Wizardry 8 Gameplay Tips

It is difficult to move my party.

3D games of this era are best controlled through the mouse, and only using the keyboard for action keys. 3D games of this era are best controlled through the mouse, and the keyboard is used only for action keys.

• To pick up an item, hover over it and click it with your mouse.
• To turn your party, hold the right mouse button and move the mouse.
• Hold down the right mouse button to control the camera, then press the left mouse button to walk forward. This also allows you to turn while moving just by moving the mouse.
• Hold down shift while walking to run.

The rest of the controls are easily activated with one hand on the keyboard. Walking backwards does require the down arrow or the key remapped, but I have rarely needed to walk backwards.

Can you play Wizardry 8 with only the keyboard?

Sorry, no. You can navigate around and control your party with only the keyboard, but the mouse is required for picking up items, interacting with objects, selecting equipment, and casting spells.

I cannot climb the steps in the Umpani Base Camp!

The Umpani are larger than the puny races that make up your party, so you should take a running bounce up those steps. Back up from them, almost to the other building across the path, then sprint to the entrance. You may find it easier to get up if you are slightly on an angle.

Another factor that affects your party's ability to climb the steps in their encumbrance. Check how much they are carrying. If the number is in red, drop a few things at the bottom of the steps to make it up first.

The fan patch fixes it to make the step more gentle, but it can cause other issues instead.

How to ropes and ladders work?

Ropes and ladders are not automatic, except for the one between the Rattkin Tree and Trynton. To climb up or down, click the rope or ladder, and your party will automatically climb to the connected floor.

How do I open trapped chests?

There are four ways to disarm a trap:

1. With the Traps and Locks skill: First inspect the trap, which will highlight the correct disarm buttons. Green means it is required, yellow means they aren't too sure about it, and red means it is unnecessary. You may need to inspect a few times to confirm, but each inspection has a chance to set off the trap.
   Dexterity, Intelligence and Senses are also considered for each inspection.
   Once you've identified the trap, scroll down the list of possible traps to find the one that matches the highlighted colours, then press those switches. The character with the skill must be selected.
2. Using Knock Picks: When used from the trap interface, they will automatically attempt to disarm it. This will work for lower-level traps, but elaborate traps will likely be set off.
3. The Divine Trap Spell: Casting this while in the trap menu will attempt to disarm the chest. If unsuccessful, it may identify the trap or at least temporarily improve the base Lock & Trap Skill, making it easy to disarm manually.
4. Force the chest to open: This will use the character's strength to determine if the chest is successfully pried open but at a high chance of triggering the trap.

How do I unlock doors?

Some doors require a specific key or object to open, but it must be picked if the lock-picking interface opens. In these cases, your options are:

1. With the Traps and Locks skill: Click on each tumbler to lock it into place. If your skill is too low, it may release previously locked tumblers, causing them to fall. It will often take many attempts to pick the lock and locks once you get five or more tumblers. 8-tumbler locks are impossible at lower levels of skill. Dexterity, Intelligence and Senses are also considered for each tumbler use. The character with the skill must be selected.
2. Knock Picks: They will automatically pick the lock, but they may be unsuccessful with locks with too many tumblers. If unsuccessful, a random number of tumblers will be frozen in the up position, making it easier to pick with the Traps and Locks skill.
3. Knock Knock spell: Cast the spell while in the lock-picking interface. The odds of a successful opening depend on the level of the spell cast versus the level of the trap strength. If unsuccessful, a random number of tumblers will be frozen in the up position, making it easier to pick with the Traps and Locks skill.
4. Force the lock: The character's strength and stamina is used to push open the door. Most doors require a lot of strength, but 8-tumbler locks have less than 2% success even with maximum strength.

The Doors and Elevator at Marten's Bluff aren't working.

The front door to the elevator area will only open from within, but it is a very buggy automatic door. If you approach it from the elevator and it is already open, it will close. Back up to the back door, then approach again to open it.

When you enter through the front door, it closes behind you automatically. When you leave the door closed and leave Marten's Bluff through another means (another exit or teleported away), it will remain that way until opened from the inside again. You must go around the back (through the catapult entrance on the east side) to enter.

Also, if you sealed the doors during one of the quests, to use them again, you will need to activate the locks to unlock them again, or they will stay locked.

The elevator has the same issue. If you leave it down in Lower Marten's Bluff, it will be down when you step on it from above. Stepping on the pad will cause the game code to return the elevator to the surface. To use the elevator, just step off the elevator pad and then step on it again.

How can I sneak past enemies or NPCs blocking areas?

There are some areas in Wizardry 8 where you can get past NPCs that attack if you get too close or will refuse you access outright. The two main places I find this extremely useful are the Rapax at the entrance to the Rapax Camp and the T'Rang guarding the southern passage to the Anthrax teleporter. Many others exist, so feel free to test it in several areas. This trick is also handy for getting the jump on enemies that you are not in combat with yet.

First, get as close as possible without engaging in conversation or combat. You may need to save first to figure out the best place, although most are quite forgiving.

