Having only played Wizardy 8 before, my only hopes going into Labyrinth of Lost Souls were that it not be as overtly antagonistic as Elminage: Gothic. Fortunately, that is indeed the case.
Which is not to say that it’s user-friendly… because it’s emphatically not; nothing is explained or documented. Nothing. Want to know what attributes do? What the class requirements, abilities, or spell gain rates are? Which spells affect a group, all enemies, or have a permanent duration? Well, you’ll have to just use them all yourself and figure it out. It also has similar annoyances to Elminage regarding overly complicated item-related menus, equipped items mysteriously taking up inventory space, and party members in the back row being dead-weight for quite some time.
It is however better than that game in three ways that make all the difference in the world: An easily accessible map feature, no character aging system, and class changes not resetting attribute points. At the moment I’ve fully mapped the first three floors of both the main and Trials dungeons (alternating between them, Trials # -> Shiin #, appears to be the best way to proceed) and am at level 11-12 with a party consisting of a Thief, Lord, Samurai, Mage, Priest, & Bishop.
Some advice:
– The bonus points you get at character creation can allegedly range up to 40 (the highest I’ve gotten is 30, and over 20 is quite rare).
– Everyone can use Agility & Vitality (and Luck affects drop rates).
– Immediately buy the two available maps (later ones are loot drops).
– Buy 2-3 short swords for your front-liners as soon as possible.
– Be on the lookout for armor that increases magic resistance; magic deals crazy high damage.
– You absolutely need both a Thief and Bishop in every party.
– Save after every (successful) battle, before opening any chest, and before trying to resurrect anyone.
– Levitation, Battle Aura, & Advanced Reflex all last indefinitely (until you either leave the dungeon or hit an anti-magic area).
– Item Drop Chart someone put together.
— Alternate text version sorted by dungeon level.
