MM7: Light harder than evil? How

[Baduum]

Hello. I have seen numerous persons argue that the light path in MM7 is harder than the dark path. Why is this so? Here follows a list of seen arguements, and what I think of them:

- Light side has much harder promotion quests. Many point especially to the champion quest.

- Totally disagree. There are just one hard promotion quest in my book, and thats the warlock one, because you have to go to LOT, which is really an endgame place. The champions quest is actually a walk in the park compared. Knigth arena battles are easier the lower level you are, and you can win 5 of them at any time to complete the quest, so just do it earlier on.

- Monsters use dark magic better than light magic.

- Not in my world. The "problem" spells of dark magic monster users are: Sharpmetal, dragon breath, pain reflection. Most of the monsters that cast these spells are either very rare, or die too fast to use them. Light magic users, on the other hand, has the pesky dispel magic and annoying summon "the living bomb" aka light elementals.

Dark magic is stronger than light magic:

- I dont see this point. From my point of view, dark has alot of useless spells like armaggedon, sacrifice, raise zombie etc. They also have powerful dmg dealing spells, like sharpmetal, toxic cloud, dragon breath and souldrinker.

- Light magic on the other hand, has more useful spells. Hour of power, day of protection, Day of the gods, Paralyze (at basic light!!)
summon light elemental and dispel magic..

- Some say light side has harder quests from the advisors: Three of them are exactly the same. (If you get soul jars from mount Nighon.) IMO, wine cellar is just as easy as Clankers.

So why do people tend to find light path harder?

[Panda Tar]

Dark magic is stronger than light magic:

- I dont see this point. From my point of view, dark has alot of useless spells like armaggedon, sacrifice, raise zombie etc. They also have powerful dmg dealing spells, like sharpmetal, toxic cloud, dragon breath and souldrinker.

- Light magic on the other hand, has more useful spells. Hour of power, day of protection, Day of the gods, Paralyze (at basic light!!)
summon light elemental and dispel magic..

I think both are a bit difficult at the beginning, then it gets easy. The Light Magic spells give you a real boost on protections that it becomes really difficult dying. For Dark Magic, Shrapmetal was my preferred spell, using it against dragons or titans when very close to them for full damage and, sometimes, instant kill.

I don't recall the game precisely because I last played it in 98 or 99, me thinks, but I remember that I used to have problems fighting against dark more than against light. The dungeons for Light Path to cross when you must go to Deyja or something like that, are too tight, then you just bump into Queen of the deads or other enemies that cast Dragon Breath. Even if they die fast, it's not nice having little space to dodge or playing in turns, because it always ends badly. For Light Path quests, I just remember that there were some easy stuff, but I always liked going to where there were tough enemies early in the game, like facing that blue dragon which the name I forgot or the first red dragon in Emerald Island.

[Bandobras Took]

Promotion Quests Compared:

Knight:
Light Side: 5 Arena victories at Lord level. If you do this when you actually find out about it, you'll often draw difficult monsters.
Dark Side: Raid the Elf Castle. Big whoop.

Higher difficulty goes to light side.

Paladin:
Light Side: Raid William Setag's Tower, fighting X of the Sword.
Dark Side: Raid Castle Ironfist, fighting X of the Sword.

Tied in difficulty, IMO.

Ranger:

Light Side: Fight through the Mercenary Guild (tons of X of the sword).
Dark Side: Collect 10000 in Bounties.

Higher difficulty goes to the Light Side.

Archer:
The same for both sides. Tied.

Monk:
Light: Go through a dungeon filled with Devils and Priests of Baa.
Dark: Go through a dungeon filled with Archmagi.

Higher difficulty goes to the Dark Side here; you don't actually have to face the devils at the Temple of Baa, and summoned light elementals are annoying.

Cleric:
Essentially the same. Tied.

Druid:
Light: Find an skull in a Gog filled dungeon.
Dark: Steal a Dragon egg in the Land of the Titans.

Has to be Dark for highest difficulty. Not so much the Land of the Titans, but the tunnels to get there make it hard to use Invisibility to get past.

Wizard:
Light: Go through a dungeon with Behemoths and Fire Elementals.
Dark: Go through the Walls of Mist.

Higher difficulty goes to Light. You can use Invisibility to get you clear through the Walls of Mist, but there are tight spots in the other where you won't be keeping your invisibility.

Thief:
Light: Move a Counterweight.
Dark: Kill a commoner in Celeste.

Tough choice, but I'd still give the edge to the Light Side. It's feasible with the Dark Side to simply run through Celeste, kill the girl, and drop out the nearest hole. The liches with Dragon Breath present a far greater problem in Watchtower 9.

Overall, the Light Side promotion quests are more difficult.

More thoughts later.

[HodgePodge]

Hello. I have seen numerous persons argue that the light path in MM7 is harder than the dark path. Why is this so? Here follows a list of seen arguements, and what I think of them:

-- Monsters use dark magic better than light magic.

