One of the most complete Computer RPGs ever developed. A Mandatory game to have beaten before you can be called an RPGer
Although Sir Tech re-released it's incredibly deep and complex Wizardry 7 as a Windows 95 only RPG called Wizardry gold in 96, and made a poorly conceived semi-sequel called Wizardry: Nemesis, it was still thought of as a long-dead gaming series. With Sir Tech realizing it couldn't compete in this new "Bioware-Blizzard" CRPG era, it seemed unlikely that Wizardry would get a proper burial.
Until now…
It might have taken them 5 years, but Sir Tech was finally able to give heartbroken Wizardry fans a reason to dig out their Wizardry 7 Saved Games and pick up their spell books for another round of adventure. Through all the negotiations, copyright problems, money troubles, and speculation, Sir Tech Canada was able to Squeeze Wizardry 8 out just in time before the final bell sounded. The real question now is…Has the series ended with glory, or is it another Ultima 9?
Even though D.W. Bradley is no longer with this series, it doesn't show. Wizardry 8 picks up right where the last game left off, albeit nearly a decade later. Your characters, having been in cryo-storage since leaving Guardia in Wizardry 7, are awakened when your ship is shot down by the Dark Savant and lands on the occupied planet of Dominus. It is here, on this planet, that the artifacts you were fighting for in the past three Wizardry games will be used, and it is here that one being shall rise to be the true god of the cosmos.
The Dark Savant, of course, wants to be that god. Your job is to stop him.
Along the way however, you will find out that there are bigger happenings on Dominus, and that many of the opposing factions of the planet's people are at war, or on the brink of it. As you meet each of the world's major races, the way you react to them and how you treat them will determine how they view you. Pissing off the wrong people can, in this game, severely hinder your progress, thus lending an air of realism to the world. You can form alliances with the T'rang or the Umpani, and then even sell them out to their enemies, if you so desire.
That is the beauty of Wizardry 8's "Story". It's not just about the Savant and his plan for becoming a god, it is also about the different races living on Dominus and how they depend upon you to right centuries of wrongs that have been committed. Not many single player games involve you so deeply in faction politics, so this is a welcome addition to the Wizardry series.
The core of Wizardry 8 was programmed quite a few years before its release, before the Geforce 3, before computers began to ship with 512 Megs of Ram, and before we all had 2.2 Gigahertz CPUs. With this taken into account, you have to be somewhat surprised to see Wizardry 8 looking so fabulous in a time where if a game doesn't use the Lithtech, Unreal, or Quake 3 engines, it's lambasted by the gaming press. Naturally, enemies do not have many polygons making them up, which results in lots of sharp, geometrical edges jutting out of their bodies. Cliff faces and hills also tend to be fairly angular, often times creating slopes that look like they could be climbed, but are unfortunately, unreachable.
The real beauty of Wizardry 8 is in the designs of the world and the creatures that prowl it. From the very moment your party washes ashore, you'll see some of the most beautifully drawn 3D areas ever conceived. You'll turn around to see a rippling waterfall cascading off of a mountain, and down into a stream. You'll swim through that stream to the south and find a land bridge that arches over the area, giving you a small glimpse at how large this game's first "Dungeon" really is. You'll see the crashed spaceship your party came in on, and you'll see a fully-animated sky complete with changing weather patterns, clouds, and day-to-night cycles.
What really grabs you is the insane amount of detail within the monsters you fight. Not only do they take swings and throw things at you, but they realistically react to your attacks. Punch a bandit in the face, and laugh as his head reels backwards and his hand's flail out to the sides. Even the Stone Golems, when attacking you with their rock attacks, will reach down into the earth below and pull up balls of mud to heave at you. Take a shot at them, however, and watch as their bodies chip away, and small bits of stone crumble away from them piece by piece.
The creature models even register the amount of damage you do to them. Each monster has about 4 different damage models, showing you how beat up a monster is without even looking at their hit points. Watch as arms fall limp to the rogue's side and ooze blood, and admire the beautiful black eyes you give them with your punches.
When it comes to graphics, Wizardry 8 borrows from Anachronox, and takes quality over quantity. In other words…it is the subtle little nuances of the engine that make it beautiful.
