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

[Morgoth]

Can the grid-based movement be turned off?

[Keyrock]

I'm one of the few people out there that didn't particularly like Dark Messiah, though I will admit that the Unstoppable Boot of Fear and Destruction was pretty cool.

[Guest Slinky]

 

Hah, don't know are those sound effects and music from Dark Messiah of Might and Magic placeholders or not, but they sure made me wanting Dark Messiah 2. Too bad that's not going to happen, at least from Arkane 

 

Cost savings. Why not?

 

I don't know, you tell me?

 

I'm one of the few people out there that didn't particularly like Dark Messiah, though I will admit that the Unstoppable Boot of Fear and Destruction was pretty cool.

I didn't like Dark Messiah that much either on my first playthrough, but on my second I had a blast. It helped a lot when I knew better where and how I could use the surroundings at my advantage and generally was better at the game. I think I've played Dark Messiah about six times from start to finish now, I just love the damn game

[Morgoth]

 

 

Cost savings. Why not?

 

I don't know, you tell me?

 

Re-using music and other assets from other MM games keeps the budget sustainable. That's why we get these cool little retro PC exclusives in the first place, thanks to financial viability.

[Guest Slinky]

Oh Morgoth, you are so wise

[IndiraLightfoot]

Downloading it now on Steam. This is exciting!

[Keyrock]

Downloading it now on Steam. This is exciting!

Once you have it, can you confirm that the UPlay requirement is indeed only a one time activation after which you never need UPlay again (hopefully without even needing the client, just going through a browser)?  If so I can live with that, if I need UPlay running in addition to Steam then no sale.

[LadyCrimson]

Can I be a lab rat instead?  I like all rodents, but I like rats best.

That pic ... is the cutest (non-cat) thing ever!

I'll gladly be your M&M X guinea pig, Lady Crimson. It will be an honour!

Hehe, armored guinea pig.

 

Thanks, those made me smile.

[Hurlshort]

I couldn't resist, and I have a birthday coming up, so my wife bought this for me.  I bought it on Steam.

 

First off, it does make you use Uplay.  It made me update it and was super annoying, but it runs like every other Ubisoft game in that regard.  Bummer.

 

Secondly, this is a pre-release release, which is pretty weird.  Basically you are paying early and getting a beta version which only covers about 20% of the game and 4 classes.  It is kind of odd because the game isn't scheduled to be released in full for another 6 months or so, but they are charging you full price.  I was more upset about only getting 4 classes than the limited portion of the game.  I'm also guessing my saves will not be any good when it comes out, but I could be wrong.  

 

So those are the big drawbacks, but I do have some good news.

 

1.  The game looks good.  It isn't bleeding edge technology, but it looks better than Grimrock and has a lot of personality.  It should get even better as they polish it.  

 

2.  Movement is great, plus you can look around freely with the mouse.  The change from day to night was cool too.

 

3.  When nightime hit my characters all got tired, and so I went to an inn and slept.  They also consumed a food resource.  That is very cool.

 

4.  Writing is decent.  There were some average conversations and one really good one about how the inn got its name.  So far I'm pleased.

 

5.  Voice acting for the PC's is very good, it's just a few little lines but they are fun.

 

6.  Early access will get me the expansion and the toolset down the road.  I'm curious to see how easy the toolset will be to use.

 

Anyway I only played an hour and I didn't get into combat yet.  I'll give some more feedback as I go.   

[Keyrock]

Yeah, I pulled the trigger myself also.  The Uplay thing is a bummer, but pirates/hackers will take care of it for me.  They'll be a cracked exe out in the wild within days, if there isn't one already.  At least you can play it in offline mode for the time being.  The game itself is pretty cool.  Here are some of my thoughs:

 

1) It's old school Might & Magic, it feels like old school Might & Magic, it looks like old school Might & Magic, except much prettier, it plays like old school Might & Magic.  

 

2) As Hurlshot mentioned, the graphics are not amazing, but they are quite pleasant to look at.  The interface is decidedly old school, but quite user friendly and makes navigation quite speedy.

 

3) Day/night cycle is crazy exaggerated right now.  I know it needs to be exaggerated to make resting abilities/supplies valuable, but it's straight up ridiculous as it stands right now.  It's alpha so they have plenty of time to tune it.

 

4) I love the old school style changing portraits to reflect status effects.

 

5) Occasionally the enemies will freeze and the game will break when you use the air blast to push enemies back.  Again, bugs are to be expected in an alpha.

 

6) Even with the limited number of abilities I have at this low level, there is a surprising amount of tactical decisions to be made in combat between drawing aggro on a certain character, pushing enemies back, manipulating the environment to force ranged enemies to enter melee, putting up shields, entangling enemies, etc.

 

7) Make sure you get every character some kind of ranged weapon skill early on (either at creation or level 2), it will help you immensely.  That one is pretty much common sense.

 

Anyway, I'm liking the game so far.  I wanted old school Might & Magic and so far I've gotten old school Might & Magic, so I can't really complain.

