The destroyer is walking the land once again. The legendary Planeswalker Escaton has been seen in Jadame and the very elements themselves have felt his presence. In the four corners of the world, gates to the planes of Fire, Air, Earth and Water have opened and denizens of those realms are sweeping...
The destroyer is walking the land once again. The legendary Planeswalker Escaton has been seen in Jadame and the very elements themselves have felt his presence. In the four corners of the world, gates to the planes of Fire, Air, Earth and Water have opened and denizens of those realms are sweeping across the lands, devastating all in their path. Lead a band of rugged adventurers on a mission of utmost peril to save the kingdoms from ruin, or watch as the lands are devastated forever.
Finished the game I guess over 100 times, literally, during the last 20 years. (well, after 47 times I stopped counting, it was 12 years ago).
Every "one class" party, every class as the main hero, solo, solo without reload (1 life hardcore). And over, and over again. For me it never gets boring.
CRASH - ESCATON PALACE - if you get a crash upon entering, turn off all sounds. That's it. You're welcome.
Major CON is that many dungeons are copies of mm6 mm7 dungeons, just with entrances is other places. No big great dungeons. Someone may remember Tomb of VARN, mm6. NOTHING EVEN CLOSE. Well, they are interesting but tiny. Game is SIGNIFICANTLY easier for the first time than mm6 mm7.
mm8 - nice and pleasant experience. Figuratively, the world "embraces" you, it is "warm", you fit right in. I call this immersion. I recommend you finish this game a couple of times.
I'd like to say first that I LOVE this game. I grew up watching my brothers play it and then took up the position myself behind the keyboard. And for that it's not 1 star.
However, I have yet to finish the game on account of the system crashing every single time I attempt to enter the crystal. I have deleted files, reinstalled, restarted, adjusted computer settings several times but to no avail. It was downloaded from GoG via my brother's account and we even downloaded it a few times again but it seems to be a permanent glitch. I'm starting a new account to see if it's due to the account itself.
I remember when I was young, waking up as early as I could, creep my way to my old computer without waking anyone up, grabbing the disc for this game, and playing it until the rest of the house woke up to me shooting my bow at a bunch of lizardman, pirates or just simply having a dragon in my party. This game made me into what I believe is a true RPG fan.
However to get to this game I had to go through MM6 and MM7 which I did take a preference to MM7 however this was the first Might and Magic I had ever progressed to end game situational content. Not only did I have incredible amounts of fun playing this I just could not simple save and quit, I had to complete this quest or side quest or I had to come back with a vengeance to those creatures who killed me after hours of clearing through dungeons, forests and mountain tracks.
It may just seem like I am buttering this game up, but that is what this masterpiece of a game needs, now I know that it may seem unfair to rank this as an elite game but im afraid that this is that elite game that shines down on all other games or is looked up too by others.
What can you expect from this?
Attention - You have to pay attention there is none of this, engage conversation, skip conversation, go to checkpoint business as you find in modern games, this game makes you read the quest givers demands, and forces the player to fight a powerful foe or collect this plant that is only accessible here.
Compelling Story - I will not spoil the story for those who actually have not completed it or are looking to play this for the first time, but the story will take you several weeks to complete, assuming you played like myself, which was level every party member equally and ensure that they are mastered in all skills.
Skill Sets are Unique - although you may find yourself having many of the same races in your party you can easily ensure that they each take a skill path of your choosing, there is no auto level button to be pressed, it is your choice, why would you need to auto level with such a great game like this.
Items - There are a plethora of items in this game, maybe even more, so it is up to the player to find these mythical items who knows you may be able to find something so special that no one else has found it or had it drop for them.
Races - They added the races I always wanted to be in Might and Magic 7, when I first fought the dragon I was amazed at how well it was presented (keep in mind I was 7 years of age) and the fact they made it possible for a dragon to be in your party made it even the more better. A Minotaur is available to be played as, vampires dark elves and even more.
This is not your average RPG - This is by far one of the best RPG's I have ever player in my life, and I have been through all of the Ultima Franchise, Final Fantasy's, Might and Magics, Baldurs Gates, Icewind Dale, Planescapes, Fallouts, Elder Scrolls, neverwinter nights and Arcanum series of games and I will say that Might and Magic 6 - 8 are the best out of all of them, and its not to promote this in a buyist way its merely the fact that this is the truth.
I know I could go on and on about how amazing this game is, but I will end it with this, if you are a fan of endless RPG's buy this game. If you have yet to play this game, buy this game, give it a try, you will not be disappointed.
Depending from your viewpoint, you could rate MM 8 to either one star or five stars. Frankly, I can understand both verdicts.
As much as you might like the overall gameplay of the Might and Magic series, the flaws in MM 8 just can't be overlooked. The game uses the same engine as MM 6, which looked obsolete already when the game came out back in 2000. Also, the plot (involving the four elements threatening to destroy the world) is by far the weakest in the series.
Instead of improvign the game engine itself, New World Computing tried to mix thing up by changing many gameplay elements. Instead of building your party of adventurers from the start, you only get to create one main character. Rest of the characters will join your quest as the game progresses, and can be recycled freely with one another. A vast number of new character classes, such as trolls, vampires, minotaurs and dragons were also introduced. If having a dragon as your party member sounds over powerful to you then... well, you're right. MM 8 is significantly easier that the previous installments, much of this is due to the party management. Instead of having to painstakingly grind your team level by level, players may easily hire themselves high level characters who already carry high quality gear and know most of the spells. This may completely break the difficulty curve of the game, making much of the game a walk in the park. The huge dungeons of MM 6 and 7 are also gone in favour of smaller, more tightly drawn ineriors which also contribute on the easiness of the game.
Still, by some weird Jon van Cangheim magic, 'Day of the Destroyer' IS a fun and enjoyable game. There's tons of side quests to accomplish, secret dungeons to explore, monsters to slay and magic artifacts to be found. If you liked MM 6 and 7, you will undoubtedly like MM 8 too. Still, if you're only getting started with the mM series, try the earlier installments instead, as MM 8 is the weakest game of the trio.
