Long review alert. Might & Magic X - Legacy and Might & Magic VI reviews in the same thread, since the later game can only be purchased here. ======= 1. Might & Magic X - Legacy Review. Might & Magic X - Legacy was one of the first few games I bought on Steam, I remember having so much fun back then. I decided to play again. Unlike recent CRPGs, the character creation page is simple, offering just 4 races with 3 careers to choose from. There are no complex facial or body modifications, just pick a gender (man or woman), choose an appearance (golden or black hair), you’re all set. The beginning cutscenes feel overwhelming, as it throws a lot of history, names, wars, plot twists all at once, the game drops everything on you right from the start. If it were made today, I think the devs would opt to pace it and save some cutscenes for later chapters. The game uses a grid-based movement system where you can only move in one of 4 directions per turn. Right-clicking and dragging lets you move the camera free, but you can only walk and fight in the basic grid directions. The grid strategy games are rare to see even today, reason being a puzzle to me. The duo map both showing the town and the world is helpful. As you explore, it automatically marks locations of interest - town names, doors, caves, NPCs to talk to, etc. What’s especially handy is the ability to add notes on the map. I use this feature all the time to keep track of locked doors, broken bridges, useful companions, (not-functioning) portals, dangerous caves I've cleared or not, and other important details. Some quests can be long, and many missions only give you a location name or ask you to speak to an NPC, so having notes has saved me lots of time. However, the map does have a flaw: it lacks a zoom function. Even with notes added, I often have to get close to a location before I can read the note. Besides, fast travel is only available in later game when you are in town and wild, not in a dungeon. The towns are modestly sized, but some dungeons have multiple floors, hidden walls, and triggers to open gates. Dungeon exploration is the highlight, it’s fun to find treasures and battle enemies, but I hated the levers placed on walls that you need to trigger to open gates. Sometimes, while walking near a wall with treasure behind, a team member might say, "Hmm? What’s that?" indicating a secret nearby. However, the levers are often placed far from the gates and no hints are given, it can be tedious to locate them. I’ve heard that if you have a wolf cub companion, it can help discover these levers, I did find one locked in a small cage but I couldn’t release it, The only thing I could do was pet it. Quite funny, considering I had an animal rescue mission to complete at the time, involving eliminating 4 poachers and rescuing animals. More frustratingly, the game’s quest mechanic is outdated. For example, in Chapter 2 I was tasked with rescuing a prisoner, but the local thief guild only agreed to help if I retrieved a lost treasure chest from a deserted ship. However, I already had the chest, yet I still had to revisit the shipwreck and talk to someone I’d already spoken to, who relieves a location I’d already cleared (Skull Rock). Visiting again, the mission has finally renewed. Another issue is that some essential items aren’t given directly but have to be picked up. I missed the fire key somewhere and I'm not sure how to make the wind portals function. This leads to another major flaw: there’s no in-game guide to point you in the right direction. After 20 hours of play, I strongly recommend checking a walkthrough if you’re a first-time player. I spent quite a while figuring out that I needed to get a wish from the water god in the Elemental Forge to cross a river or walk on shallow water, rather than expecting a specific item from a mission, but there's no quest log about Elemental Forge, nor it is mentioned anywhere - just something you’ll need to figure out on your own. As for the enemies, I found the normal difficulty to be very challenging. Early on, enemies with poison are troublesome because my mage doesn't have an antidote spell yet. Later in the game, enemies with paralyze ability become a serious threat, particularly in groups when they target my only mage. Playing today, I realize the game isn’t as great as I remember it, but that’s to be expected. I probably spent weeks or even months exploring strategy and routes when I first played it 10 years ago, but now, after 20 hours and two chapters completed, I feel like I’ve experienced most of what the game has to offer. I’m stuck on how to get to the Tomb of Thousand Terrors, frustrated by something I missed, and have ultimately uninstalled the game. It’s interesting how time could change a person, because the 2015 me would have continued, but today’s me doesn’t have the same patience. In conclusion, despite its flaws, which are most likely a result of the tech limitations at the time, Might & Magic X - Legacy is a great game for its era and fun to play now. I recommend this game. ======= 2. Might & Magic VI Review. So here it is - the game I played once on someone else’s computer back in the 90s, that game I always wondered was: Might & Magic VI. I remember being allowed to play on a PC and loading up a save back then (and told not to save again). I recall there being four characters with faces at the bottom of the screen, I was in a town, having a witch member shoot purple fireballs to defend myself from angry villagers. Eventually, one character died, and a tomb icon appeared. Also, I could pick up coins from the corpses. I didn’t play for long, but I had tremendous fun, even though I had no idea what I was doing. Might & Magic VI sat in my inventory for years, but I’d always ruled it out because I thought what I've played was a grid-based, turn-based game like Might & Magic X: Legacy. But now that I think about it, I must’ve been wrong, as I remember hitting the Spacebar to fire furiously, and the other games in the franchise are all top-down, turn-based strategy games, not what I was looking for. It's comforting to identify the game. And this time I wasn’t loading anyone’s save file but starting fresh, picking up an old game isn’t easy. The starting town is small but has essentials: an inn, an armor shop, a stable for fast travel...and a church only asks for donations but won't heal health. Some shops are only open from 6 AM to 6 PM. I was taken down by some goblins near the apple trees because I didn’t know how to fire. But once I figured it out, I cleared a bunch of enemies in a harbor city using bows. The skills are a bit of a mystery, though, everyone I met in the first town only teaches experts. I guess some villagers know who takes care of novices. An hour into the game I started to get a general sense of it. I found a post in the community asking for advice at the early stage, the top answer gave a really helpful overview of what to expect, reading it feels like playing through a couple of hours of the game. I can’t help but think back to how much I always wanted to play this game again as a kid. But now I’m an adult who’s played thousands of games. I don’t think I’ll play it for long or even finish it, since some of the mechanics feel too old. But I’m grateful that I finally got to answer one of my biggest childhood questions. [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/43342176-Why-Not-Games/#browse] My curator page
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