Wizardry 8

"The perfect RPG deserves more fame."

In the world of RPG series there are three juggernauts - Origin's ''Ultima'', New World Computing's ''Might and Magic'' and Sir-Tech's ''Wizardry''. These three produced games with many descendents and even spin-offs of the fantasy world. Ultima spawned 9 games, the two 'Ultima Underworld' games (the first games, perhaps to fuse RPG and FPS elements), the MMORPG 'Ultima Online' and even some distantly related games such as 'Savage Empire' and 'Martian Dreams'. Origin was known for its love of emulating a real world in their games, paying intense attention to small details such as NPC lifestyles and even such things as baking and sewing. The subsequent release of Ultima 8: Pagan, which was more or less an action-game, was made even more shocking when the series wound up with the notorious Ultima 9. Ultima's dream had come to an end.

New World Computing's Might and Magic series focused on battle, quests, and more battle. They had innovative twists, such as the way 'Clouds of Xeen' and 'Darkside of Xeen' could be fused together, becoming a new game entirely - 'World of Xeen'. Unfortunately, NWC took Origin's lead and released games that were progressively worse, eventually faltering and ending the series. The offspring turn-based-strategy game of Heroes of Might and Magic seemed destined to make the series live on, yet HOMM4 has recently proved to be a terrible failure, and could spell the end of NWC's realm.

Then we have Sir-Tech's Wizardry series. Sir-Tech was not initially a real competitor to the might of Origin or New World Computing. Though games such as Wizardry 6: Bane of the Cosmic Forge were seen as true RPGs, Sir-tech didn't overpower its two rivals until Wizardry 7: Crusaders of the Dark Savant.

Now, the Wizardry series has always been aimed more at 'hardcore' RPGers. Crusaders of the Dark Savant lacked the alluring graphics of Ultima and Might and Magic, but instead delivered the most challenging RPG ever created. The game faced you against innumerable foes more powerful than yourself, had you cross the world of Guardia in search of an artifact known as the Astral Dominae. Wizardry, like Might and Magic, fused technology with fantasy with fantastic results. The battle against the technology of the Dark Savant never seemed contrived or ludicrious. Magic clashed against technology as rival factions battled on Guardia and NPCs travelled freely, affecting the entire thread of the game.

However, after Wizardry 7, the series seemed to have ended. Unlike Ultima and Might and Magic, new games were not being churned out on an almost annual basis, although many gamers were still grappling with the T'rang and the Savant. Then Sir-Tech finally released Wizardry 8, and unlike Origin and New World Computing, they have finished their legacy with their greatest game ever.

And what a great game it is.

Wizardry 8 is born in a time where RPGs are gaining lustre and losing substance. Pretty-but-shallow games like Neverwinter Nights are now the face of the RPG genre. Morrowind is almost legendary merely because it has the graphical edge that the superior prequel Daggerfall could not use to attract customers. They are slowly but surely melding with the other genres, losing the challenge and depth that RPGs were defined by.

It seemed that the days of the truly great history-defining RPGs like Wizardry 7, Ultima VII and Might Magic III were gone. Certainly a few great games rose here and there - the Fallout series, Sir-Tech's own 'Shadows over Riva', and Planescape: Torment (which I have not played yet have heard nothing but praise for.) But until Wizardry 8, it seemed that the great RPG was not what it used to be.

Wizardry 8 carries from Wizardry 7 with some grim news - The Dark Savant has won the Astral Dominae, one of the three artifacts of the Cosmic Lords. Combined with its siblings, the Chaos Molari and the Destinate Dominus, it is rumoured that it can allow one to transcend the Cosmic Lords themselves, shaping the universe itself with the Cosmic Forge. A small planet named Dominus is now the scene for the greatest event in the history of the universe, where a local tradition known as the 'Ascension' is mixed with the very fate of the Cosmic Forge.

The Chaos Molari is discovered by the peaceful, intelligent Mook, who travel to Dominus to undertake further research. The Savant also travels there in his Black Ship, using the Astral Dominae to create an army of willing cyborgs. Yet they are not the only visitors to Dominus - the great T'rang Empire, betrayed by the Savant on Guardia, now seek to kill the Savant. Their sworn rivals, the Umpani, follow the T'rang to ensure that they cannot Ascend and wipe out the Umpani Federation. Tagging along like a parasite is the cunning Rattkin Razuka.

If all these alien visitors aren't enough, Dominus itself is home to natives. The technologically advanced Higardi are the very race who are the centre of the rite of Ascension, and yet their own part in this role was lost along with the Destinae Dominus, stolen from their monastery by a man named Marten. Living alongside them are the thieving but peaceful Trynnie, the primitive psionic Rynjin, and the war-hungry Rapax.

