Might and Magic X
BelgarathMTH
Member Posts: 5,653
in Off-Topic
Hi, I just finally bought Might and Magic X yesterday and started playing. I didn't expect I would like it, but I've been very surprised how much I actually do like it so far, and how much it manages to capture the spirit and flavor of the old MM games.
I've already restarted in Sorpigal three times just to tweak my party and change my skill point distribution a bit when I wasn't happy with what I did the first time. With me, restartitis in a game is a good sign, because it means I'm interested and hooked into the character building.
It gets a lot of replayability from the fact that merchant inventories and treasure chests are completely randomized. The old games had that feature, too.
One big turn-off for me was the grid-based movement and exploration, and the fact that you can't retreat from combat, but I'm starting to get used to it. I understand why they did it - they wanted to appeal to older gamers who played MM 1-5, before the move to 3D in MM 6-8.
I also detect some influence of the Elder Scrolls games here, in the open world exploration, and the general tone of the art design and music.
It helps a lot in bringing back the feeling of the old MM games that they have brought back many of the sound effects from MM 6-8, such as the sounds of picking up gold, to drinking potions, to monster sounds, quest receipt and completion chimes, and many more.
Calling @JuliusBorisov and @Aedan , and others who've played MM 6-8. Have you tried MM X, and what did you think about it?
I've already restarted in Sorpigal three times just to tweak my party and change my skill point distribution a bit when I wasn't happy with what I did the first time. With me, restartitis in a game is a good sign, because it means I'm interested and hooked into the character building.
It gets a lot of replayability from the fact that merchant inventories and treasure chests are completely randomized. The old games had that feature, too.
One big turn-off for me was the grid-based movement and exploration, and the fact that you can't retreat from combat, but I'm starting to get used to it. I understand why they did it - they wanted to appeal to older gamers who played MM 1-5, before the move to 3D in MM 6-8.
I also detect some influence of the Elder Scrolls games here, in the open world exploration, and the general tone of the art design and music.
It helps a lot in bringing back the feeling of the old MM games that they have brought back many of the sound effects from MM 6-8, such as the sounds of picking up gold, to drinking potions, to monster sounds, quest receipt and completion chimes, and many more.
Calling @JuliusBorisov and @Aedan , and others who've played MM 6-8. Have you tried MM X, and what did you think about it?
2
Comments
I tried it months ago, but just for a while, because it runs too slowly on my laptop and the game experience was terribly frustrating.
I plan to play it again once I finish to assemble my new desktop PC.
Anyway, I liked what I saw. The feeling was good and I ran into some challeging fights. The only thing that I disliked is the grid-based movement and exploration - I just hate it.
Unfortunately, I read that the game did not sell enough, so Ubisoft decided not to go further with the experience
Maybe if you post about your playthrough in your general manner it would attract people, at least here.
Indeed, the developers of MMX said the game didn't sell well to their expectations and this franchise is over. That's a very big pity because I would happily play some new MM similar to 6-8.
Tagging also @Southpaw and @jjstraka34 as known fans of MM series.
I was new to the franchise so I was lost when it came to the lore, however, build (character) creation and the combat system was fun and enjoyable. I didn't mind the grid movement as it showed me everywhere I have already been, and without it, I probably would have been lost or missed something.
What I didn't like, and what I found extremely frustrating was the double DRM that came with the game. First with where I purchased it (Steam - acceptable) and then through Ubisoft's Uplay. There were times when I wanted to play the game but Uplay was down, or Steam was down, or my internet was down so I couldn't.
I also couldn't follow the story as well as I would have liked to when playing these types of games and it's open world concept (without it actually being a fully open world) hurt it as I would attempt to explore and find new lore only to end up in a battle against something I would be unable to defeat.
