MM7 - playing the Light path (spoilers included)

[Jymbob]

Just some thoughts on playing with a party of 4 of the same class.

I just finished the final game of the 9 going Light and will take a break before I
play them all going the dark path.

I must have played the MM7 around 100 times and of course no game is meant for that
kind of sillyness. So when I say something is easy its not to brag and tell you what
a ubergamer I am, its simply course I know the game in and out.

The game can easily be "beaten" by saving before looting every corpse, going into a shop,
handling over ore and so. I have some basic rules, I dont multiloot corpses and I dont save
before shopping (except buying black potions, I want two usable ones at least). When I
have ore I also want something usable for every 3-4 lump. If a monster gets stucked I dont
wait for it to be ready, it gets smacked, so I guess I'm a standard player.

I always try to level up as little as possible before getting the promotions, this gets
me sometimes in funny situations like touching a altar in evermoor with 4 level 5 druids
who is running away from a marble gargoyle they cant kill. Or 4 level 3 thieves stealing
a vase while a master swordsman is hacking at them (I used most my gold on a gate master
who could port my poor thieves out in that case, simple dying would be another option)

I never do the Harmondale goblins right away, instead I grab the arcomage cards, go to
Tulerean for the sweet "hidden" chest, the hunter and Pipe quest and the blue mushrooms,
then to Avlee, do the quests, maybe hire a wind master and visit the isles for treasuries/
golem item/altar, and I play cards where I can. After that I have enough gold to be expert
in at least 2 skills each, then its back to Harmondale and start the cleaning.

All the teams did the same quests except the 2.promotion of the Knights, which only the
Knights did (I dont like that quest). I did all the quests except the statue-quest, Dusks
remains and the warlock promotion. I always get the ten geenie lamps I can before last
week in october for an extra 80 skill points.

Anyway, heres the thoughts:

[Jymbob]

4xknights: Turns out you dont really need magic with four knights, I hired a cartographer
and the other spot was a gate or wind or even water master, sometimes a scholar.
1 promotion: waited to level 6, those barrow wigts were troublesome, had to reload a few
times in there I admit, couldnt touch any of the nice chests.
2 promotion: If you do the arena at knight level when your level 3 you get...some gogs, a
thief, a few troglydotes, no trouble, took some times though (for fun I did it at level 50
then you suddently get titans to battle)
The pit: little trouble, my knights had all close to 1000 HP each so they could take the
dragon breath, I had to get out one time to rest and heal, that was it.
Tolberti: With dual wielding swords my knights did around 600 dmg pr round, still he managed
to eradicate one of them, good thing he has a scroll for that.

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[Jymbob]

4xthieves: I didnt bother with the magic they can learn, npc's was like the Knights, faster killings with
daggers, stealing and disarm GM
1 promotion: See above, its actually duable to get out from the place if your lucky, the
easiest is probally to just bank your gold and hope for the best.
2 promotion: I hate that bridgesystem (almost as much as getting one of the key needed in
the walls of mist quest), there was no Queen of the Deads though (is there ever?), I got
low on HP but my alchemist had brewed plenty of nice red potions
The Pit: Little tougher than the Knights, not so much HP as the Knights, took maybe 15 minutes longer..
Tolberti: GM in stealing and item with +16 in stealing and a scroll of invisibility, need I
say more..the poor bugger never knew what happpened

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[Jymbob]

4xmonks: Where I have to think on how to spend my skillpoints with the thieves, it was easy
with the monks, such few things they can, but they are real good at what they do..Npc's were
the same as knights and thieves (yes, I love wizards eye)
1 promotion: Tried it at level 6 and damn I had to outrun alot of creepy undeads, I always
get the 3 keys first so I know where to go, but when a wight is stabbing you its kinda
hard taking the right exit every time, so I panicked, got lost, had to clean out a
area so I could rest and heal, one monk was paralyzed (damn revenants), he got the promotion
anyway, the good thing was that I got alot of gold early on.
2 promotion: That temple is way too easy for that area. I hired a wind master, flew over the
nasty wyverns, grabbed the bow while I was there (of course a bloodtitan just had to show off
and kill one of them, reload). The cloak of sheeps is one of the best items in the game IMO.
The pit: With little bow skills it became messy, I had only one scroll of invisibility which
I wanted to save for Tolberti, so my monks simply ran, to the taveren, to the training area,
to the temple, with good HP they could take some nasty spells, running on lava isnt healthy
though..
Tolberti: Well, I buffed up outside the pit, used my invisibility scroll and took off. Just
before the house a stupid Lich decided to ran into me, in the two seconds it took me get
inside I lost a good amount of HP due to a couple of Queenies. Anyway, with Tolberti its
either you live or your eradicated so who needs 1000 HP against him anyway. Nothing like
a good and fast fistfight (against a laser), he went down in 2-3 rounds, took a single monk
with him, np..
Btw: Got the GM in Learning as soon as I could, and it got only 2-3 levels more than the rest
in the end. I guess Learning is only good if you have a party who can afford a teacher and a
instructor, or else I wouldnt bother with it again.

