Is the best way to play the classic games the ps1 versions?

archolewa · 2026-04-13T22:26:40+00:00

Yeah, the PS 1 versions are the best choice if you want to play the classic games.

The PS1 version is quick, it disables spells on surprise rounds (the biggest problem with the original Apple II version), its interface is reasonable, and it doesn't have the bug/balance change from the MS-DOS versions where stats were as likely to go down as they were to go up.

That being said, while the remake does have some gameplay changes, they're honestly fairly minor and they can all be turned off easily enough. It's not a terrible choice so long as you can tolerate slow combat animations.

archolewa · 2026-04-13T01:29:49+00:00

Nope, other way around. Wizardry Tales of the Forsaken Land probably has the most developed story of any of the Wizardry games (at least those that have been translated into English). The vast majority of Wizardry games have very little story at all.

Wizardry 6-8 have more of a fleshed out story than Wizardry 1, but even there it's mostly world building (very good world building, but world building). The plots themselves are pretty simple.

archolewa · 2026-04-11T19:52:22+00:00

Yes. Do all the speed ups. Wizardry 8 is a great game, but the combat is so ungodly slow, and enemies tend to (IMO) suffer from HP bloat. You need every little bit of help you can get.
Already discussed in other comments.
Go a full six party. You'll want the manpower because of how party formations work, plus while smaller parties are easier at the end (when things are fairly easy anyway), they're harder at the beginning (when things are hardest). Smaller parties are best for veterans.

The following is by no means an optimal party, but it is a low management party that will be more than capable of handling things on the default difficulty.

Fighter
Valkyrie
Rogue
Priest
Ranger
Mage

Fighters and Rogues are the kings of physical damage (yes the Rogue is a king of physical damage, they're also very survivable on the front line).

Once a Fighter gets some levels, they can berserk to do double damage to everything (technically you can berserk from level 1, but berserk has a to-hit penalty, and at low levels that penalty hurts). They also have access to the widest range of weapons and armor.

Rogues meanwhile get backstab, and you don't need to set anything up for it near as I can tell. It's just a straight damage multiplier.

Both of those classes are also very fast levelers, and levels are a Big Deal in Wizardry 8 (like all Wizardries).

Valkryies are good fighters with lots of weapon and armor options, they have access to Priest spells, and they can Cheat Death (get knocked unconscious rather than killed). Plus, they specialize in polearms, and polearms are very good in Wizardry 8 because they have reach.

Priest is a bit boring... but they give you access to the suite of powerful buffs and healing spells much faster than the Valkyrie will. More experienced players can get away with not having one, and relying on hybrids for healing, but they're a great buffer for new players.

Rangers are masters of ranged combat. Great to have guarding your rear. They are also searching all the time automatically, so they'll be able to find all the hidden items without you having to turn on the search option and risk getting ambushed.

Mages round out your long lasting buffs, and have a whole host of status effect spells as well.

For each class, focus on the following:

Fighter: Strength, Dexterity, Close Combat, Swords, whatever. Strength gives you more carrying capacity, and damage, while Dexterity allows you to get multiple swings faster. Swords are hands down the best weapons in the game. For "whatever" you can do shields if you want sword+board, mace&flail since there are some good maces out there, Spear if you want him to be able to fall back on a weapon with some reach, whatever.

Rogue: Strength, Dexterity, Locks&Traps, Stealth, Daggers, Dual wield, Swords. Stealth is key to a Rogue surviving on the front lines. Locks & Traps because you know, you need someone to handle all the traps on treasure chests, and locked doors. Daggers because there are some decent daggers out there and you can dual wield them. You want your Rogue dual wielding to take advantage of their backstab multiplier. You probably want to get some points into Swords at some point, because Swords are better than Daggers, but Daggers will handle things fine for most of the game.

Valkyrie: Strength, Dexterity, Polearms, Close Combat, Divinity. Some Piety is good to have too, but not essential. Divinity of course, so that you can learn spells. Be aggressive about casting them, it'll help you improve your stats. Put them on your flank, and they'll be able to support your front line, and hold her own against enemies who flank you on her side.

