This is the first time ive posted up on this board....have been reading a while, anyway's, ive had wizardry 8 for almost a weak now, have put in several hour's and have never been able to decide on a group!! :( i love spellcaster's, have tried an all casting group but have found that not satisfying, unable to use the many weapon's in the game, and a mixed group, but i feel like something's missing....havent made it past trynnie yet, though my highest level character in my main game is around level 9, any suggestion's? has anyone else had this much trouble deciding on a group?

Go for 2 bishops - 4 Hybrids if you love spells as I do.
Here is a copy of notes I've taken when I created my 4th and favourite party.

Elf Bishop
Skills: Wizardry, Divinity, divine magic
Stats: Intelligence Piety
Elf Bishop
Skill: Psionic, Alchemy, Mental.
Stats: Senses Dext
Rawulf Lord
Skill: Dual, Sword, Mace (Divinity instead of Mace when available)
Stat: Piety, Str
Mook Ranger
Skill: Bow, Ranged, Sword (Alchemy instead of Sword)
Stat: Senses Dex
Felpurr Samurai
Skill: Sword, Close combat, Dual weapons (Wizardry instead of close combat)
Stat: Str Dex
Dracon Monk
Skill: Close combat, Martial Arts, Critical strike (Psionics instead of close combat)
Stat: Senses Speed

[img]graemlins/viking.gif[/img]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by alikitten:
has anyone else had this much trouble deciding on a group?<hr></blockquote>

[img]graemlins/biglaugh.gif[/img] - Everyone has their own pet group of classes they like and have tons of reasons for why they like them and dislike others. But the answer to your question is yes -- almost everyone has lots of trouble deciding on a group and some people are even running several groups through the game concurrently because they couldn't make up their mind which group they preferred.

My own advice is to take at least two pure spellcasters (I recommend two bishops for versatility and have each specialize in two schools - wiz/div, psi/alch - but some people prefer mage & priest or mage & alchemist to bishops because bishops take longer to go up in levels), one ranger (the free scouting comes in very handy, as does the ranged fighting and ranged crits), one-two melee specialists (I prefer Valks for the polearm bonus but then I don't like Fighters or Samurais and some people swear by them) and either a gadgeteer or a bard for the extra 'spell-casting' ability they will give your party.

I myself chose both a bard AND a gadgeteer (the Omnigun is awesome at higher levels) because I like the neat items you get for them and then I picked up Vi Domina and the android as RPCs and to give me a bit more melee power. I took that group all the way through the game and had fun the whole way tailoring them to my specifications.

Again, some people prefer to go with more pure melee chars and use their spellcasters primarily for buffing and healing while others like all or mostly ranged chars because they take less damage while dealing out good amounts to the opponents.

Basically, pick out some chars you will enjoy building up and remember that the whole point of the game is to have fun.

Very true Jem.

I myself *hate* ninjas [img]graemlins/ninja.gif[/img] bards [img]graemlins/3laugh.gif[/img] and gadgeteers [img]graemlins/shooter07.gif[/img] . And *love* bishops [img]graemlins/magic.gif[/img]

The party I posted above is just my very biased favourite party, no pretense of being *the* best.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Warhammer:
I myself *hate* ninjas bards and gadgeteers. And *love* bishops
<hr></blockquote>

My own prejudices are against fighters, rogues (no spell-casting abilities for those two), samurais (armor is too dang heavy at lower levels) and all of the pure spellcasters other than the bishop (Especially now that bishops can access all four schools of magic). I enjoyed lords, ninjas and monks in Wiz 7 but had other areas I wanted to focus on in Wiz 8 so I stuck with my Valkyrie.

I could see substituting one of those last three classes for my Valk but that's about the only one I'd really change in my core group. I just can't see giving up my bard and gadgeteer - they're too neat. I consider my ranger indispensable. The same with my two bishops, though I might consider changing them to mage & alchemist instead - I consider those to be the two best schools.

Of course, if I DID give up my Valk, I'd want Vi to replace her and I might consider replacing my gadgeteer with another melee-er like a monk or ninja but I'd want Madras to replace him. I would change my gadgeteer before my bard because I don't like Saxx at all. Madras is annoying but I can put up with him more than Saxx.

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Jem:

Of course, if I DID give up my Valk, I'd want Vi to replace her and I might consider replacing my gadgeteer with another melee-er like a monk or ninja but I'd want Madras to replace him. I would change my gadgeteer before my bard because I don't like Saxx at all. Madras is annoying but I can put up with him more than Saxx.<hr></blockquote>

Speaking of prejudices and off-topic rantling. I do also hate RPC finished the game three times with three differents parties bu never included any of them more than couple of minutes.