Game News Hell is freezing over: Ubisoft's Might & Magic X is actually a blobber

[Broseph]

Yes, they better not fuck up the skills and magic. And I PRAY that you still have to pay to level up. I'm anxiously awaiting the Codex interview on this project.

What about the skill and magic systems did you like about them? Any skills you found not so useful? or over powered? How about the Magic spell selection? What did you think worked? Any too overpowered?

You're really grilling me lately bro, but I appreciate it.

I didn't find Perception to be very useful until I figured out I needed it for that one dungeon in the main quest in MM6. I'm not sure if it unlocks a lot of stuff elsewhere, does it?
Using Bows seemed like an I-Win button in the beginning but they became pea shooters for the most part later on.
I liked the magic quite a bit, but I didn't use the Mind or Earth magic schools much at all; they seemed to pale in comparison to Body and Fire and Water and Air. The basic magic system is fun as hell though. I loved feeling like a god using Feather and then raining down Starburst and Meteor Shower on armies of enemies.

 

[Jaesun]

You may make Jaesun's BROlist some day.

Keep it up.

 

[Marquess Cornwallis]

I have none of the sudden love for Ubisoft that people seem to have now and this is what annoys me. I doubt Ubisoft had anything to do with bringing this series back.

It may be just me, but I have a hard time seeing any actual love for Ubisoft anywhere in the thread. The general sentiment is that of surprise at seeing a major publisher fund a turn-based blobber -- and tentative willingness to buy, should it actually turn out a fun game in the spirit of the originals (which, as zomg rather succinctly summed up, is deceptively difficult to do; the games may appear simplistic on the surface but the design techniques employed to make them enjoyable all the way through were actually quite clever) and free of restrictive DRM (especially of the "always online" sort). It's hard to argue against the surprise factor, KS and Grimrock or not; buying from a publisher who for a change is delivering something you want on terms you are willing to accept is completely neutral. I have no affection for Ubisoft; I'm definitely not going to crowd fund or pre-order their products, but if they do deliver a good M&M game (something the Codex would appear to cautiously hope for rather than actually expect) and I can stomach the DRM, I'll be happy to make this my first Ubisoft game since Beyond Good & Evil back in 2004(?) Dark Messiah.

 

[Gurkog]

If it wasn't for Ubisoft I would actually give a rats ass about this game. I think I have only bought 1 Ubisoft game before and the shitty DRM fucked up my computer. Never again...

 

[xilo3z]

I'm not sure why everyone is so utterly shocked by this. UbiSoft publish the ANNO series, eventhough city builders and strategy have been considered dead genres at AAA level for years, and the Anno series is fantastic. That alone is evidence that UbiSoft care at least a little about niche markets that exist beyond their mega-franchises like Assassin's Creed.

There was also some (sort of) good news late last month about Beyond Good & Evil 2 in EuroGamer:

Beyond Good & Evil 2 is still coming, Ubisoft boss promises

Either way, Ubi might just be smarter than their AAA competitors and recognise that maintaining their niche markets is key to turn over during lean years when the big budget franchises are flagging.

This. Yves Guillemot has been a huge pusher of the 'carpet bomb everything and sort it out later' business model. When the WiiU came out he said Ubisoft is always in position and perfect for new systems as UBI is always focusing on targeting everyone from the 'new gamer, the active gamer, and the hardcore gamer'. Yves also released numerous statements saying Ubi must focus on internal growth and mass diversification to keep up with EA's practice of high level acquisition. It's why the Anno series continues on, like you said. Oh side note - He is kinda bro like in that he views social and free games as nothing more than quick cheap brand marketing and not actually games, ha.

The sad thing, is much like the Kool Kred Squad here is saying - this is simply going to be yet another split test done by a major publisher. Mirror's Edge was supposed to be EA going back into a niche targeted creative field... remember how that worked out? Hell, I'm sure we could sit around and list so many 'Whoa XYZ publisher is doing what?!' moments that failed. This is just another area Ubi is carpet bombing to see if there is any money. Why do you think they chose such low level developers for it? No risk, and if it hits, it hits. I will say if the Codex's interview with the developers sounds good, I will be first in line to purchase. But as of now, I'm iffy. Sort of like when I heard Cyanide got the Blood Bowl license. A developer of constant horrible buggy shit was granted a holy grail of a license and has done OK with it, so I guess there is hope...But still....

And to be fair Jaeson, BG&E is more than just 'another console title'. It is a console title that won pretty much every award out there (yes I know...), created by famed Rayman creator, yet sold less than 100k copies its first year out, and by now i think has sold 300k copies. To see a CEO even mention a sequel, let alone seem excited about it(!), would be Twilight Zone strange for many publishers. Not saying Ubi is cool or great (VERY far from it), just that they know their niches, and how to exploit them....still surprising to seem them go this far down a niche with a blobber though.

 

[InspectorRumpole]

Man, these commie posts makes me stoked about the game.
Gonna buy this day 1, and a few copies for some of my friends!

Vive Le Bleu!

 

[Aeschylus]

This looks... surprisingly un-terrible, though details are still sparse. Then again, Ubisoft managed to fuck up what was an essentially un-fuck-upable formula in HoMM V and VI, so who knows what horrors they may perpetrate upon classic M&M gameplay.

 

[Grunker]

Ubisoft managed to fuck up what was an essentially un-fuck-upable formula in HoMM V

Yeah... no.

 

[Avantre]

Squeee!

Ahem, I mean Squeee in a manly way, of course.

That is all.

 

[Abraxas]

In the video it shows "Whatshisname is NOW level 11", so I would say paying for training is probably out.

 

[Cyberarmy]

What are we going to do with all that training monies if its not in ?

