Location: Games » Wizardry Series » Walkthroughs & Guides

Wizardry 8 Video Walkthrough by David Milward

GETTING STARTED & ABOUT  |  CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT  |  COMBAT  |  PARTY MEMBERS

Areas in Order of Appearance:   Lower Monastery  |  Upper Monastery  |  Arnika Road  |  Arnika  |  Road to Trynton  |  Trynton  |  Cemetary Retro Dungeon  |  The Swamp  |  Marten's Bluff  |  Northern Wilderness  |  Northern Wilderness Retro Dungeon  |  Umpani Camp  |  Old Mine Tunnels  |  Return to Marten's Bluff  |  Southeast Wilderness  |  Wilderness Clearing  |  Rattkin Tree  |  Mount Gigas Caves  |  Mount Gigas Upper Caves  |  Water Caves  |  Bayjin Shallows  |  Sea Caves  |  Bayjin  |  Mountain Wilderness  |  Mountain Wilderness Retro Dungeon  |  Rapax Rift  |  Rapax Courtyard  |  Rapax Castle - Main Level  |  Rapax Castle - Cellar  |  Rapax Castle - Upper Level  |  Rapax Away Camp  |  Ascension Peak  |  Cosmic Circle

LOWER MONASTERY

Crash Landing

This video shows both the process of importing my Wizardry 7 party, as well as the opening sequence. 

Imported characters get to advance to the 5th level once the game starts.  Note that my Faerie has 49 Piety and 49 Senses.  The pre-requisites for a Bishop are Intelligence 55, Piety 55, Dexterity 55, and Senses 55.  She already easily meets the prerequisites for Intelligence and Dexterity.  She only needs to add +6 to both Piety and Senses to qualify as a Bishop.  She makes the class change after just 2 levels of Mage.  Note also that I make a point of adding spells from realms (e.g. Earth, Air) where I don't have a spell from yet.  This has the point of beginning the accumulation of mana for all realms as early as possible for my characters.

At any rate, Vi Domina tells me to meet her in Arnika.

Note that there's a chest and a few Crabs in the background, as well as a chest.  The Crabs can actually be avoided, and I do since I may want to use them as a training opportunity afterwards. 

Desk at the Monastery

The video starts with me resetting my formation.  The default formation is:

Front - Valkyrie, Monk, Ninja

Middle - Bard, Priest, Bishop

There is a problem with this configuration.  In fights against numerous foes, the party can get surrounded on all sides.  With the present configuration, the monsters will be within easy reach of my Faerie Bishop, the most vulnerable character in the party.

So I change the configuration to:

                      Front- Valkyrie, Monk, Ninja

Left - Priest   Middle - Bishop                 Right - Bard

This way, my main hitters are up front to address the foremost advance, while the Priest and Bard act as flank guards so that monsters can go after my Bishop from the sides.  There is still a risk that some monsters may curl all the way back around and go after my Bishop from behind.  If I anticipate this may happen, I'll have my Ninja change position to become the rearguard. 

Now I start to explore the Monastery, getting involved in rather casual fights with low-level monsters like Rats and Slimes.  Note that I seize every opportunity to practice my skills, casting spells, using weapons, etc.

I wind up at the placed marked 'Desk' on the map and 'search' around.  I find a Book of Light that my Valkyrie uses to learn the spell.  I also find a clue as to some of the purposes served by the Monastery.

Dead Rapax Prisoner

Now at this point I begin exploring the hallways of the western side of the Lower Monastery, sometimes finding bits of treasure here and there.  There is also a Book of Stamina to be found on the south side of these hallways.

For the east part of the hallways, but more towards the middle of the map, there are two jail cells right next to each other.  I visit the first such one, the one labelled 'Dead Rapax'.  It has a skeleton lying on a bed, as well as a Tattered Note that reveals it was a Rapax prisoner subjected to interrogation and starvation.  If you 'search' this room, you can find a Ring of Protection.  This makes for a nice interim magic item, but it is also an ingredient for the Ivory Blade.

Music Training

Here is my first training opportunity.  At the spot labelled '3 Cockroaches' is a room with 3 puny level-two cockroaches.  A lot of players, including myself during my early playthroughs, will simply unlock the door and kill the cockroaches.  This throws away some wonderful opportunities to train up and perfect some skills.

