Ah Wizardry, the series that intoduced me to RPG's
I will say now that I love this series, I have all 8 games and I follow the stories intensly, I started Wizardry 8 with my Wiz 6 characters so I knew all the main details of the very open ended story (your actions and how you beat one game affects the beginning and sveral elements in the next) and I was surprised by some of the plot twists involving the Dark Savant.
Oh, for those who found battles long did you try the continous combat option? That speeds things up a little.