Wizardry III(NES) FAQ/Walkthrough
version 1.0.0 by
[email protected]
Please do not reproduce for profit without my consent. You won't be getting
much profit anyway, but that's not the point. This took time and effort, and
I just wanted to save a memory of an old game and the odd solutions any way I
could. Please send me an email referring to me and this guide by name if
you'd like to post it on your site.
I've written a map to accompany this that appears on GameFAQs. It was written
by using Andriy Sen's maps of the PC version to page through the NES version
and look for errors and differences between the two. I rearranged some
coordinates to make the maps more readable.
Thanks to the following people:
Bubbles for his hex editing FAQ on GameFAQs
John Hubbard at tk421.net for the maps
Andriy Sen for originally making the maps
Yuko Suzuki for the Wizardry 3 NES maps
================================
OUTLINE
1. INTRODUCTION
2. CONTROLS
3. LEVELS
4. COMBAT STRATEGIES
5. WALKTHROUGH
5-1. STARTING OUT
5-2. BUILDING UP
5-3. THE GOOD LEVELS
5-3-1. LEVEL 2
5-3-2. LEVEL 4
5-3-2a. LEVEL 2 DETOUR
5-4. THE EVIL LEVELS
5-4-1. LEVEL 3
5-4-2. LEVEL 5
5-5. LEVEL 6
5-6. WHAT ABOUT EVIL?
6. CHEATS
6-1. LOW TECH
6-2. HIGH TECH
7. VERSIONS
8. CREDITS
================================
1. INTRODUCTION
Wizardry III was a game that held up pretty well for the Apple and PC, and it
ported smoothly to the NES. It's a stand-alone game on the NES, and it has
the interesting twist of forcing your party to change alignments or make new
players. You need to build up your party to solve the "good" and "evil"
levels and then make it to the main part of the top level so you can restore
the Orb of Llylgamyn. The cheesy riddles from the other versions are gone--
it's rare the lousy stuff gets lost in translation. There are some
interesting boss fights, and the mapping problems are not bad, although sadly
the quickest way to solve things is to flee a boss fight til it has
relatively few monsters.
If you wish to run through quickly with save states, you can constantly
reroll the dice for random encounters and events when wandering around. This
is useful to face fewer or easier enemies, and it is also useful to get the
most out of each level advancement. If there's one thing that stinks about
Wizardry on any platform, it's that you can gain 1 hit point and lose
attributes for gaining a level. This when levels are hard to come by.
The monsters and items are roughly the same from the PC to the NES version,
and with that in mind, I will just post links to the more detailed
concordances. I can only add minor differences to these, if I can be bothered.
Monsters:
http://www.tk421.net/wizardry/wiz3monst.shtml
Items:
http://www.tk421.net/wizardry/wiz3items.shtml
(Shepherd's Crook is a new cursed item for NES W3)
Spells:
http://www.tk421.net/wizardry/wiz15spells.shtml
2. CONTROLS
First, set the top 6 to left on the control panel. I made characters of 1
letter up to 6 to differentiate my characters, but you can go into the hex as
at the end and change them.
If you have an option in your emulator to hold A down and simulate continual
pressing, use that.
Controls are really very handy. In the maze, left/right arrows turn you, down
flips you 180 degrees, and up goes forward, unless you walk into a door or a
wall. A kicks through a door, including secret ones.
There's nothing special about this, but the key neat thing is that A=select,
B=back up. B also is the "decline" option if you are asked yes/no. So if you
want to leave a chest, or leave a group of enemies, or not take stairs, push
B.
In-town controls are also very convenient because, if you have one player
enter Boltac's or the Adventurer's Guild, then when he exits, the next guy
down is in line. So you don't even have to use the arrows.
The rest of the controls consist mostly of a bunch of menus where you use
up/down navigation with A/B being select/exit. Spells are accessed by going
left for higher levels(mages) and right for lower.
Combat is also nice because you can back up just one suggestion with B, and
you can push A to go through with the default option(fight/parry.)
3. LEVELS
Wizardry III has a kind of screwy way of advancing your characters.
Experience needed for level x+1 = 1.724(experience for level x) so this
exponential thing builds up pretty quickly. But oddly, getting to level 3 is
easier than getting to level 2. That's about the only break you'll get,
though.
