tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post6399327733305122934..comments2024-03-28T12:11:15.628-04:00Comments on The CRPG Addict: Might and Magic: Darkside of Xeen: Summary and RatingCRPG Addicthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comBlogger143125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-17759595418736760982023-08-08T10:02:41.676-04:002023-08-08T10:02:41.676-04:00"It rewards the party with millions of experi..."It rewards the party with millions of experience points that no player would ever be able to redeem unless he engaged in some kind of optimizing financial strategy going back to Clouds of Xeen."<br /><br />I did that once. Not as dedicated as WK outlines above, but allowing for a general tardiness in exploration and concentrating leveling on a single character from a certain point on. Wanted to test the cluebook, which holds that there is no level limit to the training grounds of Olympus. Turns out that there is indeed one, namely level 250 (not much of a surprise). I guess they underestimated the players, as usual ;-)The Architecthttps://www.ancient-architects.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-63990381338143542362023-07-12T07:07:19.679-04:002023-07-12T07:07:19.679-04:00Thank you very much for this extensive review of a...Thank you very much for this extensive review of a game that I replayed every other year or so since my early teens and for formulating a succinct critique of it's flaws and goods.<br /><br />One other point of critique, that is, regarding it's artstyle: <br />Darkside employed two main artists whose works are prominently displayed in monster and character artwork, that of Jonathan P. Gwyn (It's worth checking out his artstation: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/3oL6am) and that of Bonita Long-Hemsath, and their art styles do not match. <br /><br />The first has a distinct 90s-Comics-style (Intro, outro, town and tower guards, monsters like the Gamma Gazer) the latter that of a children's books illustrator (not meant disparagingly), and who would later provide the pixel artwork for most creatures in the first two Heroes of Might and Magic games. One's artwork is more "edgy" and darker, the other's rounder, more colorful, brighter. I can't unsee it anymore.<br /><br />Oh, and protip: You can solve the issue of money (and gems) by creating a party who deposits a sum >100 in the castleview bank and goes to work for the rest of their lives for a guy in the northern part of the castleview starting area, skipping a week (and earning interest) roughly every second. Do this for 7, 8 ingame decades, create a party of new, fresh 18-year-olds and let them "inherit" a bank account worth hundreds of millions of gold and gems. As gold and gems are stored as int32-values, they loop back to 0 once they reach 2,14bn, though.WKnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-22059726683061987332023-05-01T19:23:19.182-04:002023-05-01T19:23:19.182-04:00I'm briefly returning (nearly a year after my ...I'm briefly returning (nearly a year after my original comments) because I just finished Might and Magic 6 after having beaten Heroes of Might and Magic 1 and 2. I remember Chester once commenting that he was interested in seeing how HOMM ties into M&M, so I just wanted to quickly comment that HOMM1 doesn't really tie into the lore much other than in the manual. However, the main campaign in HOMM2 is definitely related to the story in M&M6 and is worth checking out. I'm not sure I would recommend HOMM1 except as a (pretty useful, actually) training exercise for HOMM2, save for completists.<br /><br />Having said all that, and even though I enjoyed most of 6 and thought the dungeon design was great overall, I think Might and Magic 1 still remains my favorite.Rachelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-37146026611652048222022-06-08T06:40:18.895-04:002022-06-08T06:40:18.895-04:00Thank you so much for reviewing these. I played a ...Thank you so much for reviewing these. I played a bit of MM3 and a lot of MM4/5 back in 1995. As a kid back then, without any internet or research possibilities, the games seemed incredibly mysterious and quite difficult to me. <br /><br />Despite having a blast and playing Xeen extensively I could never finish them. Got stuck at some point and eventually moved on. But every now and then over the past 27 years I thought about Xeen and wondered…<br /><br />Thanks to your excellent writing I could relive the games and put and end to my musings about the hazy ideas I half remembered from way back. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-86477082632476237882022-05-19T23:23:15.681-04:002022-05-19T23:23:15.681-04:00If you ever going to play Heroes of Might and Magi...If you ever going to play Heroes of Might and Magic series, for the love of god do not turn the music off! especially for Heroes 2.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-27963686552918859412022-03-25T14:50:19.060-04:002022-03-25T14:50:19.060-04:00You arguments make sense, and I get where you'...You arguments make sense, and I get where you're coming from. Now that I think of it, MM4/5 really are the only ones in which you have a clear understanding of the party's mission from the outset (and even here, there are some surprises). In every other MM game, you "find" the plot through random exploration. I like that about the games, but I can see where you might rate this one higher.