Even after having played the game for years (I first played the game around its release, and I even played the demo before that), I still occasionally discover new things, but this is so basic I wonder why I didn't know this before.

If you go to a character's inventory and press and hold Ctrl, the game will display the names of all the items in your inventory. Very useful when managing inventory since so many items look identical.

(Ctrl also can be used to stop animations so you can more easily click on something, but I've known that for years.)

Sounds nice but there is already a mod that gives items invidual graphics.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/index.php?threads/wizardry-8-enhancements-a-call-to-arms.79581/

Thing is, that post is dated 2013. The trick I mentioned could be done in, say, 2003 or so, and doesn't require modifying the game at all. Also, that mod changes a few other things, some of which definitely affect game balance.

You can download item graphic mod separately, without affecting game balance. (which by the way is kinda bad - swords are op, axes suck and offensive magick is very underwhelming)

With respect to game balance, I am actually not using much in the way of swords with my current party. The only sword I am using is Mercurio's Blade (although I do have Bloodlust handy), though I may use the giant's blade later in the game. Here are some of the really nice reliably obtainable melee weapons of other types:

Ax: True, they are weak later, but the Bipennis does 7-21 damage and isn't that hard to get.

Mace & Flail: Maces tend to have KO chance. The Disruptor Mace, in particular, is especially nice with 25% KO. Diamond Eyes has 20% Paralyze, and nothing is immune to Paralyze (even undead are affected!). Also, keep in mind that Whips, which are extended range one handed weapons (ideal for a Bishop, since it keeps her out of melee range without preventing her from using a shield), use this skill.

Staff and Wand: Shillelagh has 5% KO and is usable in the off hand. Staff of Doom has high Paralyze (25%) and Kill (15%) chances, and the HP degen can be avoided with an Amulet of Healing (an item that I think is actually overpowered). Also, the Staff of Death can be used by any class, even the pure casters!

Dagger: Stiletto is buyable from Crock, can be used in the off hand, and has 10%(!) Kill. From what I have read elsewhere, that is twice the kill rate that a Ninja would get with 125% Critical Strike, and it's a while before Samurai and Ninja get instant kill weapons to stack with them. (Neither class can use the Stiletto, unfortunately.)

Polearm: Lance has 4% Kill and can be bought in Arnika early in the game. (Oddly, Fighters can't use it; it's Lord/Samurai only.) Sadok sells the Stun Rod, which has 25% (!) Paralyze, along with 75% Drain Stamina.

Meanwhile, if you look at the good Swords, they are nearly all lategame (except Bloodlust, but there's better). Very few Swords have KO or Paralyze. Also, many of the ones on the list are not reliably obtainable.

In conclusion, Swords are not overpowered compared to many of the other weapons in the game.

I agree with the Axes, but I don't agree at all with the offensive magic thing.

It is sort of true in Melee parties, where it's MUCH better to prepere the monsters by stuff like insanity or freeze flesh to be killed off by your fighters later.

In ranged parties, however, offensive magic is REALLY useful - either as a ranged weapon on its own, or to soften up the monsters to actually kill them faster (ideally before they come into melee range).

I came to appreciate offensive magic since I've been playing my 100% magic party (4 characters: Priest, Alchemist, Psionic, Mage), which is really fun to play.

I remember enjoying offensive magic when I played a caster heavy party, though I also had a Bishop and a Bard.

My current party is also pretty good in that respect. My Alchemist and Bishop can handle nukes, my Bard and Gadgeteer can stamina cast air realm attack spells (Port-o-Potty is actually very useful), and my Valkyrie is a dracon. (6th character is a Ranger who only recently reached 30 Alchemy.)

When fighting large numbers of low HP enemies, attack spells are incredibly useful (assuming the enemies don't cast protective spells, but insects don't cast spells in this game). After a few spells, all of the sudden, most or all of the enemies die at once. (This is in contrast to the original Bard's Tale, where every attack that hits an enemy was treated as a save-or-die effect.)

Well, the problem with OFFENSIVE MAGICK is:
- in early game, when it is capable of nuking monsters, the magick points are very limited and spells are very likely to backfire.
- in later stages of the game you have better spells and are able to spam them but magick is no longer a good source of damage (mostly due to terrible level scaled mobs with hundreds of hp and absurd resistances)
The only solution is so called "power-leveling" but it isn't fun and can be compared to grinding dead sailor's ghosts until they drop *light* *sword*.

Here is another tip:

When disarming a trap, you can press the Down arrow to go to the next trap. This is much faster than clicking on every trap and scrolling when necessary.

Something I just found out recently is that you can pick up a single item from a stack of items by pressing Shift. Before I always used this seperate stack function... ^^