****WARNING!!! SPOILERS FOR WIZARDRY 8 INCLUDED!!!***
Tboarder: ah, now I kind of understand where you are coming from. We must agree to disagree, though - what you hated in the game is, to an extent, what I loved. On to the specific points:
-One of the points where the game may indeed fail, is that it isn't a game for the mainstream (not in the condescending sense, just that - people who aren't Wiz fans), and your review points out how a more mainstream reviewer might look at the whole game. Wizardry isn't one of these games, like Baldur's Gate or Might&Magic. Hell, Parts II-IV had stickers on their boxes that said: "Experience with Wizardry I required." You mentioned that you met NPCs and plot elements who recognized you, but you didn't meet them before - well, these are from Part VII, or even VI (Bela). The designers could have implemented this better, I agree. Myself? Oh, my characters were started in VI, transferred to VII and finally to VII, giving me a completely different perspective and some cool weapons to start with. Which brings us to...
-Oh no, the game is too hard! Yes, it is, and it might come as a shock after more... contemporary games. Wizardry games are notoriously hard. Wizardry IV (The Return of Werdna) is often touted as the hardest CRPG ever (out of 40 playtesters, only four completed it - as for me, I got to the Master ending without a walkthrough - one of my proudest moments in computer gaming.
). VIII. follows this tradition. But I still don't think it is too hard. You mentioned your character were often afflicted with nausea, poison, etc. Did you cast "buff" spells like Armorplate, Enchanted Blade, Magic Screen, Missile Shield and the various in-combat magics like Bless or (in some cases) Element Shield? These are very important for your survival. It also means that, as in D&D, it is a good thing to start at least one Cleric and someone with Wizard magic.
Also, you can surprise opponents before they do the same to you - just wait until they get close (hide behind a corner) and push the sword. Now move out (when they are still unaware) and you get some free action. Likewise, you can [...should] use the terrain to your advantage. Getting familiar with spells and items can help alot (Potions of Superman or the spell for hard battles).
Of course, the game will still be hard (on expert, especially - of course, Real Men use expert, maybe even Iron Man.
). This isn't a bug, it is a feature, which I appreciate among the zillions of too easy games (BG=no challenge at all, plus lousy story). Back in the good old days, all CRPGs were like this.
The only problem with combat was the slow speed of monsters, but there is an user patch for this. [Of course, including it in your review would hve been cheating - it could have been done by Sir-Tech, but they were murdered most foully by the time the game came out...]
-The Mythology increase is damn annoying when it comes one at a time. Ack.
-Bats, insects and alligators: never had any problem with that. YMMV.
The only monsters I really hate are the Rynjin, some Unicorns and the Psi-Sharks. Those are scum. Once again, it is back to the old days of Crusaders of the Dark Savant, where some monsters were only defeatable after multiple attempts and with incredible luck (*Fiend of Nine Worlds* & *Beast of 1000 Eyes* being the worst).
-The blending of futuristic elements and fantasy: don't agree, don't agree, don't agree. I
love , no,
adore it. I also think it is more seamless than in the Might and Magic series and accompanied by a better game than Final Fantasy (accck, that one was too painful for me). What can I say? I love giant robots, spaceships and the like mixed with swords&sorcery. But it may be my weird tastes kicking in.
I also love the alien races (the T'Rang were more menacing) and the story - not as good as Wizardry VII, but definitely fun.
In closing, your review was probably good from a mainstream viewpoint and didn't wander into the "This sucks 'cause it sucks and if I say so it sucks." trap. From the POV of a Wizardry fanatic (me and countless others), it is harder to understand. Because, let us face it, this is the game we have been waiting for and we got what we wanted from it - nothing more and nothing less. And, unfortunately, it might be the last treat for us grognards.