Fighter
2=1000,3=1724,4=2972,5=5124,6=8834,7=15231,8=26260,9=45275
10=78060,11=134586,12=232044,13=400075,14=689784,15=979493
Thief
2=900,3=1551,4=2674,5=4610,6=7948,7=13703,8=23625,9=40732
10=70227,11=121081,12=208760,13=359931,14=620570,15=881209
Priest
2=1050,3=1810,4=3120,5=5379,6=9274,7=15989,8=27567,9=47529
10=81946,11=141286,12=243596,13=419993,14=724125,15=1028257
Bishop
2=1200,3=2105,4=3692,5=6477,6=11363,7=19935,8=34973,9=61356
10=107642,11=188845,12=331307,13=581240,14=1019719,15=1458198
Mage
2=1100,3=1896,4=3268,5=5634,6=9713,7=16746,8=28872,9=49779,
10=85825,11=147974,12=255127,13=439874,14=758403,15=1076932
Samurai 2=1250
Lord 2=1300
Ninja 2=1450
(You can extrapolate the rest, but I didn't use those classes. Still, the
basic thing to take away is that any two different classes with the same
experience are separated by no more than 1 level until level 14/15, when
there is a roof on experience per level.)
Also note that, at low levels, the experience it takes to reach the next
level = 1.24*experience to get to previous level. So one benefit to changing
classes is the sheer number of levels you can pile up quickly, though it does
add to a character's age and it does reduce all their attributes. And
changing a character's class never really handicaps him in the long run, even
if you do so late in the game. In fact, you may wish to wait a few levels to
pull the ripcord, as you can get 4 extra levels' hit points that way.
4. COMBAT STRATEGIES
For fighters, just go after the strongest monsters, unless there is one
monster in another group that could cast spells, and your spellcasters can
nail group A while your fighters take the smaller group B. Another exception
is if monsters are incapacitated by KATINO or such. Then cut them down, since
they tend to wake up quickly, and hitting a sleeping monster is fatal and
saves a lot of work. Don't split up who you attack unless your +2 battle axe
fighter is attacking a weakened guy and it is an experience fight. If you
need to risk attacking 2 different enemy groups to win a fight, you may need
to improve a level or get more spells.
You can pretty much autopilot with the A button for easy fights. You may also
wish to have a frontline priest cast a protect spell for the first round.
Your fights will fall into 2 categories--tough ones where you need spells
right away, and easy ones where you can autopilot tapping A continually.
Don't confuse nonmagic fights with autopilot--poisoning monsters can be nasty.
And along those lines, don't cast cure poison with poisoning monsters left on
the battlefield!
Speaking of spells, hit monsters with EVERYTHING you have, unless you know
they are weak. Hand-to-hand monsters--you should use a protective spell.
Maybe only level 2(MATU) or level 1(KALKI) but everything helps. Amusingly,
the spell for a priest to cast on himself is more efficient than KALKI from a
frontline view. You get -3 for the frontline and -4 for the priest. So if
there is a disparity between your priest and the other guys, use PORFIC
instead of KALKI. Your bishop can cast KALKI.
For undead, frontline priests should dispel instead of fighting, and bishops
should dispel, unless monsters are known to poison you. Also use protective
spells when fighting draining monsters.
In general you might as well have 2 guys dispelling undead, regardless of how
many groups there are. A choice between a level drain(lose up to 40% of your
experience) and losing a few hundred experience for dispelling and not
killing is easy.
Don't cast heal spells during combat unless you absolutely have to, or your
priest has nothing else to do. And if you must, go with the best one there is.
Best spells:
Mage-1=katino
Mage-2=dilto(you can get in a war with enemies who cast this while you cast
defensive spells. It's amusing.)
Mage-3=mahalito
Mage-4=dalto/lahalito, though with hard to hit monsters, morlis can be
awesome
Mage-5=madalto vs 1 tough group, makanito vs many
Mage-6=lakanito(masopic ~ priest level 3 so don't bother)
Mage-7=tiltowait, though you may want to save this to teleport out of a tight
spot
Priest-1=porfic, which is more efficient than kalki if the priest casts it.
Kalki for bishop. The total of hit points saved, especially fighting lots of
enemies, is significant.
(use DIOS before entering town)
Priest-2=matu, but against high level spellcasters, montino is a must, for
priest and bishop
Priest-3=bamatu, don't chuck a lomilwa
Priest-4=1 maporfic, use latumofis potion, and use dial when in need of a
boost
Priest-5=save these combat spells for dialma unless there's one last really
tough guy to kill
Priest-6=madi is nice for fighters, but lorto/mabadi depending on if there is
one enemy or many
Priest-7=malikto, only one really, but a good one!
