Might and Mento: The March-Date of Heaven: Part Three

Hey all, we're back once again with the Teen Magical Girl Squad as we rampage acr- uh, heroically save the land of Enroth from its demon invasion problem one home invasion massacre at a time. We're back once again with Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven and even though we're some 20+ hours in the ladies haven't dated a single man yet, let alone a heavenly one. This will be the last of these weekly check-ins: my intent with this feature was to properly convey most of what works about VI and the core M&M series in general, and how these games remain compelling even after a quarter of a century, without necessarily giving you a play-by-play of every single dungeon instance or monster encounter because, well, this game is enormous as it turns out. Pretty impressive size for a 20th-century game with fully 3D environments (if not fully 3D anything else: we're still mostly talking Doom sprites here).

If I had to define the legacy of Might and Magic VI in particular it would be largely how it was the game to evolve the franchise into full panoramic 3D movement over the cardinal-directions-only format of 1 through 5, though of course that sort of technological leap is one that's going to age pretty badly—at least, as a feature to highlight, if not necessarily in the sense that it's something that makes the game challenging to go back to. It'd be like championing the visuals and presentational chops of the original Final Fantasy VII to some unimpressed Gen Alpha types already accustomed to far better looking games and wondering why everyone looks like Minecraft Steve; you'd have to focus more on the narrative flow, the characterization, maybe the scope of what they were pulling off, and the intricacies of the materia-based customization system to get anywhere with those easily-distracted whippersnappers. Or, I guess, just remake the thing from scratch and stretch it across three whole games. So in that vein, I'd argue Might and Magic VI—much like its sequel Might and Magic VII, which pulled off everything its predecessor did with a bit more finesse and concision, and Might and Magic VIII which was perhaps too weird for its own good in an effort to set itself apart from its two older siblings—is all about the sense of adventure and exploration that its newly unshackled movement could now allow. That idea of starting from nothing, poking your way around a hostile world that's not going to accommodate you until you eventually find a dungeon or quest you can just about survive, perhaps hastily retreating back to a healing temple or inn near death several times with indignant vengeance burning in your heart, and just the feeling of overcoming what's out there through your own gumption and resourcefulness (and perhaps a few lucky treasure chests) (and cheesing enemies through doors and walls thanks to some slightly busted aspects of the engine). The power trip aspect towards the end of the game, common to most RPGs, certainly isn't unwelcome either.

Even so, while all of the above appeals to my inner teen power gamer self, I think what I appreciate most is the freedom of a proper open-world RPG like this. The manner in which new spells can transform the way you approach common problems like getting around or fighting enemies with some annoyingly powerful attacks or debilitating status effects. Those first few hours where you realize the issue isn't so much fighting a tough monster but fighting a whole army of mobs: weak as they are, those numbers will wear you down if you don't have some proper crowd control tactics in mind (or an exit strategy). It's a game all about adapting to new information and new advancements and with that dynamic there's rarely a dull moment, even during the times where you're having to bail from a half-finished dungeon to go lick your wounds back in town. When an RPG has the right amount of challenge and enough stuff to find and see and do it's able to keep you on the hook for however many hours it lasts; and then you get far enough in where it threatens to get stale and suddenly you're able to fly and cast mega-buffs and drop meteors on entire legions of enemies and you're right back on that hook again.

Haven a Blast

Speaking of devastating new spells, let's pick up from where we left off last time. Having finally exhausted most of what I could do in the southeast corner of the world map, I finally took some steps west towards the game's centrally-located hub city of Free Haven where I could more confidently approach the rest of the game. Free Haven proved to be a godsend. Not only is it the largest population center with plenty of amenities, it also had the adept-tier guilds for every spell school besides Light/Dark. We then procured, at considerable expense, the extremely useful—to the point of transformative—spells of Fly, Town Portal, Telekinesis, Power Cure, and Raise Dead, not to mention Implosion, Acid Burst (which turned out to be a single-target spell, sadly, but still pretty effective), Psychic Shock, Meteor Swarm, and Inferno for our offensive casters. Meteor Swarm only works outside but targets a much larger area than Fireball (though you can't aim it) while Inferno does the same for interiors, hitting every single enemy in your line of sight. Kinda wish I had that spell for the enormous dwarf melee in the previous region. These high-cost spells can't be flung around with abandon right now since my MP is still limited—though it's certainly ballooned a lot since i made everyone a Master of Meditation (the skill that boosts MP, if that wasn't clear)—but once I've done pouring points into the relevant spell schools I'll probably boost Meditation a bit more. Well, while keeping some points in reserve for when we finally find Light/Dark teachers. What I really want to find is more equipment that has "regen MP" on them: so far I've found a single pair of gauntlets that had it, which is being worn by our healer What's Her Faith for obvious reasons, and it really does help keep us in the fight longer without having to resort to the ol' bail-and-recuperate cycle as often.

