Yeah so I've played pretty much every Wizardry game except 8 until about 3 weeks ago, and the only thing keeping me going is just to finish it for the sake of finishing it and completing the Dark Savant trilogy. It really just feels like a chore though...

My main problems with Wizardry 8:

-Battles are horrendous. They last way too long, and the enemies always match up against you, no matter where you are. Spells like blinding flash and fright spells are counterproductive, since enemies just run away from you for a couple rounds when they're blind or scared and then come back or you have to chase them. Tougher enemies all seem resistant to mental spells or cast soul shield so I can't really even use insanity anymore right now either.

-Leveling up magic for anyone other than pure spellcasters is hell. Why do I keep casting level 1 fire spells with my samurai that are completely useless, only to have my wizardry stats go up like a point every tenth time I use them? It doesn't even feel like it's worth it. I'll probably be done with the game before I can cast a decent fireball.

-What happened to the incomprehensible wizardry puzzles that were staples of earlier games? Was I the only one that liked them?

All in all, I really wanted to love Wizardry 8, and initially I did think it was pretty fun. But now I'm just bored with it and I dread these 20 minute battles, and they're only getting worse. I finished the swamp where I can travel to Bayjin, the mines or Marten's Bluff but I haven't played it in a couple days. Can anyone motivate me that it's worth finishing? I really loved most of the Wizardry games but I'm just not seeing the attraction to 8. It feels like one step forward, two steps back for the series.

I like Wizardry 8, but I absolutely love 6 and 7. The systems in 8 sound more clean and sophisticated than the previous games on paper, but in practice, they're sluggish, unsatisfying and restrictive. I have yet to finish it myself, but I really want to see the end of the trilogy. It took me years to get through 6 and 7, though, so I'm not in any hurry.

There's a fan-patch to speed up battles... But even with that, they aren't a speedy affair.

I thought Wiz8 was a fairly mediocre game myself. It did feel like a chore sometimes, but it had its moments. I never finished it due to a game-breaking bug near the end.

Use wizfast.exe , without it the battles can really be annoying.

http://www.gog.com/forum/wizardry_series/slow_moving_enemies_long_battles_fix



About leveling, the main fun of Wiz 8 for me is experimenting with character builds, and then using those in the battles. You can make some really cool combinations. For example try a rogue with the Bloodlust sword, he will have backstab+berserk which means quadruple damage because they stack! Or if you like bards, once you have raised their music skill to wherever you want, switch them to rogue and use Bloodlust for quadruple damage.
I guess everyone knows fairy ninjas with the Cane of Corpus. How about a Dracon Fighter with polearms! Staff of Doom means insane damage. Take a psionic, have enemies fight each other.

Trying out these things is fun.

try a party of ninjas, samurai, with kill skill high enough,
[url=http://userweb.tsr.ru/~gray_/WIZ8.TXT]http://userweb.tsr.ru/~gray_/WIZ8.TXT[/url]

staff of doom
Stats: damage 7-27, to hit +4, initiative +1, special attacks: paralyze 25%,
hex 10%, kill 15%, HP regen -1, cursed.

Cane of Corpus (faerie only / only ninja class)
Stats: damage 12-42, to hit +4, initiative +5, special attacks: paralyze 50%,
poison 100%, kill 15%, resistance: 50% divine, cursed.

Muramasa blade
Class mod: samurai.
Stats: damage 7-28, to hit +4, initiative +5, special attack: kill 15%.

Zatoichi Bo
Location: Rapax Castle, you can receive it in exchange to constable's deposit clip.
2H staff; extended range.
Class mod: samurai, monk.
Stats: damage 10-31, to hit +4, initiative +4, special attacks: paralyze 15%,
kill 5%, k.o. 15%.

Hybrid classes in Wizardry have always been slow to level-up, this has been the case since Wiz6, it's to balance out the fact that they're a lot more powerful than the standard classes

Different strokes for different folks.

That said, the wiz8fast mod/tweak and continuous combat mode are worthy of consideration. Revamping your party and/or setting the difficulty to the lowest can further accelerate the combat. Of course, if you're not enjoying it then I'd say move on to something you do enjoy. Life's short.