As for the rewards of combat:
When you are looking for experience in areas you suspect do not have any new
items, you can leave trapped chests. You don't really have to worry about
getting blown up by one chest, like in some scenarios on the Apple where if
you have a teleport trap, there is a small small chance you'll go into rock
and lose.
Also, ID stuff immediately. If it's nonmagical, drop it. Keep your bishop's
inventory open to make trading to him easier. Dump useless stuff off on the
mage to sell later. Don't let your mage have a weapon unless it reduces AC.
Even then you may not wish to bother. A cursed item is not the worst thing in
the world, since your bishop is in the back line, and it won't happen much
either. You will probably make more than enough from selling magical items.
And if you want to force the issue, you can just mess with save states.
If you want, you can keep reloading the trap diffusion scene to get new items,
much as you try for different items or better level gifts with each save
state. It seems easier than looking for tough fights to win. I am assuming
more XP fights = better treasure, as long as the opponents carry a treasure
chest, but I cannot be sure.
5. WALKTHROUGH
5-1. STARTING OUT
I created the following party:
N-FIG (convert to samurai if you want)
N-FIG (can make good and convert to lord if you want)
G-PRI
N-THI (convert to ninja when he turns evil--and if you have the stats.)
G-BIS
N-MAG
Note that having the right stats is important to change classes, so you need
to use the low-tech cheat to ensure your stats are good and you can advance.
For instance, a thief who wants to be a ninja is best human, because then he
can push agility to 11 and piety to 8, meaning he could switch to ninja by
level 10 if everything goes perfectly. You can tinker so it does, or so it
gets close.
Str IQ Pie Agi Vit Luc
Samurai 15 11 10 14 10
Lord 15 12 12 15 14 15
Ninja 17's
You may also wish to have a neutral thief gopher who can carry your special
items like the Crystal of Evil and the elemental weapons, so you have more
slots when you go exploring to build levels.
I gave my guys lots of the main statistic needed for their class, and some
vitality too for hit points. Agility is something you should get with levels.
It lets you strike first, but you won't really need that til later on. You
get about 6-10 points to start the game with, and you can quibble if you want,
but it is easier to cheat. Quibbling this way can also allow you to build up
gold by looting the characters you reject.
You do need a thief to start out, though he can't be a fighter right away due
to the lack of armor class. Eventually you can flip him ahead to ninja(for
this--you need to keep reloading when you advance a level, so all attributes
advance) and/or slip him ahead of the priest, who will cast spells from the
back and be an adequate fighter if someone is incapacitated.
Evil is better to start out with, but starting out is not so bad, and you
need to flip between alignments, so it's probably best to end with evil.
What to buy first is a problem. You want to buy the items that get the most
armor class improvement for your buck up front. You will have anywhere from
1000 to 2000 gold--note you can cheat and create a throwaway party, pool the
gold to the person you ultimately want to create, and delete the other
members, repeating until you have 5000 gold. Then you can buy everything you
want. You also want to try to buy items that can be transferred on down the
line instead of ones that you need to re-sell for half price. The exception
here is light armor.
With 1000 gold, the following is possible:
N-FIG Cuirass/Heater Shield/Battle Axe (320)
N-FIG Cuirass/Heater Shield/Battle Axe (320)
G-PRI Cuirass/Heater Shield/Mace (240)
Don't worry about the back ranks at first, and buy breastplates first if you
can afford it. Give the first to your priest, who is most vulnerable and who
casts heal spells anyway.
With 1900 gold, you may want to try:
N-FIG Breastplate/Heater Shield/Battle Axe (620)
N-FIG Breastplate/Heater Shield/Battle Axe (620)
G-PRI Cuirass/Heater Shield/Flail (480)
The cuirass can go to the thief once the priest gets breastplate. Once
everyone in the front has breastplates, get them sallets.
The early goal is:
N-FIG Breastplate/Heater Shield/Sallet/Battle Axe (AC 3)
N-FIG Breastplate/Heater Shield/Sallet/Battle Axe (AC 3)
G-PRI Breastplate/Heater Shield/Flail (AC 4)
N-THI Cuirass/Round Shield/Hand Axe (AC 7)
G-BIS Breastplate/Round Shield/Mace (AC 5)
N-MAG Robes Staff(AC 9)
With the fighters eventually getting Plate Armor, though this requires
$1300(1500-200 for selling breastplate.) You can also start to buy gloves
when you get more money, but they are the last thing to do, as they are the
most expensive.
You will be able to find mage items like robes and staff, so don't worry
about those. You will also find potions at random in the early part of the
game, and those help you immensely in gathering up the cash you need for the
next big item.
