Hey guys, I am currently playing through with a human solo mage called Pandora. So far I've solo'd with a Fighter, a Fairy Ninja and a Bishop. Thus the mage is by far the hardest challenge I've attempted yet. Of course I wouldn't hire any RPC's nor do class changes. Thought I'd share a few stories.There is may be spoilers in this mind. Shouldn't matter if you played through the game anyway.Early- to Mid-GameInitially I went to Arnika w/o too much hassle yet found myself utterly powerless, unable to win any but the easiest fight.

Wizardry 8 Maps. As you can probably tell, these maps are rather sloppy, and may be partially incomplete. Donations of well-annotated maps are welcome! World Map Lower Monestary Upper Monestary Arnika Road Arnika Arnika-Trynton Road Northern Wilderness Mountain Wilderness Umpani Base Trynton Upper Branches Rattkin Tree Swamp Mine Tunnels Marten.

After some powertraining I could roam the world a bit more confidently, visited Crock, the T'Rang, the Gazer that guards the Robes of Enchant and Bela. Also I went for the Staff of Doom as well as a few spellbooks. The Staff was a bit pointless back then since I could hardly fight anything in melee.

In fact I preferred to fight nothing at all. All of this was done running rather than fighting pretty much, beelining all the important items.By now I use my staff more and more frequently and I can't help but marvel at it's effectiveness. Specificly it allows to fight enemies that have a ranged attack in melee without them attacking me in melee, prioritizing ranged attacks (due to extended range). Also Pandora, despite keeling over every other second, packs quite the punch.

I figured that her defense would be terrible anyway and investments wouldn't get me very far. Even my Bishop went melee eventually so I thought I should try to develop that option. 1000 hz test tone. Thus I maxed INT DEX SPE STR for a full offense build. Not sure that's 'by the book' but it is fun and does the trick.Somewhere in between I contemplated whether it would have been wiser to go for VIT & PIE rather than SPE & STR. After all her defense is the most pressing problem. Then again the actual HP she gets from VIT are scarce and PIE would only kick in very late, unlocking the invaluable Iron Will skill.

As is I think it was a decent choice since the best defense may be found in the best offense. Now I got a good chance to hit and plenty melee damage, especially against paralyzed targets;)I ran into an unexpected annoyance: the Identify scrolls are low level and can't identify high level spellbooks. In case you ever get there: better grind Artifacts very thoroughly ahead of time.

Also my equipment got ahead of my magic realm skills, so I couldn't use my spells to full potential yet. Since a mage does not offer too many spells that invite powertraining I trained with debuffs. A first actually and a nice discovery. Air-, Water- and Mental Magic developed nicely with that method.After that my preparations were complete, all items gathered, my skills appropriate. Now the one thing left to do was going straight for the end, picking up a few goodies along the way that can't be found earlier.After that I had pretty much the best equipment possible pre Rynjin/Rapax. That's when the open world item chasing mid game ends as I see it: the rest is Rapax, Rynjin and the Ascension, the late game, focused on completing the game. That's pretty straight forward of course: as always I skip on unnecessary side quests.My DEX reached 100 by now and I maxed out Reflexion for a total of 17 AC with an Amulet of Healing and a Ring Pro Magic.

Pandoras resistances are fairly poor despite the Mage bonus, even with the ring. Most are around 50, with the Amulet boosting Divine res to almost 100. Besides that I had the Robes of Enchant, the Cloak of many Colors, the Brilliant Helm and the Staff of Doom as well as an arsenal of potions, bombs and powders. Apart from 'the usual' I stocked up on Granite- and Guardian Angel Potions. Most magic realms reached 75 with Earth Magic and Wizardry being higher due to powertraining Knock Knock. Melee was a priority for levelling and just shy of 60 (both skills), Artifacts near 75, Power Cast 75+, no throwing unfortunately.Rapax RiftThe most intriguing prospect at this point was Ferro and the Robes of Rejuvenation.

I can tell you: the Rift with a well equipped level 16 mage is troublesome. Nonetheless I managed to reach Ferro eventually, bypassing some of the army like patrols on the way.

