Game News Might & Magic X Update: Q&A #2

[J_C]

but ruin any possibility for similar types of games to be made.

Woot? If the game will be decent, even if falls short of the classic MMs, but will be successfull, it will increase the possibility for similar types of games. Also, when you say that the party, the world, the UI and the skills are fucked, you mean that it is not a perfect complex MM, so this means it is fucked. But in reality, it is still a decent world an system.

Also, as Stabwound said, you are jumping to conclusions.

 

[Zeriel]

Outside of being a TB blobber with decent Gfx,

What else needs to be said, really? This already makes it better, feature-set wise, than Project Eternity.

I guess the reason I don't get the hate spitefest hardon the Codex has for this game is that we didn't ask for this. There was no Might & Magic sequel planned. It was just Heroes of Shit, forever, and forever. Then these guys come out of nowhere, it's not realtime, it's not an FPS, and we're shitting down their throat? I don't know, man, I really don't.

 

[Dangersaurus]

That's worth my one and only brofist.

 

[LeStryfe79]

Outside of being a TB blobber with decent Gfx,

What else needs to be said, really? This already makes it better, feature-set wise, than Project Eternity.

Final Fantasy 13 says hello!

 

[Luzur]

Creative designer Julien Pirou is apparently a huge classic Might & Magic fan.

Julien Pirou, one of the guys in the team is a familar name. And indeed, he is well known in the french retrogaming community for doing some TV shows about old games, debunking some myths about that. His show is surprisingly called "Retro & Magic". That's at least one guy you can trust.

He is a big fan of M&M indeed and a fan of pen & paper. He even runs (or has run) a small show about p&p on a cable channel dedicated to video games called Nolife. He worked on HoM&M VI though, he got recruited because of a mod he made on the 5th.

well he has posted his own MM Collection, on Ubi's page:

http://might-and-magic.ubi.com/heroes-6/en-gb/news/details.aspx?c=tcm:21-79181&ct=tcm:6-231-32

he got those hard to find books, but for me it is kinda hard to be impressed by it.

 

[Frian Bargo]

Luzur are you a playtester for this?

 

[Stabwound]

I realize the dev team showing their M&M cred is an attempt to seem like they know what they're doing, but it comes across a little try-hard to me. Especially the woman that had just a few random Heroes games.

 

[Luzur]

Luzur are you a playtester for this?

i am a member of the VIP team Limbic has rounded up.

and if Collections are something that gives cred i should by all justifiable means be atleast Leading Director or Team Manager of MMX.

 

[Jaesun]

A lot of needless streamlining going on.

What specifically do you mean?

 

[Broseph]

A lot of needless streamlining going on.

What specifically do you mean?

I mean the removal of non-combat skills, not going to the training center to level up, etc. It doesn't bother me that much but I don't understand why they feel the need to change it.

 

[Jaesun]

I mean the removal of non-combat skills, not going to the training center to level up, etc. It doesn't bother me that much but I don't understand why they feel the need to change it.

What specific non combat skills were useful in the M&M series (that were actually useful or unique in a playthough)?

What specifically is wrong with not going to a trainer when you have enough experience to level up?

 

[Broseph]

What specific non combat skills were useful in the M&M series (that were actually useful or unique in a playthough)?

Perception could be useful for some puzzles. In MM8 there was one specific puzzle which was tough to figure out without perception (but not impossible). I think they could include perception as a sort of an optional "helping hand" thing like it used to be.

What specifically is wrong with not going to a trainer when you have enough experience to level up?

Nothing, but I like it because it adds a natural pace to the gameplay that other RPG series don't have. I found it fun to see how far I could get before running into monsters that were too powerful for me, going back to the training center and leveling up a few times, and then coming back and annihilating them. In MM6 especially it also balanced the game's economy because towards the end of the game it was difficult to have enough money to level up. I don't think it will make the game worse but I still wish they would include it out of tradition's sake. That's why I said the streamlining was needless, there was nothing wrong with the old training system.

 

[Rpguy]

I mean the removal of non-combat skills, not going to the training center to level up, etc. It doesn't bother me that much but I don't understand why they feel the need to change it.

What specific non combat skills were useful in the M&M series (that were actually useful or unique in a playthough)?


What specifically is wrong with not going to a trainer when you have enough experience to level up?

