My troughts on caster only M&M VII run

SorcererV1ct0r

I recently started to re play M&M VII, for the first time on dark side(S/D/C/S). My troughs?

1 - Find what you need to do on dark path is much easier

2 - Dark Magic is very powerful. I literally killed an dragon in one round by casting dragon breath and the souldrink spell made some tough fighters like on titan stronghold much easier

3 - The begging is much harden. The quest to get promotion to Wizard was almost impossible thanks to the fact that trapped chests can OHK me, so pick golem parts around the world isn't that easy.

4 - Some enemies like Medusas who was very resistent to dark magic, i found easier to just skip with invisibility or in worst case scenario reanimate some Behemoths to fight then

5 - I wish that i can do a sorcerer only run BUT Robert the Wise will make impossible to progress without a cleric

6 - Quests on Dark Side tends to be much more fun. Also i got an dragon familiar, something that i never had on light side.



7 - I loved the (in) human lich transformation but i wish that i can become an vampire. Taking sun damage and everything. I din't liked that necromancers can use dark magic on VIII but vampires can't, despite not liking much "lich", i loved that this is one of the few games who allow the PC to become a lich.

Anyone else did a caster only party and wanna share the experience?

Ardanis

5 - I wish that i can do a sorcerer only run BUT Robert the Wise will make impossible to progress without a cleric

Just brew some very strong Body Resistance potions from best reagents and top it with Day of Protection (if you're light), your chance to get eradicated will plummet.

I once did with normal party, paladin instead of cleric, and guess what, I chopped him dead without a casualty. Got a bit disappointed that my preparations to stock on Resurrection scrolls went to waste, so I reloaded and chopped him without problems again. Only on the third try did he manage to kill a party member.

Four sorcs will probably kill him even faster than a balanced party, Poison Spray rocks

PS Potions of Luck Boost can add too, iirc. Need to check Grayface's site for formulas.

jjstraka34

I don't know of any other games outside of MM 7-9 that allow the ability to attain Lichdom.

SorcererV1ct0r

Ardanis said:

5 - I wish that i can do a sorcerer only run BUT Robert the Wise will make impossible to progress without a cleric

Just brew some very strong Body Resistance potions from best reagents and top it with Day of Protection (if you're light), your chance to get eradicated will plummet.

I once did with normal party, paladin instead of cleric, and guess what, I chopped him dead without a casualty. Got a bit disappointed that my preparations to stock on Resurrection scrolls went to waste, so I reloaded and chopped him without problems again. Only on the third try did he manage to kill a party member.

Four sorcs will probably kill him even faster than a balanced party, Poison Spray rocks

PS Potions of Luck Boost can add too, iirc. Need to check Grayface's site for formulas.

Thanks. For the dark side, i was thinking on casting reanimate but apparently reanimate can only reanimate dead not eradicated (makes sense since the skill require a corpse) also it resurrect but give "zombie" status to party members(i used on Minotaur-Maze before got GM protection from my priest). Also i think that reanimate on a lich should't give the zombie status, since you are injecting dark energy into a dark creature.

PS Dark Magic spells are ridiculous strong.Dragon Breath deals 1~25*skill level, so assuming 20 skill level, you have 25-500 damage. If you get lucky you can two shot an Green Dragon(880hp). And it damages monsters nearby the target. Not mention a quest to kill all griffons in a city? Just nuke the city with Armageddon spell, heal then nuke again. Much easier than search for then.

jjstraka34 said:

I don't know of any other games outside of MM 7-9 that allow the ability to attain Lichdom.

M&M IX i tried but only black screen...

jjstraka34

I actually do have a solution for the black screen, after years of looking for one. I'll post the entire way to get the game running if you're interested.

SorcererV1ct0r

jjstraka34 said:

I actually do have a solution for the black screen, after years of looking for one. I'll post the entire way to get the game running if you're interested.

