Might and Magic X

The role-playing games (I-X) that started it all and the various spin-offs (including Dark Messiah).
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Bandobras Took
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Unread postby Bandobras Took » 25 Jan 2014, 01:46

I cannot even begin to describe how much I am loving this game. If it offers no more than what I've already played, I'd still be content with my purchase.

It's turn-based. Not just as an option (as with 6-9, where it was often the far inferior option), but integrated wholly into the system. I am provided with the necessary tools to think through the fights.

The Thieve's Den is solid, good old-fashioned RPG fun. :)
Far too many people speak their minds without first verifying the quality of their source material.

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Asomath
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Unread postby Asomath » 25 Jan 2014, 04:33

Bandobras Took wrote:I cannot even begin to describe how much I am loving this game. If it offers no more than what I've already played, I'd still be content with my purchase.
That is basically the tag line summary for me.

After my binge, I've only gotten rapidly more invested. As soon as the skill and attribute points started rolling in, I was hooked.

Its probably premature to say this, but I'm already feeling like the only real complaint (besides itty-bitty things) that I'm going to have after I'm through with this, is that I want itbigger. Get some large overarching story that you can be really be proud of!

MM XI gogogo

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Variol
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Unread postby Variol » 25 Jan 2014, 15:06

I'm really happy to hear all the good news/reviews so far!

I started my own business a couple of weeks ago (www.righthandyman.ca) and I'm already making a little bit of money. I have not covered all my expenses yet, but maybe I'll splurge and buy I sooner than anticipated.
I was planning to wait for the first patch to come out.

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SubEffect
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Impressions...

Unread postby SubEffect » 25 Jan 2014, 15:08

Only a few hours in.. walking around the lighthouse area.

It's such a weird experience. I feel like I am a kid again. playing World of Xeen. It's similar but different - so strange.

Anyhow, yes it's definitely fun. It took some time for me to remember the general mechanics and framework (novice, expert, etc) and I forgot to give one character a weapon skill right out of the gate. I always do custom parties.. I am a bit of a stickler for making sure my party isn't weak so I am trying different combos to see what skills I may need at grandmaster level. If I remember correctly, stuff like resurrect (actually the skill beyond it where you could return someone from ash) was only available at that level. I'd hate to get 40 hours in and realize i goofed on something like that. At the same time, I prefer to play classes I enjoy most - like druids, warriors, etc. It's nice to see there are some of those typical archetypes and yet some others like runemaster that are somewhat unique to this game.

I think my only complaint at this point is that you are stuck with the party you create. I can't remember if this was a restriction of the older games, but it's nice where RPGs let you visit a tavern and add/leave members to best suit some quest you are heading out for. You may be able to do this, I just haven't found any options like that. This is one reason I may start over with a different party makeup once I get used to the pros/cons of the skills.

I created this party to start:
- Dwarven Scout
- Human Crusader
- Human Freemage
- Elven Druid

I am not sure about the scout - i remember that a ranged expert is usually very handy. I may need more of a tank class. The freemage has the ability to GM in air, dark, and a couple of other magic areas (not fire or light though) so I will need something to balance that out. As it stands now, i don't have anyone that can go higher than expert in light magic... Could be an issue.

Edit: Crusader can go up to GM light magic... with only 4 slots for characters this may work, just still not sure about the scout.

I suppose if I could find a spell list it could help.

Anyhow.. Anyone else want to post their party makeup?

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SubEffect
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Race/Class/GM Skills

Unread postby SubEffect » 25 Jan 2014, 15:52

Here's a list I put together to show the base classes and their Grand Master abilities:

Edit: I decided to make this a Google spreadsheet so others could view it. I will fill in all the abilities:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... sp=sharing


Some of the classes are strong in master skills - such as the human merc with a lot of weapon masteries. Also the freemage has mastery in all other schools of magic where he/she doesn't have GM in.

This may/may not be important, I just like to have at least one character with GM ability where it makes sense - a GM ranged skill, GM melee skill, GM magic skills and hopefully some defensive/buffing type skills to fill in the gaps. It's fun to be able to use the 'best of the best' in an area.. at least it was in the old games like 6-8 :)

I couldn't find a list of spells online beyond Expert to see what the master/GM tiers would open up (same for skills.. It certainly wasn't in the manual.

Hope this helps!
Last edited by SubEffect on 25 Jan 2014, 16:06, edited 2 times in total.

