You're making pretty fast progress Arhu.
I like that 2nd screenshot - "The situation has deteriorated!" :lol:
I like that 2nd screenshot - "The situation has deteriorated!" :lol:
Let's play LMK … in Wiz8, et al.
- Thread starter Arhu
- Start date
I was playing too much, had to slow down a bit. But I made some more progress. 
Behold! Nessie is no more. What a fight. When I came there first it was a disaster. Kyle didn't have a ranged weapon (melee was suicide), the party was lacking buffs and Mistral had to juggle a breeze ring, resurrection- and healing amulet, the summoned elementals always died at the same time, death cloud and draining cloud were ticking and I barely got anything done. At about 400 health Nessie did a mean combo with Concussion on Lilyana followed by earth quake — Kyle wasn't too happy about being left alone. I decided I was not prepared and teleported back to Arnika. Oh, my party can use portals now, which is very convenient. I have one set up in the Marten's Bluff portal room and another one in the swamp at Crock's.
Anyway, I stocked up on all sorts of potions, bought a light crossbow and hunter bolts for Kyle, Medusa stones for Mistral, armor plate scrolls, resurrection scrolls, etc. The fight itself still required some reloading at the start; earth quake or concussion before my party could do anything wasn't nice. Eventually I got lucky and could summon an elemental and cast Elemental Shield in round 1 without dying, followed by a max Elemental in round 2. Round 3-5 were spent with group healing (Kyle's job with an Amulet), breezing and drinking potions (Bless, Guardian Angel, Eye for an Eye, Granite, Superman). From then on it went very well. The elementals got some lucky heavy hits in, Nessie didn't cast Earth Quake once and Concussion went to Kyle who could take it. The clouds she did cast got reflected back on her, I think, and Mistral removed them with a breeze ring (Lilyana hasn't learned the spell yet). Medusa stones didn't do a thing, but Lily's arrows were always hitting.
In the end the fight was easier than expected, but then again, I was prepared. From my first unprepared attempts I thought it would go like this:
- Melee: breath, mage AND lady toast. No good.
- Earth quake: mage stew. Resurrect next round by Lily.
- Concussion: mage OR lady puree OR luck. Resurrect next round with the char that survived.
This time I never had to resurrect once. Anyway … 350k exp for everyone. Also, I hate Bayjin. Basically I hate everything PSI-based, like those Empaths and Battlelords and PSI-Sharks. Hope to be out of there soon …
Behold! Nessie is no more. What a fight. When I came there first it was a disaster. Kyle didn't have a ranged weapon (melee was suicide), the party was lacking buffs and Mistral had to juggle a breeze ring, resurrection- and healing amulet, the summoned elementals always died at the same time, death cloud and draining cloud were ticking and I barely got anything done. At about 400 health Nessie did a mean combo with Concussion on Lilyana followed by earth quake — Kyle wasn't too happy about being left alone. I decided I was not prepared and teleported back to Arnika. Oh, my party can use portals now, which is very convenient. I have one set up in the Marten's Bluff portal room and another one in the swamp at Crock's.
Anyway, I stocked up on all sorts of potions, bought a light crossbow and hunter bolts for Kyle, Medusa stones for Mistral, armor plate scrolls, resurrection scrolls, etc. The fight itself still required some reloading at the start; earth quake or concussion before my party could do anything wasn't nice. Eventually I got lucky and could summon an elemental and cast Elemental Shield in round 1 without dying, followed by a max Elemental in round 2. Round 3-5 were spent with group healing (Kyle's job with an Amulet), breezing and drinking potions (Bless, Guardian Angel, Eye for an Eye, Granite, Superman). From then on it went very well. The elementals got some lucky heavy hits in, Nessie didn't cast Earth Quake once and Concussion went to Kyle who could take it. The clouds she did cast got reflected back on her, I think, and Mistral removed them with a breeze ring (Lilyana hasn't learned the spell yet). Medusa stones didn't do a thing, but Lily's arrows were always hitting.
