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Dark Messiah of Might and Magic

Self-Ejected

theSavant

Self-Ejected
Joined
Oct 3, 2012
Messages
2,009
and the levels are too linear to take advantage of stealth, although you can find secrets and the occasional alternative path to avoid certain enemies.

Exactly.

Also what bugged me in my second playthrough was, that fighting is totally made around Sword & Shield (&kicking). But if you try to focus on magic, stealth, archery, daggers, staff instead - you would lose out. It won't work. Basically, you can't play as a pure thief or magician. You'll always have to play as a sword & shield fighter and use everything else as "helpers". At least so was my experience. This reduced replayability a lot.
 

abnaxus

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Dec 31, 2010
Messages
10,849
Location
Fiernes
You can finish it as a pure mage by mostly using telekinesis, charm spell, the ice spell to make enemies slip to their deaths and fire traps. It's boring though compared to a jack of all trades character.
 

DramaticPopcorn

Guest
I've found twin daggers + occasional archery route to be the most rewarding experience. Stealth is gimmicky but it's there and some levels allow for it fully (necro library, almost the entirety of orc ruins). Not so much for endgame, though. I could never stomach pure or even hybrid magic playthrough, it never worked for me in SP. In MP, I played mage almost exclusively though :M Ah across the map lighting snipes, how I miss thee
 

octavius

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Aug 4, 2007
Messages
19,182
Location
Bjørgvin
A big open world game like Morrowind, with fully working Radiant AI, combined with the physics engine, combat and sheer "ridiculousness" of Dark Messiah, now that would have been something...
 
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Riskbreaker

Guest
I was never that familiar with Dark Messiah's development, nor do I know if there is any detailed info on that subject that can be found online, but isn't it funny just how much this game felt like something that was born out of the ashes of some cancelled Arx sequel? Not just that movement/combat/effects of magic feel distinctly Arx-like, but there are also some striking similarities with some of Arx's locales and designs. Those Necromancer environs look a bit too similar to insides of Akbaa's temple from Arx, down to details like mummified fetuses being used as wall adornments.
 

Mustawd

Guest
I bought in a Steam discount months ago, but never cracked it open. There's a multiplayer version as well. I'm guessing it's pretty dead though, right?
 
Self-Ejected

theSavant

Self-Ejected
Joined
Oct 3, 2012
Messages
2,009
You can finish it as a pure mage by mostly using telekinesis, charm spell, the ice spell to make enemies slip to their deaths and fire traps. It's boring though compared to a jack of all trades character.

Ah, yes... telekinesis could work best of all. Though I believe one of the biggest issues with concentrating on magic was the lack of magic potions. Hmmm... maybe I'll try the Twin-Daggers next time, as suggested by DramaticPopcorn... mabye Twin Daggers for close combat & Telekinesis for ranged combat.
 

Metro

Arcane
Beg Auditor
Joined
Aug 27, 2009
Messages
27,792
Mechanics are fun but the level design, itemization, and enemy variety was so lacking I couldn't bother to finish. Mustawd Yeah, I doubt anyone plays this multiplayer, anymore. Single player is still worth a go.
 

DramaticPopcorn

Guest
Team Deathmatch in DM was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.
There are 5 classes available: Archer, Fighter, Assassin, Mage, Priest, you get exp from kills or objectives (in siege mode) with enough xp you can level up your perks, there's a bunch of them available for each class effectively splitting each class in two sub-classes" archers can choose to get improved sniping capabilities or triple shot, assassins can get invisibility or poison grenades/mines, mages can choose fire & ice or lightning & magic path, fighters can become anti-mage fighters with their shield deflecting spells or go full melee power for 1 hit KO of every enemy save for other fighters. Priests can either support with healing or control enemies with blinding, aoe slowdown and stuff like that.

It's all pretty basic stuff by now for a multiplayer game but it has this extreme level of polished high octane action that DM has and it is glorious.

Melee as a fighter in MP is arguably better than in SP, btw.

The MP was pretty dead three years ago already, I remember some popular streamer announced they will be playing it in MP and there was a ton of servers full all of a sudden and I had a blast, but after that it all died down again
 

Wesp5

Arcane
Joined
Apr 18, 2007
Messages
1,754
Has anyone ever considered modding this game? As far as I know it uses the Source engine...
 

tormund

Arcane
Joined
Aug 15, 2015
Messages
2,282
Location
Penetrating the underrail
They have released SDK ages ago, but there was simply too little interest in this game to warrant any sort of serious modding effort.

It's a shame, it would've been interesting to see user made levels and gameplay mods.
 

Durandal

Arcane
Joined
May 13, 2015
Messages
2,117
Location
New Eden
My team has the sexiest and deadliest waifus you can recruit.
there is a new Dark Messiah mod called the Unlimited Edition which does the following:
Hey all.