I gave up (temporarily) on it after picking up an NPC (actually another feature I liked about the game) and attempting to get him to where he asked to go. Unfortunately the "main map" is horrible and I believe I ended up in an area I am way underpowered to be in and I can't find my way back to where I am suppose to be story wise. So I shelved it in frustration after clocking about 30 hours worth.
When I purchased the game, I received Might and Magic XI for free. I may end up playing that game first, then attempting to restart X once I know a little more lore from the previous games. But they are both far down my to play list that I may never get to them.
Yes, I played the MMX, bought the Early Access while it was still in (sort-of) beta, and too followed the game's development. I actually found it quite refreshing, that the devs really listened to their fans who had Early Access and played the game and made the game much better than it originally was.
My experience as an avid MM7-8 fan (we don't speak about MM9) was great. I actually did not give into my restartititis too much and finished the game. (A little...finished the game with about 4-5th group that made it out of Scorpigal (first part + first little dungeon))
I loved the game. Very oldschool.
First, the cons:
- Yes, the "per-tile" movement is a bit strange in modern days and takes a bit to get used to.
- Map is a bit confusing too. At first. Could be better.
- Comes with Ubisoft's Uplay, which is the worst thing to endure in your whole experience. Regrettably, it has almost nothing to do with the actual game, just with the distributor. Horrible, horrible thing.
Pros
- Nice good oldschool fantasy, where everything works as it should. Goot, tactical fights with great mix of Might & Magic (as the name suggests)
- Much nicer looking, than the old MM games (of course)
- (biggest plus of the game) - there are 4 races and 3 classes each (fighter, mage and balanced) and as it is a standard now - each of them can master different skills and there is not enough points in the game to master them all. Restartitis is strong with this one. I literally spent days putting down the numbers and planning the party's proper development (the shortage of skill points makes you plan ahead and not invest into skills you don't really need). I have created several parties, to balance their skills...until I settled on one (Blade Dancer, Defender, Shaman, Freemage = 2 Fighters + 2 Mages). Most fun you get is from killing stuff, solving quests to get experience solely for the purpose to be able to advance your skills. And that's how it should be in RPG.
- You can actually get achievements for beating the game with only fighters, only mages and only hybrids (mage/fighters) ... and it is doable...
Check it out, if you haven't yet. Finishing the game takes you about 40 hours. It's actually a game that made me join Steam.
Each of the times I've restarted, combat has gotten easier and easier, because I'm starting to know what to do - what works, and what doesn't, when to heal, what skills are needed at first level to survive, and the like.
@deltago , Playing installments previous to X won't help you any with lore. Ubi rebooted the whole series with an entirely new world ("Ashan") that has nothing to do with the classic world from New World Computing and 3D0's MM 1-8 and HoMM 1-3 ("Enroth").
MM 9 is not worth playing IMO, and it would be absolutely horrible and mistaken to form an impression of the series playing that abomination. The development company went out of business before it was finished, and released it in alpha state in desperation.
MM 6 is the best entry point if you want to learn the lore and gameplay of the classic MM games. The grid-based map and movement are from MM 1-5, though. MM 6-8 have a 3D world with 360 degree movement, and also the option to play in real time if desired. (MM 1-5 and MMX have turn-based combat only).
The original, classic MM world lore also ties into the Heroes of Might and Magic series, which had installments released together with MM. If you like war strategy games with fantasy armies, Heroes of Might and Magic 1-3 are considered by many (including me) to be the best ever published, especially HoMM 3.
The Ashan world that MMX takes place in is shared by Heroes of Might and Magic 5-7, which are also published by Ubisoft, so if you want to know more about Ashan, you'd have to learn the lore from the campaigns of those HoMM games. There is also an online collectible card game, "Champions of Might and Magic"; if you like Hearthstone or Magic: The Gathering, you'd probably like the MM card game.
