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Wizardry 8

Combat Hints - Monastry - Arnika - Trynton - Mt. Gigax - Swamp - Marten's Bluff
Mine Tunnels - Lower Marten's Bluff  - Track Back - Umpani - Bayin and Sea Caves -  Misc

I must say I love this game, so I decided to collect some hints I came across while playing here.

My Party

General Note: I never ever once tried to pickpocket anyone. I heard it suggested this was a great way to get at equipment, but my party is not a band of thieves but rather a band of heroes :) I also quite evenly distributed stat points, so the only times I have gotten to 100 was with RPCs. If I play again, I will probably specialize more to get 100 stats (gives you something nice) but I did manage all battles so far on normal, so it does not seem to be a show stopper.

Combat Hints

The key to winning the harder battles are status effects for me. Of course I had a bard at the start, her Poet's lute (sleep) did wonders. Also, do use all the powders you find that give bad status to monsters. Use spell picks on stuff that gives status (sleep, fear, nausea and so on) instead of direct damage (which has been mostly negliable so far).

If you encounter two monster groups, try approaching them from a different direction if possible. Sometimes it is possible to lure them apart. Also very good is to back into a corner or dooorway (move during combat) so they cannot surround you. Do not forget to pray with your priest. And cast buffs you have (missile shield if they shoot, armorplate, enchanted blade and so on) before entering battle.

And obviously give everyone a ranged weapon in the alternate weapon slot, with the best ammo you have for hard battles, and cheap ammo when broke for others so they gain skill. And distribute potions so everyone can quaff them when needed. Use scrolls, bombs and potions freely, you keep finding new ones and can buy them too. Move during combat to get into close range with your fighters when up against shooters and to face the enemies. Set up people with extended range weapons (the valk) at the flanks, put wimps (fairy mage) in the center.

Also check that your party does not become overloaded, it slows them down (weight number in inventory must be white I think). Sell stuff you do not need, you can buy it back, or leave it in a convenient chest (click item on lid). It did not disappear for me so far.

According to the developers, time is not of the essence, so rest whenever neccessary to recover. If low on stamina in combat and out of mana and stamina potions you can defend to regain a litle stamina. Better than dropping unconcious.

I wrote an update to reflect strategy changes at 13ish levels below.

Monastery


The Monastery was easy, I did not die once with carefully advancing and searching. Things I remember:


All together it is easy and fun.

Arnika

Then I went to Arnika, what I did there was:
I then wanted to go to Mt. Gigax, but the Hogar on the way killed me. My first death(s),I tried for a while to get past him. Here is a hint Naomi sent me:

To get by the Hogar, start by walking up the road, he should be yellow in your radar screen, and hell just keep pacing.  (He won't turn red until you're very close to him.)

Then walk up the right slope of grass, and go all the way over to the hillside, and turn back to North and you should be able to see still a yellow dot in your radar.  I did this and was able to walk right by the hogar and into the Northwestern Wilderness...

Of course since I've died and didnt save, and had to do it again, but it worked both times...    :)

Thank you Naomi.

Then went to the Monastry and got the treasure from the Smiths room with the wheel key.

Trynton

Then I went on to Trynton. Fairly hard fights on the way, had to reload a few times but they were managable with good positioning and strategy, unlike the Hogar. I snuck around the Hogars in Trynton and went into the city. Guess it would be possible to kill them with the help of the hunters, but I am scared of them. Easy fights except for the annoying sprites and the hard breeders, talked to a few people.

Things I remember:

On leaving I did kill a Hogar without overly great problems. I also went to the graveyard to the south of Trynton-Arnika road, too late I think. Found a nice instrument for my bard there, another one at the bottom of Trynton on leaving (doh, should have checked there before, it would have helped greatly). The graveyard was way easy, should have gone there before Trynton. The graveyard puzzle I only solved by looking at a spoiler board, but it was not worth it (1000 Exp, nothing else).

Then I went back to Arnika to restock and check it back out,  interesting conversation when arriving in the temple without Vi.

Mt. Gigax

to the Swamp

Back to Tryant and then onwards to the Swamp I went. Luckily both my priest and mage are level 11 now and can portal. Set the priest portal in Arnika and the mage where ever I am currently at. Very nice to be able to portal back to restock. Switched overly cute ranger for Madras, the Gadgeteer.
Then I went on to Marten's Bluff.

