A timeless classic that lives on well past it's initial release.
Gameplay: 10
Wizardry has always shined in the gameplay aspect. The designers always find a great mixture of story, combat, and gameplay mechanics that just keeps you coming back for more. I will warn players that there is a steep learning curve in the beginning. In fact the location 'Arnika Road' has been known to drive fear and utter contempt to many who are familiar with this game. Don't be discouraged if you have to restart many times to find the right balance of characters that meld well and actually allows you to progress through the game without wanting to scream at the computer every minute. With some trial and error a player will eventually find combinations that work well for them and with a few levels it becomes a little easier to get around. Eventually (like in any RPG) you get the feel for everything and notice your party can rip through just about everything leaving little frustration. Secrets are plentiful in this game and I dare say that there are still some undiscovered or at least lesser known ones out there still. Graphics: 10
Grading from a scale of today's graphical standards this game certainly would not score this high. Instead I chose to grade it based on what was coming out around the time it was released and how well it has appeared on today's new machines. I played the game on a Pentium 3 700mhz with just a basic grapics card when I first bought it. It looked good then but struggled in same areas. A year later I upgraded to a Pentium 4 3.0 gig dual core drive and an ATI 9600 256RAM graphics card and the graphics took on an immense improvement. So while computers back in the day made this game look good, what we have now make it look even better and play even faster. Just don't expect anything on par to Elder Scrolls: Oblivion and you'll still enjoy the sights. Sound: 9.5
The music scores are really well done. Each area takes on different score and even fades out and starts again to keep the repetition down to a minimum. The one fault it has here is in the battle music realm. There are only three scores (maybe four?) for battles and after you'eve heard them several thousands of times it does get really annoying. In fact I play the game with music off more often now but that's only because I've played it so many times that I just can't stand to listen to the battle music much any more. The voice acting is quite good and there are numerous hidden voiceovers that are just hilarious. A few character voices are annoying but you have the option to change them in game if one particulr voice gets too annoying. Sound effects are great and include everything from the grateful clank on a shield to the sickening crunch of a mace on bare skin. Spells come alive too and have their own distinct rings when fired off.
Value: 10
There are few games out there that you can put down for a year and then get the urge to dive into again. Wizardry 8 gives you so much replay since each game has the potential to turn out slightly differently each time. Of course having numerous classes and races adds to the replay making you wonder if a particular group will work better than your last. I've found that every time I play I seem to alway use the same group and just find ways to make them even better so there's always that option too. As I mentioned before there are plenty of secrets too. It seems that on every new adventure I always run across an item I had never found previously. While some are useless there's always the occsional powerful find that makes the game all the more interesting. If you do ever happen to come across this game in a garage sale or a bargain pick be sure to pick it up and just hide it somewhere safe when you've had you're fill; I can guarentee in a year or two you will want to dig it out just to see what else you can do in it again.
Tilt: 10
RPG's seldom give you so many options to customize your characters let alone have so much control over them and options to have more than one at your disposal. Wizardry 8 gives you so much control over you characters and even some recuitable NPCs that you'd wonder why no one else has tried the same mechanics. I will say that patience and careful planning can be the difference between a decent group and a wholly powerful and near unstoppable group (and that's without using cheats or trainers). The options are plentiful in this game but the player just has to decide exactly how they want to use what's at their disposal.
In summary, the Wizardry series is wrapped up nicely in this last addition and this chapter is clearly a superior version to all the rest. While I miss the classic bar option from Wizardry 1 (allowing you to have numerous characters to pull from for an outing) it is a minor gripe and its inclusion probably wouldn't fit into the story line well. For those fortunate to have a working copy (let alone a computer that can still play it) of Wizardry 7 I definitely recommended playing through it first, checking the FAQs for importable items and then getting your group outfitted with the nicest and choice items you can bring from 7 into 8. There are unfortunately some items that either can only be imported from 7 or are just extremely rare in 8 that you may never even see them. The *Light Sword* and *Light Shield* are the predominant examples as I have yet to come across them in 8 after four full adventures. Even without powerful items from the previous game, Wizardry 8 packs plenty of great items, adventures and the chance to put together a great party that will have you coming back to play for years on end.