Another way to get to the T'Rang transporter early on:

You may be lucky enough to run into some enemies as you approach the T'Rang Overmind and Assassin gaurding the way. That, is, before they become hostile (near Z'Ant, take a left to meet them). If you fight against the T'Rang they may be forever hostile. But if you slip by these guys while fighting centipedes and spiders, for example, no problem. It helps to throw a blind spell, as the enemies move out of the way. Otherwise they will block you and you can't win. You still can use the Mines or the Pulse Pick later on to get there, but not usually at lev 9 or 10.

[ 08-13-2003, 09:44 PM: Message edited by: Ziggurat ]

once your enemies get very hard in spellcasting, silence is unlikely to work, so use element sheild and/or soul sheild to stay alive. having several spellcasters (even if they're hybrids) helps build resistances. hobbits, gnomes and dwarves can also build resistance.

in other words, defencive magic can sometimes be more useful than offencive.

eye for an eye can be one of them.

If you feel lucky enough to fight Marten, here's a tip so that your party isnt insane. after you get the destinae dominus, go to trade. this will allow you to enter your inventory so you can give somebody, with the helm of serenity, the DD. then slap the attack button and hope for the best. GOOD LUCK!

three awesome places to find so very cool items

1. Davy Jones' locker in bajin shallows.

2. A chest in bayjin around the parimiter of the mountain.

3. Chest (queen's?) in rapax castle (the one with the other piece to the teleporter to arnkia.

score a cool 1k exp in the graveyard by placing a holy water bottle on the dead spirit in the building. just go to inventory, click the H W and hit exit, then click on the spirit (you may need to get really close).

extra tip: there is a holy water where the trail to the graveyard meets the arnika-trynton road if u search.

HEY! WHY AM I THE ONLY ONE SENDING TIPS LATELY!?!?!?

[ 10-18-2003, 10:23 PM: Message edited by: Rezdude03 ]

About RezDude's comments to NPC's: try

Hi - almost everybody but especially to Miles
Money - about 50-50 response
boat - Anna
War - depends
Sex - Braffit is really funny

how to finish Don Barlone + Milano Calzone in a round:

throw deathbomb at them, and watch them explode inside-out!

nice cane of corprus/midnightcloak/thieves dagger from the two there.

Always make any gadgeteers or bards female as there are some female only stamina regeneration items. Once you've maximised their skill (engineering/music) then consider changing them to a fighter for extra stamina regeneration.

When assigning skills points upon levelling up, remember the following rule for mages: the realm skills (earth, water, air, fire, mental, divinity). are easier to boost up with practice than spellbook skills (divine, psionic, wizardry, alchemy). Here's an example - take the hidden passageway from the prison to the bank vault. Start casting knock-knock spells on the door at power 1. Do this about four times then quit out of the lockpicking attempt. Your earth skill will usually go up a point. Keep doing this and every so often your wizardry skill will increase as well.

Hence, when levelling up, put maximum skill points into your spellbook skill(s) as this will lead to your getting more powerful spells. For the realm skills you just need to practice a lot. This is especially important for the bishop at early levels. Pump every point into your spellbook skills, I usually go for divine, psionic and wizardry while practicing alchemy with spells.

When in combat, unless you are in a desparate situation or fighting for your life or out of mana, keep casting spells every round to practice your skills. Constantly casting a spell at power level one is a good way of practicing without wasting mana.

Quick tip for my first post here ...

Have a character that you unlocked the Iron Will skill with? Drinking enough Booze (the stronger the better) will raise your Iron Will skill. I got best results with Bonecrusher Brews.

quote from hollywhipet

"Constantly casting a spell at power level one is a good way of practicing without wasting mana."

And it goes really fast with an hybrid with a high score in the governing characteristic (DEX for ninja / ranger, SEN for monks)
Of course with a spell point regenrating item, it's overkill

Apologies if this is repeat of previous posts

1. Some spells to cast in fake combat:
Fire : hypnotic lure - ring of fire
Air : set portal (just after returning to it or re-returning to it).
Water : stamina (after some running for example ) - dracon breath - superman
Earth : razor cloak - body of stone
Divine : summon elemental

Fire and water son especially interessant for bishops as they are no "long-time" spells in those realms (a la missile/magic shield and co) : light is more or less incompatible with chameleon. And to wander by night and without light in the swamp is quite an experience, with a reasonable chance to train "heal" on the way

2. If you plan to play with 3 (or more) portals, for example 2 spellcasters and 1 hybrid, put one at some fountain in the trees. You cast all the iconic spells (from missile shield to magic screen), save, replenish and, your choice/luck, portal out, repeat or just reload. And, there is no justice for the "cheesy ones", at high level you'll train restoration "en prime".

3. To train heal, cure paralysis, cure poison, cure lesser wounds and similar, just cast summon elemental against some worthy opponents.

4. Greenpeace tip
Save the hoggars !
Rexx shall be a recrutable player character


2.