Once you get the iron gloves, it is best to use potions instead of selling
them. You don't need the cash, but a bit of healing might come in handy. Your
mage and thief are the best for this.
5-2. BUILDING UP
Early on, you need to build up gold and experience. Unlike Wizardry 3 on the
Apple/PC, it's pretty easy to disarm traps even at level 1, so don't worry
about that.
Undeads are great to fight because you can dispell them continually with your
priests. Kelp are awful--lots of them, and they are tough. Flee if there are
2 sets of Corsairs/Garian Raiders, and you may also have trouble with 2 sets
of Giant Slugs. Always use spells if a fight seems like it may be tough. You
can always retreat to the Adventurers' Inn and get rested. The big trick to
conserve gold is to go to the inn, recharge spells, exit to the maze, cast
heal spells, and return to the inn. Repeat until healed.
Then start exploring and getting comfortable with the area. The game plays
tricks on you with some doors being occasionally visible, but you can ALWAYS
walk through them. This doesn't seem like a problem with a map, but after a
fight you may really get turned around. In cases like this it's good for your
bishop to have a spare DUMAPIC if you can't muddle your way through.
Remember always to flee when you still have a couple of spells left. Take
chance encounters into account. Remember you can always run, but don't expect
to be able to. Encounters seem to occur more frequently when you kick in
doors, and while you want to retrace your steps, fixed encounters may be a
problem if you get yourself lost. Even with emulator save states, you may
never remember to bank your characters' progress as much as you want to.
While you're improving your characters, get used to the map of level 1 as
well. It is not complicated. The stairs down are vaguely in the center of the
maze, and while most Wizardry maps put them in the DL, I think it is better
to shift them UR of center so you don't have any wrapping in the maze.
--8x8 NE area with castle/moat and stairs down
--12x8 NW area with nothing special, but it is good for fighting monsters at
the start(exit left door from the start)
--8x12 SE barracks area also good for a fight, but riskier to lose your way
in, which leads to...
--12x12 castle area which is pretty orderly and leads to levels 2/3, with
stairs also going down (curve along the outer wall and then back inside it to
the center of the castle)
To improve experience, go to the NW area. Beat up bad monsters til you are at
level 3 and your players have 15+ hit points. Some will start to flee--don't
worry about this, because you still get the gold for it if not the
experience!
Then go to the SW and the moat monsters. Fight one encounter at first, then
move on to more. If you get two sets, use double the spells. Moat monsters
don't cast many spells, so just KATINO them for defense and attack as you
need to. You can work your way to the center of the castle, where you will
fight a Corsair Captain who leaves behind good treasure($200 + $50 leather
bag and a possible magic item.)
****CHEAT DETOUR****
There are some fixed fights that are very nice for piling up cash and
experience. The Garian Guards in the castle are the best example of this--
they flee and leave gold, and then you are right by the exit to the castle,
so you can leave if your hit points are low. So if you need gold for iron
gloves, they are great. The High Corsair nearby is also nice, and you can use
the stairs to go up and down and recharge this nice fight.
This doesn't work once you get to level 6 or so, but for starters, it's great
buildup.
****END DETOUR****
Undead monsters are good for gold, as you can dispell them. Don't play
around--just take them out. Other monsters will give you experience, so don't
try to be cute and go for everything at once.
There's no set way to decide when you are ready for level 2(or 3 if you want
to play as evil.) I just let things fall where they may. I picked up Iron
Gloves for my fighters before really trying to get to the center of the
castle, which got a few levels on the way. This got a few levels, too. One
thing about levels--use the stables. You can dictate what sort of advancement
you get, by killing the machine if you only get, for instance, 1 hit point
and no attributes.
Once you are able to get to the stairs to levels 2/3 without any problem,
that should be a sign you are ready to go. Keep trying to do so. If you make
it, use spells relentlessly in any fights you have. You are just looking for
a random +1 item that will boost your abilities later. It's a smash and grab
routine, and it is relatively safe if you stay near the stairs, because you
can take the stairs down, then go to level 3/2 which boots you back to the
castle. There's a possibility monsters can poison you or worse, so don't go
too far.
If your copy of Wizardry III has magic items left from other old sessions, by
all means save up for them next. The armor is the cheapest, so go in for that
and cross your fingers that you'll find magic weapons.
Some pointers on spells: KALKI(L1 priest, AC -1 party) from your bishop is
useful to bring armor class down a little and likely save the need for DIOS.
MATU(L2 priest) is the only one your priest can use. Throw whatever spells
you can at enemies--KATINO is more effective than HALITO against weaker
monsters, and DILTO in conjunction with a defensive spell is great. Use
defensive spells more than you think you need to.