 

[Mother Russia]

Fuk paying for training. I wanna level up old skool way, and choose where to allocate my level up points. That is it. No trainers, no improve only skills you use bullshit, etc etc.

Also, it appears they are doing away with knight/sorceress/monk/etc shit system of older M&M games THANK GOD. It was the most uninspired POS rpg system powering otherwise fine games. I mean, if the warrior-mage was called 'Archer'. The paladin was utter shit.

Hopefully this new system will have classes the focus on specific arenas and each will have unique powers/skills/spells that no other class can use.

 

[Jarpie]

This gotta be the sign for The end of Times...now, where's that Jesus bloke is hiding?!

I can't believe Ubishit will be publishing turnbased blobber, no matter how shit it will be, it at least shows that they're willing to test the waters and might be at least a bit more clever than EA and Activision.

 

[Minttunator]

The RPS article is pretty skeptical: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/03/22/they-never-stay-dead-might-magic-x-legacy-announced/

Not to be confused with the far superior Heroes Of Might & Magic games, the Might & Magic series was an increasingly terrible run of first-person RPGs, set in the blandly generic fantasy worlds, always somehow managing to feel about five years behind the rest of the industry.

 

[Abraxas]

What are we going to do with all that training monies if its not in ?

Accumulate until it is meaningless, of course.

It also looks like there are at least a couple of depth ranks for monsters in combat.

 

[J_C]

The RPS article is pretty skeptical: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/03/22/they-never-stay-dead-might-magic-x-legacy-announced/

Not to be confused with the far superior Heroes Of Might & Magic games, the Might & Magic series was an increasingly terrible run of first-person RPGs, set in the blandly generic fantasy worlds, always somehow managing to feel about five years behind the rest of the industry.

What the flying fuck?!!! And John Walker is the one who wrote that. I thought he is better than this. Son, I am dissappoint.

 

[Charles-cgr]

The RPS article is pretty skeptical: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/03/22/they-never-stay-dead-might-magic-x-legacy-announced/

Not to be confused with the far superior Heroes Of Might & Magic games, the Might & Magic series was an increasingly terrible run of first-person RPGs, set in the blandly generic fantasy worlds, always somehow managing to feel about five years behind the rest of the industry.

What the flying fuck?!!! And John Walker is the one who wrote that. I thought he is better than this. Son, I am dissappoint.

He gets properly rebuted in the comments section but still...

 

[Giskard]

It would be great if they don't completely screw this up, even just for nostalgia's sake. They seem to mostly be making the right noises...so far

And maybe they are not expecting this to make $$$$$$$$$, and is some sort of tax write off, in which case they should throw caution to the wind and make it as true to the originals as possible.

I have many fond memories of lost youth playing this series ( starting with M&M 1 on the Apple ][e, in my local library ). It is Ubisoft and and a dubious developer, but wee can live in hope...

 

[catfood]

What's wrong Walker? Didn't Ubishit pay you enough for a positive preview?

 

[Cyberarmy]

What's wrong Walker? Didn't Ubishit pay you enough for a positive preview?

Its funny that someone can call old M&Ms "generic fantasy worlds"... I dont think he ever played one of them or maybe rage quited after 5 minutes.

 

[Themadcow]

Riddle me this. I love Wizardry (mainly 6 and 7) but struggled to get into any of the M&M series... why am I still excited?

I'm cautiously optimistic because it only takes a couple of commercial successes from the glut of new incline RPG's to generate another 5 attempts to replicate that success. Another title in development, especially given the little we currently know, is a good thing - not necessarily for M&M itself, but for the genre.

As someone still getting their kicks from emulated 20 year old Wizardry and Gold Box games, average PS3 Wizardry efforts, DS Dungeon Crawlers and Android ports of Bards Tale 1-3... BRING ME MOAR!!!!!

 

[MicoSelva]

After my initial excitement has worn off, I remain cautiously optimistic. Granted, this could still be shit, with simplistic character system, generic setting and quest compass, but at least we get a shot at another, possibly decent, M&M game.

However, I feel I may be too old for these games. I don't have as much time as I had in school/inversity days and these take a lot of time. It was the same with Heroes VI. It was a decent iteration, but I did not have as much time for it as I had for HoMM III in its days, so it kind of faded away.

Maybe it will at least pull some new people into this series and make them play older titles as well.

 

[DwarvenFood]

Also image at the end ONLY shows PC (there is no XBox or PS3 etc....). Not that it will not be written for consoles, like Diablo III. But still.

They just did that as to attempt to get the thread about their game to be placed in the more prestigious forum on the 'Dex. Like Diablo III.

 

[Themadcow]

However, I feel I may be too old for these games. I don't have as much time as I had in school/inversity days and these take a lot of time. It was the same with Heroes VI. It was a decent iteration, but I did not have as much time for it as I had for HoMM III in its days, so it kind of faded away.

Aye, this is the challenge not just for the scope of the game but also the mechanics of the gameplay. Most of the people growing up playing titles like this will have jobs and families that massively restrict their game time - not just in terms of game world and story length but also in terms of 'adjustment' time to settle into any differences in gameplay. That was one of the charms of Grimrock for me - I knew how many floors there were and knew I had enough time to complete the game within my free time, while the gameplay mechanics were intuitive enough that I didn't have to 'waste' my precious gaming time learning how things worked.

 

[Roguey]

The RPS article is pretty skeptical: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/03/22/they-never-stay-dead-might-magic-x-legacy-announced/

Not to be confused with the far superior Heroes Of Might & Magic games, the Might & Magic series was an increasingly terrible run of first-person RPGs, set in the blandly generic fantasy worlds, always somehow managing to feel about five years behind the rest of the industry.

He says about the RPGs that included automapping and questlogs before anyone else.