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From the deepest dungeons to the intrigues of the royal court, lead a band of adventurers on a dangerous journey of amazing depth and intelligence. Develop your characters through an unique skill point system and take part in an epic clash between the Ancients. Gather your forces, forge new allegiances and destroy all who oppose you. The fate of the world is in your hands!
Might and Magic 6 is part of one of the oldest, and in this writer’s opinion, best RPG series available; minus one or two of the later games in the series. The game itself was released in 1998, and so is definitely not a game most people would have played. The series was created by the now defunct studio, New World Computing, and was published by 3DO, before being sold to Ubisoft.
Might and Magic 6 is the first game in the series to use a 3D engine, although this is only really used to create the environment and make it a semi open world, with 2D sprites used as the NPCs. Although this has the advantage of the NPCs having a lot more detail compared to just regular 3D models of the time; compared to more modern games, it hasn’t aged well graphically, but has aged much better than other games released around the same time. This is mostly due to the aforementioned implementation of sprites instead of 3D models, but the game was never really played for the graphics, more for the story and gameplay.
The world the game is based in is called Enroth, and is set several years after an invasion of alien demons following a war with another race called The Ancients. During an attack by the demons, the player party is transported by a warlock to prevent them from being killed and to save the world.
Enroth is split into 12 different zones, which have many different types of enemies, ranging from Goblins and Mages in the starting areas, to Minotaurs and Hydras in the later areas. There is also at least one dungeon in each area related to a quest, and except for one or two, are not locked to the players. If you’re not strong enough for the dungeon, it will be impossible to complete them without leveling up.
Each NPC can be spoken to around the game world to provide some backstory or even an extra follower, for the right price. The conversations, while one sided, can provide a lot of information, depending on the purpose of the NPC, with quest givers providing a huge amount of backstory. All NPCs wandering around the world can be killed, but if you’re at a lower level this can badly backfire, so murder at your own risk.
Both enemies and NPCs respawn after a set amount of ingame time, ranging from a few months to a couple years depending on the area. This doesn’t just affect the world map but also the dungeons in each area, so they can be cleared out again for the extra xp.
The party, unlike some RPGs, is only made up of a single race, but there are a choice of 6 classes which affect the skills of the characters. During creation, there a number of shared skill points which can be used to increase the usual stats associated with RPGs, such as might, accuracy etc, making changes easy to determine. Each attribute and skill also has a hover description which provides useful information. The classes are easily recognisable, with 3 magic based, and 3 physical based, with each class only able to use certain skills from the pool, but each class isn’t too restricted to what they can choose to do with the skills.
The magic system is based on a points system, with the points increasing as the characters level up, as well as with a skill called Meditation, which increases the pool based on the amount of points in the skill. Health works the same way, but the skill to increase the number of points is called Bodybuilding.
The main story is a long quest series which can be completed as and when the player wants, along with numerous sides quests, which as mentioned previously, are set in the dungeons found throughout the land. The main story revolves around the demons discovered in the later game. During each quest, several objects of note may be found that provide more backstory, or even solutions to quest puzzles. An interesting feature is the quests don’t have markers pointing out where to go and what to grab; the complete opposite of what most modern games do: hand holding and spoon feeding every detail needed to complete the game.
The combat is kind of unique in how it can be approached. Most of the game is in real time, and so combat will be too, but the game allows you to go into turn based mode, with the priority of which character gets to act first based upon their speed attribute. It is worth remembering that the enemies are also affected by this. In the later games the turn based option wasn’t fully implemented as you are unable to move between rounds, but the monsters could.
I have played this game probably between 10 and 20 times over the years with varying degrees of completion, depending on what was happening in my life, but along with a handful of other games, this is one I always come back to, at least once a year.
Overall the game is as good in terms of gameplay as it used to be, even if graphically it hasn’t aged well. If you like RPGs, give this game, as well as the series, at least one play through, to see how games from the 90’s were made compared to how they are now, especially regarding the quests and storytelling.
Hold onto your saddles and revolvers, it’s finally happened!!
As of almost one hour ago of writing, Rockstar Games officially announced Red Dead Redemption 2 has got its release date. And that date, is October 26th 2018.