Anyway, we're completely strapped for cash again despite being close to six figures before we came here. Fortunately, the town of Free Haven has been accommodating enough for jobseekers to give us two quests we can conclude without leaving the region: one has us take down a stronger version of the Dragoon Bandit stronghold from Castle Ironfist while a nearby crypt has a high-powered lich someone wants us to kill (TEO might have something to say later about this flagrant anti-lich sentiment). We also met Lord Ulric Temper, the third of the six Lords we're meant to be ingratiating ourselves to, and he's sent us on a quest to the frontlines to quash a Kreegan forward operating base. Literal space demons might be a bit of a handful for us to deal with right now, but with the Town Portal spell I can always come back here in a jiffy (though it's worth mentioning that the MM6 Town Portal is initally quite limited: right now it will only take us to the last town we visited. I have to get my Water mages to Master level before I'm allowed to select a destination).

There's two more dungeons here we don't have quests for yet, the Temple of the Moon and the Free Haven Sewers. I went into the Temple of the Moon but it's kinda unpleasant in there: cobras, medusas, and druids. The cobras are fodder at this point in the game but the medusas are tough and can, as you might surmise, petrify you which is an awkward condition to fix and completely takes that person out of the fight. Fortunately, the dungeon has a bunch of Stone-to-Flesh scrolls laying around so that resolved that. The druids are somehow even worse: the blue-cloaked grand druids can actually empty your entire MP stock if that effect procs, which is the kiss of death to a magic-based party like mine. Free Haven also doesn't have a functional temple until you repair it so replenishing MP can only really be done in inns and that wastes the whole day. I made it a habit of prioritizing their demises first and foremost. After that, I'd finally poured enough points into the Water skill for So-and-Sorcery and took a boat to Mist, whereupon I became a Water Master and could now use Town Portal to teleport to any of the six major population centers (those with Lords governing them, excepting Ironfist for some reason). Not just the ones I've previously visited either: I could also go to Blackshire to the far west, Silver Cove on the coast north of Bootleg Bay, and the wintry burg of White Cap despite never before having set foot in any of them. A fast-travel system that can take you even further into the game than you've already been is more than convenient, really.

The World's Now Our Oyster, So Let's Go Shuck Stuff Up

Since I knew the Body Magic master was in Silver Cove I took a TP over there first and had an explore around the new location. Not only does this place have some useful trainers, another council quest (I have to fix the prices of all nine of the carriage stations, which is going to be much easier now that I can instantly teleport to seven of them), but also the first Light magic guild and teacher I've seen. I immediately had So-and-Sorcery and What's Her Faith learn Light up to rank 4 and then become Experts in it. My druid Cheerhealer can't learn Light/Dark, as a trade-off for being to learn all the other magic schools, and I'm saving Dark for TEO since I'm not yet certain if I'm allowed to have both Light and Dark on the same character—either way, having two Light users is probably enough. One benefit of being a Light caster is the spell Day of the Gods—grants all the individual stat-boosting buffs for everyone at a high level for an entire 24 hours—as well as Hour of Power, which are all the really strong combat buffs like Haste and Heroism for a much shorter period of time (though it's four hours for me rather than just the one). It also has some interesting spells like Slow (works as it does in most games), Destroy Undead (good for lich-hunting), Create Food (like food's expensive), and one that turns your vendor trash directly into gold, netting you more money than you'd get if you just sold it directly with the low Merchant skill level we're all at. Of course, I was immediately broke again after splurging on the various Master trainers and new spells, so I went outside the town to see how an enterprizing party of (artificially aged) youngsters could raise some funds in the wilderness around Silver Cove. Turns out there were a whole lot of gargoyles—very resistant to physical attacks, which is not a problem for a magic-user party looking to take up clay pigeon fireball-shooting as a new hobby—and a couple more dungeons, one of which (the Silver Helm Stronghold, a much bigger version of the dungeon on Mist) had enemies that were absolutely loaded with cash. How considerate of them. The other was another druid hole, so I was sure to be a bit more cautious around those mana-draining hotties.

With a Master-level Lloyd's Beacon (creates a waypoint anywhere you can always travel back to, though it has a duration—as a Master caster however, that duration is several months long) and Town Portal, I was now free to go wherever I wished in a flash. Well, once I'd travelled to those places the conventional way and set up some beacons, of course. After completing what I could at Silver Cove I made another jump to New Sorpigal, nuked some weak overworld enemies for the fun of it and re-attempted that horrible fire elemental dungeon (made it a little further in), then afterwards travelled to Ironfist so I could put a beacon down—it's one of the few towns that isn't part of the Town Portal network—and talk to its stablemaster. Travelled west to the Mire of the Damned and dropped a beacon in Darkmoor too. Still not quite sure about taking on Castle Darkmoor yet but, well, now I have the means to go visit it any time I want. Honestly, acquiring the Town Portal/Lloyd's Beacon spells in any M&M feels like the part in every Final Fantasy where you get an airship and the vibe becomes less going on a long journey with your companions and more about rapidly pinging around putting out fires wherever you're needed.