I grab the first such opportunity here, in order to raise my Bard's music skill all the way to 100.  First, I belly up to the door, but never pick the lock or open the door.  I then press the sword icon at the bottom of the screen in order to start combat.  I then start a certain cycle.  My Bard always plays her Poet's Lute in order to put the cockroaches to sleep, and does so repeatedly until she drops from exhaustion.  Then either my Priest or my Valkyrie pick her back up again with a Stamina spell.  She then resumes her music playing.  I run away and savegame only after I've run out of Water mana for Stamina spells.  I then camp out in the Dead Rapax room to start another cycle.  The end result is that the Bard raises her Music skill to 100, and my Valkyrie and Priest raise their Divinity and Water Magic skills as well.

Once in a while, some monsters do come by, but they're easily taken care of.

King Crab

This video starts with me heading northwards out of the hallways, and then having to fight some slimes.  Slimes follow fairly common themes, they can 'spit' at party members, and can inflict conditions like poisoned, nauseated, or even diseased, with their melee attacks.

I then head north to the room labelled 'King Crab', and end up having to defeat a King Crab, which is fairly easy.  I then 'search' around the room for bits of treasure.

Note also the barred door.  This door can only be opened from the side where the bar can be lifted.

Gregor

Now to start the video, I knew that there was a large pack of Shrieker Bats (which can use a scream resembling the Terror spell) up the hallway I was intending to take upwards.  I was running low on mana myself, so I had to be careful how to start the battle.  First, I put my back up against the wall in the King Crab room so I don't get surrounded.  Now I rest, which replenishes my mana, and lets the Shrieker Bats come to me.   Now they're all in view, but can't reach my vulnerable Faerie, or surround me en masse.  This allows my Faerie to soften them up with Fireballs and other offensive spells.  My Bard also frequently targets the most numerous group or foremost group with her Poet's Lute.  Beyond that, it's a matter of going the distance and keeping an eye on my health.

Now I head up the passageway and to the hallway labelled 'Gregor'.  Gregor is in fact a giant cockroach.  As long as he doesn't poison or paralyze, he'll actually fall quite easily.

Burz

Now I backtrack a little, and take the passage leading north.  I come to the spot labelled 'Elevator'.  I simply get on, and hit the button, in order to lift up. 

I then head north along the tunnel, where I run into a new kind of monster, Wolf Spiders.  These critters can be dangerous, since their web attacks can paralyze multiple party members, and much more so when they come in large numbers.  It is imperative to get the initiative on them, especially with sleep.  They'll be easy targets once incapacitated, since they have so few hit points.

I continue to go north, and find a Trynnie merchant named Burz.  Burz sells a lot of mundane stuff, and is a good place for you to unload your excess inventory in return for gold.

There is a nearby chest, and this is where I grab another training opportunity.  All my Bard needs to do is 'inspect' the chest for traps, over and over and over again.  This raises the Locks & Traps skill, although the pace is slower as the Bard's skill increases.  If the trap springs but without opening the chest, my Priest or other spell casting characters can train their own magical skills by healing my Bard.  If the chest opens, I simply reload. 

Of course, the odd monster group will come my way and provide the occasional distraction.  The video ends with me fighting a bunch of lizards known as Seekers.  They can use tail slaps or spit attacks that can cause poisoning or nausea.  They are other wise not all that difficult.

Venom Crab Shell

Note that Burz's spot overlooks the original crash landing site.  While near Burz and fiddling around with his chest, I noticed that a few Venom Crabs were scurrying around where I had crashed to start the game.

This represents an opportunity, since Venom Crabs can drop a Venom Crab shell, which is an ingredient that I want in order to make the Zynaryx Plate armor for my Fairie Bishop.  Venom Crabs also appear in the Arnika Road, and Bayjin.  Even so, you may have limited opportunity to grab a Venom Crab Shell.  The reason for this is that monster spawns in any given area work on a level sensor.  Monsters that are spawned in the area you're in are typically the same level as you, maybe a few more, maybe a few less.  So, not taking the opportunity to grab the Shell early in the game can mean you'll have a very difficult time getting it later on, whether it's here, the Arnika Road, or Bayjin.  As you go up levels, lower-level monsters will become less and less frequent, or even a thing of the past.  And Venom Crabs are level 4 monsters, so I grab this opportunity while I still can.