Getting to level 5(level 3 spells) is probably the big boost, since MAHALITO
is so effective. You can drop it on the moat monsters, and you will gain
experience quickly. LOMILWA is convenient, but BAMATU is probably the best of
the level 3 priest spells--great when you realize you've tried for one fight
too many and need protection--and if you have maps, just have your bishop
cast MILWA.
At any rate, before you explore upstairs seriously, your party should be a
minimum of level 7 across the board. In fact, when you get to level 8,
there's no longer any time it seems like the next level should be just around
the corner.
Your priest needs to be able to cast MAPORFIC and LATUMOFIS, and it's not a
bad idea to give your mage and thief a few LATUMOFIS oils, too. Boltac's
doesn't run out of them, and you can't always run from monsters who poison
you.
5-3. THE GOOD LEVELS
5-3-1. LEVEL 2
Random points:
First, recognize it may take a few trips to get through this area properly,
where you get to go a bit further each time. Second, remember your LATUMOFIS
oil. Third, watch for the one-way doors, whether or not you have a map handy.
Fourth, you can run from fights on the first level, or just ignore the chests
left behind as they won't give any items you want. Fifth, make a habit of
dropping nonmagic items already at Boltac's unless they are especially
valuable(plate, breastplate.) You're looking for the big stuff now.
Men in Armor(Ronins) are very dangerous as they cast DILTO and HALITO. There
are some were monsters too that poison you.
You can break up level 2 into 6 somewhat rectangular areas.
+---+-----+
| | |
| 4 +---+ |
| = | |
+---+ | |
| | 3 |5|
| +-+ | |
| | = | |
| | +---+ |
|6|2| |
| | +-----+
| | = |
| +-+ 1 |
| | |
+---+-----+
Stairs to L4 are in 4, and you can't explore parts 5 or 6 yet. That leaves a
winding passage. This level has a symmetry about it that winds you around
like a backwards S.
You don't have to explore each area too thoroughly unless you are unfamiliar
with the maps. You face west to start out on level 2 and you start at 19,0.
1 -> 2: W* N* W* N* W S* E* S 2W 2S 2W 2N and W.
2 -> 3: N* 2W N 2W 2N E S 2E N 2E N 3E N W 2N W 3N.
Now there is a teleport to 3,18 to the east. It puts you near the stairs to
level 4 and saves a little time.
5-3-2. LEVEL 4
Note you don't have to spend too much time here or even backtrack to level 2
to exit. You can go, from the level 2 stairs, S E S 2E 3N 5W 2S W, then W S E
to try to get to level 5--which rejects you back to town, because that is an
evil-only area. If you get sick of poking around without levels at any point
here, you can convert a fighter to a samurai. Remember, though, to build him
up before coming back up, so he has more than one attack.
Weapons are quite good here, and you will probably stumble on a few nice
magical ones. Once you get a magic weapon, return to base and cash it in
immediately. Later on you can even just pile up weapons and use cash to ID
them--if you can't use them, you break even. You also want to focus on
fighting undead monsters, and always use a spell on any monsters you find.
For Komodo Dragons and spellcasters, use Lahalito right away. When you run
out of Lahalito, go back downstairs. Don't worry about level advancement here.
Items will be where it is at.
And one of the big items is the ship in the bottle--unidentified, it is
"glass bottle," and you will find it in a random encounter. It allows you to
access the NE stairs in level 1, so you can skip level 2 altogether. But you
need a bit of luck to find it.
Now get your guys to level 9 so you have MADALTO. Experience comes quicker
with tougher fights. The first thing to do is to get to that part of level 2
you didn't see before. It's down a chute. You'll want to be fully healed when
you start the trek. Run from all combats til you get there, unless they are
very easy. From the stairs from L1: E 2N E* N* E N W N W N* W* S W* N W* 2S
2E S W S W 2S E N E S E N 2E S 2E 3N 3W N E. Go N and you go down the chute.
By the end of this you should have +1 heaters, +1 armor(except maybe plate,
which is rare,) and maybe something cool like a bascinet or mithril gloves.
Don't bank on it. Teeth are also nice. You can maybe even get +2 weapons, but
you should have more +1 than you can handle, leaving a comfy bank account.
Oh--priests can use nunchakas, too, which is weird, but hey, it's a nice
break.
