I am a couple of days away from recieving WIZ8 in the post, so i am reading this board for ideas on party makeup, so any ideas would be gratefully accepted. I have downloaded the demo and completed it and i am now gagging for more of the same.
Cheers for any posts on this subject.

I have just finished the game 1 hour ago, with this party:

Fighter
Ranger
Mage ->Samurai
Alchemist -> Ninja
Psionist -> Fighter
Priest -> Lord

Class changed at around level 18-20. Never had a difficult fight since around level 4. But prolly not a good party to start with if you are new to RPG or the Wizardry series.

Now I am planning to start with
Fighter
Samurai
Bishop
Lord
Valkyrie
Ranger
with no class changing.

These are just my parties, I do not think there is such a thing as a "best" party.

Many other player will advise you to take a Bard in your party, there are plenty of bard instruments in the start of the game that make the bard very powerfull early to mid-game.

I personally do not like bard, and prefer parties that are powerfull in the end game.

All in all it's up to you, but any party with 2 fighter classes, 2 spellcasters, one bard and one ranger will probably do fine throughout the game

i suggest samurai, fighter or valkyrie, monk, bard, psionic and priest
samurai is good in criticals and is pretty nice user of wizardry spells; (s)he is also never afraid; fighter and valkyrie are strong and deal lots of plain damage, also have many hit points, so you want it in front to absorb damage; monk ils also nice 'criticalist', and can use psionic spells quite effectively; bard is nice b/c (s)he can use instruments since early game, and it is fun to 'surprise sleeping opponents'; it is easy to develop as it mostly needs locks/traps, pickpocketing and music for skills; psionic is immune to attempts to affect their state of mind and are strong offensive spellcasters (though many preffer mage); and - priest.. nice protective spells and good resistances;
good luck

To save your butt early. Use this party:

Fighter
Samurai
Ranger
Gadgeteer
Priest
Mage

I go with this :

1 Samurai
2 Fighters
1 Ranger
1 Bard
1 Bishop

Im playing on expert, and the first time one of my folks died was when those damn insects in Martens Bluff starting to shoot criticals at me.
That was around lvl 11 I think.

Its not important what kind of characters one have in his party, its important every character can do what he is suposed to.
Developing the characters right is the key to Victory.

Whats a Samurai good for if he never does one of his famous "INSTANT KILLS" becuase you pumped all points to str and dex and missed out speed and sences.

thanx guys for your comments i will take them on board

any class can finish the game in fine form. the game is just THAT well balanced.

the most IMPORTANT thing to do, is play YOUR favorite classes. heck, you can play a party of Faerie Ninjas if you adore them. granted it may be a tad hard :D

however, if there is anything your post has proved, is that everyone has different ideas on the perfect party to finish. they all finish. the point is that YOU have a blast getting there!

so, just listen to your heart!


V***V

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by scooby:
To save your butt early. Use this party:

Fighter
Samurai
Ranger
Gadgeteer
Priest
Mage<hr></blockquote>

Wow, this is my exact party. First time through.

Having a big party doesn't mean having the strongest party in Wizardry. You can try with 4 or even 3 characters.
They will gaing exp. accordingly x2 or x2.5 times faster and become as much stronger in the same time.

I've had 3 characters and finished the game much easily than with 8.

But, as it was said, the most important is the interest you will have in play. So having many characters of different classes can make game more attractive.

Enjoy ;)

IMO the most import. thing is to have a well balanced party. So after you read through the manual pick prof/races combos that you think will be fun to play with. I do recommend a Fighter, Priest & Bard. The party I am curr. playing with is

Fighter
Ranger
Samuri
Bard
Psionic
Priest

Good luck and have fun.