Might and Magic X, Ideas and Suggestions

[Larec]

Ok. I looked over the replies, and honestly think that races and classes are irrelevant. What's important is the STORY, and I'm amazed that nobody has made many suggestions. So IF I had a say, here are a few a the things that I think will be good ideas:
1. Good and evil outcomes just like in MM7
2. Some memorable villains. I'd nominate the Megadragon as one villain to return in all of its World of Xeen glory and not some watered down version like in MM7
3. Minimal cliched story writing please. DON'T make the heroes some version of the Chosen One, amnesiacs, waking in a cell, and other cliched story lines. Take the courage to write and do something UNIQUE for once, and I believe the fans would thank you for it
4. If you MUST have Fed-Ex quests, you better make me CARE about the reward and results.
5. Have memorable characters along the way, that I can INTERACT with. This does not mean the three topics that you could only talk about like in MM6. Everyone still remembers Baldur's Gate due to the characters, and I believe Knights of the Old Republic also had memorable characters(although a cliched story line).
6. Make it epic, but please DON'T SELL OUT and make the game an MMORPG.

I love these suggestions. Hmmm...you sound like a Dave O. I once worked with who loved RPGs. Ortiz?

Anyway, I'd like to add one more:

#7: Include an editor (Akin to the TES construction set or the NWN toolset) so even the most casual fan could prolong the life of the game by making their own adventures/add-ons/mods

What DaveO said about wizardry is so true. As a fan of that game since the 3rd one, I had been around to see it change from dungeon hack to story-driven quest game and was always afraid that it would end up being another lame, watered-down sequel the way Ultima 9 turned out to be. Thankfully, it wasn't, and is one of the best games I ever played.

M&M went out on a bad note with 9. A true end would be appreciated, and would require JVC to fully get back on board with it.

...but I suppose there is as much chance of that happening as there is of having Richard Garriot re-do Ultima 9.

[DaveO]

I agree about adding an editor. I'll put faith in the fans that some created work would see the light of day, rather than the likely vaporware that is the M&M Tribute. Of course, I could be wrong about MMT being vaporware and maybe it will be released. On the other hand, it could be the equivalent of Duke Nukem: Forever(being worked on and developed for eternity).

[JMK]

I feel that might and magic 7 is the best so m and m X should stick close to it, same creature types, but most importantly same places/regions + more i m&m 7 was INCREDIBLE and so why change m&m 8 was good but I felt m&m 9 was a touch lame, so less of that thankyou, I would just go back to the old m&m regions, and just stick with what made the game what it was, for example the areas, the wide variety of skills, class's, and people/races, dragons shouldn't be friendly, like on m&m 8 but strong and hostile like M&M 7, maybe stronger.
I would hope that M&M X would keep the system where there is one crature, but three types of it, for example titan, blood titan and supreme titan (I've mixed M&M 6 titans withM&M 7 ones!).
Of course though I must admit the chances of there ever being an M&M X are very slim, but one can always be hopeful.
I sometimes wonder what the graphics would look like,beacause I feel M&M is rather unique in the way that it is played, so what would it look like? maybe like in M&M 6, 7 and 8 the graphics will be the same, (discluding M&M9) I wouldn't mind that one little bit!

[Kareeah Indaga]

My brief MM10 suggestion would be to make this the FINAL game in the series.

I’m going to disagree with you. Reasons:

1.) Plotline. It was rumored there were originally supposed to be thirteen games, correct? Unless those were supposed to be REALLY SHORT games, I can’t see any way to merge four games’ plot into one without it being either very long, very choppy and confusing, or worse both. IMO, while a story (any story) should not be drug out indefinitely just to pump money from it, it also shouldn’t be cut short to the point that it’s no longer more than a stitch of its former self. (Just imagine what kind of mess we’d have if the entire Harry Potter series was abbreviated down to about 300 pages. You might be able to tell the whole story, but you’d lose a LOT of good stuff to do it.) It should go for as long as it needs to go, not longer or shorter.

2.) It’s going to take more than one game to get the metaphorical taste of MMIX out of our collective mouths.