5-3-2a. LEVEL 2 DETOUR
You're dumped in the SW and there really aren't many side routes. E N 2W 2S W
S* 2E N and now there is a fight 1E. It is not too bad. Just MADALTO the
fiends and be sure to have a lot of protection spells cast. Then go east--
there is a random fight to pick up a silver staff which turns out to be the
Staff of Earth.
Retreat to the note about PO'LE. Then 1W N* E N* E* N E S for a teleport. If
you are pretty well healed still, with a LAHALITO/MADALTO to spare and hit
points for the back benchers, you can face PO'LE himself, but if not, get
healed. If still not healed, return later.
PO'LE is E* N* W* N W S 2W N E N W. Beat him up and retreat almost to where
you started, but going west, don't take the door. S W* gives you one-way
stairs.
Once back up the chute, have the wall on your left to go forward or you will
be teleported back down to level 2.
[and now, the rest of the level]
12,17 is a fight with Delf's minions. These are good for experience, if you
have a mage with high dexterity. They respawn continually and leave a bag of
garnets. You can dispel a bunch of them. But you will want to be level 9 at
least. S E S 2E 3N 2E 7S 2W 2N W S.
Delf himself is off in the 4x4 to the west...after 7S, go 8W N. He has more
minions with him. You can dispel them and cast MADALTO, and then deal with
Delf with more individual attacks. Don't mess around, though. He can cast
LAHALITO. You get the Crystal of Evil from him, but you don't get to fight
him again unless you drop the Crystal. This is actually worth it if you want
to get unlimited gold, and the fight isn't too bad once you're used to it.
However, how much experience you get depends on if your priests dispel the
monsters first or not.
A better place to fight is in the east side. After the "look out," when you
enter a door, you get an encounter. This is annoying when you want to get to
level 6, but it's useful when trying to build your party up. There's a fiery
floor there too. You need an item found on the evil levels for that. In the
big picture, there's an interesting swimming between levels here, giving
different conveniences for doing the game in a different order.
Once you've defeated Delf, you've done what you can. Switch your party's
alignment.
5-4. THE EVIL LEVELS
First, about making your party evil. Before doing so, you may wish to convert
your fighters to a samurai and/or a lord.
You need to encounter a lot of monsters to do that. The best place is in the
castle. Fight through the enemies, then go up the stairs to level 2, then go
back down and left. When everyone is turned to evil, you can change your
thief to a ninja. Now he is no longer useless. Put him in the front and the
priest in the #4 slot. There may be some randomness waiting, and your
alignment does not slip after the first meeting, but it shouldn't take too
long before you can play as evil.
There's one drawback to class switching--first, attribute loss, and second,
you are back to just one attack. So once you have evil characters, pump the
front line up to at least level 5. Use the moat monsters, as before, and the
fights in the castle. Now your guys have a few attacks, and you should be
able to win everyday battles. With the ship in the bottle you can probably
duck and run to get to level 5, win a fight with your spellcasters, and
return.
Level 3 is pretty straightforward to describe but hard to puzzle. You have a
16x16 box of one way doors pushing you north and east, with a few teleports
mixed in for good measure. That sucks.
5-4-1. LEVEL 3
This is a momentarily obnoxious little level with a lot of one-way doors.
Fortunately, once you realize the general layout, or better yet have a map,
it is not hard to figure. The enemies are the same as #2 with maybe some of
them switched from evil alignment to good, because you are fighting good
monsters. Before entering, buy a plain nonmagic broadsword. Give it to your
bishop.
Go N E N E etc. until you hit a pool. Dive in. That trades the broadsword for
a gold medallion. Go straight north and, with a wall on the left, E N 2E and
dive in again. This gets you holy water. That's really about all there is to
do here. 2W 2N W telepports you to by the ladder to level 5.
There's a burma-shave sort of stupid trap in the NE which is not nice. You'd
do well to avoid it. However, you don't need to bother with other ways
through the one-way doors. The next level, on the other hand, is rather tough.
If you mess up, there's always a one-way door back to the maze proper--you
may have to go along the edge to get to the very start. There are also a few
teleports to the starting room. And oh, by the way, there are also taxis back
to the castle, for a fee of "just" 2500, but you won't need them.
5-4-2. LEVEL 5
I recommend entering this from level 1. There are two things to do here: get
the Rod of Fire from the Priests of Fung, and get the Crystal of Good from
the crusaders and archangels. You may have to build your party up to level 11
or 12 to do this, though with luck your level 10 party can flee enough to get
favorable fights. Save states make this easier to tackle, as several groups
of Priests of Fung are too hard to deal with. Of course, if you build up to
level 14, then you could just MALOR in and out--with 13, you could only MALOR
in and you'd be stuck.
