New Might and Magic V FAQ available

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New Might and Magic V FAQ available

Unread postby Batlin » 13 Jan 2012, 02:23

Okay, I just finished a detailed guide for Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/564553-might ... faqs/63642

A lot of work for this was the same as that for Might and Magic IV, so this went a lot faster. As always, the emphasis is on a detailed list of powerups and treasure, and less on a step-by-step walkthrough, although all the information you actually need to solve the game is here in some form.

Next up in the list of guides I plan to write is for Swords of Xeen, which uses many of the exact same statistics as IV/V, so I shouldn't need to do much work there.

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Unread postby Arret » 14 Jan 2012, 03:12

Any combat becomes reasonably winnable at
around base level 70.
Megadragon
No.

Not even using Xeen Slayer Swords to ignore the 90% physical resistance. Maybe with the +50 level fountain, but even that is still pushing things and would take a lot of reloading.

Other than that there is a lot of good stuff. especially the warnings and standard "cheats".

I would add something about stacking speed items so the party doesn't get destroyed, but that is a personal preference. I would also add something about making sure to save before looting, and reloading as necessary for the appropriate item, especially on Item Level 7 loot.

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Unread postby Batlin » 14 Jan 2012, 03:22

No.

Not even using Xeen Slayer Swords to ignore the 90% physical resistance. Maybe with the +50 level fountain, but even that is still pushing things and would take a lot of reloading.
That's if you do it with a level 1 party; in that case, you're right. I beat the Mega Dragon on the playthrough used to generate the FAQ with a level 1 party; it can be done, it does take an insane amount of reloading and the +50 level fountain though. Level 70 is enough to win without insane amounts of reloading. You still need a little luck even at level 255 (the maximum possible without buffs) to beat the Mega Dragon.

The New World Computing hint line actually used to say that level 70 was the reasonable minimum to beat the Mega Dragon, which is specifically why I used that number. It takes a number of reloads but it's perfectly doable.
I would also add something about making sure to save before looting, and reloading as necessary for the appropriate item, especially on Item Level 7 loot.
I'm assuming the people who read the FAQ know how to reload saved games. It's kind of an insult to people's intelligence to have to mention that at all, so I'd prefer not to do it.

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Unread postby Arret » 14 Jan 2012, 04:45

Batlin wrote: That's if you do it with a level 1 party; in that case, you're right. I beat the Mega Dragon on the playthrough used to generate the FAQ with a level 1 party; it can be done, it does take an insane amount of reloading and the +50 level fountain though. Level 70 is enough to win without insane amounts of reloading. You still need a little luck even at level 255 (the maximum possible without buffs) to beat the Mega Dragon.

The New World Computing hint line actually used to say that level 70 was the reasonable minimum to beat the Mega Dragon, which is specifically why I used that number. It takes a number of reloads but it's perfectly doable.
On the megadragon, it is a matter of opinion as to what insane amounts of reloading requires, since a playthrough is usually written for people that haven't run through the game before (or in a while), especially if they want to keep everyone alive to keep xp distribution pretty even. Mentioning the Xeen Slayer Sword on this fight would be helpful for most players I would imagine. For people like us who have played it a lot, then yes, running in at 70 wouldn't take much effort.

On the same token, I thought Barkman probably deserved a comment about jump and mass distortion, especially considering the level most people will reach him, and the fact that this strategy really isn't utilized anywhere else.
I'm assuming the people who read the FAQ know how to reload saved games. It's kind of an insult to people's intelligence to have to mention that at all, so I'd prefer not to do it.
I wasn't trying to be insulting on the game loads, but especially in this game getting specific items is fairly important (especially when it comes to weapons), and not all games used the same RNG. Some had the items predetermined upon entrance or put conditions on saves resulting in the RNG not being abused as easily (7 keys to reload and loot versus...say MM2). If you think it is obvious for a reader, then this isn't a problem.