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-59156372197579033232022-03-25T11:59:53.905-04:002022-03-25T11:59:53.905-04:00I think there are three significant changes for me...I think there are three significant changes for me. The first one is having a clearly defined and relatively detailed main story (as opposed to the "venture forth and wander around without knowing what's going on" nature of the previous games, which I actually really enjoyed in the first two installments). The second was side quests with NPCs that felt more fleshed out the way future RPGs would head, even though I'll be happy to grant that this is subjective and relative. And the third was that Xeen dropped some of the leftovers from MM1 and MM2 that Terra didn't. With the exception of the latter, these changes are more about narrative and storytelling, so depending on what draws someone to RPGs (for instance, Chester's focus is on different things at least to some extent, and that's part of why I like reading his blog so much), they may or may not feel significant.<br /><br />Also, as one relatively superficial example, it's true that the graphical engine is taken directly from Terra, but the graphics were IMHO much better. I suppose "mature" wasn't the smartest choice of word on my behalf because it can be taken to mean more tactical combat and fewer goober references and so on. I instead meant that Xeen took the changes that Terra was flirting with and really ran with them, the end result, of course, being that the game was less enjoyable for Chester given the changes in difficulty, pacing, and loss of small mechanics. For me personally, Terra moved away from MM1 and MM2 in a way I didn't particularly like and I personally felt that it wasn't as well designed as those two (combat in particular was not as tactical), and Xeen moved even farther away from that - enough that for me it felt like a significant break from the previous design paradigm (which again, is obviously subjective). <br /><br />I guess if I were to try to summarize it, I'd say that Xeen marked a change in focus towards explicit storytelling and away from more involved mechanics. Interestingly enough, that's why I like it better than Terra, but it's also why I like MM1 much better than Xeen (and I do storywise as well, actually). I honestly think the difference in opinion just stems from the different things we pay attention to, as Chester already mentioned in his comment.<br /><br />As an interesting aside, I didn't grow up playing CPRGs at all - in fact, I think I played my first one when I was in my early 30s already. I wonder if this affects our respective perceptions of these games (my RPG experience actually comes from playing console RPGs in my early teens [and come to think of it, this may very well be why the storytelling and narrative change popped out to me] and D&D for a bit over two decades).Rachelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-85750590786688209262022-03-18T06:40:44.953-04:002022-03-18T06:40:44.953-04:00World of Xeen's mechanics, items, and spells a...World of Xeen's mechanics, items, and spells are largely copy/pasted from Isles of Terra; and the graphical engine is the same. So where exactly is Xeen more mature? I'm not seeing a major difference between MM3, 4, and 5 either.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-18928272393420847312022-03-18T00:01:12.423-04:002022-03-18T00:01:12.423-04:00It's good to hear from someone else who recogn...It's good to hear from someone else who recognizes the superiority of MM1, I meant to add.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-41363356443513698802022-03-18T00:00:11.556-04:002022-03-18T00:00:11.556-04:00Thanks for offering a couple of long comments on t...Thanks for offering a couple of long comments on these games, Rachel. I really just can't see the major difference (in terms of what is "modern" or not) between <i>Terra</i> and <i>Xeen</i>, though. Thus, most of the difference in my enjoyment comes down to issues like difficulty and pacing and the loss of small mechanics like joinable NPCs. CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-41674194744014372642022-03-12T19:04:45.873-05:002022-03-12T19:04:45.873-05:00Having just beaten World of Xeen, I find it really...Having just beaten World of Xeen, I find it really interesting how differently we feel about it and Isles of Terra (as a side note, M&M1 is absolutely my favorite, no questions asked, and I even laminated my stack of maps and notes as a testament to how enjoyable the whole thing was). I personally felt like the general Might and Magic game design approach was getting a bit long in the tooth by Isles of Terra and that it wasn't entirely successful at the new things it was trying to do, while World of Xeen was more mature in terms of those new things (obviously not in general terms - the goober thing was annoying, the Star Trek references weren't great, and even though this actually didn't bother me, the main storyline and ending had a cartoony vibe somewhere between Thundercats and Thundarr the Barbarian). I guess the best way to put it is that Isles of Terra felt like a transition point to me - not steeped in all the small but crucial details (gender, alignment, etc.) of its predecessors to work with the old format, not brave enough to depart from it sufficiently (I realize I'm repeating myself at this point).