so I just got Wizardry 6/7/8 from the gifting thread and I thought it would be kinda like Might and Magic(since I just finished M&M2 3 days ago)and I'm getting my ass kicked.it's very different from my usual spot of Dungeon Crawler(played M&M and Eye of the Beholder),so could you guys give me starting tips for a noob?

I can give you tips for Wiz 8, but am not familiar with 6 & 7.

Select a balanced party and go for the full 6 members in your first game - make sure you have a character that can pick locks.

Be strategic in how you place your characters i.e. fighters to the fore, long range to the rear, mages etc. in the centre.

Party members will be rookies so expect battles to be hard - put the game on Easy for a while if you're struggling, you can change this at any time.

Cast spells at LOW levels - if you cast them too high they will fizzle or backfire damaging your party.

Be careful where you choose to rest and get the Shadow Hound spell asap.

Only search after a battle. You may find having it on during sleeping means you are attacked more often than not.

Your spell casters will have very low Vitality, so increase this when allocating levelling up points for the first 5-6 levels. I find it makes the 2nd section of the game (Road to Arnika) easier.

If you struggle on the Road to Arnika, use the edge of the map, not the road.

Right click on each characters Profession to see how starting points are originally allocated. It's worth noting that Speed is one you need to increase from scratch.

Fights require a certain amount of strategy between ranged and close combat, but Rangers can use a bow/crossbow effectively at close range.

If you choose to start a fight or battle, (click on sword in the bottom centre) you can allocate various commands i.e. potions, shields etc., before the first aggressive action (arrow, stone, fireball etc.). It is only when you select an actual offensive strike that the first turn will begin.

I also find Continuous better than Phased combat, but see what suits you best.

I hope this is helpful and you enjoy the game. I'm sure others will have alternative tips for Wiz 8, plus 6 & 7.

So how does the Wiz 8 spell system work? I'm not sure what the numbers and all mean and why the spell fizzles, but I mostly go with the low lvl

Wizardry 8 manual is a great stuff, very detailed. Read through and you should know everything neccessary, you will learn the rest while playing. W8 is nice game to play over and over, so don't be afraid to try whatever you want,

With the colours it's quite simple; you don't need to worry about numbers. When you select a spell, you see up to seven coloured circles to choose from. Green means the spell will certainly succeed, red means almost certain failure. Yellow is something in-between. Light yellow has a greater chance of success than dark yellow or orange. Of course, since we're talking about probabilities, there are always flukes. Spell fizzling means you either spend your spell points without actually casting the spell or, in the case of offensive magic, the spell backfires and affects your party instead of enemies. The general rule I go by is this: for offensive magic I generally go for green circles, or light yellow if I really need that spell. For buffs I can experiment with yellow and orange since they can't backfire and damage my party.

In addition to what has been said...

Each spell belongs to a magic school (alchemist, priest, mage, psionic) and a magic realm (fire, water, earth, air, divine, mental). The better the character's skill at the respective school and realm, the higher the level you can cast the spell at. In addition, each spell a character knows adds spell points in the realm the spell belongs to.

My magic-using tip would be to forget about the dedicated casters (Mage, Psionic, Priest, Alchemist) and simply take two Bishops as your casters. Make one learn two schools and the other the other two schools. You can teach bishops all the useless low-level spells from all schools and thus have higher spell points to cast spells with. In addition, you will probably never be in the situation that you gained yet another level with your alchemist but you have already learnt all the spells there are to learn. Of course, this might make the beginning slightly more difficult since apparently Bishops reach spell levels more slowly.

As your spell caster develops you can increase the power of the spell. So whereas you will probably cast 1, 2, 3 or maybe 4 sections of the range that is available during your travels through the Monastery, by the time your character has reached level 15 or so, they will be able to cast much more powerful spells in the schools you have allocated points to on levelling up.

Also, the more you use skills, the better they get. So if you focus on casting fire based spells, your spell caster will gain ability in this area faster. Some spells for instance; Magic Screen, Missile Shield, Enchanted Blade, are best cast as soon as the spell runs out as they are beneficial to your party at all times.

after playing about 4 hours of Wiz6 I learned that you should search every corner and level your thief skullduggery to pick locks and use every item on your inventory to progress
and I'm finding this series more immersive and fun than Might and Magic