Marten's Bluff

Easy fights so far, not finished here yet.
It seems that mindreading Z'Ant found out I am working for the Umpani too, alas. When trying to collect my reward, he attacked me. Could not win the fight, so I had to reload.
Could not find the idol, so on I went back through the swamp to the

Mine Tunnels

One of the locations the mine carts took me to

Lower Marten's Bluff

back to Swamp

The fights in the Swamp became very, very hard of a sudden but do give lots of experience. And I am starting to think it might not have been that good an idea to ally with both Umpani and T'Rang. Just hope the less than bright Rhinos do not figure me out, I kind of like them.

Combat hint update:

All are level 12 to 13 now, mass direct damage cast at high levels has become somewhat useful to take out low hp groups of wasps and bugs in the swamp that give bad status effects, check their resistances (my highest Mythology is 79 or so and I usually see at least the elemental ones) to see what affects them best. The elemental is cool for high hp opponents that do lots of damage (distracts and hurts them), and Guardian Angel is a must cast for tough battles to prevent death. The bard is still essential to the group, besides buffing/debuffing she also does the healing now, so my divine casters can spend their mana on better things. Superman combined with the haste effect from the bard drums is very good if you have the time to cast it. And it is utterly neccessary now to keep all buffs (including Magic Screen, which fortunatly is free with the right instrument) up at all times.

Then I went on to

Trynton and Arnika again

Fights became much easier again once I got Wally back, a good thing too.

Umpani Alliance

I went back to the Umpani and worked for them. Did find a nice bard instrument I had overlooked before in a cave in the Northern Wilderness. And bought a gadget part in the base I have overlooked before, gonna try combining it next time I pass Trynton.

The Umpani were content with my quite yucky proof and the next missions were very easy and gave a lot of information about what is going on on Dominus. I also aehm...borrowed... the thingie from the Mook when paying them a visit. A male Mook Psionist is willing to join, but he does not come along to the Umpani base so I dropped him again. The mission after getting to security level 6 turned out to be too hard for my group (level 13 to 14 now, the monsters there just blasted me away), also Vi refused to come along. So I explored the back part of the tunnels in the hope of gaining more power, found nothing interesting but gained quite a bit experience. On I went,

to the Swamp and onwards and back

Fought through the Ryn Jin and went into the sea caves. Both Vi and Myles refused to come along and not even Urq wanted to go, the wimp. So it was just the six heros and the trusty android that went in. Fights were fairly easy, I wandered around the Island and after a tough battle with a boss Rynjin I freed two hostages. Some interesting info and a very tough male Umpani fighter who demanded we escort him home at once. Which I did, very good reward experiencewise and an order to sabotage the T'Rang which fits right in with my extermination plans. And Woof decided to become a bishop, which has worked out fairly good so far.

Did not get very far this week, alas, very busy at work.

Then I went to back to the T'Rang (through the teleporter) and finally managed
I then ported out and returned to the Umpani, hoping for a huge reward, but it was not that great. And I must say I am not that convinced in their next plan, but it might work. Since I had run back all the way I thought to try the underwater training again, and managed to make my way to Nessie. Very, very hard fight but I did kill her and found some nice treasure in a chest. Alas, in the caves behind her the fights are too tough again.


Party info:
My party now is about level 16 now and Wally, Cat, Liz and the android (and Vi where she does go) are starting to pack quite a punch with multiple attacks (Cat and Liz dual wield but alas their secondary weapons are not very good, yet I keep it up to train them) and some nice (well, depending on which side you are on) stati they give. I also see more crits than before. Lyric in the back row is starting to become somewhat proficient with her shield, she actually manages to block some blows if the party happens to get surrounded. Most combat skills are above 75 now, so I cannot increase them on level up anymore. The Valks polearm skills, with boni, are way above 100 and they do indeed do most damage at the moment. Missile damage is not as big as it used to be, compared to the damage the fighters do in close combat. But the occasional critical hit from Liz does help, and for the Nessie fight I gave him the best arrows I had and that helped too.