Tired of taking the long way around between Sadok and the Trang-o-porter? When you get to the T'rang bouncers ("Thissss area is off-limits"), pull out your swords, wave them around, hit the run button, run to the other exit, turn around and say 'ha ha, just kidding' and go about your business.

Just make sure there aren't any unfriendlies around when you do this or there'll be T'rangs standing right in fron of the doors next time you try to pass through.

After finishing a Wiz 8 area I like to look at Walkthroughs and see if there is anything I missed ... actually I found something missing from the Walkthroughs .. at least the ones I looked at .. namely now to get into the "turned" crate in the circle of crates in the "first room" of the upper monastery (coming from lower monastery). You can see the crate lid, and there is a plank for getting out ... so there MUST be a way in right? ... here is how to get there: (SPOILER)
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After "banging the gong" in the upper Monastery, go into the console room (with the big windows that are now broken) drop down into the center of the boxes and you can "reach the unreachable box" and there is a nice item (at least for low-lev parties) in there.

Sometimes Trynnie patrols get stuck in the doorway on the way to the rattkin tree. Doing one or two quicksaves will, for some reason, free them up and get them moving again.

<center>Nightowl2</center>

Here is the never ending game bug exploit. (Contains Spoilers)

For this option to work, you must first chose the ending where you do not align with the Dark Savant.

Once combat finishes, and everyone is saying their endgame speeches, you'll notice that you can move around. If you have a 6 man party, or even 4 man party, you'll have enough time to run out of the Cosmic Circle. But the bad thing is, once your out, you can't pick up items, only move. So find some enemies. Once combat begins, you are free to move. While you can never truly beat the game now, I still find it fun to play, even if all you do is fight monsters.

A nice thing i like doing that shows my sadistic side...

When im fighting enemies i KNOW i can kill without raising a sweat i use my healers to heal them...
Thus enabling me to inflict more pain, get better weapons training PLUS divine magic training.

just remember to leave enough for yourself at the end [img]smile.gif[/img]

another sadistic tip is if you have high magic resistance but your casters are bumblers, cast everything on red. this is especially good if there are friendlies around that could get hit by the back fire. you can get some nice items this way without damaging your faction rating. (you could also use instant death spells as someone has mentioned in another thread).

Don't underestimate the Lower Monastery for a skill training grounds. The monster top out around lv 14 (fleshing eating slimes), but more often you run into Metallic Slimes (lv 8 slimes that have good damage resistance). Metallic slimes can absorb a lot of punishment, don't deal out much damage, and allow you to train combat orient skills/magic schools to high level relatively easily.

Although this has been implied in a few posts, I think this deserves a separate mention:

The Portal spell - learn it, use it, love it. I think this is the single most useful & powerful spell in the whole game (based on my experiences in the completed Normal-level game a while ago) as no other spell can change your game experience (or even the game concept!) as drastically as Portal. Don't pick it for just one caster, let ALL your casters learn Set Portal & Return to Portal. This will give you even greater power and flexibility.

It is debatable whether you should spend a spell pick on the Portal spell. Granted, there are a plenty of Return to and Set Portal books in the game. OTOH, when my (pure) casters become eligible to learn the spell, I typically will only have picked up only 1 complete pair of Set & Return to Portal books, and I am eager to have portals available as soon as possible. So it's up to you. I might suggest that a typical pure caster use a pick for this spell if you do not have the books available (it's only 1 pick for 2 spells), while it would be justified for a bishop to save the pick and try to get the books instead.

Why the Portal spell is so useful:
1) Most importantly, it will speed up your game. Most of the game time is spent on wandering around and running into random encounters. While these are good for the experience reward, skill improvement and a random item or two, they tend to get boring after a while. A journey from Arnika to Croc's shack can take several hours (real time). If you have a strategically placed portal, Croc's shack is just a few mouse clicks away!
2) As mentioned by others, if you place a portal in the T'Rang teleporter chamber, you have an instant access to no fewer than 4 different locations [EDIT: 5, actually, if you also count Marten's Bluff]! In fact, if you - for whatever reason - only have one Portal caster, this is probably the best place for your portal.
3) The "town portal" tactic for exploring dangerous areas. First, set one portal in a known safe location (there are several in the game), preferably one that also has stores/healing/etc available. Then start exploring the dangerous place, let's say the Rapax Castle, until your party is in a REALLY bad shape. Cast a second portal here. Then portal back to the safe location, rest&heal up and resupply your ammo or whatever you need. Portal back to the dangerous area and continue.

There are probably other uses for portals, too. Of course the portal will not help you in any way once a combat has started, but it will make the game a *lot* less tedious - it will help avoid those annoying fights (at least some of them).

In fact, when I form a party nowadays, I try to get as many casters as possible (meaning more portals).

[ 04-08-2004, 04:57 AM: Message edited by: seclists ]

Stamina problems: if you run into many monsters early on, such as in the Monastery, you need to conserve stamina. If confronted by a large number of enemies, or a few tough ones such as metallic slimes, run away so they have to go around a corner to get to you one by one if possible. My 3-party beat 15 seekers and later 4 metal slimes this way. There was no other way that worked because of stamina loss (and no one had stamina spell, but it would have been used up quickly anyway).

