while there are a number of websites with a detailed inventory of items (mindflay and flamestryke are two of the best, imo), but only one had the items listed with their find locations - not always accurate, but a nice bit of information. it was jack bullion's home page but has since disappeared.
flamstryke's page also has a list of chest contents, so you may be able to have a poke around to find some useful info - it's just not sorted by item.
http://www.flamestryke.com/wizardry8...trykes_w8.html
a list of my favourite items and their locations (as best i know) is below (spoiler warning)
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fang - best fixed-find sword in the game (10% critical) southeast wilderness in the evil temple
boomerang shuriken - nice for those throwers you just cant keep equipped, same temple as fang
diamond eyes - nice mace, notable for being usable as an off-hand weapon, for which it is amongst the best in the game. found in the bunker in the middle of the mountain wilderness. also dropped by the shaman in trynton, should you choose to off him.
excalibur - best two-handed sword in the game. found in two places: nessie's chest in the bayjin shallows and the queen's chest in the rapax castle.
muramassa blade - best one-handed sword in the game (15% critical), but usable only by samurai. only found in the queen's chest in the rapax castle.
cane of corpus - over-blown one-handed staff (15% critical) for faerie ninja. the don drops it about 2/3 of the time when you kill him.
staff of doom - best two-handed staff in the game (15% critical). found under the waterfall in the mountain wilderness.
enchanted wakizashi - only off-hand sword in the game, only usable by samurai and ninja. apparently there are six ways to get it, but the most common are the fixed location under the waterfall (as above) and dropped by antone or ferro should you choose to off them (or pickpocket them).
sprite's dagger / rod of sprites - great faerie weapons, particular the rod which is an excellent complement to the cane of corpus as an off-hand staff. random drop by faeries. i've only gotten the rod on ascension peak but i've gotten the dagger as early as lower trynton.
sword of 4 winds - great cursed two-handed sword, casts asphyxiate. only found in one of the lockers (the one with all the locks) in the umpani headquarters, just outside the general's office.
ivory blade - an excellent one-handed sword that you can always get, but you have to deliver 3 quest items to ferro to get it.
siege arbalest/strong bow - the best cross-bow and bow in the game (imo), usable by everyone with lots of hit and critical bonuses. both may be bought at ferro, although you can get strong bow dropped by rattkin (and elsewhere) and the siege arbalest is available in drops at marten's chest, from wood elders, and the queen's chest (i think).
dread spear - best always-available polearm in the game. bought from bela (in the mountain wilderness).
that's all i can think of at the moment. can anyone supply correction or add to the list?