Is it just me that it finds almost impossible to play Wizardry 6 and 7 after having played Wizardry 8?
It feels like......going back to pre-stone age. Am I doing something wrong?

Actually I find it other way around. I just can' t make myself play Wizardry 8 unlike 6 and 7. If at least there were no level scaling, things could be better.

All Wizardries after 8th one were more like Wiz 1-7 rather than 8 for a very good reasons.

You can look at Elminage Gothic which is continuation of Wizardry series and is basically Wizardry XXXV (+-5). Yes, that's how many Wizardry games didn't make it to PC or West.

Wizardry 6 is... very primitive. Mouse support was an afterthought so the UI is still heavily keyboard-focused, you can't move and turn at the same time, equipping items has to be done in a block, you need 5-6 keypresses to complete even simple tasks, etc... Also, let's be honest, the graphics haven't aged that well. (With a few notable exceptions, like hellcats or sea serpents.) If you played Wizardry 8 first then it's quite understandable that you'd have trouble going back.

Wizardry 7 suffers from a lot of the same problems to a lesser degree. The UI is still dated, but it's significantly more streamlined than 6, and the game is a whole lot better-looking. You're still looking at 2-4 keypresses for various actions. And if you're playing Gold for some reason, you get to hear all that atrocious voice acting!


If you can get past the UI, however, they are really great games underneath. Both are entirely worth the effort, especially 7.

Wizardry 6 has poor graphics; especially the character portraits look bad, but still it manages to convey a great "baroque" atmosphere for most of the game.
The UI is a bit clunky, but clunky keyboard controls are still much quicker than clunky mouse controls.

Personally, I played 6 first. (Barely got anywhere)

Then 7 (Barely got anywhere)

Then 8 (Got somewhat far)

but I want to beat and play them in succession with the same party transferred throughout. So I continued with 6 and am freaking loving it <3 I loved what I saw in 7, and 8 is my favourite overall. Though while many would complain about the party never shutting the hell up everytime anything happens. And sometimes acting doofy when they do

Party member: Oooh look a creature! (To the "human" enemy)

I personally think it adds to the atmosphere. (And it never bothered me) and also, the psychotic voices sound freaking awesome. Unlike in Neverwinter Nights where the voiceclip sounds like a typical screaming lunatic. These voiceclips actually sound more believable (Think along the lines of Jack Nicholson from The Shining)

The problem I have with Wizardry 6 and 7 is that the mechanics are ugly, particularly regen rates and base miss chance. Regen rates, for example, are determined by your starting class and never increase. Also, the rates are slow that resting to recover your spells takes way too much real time, especially later on.

Base miss chance has its issues as well. It only improves when you reach at least the highest level that you have reached before, and never past level 20. For instance, a character who levels up to 21 as a mage and then to 255 as a fighter will be permanently handicapped in her fighting abilities. On another note, a character who keeps class changing between mage and bard at the same level will eventually have a better base miss chance than someone who is just a straight fighter. To me, that doesn't make much sense, and the game doesn't tell you any of this stuff, so most players won't be able to make this decision.

There's also similar issues with hit points and spell points. For HP, I think the way Wizardry 1-5 handled them was a lot better. With spell points, the problem is that if you don't learn a type of magic until late, you will be lacking in this manner.

Wizardry 8's mechanics are a lot more elegant and transparent than those of 6 and 7. While your first choice of class does matter, it only affects HP and spell picks, and only one levels worth at most.