This is a project I've been working on for the Steam version of Dark Messiah.

Unlimited Edition is a mod intended to restore features previously restricted to Limited Edition. It also includes a few more features which are listed below:
  • Adds the Collector's weapons from Limited Edition.
  • Adds a New Game Plus mode accessible from the credits map.
  • Adds previously unused voices to NPCs throughout the game.
  • Fixes Leanna's missing sound when telling her to stop following the player.
  • Fixes potions/food from stacking past the 20 item limit.
  • Several minor level fixes.
New Game Plus lets you replay the game from the start with all your skills and equipment, including your holy weapons or special ability or both (if you make strategic choices in-game).

New in 1.2:
  • Adds New Game Plus reward: extra inventory. Beat the game for access to a second inventory grid. Bind a key to invswap (e.g. "bind b invswap") to activate.
  • Adds a difficulty selection area to credits map.
  • Adds a new difficulty, Endurance, selectable from credits map. Enemies have double their Hardcore health and deal damage similar to Hard. Intended for players that find New Game Plus too easy with end-game equipment.
  • Fixes missing ballista explosion sounds.

Version 1.3 adds a subtle decal to the first map to visually confirm the mod is installed correctly. It also swaps positions of the holy sword and staff to prevent an issue when equipping shields.

Version 1.4 adds support for two add-ons: Freeze Damage and New Zoom. See below for download links.

Some user-requested features have been made into separate mini-mods. Unlimited Edition can work with all of them:
  • White Wizard Eye[www.dropbox.com]
    Removes the blue tint from the Dark Vision spell.
    Comparisons[imgur.com]

  • Clearer Sanctuary[www.dropbox.com]
    Increases the transparency of Sanctuary's visual effect to improve visibility in darkness.
    Comparisons.[imgur.com]

  • Goblin Range Fix[www.dropbox.com]
    Makes the range of goblins' attacks match their size.
    Comparisons.[imgur.com]

  • Super Telekinesis[www.dropbox.com]
    Allows huge objects and more NPCs to be grabbed (necromancer lords, liches, spiders, villagers, and others). Full adrenaline is still required to grab living NPCs.
    Will conflict with mods that change the spell config.

  • Normal Health[www.dropbox.com]
    Prevents NPCs' health from scaling on harder difficulties but retains their damage scaling. In other words, NPCs always have the same health as they do on Normal difficulty.
    Will conflict with mods that change the gameplay config.

  • Regen Binds[www.dropbox.com]
    Adds key bindings to options menu for toggling mana and adrenaline regeneration.
    Will conflict with mods that change the game text or keyboard menu config.

  • Free Inventory Swap[www.dropbox.com]
    Enables Unlimited Edition's inventory swapping without needing to start New Game Plus. Also adds a "Swap Inventory" key binding to the keyboard menu.
    Requires Unlimited Edition. Will conflict with mods that change the autoexec config, game text, or keyboard menu config.

  • Freeze Damage[www.dropbox.com]
    Makes the Freeze spell deal damage when cast on enemies.
    Requires Unlimited Edition. Will conflict with mods that change the autoexec config.

  • New Zoom[www.dropbox.com]
    Allows the player to use the Zoom key at all times.
    Requires Unlimited Edition. Will conflict with mods that change the autoexec config.

  • Missing Sound Patch[www.dropbox.com]
    A patch that fixes a few missing sounds and suppresses console warnings for intentionally absent audio. Fixed sounds: Lich-Leanna impale, alternate Necroguard idle, and alternate Necromancer hail. Some sounds are only heard with Unlimited Edition.

  • Mini-mod Compatibility Patch[www.dropbox.com]
    Patch to allow Regen Binds, Free Inventory Swap, Freeze Damage, and New Zoom to cooperate. Mods must be downloaded separately.
 

Boleskine

Arcane
Joined
Sep 12, 2013
Messages
4,045
http://www.pcgamer.com/dark-messiah-of-might-and-magic-is-still-a-brilliant-murder-sim/

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic is still a brilliant murder sim
By Chris Thursten 2 hours ago

The boot is as mighty as the sword in Arkane's splendid combat game.

speiM5nBqpQyvGYyggcTVj-970-80.jpg


Dark Messiah of Might and Magic feels like it comes from Arkane’s adolescence. Dishonored and Prey are the more mature output of the same creative mind. Here is a fantasy action game with not a whole lot to say but an infectious enthusiasm for freewheeling violence. Intricate physics, AI and combat systems converge to create a world that is spectacularly lethal for everybody, except you. As adventuring wizard’s apprentice Sareth, you kick men and orcs with bone-shattering force into spike traps and off rope bridges. You combine directional movement and mouse swings to lop limbs with your sword just so. You emit fireballs from your palm and watch as enemies, stumbling over the flaming corpses of their comrades, catch fire too and flail and fall.