Beating up monsters may get a few spare items, so do what you can, but
finding a good item is very random, so don't kill yourself if you only have
one guy with +1 plate, or somethng. The extra hit points and even the AC
won't matter for the fights as much as the spells. You need to be able to
master enemies who cast nasty BADI and such.
Combat for priests of fung: only fight 1 group, and use MONTINO(priest AND
bishop) and a big wide kill spell on them(LAHALITO/MADALTO), then have your
fighters clean up the mess.
Priests of Fung: 3W 2N E 4N W N E 2N E* (fight) N (fight) W(fight) W N 3E 2S
E S and pay Abdul $25000 for the Rod of Fire. Then get out--2 more fights as
you leave. You can flee/reload a save state til you only face one group of
priests. Get out as you came in.
Crusader/Angel fights: for these, take the stairs from L1 and go 5W S* W* S*
2W 2S W S* E* S E* N* W* 2S 2E. Again flee if there is more than one group,
and use MONTINO on each group and MADALTO to kill them off. Angels should be
killed off first because they can summon unsilenced friends, who can get BADI
going again. Crusaders may hit you for the first round, but they will not hit
your back ranks with spells. Winning this gets the Crystal of Good.
Be prepared to reset a lot while getting ready for this fight. It's doable at
level 10, but at higher levels you won't have to deal with other enemies
attacking you.
One other thing about level 5 is that there are stairs to level 6. After
getting the Crystal of Good, giving it to an evil character with the Crystal
of Evil, and using the Crystal of Evil(pow! Neutral Crystal!) and returning
home, go back up from L1. 3W 2N E N* W N 2W S 2W N 2W N W S 2W 6N. Now north
you have a dark area with lots of pits, so go ewst instead. Magic doesn't
work here, so note where you are in case of a fight. W* N W 2S(avoids a fight
vs S W) 2W 2N E S. Climb to level 6.
5-5. LEVEL 6
Level 6 is a big labyrinth and can get a bit confusing. The basic recap is
that there are 3 3x3 rooms with statues. The hardest one to get to is the one
you need, of course. You can give a Neutral Crystal to each statue(search)
but then you have to solve the good/evil quests again, and only one has the
Orb of Earithin. There are a few fights along the way, too, and as before, I
got through them with level 10 guys, but that was with abusing save states.
Pump up on level 5. The priests of Fung are actually pretty good to beat up
for experience once you have the right spells, and you have some random
encounters on the way to the stairs. Try to face only one enemy at a time.
You will probably get some pretty cool items, which will lower your armor
classes all around. But it is difficult to make definite progress.
(Note--cheating hint below. You don't even need the neutral crystal.)
Being level 13 is useful here as MALOR cuts out a few potentially nasty
combats, but as before, picking and choosing combats works. I'd recommend
level 11 just to be sure of the spells you need. You'll need at least 6 big-
kill spells for fixed fights(3 fights, 2 spells per)--basically, you need to
get into the labyrinth, avoid fights, get the orb and get out.
W* N* and L'Kbreth should let you pass. If not, be sure you made the Neutral
Crystal. He is impossible to beat. But if things work ok, be prepared to
follow a one way door. N to the 4-way intersection and now let's look at the
two wrong ways.
2E S W S 3E S 3W 2S 2E leads to a room with the Orb of Mhuuzfes, which acts
like poison. You didn't think this would be easy, did you?
3W S 3W 2S leads to a statue that gives you a nice item in return for a fight.
But that is not enough.
W* S* E* S W S E S 2W 2N 2W S E S* W* gets you the Orb of Earithin, after a
fight. You have to take what they get, but don't hesitate to throw everything
at them.
Getting out: 2N 2E 2N W N 2E 2S 2E N W N E* N E S E N E* and L'Kbreth bids
you good day. Now you can climb back down to level 5 and work your way down
there, or you can cut through and go down to level 4, which kicks you back to
the castle. One way is longer, and the other has more fights. Level 5
actually works better, as you don't have to backtrack to level 1--enter the
darkness that seems so forbidding.
way 1: S* E* to level 5. E N E S 5E N*. Take Abdul's taxi.
way 2: S W S*(1 combat) W*(another) to level 4, where you are bounced to the
castle.
In either case, surrender the orb. You will have won! If you say no, you can
keep playing on, and it is no big deal.
If you want to skip the labyrinth, see the hex editing. Set each location to
0x11 0x11 and push B twice for a fight. Then go back to 06 00. Press B twice.
5-6. WHAT ABOUT EVIL?