I returned to the T'Rang and killed most of them without problems, found their secret super weapon which Woof now uses. Then I went on to the

Southeastern Wilderness

Very easy fights in the beginning, found a nice bard instrument. Seems it was a good decision to try my luck elsewhere, levels and loot for everyone so far. Then came a very tough fight in a temple, I just managed that by moving back out during combat and picking on the evil ones in the hallway. Found some nice equipment behind them, what I like best is a nice sword for Cat. And I found an excellent sword which is Mook only, alas, and I have no Mook :(. On leaving the fights became much tougher and I had to portal out. So I went back to

Bayin

from the swamp, much easier fights up there then though the tunnels. But the rock crabs annoyed me quite a bit, not overly dangerous but the fights take a long time. Found some nice stuff, including a complete gadget and many gadget parts and a black box I plan to take back to Arnika to decode. And Wally finally managed to learn the portal spells. As it seems that the underwater tunnels connect to the Umpani Base I might set her portal there. Levels now are 17 to 18.

I wandered all through the place and finally came to the

Sea Caves

where I found some nice treasure, what I like best so far are a good bow and crossbow. What I remember:
Fights were quite easy and I earned lots of experience. And Woof did get his level 7 priest spells, despite being a bishop, at level 18, which is nice.

I went on to the Rapax caves and fought a bit there, all quite easy for my group of heroes.

Plans: The Rapax, who, it seems, have allied with the Savant in the meantime, need more serious talking to. And lots of unexplored Wilderness left. And the tower. And the tiny matter of Ascension of course....for which I still need a thing I hope the Rattkin have.

Did not play very much as you can see, got caught up in SOL and DAoC. Still hope to finish this great game sometime, or if someone else finishes it first and wants to write the rest I would be glad to add it to the end (Alu? :)). Just send a mail and please state if you would like to see your mail address in the credit or not.

Misc

My ranger could combine some potions when he got to an alchemy skill of 15.
Shark sent me an email saying:

Like you, I have a ranger who gained the ability to mix potions & powders.  Here are some of the combinations I've found:

When his Alchemy skill reached 50, he could make the following combinations:

Thank you Shark.

The shopkeeper inventories change over time, be sure to check back for that great item you have long wanted. Found some real good stuff.

Some hints Jason mailed me (and thank you for pointing out the wrong spelling of "Hogar", I truely thought of them as "hogans" :)):

First of all I wouldn't ever switch your characters as it weakens them, pick the ones you want and stick with it. Best party I have created so far has been, fighter : Dracon, Samurai/Monk : Human/ Elf for monk, Ranger : Mook, Priest : Felpurr, Mage : Faerie, and Bard : Gnome.

I'm not sure about this one but when i was finished with Antone (the Rapax in Arnika) I killed him and got great boots and gloves from him. I also recommend trying a one player party, it is quite exiting, I recommend a Ninja : Fairie or a Lord : Dwarf ( when having smaller parties changing classes can be good help sometimes).  And lastly, the monastary is very easy, I dont know how you thought any battles were remotely hard, I beat 26 rats (one battle) with my single ninja.  I was level 14 when I left the monastary, it was pretty cool, I had max dex and speed.

And a spoiler from him about the missing thing the Rattkin have (highlight to read):

The astral dominae, indeed the Rattkin sell it to you, but its quite expensive unless you find the silver nugget, which sells for 40k, maybe higher, depending who you sell it to. You buy the astral dominae from Don Barlone for 92k but first you need to find the fake one (when you enter the Swamp go straiht along the first path, before the path turns look for a sign, if you walk to it, the Dark Savant appears, yells at you and then leaves the fake astral dominae) .
On being a double agent Andrew Woffendin mailed me:

Just like to say when you play the Umpani against the Tyrang if you go to Helis in Arnika and talk to her she will tell you she knows your a double agent .  however you can buy her silence for not all that much (couple of thousand) this way neither of the two sides will find out.
When doing the missions for the Umpani or Tyrang to take a letter of peace to the Mook DO NOT take the Chaos Morali (unless you have given both letters), I found this out to my error when I had gone too far to reload.

Thank you Andrew.

Questions:

Author: Shakasta Sslytherin - Last Change: 09-May-02  - back to homepage