3.) Purely selfish reason: I want more than one more true Might and Magic game.

Ok. I looked over the replies, and honestly think that races and classes are irrelevant. What's important is the STORY, and I'm amazed that nobody has made many suggestions. So IF I had a say, here are a few a the things that I think will be good ideas:
1. Good and evil outcomes just like in MM7

I’m going to disagree that they should be JUST LIKE MM7. I agree that there should be more than one (substantial) ending, but there’s got to be more than one way to do it; having Good and Evil be the choices every single time there is a split ending is going to get old.

2. Some memorable villains. I'd nominate the Megadragon as one villain to return in all of its World of Xeen glory and not some watered down version like in MM7

Seconded; it would be fun to fight a “real” Megadragon with a real time combat system. The Dragon King in MMIX might have been fun to take down if he weren’t set up like a platforming boss fight and the magic system wasn’t so twisted and it was easier to reach my maximum potential level and…

I’d also like to nominate the Kreegan. Sheltem is dead, so he’s out, but there are a few people I wouldn’t mind seeing again.

3. Minimal cliched story writing please. DON'T make the heroes some version of the Chosen One, amnesiacs, waking in a cell, and other cliched story lines. Take the courage to write and do something UNIQUE for once, and I believe the fans would thank you for it

SECONDED!!! One of the first things to turn me off of MMIX and something that sent a rather nasty shake through my enjoyment of MMVIII was the “you are DESTINED *ominous thunder* to do x y and z” phrases. If the words “chosen one” appear anywhere in the game, it flaws it. Even forgetting for a moment that it’s overdone to the point of being painful, it steals any sense of accomplishment for completing the game. Why? Because whatever it requires, it isn’t something that you worked hard to do and did despite the odds. It isn’t something you CHOSE to do. There was no chance of failure. It was DESTINED *ominous thunder* to happen, you couldn’t have NOT done it if you tried.

4. If you MUST have Fed-Ex quests, you better make me CARE about the reward and results.

How would you do that, though? I think “Fed-Ex” quests would almost be a requirement; there are only a handful of quest types I can think of off the top of my head. : (

Everyone still remembers Baldur's Gate due to the characters

I don’t. I never played Baldur’s Gate. So if you don’t mind explaining for those of us playing at home, what made BG characters memorable?

6. Make it epic, but please DON'T SELL OUT and make the game an MMORPG.

Second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, nineth and tenth this. Don’t even do what Dark Messiah did and make a separate “multiplayer mode”. It’ll take away from time spent working on the world, plot, gameplay and in short, everything of any importance in Might and Magic.

Editor might be fun though.

[DaveO]

Kareeah Indaga,

In answer to your question about Baldur's Gate, the characters are memorable because they react to other party members in certain ways. I really don't want to spoil the party interaction too much, but I can state that specific party members will react towards another member in a specific way.

P.S. - I don't see Fed-Ex quests as being required in RPGs. There are other ways to involve people playing the game, with the STORY and CHARACTERS being the most important.

[Kareeah Indaga]

What about bringing back Bashing? Select a character (in XEEN IIRC it was the first two people in the party, but I see no reason why it couldn’t be whoever the active character is) and have them attempt to bash down a door or through a wall, taking damage if it doesn’t work. Although it’s not really all that different from just attacking boards in IX… :/

[Paladin]

That's the feature I found most interesting when playing the classics, after playing MM6 first.

And it was the two strongest conscious characters who were automatically selected to bash. IIRC, they took damage even if the bashing was successful.

[Larec]

Kareeah Indaga,

In answer to your question about Baldur's Gate, the characters are memorable because they react to other party members in certain ways. I really don't want to spoil the party interaction too much, but I can state that specific party members will react towards another member in a specific way.

It's funny for me to see posts like Indaga's, because I was one of those uber nerds on the dragonplay tavern forums in 98 whining about how Baldur's Gate was the downfall of the modern PC RPG and that it was garbage that should have been thrown out.

