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New City | Orkogre Castle | Nyctalinth | Munkharama | The Hidden Temple | Land of Dreams | Rattkin Ruins | The Funhouse | Giant Cave | Witch Mountain | Ukpyr | Sphynx Cave | Dionysceus | Return to Nyctalinth | Return to New City | Dragon Cave | City of Sky | Hall of the Dead | Hall of Gorrors | Hall of the Past | Tomb of the Astral Dominae |
A VIDEO BASED WALKTHROUGH TO WIZARDRY 7: CRUSADERS OF THE DARK SAVANT
This is the second part of a series of video-based guides of Wizardry 6, 7 & 8, collectively known as the Dark Savant trilogy. Each game can be played individually without prior exposure to the others, but playing the complete trilogy from start to finish can be a rewarding experience.
Note also that all of the outdoor maps for Wizardry 7 can be found through this link and all of the dungeon maps can be found through this link. I will use them as my frame of reference for where I am and where I am going throughout the walkthrough.
Party Creation
The fundamental first step in any such role-playing game of course is to roll an effective party. If you plan on playing the complete trilogy, extra planning is involved if you want to create characters that will be effective in all three games.
Inventory Import
In fact, something you should plan out for is not just to get the most effective items for your character in Wizardry 7, but also plan out that character's inventory for when he or she will be imported into the next game. Wizardry 8, for reasons of game balance, will not let you import ALL of your wonderful weapons and armor.
Certain items in Wizardry 7 have an assigned tier value for purposes of whether an item can be imported into Wizardry 8. A character can import tier-1 items into Wizardry 8 without limit. A character can import only import 2 tier-2 items into Wizardry 8, and only 1 tier-3 item into Wizardry 8. Items that do not have an assigned tier value cannot be imported into Wizardry 8. So, the ideal is for each character at the end of Wizardry 7 to be carrying 1 tier-3 item, 2 tier-2 items, and the rest tier-1 items prior to importation.
Flamestryke's excellent site on Wizardry 8 provides tables that list the importable tier-items. I've made .pdfs from the information, and they can be downloaded here:
My character profiles also contain import inventories heading into Wizardry 8.
Class Choices
Pure Spell Casters - Pure spellcasters are characters who devote themselves exclusively to one spellbook as their specialization. The four choices are Priest, Mage, Alchemist, and Psionicist. Pure spellcasters tend to get more mana, and recover their mana much more quickly through resting, in comparison to hybrid characters (e.g., Lord, Bard, etc.), making your choice of pure spellcasters an important one.
Psionicists sound really cool, but their utility is limited. They can heal some things, but don't match up to Priests or even Alchemists in that regard. Their key appeal is spells like Psionic Blast and Mind Flay that can both damage monsters and render them insane, a condition that can either prevent monsters from attacking or even cause them to attack each other. When these spells wreak havoc on their targets, it is indeed quite fun. The problem is, the kind of monsters this will work on is quite limited. Monsters that lack minds (e.g., slimes, undead) or monsters with strong mental resistance (e.g., demons) don't respond to such spells in the way you'd hope. A Psionicist can of course use spells that use other elemental sources of damage (e.g., Blades), but these are inferior in comparison to the raw damage that a Mage or Bishop can inflict.
Alchemists are a similar deal. They have some healing ability, and some sources of offensive damage, but both are inferior in comparison to the Priest and the Mage respectively.
This is not to say that there is no merit to their spellbooks. The Alchemist for example has some nice cloud-type spells that can cause lingering damage over the long haul.
The problem with even the Priest and Mage is that they're pretty weak in physical combat, and quickly run out of things to do when they aren't casting spells. So my preference is now to use a Bishop. Bishops take longer to master both the Priest and Mage spellbooks, but makes up for it with greater versatility. The Bishop can respond with either a Priest spell or a Mage spell depending on the situation. It will get even better in Wizardry 8 when the Bishop can access all four spellbooks.