Edited August 20, 2013 by Keyrock

[LadyCrimson]

Hmm....sounds promising. Still not into the Uplay thing tho. Which is too bad (for me). Well, by the time the final game comes out, who knows how I'll feel about that.

[Morgoth]

Yeah, I pulled the trigger myself also.  The Uplay thing is a bummer, but pirates/hackers will take care of it for me.  They'll be a cracked exe out in the wild within days, if there isn't one already.  At least you can play it in offline mode for the time being.  The game itself is pretty cool.  Here are some of my thoughs:

 

 

I always find it amusing when people are willing to crack their games and in exchange waive all the patches that come through the Uplay client. Guess some people prefer to be stuck with a buggy Alpha version.

[IndiraLightfoot]

Alright, this is my first Ubisoft game (hey, it's true!), so it was a bit of a hassle to get that Uplay Lite loader. However, after having it remember me, and reloading steam, then pressing Play is not any worse than when I played Kingdoms of Amalur and that Origin-thingie. It's not good, but I can live with it.

 

The UI and music so far is pretty lovely, at least for a nostalgia trip. I also notice that out of the four classes we get to show in this alpha stage have advanced classes ahead, so there will be prestige classes to all classes, it seems. Neat!

 

Well, I shall head back to character creation. I have an entire party of four to create. Yay!

[IndiraLightfoot]

Alright, one hour into the game, and still not a single fight, which is a good thing in my book. Some new early impressions (since many of them overlap with Hurlshot's and Keyrock's):

-It's actually more polished than many games that are released (Legends of Dawn comes to mind)

-Quite a lot of RPG love have been infused into this classic M&M brew. There are lovely details here and there in the environ graphics. For instance, if you pick up books, there are nice black-n-white drawings and texts that actually mean something, instead of ho-hum dribble.

-The entire first town feels like its full of variants of Skyrim's very own "I used to be an adventurer like you..."

-There are repairs and a food system, as well as a day-n-night cycle

-The in-game UI is a long, clean and still organic slab along the bottom, a bit weird on widescreen monitors, as it makes for a letter box gaming window

-Overall, though, the UI and the simple, but effective character creation system are quite satisfying features

-I love that you can turn around and view your surroundings, while it still is a walk-along-squares game.

 

I must say, M&M for me was never more than casual CRPGs for me. I was much more into the IE games and the NWN ones, as I am a D&D fan. So, for what it's worth I can totally see myself playing this a lot, especially if the atmospheres we get later on is as good as the initial one. It's been a pleasant surprise so far, and a toolset down the road is making this deal even sweeter.

[HoonDing]

I'll have to play HoMM VI because I thought Ashan was destroyed by Sareth and his demoness waifu.

[IndiraLightfoot]

Here's a plus and minus list that Aeon1977 made over at the M&M X Early Acess forums, and which I and others have helped put together. It's valid for about two hours of playing:

 

First of all, you managed it to create the typical atmosphere from the start right on, it´s very immersive and going to become a great game for sure. Following is my list of the good and the not-so-good things I came across on my first two hours playing. There may be things you are already aware of or things that are more technical in nature and not belong in here, but I want to have it all in one thread, so here we go, in List form ;-)

Plus:

+ Nice, long intro
+ Atmosphere is brilliant
+ Environments have sort of life - trees moving in the wind, birds fly across the sky. Nice.
+ Title music is very good
+ Little eastereggs (won´t spoiler in here :-D)
+ Recycled sounds from MMVI -> Great!
+ Combat feels very good, I like that it is not too static like in the earlier games, and it can be pulled off quick´n´brutal on the weaker mobs
+ Very nice death animations
+ Environments are well-thought. Standing on the bridge in Spider Lair and looking down has something!
+ Lot´s of story elements / gossip etc.
+ Bestiary in Journal well done!
+ Immersion, immersion, I was sucked right in and going

Minus:

- Lighting of environments is brutal! While the lit parts are nearly blazing and you need sunglasses, the dark parts stay too dark. Especially outdoors and if you fire up a torch-spell indoors it´s distracting. I think, in the first pictures and gameplay vids it was not THAT extreme.

- Movement could be executed faster. Just like that. I think its the transition between the tiles which is a bit to slow, the move itself. No problem with the stops though, as this is part of the grid-based experience. Movement should be speed-wise like Grimrock, they did that in a good and fluid speed.

- Textures are inconsistent in quality. Some look really good, others like a washy mess (parts of floor, doors etc).

- Day / Night cycle is WAY to fast, and so is becoming fatigue.

- Clipping errors: In the Spider Lair, some spiders clipped through a barrel and vice versa, as well as the floor clipped through the first chest I found there.

- Map needs tooltip for visited location when hovering over a white dot within the map OR implement the possibility to make own notes.

- Don´t ask the player if he REALLY wants to enter this or that dungeon. Just throw him in with the message: "You´re entering Spider Lair" or something, this is more surprising. If the player feels like he still doesn´t belong there, he can always exit the place, if he / she wishes.