In the end the fight was easier than expected, but then again, I was prepared. From my first unprepared attempts I thought it would go like this:
- Melee: breath, mage AND lady toast. No good.
- Earth quake: mage stew. Resurrect next round by Lily.
- Concussion: mage OR lady puree OR luck. Resurrect next round with the char that survived.
This time I never had to resurrect once. Anyway … 350k exp for everyone.
Also, I hate Bayjin. Basically I hate everything PSI-based, like those Empaths and Battlelords and PSI-Sharks. Hope to be out of there soon …Attachments
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dteowner
Shoegazer
This is the sort of thing I love about Wiz8. So many different play styles.
When I tackle Nessie with all the different parties I've played to that point, anything except melee is suicide. With her ranged attacks and magic resistance, there's not much choice but to close as quickly as possible and start hacking away. It's amazing that you have success going in the complete opposite direction.
My crew has finished Arnika and the second visit to the monestary and we're trying to get to Mt. Gigas. I wildly underestimated my ranged ammo usage, so things are getting interesting. Even on the 3rd time passing thru, the Arnika Road sucks rocks. Lots of wandering critters and they're all tough.
When I tackle Nessie with all the different parties I've played to that point, anything except melee is suicide. With her ranged attacks and magic resistance, there's not much choice but to close as quickly as possible and start hacking away. It's amazing that you have success going in the complete opposite direction.
My crew has finished Arnika and the second visit to the monestary and we're trying to get to Mt. Gigas. I wildly underestimated my ranged ammo usage, so things are getting interesting. Even on the 3rd time passing thru, the Arnika Road sucks rocks. Lots of wandering critters and they're all tough.
That was quite expected, especially since you haven´t soul shield.
As I mentioned elsewhere, I love the whole area since I´m always gettin´ a sort of adrenaline rush around there
. Armormelt and Superman are always my main spells of choice against Nessie.
Btw I love when she casts Earthquake - pure badass
.Anyway, congrats for killing her and for your progress in general - it´s pretty impressive I must say!
I think I´m starting to get Wiz8 itch too..
Good luck!
P.S.: Regarding the portals - if you have one set in the teleport room, the one at Crock´s isn´t that useful since one of T´rang teleport´s destinations is close to the swamp entrance anyway.
magerette
Hedgewitch
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No, for me it was consistently fatal.
My version: anything is suicide, and it's amazing you have success, period…
Nessie is where I gave up on my second playthrough, and even with guru and wizmaster dte holding my hand the entire way, the farthest I got playing this game, after about 40 different attempts at killing her. Plus the psi things were also not"being nice" to me. I'm just obviously not wired for true rpg greatness...just a sad, secondrate clickfest action rpg casual gaming schlupp….
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Thrasher
Wheeee!
I took a sneaky approach after many failings doing a direct attack. I would creep out of one of the higher caves, get her attention with some sort of spell, then back into the cave somewhat out of range while a fire elemental had his way with her.
I seem to remember putting the Fire Elemental on Superman plus maybe some fire or other damaging spells on Nessie, from around the corner of the cave opening. I probably took advantage of the wonky AI.
Geeze it was just a couple years ago…
I seem to remember putting the Fire Elemental on Superman plus maybe some fire or other damaging spells on Nessie, from around the corner of the cave opening. I probably took advantage of the wonky AI.
Geeze it was just a couple years ago…
dteowner
Shoegazer
True dat. My priorities for portals:
1) room at Heli's (safe chest, safe camp)
2) Trang teleporter (access to Crock, access to a few other convenient spots)
3) Ferro (best merchant)
4) "wherever you're at"
5) Umpani teleporter (not really necessary, but saves time running thru the caves)
dteowner
Shoegazer
Even though Arhu wimped out, my little crew continues to soldier on. This might turn into another Rift crew for me. The development just isn't that interesting for me, and some of the gimping choices I made are more irritating than interesting or challenging, such as the highly limited carry weight from a foursome that includes a faerie and an elf. We just knocked out the graveyard egg dungeon. Trynton is mostly clear and we've gotten a good start on Marten's Bluff. Next up is to get the Savant to pop up in the swamp.