Finding a well-playing 3D RPG is difficult, to say the least. It seems to me anyway, that whenever an RPG Goes "totally 3D", that often times means combat suffers. Take one look at Wizards & Warriors or Might & Magic's last three chapters to see my point. The programmers seem to be unable to find a way to create a turn-based, tactical combat system capable of dealing with a 3D environment. They try pausing the game with the spacebar to issue commands, yet defining the length of a round is difficult when enemies come at you from all four sides and there are no "Grids" to measure movement rates or attack distances. Even an "Action RPG" like Ultima 9 was unable to create a decent combat system, instead falling back to a Zelda-esque type of one-button sword swinging unbefitting someone as disciplined as an avatar who saved his world seven times over.
It, of course, did not become any better when "original" 3D RPGs like Descent to Undermountain tried to succeed where their ancestors failed. 3D and RPGs just didn't seem to go together well enough, and until Wizardry 8, I believed this.
Wizardry 8 does a spectacular job of doing 3D combat by adding a 3-D party formation circle where the player can place each of his eight heroes manually. You can put fighters up front, mages in the middle, and a couple more well-armored combatants in the back to guard against those rather sneaky monsters that come up from behind. Combat starts as soon as a monster notices your presence (You often times can run around monster groups before they see you in range) or you manually start ranged combat with an unaware beastie. Either way, you never have to worry about having enemies materialize on top of you. The order everyone attacks in the combat round is decided by their personal initiative, and the entire party can also move during combat, giving them the option to close the gap between them and the enemy, or perhaps widen it and launch some arrows or spells. All in all, it's a wonderfully balanced combat system that doesn't make the mistakes other 3D RPGs have made. I have yet to hear anyone speak badly of it.
NPC interactions are very similar to Wizardry Gold. You are given use of a small text box where you can input your questions to NPCs, and in turn, the NPC picks up on certain phrases or words and answers them to the best of their ability. It's a remarkably beautiful system, and I have had fun toying around with the NPCs. They even make smart comments when you curse at them!
Last but not least, we have the leveling system. Continuing the same character development scheme found in the previous two Wizardry games was Sir-tech's quickest, and presumably, easiest decision. Essentially, the game did not deviate from the two previous game's system, other then a few logical tweaks. (Like changing Ledgermain to Lock picking, and Skullduggery to Stealth.) Every skill your character knows slowly gains by a fraction of a point each time it's used, and in time, with enough repetition, the skill can (and will) reach it's natural maximum of 100. Simple, understandable, logical, and workable. This same formula also applies to your ability scores, the only difference being that the only way they can be permanently increased is by spending points on them after you level up. All in all, it's an effective system that lets you single out the skills and spells you want to focus on, and build the type of party you feel most comfortable with. That is what makes an RPG well balanced and playable. Unfortunately, many modern games lack that.
Although a nice touch in some areas, Wizardry 8's music is a bit repetitive. There are not many music tracks, and before long you begin to shut the music out of your head completely. On the other hand, the game's sound effects are top-notch. Whether it's the sloshing sound your feet make as you crawl through the muck-filled swamplands, the rustling of leaves as you pass by wooded areas, the chirping of birds, or the splashing of water in a city's fountain, everything sounds as professional as can be. EAX is supported very well, and really adds a lot to the combat scenes, since you can actually hear the grunts and growls of enemies behind you and to the sides as their weapons whiz by your head or their spells explode on top of you.
When it comes to making an RPG with replay value, there are only two things you need to do. First, you need to make your game fairly non-linear with multiple endings. Secondly, you need to allow for vast customization of character classes and a large array of optional skills. Wizardry 8 does both of these, and more. Not only does it give you nearly a dozen character classes, but it also gives you so many skills and "secret" abilities to use during your game that even after three complete trips through the game, I've yet to experiment with everything.
Add to this the fact that there are reportedly three different endings, and also a multitude of different pathways to take to those endings (Such as siding with the Umpani instead of the T'rang) and you have the makings of an instant classic that is sure to stay on your Hard Drive for years.
I'm going to be very frank with everyone reading this right now: I love Wizardry 8. It is one of my favorite RPGs of all time, and for an Old-Schooler like me, it was pure heaven. The graphics weren't Morrowind-esque, but they didn't have to be. With a large world, a 100 hour long quest, and enough replay value to choke a dragon, there really isn't anything bad I can say about Wizardry 8.
Unlike Ultima, this series did NOT go out on a sour note. It ended in a bang, with an exceptional ending both to the game itself and to the series. For all the Wizardry fans out there who have been waiting for a real sequel, and for all the old-school RPG'ers that want Turn Based combat in a true 3D engine, I give you this final phrase:
Your heaven has arrived.