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Unread postby Batlin » 14 Jan 2012, 05:56

Arret wrote:
Batlin wrote: That's if you do it with a level 1 party; in that case, you're right. I beat the Mega Dragon on the playthrough used to generate the FAQ with a level 1 party; it can be done, it does take an insane amount of reloading and the +50 level fountain though. Level 70 is enough to win without insane amounts of reloading. You still need a little luck even at level 255 (the maximum possible without buffs) to beat the Mega Dragon.

The New World Computing hint line actually used to say that level 70 was the reasonable minimum to beat the Mega Dragon, which is specifically why I used that number. It takes a number of reloads but it's perfectly doable.
On the megadragon, it is a matter of opinion as to what insane amounts of reloading requires, since a playthrough is usually written for people that haven't run through the game before (or in a while), especially if they want to keep everyone alive to keep xp distribution pretty even. Mentioning the Xeen Slayer Sword on this fight would be helpful for most players I would imagine. For people like us who have played it a lot, then yes, running in at 70 wouldn't take much effort.
Keeping XP distribution relatively even is a non-issue by that late in the game, as it's unlikely that you have the gold to support training your party all the way up. Even if you do, there's enough experience available in the game (meaning the whole world of Xeen) that you would be able to train a party of six to about level 250, except the maximum possible is 200. Even the tens of millions of experience per character that the Mega Dragon provides isn't enough to span that large gap. If I had to make sure no one got eradicated in my level 1 victory, I'd have had to reload an even larger number of times.

The main key to winning at lower levels is to increase both your luck and energy resistance as high as they will go. If you've played the battle out many times, you know that hit points aren't that much of an issue, it's getting eradicated that is. I found this is the case even at level 1.

In any event, because level 70 is specifically what the New World Computing help line used to tell people who had never beaten the Mega Dragon before, I feel justified in using it as a reference myself. (I could explain all this in the FAQ, but maybe in a future version -- the current version is already longer in text content than any other FAQ or walkthrough I know about.)

Actually, if you look at things more mathematically, the critical breakpoints appear to be wherever your buffed level is equal to 1005 (or 2000, for the pessimistic maximum) divided by a power of 2 and rounded down; this would make base level 47 a critical breakpoint, as you could readily use the +15 level shrine to reach level 62, which is 1005 (or 2000) divided by 16 (or 32) and rounded down. The reason for this is if you successfully make enough saving throws versus energy (four in the average case, five for the maximum case), the Power Shield spell will then reduce damage taken from the Mega Dragon's attack to zero, which will also reduce to zero the chance that you will be eradicated. I don't document this in the FAQ, because I'm not sure how saving throws versus energy actually work; I just know that if you succeed, damage gets halved and rounded down, and you get to make another saving throw.
On the same token, I thought Barkman probably deserved a comment about jump and mass distortion, especially considering the level most people will reach him, and the fact that this strategy really isn't utilized anywhere else.
That probably does deserve a specific mention, even though I allude to it as a use of the Jump spell. I already put in "how to beat those pink armadillos" as an extra note (they're probably the monster responsible for the most first-time total party kills, since people tend not to take them seriously until it's already too late) in the next version of the FAQ; you're right that Barkman and the Mega Dragon also deserve such a mention.
I'm assuming the people who read the FAQ know how to reload saved games. It's kind of an insult to people's intelligence to have to mention that at all, so I'd prefer not to do it.
I wasn't trying to be insulting on the game loads, but especially in this game getting specific items is fairly important (especially when it comes to weapons), and not all games used the same RNG. Some had the items predetermined upon entrance or put conditions on saves resulting in the RNG not being abused as easily (7 keys to reload and loot versus...say MM2). If you think it is obvious for a reader, then this isn't a problem.
Well, there are also enough level 7 items plus guaranteed Obsidian drops in the game so that you'll have full-blown Obsidian gear (or close to it) by the end of the game, even without reloading. L7 weapons and armor turn out to be Obsidian more often than not. You can also get some absolutely guaranteed Diamond weapons and armor, which are good enough, really.