Hybrid Characters - Hybrid characters are basically characters who can combine casting spells with either fighting (e.g., Samurai, Lord, Valkyrie, Monk) or thieving (e.g., Bard, Ninja). I like these kind of characters for a number of reasons.
You get more options than you would with a vanilla Fighter or Thief. Sometimes my Bishop may want to cast a spell in a certain situation, but finds the situation so pressing that another spell is needed even more. Unfortunately, a character can only cast one spell each round. This is where having a hybrid is helpful. Now you can cast both spells now that your hybrid is there to provide the second spell, which would not be the case with a vanilla Fighter or Thief.
Also, sometimes it is helpful to be able to have more than character who can cast the same spell. For example, you may be faced with multiple groups of enemies that can cast spells, so you may want to have more than one character that can cast Silence. You may want more healing power to increase your party's durability. You may want to cast multiple offensive spells during the same round.
On the other hand, sometimes hybrid characters can learn spells that the pure spellcasters can't get around to adding to their spell books, and this leads to more versatility.
The hybrid spellcaster can also provide spellbooks that your pure spellcasters may not provide. For example, the Psionics spellbook is useful in some situations, but those situations are limited. Psionic Blast is helpful against some monsters, but not others. This makes the Monk an ideal addition to a party. The Monk can sometimes draw upon Psionic spells in those limited situations that call for it. But when Psionic spells may not be the best thing for other situations, the Monk can simply revert to fighting with his bare hands and feet.
Why I don't like the Valkyrie - At least not as a core party member. The Valkyrie is probably the better class during Wizardry 6 and 7 as she does everything that a Lord does, and needs less experience to do it. The Valkyrie can use the Diamond Ring during Wizardry 7, but the Lord can't. During Wizardry 8, each has different unique powers. The Valkyrie can cheat death, avoid dying after attacks that bring her health to zero. But you can avoid that altogether if you manage battles effectively. The Lord can augment his own regenerative capabilities with regeneration items found throughout the game. The other tipping point for me is that there will be some distinct weapons that the Lord will be in a position to take better of. I will however welcome Vi Domina as a joinable companion.
Why I don't like the Samurai - At least during Wizardry 6 and 7. Sure, a katana-wielding Samurai that can cast offensive spells just has to sound cool, doesn't it? The problem is, while the Samurai can wear decent body and leg armor, he can only wear pitiful Cuir Gauntlets over the hands, Buskins over the feet, and a Kabuto helm over the head. Attacks are admittedly more frequently aimed at the body and legs of the Samurai. But when attacks do go for the head, hands, or feet, it can really hurt. This is especially the case for the higher-level monsters. At least somebody like a Fighter or Lord can wear top-notch armor over all body parts. However, I do have my Ninja turn into a Samurai for Wizardry 8. Partly because those weak point concerns can at that point to mitigated to a very real degree, and partly because the Samurai gets some powerful new abilities and bonuses that make him a worthwhile character in his own right.
Why I don't like the Ranger - The Ranger just does not have the armor and weapon choices to justify him being a front rank character. The ranger can of course use arrows and Alchemy spells from the back rank, but arrows are often pretty scarce during both Wizardry 6 and 7.
Skills
Alchemy, Thaumaturgy, Theosophy and Theology - These skills are needed for spellcasters to be able to access higher level spells. These skills cannot be trained or practiced. You can only add to them during level-ups. The skill requirements for each spell level are as follows: 1st level spells - no minimum skill requirement, 2nd level spells - 18, 3rd level spells - 36, 4th level spells - 54, 5th level spells - 72, 6th level spells - 90, 7th level spells - 98.
Kirijitsu - This is the skill that Eastern classes (e.g., Samurai, Monk, Ninja) use for killing monsters instantly with a single blow. Like other academic skills, this one cannot be practiced or trained. It can only be increased during level ups. Spare some points for this one if you're serious about honing the character's fighting ability.
