Preview RPG Codex Preview: Might & Magic X: Legacy, Now with Act II

[Sceptic]

The most interesting sci-fi thing in the whole preview I saw was a quest concerning an astronomer who's been peering through scopes. He claims to have seen other worlds out amongst the stars--flat worlds, that appear to be engineered, moving by their own design. So it's possible Ubisoft might one day do their own take on sci-fi.

This is not just SF, this is exactly the cosmology of the NWC world. I don't know if this was Ubisoft putting in a hint or it was all Limbic's doing, but IF they ever use it for something more than a passing reference, then they're basically opening the possibility that Ashan is just another planet in the NWC universe. Which would require a hell of a lot of retconning to get to work.

Hey, Narupley, Limbic wanna have a word with you, hands on collar style:

Oh I see how this works now. Say good things about Limbic and you get ignored even for VIP status, bitch about something that was clarified ONE YEAR AGO and you get a free hands on demo of the whole damn game in Limbic's own offices.

I've been far too nice

 

[Zeriel]

When will you learn, mountain dew only flows if you act hard to get.

 

[ben_reck]

Fun and entertaining preview.

I trust the chests come in different colors and outfits? bronze trunks and gold coffers?

 

[Luzur]

Hey, Narupley, Limbic wanna have a word with you, hands on collar style:

Oh I see how this works now. Say good things about Limbic and you get ignored even for VIP status, bitch about something that was clarified ONE YEAR AGO and you get a free hands on demo of the whole damn game in Limbic's own offices.

I've been far too nice

hey, dont look at me, im just the messenger.

 

[Blaine]

[...] The open world is indisputably the star of MMXL. Once past the "tutorial area" that is Act I, the world awaits. There are no artificial restraints placed on your party. You can go wherever you want, whenever you want. Sure, you might die horribly, but that's a definite part of the charm. Some areas--such as islands or mountain ranges--require the Blessings to reach, but the Blessings themselves are merely a matter of exploration to obtain.

Broseph: The wilderness areas in this game are downright awesome. Incredibly fun to explore, with lots of well-hidden secrets and goodies. The map design positively reminds me of MM3. Exploring the overworld here doesn't feel like a chore at all, unlike in some other games of this type where the dungeons are the real meat and potatoes of the experience.

Ah, so, as I'd hoped—Act I is more of a tutorial area. That first dungeon in particular had me wondering. I haven't had time to play again just yet.

I find it disturbing that the first monocled AAA RPG effort in about a decade is shaping up to be much more long-lived, enjoyable, and memorable than Shadowrun Returns. You'd forgotten about it until I mentioned it just there, hadn't you, whoever's reading this?

 

[ben_reck]

what do you mean by "monocled"? something like made with "lazer-like precision for a niche audience?"

 

[InspectorRumpole]

Haha that's a pretty great offer by Limbic.

Regarding the game, i'm getting stoked. That video was nice.

 

[Blaine]

what do you mean by "monocled"? something like made with "lazer-like precision for a niche audience?"

Spoiler

"Monocled" in this context means it's incline worthy of RPG Codex plaudits (tentatively speaking, of course).

 

[Roguey]

I find it disturbing that the first monocled AAA RPG effort in about a decade is shaping up to be much more long-lived, enjoyable, and memorable than Shadowrun Returns. You'd forgotten about it until I mentioned it just there, hadn't you, whoever's reading this?

I remember Shadowrun Returns every day and anticipate late January so I can hand out those extra expansion keys to fulfill my obligation.

 

[DemonKing]

Looks promising - I'm holding out on trying Early Access as I would rather play a full, hopefully reasonably bug-free game. Looking forward to late January now.

 

[Jaesun]

I find it disturbing that the first monocled AAA RPG effort in about a decade is shaping up to be much more long-lived, enjoyable, and memorable than Shadowrun Returns. You'd forgotten about it until I mentioned it just there, hadn't you, whoever's reading this?

Have you played the older Might and Magic games before?

 

[Blaine]

Have you played the older Might and Magic games before?

Most, but not all. I replayed World of Xeen last year.

 

[Invictus]

As they old dude from Warhammer said "Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment" and yet I cannot help to look foward to this game, everything I have read and seen so far seems almost the perfect transition of the golden M&M turn based games with modern bells and whistles. Unity's main selling point is that its simple, cheap and has a whole lot of assets already in place and remember than the optimization is always done in the end once all the other systems are set so I wouldn't worry much about it anyway; even if they manage to optimize it to say Grimrock levels I will be very well served
This is shaping up into a very interesting first quarter of 2014...

 

[Cowboy Moment]

This sounds like setup for another Chaos Chronicles scenario. Will not believe until I see the game released on Steam.

 

[Infinitron]

This sounds like setup for another Chaos Chronicles scenario. Will not believe until I see the game released on Steam.

It already is?

 

[Zeriel]

This sounds like setup for another Chaos Chronicles scenario. Will not believe until I see the game released on Steam.

It already is?

 

[jagged-jimmy]

Are there any "talky" town/area spanning quests? At least on simplistic "adventure" level of BGs?

 

[Zeriel]

Dialogue has been changed somewhat, insofar as talking to townsfolk/trainers uses a BG-style dialogue tree. It's still not an Infinity Engine game, though, gameplay does not really revolve around story, it's just a nice flavor you run into in towns when selling shit/exploring.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

This sounds like setup for another Chaos Chronicles scenario. Will not believe until I see the game released on Steam.

It already is?

I mean actually released. Just wait until Ubisoft cancels it come January and removes the Early Access from Steam.

 

[Infinitron]

Okay, I'll wait.

 

[Luzur]

This sounds like setup for another Chaos Chronicles scenario. Will not believe until I see the game released on Steam.

It already is?

I mean actually released. Just wait until Ubisoft cancels it come January and removes the Early Access from Steam.

if their office hasnt burned before it will then.

 

[Grunker]

Are there any "talky" town/area spanning quests? At least on simplistic "adventure" level of BGs?

Short answer: no.

Slighty longer answer: this is a game about exploration and combat. Any incidental dialogue and town questing will purely be thin icing, I think.

 

[Luzur]

Are there any "talky" town/area spanning quests? At least on simplistic "adventure" level of BGs?

Short answer: no.

Slighty longer answer: this is a game about exploration and combat. Any incidental dialogue and town questing will purely be thin icing, I think.

well they could make something like that Greek Brothers quest in MM3, or the Drawkcab guys.

 

[jagged-jimmy]

Nothing wrong with that. I love dungeon crawling in an open world. I always feel though, as just a bit dialogue/questing can add a lot to the RPG experience.
See BG - it's almost shit walking in woods and killing kobolds and suddenly there is a hub at the end with some fed ex/talking quests and voila - bestest RPG evar. More positive example would be IWDes - where little quests pushed the overall quality of "just dungeon crawling".

EDIT: i.e. any other world interaction than combat is the difference between good and awesome.

 

[Zeriel]

Yeah, I agree 100%. I'd say this is the perfect sort of thing for modding, but no one's going to mod MMXL, so we'll just have to be content with it as combatfags.