The game fits Wizardry 7 perfectly and several details will only be clear if you have played both - are the Higardi really the Helazoid from Guardia? How did the Ratkin manage to travel from one planet to another? And how has their betrayal at the hands of the Savant affected the T'rang?

You play a group of adventurers brought to Dominus by a Mook vessel. You know nothing of your surroundings, save that the Dark Savant's Black Ship has shot your ship down and killed your guide. The time of the Ascension is at hand, and it seems that many people see you as Messengers, perhaps even the very ones chosen to Ascend.

Okay, that's enough storyfilling and reminiscing for one review. The plot is filled with such startling details, and the storyline is never dull. The mix of star-faring and magic is handled far better than in many games that attempt the same, merely by not treating it as anything unusual. It therefore seems natural to be fighting giant rats before entering the Higardi Spaceport, or to have your wizard cast Fireball while your gadgeteer operates his Omnigun.

Wizardry has always defied the AD&D trend with classes. Of course, there is still a Fighter - every game has a Fighter - the solid but dependable warrior. And yes, there is a Mage, a Priest, a Ranger, a Bard and a Rogue. But there are also the most unique classes - the Samurai, the Ninja, the Gadgeteer, the Monk, the Alchemist, the Bishop, the Valkyrie and the Lord. There is no shortage of diversity here. Many of the classes have magical powers of some sort, and all are very unique and worthwhile. They have such diverse traits that each character is distinctly different.

There are also an assortment of races, with the usual Human, Dwarf, Gnome, Halfling and Elf. But they are met with the more exotic and unusual - the Fairy, the Dracon, the Lizardman, the Mook, the Rawulf and the Felpurr (the latter two being antromorphic animals, unfortunately).

Along with your six or less hand-made party members, you can also recruit up to two NPC 'hirelings', although they are also a unique Wizardry feature. They will talk to you, even act as tour guides for various areas, they will refuse to enter some places or go to far for home, they will not let you take equipment that they value for themselves and are often of the races you cannot create - there are T'rangs, Trynnie, Umpani and even Rapax NPCs who will fight at your side if the time is right.

There are also a lot of skills. Melee skills are fairly diverse, with a skill for each type of combat - Close Combat and Ranged - then a skill for each weapon type, and then other related skills such as Dual Wield and Critical Strike. There are four schools of magic, Wizardry, Alchemy, Psionics and Divinity, and each uses the six schools of Water, Fire, Earth, Air, Mind and Divine. Needless to say, this game has a lot of spells, each capable of being cast at a power of 1-7. Greater powers are more risky to cast at, particularly if you are poorly skilled. A backfired Nuclear Blast tends to annoy the party as a whole.

Wherein lies one of the greatest strengths of Wizardry - the personalities. You choose a personality for each of your characters along with their name and portrait, and then one of two voices. There is a staggering amount of speech in the game. Pretty much every major event provokes comment from your characters, and each character has a different view on the situation should they be the one to say it. There are also some amusing personalities, such as the evil cunning one (who, upon the death of an NPC, remarks ''Let's prop the body against a tree and pretend like he's sleeping''), the weird hippy (the Trynnie Chief? ''I sensed great positive energy inside him'') and the bored (a horde of Granite Golems approach, and all he can say is ''Look. It might kill us.'')

The only game to ever have this sort of feature in the past is Sirtech's own 'Shadows over Riva'. It far outclasses the bland personalities of Morrowind and Neverwinter Nights, and you WILL grow fond of your party over time. Their constant banter is very endearing and entertaining.

Much as I want to avoid breaking a review like this into parts, if I don't do it soon you'll think I'm writing a novel instead of a review.

* Graphics

The game itself, graphically, is attractive without being remarkable. The textures are generally quality, with a few drab spots, and some things such as trees are even rather ugly. But the graphics do a marvellous job of making you feel at home in Dominus, and you may even stop and marvel at the scenery every now and then. If you find yourself doing this, however, then you should probably try going outside more often.

The monster models are fantastic. They each have various appearances ranging from Healthy to Almost Dead, and there is a great variety of different monsters in the game. They also have a nice feature where they scale in size according to HP. They also come in 'species', which means that the slime you see in the distance might turn out to be the humble Green Slime, or the less humble Flesh-eater Slime. The 'Mythology' skill allows your party members to eventually identify, and preferably annihilate, the creatures of the game. This is no Diablo-style palette switch, as each genus is often markedly different.