Then I used the fact that the Rapax patrols upstairs are never hostile (even w/o becoming a Templar) and disarmed the bomb. Somehow it felt especially good to level up to 18 due to the bomb quest xp ^^Today I managed to kill El Dorado and Al Sedexus. El Dorado killed me with almost every spell he threw, at least w/o Element Shield.

Somehow I kind of forgot I even had it. Whatever: I doubt it would have been strong enough to fight him for long anyway. It may however have enabled me to pull through with my original plan to pit him against his mistress. It's kind of sad I guess yet it's all water under the bridge now. Eventually Pandora snuck up on him and used the Staffs magic power to doom him. Actually it's a tad strange since his resistances are better than Al-Sedexus' and she did not die as readily. I reckon the level is more decisive?

In any case it worked quite fast. Made Pandora a level 19 mage.Now Al Sedexus' Templars surely would have killed me twice over every turn had Al Sedexus not cast element shield on me before turning hostile:PI dreaded this fight yet it came to a quick conclusion. I just whacked her with doom and managed to paralyze her in the 2nd turn (thus she had summoned some Templars). My elemental and me, we managed to destroy her moveless shell without much ado within. Four turns I think? The Templars managed to kill my elemental simultaneously so I just wished them good bye and left immediately.In fact it didn't make much sense to do things in this order. I'll still need to kill Nebdar (although I do not yet know how that's supposed to work) and I also need to go to Rynjin.

Now I could place a portal at the gate to ascension peak but that would also mean that I can't use Set Portal in Rynjin or the Retro dungeon. If I don't I'll need to make my way to the gate again anyway.(Update1) As of now Pandora became a worshipper of a dead demon, set up a portal at the gate to Ascension Peak and found her way into the Rapax Queens chambers. Therein, surprise surprise, she found a way to get back to Arnika. Also I realized I've yet to see Don Barlone.

Now Pandora has plenty money and nothing to spend it on. The only reason to kill the Don would be a bad temper I guess. In any case that'll be my next destination, followed by Rynjin.Nebdar's DungeonWhoops: change of plans, made my way to Nebdar.

Now I knock on her door but she's level 28, guarded by eight level 24 Wraith and a level 13 Gibbering Head that looks even more out of place than my level 20 Pandora. Having had a few go's I feel it is almost hopeless and I may just come back later.However: it is just almost hopeless. The Gibbering Head is up front so I can meet him at the door and block the path for those Wraiths. With Element Shield I can survive Nebdars Spells for a while. Stare her down?

Now something odd happened that ignited a tiny spark of hope: Nebdar turned me over to her side. Being solo that's kind of pointless of course and leads to a stalemate, with me being unable to do anything and them not attacking me.

After a few turns they got bored and retreated, running around in their chamber. Everybody went for the opposite side of the chamber. In other words the Head and the Wraiths retreated to the backside of the chamber while Nebdar went to the door - to me that is. At that point Pandora awoke and immediately had a Doubleman Drought. Since Nebdar isn't too much of a threat in melee I could whack her quite a bit, getting her down to slightly below half health. Unfortunately she wasn't paralyzed by the Staff of Doom (which is probably quite unlikely to happen anyway due to eight levels discrepancy).

That in itself would have been alright if it wasn't for Nebdar turning Pandora again, upon which Nebdar retreated to the back wall, a Wraith taking her place. It went downwards pretty fast from there. However: it was a glimmer of hope.After several more attempts I realized that I just got lucky with the 'have me turned' strategy. BUT I also realized that there may be a better way. When I positioned myself on the right side of the door I wouldn't have eye contact with Nebdar so she couldn't work spells on me. Since I did not get turned nor attacked the Head barring the door the melee Wraith couldn't do a thing. Meanwhile my Staffs extended range allowed me to attack them past the head ^^This in itself is not a winning strategy: the Wraiths would retreat from this pointless suffering before I even managed to kill one.

At that point I just held still. The head casts spells on me (mostly but not only weak ones), Nebdar buffed a bit and the Wraiths ran around aimlessly w/o knowing what to do. I did nothing but defending myself and waiting patiently. When all available buffs were in place and there wasn't anything to do Nebdar started to get a bit impatient. She explored a bit and started to run around. That however happened to be just the thing I was waiting for. I knew if she was behind that Head she wouldn't retreat like the Wraiths, no: she'd happily cast spells on me.

