From block step to continuous step
The Might & Magic series is a classic, some would say old-school, first-person party-focused CPRG series.
The sixth chapter of the saga, released in 1998 with the subtitle "The Mandate of Heaven" determined the graphic revolution of the saga that passes from a world of blocks and a walk in squares to an entirely 3D world of pleasant workmanship.
The next two installations of Might & Magic, however, did not know how to renew the graphics engine in order to keep up with current technologies and lost the step towards the isometric view games of the Follout and Baldur's gate series.
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An interaction problem
The problem of the graphic engine used in an RPG is not a trivial matter, in a role-playing game the interaction with the outside world is a fundamental component to be able to find the game environment realistic and thus be able to suspend the disbelief of live your own adventures in a world populated by silhouettes rather than making our own adventures in a world throbbing with life.
Actually entering a shop and being in front of a static image that represents it and an equally static image of the shopkeeper does not help the interaction, just as it does not help to find the same people who roam the city day and night as mannequins. clearly without any purpose other than to give the feeling of population to a city that is also empty.
Homemade pasta better?
Might and Magic IX will represent in the series the same graphic and setting revolution that Might & Magic VI represented in the past.
New World Computing, internal developer of the 3DO of the Might & Magic series, preferred to buy a graphics engine of the best rather than develop one on its own by choosing the famous LighTech, to be clear the same used by Aiken's Artifact and the prematurely canceled Torn of Black Isle .
The choice of licensing a graphic engine rather than making it on one's own brings with it the considerable advantage of using the time necessary to create the graphic engine to create the game world, artificial intelligence, develop the plot and the interaction of the character with the outside world.
This choice not only led to the revolution of the game's graphic style, but it gave the developers time to revolutionize everything!
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The great cataclysm!
The first revolution is in the plot which in fact will no longer develop in the familiar planet of Erathia, but rather in a completely new world compared to Might & Magic 6-7-8: the world of Axeoth.
We will move our party, unaware of the house of the Ironfists, through the Chedian region on the continent of Rysh.
The story tells that the entire continent of Rysh was ruled by the mighty Ursanian empire which was tragically annihilated during the catastrophic war against the evil sorcerer Verhoffin.
The latter unleashed a magic of such devastating power that it annihilated everything in the Ursanian empire, since that terrible day is sadly remembered as the Great Cataclysm.
Of course the empire did not survive the anarchy that followed and fell apart in numerous provinces, the prince of one of these, called Beldonia, took it into his head to be the last descendant of the imperial family of the Ursanians and recruited a massive exercise to impose his election.
The first province that will soon have to defend itself from its invasion will be our land: Chedian.
Our task will therefore be to unite the clans that rule our land to face the new threat.
World you go, people you find.
The radical changes in Might & Magic IX do not stop at the graphics engine and the new setting of the plot, but rather involve in a perhaps even more radical way the style of play itself.
In the First Look of Gothic Avenger Dragon he talked about that game's characteristic of presenting a game world populated by living characters, with their independent life and actions.
In an interview with James Dickinson, associate producer of Might & Magic IX, he talks about how much of the time saved building a graphics engine on his own went to the development of NPC artificial intelligence and the importance it will have in involving of the player.
Dickinson assures us that now the NPCs will have a life of their own, they will get up, go to work, work during the day and before retiring for the night they will relax a bit in the tavern talking, laughing and making noise.
We will therefore not only see mannequins, but thanks to the game engine that allows polygonal graphics of the characters and the renewed AI we will see them take care of their chores, talk to each other, eat and sleep, in short, live a life of their own as we will live ours.
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The rules of the game
The revolutionary breath certainly did not spare the rules regarding the races and classes present in the game.
Forget the vampires, dark elves and trolls of the eighth episode, in Might & Magic IX there will be only four races: Men, Elves, Dwarves and Half Orcs.
Whatever your race choice at the beginning of the game you will have to choose whether to follow the path of the Force (Might) having access to the classes of Paladin, Mercenary, Ranger or Crusader; or devote yourself to the path of Magic (Magic) becoming Mage, Cleric, Druid and Linch.
The choice of one's profession, however, is not fixed, nor predetermined but rather it is chosen by the player during his adventure by siding with one faction rather than another, furthermore, once our choice has been made, it does not take away from being able to further change it with the continuation of the story. .
On the other hand, the skill advancement system based on learning from the masters of their respective arts, magical or warrior, remains unchanged.
Do you want to become a magician? Forget about going to school!
The Might & Magic series has always based the use of magic on the affiliation of wizards and clerics to schools of magic which allowed you to learn the school's own spells.
The problem with this type of structure is that by the same admission of the creators of the previous games it happened that unnecessary spells were inserted just because there was a free slot in one of the six schools of magic.
Now the schools have been reduced from six to four: Light, Dark, Elemental and Spirit, access to spells is more flexible as they are learned regardless of affiliation to a school but a wizard or cleric requires affiliation to at least two schools to cast a given spell, different skill levels in different schools cause different effects of the same spell.
It could be said that rather than a magical system focusing on the schools of magic, a magical system focusing on the spells themselves was introduced.
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The March Revolution
I admit that before starting to write this preview I was very doubtful of the ability of the latter Might & Magic to involve me too much, partly because the series had shown a serious inability to renew, especially with Might & Magic VIII and a little 'because insistent "rumors" spoke of the departure of the historical father of the series Jon Van Canegham, not that this is actually necessarily a bad thing, given that DW Bradley's departure from the design of Wizardry 8 did not prevent the latter from being a great title.
Now I am much more confident about the latest adventure in a series that has made RPG history as New World Computing had the courage to change everything that it was time to change from the graphics engine to the interaction with the game world, to the character's magical and class system, to the importance of building a living world with NPCs that were not mere lifeless mannequins.
I am convinced that our wait until March 2002, the official release date, will be rewarded with the probable best installation of a series that has been, for better or for worse, always able to give me hours of healthy and intelligent RPG fun.
Gabriele 'AarnaK' From the River
Useful links:
Developer / Producer Site: www.3do.com
Official site of the series: http://www.3do.com/mightandmagic/
Useful site: http://sabinsky.com/mm9/
Introduction
Might & Magic, one of the oldest and most revered fantasy sagas in RPG history, which together with the Ultima saga and the Wizardry saga helped make CPRG history, will return to our monitors with the latest in the series: “Might & Magic IX: Writ of Fate ”.