- An unconscious character doesn´t heal after resting and there is no way for him to consume a potion. This is very bad, it hever had been in M&M that way. You should only be forced to enter a temple when being dead, not when being unconscious.

- Equipment comparing in the shop would be nice to have

- Reduce the chance of getting antidote potions when battling spiders. Now it´s like 100%, being around 65% would be better, as it gives a bit more sense of danger.

- Only the selected enemy should have this white border.

- After levelling up, you get attribute points, but no Skill points? Did I miss something? (Clarified: have to hit "G" for access to skills / spells)

This is it for now, had no weird bugs or game blocking stuff so far, I will update this thread regularly when adavncing in the game. Keep up the good work! ;-)

UPDATE 1:

+ Party barks in combat!

- Transition into combat too long

- Cave at 115,41: Icon to enter is placed behind the wooden planks

- Movement animations in combat could be faster. Feels a little bit like Wizardry 8. Might and magic always had sort of quick, fluid combat.

- Weapons break fairly quick...

- First game stopper: I casted the spell "Celestial Armour". The turn after that, everything in the commands bar greyed out and I couldn´t perform an action, nor turn left or right.

 

[LadyCrimson]

I found one video on YouTube that I could watch. Doesn't look bad ... even the dark parts. Spider dungeon has vibrant colors. Still....mostly what it makes me want to do is play the old games again.

 

Speaking of which ... one way you got past the behemoths during a MM7 speed run.

http://youtu.be/nt4-VBCIIaI?t=1h4m2s

 

(parts of that video are hilarious, with all the "ow's, is that supposed to hurt" in constant rapid succession...)

[Keyrock]

I found one video on YouTube that I could watch. Doesn't look bad ... even the dark parts. Spider dungeon has vibrant colors. Still....mostly what it makes me want to do is play the old games again.

 

Speaking of which ... one way you got past the behemoths during a MM7 speed run.

http://youtu.be/nt4-VBCIIaI?t=1h4m2s

 

(parts of that video are hilarious, with all the "ow's, is that supposed to hurt" in constant rapid succession...)

LOL, I remember the real-time M&M games had mountain loads of exploits you could use, not that the turn-based games didn't have exploits.  A lot of games have a certain range enemies will travel in and a point they would not go beyond no matter what, you could get them to that invisible "border" and pelt them with arrows as they would run toward you then turn around to walk back to their regular location over and over again.  I haven't found anything I'd go so far as label an exploit in M&M X yet, mostly I use clever manipulation of the grid-based movement system and terrain to get melee enemies in a position where i can pelt them with arrows from afar and to get to within melee range on range attack using enemies without them getting free shots on me, or as few free shots as possible.  I don't really think of that as an exploit, that's just being smart on how you use the grid.

[IndiraLightfoot]

I just read over at the M&M X-forums that Grimrock sold an amazing 650 000 copies in one year! If Limbic plays their cards right, they may have something of a gem here. Let's hope for the best!

[LadyCrimson]

So, what's the extra chr. slots to the sides of the main party portraits for? I mean, I'd guess they're "followers" of some kind but what purpose do they serve? I vaguely recall followers in the older games, is it the same thing?

 

[Mamoulian War]

 

Yeah, I pulled the trigger myself also.  The Uplay thing is a bummer, but pirates/hackers will take care of it for me.  They'll be a cracked exe out in the wild within days, if there isn't one already.  At least you can play it in offline mode for the time being.  The game itself is pretty cool.  Here are some of my thoughs:

 

 

I always find it amusing when people are willing to crack their games and in exchange waive all the patches that come through the Uplay client. Guess some people prefer to be stuck with a buggy Alpha version.

 

 

You know, the "shady" guys are offering most of the time post release support as well

 

Some of them even at better quality, than the publishers

 

[WorstUsernameEver]

So, what's the extra chr. slots to the sides of the main party portraits for? I mean, I'd guess they're "followers" of some kind but what purpose do they serve? I vaguely recall followers in the older games, is it the same thing?

 

If I understood things from the Codex preview correctly, they're called hirelings and provide some bonuses to your party rather than actively participating in combat.

[Mamoulian War]

Same stuff as in MM6-8

[IndiraLightfoot]

I can confirm that they are spaces for hirelings. I have one in my party right now. Let's just say one Goblin chef has Deekin potential.

[Keyrock]

Yeah, hirelings don't do anything in combat, they provide other bonuses, like letting you spot enemies at a greater distance or making it harder for enemies to spot you, giving you a free rest (no supplies used), letting you carry more lootz, etc.  I'm still sad I can't hire the Goblin chef right now.  Hopefully they fix that bug soon, I want him in my party so bad.

 

I'm going through the lighthouse right now.  Weapons and armor break way too often.  It's made it so that I have begun to meta-game the game, which is something I don't generally do.  Another thing they will need to tune before the release.  Overall though, I'm having a fun time playing this game.