Might & Magic X Teased by Ubisoft, To Be Revealed at PAX East

[Darkpriest]

 

 

Why did they change the world completely?

It's called a reboot. They had already started it in Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, they continued with Heroes of Might & Magic 5. You don't need 'reasons' to do it.

 

I never played the game, but seeing others play HoMM 4, I really thought the brand was in need of some re-focusing, with some factions that had no real them or identity to them. Olivier Ledroit brought a coherent visual look, Nival brought back some of the gameplay before the fourth game, etc.

 

The "reason" is that the devs of DM and HoMM5 had no connection to New World Computing or the original devs of the M&M franchise.

 

Heroes 3 was the pinnacle of the series. Not without flaws, but 4 was a huuuuuge step in the wrong direction, a massive drop in quality compared to 3. 5 is just mediocrity incarnate.

 

I still would like someone pointing out, what exactly makes 5 medicore compared to 3. They basically have the same gameplay design, but 5 has more playable races and units, and more expanded skill wheel...

Edited March 19, 2013 by Darkpriest

[Enoch]

Yeah, it's a weird series to try to resurrect. In a lot of ways, it never matured in the way that other CRPGs have over the last 20 years. The writing, apart from some of the best riddle-based content I've seen in CRPGs (particularly in the 3rd installment), was always rather dire.  The gameworld design never paid any attention to verisimilitude.  (Much like most of the early Gygax modules, everything clearly existed for you to go find and kill-- nothing naturalistic about it.)  The gameplay experience was always very grindy.  The RPG systems were bizarre-- they operated on a weird logarithmic scale, staring stats somewhere in "it looks like D&D" range, but quickly accelerating them into the triple digits, to diminshing returns. 

 

All that's a long way of saying that there isn't a whole lot of potential to build on, other than that a recognizeable name gets more free publicity than does a new IP.  (See: this thread.) 

 

And I say that as somebody with a huge nostalgia-based affection for the series.  M&M: Secret of the Inner Sanctum was the very first CRPG I've played, and I have fond memories of playing all of the first 7 games.  (3-5 were the best.) 

[Hurlshort]

I really don't remember much at all about the universe.  I do remember the style of game play, and that is what I hope they aim to create.  Legend of Grimrock did extremely well in sales, so there is a bit of hope that this new M&M might be done in a similar fashion.  

[LadyCrimson]

I don't even remember the writing in the MM rpg series. Well, I remember some basic main plot points of a couple of them, but to me it was  a party-based action-rpg that was just far more extensive/broader than, say, Diablo.

 

I never felt a connection to characters (my party or otherwise) or anything....especially with those awful party portraits, heh...it was just running around doing missions, fighting, exploring, leveling, solve a puzzle, fighting, trying to find/be able to use all those bloody challenge pedestals, and so on. So I didn't care about the weird sci-fi setting change at the end...didn't startle/jar me. I liked their dungeons and game play and that's what I'd love to see again, like Hurlshot mentioned.

 

And boy did I love that invisibility spell. I robbed dragons blind. 

[Cultist]

Part of M&M6 and 7 success came from the fact that both games were a munchkin paradise. They set new, and I'd say very high, plank for munchkism. Even today few games can beat it.

[TSBasilisk]

Yeah, 6 was pretty awful in regards to that. I remember using the armor-training glitch to get my mage and cleric outfitted in shiny gold plate... Heh... And Levitation was so incredibly broken with a strong ranged team, especially end-game, since you could just fly up or down to dodge any attacks in Turn-Based.

[LadyCrimson]

I loved things like the horsehoes, to get minimal skillpoints, which let you play the whole game without training to level, if you felt like it. Is that munchkin? It just felt like a "can I?" challenge.

 

....the only super-cheese tactic I remember using was the one where you saved before looting dragon corpses - eg, they acted like high-loot table random chests. So theoretically you could leave MM7's training island with some high gear, because the dragons in that cave were easily beatable if you had a bow.