Next, enter combat mode by clicking the sword button at the bottom. If successful, it will say you have surprised your opponents. Engage Party Move mode by clicking the walking person button at the bottom right and choosing Run. Ensure that no one in your party is about to attack unless that is your goal.

Start the round by pressing the check mark button and run toward your goal. For the T'Rang example, you can quickly go from one doorway to another. For the Rapax Camp, you must hug the north rockface and reach the side of the first tent. This trick can also help avoid fighting a certain giant sea serpent if you don't need to get past it.

You will know that you are successful if you reach the other side when your turn is over, and you have the option to leave combat mode.

Is there a safe place to store items in Wizardry 8?

Drops or chests don't refresh, so you can drop any non-quest item on the ground and pick it up later. Just remember where you dropped it.

The best option is using a chest, as you can also store quest items inside. I recommend the ones in He'Li's Inn, but anything accessible works.

To move an item into a chest, pick it up, exit the menu with it still in your hands, and then place it into the chest. To access them again, just open the chest and take the item you left behind.

How can I survive if I get surrounded in battle?

Combat in narrow passageways is safe enough to fight directly, but it is best to find a way to keep your back against a wall or large object for most fights. Let them come to you instead of rushing in. Also, use the party sphere to strategically place your weaker or squishier characters away from the reach of those you are fighting. While this may not work in all cases, it is a great start.

If you do get surrounded, change your formation to keep the most vulnerable in the middle until you pick off enough enemies to move them back again. Just be aware that enemies with long reach, ranged attacks, or magic can still target anyone in your group regardless of where they are positioned.

Just because you are in the melee range of one enemy does not mean it should be your primary target. You can always swap your weapons to target something further away and let your well-defended and healthy warriors take a few hits to defeat another that may harm a weaker member.

How are chest and drops contents decided?

Drop encounters may be the most complex part of the game, so don't feel bad if you don't understand once you read this section. Not finding random, powerful items won't make the game unbeatable. Still, it can change your experience from challenging to easy.

1. The Level Sensor

Some drops will check for your average party level when determining if the item will appear. When the sensor is enabled for the drop, the max value allowed in the drop is set when the enemy dies or when you first enter an area if it is a chest.

This means chests are locked into the item values when entering an area. For example, start at the Monastery at levels 1 - 5. The maximum item value in chests will be 499 Gold, even if you don’t open the chests and come back later. However, if you had a different start and wandered into the area later, the items will be based on the character levels when you enter the map.

Since enemy drops are calculated on death, returning to an area with a higher level may cause enemies to drop more powerful items compared to those spawning in chests.

Note: The Average Party Level counts RPCs, so if your party is all level 16, but you have a level 5 RPC in your party, it will impact the max item values in the drops. Be sure to visit areas without RPCs to set the max item value first or increase the level of your followers first!

2. The Number of Items

Each drop batch will have a range of how many items will appear for the drop. Some are only 1 item, while others may have a range, such as 2 - 6. Chests run this check when entering a map, but drops will check on enemy death. Leaving the map and returning later might cause it to recheck this and the later steps. It will not run the Level Sensor, though.

3. Fixed Items

If any fixed or set items are in the item list, they will spawn first, leaving any other open item slots to generate afterward. If the drop only spawns two items, it will only contain the fixed item and one random item.

4. Randomly selecting the items

If it were just a set percent chance to spawn, this would be simple, but each item in the drop will have its own rarity or Level of Appearance, as the W8 community called in when it was found.

For each random item, the game rolls a spawning value (1D10). A roll of 10 will only list the most common items, but a roll of 1 lists all the possible items for the drop. This means that items with an SV of 1 have a meagre chance of appearing; it requires a roll of 1, plus being rolled successfully to spawn when it does, especially if there is a long list of possible items in the drop list.

5. The Random Roll

After everything is calculated from the previous four steps, the game places a value on each drop left in the list and then rolls to select an item randomly. When multiple items are in the drop, it will make the same roll again, choosing another item from the list (possibly the same one) until all the drops are selected.

Putting it together with an example

Since the Light Sword is one of the most sought-after items, I will describe it in more detail.

There is only one chest in Bayjin, and Buccaneer Ghosts can drop it. This drop has no level sensor, so it doesn’t look at your party’s average character level when deciding the items! Only 4 - 6 items will be dropped, but there are 40 items in the list, and 4 have a spawning value of 1, including the sword.

So, each time the drop is created, it only has a 10% chance to roll an opportunity to spawn the item. Then, it has a 2.5% chance (1 in 40) of being chosen from the list of 40 items. For the one chest, the calculation ends there, leaving an already horrifically low odds of spawning.

For the Buccaneer Ghosts drop, each enemy only has a 20% chance to drop anything when they die (1 in 5 odds.) When that is successful, it rolls the 1d10 to check the SV score before giving a roll to appear before the item is randomly selected. This makes it even less likely to drop the coveted item, even though there are five enemies. Your best option to get it is to weaken all the ghosts significantly, then run away until you can save your game, and then return and finish them off. If they don’t drop it, restore your save game and try again.