MM7 - Holy Crap! I'd forgotten how bad Dark Magic Is!

[BMJedi]

I've just been replaying all the Light Path missions in MM7 that involve attacking the Pit - or at least, I've been trying to start them.

I'm getting my a** handed to me by Speakers of the Dead, Queens of the Dead, Lich Kings, and their Dragon Breath and Schrapnel spells!

I'd forgotten how hard this part of the game is!

I had to retreat and get Paralyze, Light Bolt, and Destroy Undead spells for my priestess before I even have a chance, and I still have to kill only one or two of them at a time, and then retreat and rest!

It seems like Light magic is terribly underpowered against Dark - there's no defense against Dark magic attacks that I can find. Resistances to the elements are useless.

I guess I'll have to decide whether it's any fun to keep going or not. I've done it before, so I guess I probably will.

[UndeadHalfOrc]

Use destroy undead against Liches as soon as you see them (it deals damage instantly)

Use Dispel Magic on those necromancer ladies if you hear them cast the Pain Reflection spell. Then slaughter them as quickly as you can.

There is no really easy way to kill Queens of the Dead before they cast Dragon Breath, unfortunataly. What I do is I play in real time mode and try to dodge the blasts.

[jeffh]

I found this to be a relatively difficult bit too, but the real problem wasn't any of the things you mentioned, it was Pain Reflection on the goth chicks. Dispel Magic is the only thing that makes them beatable IMO and that would be a Light spell. I ran that with a very unusual Archer - Monk - Thief - Druid team and the Archer was, for probably the first time since very early in the game, the MVP of that mission simply because he was the only one who could dispel that crap.

[Tress]

On the countrary - light magic have some of the most powerful and balance breaking spells in the game. Only danger in my eyes is occasional dragon breath that can wipe party and pain reflection. Once of them cam be countered by dispeling, the other one is harder but just paralyze them before they do any harm.
How can you say Light is underpowered if you go in battle without light magic, since you had to get some of most powerful spells?

[Lord13]

It's been few years to play a complete MnM7 game, but iirc
is not needed to attack Pit. I think every quest I did inside Pit
i used first Invisibility with my sorceror. I did few battles though
at some locations so i could have "green" areas to rest or use invisibility
again. Was not very hard(not easy though), and I always play combats
at turn based. For sure queens of the dead is one of the hardest enemy
, but at those levels(and i always train for max leveling ignoring
the score) your party is like demi-gods

[Konfuzius]

I played MM7 3 times and I always chose the dark side... I couldn't resist because of the awesome spells, the great power, having an undead char in my party and just being evil ^^.

But I never thought that it would be that hard to beat the game on the light side, perhaps I'll try it on light since I need some challenges.

Which level are you btw?

[GreatEmerald]

Yea, you are kinda supposed to do it with invisibility on, but killing them all is a good challenge. Paralysis plus dispel is a very nice combination.
Also, killing the opposing party isn't that difficult. For example, you can use Control Undead on Liches and even gain temporary allies that way. However, when fighting against your own forces, it gets a whole lot more difficult! That's because your magic doesn't work on them at all, while you can't resist it.

[Tress]

Control Undead is dark magic if memory serves. Kinda waste for dark side(apart from some specific dungeons....

[BMJedi]

Thanks for all the tips and advice.

My party are at levels 42-44.

I thought you had to be a Sorcerer or Cleric to get Light magic. Archers can get Light magic?

I thought about trying to get around with Invisibility, but I only have access to Master level with my druid, and I worry about that short timer and the fact that you can't recast it with enemies around.

I think it's really a delicious conundrum that you need Grandmaster Invisible really badly to get through the Pit, but you can't get access to it without first getting the Divine Intervention spellbook that's - wait for it - right smack in the middle of the Pit!

I may take the advice about setting up a "green area" to retreat to. So far I've managed to get the area around the tavern pretty cleared out, and it only took about five party wipes to get there!

As for Dark vs. Light spells, I like Paralyze, but it only works on one enemy at a time and wears off fast; I like Dispel Magic, but the "goth chicks" just recast their Pain Reflection again on the next round; Light Bolt only does medium damge to one enemy; and the one good damage spell only works outside.

IMO, none of these spells are as devastating as Schrapnel and Dragon Breath, but oh well, Yoda doesn't call the Dark side "the easy path" for nothing.

[BMJedi]

Sorry for the double post -

I just had loads of fun tonight - I got the Divine Intervention spellbook and got my archmage promotion.

Then I took a break from the Pit, and went hydra hunting in Deyja, and won several Arena competitions to make some money, and learned several new alchemical formulae for my druid and made even more money.

Using all the money I was now rolling in, I completed my priest's Light magic spellbook. I think that having Divine Intervention combined with my having discovered the formula for black Rejuvenation potions should make me fairly invulnerable for the rest of the game.

Oh, and I found a case of soul jars under Thunderfist Mountain in Nighon. It was supposed to be in the Pit, but, what the heck, I got another council quest done suddenly and surprisingly.

This game rocks!

[Sure Valla]

Light magic is AWESOME defensive and dark magic is AWESOME offensive (no jokes)


You clearly need a tanker since I did the light path with 4 Knights, and it was easy, they couldn't kill me. But thats little bit difference then a normal party so.

You can cast invisibilty, it will help but dont touch anyone.

Also Light elementals can save your a** from time to time.

[Tress]

Usually I too never fight pit or at least till the end, just handle with invisibility. It also gives some different gaming expirience to try to avoid monsters and try to find green spot to recast.

Light magic imo even apart from paralysis have quit an offensive potential.

What I find odd in both light and dark is fact that most imbalanced spells are one that are level 1. That of course makes both paladin and archer possibility to learnt dark/light remotely useful. Paralysis goes without saying - possibly most op spell in universe. In mm6 it at least had harsher(x3) mana cost, that made it way less spamable, and also i think it failed more. As much as I played mm7/8 you can just finish most of the game by relaying on that single spell.

As for dark - raise dead. Unlike its mm6 counterpart it makes, zombie fight for you. What means, light magic version of summonable wisp gets blowed out of water but first dark magic spell you get. I personally only noticed this change in mm8 since till then i rarely played dark and didn't bothered to read changed tool-tip. Its a spell that actually allows to freely win arena challenges on lord level at the end of game(that is before you one shot everything, but after you cap out arena full of dragons). Oddly enough its not directly offensive spell.

[GreatEmerald]

It's Reanimate, not Raise Dead

[Sure Valla]

It's Reanimate, not Raise Dead

Raise dead is a Spirit spell in MM6