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Asomath
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Unread postby Asomath » 25 Jan 2014, 15:53

-Human Crusader
-Elven Bladedancer
-Elven Druid
-Human Freemage

Very similar to your party. It gives every GM magic except for Fire (which is a bit disappointing, since that has always been my favorite, but it'll motivate me to play with the dwarf the next time through). The Crusader seems to be a pretty useful tank, Celestial Armor helps soak up damage in the early game, and having the ability to heal unconscious party members (since she is often the last one standing) is useful.

I really wanted to take the Blade-dancer class for a spin, and I'm glad I did. She's proving to be useful for the more high-resistance, low-defense, mage-types. Lets just hope she can hold her own against my glass-cannon characters in the mid and late game.

Cheers,
~Asomath

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Variol
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Unread postby Variol » 25 Jan 2014, 16:11

The new skills sound great and the replay-ability is definitely there.

I'm 99% sure I will start with a party of 4 of the same class, but maybe not the same race. I'll check the numbers.

It's looking more like this will be downloaded very sooner.

I have been thirsting for the a good TB RPG for some long. Have my prayers finally been answered...?? ;|

Oh, and I can't wait too see how long it will be till we complain about them "changing" this game that we love so much! :)

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Avonu
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Unread postby Avonu » 25 Jan 2014, 17:33

I have created tables with all classes skills descriptions and another table with teachers name and locations (some of them). Mind you, that both of pages are still work in progress but I hope, they will be useful for you.

All classes skills

Skills teachers names and locations (work in progresss)

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SubEffect
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Unread postby SubEffect » 25 Jan 2014, 17:37

[quote="Avonu"]I have created tables with all classes skills descriptions and another tabke with teachers name and locations (some of them). Mind you that both of them are still work in progress but I hope, they will be useful for you.

Very nice! Thanks.. I have some of the trainers listed as well, but i haven't ventured out too far.

This may be a game I play through twice with different parties.. it's too tough to decide on just 4..

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Bandobras Took
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Unread postby Bandobras Took » 26 Jan 2014, 01:16

I'm just thanking my lucky stars that my all-Might party has access to Air Magic with the Mercenary.
Far too many people speak their minds without first verifying the quality of their source material.

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Variol
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Unread postby Variol » 26 Jan 2014, 03:15

Thanks for the chart!

I don't know where to acquire the base skills though?

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Avonu
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Unread postby Avonu » 26 Jan 2014, 07:13

You can learn new skill ONLY during level ups (as far as I know).
Another change which was "meh".
Weapon master, who create weapons all his life, can't learn party, how to swing sword or dagger, but after the party kill spider with spells and bows, they know it now! Yeah, right. :P

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Variol
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Unread postby Variol » 26 Jan 2014, 11:15

I just found the "g" key. ;)

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SubEffect
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Unread postby SubEffect » 26 Jan 2014, 14:19

Variol wrote:Thanks for the chart!

I don't know where to acquire the base skills though?
You can only learn "new" basic skills when you level up, so make your choices during creation carefully. I learned to at least make sure everyone has a melee and ranged weapon skill right at the start, so at least everyone can attack, especially if spellcasters are out of mana power.

Not all classes can use all skills of course, so be wary of that. Anything you can learn should be in the skill book, just uncheck the "hide unlearned skills" to see everything.

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SubEffect
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Observations..

Unread postby SubEffect » 26 Jan 2014, 14:35

So, I'm about 10 hours in.

The game is certainly fun and it really does feel like a cross between Wizardry 8 and M&M4/5 or so, with a splash of M&M6/7 (skills, etc). There's a few oddities, but nothing that takes away from the enjoyment too much. Minor spoilers (names of creatures, towns, and a silly "puzzle" reveal, if you could call it that).

Fun stuff:

- Leveling up: You spend skill points now, towards your tier upgrades of expert, master, GM. Maybe MM9 had this, not sure as I didn't play it. This lets you tailor things and get incremental upgrades until you make the next tier level.
- Battles: They aren't super tactical, but if you liked the basic system in the older M&M games and are not expecting to employ too much logic, they're fun and challenging (especially if you chose Warrior mode like I did). I am actually have a good degree of difficulty with the current boss. You do have to plan when to use potions, buffs, debuffs, etc so there is some tactics there.
World: As usual, it's fun to wander around, but there are some restrictions. Exploring has that familiar feel of risk and excitement when you make it to a new area. I remember the awesome feeling of finally making it to some remote town in M&M7/8 and it's somewhat familiar here - with one drawback explained in a bit.
Quests: There's just enough, you're not overloaded like in some games.

