Your Favorite Order to visit each Zone

[Tom L]

I've gone to Arnika first, then down to Trynton. After that to the swamp, making sure to see crock, and Marten's Bluff to have a visit with the bugs. After that it's back to Arnika, back to the Monastary with the wheel key, and then up to the Umpani.

[vysionier]

Arnika, return to monastery, umpani for spells/blunderbuss/haiya bo, then trynton, swamp, martens bluff, then (whatever map the cult is at), mountain wilderness (or whatever the map diamond eyes is) umpani again, beyjin, rapax. Games pretty much over by then I think :)

[desolation0]

Monastery, Arnika, Monastery with new party, back to Wizardry 7 with old save, Monastery, Arnika, Trynton, back to Wizardry 6 with new party, Monastery with new party, Arnika, Trynton, Swamp, back to Wizardry 7 with new party, forget Wizardry a few months while overplaying a casual game, Morrowind with new character, Arnika with first party, Trynton, Swear off gaming for a week, back to Wizardry 7 a day later...

[Tom L]

lol. That sounds like quite a journey!

[mpnorman10]

Desolation0, love your honest reply.

To answer, sometimes I mix it up, but I guess my favorite sequence is Arnika, Trynton up to the 2 fountains and Fuzzfas, Swamp to Crock, Mine tunnels, Bluff and start Bug quests, teleport (mostly) to Arnika, Then go to Mt. Gigus and start Umpani Quests, teleport (mostly) to Arnika, pay off He'Li double agent blackmail, monestary, arnika, trynton and/or graveyard and graveyard dungeon, arnika back to bluff and surrounding areas and quests, finish swamp, etc.

Usually I do the Monestary, Arnika and Mine Tunnels thoroughly but avoid as much as possible on the roads and outside in Trynton and on the Bluff (while doing what is necessary on the Bluff to get to the teleporters... which is a lot). But soon I start doing everything, that I do at all, thoroughly, entering places I haven't visited only later for tougher enemies but higher level chests. The wilderness areas are also fun to thoroughly explore once the party can go wherever it wants (at least by around level 13-15, if not earlier, if it has been generated and developed well). There is no reason not to take your time at that point. That thoroughness includes the three retro dungeons (that you probably have to know about to find), usually I do each one when I do the areas they are located in if I haven't altered the sequence for those areas too much. There are several unique monsters in those dungeons and they are fun, but I like them most because they train locks (just naturally because there are a lot of locked doors). Rarely do I have a Rogue (with lock picking bonus) in my party (even through they are awesome in many parties), so my lockpicker needs all the help she can get.

I use Arnika for storage and to sell most stuff to the same vendor there (to keep other vendor inventories as empty as possible), which is why I keep returning to it.

A variation is to keep Myles longer by focusing on Wilderness areas and holding off on going to the Bluff. Simply experimenting (like not even going to Arnika first) is fun.

I usually only use teleporting to violate regions that recruitable player characters do not like with Vi. Even though she utterly hates that, she still gets skill increases for her feeble, hexed attempts in those areas as well as experience, and with the extra experience and skill it helps her to actually become a decent Valk (in spite of the terrible development of RPCs before you recruit them) on the peak (where she is willing to go). I will admit that her constant complaining sometimes gets to me and I resort to playing the game without sound in those areas. As a variation sometimes I play without RPCs (recruitable player characters) at all. Special parties (even full size ones sometimes) have special needs that are critical and that sometimes modifies the sequences once you have played the game and know where things are.

[CeterumCenseo]

Mpnorman's suggestion is the standard route. You can also exchange Umpani and T'Rang quests, but you should not mix them, there is a risk that Z'Ant becomes angry with you. Not clear how angriness is triggered, and there are countermeasures for this as well.

Basically it depends what challenge you want to take, and if you visit certain areas too early, i.e. at a minimum level, you might loose some stuff in chests, which are not critical to finish the game, but good to know. Details on Flamestryke's site.

Basically every level "teaches" you, if you are too early. Some areas are guided by "guardians", Swamp, Mountain Wilderness, Rapax Rift. If you cannot beat them reliably, you should get more experience first in easier areas. I do not want to spoil the game for you by being more specific.