1)
Alchemy - crafting potions and experimenting was fun.
In the old games there were skills like mountaineering and path finding which you had to discover and learn , and yes I saw what infinitron linked and I still don't think we will have such skills in the game ( judging by the link alone )

2)
It was THE gold sink of the game, and made you think twice before buying crappy spells or such.
And I guess some people don't want to level up, I remember people trying to see how far they would go in mm6 without leveling up at all - they just farmed horseshoes for skills. Anyways it makes the game more difficult in a good way (not to auto-level )

 

[Zeriel]

No training was one of my biggest disappointments with this. Also not happy with the stripping of non-combat skills. Lots of things I wish they'd do different...

But at the end of the day I'm still surprised that a new Might & Magic is being made, and even more surprised it's a turnbased blobber.

 

[Sceptic]

And I guess some people don't want to level up, I remember people trying to see how far they would go in mm6 without leveling up at all

Actually they went all the way and finished the game with the whole party at level 1. It's like the full pacifist path in Fallout - it's not the "natural" way to play the game, and it's not something that makes or breaks the game, or even that most people will see, and it requires immense meta-knowledge, but it IS fun and challenging to try, and I think it speaks of the system's flexibility and depth that such out-of-the-box approaches can still work and yield a victory screen.

 

[Grunker]

LeStryfe79, for fucks sake, babysteps man. Babysteps. You're talking about a lead, AAA publisher coming out of its shell for the first time in, like, ever, to undertake a (in their eyes) risk-filled venture to capitalize on the demand for oldschool games. These guys aren't financing this because they love Might & Magic, they're doing it to test the waters. The team is working on a limited budget and the "streamlining" (i.e. removal of features) allow them to expand audience and reduce feature-creep.

Sad fact for someone who wants a full-fledged Might & Magic? Sure, I guess. Interesting incline for an industry that hasn't even LOOKED in the direction of open world exploration and turn-based combat? You're damned fucking right.

Two years ago you would have laughed in my face if I claimed Ubisoft would produce a halfway popamole, halfway decent M&MX. You would have told me the chance was greater for Might & Magic: The Cover-based Shooter. Now you're grumpy because the game isn't turn-based and exploration-focused enough? I'm sorry man, I'm too busy being satisfied that my interests are even noticed again to be pissed at the small bumps along the road to salvation

 

[Infinitron]

You're talking about a lead, AAA publisher coming out of its shell for the first time in, like, ever

 

[Grunker]

(but that's Atari, and I was talking about Ubisoft, so )

 

[Infinitron]

(but that's Atari, and I was talking about Ubisoft, so )

Wrong, look more closely.

 

[Grunker]

So Atari didn't get the rights to D&D until after RoMD?

Actually... that makes sense

 

[Infinitron]

So Atari didn't get the rights to D&D until after RoMD?

Actually... that makes sense

No, Atari (or maybe Interplay) had the rights then, but Ubisoft did too, somehow. Probably had something to do with them buying SSI's IPs.

 

[LeStryfe79]

I'd hit it, but only for $10 or less. Should come up in a sale within a few months of release. I still think it's a cheap whore pretending to be a princess, but after I get desperate drunk enough, I'm sure I'll wake up hungover with the shame of MMX in my Steam library.

 

[Zeriel]

D&D's like a whore being passed around in a backstreet alleyway, apparently. Watch out, Ms. Dee, Trent Oster's about to teabag you!

 

[Luzur]

So Atari didn't get the rights to D&D until after RoMD?

Actually... that makes sense

No, Atari (or maybe Interplay) had the rights then, but Ubisoft did too, somehow. Probably had something to do with them buying SSI's IPs.

well i found this while researching the Atari-Ubisoft thing:

The D&D IP is owned by Hasbro, the parent company of WotC.

Atari, the publisher of NWN 1 and NWN 2, purchased Cryptic Studios in 2008. Cyptic is the developer of City Of Heroes, Champions Online, Star Trek Online and the soon-to-be-released Neverwinter Online. Hasbro sued Atari over the ability to use the D&D IP in 2009. Hasbro essentially won the law suit.

Cryptic was purchased by Perfect World in 2011. Perfect World is licensing the D&D IP from Hasbro. Ubisoft would need to have a license from Hasbro in order to release any game with D&D content in it. Activision, Blizzard, and Massive are divisions of Ubisoft.

Ubisoft owns the source code for the Gold Box games, presumably. But Hasbro has a licensing agreement for D&D video games with Perfect World, a rival of Ubisoft. Separating the Gold Box engine from its D&D content would be close to impossible to do.

In other words, it's a legal mess.

its about the Gold Box engine but it kinda shows the whole deal.

 

[Infinitron]

Activision, Blizzard, and Massive are divisions of Ubisoft.