Inspired by some other topic in this thread, I invite other forum members to post their tips they'd like to teach to new players that make the game easier without breaking it. Here are some of mine:

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If you want a Bard or Gadgeteer in your party, make them female. There are amulets in the game that replenish stamina very quickly, but only female characters can wear them.

Train your fighters in polearms as well as swords. There are enemies who like to stand just beyond the reach of swords or daggers and hit you from there, causing you major aggravation in having to move a step forward at the beginning of each turn.

Make sure neither the Umpani nor T'Rang are hostile to you; their quests are easy and a source of a huge number of XP.

The Bard is a great character to have in the beginning and middle parts of the game, while the Gadgeteer really comes into his/her own only in the later parts.

Fights are much easier if you use an Insanity spell/instrument in the first turn.

There's a great sword in the game that only Mooks can use; take that into account when choosing a weapons specialisation for your Mook.

Don't spread your level-up points on multiple magic schools for your Bishop unless you're an advanced player. Focus on no more than two.

The Soul Shield spell is absolutely essential, even more so than other friendly buffs.

A Bard in your party increases the efficiency of resting, while a Ranger is more adept at spotting enemies from a distance (on your radar).

Have someone in your party capable of alchemy. Potion mixing is a powerful ability to have access to. Perhaps too much so, as you can make an enormous amount of money mixing certain potions and selling them for profit. Builds up the alchemy skill quickly too. In my very first playthrough, I completely ignored potion mixing and was consistently out of money and undergeared. Made for some interesting fights, though. :)

Also, if you're rolling a ranger, make 'em a mook and focus on maxing out strength and senses. Strength and power strike ensures your success in melee combat plus strength adds to melee and bow damage. Senses gives you eagle eye which lends itself to uncanny ranged accuracy. Don't neglect your sword skill.

The Lord special ability is regenerate hit-points... they can use cursed armour and weapons without dying from the hit point drain effect.

A lizardman psionic will never go nuts and hits very hard with a staff.

Saxx & RFs-81 are the only ones that will stay in your group for the final battle... Vi will go the battle but she fights with a mace after leaving your group and drops all of her gear... presumably to show off her gear.

Yes, and even better is if it can be cast as quickly as possible. Having the Priest/Psionic/hybrid cast this quickly requires high senses/speed.

I also think that Elemental Shield is absolutely essential.

Don’t drop items on the ground... You can store them in a chest forever which takes the weight off characters that use speed (eg. Samurai) but be aware that placing some things like the artefacts into a chest can confuse the game engine into thinking that you have not completed certain check points.

Shops replenish their stock on a timer and by the end game their inventory could full up with junk... if you want to buy the better books & armour from say Ferro then first splurge on miscellaneous ammo to remove it from his list and bring the better items into view.

NPCs will leave your party when you enter certain areas. You can avoid this by making them unconscious before entering. To do so, simply remove all of their stamina regenerating gear and run around for a while till they drop.
You may also use Return to Portal to enter those areas with the NPCs in your party.
They will complain and have lowered statistics, but otherwise they will fight and gain XP normally.
This may cause problems if you are supposed to pick up certain NPCs while your party is full.

You can release both of your NPCs anytime by clicking on their portrait from inventory menu.

Which of the Wizardry's do these tips apply to? Is it for all or only Wizardry 8?

Thanks.

8

I wish I had known that....

...Ninjas should be fairies because their best weapon is fairy ninja only.
...the sword Bloodlust is more useful on anything but a fighter, because they already have berserk

To don't make others misunderstand this, fighter with Bloodlust is still amazing killing machine. I finished W8 five times and always had fighter with bloodlust in party ;)

Of course, but it would be much better to put the Bloodlust on a Rogue or Bard or something. Bards are really good with it, and when you have the music skills you want, you can multiclass him to rogue, and he will be in insane berserk+backstab killing machine with music! But this would be rather late in the game, while the rogue will mow down anything as soon as you find the sword, which is very early. Berserk doubles damage, backstab doubles damage, both work together, the result is ridiculous damage, im pretty sure this was not intended by the devs.
Fighter will be an amazing killing machine with anything. Staff of doom I like best.

I'm trying to remember: what are the requirements for merging potions using the alchemy skill? I don't *think* it's limited to the alchemist class, and I'm pretty sure you just use the standard Merge command, but does it have minimum skill requirements or the like?

Yep, 15 Alchemy is needed for the simplest potions, and 95 for the most powerful ones, with others coming inbetween as regards the skill requirement. Mixing potions, or cascading them from simplest to more complex, is a great way to build up the skill.