Wizardry 8

When I first downloaded it, it didn't even work. I followed various advice but still nothing. I uninstalled it and pretty much wrote it off. Consider that a warning. This has been many people's experience with this game from GOG and it could well be yours. Years pass and I decide on a whim to give it another shot. Lo and behold, it decides to actually boot up. I spend a happy hour creating a rather large party of 6 characters. The creation system is fairly deep but I found the wording on skill and ability descriptions was often frustratingly vague. If you're a min-maxer or don't like to make blind decisions this could be quite off putting. For example, I chose a gageteer and although I'm about 8 levels in with my team and despite having collected several 'crafting items' (and even heard about some things I might want to build) I have absolutely no idea how to actually make anything. Spellcasting is more obvious except you have a mana pool, and then spell points for each school of magic. My bishop is like a cleric and wizard rolled into one, with access to all magic and it's it quite irritating that even though I have tonnes of mana, I can't cast a certain spell because I'm out of spell points for that school. So the game's quite obtuse, but that's ok. Graphically It's functional but only just. Animations are ... there. It's all pretty basic but it's an old game. The soundscape is quite nice and although the music is repetitive it's not awful. The voice acting is really where this game shines for me. It's definitely above-average and the script is well written enough for the clear talent of the actors to shine. Finally, the combat. It's slow, clunky and takes some getting used to. It's not quite as difficult as I'd been led to believe although some fights are just unwinnable, forcing a reload. SAVE OFTEN. For more on this, watch sseth's video on youtube. It's fun, in a masochistic kind of way. F*** the lockpicking though.

Both Wiz 8 and Jagged Alliance 2 came out just as the MMO's starting appearing. Great games that were never noticed.

game crashe but a very good game over all

A must for old school dungeon RPG games.

One of my favourite old games. For those who not afraid of permanent tactical battles