So I make for the original crash landing site, but a complication arises.  A pack of Pestilent Rats has spawned in the tunnel leading away from Burz.  Pestilent Rats are level 9, can inflict Poison, Nausea, and worst of all, Disease.  Disease can wreak permanent havoc on its victim over the long haul, and requires either a Cure Disease potion or the 4th-level Cure Disease spell.  I don't have the spell, and Burz isn't selling any of those potions, so I'm in a bit of a pickle.

Part of my solution was to buy all of the Stink Bombs that Burz had for sale.  My strategy relies on constant bombardment.  My Faerie Bishop goes ballistic with Fireball, and then Magic Missiles.  My Dracon Valkyrie either attacks, or uses her acid breath weapon whenever her stamina is at full health to damage all of them.  My Priest throws a Stink Bomb to start, and again whenever Nausea has worn off for any of the rats.  He also casts Stamina on the Valkyrie in order to recharge her for another breath attack.  By inflicting steady damage on all of them over the long haul, I am able to minimize the risk to myself.  It also helps that this fight took place in a narrow hallway, where only one Rat at a time could get close to me.

I then journey onwards, killing a few Pustulant Slimes and a Languid Slime along the way.  I then return to the original crash site and kill the Crabs there.

The Venom Crabs are wading in the water.  Each Venom Crab has a 25% chance of dropping a Venom Crab Shell upon dying, and there's 9 of them here waiting to be killed.  In the event that not a single Crab dropped a Shell, I would simply have reloaded.  Now I have the Shell needed as an ingredient for the Zynaryx Plate.

Gazebo

Now that I'm wading in the water, I find a passageway leading north, up, and east out of the water.  Along the way, I end up having to fight a few Softshell Crabs, which aren't difficult at all.

At the end of the passageway is a Gazebo overlooking where my ship had crashed landed.  There will also be a few mundane items not really worth writing home about.

Locks and Traps Skill

Now I head back to where I first met Burz.  My Bard practices on the nearby chest some more.  I was content to raise her Locks and Traps skill as high as 91.  From about 90+, it takes a lot more practice to get additional skill points, so now I decide to let the rest of the game take care of things for me.  For example, whenever I run into a new chest, I might let my Bard inspect it about 20 times or so before opening it.

This kind of practice and training is beneficial though, although it did require patience.  Very hard to open trapped chests and multi-tumbler doors are going to get in my way soon enough, and now I stand in good stead.

Sarcophagi and Fountain

In this video I head to the spot marked 'Crypts', and open several sarcophagi one by one.  The loot is usually mundane, but can be sold off.

One of them hits the party with a Stink Bomb effect that scores minor damage and can inflict Nausea.  This however is also a blessing since I can practice my magic skills some more with Cure Lesser Cnd and Heal Wounds.

One of the sarcophagi also has an Apparition that can cast spells.  The advantage that I exploit is that the battle starts off with the Apparition already within reach of my extended weapons, and it has few hit points.

The fountain at the north end of the room provides a one-time only boon of healing.

Monastery Safe

When I head back to the room where I killed Gregor, I run into another group of Seekers.  Here, my Faerie Bishop makes effective use of the Freeze Flesh spell to paralyze all of them.  Remember, status-effecting spells are often more effective than raw damage spells.

Now I head for the room labelled 'Statue'.  Whatever you do, do not click on the base of the statue, or you'll get dumped down below.  I click on the skull being held up in the air by the statue.  This reveals a hidden alcove that holds the Safe Key.

I then go the room marked 'Safe' on the map.  There's a fair amount of loot to be had here, including the Cleaver, which is an ingredient for the Beastslayer Axe that does double damage against animals and such.  The key opens the safe, revealing a few Resurrection Powders.

To the Upper Monastery

The video starts off with me facing the gate that leads to the next level of the Monastery, but first I have to open it.  So first, I take the hallway to the left, which leads to the location marked 'Button'.  I end up having to fight a few more Spiders, and then press the button.

The 'Gate' is now open, and I can proceed to the Upper Monastery.

Top