In case you want to go an easy route, enter Arnika Road at L3, despite your party might be able to ascend to L6 at that stage. At L3, life will be pretty easy due to monster leveling, while at L6 -> consequences you'll see in the recent "LOL" post here in this forum. Then skip Trynton totally, your life in the swamp is easy below L10 (if you can tackle the guardian between Trynton and Swamp), then skip the Mine Tunnels as well, go directly to the south and to LMB, deal with the monsters there with support of the numerous Bugs there until you feel comfortable to proceed. by means of some teleporting you can quickly move to various locations and feel, if the monsters are too hard in damage and hitpoints or manageable. I do not recommend this sequence, just let you know it exists.

I said it depends on you what level of challenge you want to take. Also depends on your party. Some characters are "early blossomers", like mages and bards, others take a while to develop, like most hybrids and also gadgeteers. Depending on your composition you might feel comfortable in advanced areas or not.

Personally I generally do not take NPCs to areas they do not want to go to, too tedious for me to listen and click away their complaints, but ymmv.

Have fun.

[vysionier]

Z'ant gets mad when you do both quests unless you pay off he'li in arnika because she snitches on you for working both sides

[biogoo]

Am I the only one who prefers to pay a quick visit to UBC before Arnika? The "free" XP from the training course, together with the possibility of recruiting Saxx, one of the best RPCs, is just too good to pass. And it is very easy to get in there without any fight in the Mountain wilderness.

End game is about whether to go to Rapax or Bayjin first. Rapax if you want gear, Bayjin if you want challenge ;)

[Nuee]

I typically hit arnika... level up and loot there... head to the umpani to buy some spell books and run the obstacle course (And buy an item to take with me there at the umpani) and get the mission to the T'tang, do a bit of the Trynnie tree to the one fountain and shop (there is a second? what is the significance?) Head to the swamp, head to the tar pools, hit crock (buy something special there too), then it's off to the mines to pick up my favorite npc that won't weasel out. ( I tend to take Vi whereever I can and the robot monk who goes everywhere and hits pretty darn good). Enter T'rang from the tunnels instead of topside.

[Crayon-Sha]

Go to the wilderness which leads to the Umpani Camp. There there's a book of return to portal in a cave with a hogar; I make sure to grab the book. Then I'll go to the Umpani Camp for some experience, and items. If I'm playing properly then I'll go to Arnika; if not then I'll use the glitch to teleport to Marten's Bluff. In my last playthrough I did the glitch, bought a perfume, did a bunch of stuff for the T'rang, got my guy kidnapped, killed Brekek, then went to Trynton. In Trynton I got the Helm of Sanity, and the Astral Dominae. Afterwards I went to Arnika, there I got the Chaos Molori. Then it was the Rapax Castle, I joined the Rapax, killed Al-Sedexus, and deactivated the bomb. Then I headed to the Sea Caves, got the Destinae Dominus, then yada, yada, yada I completed the game.

[Interrupting Cheese]

Usually I'll clear arnika, head to trynton, then head to swamp, then head back to trynton to get the earthshaker bomb for the rats. After that, usually I just go back and forth doing t'rang and umpani quests until i'm a high enough level for Bayjin. Then I go get the Astral Dominae from Don Barlone.

Eventually I go massacre the rapax to get to Ferro, and from there I sneak into the rapax camp, get Rodan and Drazic, and portal out.

Until then, its usually schenanigans and item hunting until I eventually decide to finish the main questline.

[shadowphoenix]

To me...this depends on the party. I will run to UBC if my party is mostly range or if I have no alchemist. (yes...i like Sparkle) I will also run in that direction for the woodmans axe. (I also like axes) Then to mountain wilderness for gear. (Bella's shop, staff of doom, diamond eyes, giants sword, etc) Otherwise, it is to Arnika, UBC, mountain wilderness for gear, and then whatever from there.

However, I do like starting the game at UBC. (party import only)

[Nuee]

On Vi in the back... giver her a spear and she does pretty decent and can hit front line with everyone else if you have that front bubble empty. I like steely Dan he rocks as well. Also when you talk to Sax. Ask him about a few of the old school rock bands.

[shadowphoenix]

@Pharnham

I was not aware that steam was the only distributor of the Wiz games. I must have played something else thinking it was Wiz7. My bad.