Conceived as a sequel to Arkane’s debut game, the ruminative dungeon RPG Arx Fatalis, Ubisoft’s money brought with it the Might and Magic licence. Yet being tied to a relatively sedentary roleplaying series doesn’t appear to have dampened Dark Messiah’s spirit at all. You get the impression that this is a journey that Arkane was on regardless, its adventure craft evolving as it meandered from Arx Fatalis’s buried ruins to Dishonored’s blood-slick ballrooms via this strange holiday in the D&D-ish kingdoms of Ashan. It is spectacular fun; exuberantly brutal to the point of subverting the vanilla fantasy setting it occupies. It is to videogame high fantasy what John Cleese’s Lancelot was to that wedding party in Monty Python and the Holy Grail: they share an idiom.

Dark Messiah echoes Dishonored in the small details. Sareth and Corvo climb chains in the same way, hauling themselves upwards with a gratifying clunk-clunk-clunk that sells the physicality and athleticism of their adventures. They chop pieces off people in the same way, too: someone at Arkane sat down one day and outlined the specific way in which swords should connect with necks, the drop to slow motion that should occur at the precise point of impact, the whoosh and pained shout as first air then flesh splits as an opponent’s head comes free. They’re grim things, sometimes, these games.

xB3utFfeJ97WZsaJ2xv9Wj-650-80.jpg

Yet Dishonored has something to say with and about violence that Dark Messiah does not. Dishonored is a revenger’s tragedy: it’s about the ways in which violent conditions reproduce themselves, and it stretches to give players the freedom to subvert that pattern if they choose. Its violence is a poisoned chalice left on a table for players to consider, consume or ignore.

Dark Messiah’s violence is a less heady vintage. It’s a thick-bottomed flagon of whatever it was that Conan the Barbarian was drinking, intended to be knocked back, smashed over somebody’s head, and replaced. This game loves murder. As soon as the tutorial finishes, it deposits you in an arena where anonymous swordsmen rush you from the shadows forever. ‘Kick this one down the stairs!’ the game insists. ‘Push his mate into those spikes!’ ‘Throw a box at that guy! Now hold down left mouse button and release to jam your sword through his sternum!’ Once you’ve met each of these demands the door to the next area opens and you can move on – or you can stay, you’re told, if you’d prefer to “continue your training”. You might as well leave, because every other room in the world is like this. Every castle and Orc nest is a playground of foes and invitingly sharp decor.

No matter how expert you become in Dark Messiah’s systems, it is terrified that you might forget to use them. Tooltips follow you several missions deep into the campaign: don’t forget to kick people off high ledges. Don’t forget that oil catches fire. Don’t forget that a stunned foe can be disarmed. Don’t forget to cut ropes to activate environmental traps. These messages imply the experience of the playtester who aimlessly hacked and slashed from encounter to encounter, and the horrified developers who watched them ignore all of the systems that they’d so meticulously put in place. ‘Don’t get bored’ is one of Dark Messiah’s key messages. ‘Don’t be boring’ is another.

QZeoam7tDJsYC6i7pQQ7Wj-650-80.jpg

Like Dishonored and Prey, Dark Messiah lets you invest points in new skills as you progress. Unlike those games, Dark Messiah’s narrower focus and combat-centric sandbox mean that this system is less concerned with giving you freedom to set you own objectives and more about giving you lots of different ways to achieve the same goal. Its branching endings, while asking you to decide which broad side of ‘Dark’ and ‘Messiah’ you come down on, are not really there to test your morality. They’re there to steer you into multiple playthroughs, and from there into an understanding that each step of Sareth’s quest amounts to a different course in Tony Hawk’s Pro Beheader. You’re being judged on style, here, so don’t just play it as Swordsman Who is Ultimately a Decent Guy. Go back as Archer That’s a Prick, or Ambivalent Wizard, or Guy Who Carries a Spade and Throws it at People.

Dark Messiah is also more willing to bash out the epic fantasy hits than its descendants. Castles crumbling under siege, brawls with hulking cyclopes and dragon encounters have retained their impact, and there’s something comforting about the way a fortress of Orcs communicates the notion that this is a place of adventure.