In this walkthrough we looked at the possibility of going from good to evil.
Evil to good is similar, but you will probably create
E-FIG (maybe change to samurai?)
N-FIG (change to lord when alignment flips)
E-THI (change to ninja)
E-PRI
E-BIS
N-MAG
Level 3 doesn't have the exploration potential level 2 does, but you still
have doors you can bust down for encounters. You may find yourself poking
around in level 5 sooner than intended. As in levels 2-4, you want to get the
bottle from level 5 as quickly as possible--fight unicorns when you can, as
those are easiest. The priests of Fung are approachable, as even if you
cannot kill them all, getting a few will give you nice treasure--just use
MONTINO a lot and they should go down.
Switch your party to good and the levels should be a breeze--approach #4 with
the bottle and the fights with PO'LE and Delf should be a lot easier.
6. CHEATS
6-1. LOW-TECH
With my old Apple I'd just boot Wizardry and, when I got killed, I'd just
turn the computer off before it was official and then rescue a lost party.
Forrtunately it's less complicated with the NES and especially an emulator.
With save states you can keep reloading a fight til you get a good one you
like. Some of them may have 1 to 4 groups of monsters, and if you can wangle
1 group, or fewer monsters, it is easier. Also, when there is a random fight
on a square ahead, keep reloading til it is ok. With this, I'm able to beat
the game at level 10. You don't even have to move to reset the random seed--
it seems based on playing time and not # of moves.
You can and should also use this strategy to rack up hit points and
statistics. Get either one or both with each level--don't settle for losing
points.
6-2. HIGH-TECH
FCEUXD's hex editor is awesome, since you can just edit the bytes as-is.
Bubbles's FAQ tells how to edit save state files, but now you can tinker
directly. FCEU save states use a sort of compression that pushes offsets to
weird numbers, and coupled with Wizardry III using a LOT of memory, that can
be troublesome. But if you know what to search for, it won't matter--and
looking at the hex dumps, there's a lot of plain old English in there.
At 0xea is your x location, and at 0xeb is your y location. They are in
hexadecimal. This is a great way to teleport around.
At 0x6400 you have the information for your first character. Each successive
one is then 0x60 after that. Important offsets include:
0x01=name length
0x02-0x9=name
0x0a=race/class/alignment(to cheat this, make sure the low 2 bytes are 0x2
for evil, 0x0 for good. 4-bit = fighter mage priest thief bishop samurai lord
ninja
0x0b=strength
0x0c=IQ
0x0d=piety
0x0e=vitality
0x0f=agility
0x10=luck
(all as hexadecimal values)
0x11-16 = gold, only it is encoded into decimal, so if you want 87654321 gold,
give
87 65 43 21
0x17-1c = experience--see gold above
Incidentally, without the maximum, this makes the maximum level = 40, as log
(999999999999/900) / log 1.724 = 38.24. Assuming you don't put in crazy bytes
like 0xff. Even that would only bump you up one more level.
0x20 = level
0x22 = level #
0x24 = age
0x26 = AC
For spells,
high nibble/low nibble = available/total
0x2e=available/total level 1 spells(priest)
0x2f=L2
0x30=L3
0x31=L4
0x32=L5
0x33=L6
0x34=L7
0x27=available/total level 1 spells(mage)
0x28=L2
0x29=L3
0x2a=L4
0x2b=L5
0x2c=L6
0x2d=L7
At 0x8102 you have the offsets for items. This is useful to tinker with
because, if you know where to look, you can make items that do entirely too
much damage.
================================
7. VERSIONS
0.5.0: sent to GameFAQs 2/1/2008, good part complete.
1.0.0: sent to GameFAQs 2/2/2008, complete for good. With free side dish of
map!
8. CREDITS
Thanks to the usual GameFAQs gang, current and emeritus. They know who they
are, and you should, too, because they get/got some SERIOUS writing done.
Good people too--bloomer, falsehead, Sashanan, Masters, Retro, Snow
Dragon/Brui5ed Ego, ZoopSoul, War Doc, Brian Sulpher, AdamL, odino, JDog and
others I forgot. OK, even Hydrophant in his current not-yet-banned message
board incarnation. I am not part of his gang, but I want him to be part of
mine.
Thanks to the NES Completion Project folks for keeping it going.
Special thanks to AdamL and odino for recommending this game to me.
And specifically, for this game(again):
Bubbles for his hex editing FAQ on GameFAQs
John Hubbard at tk421.net for the maps
Andriy Sen for originally making the maps
Yuko Suzuki for the Wizardry 3 NES maps