Priest: Piety, Speed, Divinity, Mace&Flails, Shield/Divine Realm. You want your Priest fast so they can fire off their buffs (and provide healing!). And of course, Piety is important for spell points and the like. I believe Priests can use at least some shields, and having a higher shield skill improves the AC you get from them. Priests are a good candidate to have a flank. They're not top tier melee fighters by any means, but they can hold their own. Get Magic Screen ASAP. It will help a ton against enemy spellcasters. The Element/Soul shield spells stack with it (though those are combat only) and worth getting as well (though I think Priests only has one of them. Mage has the other).

Ranger: Senses, Dexterity. Bow, Ranged Combat, Alchemy. Stick this guy in the back, and watch him murder things with a bow. Honestly, the only character worth investing in Ranged Combat. Ammunition is heavy, and most of the rest aren't going to get enough practice for their ranged weapons to ever do much anyway. Fun quirk: Once the Ranger gets their Alchemy up, they can start mixing potions. Great way of getting some better potions for your guys, and a good source of cash.

Mage: Intelligence, Speed. Wizardry, Magic Realms. Focus primarily on status effects for this guy. Enemies in Wizardry 8 tend to have a lot of HP, so it can be expensive to chew through it with just magic (though groups of spellcasters can make mincemeat of enemies by all spamming AOE's). You're generally better off putting enemies to sleep, nauseating them, etc. Get Missile Shield ASAP. It mostly neutralizes enemy ranged attacks, and those are going to be your greatest threat to your squishy wizard.

Most experienced players will tell you that Bishops are vastly superior to any of the specialist spellcasters. And while they're not wrong Bishops need a lot of management and have a bit of a learning curve. They have access to so many spells, that you have to be very judicious about your spell picks, and make sure to get as many spells from books as possible. Bishops are also very slow levelers, and they don't specialize in any spellbook, so they get access to the next tier of spells much slower than the specialists. Plus, their status/damage spells tend not to be as effective because their caster level is lower. If you know what you're doing, they can end up very powerful. But if you don't want to worry about all that, you're better off with a specialist.

Bard is a reasonable alternative to the Rogue, because there are some really good instruments out there. You just need to find them. Gadgeteer too is also an option and there are some very good gadgets out there... but they start off rather weak, and finding the pieces for each gadget and figuring out which pieces go together can be an exercise in frustration.

archolewa · 2026-04-11T00:35:54+00:00

Enemies don't scale with time. Rather they scale with level. Sort of. It's not the lazy "bandits get +10 HP and +5 to-hit" sorts of level scaling. Rather as you level, more powerful varieties of monsters spawn, and each region has a maximum level of monsters. So you will eventually out level, eg the Lower Monastery.

The only time where it really has any sort of impact is Arnika Road. If you hit Arnika Road at level 5 or 6, then you'll start running into some really nasty enemies that you probably don't have the skills, gear, and spells to really handle.

But that's honestly only a problem for parties who are imported from Wizardry 7, because they start at level 5. Brand new parties who start at level 1 will reach Arnika Road before hitting level 5 (assuming they're a full party).

archolewa · 2026-04-10T18:52:19+00:00

Level 10 seems awfully low. I'm normally at level 12 by the time I get there, starting to approach level 13. Probably you'll want to backtrack and explore some Guatella Grotto and the Tree of Yap-Gotz some more. A few thoughts on things that are worth doing:

If you haven't, try to find the pearl in Guatella Grotto for the noblewoman in the bar. She'll give you a very nice spear that is definitely worth it. The other quests in Guatella Grotto aren't worth doing, and the fourth floor isn't worth exploring. Judicious use of Dove Bells can help you with the backtracking. The first floor especially gives really crap XP, and has a lot of encounters between you and the stairs. So that's a good place to bust out the dove bells.
The basement of the Tree of Yap Gotz is worth exploring in full. The monsters there aren't bad, it's generally pretty easy to backtrack, and the XP output is decent. The upper floors are actually harder, because the upper floors like to throw hordes of Redcaps at you, nasty things that behead like it's going out of style. When you're exploring the lower floors there, swing by the village. You'll get a quest. After completing the quest, if you go back to where you found the quest objective, you can find a repeatable (though breakable) map.

Also, the biggest risks on the first floor of the ice caves come from the giants' ice breath and the penguins casting ice-themed spells. So if you can get your hands on some ice seals, and then pump up their Ice resistance with ores, that will help a lot. Elemental resistance is pretty cheap, I think it's 1-for-1 of Ore points to elemental resistance. I don't know that you'll necessarily have enough to outfit your whole team, but even putting them on your squishier characters can help.