[cyberarmy]

I loved things like the horsehoes, to get minimal skillpoints, which let you play the whole game without training to level, if you felt like it. Is that munchkin? It just felt like a "can I?" challenge.

 

....the only super-cheese tactic I remember using was the one where you saved before looting dragon corpses - eg, they acted like high-loot table random chests. So theoretically you could leave MM7's training island with some high gear, because the dragons in that cave were easily beatable if you had a bow.

 

 

Ugh... i remember killing that dragon with bows and that wand from shaddy guy. Which took +15 min and many save&loads ^_^ Also having a teacher/scholar as NPCs gave very good bonus XP for start.

 

MM6,7,8 are the kings/queens of cheese :D

[Humanoid]

The dungeon will all the slimes on the first level, blarrrrgh. I'd fight the medusae on the second level all day over those slimes. Alongside the teleporter mapping (which I did manually), Bracada was probably the most irritating zone. Though the actual hardest thing for me was probably clearing out the Pit - the lich kings were pretty tame but those queens of the dead wrecked me. On the other hand, mapping the barrow downs was actually pretty memorable, though screw the short respawn timer on the outside zone.

 

 

Mind you these aren't long term memories, just stuff from last year. I played it mostly straight too.

[IndiraLightfoot]

 

I loved things like the horsehoes, to get minimal skillpoints, which let you play the whole game without training to level, if you felt like it. Is that munchkin? It just felt like a "can I?" challenge.

 

....the only super-cheese tactic I remember using was the one where you saved before looting dragon corpses - eg, they acted like high-loot table random chests. So theoretically you could leave MM7's training island with some high gear, because the dragons in that cave were easily beatable if you had a bow.

 

 

Ugh... i remember killing that dragon with bows and that wand from shaddy guy. Which took +15 min and many save&loads ^_^ Also having a teacher/scholar as NPCs gave very good bonus XP for start.

 

MM6,7,8 are the kings/queens of cheese :D

 

LadyCrimson and CyberArmy, these games were definitely pinnacles of cheesiness and munchkinness (weird nouns), hehe!

But in retrospect and in all honesty I actually enjoyed those games more than say Diable 3 (which I actually played a lot). I wonder what that says about me and about Diablo 3 for that matter.

[TSBasilisk]

Full name annoucned, along with some details and a trailer:

 

Might and Magic X Legacy

[Undecaf]

That's.... thoroughly unexpected news.

 

Turnbased and all? It might even be good.

[Chilloutman]

Well I am really suprised and it seems quite good. 2 Things still bother me, Ubisoft - DRM and that cartoonish/WoW graphic style we have seen in last Heroes as well. Still will keep eye on it

[C2B]

Well I am really suprised and it seems quite good. 2 Things still bother me, Ubisoft - DRM and that cartoonish/WoW graphic style we have seen in last Heroes as well. Still will keep eye on it

 

It's the same developer as Heroes VI.

 

That's why I'm skeptical.

Edited March 21, 2013 by C2B

[Undecaf]

 

Well I am really suprised and it seems quite good. 2 Things still bother me, Ubisoft - DRM and that cartoonish/WoW graphic style we have seen in last Heroes as well. Still will keep eye on it

 

It's the same developer as Heroes VI.

 

That's why I'm skeptical.

 

Wasn't Heroes VI developed by Black Hole? I think Limbic only did some DLC for it... or do I misrecall?

Edited March 21, 2013 by Undecaf

[IndiraLightfoot]

 

Well I am really suprised and it seems quite good. 2 Things still bother me, Ubisoft - DRM and that cartoonish/WoW graphic style we have seen in last Heroes as well. Still will keep eye on it

 

It's the same developer as Heroes VI.

 

That's why I'm skeptical.

 

From what I've heard about them, I can see why, but the nostalgia deep inside me make me twitch and reach out for my wallet and by the darn thing anyway. Turn-based, a party of four (almost Grimrock-old school-style) and hopefully a lot of exploration and over the top encounters (critter fodder).