But then I bought it, reconciled with it, and went on to play every infinity engine game ever made, all of which I finished multiple times (Save for torment, which was just TOO long)

The NPc interaction was the best it's ever been in BG2. This coming from a goldbox gamer who used to go by the nick "DOSGOD". I hate to admit it, but it's true. DaveO is right, BG2 had inter-party banter down pat.

Not only could you form multiple relationships (And I mean mature, adult relationships) with characters, but you also could find yoruself stuck in love triangles, betrayals, and inter-party squabbles depending on what you did and who you did it in front of.

I've never seen a game handle character interaction even half as good as that. the next one down on the list would be Ultima 7, and that's saying something.

So, I guess I'd throw in that suggestion as well. A good deal of inter-party turmoil would be nice. Such as not knowing a person's true motives and having him sabotage the group, or perhaps having two of your recruited characters fall in love ot "bond" (The way Aerie and Minsc did in BG2)

Then again, it might spoil the experience if taken to that kind of extreme. I've always loved M&M because it was unapologetically old school. So, maybe we'd want them to not go TOO far...maybe do it the way Tom Hall's "Anachronox" did it.

[DaveO]

I'll freely admit that I have yet to finish either Baldur's Gate game, but I have played and completed Knights of the Old Republic which has similar good party interaction along with a good(or even classic) story line.

[Corribus]

I don't think I'd want to see BG-style party interaction in MM. As Larec said, MM has always been unapologetically old-school, and trying to make a complicated drama out of the characters would change the nature of the beast. I'm all for a good story, but for some reason, I always liked that my MM characters remained undeveloped. I'm not sure I can put my finger on why, though.

[Kareeah Indaga]

I'm all for a good story, but for some reason, I always liked that my MM characters remained undeveloped. I'm not sure I can put my finger on why, though.

Easier to identify with maybe?

[Omega_Destroyer]

Zing!

[Kareeah Indaga]

O_D: Consider yourself glared at.

I mean it’s easier to identify with them because if you’re a happy, angst-free person, there is no indication given that they’re not. Same goes if you’re moody and bitter, etc.

[Corribus]

Yes, they are clean slates, and your imagination determines what kinds of characters they are.

[Marcus333]

MMVII-VIII style, with music by Paul Romero & Rob King. Even same graphics engine. And yeah, I know it won't happen, but if it were up to me, I'd like it that way. It's too bad the MM Tribute team have to use another engine than the classic one

[Secret_Holder]

Nah, the graphic engine is just to outdated, so I think it will be interesting to see how it will work.
Forunderlig forandring eller hva'?

[PhoenixReborn]

What is the MM tribute?

[accabear]

Might and Magic Tribute was a fan-based project trying to reincarnate the Might and Magic series. I think it kind of died out though. On regards to this topic, no sci-fi and also to have a decent inter-party interaction between characters, each character would require a particular background. Also a game encompassing both Erathia and Enroth would be great. Perhaps more creatures, more player character dolls, faces, races, voices etc. would be cool. Also multiple difficulty levels would mean much more replayability. Yes BG2 had brilliant inter-party interaction, although like before each character had a background of some sort which alot of the events and dialogue reflected upon. By the way I am actually in the process of writing my own experimental manual of MMX.

[DaveO]

Xeen had the two different difficulties with more monsters or less. The design will be the most critical part, especially in regards to designing places that you enter to fight monsters. MM6 had some dungeons that were just way too big and tedious, MM7s were mostly forgettable, and MM8 seemed to have a good balance on dungeon size.

Another part that won't be easy for developers is how to make the encounters at each location both memorable and worth the player trouble to get there. MM6 certainly had a good idea in this regard with several maps that were quite dangerous(Dragonsands and map with the Titans on it come to mind), but you had a good chance to get lucrative results in risking these areas.

[accabear]

Random encounters or randomly placed treasure/creatures would provide abit of a surprise for players. Yeah MM6 dungeons were worse than doing I dunno... learning poetic technical poetic terms? Alliteration, enjambment, caesura... MM7 dungeons were not too bad. Quests involving more wit, deceit or possibly even stealth would be interesting and also quests with multiple methods of achievement would be great. I think that, judging from my skimming of the thread, that people would prefer a four player party than a six or eight or whatever?