Oratory - This is the skill that is needed for your spellcasters to get their spells off without the spell fizzling, or even backfiring. The higher the spell level, and the more you increase that's spells power level, the greater your Oratory needs to be. Oratory can be raised with practice however. A good training technique is for your spellcasters to always zip off a few lower-level spells that will not demand much mana, even during casual fights where it is not needed. The point is simply to seize every opportunity to raise your Oratory skill without having to add to it during level-ups. This will serve you well during the later stages of the game.
Artifacts and Scrolls - Invoking items with magical charges and incanting scrolls can provide back rank characters with other options, especially when they want to conserve mana or draw on other options. These skills can also be trained. The thing is, they always go up by one whenever you try to invoke an item or incant a scroll, even if it fizzles. Use your items, scrolls, and powders without reservation. Don't worry, they come in a steady stream. Your pure spellcasters can practice these skills at the beginning, and once their spellbook skill (e.g., Theology or Thaumaturgy) is maxed out, they can begin to add to these skills during level-ups.
Skullduggery - You need at least 10 in this skill to begin opening locked doors or disarming traps. After that, you can raise this skill with practice on each door or trap that you find afterwards, or with your physical skill points during each level-up..
Weapon skills - Warrior classes now get a lot of skill points to spend on weapons, so feel to pour them into whatever kind of weapon your character is now using or you anticipate will use in the future..
Spell Selection
There are also a number of considerations involved with choosing your spells on each level up.
Multiple uses of the same spell - Sometimes a spell is so useful, or you may want to cast it more than once in the same combat round, so that it is helpful to have more than one character who can cast it. For example, suppose you run into several groups of Demons. If you have two or more characters who can cast Astral Gate, you can blow them away in very short order. On the other hand ...
Versatility - Suppose that more than one character in the party can draw on the same spellbook. One character can learn a spell that the other character may not have time for, and this can lead to greater versatility. For example, my Faerie Bishop will want to concentrate on offensive spells. My Bard therefore learns Fire Shield and Ice Shield, so that the party is ready for monsters that use fire or cold based attacks. This takes some of the slack off my Mage.
Start accumulating early - Try to get your early spells from as many of six realms, Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Divine, and Mental, as you can. Sure, it may be tempting to have your Mage learn the Fire spells in a straight succession. Or same thing with your Priest when it comes to Divine spells. But if you put things off, by the time your spell caster gets around to learning spells from other realms, your spell caster won't have a lot of mana for that realm. By having your spellcaster learn his or her early spells from each of the realms will begin an early accumulation of mana in each realm that persists with each level up.
Choose the most powerful spell for each realm when you can - Here's an example. Cure Stone has an Earth mana cost of 18 per power level. Armor Plate has an Earth mana cost of 8 per power level. If a Priest learns Cure Stone, then the Priest will accumulate more Earth mana with each level up then he or she would if the Priest had only learned Armor Plate. Learning the most powerful and available spells from each realm, Nuclear Blast for Fire, Resurrection for Divine, etc. will result in more accumulation of mana in that realm during each subsequent level up.
The Creation Process
If you're interested in the details and whys behind the party members I created, follow the links below for each party member as follows:
And now that my party has been created, it is time to start the game itself with the party arriving at New City.
I’ve submitted past guides to Sorcerer’s Place as Dave Milward. My alias here, however, is Beren. If there’s anything you’d like to share with me, by all means you’re welcome to send me an e-mail to beren
or contact me via PM on the SP message boards. If I find anything particularly helpful and worth mentioning specifically, I’ll give credit where credit is due in updates.
All the maps in this guide have been downloaded from http://www.tk421.net/wizardry/wiz7maps-f.shtml and http://www.tk421.net/wizardry/wiz7maps-o.shtml and remain the property of the owners.
Implemented in .PHP format by Montresor.
This guide may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of the author and of Sorcerer's Place.