It has real weaknesses too, however. While Dark Messiah’s wonderful combat has survived the aging process, its writing and art have not. The absence of Dishonored’s sense of style, and of art directors like Sébastien Mitton or Viktor Antonov, is keenly felt: Dark Messiah’s technology is no longer impressive and the world of Might and Magic is not interesting enough to account for the loss. Worse are its character designs, which support a plot that is as derivative as it is faintly embarrassing to re-encounter ten years on. As Sareth you’re a Chosen, somebody running errands for louche wizards, performed with the intensity of actors who don’t quite know how to feel about the fact that they could be doing panto instead.

xB3utFfeJ97WZsaJ2xv9Wj-650-80.jpg


Your loyalties are subsequently torn between Xana, a mostly-naked demon lady who lives in your head (but still tries to seduce you) and Leanna, devoted wizard’s niece and miniskirt-wearing crush next door who is very impressed with you if you rescue her from a pit full of snakes and lethally unimpressed with you if you don’t. This is the sticky and embarrassing end of Dark Messiah’s adolescent exuberance—it was the norm a decade ago but games are better than this now. A couple more years might unlock the camp potential in Dark Messiah’s insistence on repeating the words “The Wizard Menelag”, but it’s not quite there yet.

Also, the fantasy-medieval folk you encounter are variously American or from Bristol for no discernible reason save ‘nobody made a creative call either way’.

If anything, these problems highlight just how successful Dark Messiah is at evoking a different kind of fantasy through its combat systems. If the fighting and adventuring were anything less than exceptional, then it would vanish into the ocean of games with ‘Might and Magic’ in the title. That hasn’t happened because no other game has come this close to letting you be Errol Flynn in a world full of Orcs. That Dark Messiah now also has value as a milestone in the growth of one of the industry’s most exceptional studios is a bonus, but not an accident.
 

d1nolore

Savant
Joined
May 31, 2017
Messages
662
I don't know what forum I'm on, definitely not the codex.

Fun game engine, but a complete turd of a game. More a action adventure game. Not sure why they called it Might and magic, don't remember it having anything to do with M&M.
 

Cross

Arcane
Joined
Oct 14, 2017
Messages
2,983
It has real weaknesses too, however. While Dark Messiah’s wonderful combat has survived the aging process, its writing and art have not. The absence of Dishonored’s sense of style, and of art directors like Sébastien Mitton or Viktor Antonov, is keenly felt: Dark Messiah’s technology is no longer impressive and the world of Might and Magic is not interesting enough to account for the loss.
Dark Messiah (2006):
dm-03-23.jpg

Dishonored (2012):
vanilla6.jpg

muh art direction
 
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Fairfax

Arcane
Joined
Jun 17, 2015
Messages
3,518
If anything, these problems highlight just how successful Dark Messiah is at evoking a different kind of fantasy through its combat systems. If the fighting and adventuring were anything less than exceptional, then it would vanish into the ocean of games with ‘Might and Magic’ in the title.

I love the game, but is this guy actually suggesting M&M games are all irrelevant/generic today and only Dark Messiah stands out? That's low even for PC Gamer.

It has real weaknesses too, however. While Dark Messiah’s wonderful combat has survived the aging process, its writing and art have not. The absence of Dishonored’s sense of style, and of art directors like Sébastien Mitton or Viktor Antonov, is keenly felt: Dark Messiah’s technology is no longer impressive and the world of Might and Magic is not interesting enough to account for the loss.
Dark Messiah (2006):
dm-03-23.jpg

Dishonored (2012):
vanilla6.jpg

muh art direction


The visuals have aged much better than Oblivion, Titan Quest, NWN2, Gothic 3, and the other 2006 RPGs.
 

Cross

Arcane
Joined
Oct 14, 2017
Messages
2,983
Hey, I can play this game too.
What 'game'? I wasn't cherrypicking those screenshots, in fact the Dishonored screenshot came from an article in praise of its visuals.

You do seem to be cherrypicking however, judging from the fact that your Dishonored screenshot doesn't have a HUD and shows an environment from an aesthetically pleasing low-angle shot, while your Dark Messiah screenshot is just someone looking at a wall/door texture from really up close.

Mind you, I don't even disagree with the quote saying that Dishonored has better art direction...in theory. But the execution of that art direction is another story. Dishonored's graphics make for pretty still shots, but in motion, its textures look like blurry vaseline-smeared messes. Even its shadows are very simple and lack definition, in spite of it being a stealth game. It wasn't until Dishonored 2 until Arkane overcame the technical hurdles to really do that art style justice.

Dark Messiah's textures, lighting, shadows, water effects, etc. are all superior to Dishonored's from a technical perspective.
 
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CreamyBlood

Arcane
Joined
Feb 10, 2005
Messages
1,392
I had a lot of fun playing that Dark Messiah. Never did give two shits about story in first person action games. Graphics seemed nice at the time and I'm sure they still do. I'll have to give it a replay. Kicking orcs off of cliff edges never gets old.
 

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