I actually never really played MM6 for more than a while. Started with MM7 and MM8. Found the MM6 graphics a bit too old. (Not that I haven't played graphically worse games. Hell I even played super-old Dungeon Master or Ishar games)
@BelgarathMTH - excel spreadsheets are your friend. You won't get more points than to get to ... (not sure if I remember it right) 2x GM + 1x Expert OR 1x GM + 1xMaster + 2xExpert OR 2xMaster + 3x Expert.... something like that. Makes you focus on the skills your warriors really need and only invest in others when there's an overflow of skills.
But when you build your party "just right"....
I ended up with a Defender(Axe, Shields, Warfare) + Blade Dancer (Daggers, Dodging, endurance) + Shaman (Earth + Water Magic + Primordial) and Freemage (Dark + Light + Air magic). ... if I remember that correctly.
To give you a few tips:
- best schools of magic for me were Earth + Water. Then Fire. Air had nice spells but a lot of mobs were resistant to Air. Primordial was used only because of the Town Portal and identify, Dark magic was very "meh" and Light Magic was interesting, but mostly for 2 spells - armour and +attack dmg + occasional attack spell against Dark Elementals.
- it IS good to have more Magic schools as all mobs are resistant to some magic, but weak to the opposite.
- Better than attack spells (until you get really strong AoE ones) are the protection spells like Earth Armor, Light Armor, protection from Paralysation (very important!!!), Healing spell.
- Warfare is actually pretty useful
- Bows and Crossbows are almost unusable in this game. 90% mobs will rush you and fight melee anyway.
- Do not underestimate Destiny stat - adds dodge percentage. I've read somewhere that the way to play with "all Fighters" party is to go Destiny all the way and Dodge 80% of all attacks.
After I played it, I got an idea suited to unpopular opinion thread.
And that is: playing Baldur's gate in first person view.
(The Freemage was constantly knocked out, Shaman less so - being an orc)
And it was a pleasant surprise.
Also - you know the usual drill, where you get past the first 1/3 of the game and start killing everything in sight? Yea? Nah! Not in MMX! More often than not, you'll wander somewhere where the enemies will be too tough and you'll have to come back a bit later (ghosts in first act).
Steam says I have 20 hours in, and I haven't even finished with the Sorpigal area. I've not even been to any other towns yet.
I'm getting so used to the grid system now that I'm starting to want to give World of Xeen another try after I finish with this. I barely started it up one time (it came with my GoG package that I got MM6 in), and I was so turned off by the graphics and especially the grid square viewing and moving that I immediately abandoned it.
What I see now is that it really just takes a little getting used to, and once you learn it, you can move around and explore almost as fast as with smooth turning and 3D, although it's still a bit irritating to round corners and get around obstacles. But it just took a compelling enough character building system and world to explore to motivate me to learn how to deal with it.
I've always heard from some old school players that MM 4-5 was the most compelling story high point of the series, and some of them think it was even better than MM 6-7, despite the lack of smooth turning and 3D. That was why the MMX developers made the decision to use the square grid system in the first place, even though that was probably *the* mistake that led to their downfall. Some people just can't get around it, and I didn't think I would, but now I'm awfully glad I did.
Also, the GOG version is really glitchy. It doesn't play nice with my AMD graphics card, which puts the game in a weird rectangle that only takes up about 1/3 of the TV screen, and several of the controls appear to be bugged.
But trying it again for a few minutes did make me appreciate all the more how beautifully the MMX devs updated an archaic gaming style for modern machines and sensibilities, while including the feel and spirit of the series. I really wish MMX had been more successful so we could get more MM.
Oh well, back to playing MMX!
As for the gameplay, it's exactly what you love about the later games. If the lack of info is putting you off, keep in mind that your GOG bundle came with pdfs of the manual, strategy guide and reference cards and maps. All the info you need is at your fingertips. It's a little cumbersome compared to 6, but the ideas and progression are almost identical.
As for playing hooky for a game....Reaper of Souls?? Check. Dark Souls 3?? Check. Might and Magic X?? I might be able to wait for the wknd for that one
But like I said, thanks anyway, and I really appreciate your feedback on MMX.