On the downside, objects dropped on the ground have primitive spinning models that seem very out of place with the terrain and the detailed monsters. This is why you should pick them up and sell them. Don't litter Dominus.

Rating: 7/10

+ monsters look great
+ attractive landscape
+ portrait art is nice
+ good textures
- dropped items are ugly

* Sound

The sounds of combat are well done, the usual 'whoosh' and 'chop' and 'boom'. There are a variety of footsteps and plenty of ambience, as well as some unremarkable tunes that are still quite pleasant to hear and fit their themes well. It's the voice acting of your own party that really shines here, and although not every NPC has the same quality of voice, they're overall well done.

The monsters also have their own grunts, growls and screams, all of which are well done. There are plenty of ambient effects, and little sounds like the clicks and whirs as you disarm the gears of a trap add greatly to the game.

Rating: 8/10

+ voice acting
+ ambience
+ sounds are generally high quality
- music could be better

* Gameplay

Gameplay in Wizardry 8 revolves around one thing in particular - combat. You'll be fighting a lot in this game, usually against vast hordes. Monsters wander the world in packs, and you'll often run into two or three at once. In addition to this, monsters keep repopulating the world so that you never run out of things to fight. This is both good - you get to fight and level for as long as you want, and you'll often run into a new type of monster you've never seen - and bad, as you try to travel back to Arnika and are constantly attacked by bats.

The combat is turn-based, with a 'continuous' option that is only going to get you killed. Each character is given an order, such as casting a spell or attacking a monster, and then all hell breaks loose as the combat round begins. Combat is generally great fun. The spells are explosive and your characters curse, cheer and even mourn the fall of their comrades. The battles can drag on for a long time, but you can speed up the monster movement rate and the overall combat speed in the Options, which helps immensely. There is also the option of a verbose option that tells you exactly what bodypart you hit the monster in - a feature that was in Crusaders of the Dark Savant.

The problem here is that if you find you don't like the turnbased combat of Wizardry 8 you may not like the game at all. Combat is the very soul of this game. You'll often fight a seemingly impossible number of adversaries, and the fun comes from not only succeeding but from becoming strong enough to eventually come back, face your old foes, and tear them to pieces. The storyline itself is intriguing enough to persuade you to keep on trying that impossible battle, hoping to win so that you can get to your destination... and if you fail, you're willing to try again. Maybe you'll try a different spell or tactic this time.

There are also a few rudimentary object puzzles, nothing which will tax your mind for a great length of time. There are many other little features that add a great deal to the game - lockpicking and trap disarming is well done (although picking the major locks can be an exercise in patience), your Gadgeteer can tinker with various objects trying to merge them into a nifty gadget, or you can just hang around in a certain spot hacking and slashing to your heart's content.

Wizardry 8 also has that rare quality - non-linearity. You are free to do as you please. You can travel to the most dangerous regions if you want to, just be prepared to run (or have the fight of your life). You can work for one faction, or work for another, or maybe even work for both and hope they others don't find out. There are subquests, hidden places, and a great variety of locations. You'll find whole regions you never even knew existed. You don't even have to pay attention to the plot to play the game - just wander around beating up the gangs of monsters that await you at every corner.

Of course, the real fun is in completing the storyline (there are multiple endings, too) - and therein is the game's major flaw. Because, of course, it ends. When Wizardry 8 ends and you have nothing more to kill, no more obstacles to confront, and don't have the voices of your characters chattering away, then you'll feel like you've truly lost something.

Of course, you can play again. There are so many races and so many classes that you'll have a different experience each time. Chances are you may not get the 'right' ending the first time and will try again, using your new knowledge to make the perfect party - believe me, that 'second time around' is just as fun as the first. You can look Danger in the face and laugh - although Danger will then punch you in the face and steal your Omnigun.

Rating: 10/10

+ turn based combat is fun
+ massive world to explore
+ non-linear
+ plot is absorbing
+ many factions and NPCs to deal with
+ even disarming traps is fun
- often difficult
- combat can sometimes go on TOO long

(but are these really flaws? Somehow,
I think these are what make Wizardry 8
what it is. The satisfaction of a fight
well done is worth every second of
frustration.)

Overall: 10/10 (not an average)

I don't give games 10/10. 10/10 means perfection, and in my opinion no game is perfect. I'm the sort of reviewer that reserves 9/10 for the best games and will never even consider 10/10 - but this is different. Because I truly believe that Wizardry 8 is such a rare and wonderful game that it deserves this unattainable reward. If you played Crusaders of the Dark Savant, then this will be an almost spiritual experience. Or maybe I just need to get out more.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/05/03, Updated 07/05/03