LuckyCarbon
RollPGs
Well, I did it, one more restart and I vowed to finally beat the game with this party:
Fighter, Sam, Lord, Valk, Gadg, Bard.
I tried a 4 man briefly but made a few mistakes and decided to get the full character & equipment enjoyment out of a full play through of a 6 man team.
I think casters, especially pure casters, aren't all that great in Wiz8. Since status spells work so much better than damage spells I thought I'd try to cover those with the gadgeteer & bard and let the melee do most of the heavy lifting.
Only finishing up my Arnika clear right now. My plan is to head down to the cemetery, back to the monastery and up to the Umpani to rob Saxx. Then I'll turn around and continue on the "normal" path from Trynton.
Fighter, Sam, Lord, Valk, Gadg, Bard.
I tried a 4 man briefly but made a few mistakes and decided to get the full character & equipment enjoyment out of a full play through of a 6 man team.
I think casters, especially pure casters, aren't all that great in Wiz8. Since status spells work so much better than damage spells I thought I'd try to cover those with the gadgeteer & bard and let the melee do most of the heavy lifting.
Only finishing up my Arnika clear right now. My plan is to head down to the cemetery, back to the monastery and up to the Umpani to rob Saxx. Then I'll turn around and continue on the "normal" path from Trynton.
LuckyCarbon
RollPGs
I did it! I finally did it! I took me 10 years but I finally beat it! I can finally cross this off my list ( now I just need to find a new game to play ).
I restarted a few weeks ago with a slightly modified party from my previous post: Fighter, Sam, Lord, Ranger, Gadget, Bard
My random thoughts:
I finished the game around character level 25. About the last 5 levels came from Ascensions Peak.
The best part of the game is still the character creation and putting a party together. Very few games do this as well as Wizardry 8.
The worst part of the game is the amount of combat towards the end. Fewer, more interesting fights would have been a lot more fun.
The most difficult part of the game is Arnika-Trynton Road around L10. The part I was most tempted to give up at was the Rapax castle, the endless combat was just not fun anymore. Ascension peak had a lot more fights than I was anticipating, I was hoping I was moving into wrap-up story mode by then, not so much.
My Ranger, Lord & Samurai did poor damage compared to my Fighter. At the very end my Lord dual wielding diamond eyes started to come on but he was still lagging behind the fighter in damage. The ranger and samurai never came close to the damage my fighter was doing, even factoring in critical hits. The best part of the hybrids were their portal spells.
My Gadgeteer cast Negate Air nearly every combat round once I got that ( occasionally Superman or Heal All ). Even with good ammo his gun didn't do nearly enough damage to keep up and the damage gadgets just didn't scale well.
The Bard became my soul sheild, haste & healing character, necessary stuff but a bit boring really.
I don't think I'd enjoy the second half of the game without a minimum of 2 portal casting characters, one for the Trangaporter and one to get back to wherever you were before.
If I had to play again I'd probably go Fighter heavy with one Bishop for buffs and one hybrid for a second portal (probably a Valk for backline melee-ing ability).
I restarted a few weeks ago with a slightly modified party from my previous post: Fighter, Sam, Lord, Ranger, Gadget, Bard
My random thoughts:
I finished the game around character level 25. About the last 5 levels came from Ascensions Peak.
The best part of the game is still the character creation and putting a party together. Very few games do this as well as Wizardry 8.
The worst part of the game is the amount of combat towards the end. Fewer, more interesting fights would have been a lot more fun.
The most difficult part of the game is Arnika-Trynton Road around L10. The part I was most tempted to give up at was the Rapax castle, the endless combat was just not fun anymore. Ascension peak had a lot more fights than I was anticipating, I was hoping I was moving into wrap-up story mode by then, not so much.
My Ranger, Lord & Samurai did poor damage compared to my Fighter. At the very end my Lord dual wielding diamond eyes started to come on but he was still lagging behind the fighter in damage. The ranger and samurai never came close to the damage my fighter was doing, even factoring in critical hits. The best part of the hybrids were their portal spells.