Stuff I'm not too crazy about:

- No respawns: From what I remember from the older games, areas would respawn after a certain amount of time (maybe a week, a month in game time, etc). So far I haven't seen the area outside of Sorpigal respawn. Depending on how you play, this could be good or bad. If you like powering up your party to defeat a boss, well, there's limited monsters so you can only get so powerful. I am currently in this situation. Most of my characters are level 6/7 and I'm having a rough time with the naga boss.
- Exploring is restricted: While you can wander around a bit, you can't progress into the next town/hub area until you finish the main quest line for the starting area. I know this is logical, but stuff like "You need this or that to cross this bridge" is kinda silly. This also limits the size of the world - it feels small. If i want to go to Karthal, why can't I just risk the journey ahead of my party's level/quest advancement?
- Tile-based movement: Now, this isn't horribly bad, but I have some mixed feelings. From moving around in the world, I can't fathom why you have to move in tiles when clearly the world appears to be "open". It makes the world feel small when you have move around on squares. It does give you this cool old school RPG feeling (and yes there's a good minimap/automap feature), but after the nostalgia wears off, it just makes it feel like you're moving around in a maze vs. a huge fantasy world.
- Some cheese: There's a few strange things that hit me with the "this is my first RPG game" in terms of development. Minor spoiler i guess, but there's a rather funny note in the lighthouse that says a door will open once two plates are walked over. No, seriously, it says almost literally that. It's sorta funny, but this is a fantasy game, shouldn't it be more cryptic than that?!?

Overall, I am having a good time though.. there's some mechanics that make it feel like a 1990 game (party rations, some backtracking to towns to stock up, etc) but I keep wanting to load it up and move farther. I hope I am wrong about the respawns. I know when you're level 50 having to cut down level 3 wolves would be annoying, but I like the ability to gain xp and gold whenever you want, if you want to.
- Worn weapons: I can't find a way to tell what the wear state is on a weapon, so it they just go from "OK" to "worn" without any warning. This is highly frustrating, so you end up carrying a lot of crappy spares...

Another tip - pay attention to people in the shops. I completely missed that some shops have more than one person in them and you have to click their portrait icon at the top of the screen to see other quests or services/training that they have. This drove me crazy because I couldn't find a damn expert sword trainer until I stumbled upon someone's trainer list online and saw there was one right in Sorpigal.

Back to the game.. If i can resist playing the FFXIII-3 demo..

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Variol
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Unread postby Variol » 26 Jan 2014, 19:30

In case nobody has said it.

Welcome SubEffect! :-D

Another tip - pay attention to people in the shops. I completely missed that some shops have more than one person in them and you have to click their portrait icon at the top of the screen to see other quests or services/training that they have. This drove me crazy because I couldn't find a damn expert sword trainer until I stumbled upon someone's trainer list online and saw there was one right in Sorpigal.

Yes, I missed that as well.

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Bandobras Took
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Unread postby Bandobras Took » 26 Jan 2014, 20:59

Avonu wrote:You can learn new skill ONLY during level ups (as far as I know).
Another change which was "meh".
I'm on the opposite side of the fence. With every skill point mattering, it's a matter of thought when deciding whether to learn a skill. In previous games, I'd pretty much get at least one rank of every skill I could.
Far too many people speak their minds without first verifying the quality of their source material.

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Variol
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Unread postby Variol » 26 Jan 2014, 22:03

Can someone spoil me on getting to Seahaven?

Spoilerish
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I've done the bandit thing but not the boss in the lighthouse; he's pretty tough.

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Asomath
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Unread postby Asomath » 27 Jan 2014, 00:09

Variol wrote:Can someone spoil me on getting to Seahaven?

Spoilerish


I've done the bandit thing but not the boss in the lighthouse; he's pretty tough.
Sure thing. Unlocking the road to Seahaven is part of the core quest chain, which includes the defeating of the Naga boss.

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SubEffect
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Unread postby SubEffect » 27 Jan 2014, 00:38

Variol wrote:Can someone spoil me on getting to Seahaven?

Spoilerish
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.
.
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..



I've done the bandit thing but not the boss in the lighthouse; he's pretty tough.
Spoilerish again..












There is another dungeon after the lighthouse which is where I currently am, then I think the road to Seahaven will open up (since it is right next to the dungeon - Castle Portsomething). Yeah, I am in need some of master trainers already so I am pushing to get there myself.

As for the naga boss - it took me a few tries.. he's got some tricks as you know that you need to work around. Some decent potion/buff planning and a nuker should do well, especially since ranged combat is preferred. I've got a freemage that gets it done with fire for now.
Last edited by SubEffect on 27 Jan 2014, 00:44, edited 1 time in total.
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