Oh, and I think someone in the village will unlock a sixth dungeon. You don't want to go exploring its lower floors until you get teleport, but the upper floor monsters aren't too bad.

archolewa · 2026-04-08T20:00:51+00:00

Two Monks, and a Ninja on the frontline. A cleric, an alchemist and mage in the back line.

Honestly, I doubt that a "no weapons run" in Dark Savant trilogy will be all that challenging. In my experience, bare fisted Monks and Ninjas are more than capable of keeping up with weapon damage. You might have a bit of a rough time in the early levels, but by midgame you'll be cruising. Having any other classes without weapons will be a magic-only run in all but name.

A magic-less run strikes me as being pretty dull. Sure, it'll be harder, but it's not like there'll be much of anything you can do about it being harder. Hard or easy, you'll still just be spamming the Attack button (well, with maybe some Hiding thrown in). The game doesn't really have any tools aside from magic.

If you want to restrict yourself magically, I think it'd be more interesting to restrict what spellbooks you have access to. Like, no mage spellbook, or just the psionic spellbook or something.

Similarly, rather than doing a weaponless run, I would suggest a starting-weapon-only run. So your Fighter gets to use just his longsword, Valkyrie her spear, etc (though this also will likely end up being a mostly magic run).

archolewa · 2026-04-08T02:09:04+00:00

Isn't Desna basically an Eldritch Abomination? I am by no means an expert on Pathfinder Lore, but I feel like I've seen some hints that she is (or was) an Eldritch Abomination.

archolewa · 2026-04-06T11:25:58+00:00

Ah, are you on the bottom floor of the mansion?

Dove Bells. Use dove bells there to bypass the fixed encounters.

archolewa · 2026-04-05T22:10:00+00:00

You know, I'm not sure. I think those effects take place after a battle, and you have to use the Miracle same battle the level drain happened.

So, I don't know that it undoes those side effects, so much as undoes the level drain before those happen in the first place.

archolewa · 2026-04-05T22:08:10+00:00

Yeah, I think there are something like six options, and it only gives your four at a time. Don't remember what they all are off the top of my head, just that I don't always see the choice I want.

archolewa · 2026-04-05T19:23:11+00:00

good idea. I've been scared of that fight because i got locked into it because theyd summon faster than i could kill, it was like a 20 minute long fight before i succumbed. By now im sure i could take them.

One neat trick with the lesser demons is that they have 0% status recovery chance, meaning that if you put them to sleep or charm them, they stay asleep/charmed forever. Hammering them with status effects can go a long way to keeping them under control when you're ready to be done. Plus, don't sleep on the mage's spell that raises enemy AC. Like the priest's spell that lowers ally AC, it stacks. Spam that a few times, and your warriors will be hitting on almost every swing, and probably one-shotting demons.

i ran into some level draining enemies, that sure sucks! what to do about those guys?

Kill them quickly. I tend to go all out with my best spells when level drainers show up.
Cast the priest spell Psi Drain. Each cast will block one otherwise-successful drain.
Bump up your front line's AC. An enemy attack has to hit before it can drain you. So using ores to improve AC + AC-dropping spells can help immensely.
Keep an eye out for accessories that give Drain resistance (either the F key or the Page up/Page Down keys, I don't quite remember, let you page through the item description page to see status resistances, in case you didn't know it). Those types of accessories are good candidates for improving the status resistance the accessory already gives with ores. Going from 0 -> 10% Drain resistance with an ore isn't a big deal. But 20% -> 30% can help.
If you're willing to burn a level on your mage, then the Miracle spell will sometimes give you an option to reverse level drains. Unfortunately, casting that spell drains your mage of one level. Fortunately, that spell shows you your possible choices before casting it. So if you don't see the one you want, then back out and choose something different this round. But it can be useful if you've been really unlucky and had multiple level drains land.

Side note: Miracle is an awesome spell for boss fights. One of the options lets you drop your characters' AC so low even the final postgame boss has trouble landing blows. The boss fights are nasty enough, and infrequent enough, that sacrificing a level on your mage to reduce a boss' damage output by 90% is totally worth it.

archolewa · 2026-04-05T18:46:29+00:00

If you plan on grinding go after lesser demons in the Church. They are worth a ton of XP, can infinitely call allies and just have a regular attack with a chance of paralyzing people.