My Gadgeteer cast Negate Air nearly every combat round once I got that ( occasionally Superman or Heal All ). Even with good ammo his gun didn't do nearly enough damage to keep up and the damage gadgets just didn't scale well.
The Bard became my soul sheild, haste & healing character, necessary stuff but a bit boring really.
I don't think I'd enjoy the second half of the game without a minimum of 2 portal casting characters, one for the Trangaporter and one to get back to wherever you were before.
If I had to play again I'd probably go Fighter heavy with one Bishop for buffs and one hybrid for a second portal (probably a Valk for backline melee-ing ability).
skavenhorde
Little BRO Rat
Congratulations. It takes a lot of patience at the end to pass this game.
Fighter heavy? Blasphemy. You're next playthrough must be with 1 faerie ninja
Fighter heavy? Blasphemy. You're next playthrough must be with 1 faerie ninja
Congratz.
.
I´m quite sure the area is somewhat unfinished, at least in regards to wrap up of T´Rang - Umpani storyline.
You´re probably speaking of Rapax areas in general (aka castle + rift), but the castle itself becomes combat-light if you become a templar asap.
There´s a possibility you´d find the replay more enjoyable than the first playthrough, being able to plan routes more efficiently makes the game more … comfortable
.
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dteowner
Shoegazer
Running the solo faerie ninja might be a nice ego stroke, but it effectively removes the best part of Wiz8- party construction/meshing. I ran my solo faerie ninja on expert and ironman for the ultimate chest-thumping parade, but completely lost enthusiasm for the run after a while. That's one of my 4 Rapax Rifts.
@Lucky- well done. So when are you starting the next run?
@Lucky- well done. So when are you starting the next run?
Gregz
Desert Ranger
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- July 18, 2010
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RE:
It's a fun idea, but I think the challenge here rests in addressing the healing paradigm of RPGs. The holy trinity is Tank, DPS, Healer. The warrior clearly fits the bill for Tank, but how you split healing and DPS between the mage and sylvan archer potentially breaks the role-playing aspect of this thought exercise.
I suppose the sylvan archer could be a druid/ranger with healing ablities, and/or the mage could be a Wiz 8 bishop type class with both healing and DPS magics, but in my opinion those would be overpowered multiclasses with too many roles to be identifiable. I have always loved the classic Mage vs. Cleric separation regarding 'magic'. They are so philosophically diametric too (roleplaying), one thirsts for arcane power (think Raistlin), the other is a servant of his or her Diety, and wishes for the welfare of the party.
But after reading the thread, it looks like you had fun, and that's all that matters.
It's a fun idea, but I think the challenge here rests in addressing the healing paradigm of RPGs. The holy trinity is Tank, DPS, Healer. The warrior clearly fits the bill for Tank, but how you split healing and DPS between the mage and sylvan archer potentially breaks the role-playing aspect of this thought exercise.
I suppose the sylvan archer could be a druid/ranger with healing ablities, and/or the mage could be a Wiz 8 bishop type class with both healing and DPS magics, but in my opinion those would be overpowered multiclasses with too many roles to be identifiable. I have always loved the classic Mage vs. Cleric separation regarding 'magic'. They are so philosophically diametric too (roleplaying), one thirsts for arcane power (think Raistlin), the other is a servant of his or her Diety, and wishes for the welfare of the party.
But after reading the thread, it looks like you had fun, and that's all that matters.
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Wizardry 8
Alas, looks like I did forget about my trio. I tried getting back into Wiz8 yesterday; the party was in the South East Wilderness, but I have no idea what I was supposed to do next and where I was in my quest progression, not to mention I forgot how to play. The journal didn't really help much, either. Will need to delve deeper into the whole thing some time.
Trine
Since Wiz8 requires more time and commitment, I got the Trine package on Steam for now. This is basically LMK in its purest form, so I'm rather happy about it. Quite fun, too — so far I reached level 5.
Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls
This one I had also started some time ago and continued playing recently (FF1):
Leya (Lady): Thief / Ninja
Mist (Mage): Black Mage / Black Wizard
Kyle (Knight): Warrior / Knight
Since the game requires 4 party members and I wanted to play with only 3, I'm carrying around the level 1 body of a white mage as well. Sad thing that she had to die so early, really …
Alas, looks like I did forget about my trio. I tried getting back into Wiz8 yesterday; the party was in the South East Wilderness, but I have no idea what I was supposed to do next and where I was in my quest progression, not to mention I forgot how to play. The journal didn't really help much, either. Will need to delve deeper into the whole thing some time.
Trine
Since Wiz8 requires more time and commitment, I got the Trine package on Steam for now. This is basically LMK in its purest form, so I'm rather happy about it. Quite fun, too — so far I reached level 5.
Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls
This one I had also started some time ago and continued playing recently (FF1):
Leya (Lady): Thief / Ninja
Mist (Mage): Black Mage / Black Wizard
Kyle (Knight): Warrior / Knight
Since the game requires 4 party members and I wanted to play with only 3, I'm carrying around the level 1 body of a white mage as well. Sad thing that she had to die so early, really …
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dteowner
Shoegazer
That map is kinda a no-man's-land, too. There's a monumental battle in there that's good for loot but unrelated to any quests. That can be done at any time, theoretically (you'll want to be in the upper teens for level or you'll get stomped). There are two sub-plots off of that area that appear only after you've done the Rapax Castle. One sub-plot is, unfortunately, broken. The other is only important if you want to complete the Trang/Umpani thing in a specific manner. Bottom line-- most areas I could take an educated guess what you should do next; that area is decidedly unclear.
Regarding LMK … I believe that anyone who owns the Divinity Anthology should take a look into its Developer's Diary.
dte: Thanks. Once I figure out what I did before I was in no-man's land, I'll get back to you.
——————————————
As a thought exercise, what would be good candidates for an LMK playthrough? Looking through my game directory, the Infinity games come to mind:
Icewind Dale I & II: You make your own party and you don't have to take 6 characters. So: Human male fighter (lawful good), human male mage (neutral good) and female elven ranger (chaotic good). Sounds fun! All the exp goes to 3 instead of 6 chars.
Baldur's Gate I & II: It's possible to play with a custom party (did that on my first play-through), but you miss out on all the party banter and related quests, which would be a shame.
Realms of Arkania: I actually have no idea if a three player party could make it. Were there any level limits?
Neverwinter Nights I / II? Temple of Elemental Evil? Arcanum? Don't remember the first / haven't played the latter two. Any input on those? Which other games could be "LMK'ed"?
It depends a lot on the game, really. Usually I'll make due with the Lady's sparse healing or potions (made with the Wizard's alchemy). In FF1, for example, the warrior eventually upgrades to Knight, read: Paladin, who gets basic healing spells. The Lady gets to be a ninja with some black magic — no Ranger type in that game, unfortunately. Ideally, as I'm often reducing the party size, they get experience and levels faster, so they don't depend on dedicated healing as much. Also, the "holy trinity" you speak of is more from MMOs rather than classic CRPGs.
——————————————
As a thought exercise, what would be good candidates for an LMK playthrough? Looking through my game directory, the Infinity games come to mind:
Icewind Dale I & II: You make your own party and you don't have to take 6 characters. So: Human male fighter (lawful good), human male mage (neutral good) and female elven ranger (chaotic good). Sounds fun! All the exp goes to 3 instead of 6 chars.
Baldur's Gate I & II: It's possible to play with a custom party (did that on my first play-through), but you miss out on all the party banter and related quests, which would be a shame.
Realms of Arkania: I actually have no idea if a three player party could make it.
Were there any level limits?Neverwinter Nights I / II? Temple of Elemental Evil? Arcanum? Don't remember the first / haven't played the latter two. Any input on those? Which other games could be "LMK'ed"?
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