Yes it is a while away and definitely misses the projected Q1/Q2 release originally stated by Rockstar, but hopefully the game will be worth the extended wait. The announcement has been met of course with mixed reactions. Some people are just excited the game has a date, while others are not so excited. Since Rockstar made the announcement, it has been met with a backlash of comments including “Why the delay again?” and “All I can say is, Delayed again? WTF”
While developers sometimes do this on purpose to further hype a game before release, Rockstar have a very valid reason for the delays. Red Dead Redemption 2 is the studio’s first true Next Gen (Xbox One/PS4) title, and will want to make sure the game is near enough perfectly polished for the waiting fans. Some may argue that Grand Theft Auto 5/Online is a next gen title, however this is only half true. Grand Theft Auto 5/Online on Xbox One And PS4 was only a port over with improved graphics. In simple terms, a copy and paste of the original release, although Next Gen versions continue to receive expansion packs where as previous gen versions last update, was the original Heists update in 2015.
I for one, will be waiting with anticipation to see what Rockstar have done with the game and how it will turn out, and looking forward to once again roaming the wild west of the USA.
You can Preorder Red Dead Redemption 2 over at Rockstars site
Alongside claims that the service now attracts 10m users per month, Microsoft has announced a number of familiar-sounding features it plans to introduce to Mixer – its streaming service and rival to Twitch.
In order to allow videogame streamers to monetise their channels, Microsoft has announced plans to add direct tipping, so that viewers can donate to their favourite streamers as they watch directly through Mixer, without the need of external services.
For streamers who are playing games that are available through the Microsoft Store (for Windows 10 or XBox One), viewers will soon also be able to quickly buy a digital download of the game, or any DLC being played, with Microsoft planning to introduce new “Direct purchase” options.
While Microsoft is no doubt playing catch-up with Twitch, the service is quickly gaining popularity – helped, no doubt, by Microsoft baking support for the platform into both Windows 10 and XBox One (where it can be found directly on the console’s Dashboard). Even though the upcoming new additions may strike as copycatting, making it easier for viewers to both start playing games they like and donate to their favourite streamers may prove to be an important move in growing that audience even further.
MMO Rift went free-to-play in 2011, opening its gates to more players but also ushering in loot boxes and a store packed with items you could buy with real money to make the game a lot easier. After a long think (and no doubt influenced by player pushback against microtransactions), developer Trion Worlds is going back to its roots by introducing a paid subscription model for a server free of loot boxes.
The Rift Prime server will launch in Spring. We don’t yet know how much it’ll cost to join, but we do know that the in-game store will be “significantly reduced, with more of the current store-based items obtained through gameplay or removed entirely”. Sounds good to me.
Not all of Rift’s content will be available on the Prime server from the start—instead, players will start afresh and Trion Worlds will drip-feed existing content as players progress, almost like a new MMO, albeit with everything introduced at a much faster pace. The developer promises this progression will come “to an end in spectacular fashion”, too.
Prime servers will progress through content at a more rapid pace than that of the original launch
“dynamically matching characters to their current zone’s level”
“dungeons dropping loot specific to your character’s true level”
profession caps available to a single character
participation awards that are unlocked across your account, even to characters on other servers
PvP will also be undergoing some changes in 2018 after the launch of the Prime server. This will include a new game mode and allowing servers to go “full PvP”.
For PvE, players can look forward to the revamp of a classic raid and the 7th anniversary will feature some new activities for players.
As more info comes out about the new sub services, we’ll be sure to keep you upto date!
For now, check out the latest trailer for the game and follow the link to check it out!
Let me start out by restating the title of my post: I like the current levelling system. It’s very enjoyable, and it’s been much more engaging. I’m levelling with my friend – he’s a worgen rogue going assassination / subtlety and taking herbalism / alchemy. I’m a human warlock going destruction / affliction and taking tailoring / enchanting. We’ve levelled through Elwynn (yes we got his character out of the worgen zone to come to me), then through Westfall, Redridge, Duskwood, both Stranglethorns, then moved onward to Tanaris which is where we’re currently parked.
There’s a certain level of balance between difficulty that draws attention that has to be had. The more difficult, the more attentive you must be. However, there are quite a few flaws currently.
The previous leveling system was next to no difficulty, and therefore required almost no attention. The less people paid attention, the less fun and engaging it was in general. What Blizzard has done according to this guy is that levelling time has been negligible while significantly increasing the options and variety. I like this, though I can’t say I’ve kept such data of my own, so I can’t vouch for the truth in this, but I’m willing to trust it with faith because that’s science, and you can’t argue with science and numbers. 😛
The current levelling system is not perfect by any means, but it’s certainly been a step in the right direction. There are still a lot of things Blizzard need to smooth out on. Class abilities and when you obtain them is one thing I’ve noticed heavily. It’s understandable to not have your full abilities starting out, but a lot of mechanics feel broken for an extended period of time because some core rotation pieces aren’t available, and it just feels bad. My friend and I have been levelling a rogue and warlock respectively. His rogue in assassination spec seems to be heavily gimped by rupture not doing much damage and envenom being nonexistent so far (only eviscerate) until much higher level, although subtlety seems to do somewhat fine for the most part. My warlock seemingly has all their core rotation spells for both destruction and affliction (I haven’t tried Demo and my friend hasn’t tried pirate meme spec). Destruction’s chaos bolt will usually deal about 90-100+% of a normal mob’s HP, whereas affliction can usually get a good rotation off. The rest of Destruction’s rotation has felt slightly lackluster, but otherwise nice.