<br /><br />Having said that, one thing I absolutely loathed about World of Xeen was stuff that felt unfair - the floor traps you can't avoid, the lightning in the clouds, the way it doesn't let you be creative in your solutions the way you could be in M&M 1 and 2. Isles of Terra also had a couple of thing like this. Compare that to M&M 1 in particular, as it never felt unfair even if it kicked my butt a bunch of times, and I absolutely loved how you could explore every single square (I'm also aware that this would drive some people insane). <br /><br />Anyhow, the difference between World of Xeen and its predecessors, I feel, is that the former feels like a much more modern RPG - a genuine overhaul in contrast to Isles of Terra's partial upgrade. In this particular case, I personally enjoyed the overhaul more than the upgrade, despite the former's flaws, and granting that this may be because I experienced World of Xeen as one game rather than the two it originally was.<br /><br />None of this is to say that I don't value your opinions, of course. Reading your thoughts about this series as I finish each installment has been a good complement to the gaming experience, and I'd like to thank you for being so thorough and thoughtful.<br /><br />PS. I don't think this really is the reason for the way I personally rate these games, but maybe I'm subconsciously still pissed off about the permanent aging crystals in Isles of Terra :-PRachelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-40473782138559643322021-12-15T12:58:13.643-05:002021-12-15T12:58:13.643-05:00Thanks for linking that. I thought he'd alread...Thanks for linking that. I thought he'd already passed by the years in which he'd cover M&M. Great article. There's a lot of background on Van Caneghem that I didn't know.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-77738627189390164982021-12-13T03:17:19.586-05:002021-12-13T03:17:19.586-05:00Jimmy Maher - The Digital Antiquarian (also linked...Jimmy Maher - The Digital Antiquarian (also linked here) recently published an article on the history of / behind the MM series up to this game (including a linked quote of Chet's paragraph above on them being "generous" compared to e.g. tabletop D&D or Wizardry): https://www.filfre.net/2021/12/might-and-magic/.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-54763978770433060352021-07-17T16:26:51.848-04:002021-07-17T16:26:51.848-04:00Hi, shoTgun. Thanks for your thoughtful comment. I...Hi, shoTgun. Thanks for your thoughtful comment. I really do like the entire MM series, and I meant what I said in my first paragraph. I just think people get too wrapped up in "graphics and sound" that they ignore the mechanics of games, which I feel got worse throughout the life of the series (so far). It's still a good series.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-74589617389433447082021-07-17T13:33:34.094-04:002021-07-17T13:33:34.094-04:00I found out about this blog a few months ago throu...I found out about this blog a few months ago through The Skald RPG's Discord channel and I've been diligently going through your posts since then. I've thoroughly enjoyed them, both for being well-written and for their educational value to me as a gamedev. There are also some good insights coming from the comments. In MMIV (P3), a discussion that arose around the topic of enemy respawns was particularly interesting. The conclusion, at least on my part, was that enemies should respawn after a while. but should also flee if the odds are clearly in favor of the player in order to avoid trivial battles. Respawning also repopulates the world, which may otherwise appear barren and devoid of life once "cleared". I never noticed it when playing Xeen, but it's a great point relevant to many games, not just CRPGs.<br /><br />WoX has always been my favorite of the genre, and finishing reading your series about it coincided almost perfectly with the blog's actual timeline. I replayed WoX a few years ago and it was fun completing quests and finding secrets that I had missed back when I originally played it as a kid with little English. It was everything I remembered it to be - and more. I was sad to see that it wasn't much fun to you. I think you enjoyed Terra's moderation more, while WoX is essentially Terra on steroids. Unfortunately, the worldbuilding didn't get as big of a dose as other aspects did, while the amped-up TNG references ended up taking away from the little worldbuilding that was present. On the other hand, the graphics and the variety of quests reached their epitome in this series, both carrying through into the HoMM series.shoTgunhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13952311524354196543noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-75887730320177274762021-06-25T13:04:14.854-04:002021-06-25T13:04:14.854-04:00I'm going to play the games, but it needs to b...I'm going to play the games, but it needs to be understood that making an exception does not set a precedent. "If you played x, then you should play y" isn't a think on this blog unless x and y are both incontrovertibly RPGs.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-24361316030195739802021-06-23T18:03:26.766-04:002021-06-23T18:03:26.766-04:00A blog that has room for Pirates! and Star Control...A blog that has room for Pirates! and Star Control 2 has room for HOMM2 and HOMM3. Two of the finest PC games I've ever played which I hope to play with my kids some day.Eugenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01040874637214905870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-45942681414106147252021-06-22T14:01:28.904-04:002021-06-22T14:01:28.904-04:00I was about to suggest the opposite :)
