A new age sans Llylgamyn. Let's Play Wizardry Gaiden IV: Throb of the Demon's Heart!

Ovelia for MVP

Pfft. PFFT. Noah MVP, you mean. Who needs healing when you're one-shotting bosses?

Do revived characters still run the risk of being ASH or LOST in this game?

Yes to both. However, I've only ever lost mid-level bards and thieves. KADORTO also works all the time in my experience in this game.

Hi again! A quick update to get me back into the swing of things. Here's what the Tower of Spirits looks like for us.



In one of the rooms, our party encounters this lady. She's described as a "small winged creature", and our characters are clearly not familiar with the concept of an angel. At least, some of them must not be.



"If any of you happen to drop something, please come here."

Essentially, Rachael here is able to give us back items we drop, which otherwise aren't tracked in the game (for example by where we dropped them). This lets us get back key items (though sometimes you can backtrack to get second copies of them anyways). It also lets you get back loot you mistakenly drop!



After confirming who Destil meant should join us, I brought in another of FFT's alumni: Olan. Though Destil suggested that he be a Neutral Psionic, I have a plan for him (that will still involve him becoming a Psionic!). For now, he's an Alchemist, and due to low starting stats, he gets to be Level 4. This gives him more powerful cloud spells, as well as NAGUS for paralysis, and NOFIS, a spell that decreases enemies' magic resistance (and which cannot be resisted itself).



Since Ovelia is now in the front row, I'm equipping her with a sword instead. Notice that there are some expensive luxury items in the starting store! There aren't many, and most equipment will be obtained (in fact, must be obtained) from treasure chests.



I did equip many of our veteran characters more thoroughly, however. At this stage in the game, most items simply give AC bonuses (such as the Wizard's Hat, which simply provides 1 AC and I believe a small magic resistance bonus, but most characters can equip it as a helmet).



Back in the Tower of Stillness, we find this painting on the wall, which is described as "a woman turning to look at something". We can't move it even though it hangs from the wall, and there is writing on it, listing the "Seven Spring Herbs'. Interesting!

On to the second floor!



Here, we meet another NPC early on. I didn't talk about it with Rachael, but there is a specific sequence to talking to NPCs; there's a menu that allows you to Talk with them, Fight with them, cast a Spell, sometimes Trade with them, sometimes Give them an item, or Leave.

Neither Shugen here nor Rachael are interesting in being given items; Rachael will Trade with you, but only to give you items you've lost.



When you Talk, NPCs respond to a list of questions that your party automatically asks. In the PC versions of Wizardry V and VI, which first included this system, you could type in questions manually. Here, and in the SNES version of Wizardry V for example, your characters automatically ask the pertinent questions.

Here, Shugen is responding to "Who are you?" and "What are you doing here?"

I also omitted some of Rachael's dialogue, where she explains who she is and that she's on a mission from Heaven to clean up the ground ("Oh, you. This, here, is the ground.").



"You take a single piece from the wooden shelf."



We obtain a Teacup (unidentified: Cup)! This will probably be useful later, if Wizardry IV was any indication.



While we're leaving the nice man's tea ceremony, however, we run into some rather hard foes! It's worth noting that enemies which cast cloud spells, such as those we're facing here, deal damage every round to our entire party with them -- just like our party does to them. But since our party is only one group, cloud spells are actually even more effective for the enemy than for us -- they're a huge drain on our hit points!

The FISQUREA (Clean Air) spell alchemists learn can help, but it only targets one character, so ultimately it's not economical unless it's your only way to save a character's life. Even Olan isn't using it here, since he's likely to survive the cloud damage (and does).

Two final notes are that clouds tick at the end of every round, even rounds where you're victorious in battle, so if you barely make it through a fight with a dozen ninjas, you'll probably take a lot of damage at the very end of it and potentially lose another character. Also, clouds of the same type and of different types stack; you can take damage from multiple clouds at once. One saving grace is that cloud spells do wear off after a few rounds.

How will our heroes make it through these endless trials!? Find out next time!

To-do list!
* (Stillness) Figure out the bath house in the ready room
* (Stillness) Get to the kimono behind the grate
* (Stillness) Pick a couple remaining locks
* (Stillness) Get strong enough for the next floor
* (Stillness) Figure out the "Seven Spring Herbs" painting
* (Spirits) Go to the next floor

Deaths!
Lucia: 2, Lizmet: 1, Karl: 1.[

I'm glad this is back! This LP inspired me to go back to my Elminage Gothic run.

Abandoned