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Favorite use of non-combat magic in a videogame?

Zeus

Cipher
Joined
Apr 25, 2008
Messages
1,523
What's your favorite non-combat magic? You know, all those D&D Cantrip-style spells that so something other than kill, maim, slow down or otherwise help kick someone's ass.

First thing that came to mind was the RPG-Adventure hybrid Quest For Glory 4. There was a puzzle where you had to cast a float spell to get past a ravine. It's a simple use of a spell, but it always stuck with me. Reminds me of the Myth Adventure series, I guess. The X-Men Legends/Marvel Ultimate Alliance games do a decent job of forcing you to switch characters to get past roadblocks. There are fires that can be put out by Ice Man, broken bridges that can be repaired by Magnito, etc. Master of Magic had a ton of sweet spells, my favorite being Nature's Eye, which cleared a screen's worth of Fog of War. (Arguably a tactical advantage, but whatever.)

How about you guys?
 

Gragt

Arcane
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Serpent in the Staglands Divinity: Original Sin
Do divine incantations count? Because in Rapelay you can pray to create a wind that will lift the skirts of women.
 
Joined
Apr 16, 2010
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250
In Morrowind: Jump/Fortify Acrobatics for some crazy amount of points for 2 sec on Self. Cast and immediately jump forward.
 

madbringer

Arcane
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Apr 22, 2010
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the vast
I couldn't possibly choose one instance from it, so i'll just say Zork: Grand Inquisitor, and'll leave it at that.
 

CrimHead

Scholar
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Jan 16, 2010
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Morrowind's alchemy system was pretty cool, but too easily exploitable once you discovered the fortify intelligence trick. Still, nothing beats going out into the bittercoast region for the first time to collect fungi as a fledgling mage to concoct your own magicka potions, having to worry about getting pwned by netch, rats, and pretty much anything that catches you off guard.

Actually, I think Morrowind came closest to providing a legitimate wizard experience in a video game, where you don't just play a "magic archer" but are actively involved in the creation of your own potions/spells, and enchanting your armor/accesories with effects that suit your play style. I can't think of a game with a better magic system outside combat. In Morrowind, you really feel like a mage. You can make your own scrolls in case your magic gets low, permanently bind a creature to you as your servant, combine magical effects for extra efficiency into a single spell... Tons of other stuff. Mages in Morrowind are badass and fun to play, plain and simple.
 

Zed

Codex Staff
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Codex USB, 2014
Teleport in Diablo II (get to bosses quicker), Levitate, Nautilus and all that other shit in Risen (solve puzzles and explore the island), Portals in World of Warcraft (convenience).

I remember using some dialog-altering stuff in Bloodlines also. That's always nice.
 

Damned Registrations

Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
Joined
Feb 24, 2007
Messages
14,983
Corpse summoning in everquest. Such a cool idea, and you HAD to go to a necromancer to do it originally, before everything got dumbed down. Tracking down a necromancer to use some unthinkable magic to pull your corpse from wherever it is to his feet, and then paying him for the service... it brought such atmosphere to what would have otherwise been a 4th wall shattering part of the game.
 
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Glass Fields, Ruins of Old Iran
Morrowind, probably.

Fuck you slaughterfish, I can waterwalk.

Fuck you cliffracer, I can levitate.

Fuck you long distance, I can fortify jump.

Fuck you Vivec city, I can slowfall all the way down off a canton instead of going through your labyrinthine interior.
 

Cassidy

Arcane
Joined
Sep 9, 2007
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Vault City
Levitation in Risen. In a genre filled with games that impose artificial barriers to world exploration(even those supposedly action-centric ones that tend to be popamole), it did stand out a lot, mostly because it was the first action RPG I've played with such potential of exploring the Z axis(and because of Terranova I'm really eager for games that try it out). I'm not sure if the Gothic series also had this spell.
 

ecliptic

Liturgist
Joined
Feb 11, 2003
Messages
915
I can't recall if they did or not, but I do remember you could change form into those wasps and fly around (blood-flies maybe?) which let you ascend mountains rather easily.

