Wizardry 8 (2001) - RPG, PC
Story: Aeons ago, the Cosmic Lords created the first planet, Dominus, using the power of three MacGuffins. Now, rumor has it that whoever finds these artifacts will be able to ascend to the Cosmic Circle, basically becoming gods - an idea which appeals to your party!
Gameplay: First, create your party! You can have up to six characters, selecting from the usual fantasy races (humans, elves, dwarves and more) and professions (fighter, ranger, rogue, mage etc). Or, if you've completed Wizardry 7, import your old party to continue their story~
The game begins with your spaceship crash-landing on Dominus. In front of you is an abandoned monastery – the first dungeon! You can move freely through the 3D environment, with all actions taking place in real-time... until you come across an enemy.
Combat is turn-based: you select actions for each member of your party (attack, defend, cast spell, use item etc), then click a button to start combat when ready. Who acts first depends on initiative, worked out based on Speed and Senses stats.
Party formation is critical. Opponents usually attack in groups, surrounding you on all sides, so sticking your close combat classes at the front and sides, ranged attackers at the back and spellcasters in the centre (for example) should lead to fewer casualties!
Once you're done with the monastery, you emerge into an open world... from there, you're on your own. The game gives you no handy map markers; you must speak to characters, find out for yourself what's going on in the world, choose which quests to take on, which alien races to ally yourselves with, and which NPCs to recruit as your 7
th and 8
th party members!
The difficulty also ramps up after the monastery. The road between it and the nearby town of Arnika (an obvious first destination for info and trading) is one of the worst areas I've come across for random enemies. Even if you survive the first two or three encounters, make sure you find a safe place to camp, because they'll attack you in your sleep too!
Controls: The game defaults to arrow keys for movement, but you can re-assign them to WASD or whatever you prefer in the options. Shift allows you to run away from the many horrible enemies – so long as you have the stamina! Mouse allows for looking around, picking items up, selecting from dialogue options etc. Very intuitive.
Graphics and sound: The graphics are of course dated – render distance is low, so imagine your party are all short-sighted. Enemies of the same type all use the same model, though their appearances do change to reflect damage. Despite this, I do like the game's fantasy/sci-fi aesthetic, and a few locations did impress me visually.
Music is passable, atmospheric, most areas have their own theme. It's the voice acting that stands out from an audio perspective – not only are all the NPCs voiced, but you can select from various voices and personalities for your own party too, and you'd be surprised how a small thing like that can help bring them to life.
Overall: A great game, so long as you don't mind hardcore RPGs, lots of grinding and backtracking, and the occasional feeling that you have no idea where to go next.
8/10