At this point the game gets much more focused on the main missions since most of the side stuff only really serves to make you marginally stronger than you already are. Make no mistake: my guys are already absolute monsters, so the only problems are all the other absolute monsters still roaming around. Blackshire, for instance, is a much higher level area than Free Haven or Ironfist (I've just visited the volcano region of Kriegspire too and, man, the enemies there are some rough customers—minotaurs and earth elementals, mostly). If I'm going to be raiding dungeons from this point on it'll either be for better equipment or because some Lord told me to. Oh, that reminds me:

Lord Drop

I've included the six main council missions below as a recap, including my progress on each at this stage of the playthrough as well as each Lord's respective class promotion quests and their statuses too:

• Regent Wilbur Humphrey, Castle Ironfist: Wants me to return some dude's shield. I've no idea where it is, though he thinks it was somewhere to the west where the devils are massing. He's also the guy who hands out promotion quests for Paladins, a combination Knight/Cleric class that I passed over: I've completed both the Crusader and Hero promotions—the former involved rescuing a damsel, which I'd already done, and the latter was the dragonslaying quest.
• Lord Anthony Stone, Castle Stone: Wants me to arrest the Prince of Thieves who's hiding somewhere in Free Haven's sewers, possibly. Not done it yet but sounds easy enough. Lord Stone also upgrades Clerics to Priests and High Priests. The former required I fix the temple in Free Haven (which I did already so I could have cheap-as-free MP recovery while fighting those druids) and the latter involved recovering a chalice from, I think, the Temple of Baa dungeon at Ironfist (which I'd also already done—man, it really pays off just barging into places, killing everyone, and taking all their shit just in the off-chance someone asks for it later).
• Lord Osric Temper, Castle Temper: Mentioned this guy above. He wants me to take out the devil outpost way out west. I'm working my way over there, I swear. Temper upgrades Knights—the pure melee class—to Cavaliers (involved getting some other guy's recommendation, which he did for free) and Champions (defeat the boss and recover a letter at a pretty high level melee-focused dungeon full of dread knights, among others).
• Lord Albert Newton, Castle Newton: The guy on Mist Island. His quest involves grabbing an item in that fire elemental dungeon at New Sorpigal. I hate those elementals—they have an attack that breaks gear—so I've been taking several trips in and out and haven't quite reached the end yet. He promotes Sorcerers to Wizards (find a magical fountain in Bootleg Bay, barely a quest) and Archmages (rob the haunted Corlagon's Estate of a magical crystal), both already completed.
• Lady Loretta Fleise, Castle Fleise: She's the one that has me running around fixing the prices of the stable companies. Light on combat but big on needing to get to a bunch of places quickly. She's also the one who promotes Druids like my leader Cheerhealer. To get to Great Druid I had to pray at this Stonehenge-looking place at an equinox or a solstice (I was about a week out from the spring solstice when I got the quest, fortunately). For Arch Druid, I have to clear out the Temple of the Moon at Free Haven (done and done) and then go visit it at midnight on a full moon. Druids really don't have any sense of convenience, huh.
• Lord Erik Von Stromgard, Castle Stromgard: This is the last guy I talked to, Castle Stromgard being just outside of White Cap, another of the new destinations that opened up with Town Portal. He wants me to end the eternal winter that has affected his region (I figured that was because it's most the way up a mountain? I mean, they named the local town "White Cap") so I'll need to follow a series of clues, starting with some meteorological hermit somewhere. He also promotes Archers to Battle Mages and Warrior Mages with a two part quest regarding the activation of several "dragon towers": these things pelt you with fireballs if you try to fly around near a town, and one side benefit to this quest is that you're enhancing their friend or foe detection system so they won't do that any more. (I don't need the second promotion, really, but the first is required to convince the Bow's Master teacher to take us on as students. Bow Masters get to fire twice for every attack, effectively doubling their damage output, so I'm definitely doing that.)

So that's most of the promotion quests done but none of the council quests, at least not yet. Plan right now is to finish off the stablemaster quest since I want to be visiting places and dropping beacons down for later access anyway, then I'll start going for the quests I'm already midway through completing or those located somewhere I can easily reach: that would be the New Sorpigal fire element dungeon for Newton and the Prince of Thieves in the sewers for Stone. Then I'll go back to scouring each new area for dungeons to see if I can pick up the shield's trail for Humphrey as well as working towards Stromgard's quests and, finally, heading to the edge of the map for Temper's raid. If all goes well, I'll have a post-game review for the March edition of Mento's Month around the 31st barring a massive deluge of story quests once I've won the local rulers over. April's going to be crazy (I've another harebrained scheme I absolutely won't have the time to complete) so I'd prefer to have a clean slate when that rolls around.

<- Back to Part Two