My (admitt...I was about to suggest the opposite :)<br /><br />My (admittedly very nebulous) memory of Swords of Xeen is that the game was harder (because of a number of "timed" events), and had no goofy moments -- both factors that were arguably a problem with Darkside.<br /><br />Yes, it reuses all the graphical and sound assets of Darkside, but that's not a really a problem, is it? As long as it captures the pleasure of exploration of the original series.krysnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-32928448155144945942021-06-22T09:27:51.388-04:002021-06-22T09:27:51.388-04:00Yeah, depending on which ones you have, look for G...Yeah, depending on which ones you have, look for Ghost Planet for Heroes 2 or Sander's Folly for Heroes 3, for some examples. All of them from 2 to 5 at least have a lot of examples, which you can probably also find by looking for single-player maps on a Heroes map site.Imbannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-22534661788494550232021-06-22T09:20:45.347-04:002021-06-22T09:20:45.347-04:00"Is that pronounced the British way or the Am..."Is that pronounced the British way or the American way?" - Clearly the American way, as 'honor' is spelled incorrectly (honour) ;-)Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09555164129781347046noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-68471382041525702952021-06-21T09:02:36.332-04:002021-06-21T09:02:36.332-04:00Sandy Petersen will always have a special, eldritc...Sandy Petersen will always have a special, eldritch even, place in my heart for creating <i>Call of Cthulhu</i>.thekelvingreenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-2761924587794979262021-06-21T08:10:41.466-04:002021-06-21T08:10:41.466-04:00Wizardry 2 and 3 require imported characters from ...Wizardry 2 and 3 require imported characters from Wizardry 1.<br /><br />For Wiz 2, they recommend characters of about level 12 but they do not have to have beaten WERDNA and the imported characters retain their current levels but no equipment and limited money.<br /><br />Wiz 3 just requires characters created with Wiz 1. The advantage of higher level characters moving to Wiz 3 is that they can already be prestige classes. All characters begin at level 1 with minimal money - apparently the inheritance taxes in Llyllgamyn are quite extreme.Ken Brubakernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-17406448629306970752021-06-21T04:24:07.375-04:002021-06-21T04:24:07.375-04:00"I'm not sure what started the "sigi..."I'm not sure what started the "sigil on a blank cover" trend"<br /><br />Sounds like the original edition of <em>The Lord of the Rings</em>.Martinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-21749676058400243412021-06-20T12:02:56.556-04:002021-06-20T12:02:56.556-04:00I don't think anonymous was trolling, just exp...I don't think anonymous was trolling, just expressing an opinion that I happen to share. I, like Judd9, "favor story, exploration, and immersion." I, unlike Judd9, did not get much out of the story and immersion of MM4 or 5. I will grant that the games are exemplars of open-ended exploration, though.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-72149727193781371672021-06-20T08:11:21.075-04:002021-06-20T08:11:21.075-04:00Ah, Sandy Petersen.
The guy had quite a versatile ...Ah, Sandy Petersen.<br />The guy had quite a versatile and interesting career.<br />I never knew he reviewed computer games for Dragon, though.<br /> Few people know he was an executive producer of the indie movie "Whisperer in the darkness", a lot more know him as a tabletop RPG guy working at Chaosium, but most of us know him as a game developer on strategy and RPG titles, but mainly as one of the most prolific level designer for ID software's Doom, Doom II and Quake. He also runs a Youtube channel nowadays.<br />(and he's turning 66 this September. How time flies).<br /><br />On "Heroes":<br />Haven't you played any of the titles before?<br />On one hand, that's surprising, on the other it's a blessing, since they are absolutely insane time-sinks.<br />They're a pretty fundamental series though, and the first three titles show a pretty linear progression, which is interesting to witness.<br /> In 1990 New World published the game "King's Bounty" designed by Jon Van Caneghem. It's interesting because it's now considered a "prelude" to the Heroes series - gameplay-wise, that is. New World decided to create the Heroes spin-off series based on this game (with Van Caneghem as the lead designer still), while injecting the M&M world and lore into it.<br /> The first game in the series feels like an early test-version of Heroes II, and Heroes III feels like a somewhat more finely tuned and vastly expanded version of Heroes II. I think both II and III are brilliant (yet very much unbalanced) games, that are definitely worth a try. Personally I wouldn't really consider them as CRPG's, but this very Blog has highlighted that even by using the most well-rounded categorizations, the definition is still pretty vague/flexible (and you have already played games with way less RPG elements). NagyMarcihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12221611252302603327noreply@blogger.com