If you do that party formation plays an important part too.
as people get tired or damaged, cycle them to the back of the pack to rest....
If you have a tank that never seems to get hit, stick him/her out front with a tshirt on that reads "hit me suckers!"

A tip I don't think I've seen... whenever leaving an area (the message pops up Enter ??????) select 'NO' (the 'X') bring up your Map and Write on it where that exit goes to - do the same when entering an area (eg: "To Swamp").

I also like to put an 'E' (for empty) into every building I've searched in Arnika, as well as mark anyplace that you may want to return to (Fuzfass, Monastary room needing wheel key, anyplace needing a key [or specific item] you don't yet have, any teleport points, etc.)

WRITE on the Map - that will make it more useful !

You can always delete stuff you write later...

I don't know if anyone is still checking this thread...but...

When working on unlocking a chest, especially if power training, make sure to turn your party around using the left or right arrow key. If the unlock just dialog box is open, it will stay that way even if you turn around. That way a group of 6 rapid rats won't jump your level 3 party...Yes, I learned the hard way.

Yeah. I'm reading the thread!
[img]smile.gif[/img]
BTW, how do I tell WHEN a reply was posted? I can't find dates.......
How786

My piece of input...

If you have Psionic or Monk, get them "Identify Item" spell as SOON as possible, and from then on use them as the dedicated "identify item" spellcaster.

The reason I tell this... is because early on I gave my priest the Identify Item book, and despite a mental magic skill of zero, and not a single useful spell in the mental magic realm, by level 15 he risen to mental magic skill of about 65, JUST from identifying items. Comparatively, my monk, who I have been painfully trying to train up as a spell caster, has a mental magic skill of a meagre 80. Had the monk been the dedicated identifier, I cant exactly work out what his mental magic skill would have been... however suffice to say it would have been at LEAST ten points higher, if not maxed out. Furthermore for a good portion of the early game it would be been close to double what it was... going by the priests progression. Alas, I was a first time player and had very little idea of the game mechanics... and now I am stuck with a priest with almost 70 wasted realm points.

Might seem obvious, to put spells where they belong... but just a reminder to never underestimate the value of training, and know that often overlooked actions can reap the highest advancments.

[ 04-25-2005, 02:26 PM: Message edited by: hayaku ]

I find the passages in the lower monestary hard to navigate when I don't have someone that can cast the light spell.

If I am going to spend some time there, I will drop single arrows (you could also use rocks, etc.) on the ground to leave a trail that shows up on the radar.

Want to get the Holy Water spellbook from the Savant Orb near the Tower in Arnika? The Orb has the greatest number of hit points of the enemy group, so it is easy to kill them all except the Orb. At this point, run away. I like to run to the room where I found the Lesser Cures spellbook. After combat disengages, save your game and you only have one weakened enemy to kill over and over till the Holy Water spellbook drops. Saves lots of time.

Well, after reading all these in a day to be sure I am not reposting, I found a couple things I'd like to add to as well.

Guardian Angel spell: If possible add a Razor Cloak to the same person. Nothing is as satisfying as to see 0 damage to your char while the enemy who popped them takes significant damage.

Also the messages on spellbooks that you can sometimes see in vendor inventory, they still show up in personal inventory. The game just has no way of knowing which party member will be attempting to use the book while in common inventory so it cannot display a message on usage.

Likewise in vendor inventory no messages show up if a non casting char is active while shopping, a fighter has no use for spell books hence no point in displaying any message.

My original tip was this: The little Forest Mites in the cave on the Arnika Road. Leave them alone for the first part of the game unless you really need the treasure they guard. Save them for later like when you have chars with newly opened skills like reflextion and iron skin. They can help train that as well as stealth and shield skills so several members of the party can benefit from this encounter if you play it right.

Re: BEST TIPS for Wizardry 8
 

I decided to take a turn for the different by taking advantage of the foreknowledge of the level sensors being ON and snooping on Flamestryke's site of the levels they are at. This means that the chest and drops will wield better booty if you hit them just right. No guarantees, but a better random chance of nice stuff:

Some drawbacks being that you will have to practice more due to the lack of grabbing better weapons/armor and spellbooks.

You'll have to study it to know when to hit the areas yourselves, but here it is and I'll start you off:
level 1-5
level 6-10
level 11-15
level 16-20
level 21-25
level 26-30
level 31+
Don't enter Upper Monastery until level 6
Don't enter Arnika-Trynton Rd OR Arnika until level 11
Don't enter Rattkin Tree until level 16
Don't enter Rapax areas until level 21

Obviously it will not be easy and probably for only parties of 4 or less and no RPC's either. The sensor (assume) plays on the lowest level PC or RPC. I’m trying it now with the following party: Monk/Rogue/Ranger/Bishop.