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[Jymbob]

4xpaladins: One of the easiest runs, all four learned Master in Body Magic so I never had trouble
with HP, they are slow but all could paralyze pretty good (4 x 25% chance in the end). NPC's
were like the Knights.
1. Promotion: I have saved all the wands I had found on the way to the dragon, so all had
one and blasted away at the poor dragon. I have to use the bows in the end but its a easy
quest if you dont concern over the dragon getting up against the wall.
2. promotion: I managed to stun the villian several times and the fight was over pretty fast.
The Pit: Master regeneration and heals saved the day, I cleared the pit faster than the straight
warriors.
Tolberti: The only "monster" (as far as I know) whos immune to paralyze (also the spell), he
could still be stunned though and the fight was over fast.

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[Jymbob]

4xRangers: Very hard and troublesome in the start, if I ever wanted to do that again, I'll
go expert daggers first and wait with the axes untill I can go Master or ever GM in them.
1. Promotion: easiest in the game, enough sayd.
2. Promotion: Getting the gem needed can be troublesome, I admit I used the famous
"I'm stucked so I can hit you but you cannot hit me" trick against all the nasty swordsmen.
The Pit: 4 x Master Archers had an easy time there, much easier than thieves, monks and Knights,
the pit is created for shooting and thats what they did.
Tolberti: Was troublesome, the axes are too slow for him it seemed and I had to reload twice
until he was dead, he took 2 axemen with him down though..


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[Jymbob]

4xArchers: The combination of no healing skills and low HP was a trouble in the start, I hired
some healers and managed. The tunnel to Eeofol was a fantastic run though. 4 x GM archers
with Haste can actually shoot a ancient behemout so fast that it cant get in meele with them.
1. Promotion: Easily done, theres enough potions with the medusas to survive one or two
paralyzing arrows.
2. Promotion: Even easier, I had saved a scroll of invisibility for that run, so the titans
never knew I was there.
The Pit: My fastest and easiest pit-run of them all, the necros cant even concentrate enough
to cast their nasty spells when four hasted GM archers are arrowing them down.
Tolberti: Was more of a challenge, he shoot just as fast, but it was four agaainst one so the
outcome was given, he killed one archer though.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c132/ ... 7_Win6.jpg

[Jymbob]

4xDruids: I picked four dwarves and maxed the constitution (did the same with the sorcerers and
clerics) for good HP. For some reason I had feared the low HP and AC was going to be a trouble
but those four little buggers with Master in all magic and 8 fast daggers never had any trouble.
1. Promotion: Well, the only time they had some trouble was at level four touching the altar
in Evermoor Island, a pesky marble gargoyle kept bashing at them, in the end I jumped down
a well and got rid of him though.
2. Promotion: Getting the skull and placing it were no trouble at all, must be the second
easiest 2.promotion I guess.
The Pit: No chance to clean the pit out. The druids low HP were no match for the dragon breaths
so, I did all I had to under the invisibility spell.
Tolberti: To my surprice the druids stabbed so fast that the poor man never got into the fight.
Master regeneration took care of what little damage he managed to do, no problem at all though.

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[Jymbob]

4xClerics: As I thought this run was the easiest of them all. All four got Expert Body Magic
in Harmondale and regeneration and healing saved them. This was the only game I played where
I just cleaned out Harmondale and took the quests in the "right" order.
1. Promotion: The chests in that cave blow up big time but still my healing skills saved me.
2. Promotion: Also very easy, enough sayd.
The Pit: 4 x GM in Light Magic means alot of paralyze spells, I thought maybe the undeads were
immune to that but it turns out they aint, so I paralyzed and hammered my way through the
whole Pit easily enough.
Tolberti: Finally a team with GM in Body Magic, so no eradication, I couldnt paralyze him
I didnt needed to: my regeneration and hammers ended the fight soon enough.


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[Jymbob]

4xSorcerer: I admit I'm not good at using sorcerers, my standard tactic is often just to buff
up with all the good spells I can then to meele and hope for the best. With four sorcerers
thats not a good tactic and I ended using invisibility alot until all four learned paralyze
and the game became pretty easy.
1. Promotion: Specially the Avlee chest caused my low HP'ed sorcerer trouble. Two survived
though and the price for raising them at the Avlee temple is only 300 gp each so no trouble.
2: Promotion: Had to hire two Gate masters for this tactic: Buff up, cast invisibility, use
the first gate master to get me to the middle of the Pit, go unnoticed to the breeding area
and make the way to the book, then use the second Gate master to port me to Celeste.
The Pit: Like the Druids, no chance to survive there, I didnt killed a single monster in the
pit, the breeding zone or the Dark temple, everything was done under invisibility.
Tolberti: Not so much trouble as I had thought. It turns out he really, really dont like
water Magic, so my GM water sorcerer was able to acid his head for well over 100 dmg pr try.
The Impolsion did a good damage to him aswell, while the other two sorcerer mostly just
tried to bash him with the staffs, one of them were eradicated in the end..