The next items you might want are +energy resistance items, but even then, the +100 temporary resistance fountain provides your party with the same protection as 20 Kinetic protection items. You can also just buy a set of 12 Kinetic scarabs, which costs 7200 gems. (Now that I'm writing this I realize forgot to do that; that would have made fighting the Mega Dragon at level 1 much easier.)

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Unread postby tolich » 14 Jan 2012, 09:48

Two safes in Castle Kalindra Dungeon that has combination 10-11-12 can only be opened if you freed Guido the Convict before.

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Unread postby Batlin » 16 Jan 2012, 22:53

tolich wrote:Two safes in Castle Kalindra Dungeon that has combination 10-11-12 can only be opened if you freed Guido the Convict before.
You can get the combination from Guido, but in my testing this is not necessary. You can also automatically get the combination yourself if your Thievery is high enough. I believe you need 250 Thievery to automatically learn the combination.

The combination safes in Castle Kalindra that have the six Energy Disks and Queen Kalindra's crown DO require you to be told the combination -- you can enter the first two numbers of the combination just fine, but the third will not work.

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Unread postby tolich » 17 Jan 2012, 10:44

Batlin wrote:You can get the combination from Guido, but in my testing this is not necessary. You can also automatically get the combination yourself if your Thievery is high enough. I believe you need 250 Thievery to automatically learn the combination.
Not to learn, to use. I tried this combination without releasing Gvido, and nothing happened.

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Unread postby Batlin » 17 Jan 2012, 21:45

tolich wrote:
Batlin wrote:You can get the combination from Guido, but in my testing this is not necessary. You can also automatically get the combination yourself if your Thievery is high enough. I believe you need 250 Thievery to automatically learn the combination.
Not to learn, to use. I tried this combination without releasing Gvido, and nothing happened.
Which version of the game are you playing? I'm playing the original PC disk version, and you can enter in the combination without freeing Guido just fine. The Might and Magic Compendium also claims this is not necessary.

You might be confusing the amulets with the Energy Disks and Queen Kalindra's crown, which DO require you to learn the combination in-game before it will work. That's probably because those are necessary quest items, which the amulets in the basement are not.

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Unread postby tolich » 18 Jan 2012, 18:18

Batlin wrote:Which version of the game are you playing?
I don't know exactly which version is my case. It's not WoX CD version, long time ago I've downloaded mm4 and mm5 and extract them in one directory. Maybe the clue is that miscellaneous items with Town Portal spell usually crash the game instead of getting into a town.
Batlin wrote:I'm playing the original PC disk version, and you can enter in the combination without freeing Guido just fine.
Are you sure you dont't free him? All you have to do is to leave crate open after talking to him.
Batlin wrote:You might be confusing the amulets with the Energy Disks and Queen Kalindra's crown, which DO require you to learn the combination in-game before it will work. That's probably because those are necessary quest items, which the amulets in the basement are not.
Definitely I do not. I cannot find a save where I have access to basement but still not opened these safes. It will take some time till I manage to present something that proves this... or denies.

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Unread postby Batlin » 20 Jan 2012, 23:07

tolich wrote:
Batlin wrote:I'm playing the original PC disk version, and you can enter in the combination without freeing Guido just fine.
Are you sure you dont't free him? All you have to do is to leave crate open after talking to him.
Absolutely sure. I do have a save game to test this, one where I had to first ask Ellinger to restore the castle dungeon, and I tried this again. Walked straight to the safe (which comes up first), it opened fine.

The Might and Magic Compendium says on page 281 that you need 200 (not 250 as I recalled) Thievery for your Thievery character to figure out the combination. (However, the Compendium isn't the most reliable source of information, as you're probably aware.)

I presume you're playing on a PC? I'm not aware of any major versions on PC other than original disk and the talkie version. There are a bunch of compilations out there, but I haven't heard of any of those compilations being different in gameplay. I've never seriously tried any of these compilation versions myself, though. Are there other major differences in versions out there?

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Unread postby tolich » 21 Jan 2012, 18:22

Sorry, that was my fail. Parhaps, that time I've used a wrong combination or something... Actually Gvido is just a clue.


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