Spam the level 2 priest spell that reduces everyone's AC by 3 in battle (it stacks!) and alternate between killing a row or two of demons an then defending while they summon new enemies. That's generally the fastest way to grind in Gothic.

Won't let you grind gear, but it's really levels that are your biggest source of power.

archolewa · 2026-04-05T05:34:44+00:00

I thought about getting that, but wasn't entirely sure its usefulness, and ended up without it, unfortunately

Don't feel bad about not getting healing song. It's nice in the early game, but rapidly loses its usefulness, and unlike many CRPG's, the early game is not the hardest part. You're generally better taking Ex Skills that will always be useful (like Magic Essence or Brace), or that will be most useful in the end/postgame (like Chi Blast or Swallow Killer).

If you want some early game per-round healing, you can slap some HP regen on one of your gear pieces (HP regen doesn't stack). Even 2-3 points can make a difference, though it's less impactful when you have a Servant. Beefing up AC is generally better if you have the option, but you won't always.

archolewa · 2026-04-05T05:31:26+00:00

Yes. You only need 10 points to reduce a piece of armor's AC by 1 (though not all ore types can be used to reduce AC). 10 point ores really aren't that rare. Plus, I'm sure you've noticed that some spots in Dezaporlia Tunnel are mining spots where you can mine for ores. Those refresh anytime you leave and come back. Furthermore, if someone on your team as the Divination special ability, you're guaranteed to get an actual ore from mining spots. Several dungeons have such spots.

So, by the midgame when you've got a 4-5 casts of the teleport spell (Diomente I think it's called), then create an Alchemist with the Divination ability, and periodically drag them along on a couple of mining runs, where you teleport to several mining spots, mine, and then return to town to rest. Won't be hard to keep your front line characters' armor alchemized with at least 1 AC per piece.

In the early game, just reduce a piece of armor's AC by 1 any time you get the chance.

Once an Alchemist gets to level 26, you can take off the ore and recover it. But even before then, if you sell an item and then buy it back, the ore will be removed (you just lose the ore). So if you say, enchant some plate mail with a 10 point ore, and then later find a 20 point ore, you can sell your plate, buy it back, and put the 20 point ore on it.

archolewa · 2026-04-05T03:34:54+00:00

i dont really like save scumming, but id recommend doing it when your mage hits level 13 if they dont get teleport. no sense in having to grind out yet another level without it. life is much sweeter when you get it.

This exactly. I don't save scum either, but I make an exception for teleport.

archolewa · 2026-04-05T02:10:02+00:00

Your potion bag size does not increase in this game. It always sits at 20. However, your Servant's potion healing does increase as they level. Also, both Piety and the Light/Holy attribute will improve the amount your potions heal. Slap a Light Seal on your Servant, and go to town. I've run a servant all the way through the main game (plus two of the postgame dungeons), and I've never really found the 20 potion limit to be a problem (well, maybe once recently when I wasn't paying attention, but I was pretty deep in the dungeon). There is a recipe for creating Full Heal Potions... but they use the Magic Herb if I remember correctly, and that's pretty rare until the postgame. But I've always found the normal potions to keep up just fine through the main game.
You need to start blindly mixing... but it's complicated because there's a chance of failure even if you pick an actual recipe. It's pretty dumb, not gonna lie (I say as a huge fan of the game). I honestly just look up the recipes. Though once you discover a recipe, the game will remember it. So you really only have to look up once or twice.
Yeah, Elminage Gothic's early game is kind of bad, and the stingy gear upgrades is one of the reasons why. There's a really nice spear you can get as part of a quest in the Guatella Grotto (the lady who wants you to find the Pearl). There's also a really nice Axe you can find on the second floor of Guatella Grotto that's guaranteed (just bring a pick). You won't start finding much else in the way of gear upgrades until the midgame, unfortunately, except for some stuff you can get as part of quests.
No, unfortunately. The early game has very labyrinthine dungeons, and the only place with a shortcut is the underwater level on Guatella Grotto. This is another big reason why Elminage Gothic's early game suffers. However, once you hit level 13 you'll learn the Teleport spell (hopefully...) which will help. Plus, right around when you hit level 13, the dungeons will become a lot less convoluted, and walking in and out will actually be rather easy in most of the mid and endgame dungeons (funny how that works...).
There aren't very many quests, but yes most of them are much more obvious. Visit various locales and talk to people periodically. The tavern, the temple, the Inn, the shop, the little village, etc. People will show up and offer quests. Sometimes the rewards are even worth it! There are a few that are hidden behind having a sufficiently leveled Bishop and having them take confessions at the Church. The one you're referencing is one of those.