Now finally there she stood, casting her stuff with all her guards behind rather than in front of her, well in reach of my Staff of Doom. With a Doubleman Draught, the Element Shield constantly up and some Potions of Restoration I finally had her right where I wanted her and gave her Doom, this time for good. All that was left to do was picking up that Amulet. RUN!Since those Wraiths hadn't done anything useful in a while they gave chase half heartedly, while the Head cast along merrily. Now that he didn't have an opponent anymore he jumped on the buff train before slowly checking out where that little Mage had gone - too late.

A few corners further down the corridor Pandora could lick her wounds and found the moment of peace to meditate the lucid image of Rapax Castle. Before long she had returned to the Portal set up far away from Nebdars dungeon. A full success!Intermezzo: the Don(Update2) So I went back to Arnika via teleporter and headed to Trynton. I realized I pretty much skipped on it when I got there, just getting the +5 INT and moving on.

All monsters were the very low level monsters that spawned when I entered it at a much lower level so there's not much to say. Apart perhaps from killing Crock in between and picking up the Idol @Marten's Bluff it was pretty uneventful: did the deed and got the Helm of Serenity.Next I went to Don Barlone and he wasn't that much of a problem either. Pandora was level 21 and he's 20 so I figured he's all but harmless. Thus I took him seriously and kept my distance. He doesn't close the distance but rather relies on his thrown daggers or punches somebody else.

That would be Milano Calzone, who's been easily convinced to swap sides. With Guardian Angel & Superman Potions as well as an Elemental, positioning opposite of my elemental for hits from behind, he went down pretty easily. I tried without GA & Superman too.

Turns out that rendered this 'easy fight' a lot harder though still possible. Anyways: he's dead now.BayjinNext on the list is Bayjin. By now Pandora feels a lot more powerful although I don't quite know why. She got some armor from Nebdars Amulet and high speed since entering the Rift.

She got five levels as well. Also I simply had to fight more and got comfortable using a mages options. Nonetheless Trynton may have lulled me in a false sense of security.

The Rynjin use Mental magic and w/o Magic Screen or Soul Shield that's quite dangerous. Also their attacks offer extended range and can knock out.

The Curare Crabs also have disabling attacks and extended range. Turns out I couldn't really waltz through Bayjin but had to stick to caution and sneaking.

I killed some isolated crabs by throwing spells from high ground and killed the weaker Rynjin with Fire Magic to blow a breach into the Shallows.In the Shallows I met a bunch of caster Rynjin and that's been troublesome. My elementals and the Staff of Dooms Death Cloud made it possible but it wasn't easy. In fact I had to retreat into the corridor and the Empath didn't follow while the Battlelord retreated a tad later after choking on my elemental. Thus I could split that fight and kill the other Rynjin & six Psi Sharks without their support casters. After that I got close enough to the Empath to Crush him and ultimately used Potions to dare a melee fight against the Battlelord. He simply didn't take damage from my spells but had some really dangerous spells himself - a long range battle wasn't looking too good.So those guys were unexpectedly tough for a Mage I'd say. The Buccaneer Ghosts on the other hands could be killed with two Banishments and died in seconds without doing anything.

In fact they went down so fast I killed them a few more times and found the Light Shield! Pandora can't use it but since I never found it there I always wanted to confirm that. Sleep casters are really annoying for a Fighter (the #1 Light equip seeker). I proceeded to load one of the earlier attempts for a Stave of 12 Stars;)At this point I am facing Nessie. I doubt she'll give in to Instant Death as she holds four levels advantage (26 vs 22).

The likelyhood of paralyzing her doesn't seem promising either, due to the same reason. I always wondered whether resistances help against attack effects.

If they do paralysis ought to be a water effect, which is not a good thing against Nessie. Since she has 851 HP and offers no weaknesses Pandora could easily exploit killing her would take time. Meanwhile she can kill Pandora (70 HP) with a single attack. Various different single attacks in fact: Concussion, Earthquake, swallowing or two of her normal attack swings to kill Pandora.