Thanks. How did you fixed?

jjstraka34

Ok well, first off, be advised that I am going on the assumption of the GOG version which is pre-patched with the 1.3 TELP patch. If not, you will need to download it.

At that point, follow all the steps in this video first:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKvizNWI-PQ&t=5s

However, after that, there is still something you need to do. Even with all those fixes, you are likely still going to get a pitch black screen underwater or anytime after 6pm in-game. To fix this:

1.) Go to this page: https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/The_Operative:_No_One_Lives_Forever
It's for a different game but that is immaterial to fixing the problem.

2.) Go down to the section that says "black screen underwater". Download dgVoodoo 2. You will not be installing this program, simply extracting the three files mentioned (D3D8.dll, D3DImm.dll, DDraw.dll) and simply place them in the install folder for MM9.

At this point, the worst problem you should have is you may have to occasionally force quit through the task manager when exiting the game from the main menu. Not a big deal. I tried on and off for over two years to get this game to work correctly, and finally put all the pieces together a couple of months ago.

Might and Magic 9 is not great, but it does have that core gameplay loop, the enchanting soundtrack, and more of what makes the series what it is. It's the worst in many respects, but is well worth playing if you like 6-8 in my mind, even for the dungeon design alone. I still believe Might and Magic is best series for pure adventuring discovery in the history of CRPGs. Even the very first game, Secret of the Inner Sanctum is light years ahead of games from it's time, assuming you use the available automapping mod called "Where are We".

Ardanis

I think there was a thread on GOG with a complete set of instructions and links/downloads.

SorcererV1ct0r

Thanks a lot. I don't expect that M&M IX will be good as M&M VI-VIII but i honestly think that the game will be better than 99% of modern """rpgs"""" and i hated M&M X Legacy.

Ardanis

It's devoid of many features that made previous ones so immersive. No alchemy and reagent gathering, no dressing the party pretty and inventory management, no temple blessings, no pedestals/challenges, no Arcomage, no trading routes and bounty hunting, no flying and invisibility, no randomness in monster spawning. The only thing it's got in exchange is full 3D. It's like a new team without any past experience in game design was making M&M IX.

jjstraka34

Ardanis said:

It's devoid of many features that made previous ones so immersive. No alchemy and reagent gathering, no dressing the party pretty and inventory management, no temple blessings, no pedestals/challenges, no Arcomage, no trading routes and bounty hunting, no flying and invisibility, no randomness in monster spawning. The only thing it's got in exchange is full 3D. It's like a new team without any past experience in game design was making M&M IX.

All those things are basically true, but the inventory management is only really missing the "paper doll" aspect. The move to early 3D isn't great, but the engine of 6-8 was so old and outdated at that point that another game using it wouldn't have been accepted. Every contemporary review of Day of the Dragon mentions the engine.

What I mean by the core gameplay loop is leveling up skills through certain trainers you have to find (and boy is it annoying in this game because they are basically just random people on the street in each city) quests to attain higher ranks in your chosen classes, and gearing. And, of course, one more great soundtrack.

It's not a secret that the game was unfinished. 3DO was out of money and pulled the plug on MMIX well before it was even close to being finished and shipped it anyway. It wouldn't even be playable without the fan-patch. This is not an isolated incident by publishers during this time-frame of PC gaming.

SorcererV1ct0r

I think that they should have maintained the old engine. Why? Because on M&M VI-VIII you always fight hordes of enemies. Is impossible to do a computer on earlier 2000. Change engine in mid of development is not a good idea. Look to what happened to Daikatana. Allow WASD movment and mouse looking/aiming should the be unique changes on the "engine"...

To be fair, the sprited graphics looks more beautiful than the 3d

An interesting review about M&M IX

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEFuOsEey9M

This channel is very funny. According to him, the M&M VII dar ending is

what politicians think that gun printing will gonna do. An evil guy print a gun, test on a servant and everyone cheers then he prints a lot of guns and conquer the world; hu3hu3