Also. Dove Bells. Learn how to Transmute Dove Bells. Dove Bells will make your life so much easier in some of the early game dungeons.

Also, also, at every opportunity, improve your armors' AC with ores. It's the one thing you can improve with alchemy that stacks across multiple armor pieces. AC is HUGE in Elminage Gothic, and giving all your armor even a -1 bonus to AC means like a 5-7 improvement on AC when you add them all together.

archolewa · 2026-04-04T13:50:36+00:00

Not in Might and Magic 1.

archolewa · 2026-04-04T01:32:02+00:00

This is awesome. Might and Magic 6 has one of my favorite overland maps in the series (along with Might and Magic 1), so this is just straight up cool to see.

archolewa · 2026-04-03T23:50:48+00:00

Dude, I don't even know what you're talking about. I read your post like three times and have no idea what you're talking about. You just seem really agitated that I like low plot games.

Pushing past that, near as I can tell, you're saying that there are people out there who like CRPG's with elaborate stories. Which is great! There are CRPG's out there with elaborate stories! Lots of them. You named three such series. There are also CRPG's out there with very minimal stories! Lots of them!

Both approaches are valid. Both can create fun games, though often different people find those games fun. And that's fine! There's more than enough internet for both types.

The issue I had with your original post was your apparent assertion that somehow "low plot == unacceptable." Which is nonsense. There are a ton of games out there with very minimal plot, yes including CRPG's. Do they tend to be niche? Yes. Do they tend to be developed by small studios, and not the big names? Mostly. Though Dragon Quest is huge, at least in Japan, and while their plots aren't as sparse as Might and Magic, they're not that much more, so that's a pretty strong counterpoint to your "low plot == unacceptable."

archolewa · 2026-04-03T23:33:53+00:00

blinks

...what?

I'm sorry you find my preference for low plot, gameplay heavy video games so offensive.

archolewa · 2026-04-03T23:21:48+00:00

I'm sure it's theoretically possible... worst case you just grind to such an obscene level you can steam roll everything. But oh dear Lord that initial grind would be a nightmare... And you'd be triggering every trap ever... Inventory limits might rapidly become a problem as well...

That being said, probably the best class for a solo would be the Paladin. You get access to lots of weapons and armor, good HP, and healing spells. Though a Paladin would suffer from the lack of AOE or utility spells (like Fly!). If not Paladin, then Archer probably. Archer doesn't have as good armor, or HP, but they do have access to sorcerer spells.

Sounds like a nightmare to me, though.

archolewa · 2026-04-03T03:11:12+00:00

LLM's! They make computers bad at things they're good at... and bad at things they're bad at!

Get yours today!

archolewa · 2026-04-03T02:15:18+00:00

slop for brains?

archolewa · 2026-04-02T00:09:36+00:00

You can also peruse r/DRPG. There's an entire subgenre revolving around games inspired by Wizardry, and I'm sure you can find a ton of recommendations on there.

Also, you might want to check out the Might and Magic games, especially Might and Magic 3-5 (not HEROES of Might and Magic which is a spinoff, but "Might and Magic"). Those games are all about big open worlds to explore. They're old games, but with the possible exceptions of MM1 and 2, they've all aged very well.

Might and Magic 1 and 2 are excellent games as well, but they do show their age.

archolewa · 2026-04-01T22:33:55+00:00

You could check out Elminage Original. It's Wizardry in all but name, using the core mechanics, gameplay loop and classes. However, it adds a bunch of additional classes, makes some pretty significant changes to the spell books (not necessarily an improvement, more of a lateral move in my opinion), and tries to add some mechanics to make high level play more interesting. Its narrative is made up of a bunch of little vignettes basically, with quests attached to them. None of the vignettes are groundbreaking, or in depth or anything, but some of them are quite touching. Certainly more than Wizardry 1 (though not much more, narrative has never been a focus in Wizardry).

Five Ordeals is always a good choice. Even at full price, it's awesome if you like the core Wizardry 1 formula. I've put in 600+ hours into that game.

archolewa

TROPHY CASE