You had to be careful though, many monster types would kill you, and any human you get too close to would whack you down with one hit.

I also recall sneaking through tiny passages as a meat-bug.
 

Hobo Elf

Arcane
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Feb 17, 2009
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Platypus Planet
Ultima Online. I can go from being a bearded old dusty wizard to being a slender young woman with only a simple wave of my hand. Best game ever.
 
Joined
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Superior Plane
Demnogonis Saastuttaja said:
Paula Tormeson IV said:
Levitate is the best spell ever.

Yes, now if we just could get a game where you could drop some big rocks or whatever on people from the skies.
The way things are moving, with physics engines and emergence, that's bound to happen soon enough. There is an awful lot of potential in levitate and telekinesis spells, yet to be properly untapped.
 

yaster

Liturgist
Joined
May 24, 2007
Messages
257
How about Arcanum's talking with dead folks. Does anybody recalls how does it work ingame? It could be awesome in the game that allowed to do that to everybody.
 

Sceptic

Arcane
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10,871
Divinity: Original Sin
Enchanter/Sorcerer/Spellbreaker trilogy, motherfuckers. ALL magic in there is non-combat and awesome.

(Spellcasting trilogy to a lesser extent because 3rd game sucked)
 

Bluebottle

Erudite
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1,182
Dead State Wasteland 2
Not a specific spell, but Ultima VIII's various systems for readying spells were particularly memorable, being one of the few times where playing a mage genuinely felt mage-like.
 

DraQ

Arcane
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Oct 24, 2007
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32,828
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Chrząszczyżewoszyce, powiat Łękołody
CrimHead said:
Actually, I think Morrowind came closest to providing a legitimate wizard experience in a video game, where you don't just play a "magic archer" but are actively involved in the creation of your own potions/spells, and enchanting your armor/accesories with effects that suit your play style. I can't think of a game with a better magic system outside combat. In Morrowind, you really feel like a mage. You can make your own scrolls in case your magic gets low, permanently bind a creature to you as your servant, combine magical effects for extra efficiency into a single spell... Tons of other stuff. Mages in Morrowind are badass and fun to play, plain and simple.

This (minus permanent binding, unless you count CE summon enchants).

You could jump, levitate, waterwalk, waterbreathe, teleport, avoid confrontation using calm or invisibility, steal stuff and trigger traps from safe distance with telekinesis, detect monsters and magical items outside your line of sight, etc.

You could also combine all those in non-trivial ways and use them in creative manner, even using non-offensive spells as weapons. I remember the story of one guy who had to off a relatively strong, initially non-hostile NPC in an area populated by this NPCs friends. His solution? Dominate the fucker, lead him outside and drown him in the river.
 
Joined
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Third Reich from the Sun
Lonely Vazdru said:
Light. I love games that make casting a light spell meaningful.

Think I will have to agree with this, as much as I liked Risen I was disappointed that both torches and the light spell was completely useless. Thanks to every single cave or dungeon being filled to the brim with magic crystals of light emittance +1.
Was better in the Gothic games with actually dark Caves and dungeons.

I guess I'm a sucker for utility spells overall, and other spells that do not do damage, otherwise it's just a magic archer.
 

Fat Dragon

Arbiter
Joined
May 24, 2007
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local brothel
yaster said:
How about Arcanum's talking with dead folks. Does anybody recalls how does it work ingame? It could be awesome in the game that allowed to do that to everybody.
Man, that spell had so much potential to be cool. Sadly, it was horribly underused in Arcanum, there were very few places it was actually useful.
 

Wulfstand

Prophet
Joined
Jul 13, 2009
Messages
2,209
Heroes of Might and Magic 3: Levitating, teleportation, summon a ship, view your neighbouring lands,etc. God I loved having a mage hero in that game (as much as I did being a knight, barbarian, ranger, warlord, etc.). So many great memories...
 

Spectacle

Arcane
Patron
Joined
May 25, 2006
Messages
8,363
The terraforming spells in Magic Carpet were awesome.
 

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