But yeah, if it doesn't work for you, I can understand, but they are even better than 6-8 on the whole imo. Isles of Terra and World of Xeen run on the same engine, plus there was Swords of Xeen, a fanmade expansion that was so good New World Computing just started packaging later copies with it. The Might and Magic 1-6 bundle on GOG is probably the single best thing they sell. 7, 8 and (yes) even 9 are great deals (especially if on sale), but those first 6 for $10 is highway robbery.
A little hint, cause you haven't made it out of Scorpigal - there's a little hut outside - not too far away from Scorpigal with a mage who can teach you 3 Magic schools to "Expert status". It'll be a while till you get to another city. The game has actually a quite good way of restricting you access to areas too high for you (next city is in Act 2)
Answer me this (to someone, who is at work right now and can't play) - what party are you playing with in the end?
So far, I'm fine on Warrior level, although I still haven't beaten the Naga big bad yet (that's where I expect to really feel the difference with the increased difficulty setting). I've got my party concept pretty well-developed.
1) I am a crusader/paladin. On my first few tries, I had been trying to spread out points and keep my warrior skills even with my light magic, but I found that for me, my best effectiveness is to focus on my magic. My divine armor protection spell that protects the whole party from all damage for three rounds is a really big deal, and I spend most of my time casting that spell and keeping it active.
My skills are sword, heavy armor, light magic, shield, crossbow, endurance, meditation. Priority is light magic, then sword and armor. Crossbow will probably stay at one point. Shield and endurance will only have points spent after sword, armor, and light magic are maxed. I'm keeping attributes fairly balanced, but magic, spirit, and vitality are my priorities, and will wind up higher than my physical stats or destiny (my spells don't need criticals, and I'm relying on my armor rather than evading).
2)"Blue Cat" is my elven Blade Dancer. He's turning out to be the main muscle of the party. I'm finding dodge and evasion trumps armor and shield in this game. He's like Superman, and is more of a "tank" than my paladin. Skills are sword, dual wield, dodge, warfare, endurance. One point of bow. He doesn't really need anything else to do his job, so he can focus all attribute points on might, perception, destiny, and vitality. Magic and spirit are ignored.
3) "Thorik" is my dwarven Runepriest. I originally envisioned him as the party healer, but he's wound up being the most effective party member at magic DPS, especially fire. Skills are fire, earth, arcane focus, mysticism. I may throw a few points to endurance. Attributes focus on magic, destiny, spirit, and vitality.
4) "Rafe" is my Freemage. He's wound up being the best at utility spells, with some magic DPS. Skills are prime, dark (one point only for Whispering Shadows), fire, arcane focus, mysticism. I may throw some points into water if I have enough to spare later. (I suppose we'll eventually fight fire-based monsters, so maybe water should be a higher priority for him?) Prime magic is his main priority. Attributes focus on magic, destiny, spirit, and vitality.
I did find the expert magic trainers, and the 9-day supply packs are really helpful. At this point, I've explored every square from Sorpigal to the blocked bridge outside the governor's castle. I've played right up to almost rescuing the governor. (That was where I got to on Adventurer difficulty yesterday, and decided to try it all again on Warrior difficulty.)
I've also learned how to use the limited movement in combat to control tactical position on the board and use terrain and chokepoints like hallways and doorways to advantage, including the interesting mechanic that no one can attack diagonally.
I've found that having at least one point in bows is very, very useful for my crusader and blade dancer.
Second try, no problem. I managed to beat her at the chess game being played on the tower squares, and she couldn't get me stuck on the edge again before I beat her down.
Now I'm off to save the governor from his own raiders.
Also, you've noticed well right, that the Divine Armour is very useful :-) And that Blade Dancers are great. I used a Dwarven Defender and found him a bit boring. A tank, but taunting does not work on 99% of bosses anyway and on lots of other elite creatures.