The health and difficulty as well is a bit of another topic. Many people are going to have different opinions on it. I personally was levelling with heirlooms and found the pacing to be pretty alright. Pulling 10 things did feel like a threat, and I’d rather not have to spend an inordinate amount of time to kill 1 single mob like in Classic. However, I do think that things should start getting more difficult as you level. For example, Argus feels like a pain. I would never want that on a level 1-60. I’d rather have that for 110 elite mobs. Argus feels quite frankly fine in difficulty, and I like it the way it is. However, I also want things to become more and more difficult the higher level you get, that way it isn’t the same fight, the same mob, the same difficulty the whole way through and then BAM Argus destroys your noob face because you didn’t have 900 ilvl to be able to handle things on your own. I’m not saying to make Argus easier by any means, I’m saying to progressively make the levelling harder in small increments with every level to prepare a player for the higher end content. That’s what levelling should be. It should be your time to train.
Also on the topic of health and difficulty, I felt that “bosses” at the end of quest chains, like for Stitches in Darkshire, and the Bloodsail in Stranglethorn, and Redridge’s dragon fight, all felt way too easy. They’re supposed to be bosses, and we’d kill them as if they’re an over-glorified regular old NPC. Those quest fights absolutely need to be much more engaging by increasing their damage slightly, increasing their health, and introducing more mechanics.
I personally feel there’s a wide range of potential to re-introduce class training without making it mandatory – such that it would be a proving grounds-esque area in a major city, and the class trainer shows you the tips and tricks to using an ability in combat. They would essentially be class quests, much like the monk ones in the Peak of Serenity, however they would never be mandatory to learn them. Rather, they train a player how to use them, and perhaps maybe gives that sort of XP buff that you get for completing them, as well, maybe factoring in how many alts you have at max level or above the level of the character completing the quest, something like that to make it faster – but not mandatory – to level if this is your billionth alt (like myself).
Another topic is professions. Levelling them has been a pain for my friend, with alchemy and herbalism. Tailoring and enchanting for my warlock have been actually pretty decent, but it doesn’t feel rewarding. The amount of cloth we gather seems to be sufficient (level 40s so far as of typing this comment), and enchanting materials aren’t completely obscure to obtain. I do feel that each “major town” should have profession trainers of all kinds and that there should be more ways to research new recipes by combining different materials together all willy nilly. Again, cooking massively suffers from this. You should be able to experiment cooking with any meat, and get a few recipes you’d otherwise get from a basic cooking trainer or something. Profession levelling and player levelling just don’t have the same sort of balance and it suffers greatly, but there are methods that can be done to fix that in my opinion – and considering we can learn instant 800 cap and use materials from the broken isles / draenor from level 1, I really don’t see an issue in this method either.
Professions also seem to be lacking in the department of providing worthwhile items if it’s a production profession. Gear will almost always be inferior, potions will do next to nothing, glyphs are kind of in their own niche of things I guess, cooking may or may not be useful but you rarely can level it to use it. Again, if gear worked in a sort of banding levelling system, where it perhaps scaled to your level or scaled for 10 levels according to the type (1-20 for copper gear maybe?) like heirlooms, I think it’d be quite a bit better off and feel more worthwhile to take to ensure you have appropriate gear. Blizzard somewhat made amends to this by adding more items to quest rewards across the world so that you wouldn’t have wrists from level 10, but that shouldn’t deter the value having a profession should have.
To note: I don’t count bugs like the flipping of heroic and normal dungeon values as part of this. People are accounting that into “everything wrong with this patch.” They’re bugs. They’re not the intended content of the game. This post also isn’t necessarily me saying the level scaling is completely negative – I just feel there are still quite a few things to shape up, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I want to give feedback to Blizzard to create a better game. In fact, I very much like this system currently. It’s great so far. I love it. My friend loves it. We comment and observe all the time about how things are either difficult or easy. These are just the things I’ve compiled into a list of what I think has been done right/wrong.