- Not in my world. The "problem" spells of dark magic monster users are: Sharpmetal, dragon breath, pain reflection. Most of the monsters that cast these spells are either very rare, or die too fast to use them. Light magic users, on the other hand, has the pesky dispel magic and annoying summon "the living bomb" aka light elementals.

Dark magic is stronger than light magic:

- I dont see this point. From my point of view, dark has alot of useless spells like armaggedon, sacrifice, raise zombie etc. They also have powerful dmg dealing spells, like sharpmetal, toxic cloud, dragon breath and souldrinker.

- Light magic on the other hand, has more useful spells. Hour of power, Day of Protection, Day of the Gods, Paralyze (at basic light!!) Summon Light Elemental and Dispel Magic …

So why do people tend to find light path harder?

I believe the comparison between Light & Dark Magic Spells is the deciding factor for which many people base their decision. Since I have never completed or even played the Dark Path, I have used an Editor to give some of my characters Dark Magic … even while on the Light Path. I have found Dark Magic to be very powerful offensively but Light Magic to be very powerful defensively. So I guess that would make it a draw.

I think both are a bit difficult at the beginning, then it gets easy. The Light Magic spells give you a real boost on protections that it becomes really difficult dying. For Dark Magic, Shrapmetal was my preferred spell, using it against dragons or titans when very close to them for full damage and, sometimes, instant kill.

I agree. For me, the first part of the game (before choosing a path) is much more interesting and fun that the later part. So many wonderful quests to complete and a generous four extra months to do these. But of course, you can't visit Celeste or the Pit or choose Light or Dark Magic until later on. I have always perferred Light Magic protective spells rather than Dark Magic destructive ones. But that's how I like to play the game.

[Gaidal Cain]

Paladin:
Light Side: Raid William Setag's Tower, fighting X of the Sword.
Dark Side: Raid Castle Ironfist, fighting X of the Sword.

I know the dark side quest is doable by invisibility. I don't think the light side one is.

[HodgePodge]

Paladin:
Light Side: Raid William Setag's Tower, fighting X of the Sword.
Dark Side: Raid Castle Ironfist, fighting X of the Sword.

I know the dark side quest is doable by invisibility. I don't think the light side one is.

I have never been successful in completing the William Setag (Rescue Alice Hargreaves) Quest while invisible. You have to kill "Ole' Bill" to get the key to Alice's cell, and once you attack, you are no longer invisible. However, this quest is just too easy for a second promotion quest. Go figure.

[Panda Tar]

I agree. For me, the first part of the game (before choosing a path) is much more interesting and fun that the later part. So many wonderful quests to complete and a generous four extra months to do these. But of course, you can't visit Celeste or the Pit or choose Light or Dark Magic until later on. I have always perferred Light Magic protective spells rather than Dark Magic destructive ones. But that's how I like to play the game.

I always play good at first. Then I play the bad guy. I think I'd be troubled if playing without magicians. I've never done that. Just playing with a magician, a Priest or an Archer (wizard) for fly spell was my prefered kind of game. I always loved using a Thief and, for a change, a knight or paladin. Rager would do. So, I got used to accomplish their quests, no finding difficulty when executing them. But if I ever get to play with a monk, it'll take me forever to do what it must be done.

[Kackelacka]

IMHO
Dark path is for the party heavily based on magic (Toxic-DBreath-SDrinker needs too much mana)
Light path is for the party heavliy based on might (Day of the gods of course, if there are archers or rangers in the party they shoot and kill like a hell)

and like all rpg, magic is hard to start but easy to end in MM games, at the begining the monsters are not that tough, so the dark path with 4 mages is a way to go.

one last note; for mm7 the great relic - Ethric's staff is available is just for dark path.

[UndeadHalfOrc]

Promotion Quests Compared:

Wizard:
Light: Go through a dungeon with Behemoths and Fire Elementals.
Dark: Go through the Walls of Mist.

Higher difficulty goes to Light. You can use Invisibility to get you clear through the Walls of Mist, but there are tight spots in the other where you won't be keeping your invisibility.

I agree with every one you listed, except this one.

To get the Divine Intervention Book, you only need to go through HALF of the Breeding Zone and get out, and meet only about 3 behemoths in the process (first bridge), which can be avoided easily. The dark side's "initiation quest" done there is much harder: The most dangerous part of the Breeding Zone is the tunnel leading to the very end, and Archbald asks you to escape from there, and invisibility isn't much help (too many behemoths).

While for the Walls of Mist Lich quest, you have to complete the ENTIRE dungeon (get the 3 keys from 3 areas), to get to the chest. Walls of Mist is no walk in the park even if you don't wanna fight, Invisibility at laster level will last you only about an hour and half, barely enough to do a third of the dungeon if you try to get treasures. And all of the monsters there use range attacks.