[Hurlshort]

Well this is exactly what I was hoping for, they are definitely going for a Legend of Grimrock old school style of game.  That doesn't guarantee success, but it does get my interest.

[C2B]

 

 

Well I am really suprised and it seems quite good. 2 Things still bother me, Ubisoft - DRM and that cartoonish/WoW graphic style we have seen in last Heroes as well. Still will keep eye on it

 

It's the same developer as Heroes VI.

 

That's why I'm skeptical.

 

Wasn't Heroes VI developed by Black Hole? I think Limbic only did some DLC for it... or do I misrecall?

 

Limbic helped out late in Hereos VI development and have taken over the game since Black Hole got let go. They're also developing the expansion.

 

Before that, the only thing they did was basically bad shovelware, except Prime Time i guess, but even that wasn't that great.

[Keyrock]

Well this is exactly what I was hoping for, they are definitely going for a Legend of Grimrock old school style of game.  That doesn't guarantee success, but it does get my interest.

I'm maybe the only person on the planet that didn't like Legend of Grimrock.  With that said, I'm still excited for the direction this game is taking.  

[Hurlshort]

 

Well this is exactly what I was hoping for, they are definitely going for a Legend of Grimrock old school style of game.  That doesn't guarantee success, but it does get my interest.

I'm maybe the only person on the planet that didn't like Legend of Grimrock.  With that said, I'm still excited for the direction this game is taking.  

 

I doubt you are the only one.  I'm actually a bit torn on the game itself, the setting itself lost my interest quickly.  I mean, you are in a dungeon, and you are solving puzzles.  That's it.  Pretty shallow, and eventually I got bored.  I've never been a huge fan of long dungeons.

 

But the style of gameplay was a huge kick for me.  I loved the party of four, the mix of abilities, the formations, the simple movement and combat.  If you take all that and put it in a full world with actual skies, NPC's, stores, etc.  I will be happy.

[TSBasilisk]

I guess they realized with all the recent big-name indie and Kickstarter TB-RPGs that, yes, there is still a market for them. I can just imagine the boardroom now...

 

"All right, turn-based RPGs are still making money; we need an in for the market. What IPs could we use?"

 

"What about Heroes of Might and Magic?"

 

"Brilliant! We'll call it... LORDS of Might and Magic!"

 

"Wait... wasn't Might and Magic a turn-based RPG to begin with?"

 

"...Huh?"

[Keyrock]

 

 

Well this is exactly what I was hoping for, they are definitely going for a Legend of Grimrock old school style of game.  That doesn't guarantee success, but it does get my interest.

I'm maybe the only person on the planet that didn't like Legend of Grimrock.  With that said, I'm still excited for the direction this game is taking.  

 

I doubt you are the only one.  I'm actually a bit torn on the game itself, the setting itself lost my interest quickly.  I mean, you are in a dungeon, and you are solving puzzles.  That's it.  Pretty shallow, and eventually I got bored.  I've never been a huge fan of long dungeons.

 

But the style of gameplay was a huge kick for me.  I loved the party of four, the mix of abilities, the formations, the simple movement and combat.  If you take all that and put it in a full world with actual skies, NPC's, stores, etc.  I will be happy.

I liked the mechanics, but the game just felt tedious.  Pretty much at no point was I actually having fun, it all felt like a chore.

[cyberarmy]

I, still cannot believe Ubisoft publishing an old-school-like, turn based RPG... Is this some kind of fantasy O_o

 

 

Limbic sounds OK, though their first work is only repairing M&M6 (they are the ones built city screens for starters)

http://www.limbic-entertainment.de/en/

 

 

Also lots of goodies on main site

 

http://might-and-magic.ubi.com/mightandmagicx-legacy/en-US/home/index.aspx

[Keyrock]

I, still cannot believe Ubisoft publishing an old-school-like, turn based RPG... Is this some kind of fantasy O_o

I know how you feel.  We are only a week and a half away from April Fools...

[entrerix]

the recent xcom was turnbased and profitable, hopefully some publishers are coming around to the idea that more than just CoD fans buy games