Which is still death in one turn. Yep: I doubt killing Nessie is an option. Guess I'll have to be sneaky.All things said and done I'll move on to the Caves!The Caves prove quite doable, besides a rather high potion frequency to keep up the SP. A few fights are tough but even those can be dealt with, not least due to Firestorm and stalling as well as Elementals. Ultimately I've got the Destinae Dominus now!After a short trip to Arnika (Return Portal Rapax - Arnika) to 'consolidate' I am headed for Ascension Peak.Ascension Peak(Update 3) Ascension Peak proves quite doable @level 24. In fact I was welcomed with open arms: a bunch of crystal unicorns showed up around Amit so he wasn't nitpicking about a fee: Pee Wee helped from the start and I could just pass Amit nonchalantly.

After a little persuasion (possibly my most effective use of turncoat yet) one of the unicorns even cast a level 7 Magic Screen on me! What a blessing. With that most of the (spellcasting) lot couldn't really dent my resistances. Not with Elemental Shield on top of it anyway. So that's been a breeze. That means I got my Brilliant Helm back and was strengthened for the Rapax route. In fact I hardly met opposition there so I just ran through without a pause, leaving a good 50 turns of Magic Screen for the third and final route.

That's where I am of now, facing a Rapax army. Actually they ought to be allied but somehow my daughter thinks otherwise.After dividing them by retreating I could do a ranged battle with the Staff of Doom's Death Cloud and an Elemental to help. The Templar Casters where not involved like this and Missile Shield kept the Archers at bay. A few attempts were necessary but it worked.Now after that the way was free for the Circle. Why make it any harder than it has to be? Pandora is not exactly friendly anyway so a dark universe suits her perfectly.Fin.

I find them extremely interesting to hear / read about and very intriguing as a challenge and I admire people who can beat the game that way but.So much in love with developing characters and a team that I don't play solo myself:D If I could, I'd expand the roster and I've modded my old version to have all RPCs recruitable for all areas in the game so I can effectively have 2 more party members. I've tried solo but stopped very quickly because of the lack of variety of gameplay for me. So I cannot really play solo, strangely I find stories about it very entertaining though:D. The limited areas for RPC's aren't too much of an issue.The early is really tough and you simply can't have RPC's there.Afterwards you get much more powerful. Mid game, Myles its welcoming committee. For the mid game you need to travel a lot and that's where you can use RPC's. If you've beaten the early game you've already proven you can move on the map.

RPC's just make it a lot more comfortable. Mid game ends once you've gathered your stuff - mostly the key items but possibly some skill training as well. After that many characters have a break through: the game gets relatively easy. Like a Fighter with Light Sword and Light Shield easy.

A Fairy Ninja with the Cane. That sort of thing. The mid game is pure character development. You do not take a single step unless it benefits your character.

No unnecessary quests, no detours. Pandora for instance gathered the Staff of Doom, the Robes of Enchant, spellbooks, magic skills, the amulet of healing, the Cloak of many Colors and the Brilliant Helm. These seven things were the be-all-end-all goals for her mid game.The transition into late can be a tad rough as it may require you to gather your final pieces from Ferro / the Rynjin Hut. Consider it a Rite of Passage. After that you really don't need RPC's anymore. That's late game and that's where RPC's stop following.

I never linger here as it gets boring: just finish it. The difficulty with a Mage is not least the lack of a break through btw.Oh and as for the beloved character development: I feel a solo offers more of that, not less. The limitations you face take you deep into that character, be it the depth of role play or those of stats and stash. You have to find specific solutions for specific problems. In a party you usually 'have everything' and aren't required to use half of it.

A solo needs you to appreciate every detail and thus allows to explore a lot more.The usual 'three acts' structure I follow is:I. Early Game - Prove you can do it.

Monastery till ArnikaII. Mid Game - Develop your character. Arnika till Rapax / RynjinIII. Late Game - Finish. Rapax / Rynjin till Cosmic Circle. Maybe I'll have to try it, too.

It was really not the difficulty of the Monastery that stopped me doing the solo run. It was that I was bored by it, if that makes any sense.

For the same reason that I've difficulty playing through RPGs with only a single Character like Skyrim or the Witcher.I'll give it another shot after my current playthrough as you seem so passionate about it and also were so polite as to give me a roadmap:-) And an outlook into a more exciting midgame!So, thank you much, man! Inspiration is what it's called, probably:D.