and forgetting I’d already commented a year ago. 😊