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c132/ ... 7_Win9.jpg

[Jymbob]

Well thats all nine teams.
Easiest team: Clerics (so easy it quickly became boring)
Hardest team: Thieves (no healing, only Expert in Body Building, the Eeofol tunnel was messy)
Biggest surprice, positive: The druids (I really became to like those four buggers), the second
half of rangers run was also very sweet, 4 x 25% of cutting the enemies AC in half was nice.
Also the archers surpriced me, no healing skills, but damn they are fast with the bows.
Biggest surprice, negative: The thieves (four of them are just too much, they must be better
suited in a party with just one of them for the disarm trap. The stealing seems useless since
with master Merchant you never run outta gold, and Tolberti can be killed with the daggers
easily enough. Also the sorcerer was hard until they all got paralyze, I suspect I didnt played
them well.
Anyway; All comments are welcome, the posting here were just to show what I like about the
game, others go for more challenge and dont mind saving and reloading more, the good thing
about MM7 is that theres room for alot of different play styles..

[Macros the Black]

Congratulations! Now.. look in your heart Luke, you know it to be true.. Join me on the Dark side...

I did all the quests except the statue-quest, Dusks
remains and the warlock promotion.

Warlock promotion? I take it you meant Arch Druid, you were going Light right?

Btw: Got the GM in Learning as soon as I could, and it got only 2-3 levels more than the rest
in the end. I guess Learning is only good if you have a party who can afford a teacher and a
instructor, or else I wouldnt bother with it again.

I usually have a scholar on my team, but I notice the same thing.. Learning is useless in MM7. I think it's broken. Those numbers can't be right for the few levels difference it makes.

The Pit: 4 x GM in Light Magic means alot of paralyze spells, I thought maybe the undeads were
immune to that but it turns out they aint, so I paralyzed and hammered my way through the
whole Pit easily enough.

I guess if the spell Paralyze would really "paralyze" you it would be in Body Magic.. Fact that it's in Light Magic means it probably just creates a force field around the target to prevent it from doing anything. And btw Light Magic is anti-undead, so of course it works on them

I like that in your playthroughs you didn't save and reload often btw. That's the real way to play it imo ^^
I've played 4x Druids in MM6 btw. Was alot of fun.

[vladimir-maestro]

Congratulations! Now.. look in your heart Luke, you know it to be true.. Join me on the Dark side...

Btw: Got the GM in Learning as soon as I could, and it got only 2-3 levels more than the rest
in the end. I guess Learning is only good if you have a party who can afford a teacher and a
instructor, or else I wouldnt bother with it again.

I usually have a scholar on my team, but I notice the same thing.. Learning is useless in MM7. I think it's broken. Those numbers can't be right for the few levels difference it makes.

learning is corrupted in MM9

normal-expert it works like mm6-8...but lich and mage can became a grand... and at grand level learning transphorms into ultimate experience booster!!! you just need to kill 3-5 skeletons and gain a level...even at 80+ level so when i was near to complete final quest - my patry got about 55-60 level...but lich with grand learning was 170 level!!! and i do not have enough money to train him this is corrupted learning =) mm6-8 it give about +50% only, it is not overpowered and it still helps much! try to build a party and do not learn learning by 1 charecter...see the difference if hire instructor + teacher!!! at the end your charecter without learning will be about 10 level less that others!! it worked but you learn learning by every charecter and see little difference =)

[Macros the Black]

Well, just learning the basic skill shouldn't make such a difference I guess. My problem in MM7 was that my characters with just skill basic level 1 learning were only a few levels behind my monk with GM learning level 10. That's not right. Maybe the numbers are correct and it just doesn't affect quest reward experience or something like that, but something's fishy here. I think I did notice a difference in MM8, but don't know about MM6 because I give everyone the skill in that game..

And yeah, that explains why my Lich could always train more than my other chars in MM9.. Still, I had a banker and a merchant and wasn't able to train even my other characters to their limits due to lack of gold at the end. So it doesn't really matter xD

[tolich]

I had a banker and a ... lack of gold at the end.

Put money to bank and get it back. Banker will give you her usual percents. Also with high level Master trading skill (not GM though) you can buy items for less price than you sell them back. Enjoy.

[Macros the Black]

I had a banker and a ... lack of gold at the end.

Put money to bank and get it back. Banker will give you her usual percents. Also with high level Master trading skill (not GM though) you can buy items for less price than you sell them back. Enjoy.

Ye except I would never do that. Not that I mind if it accidentally happens, but I won't go out of my way to take advantage of them.. But thanks

[Jymbob]

Just a reply on the Learning issues in MM7.
As said the teams above did what was needed to compleate the game + the did most of the extra quests, and they ended up with 61-64 levels.

I just finished a team of Cleric/archer/archer/archer, going Light.
I did all quests possible and killed every single monster in the land, that means all the titans, dragons and devils I could find. And I cleared out the Pit compleatly, that also means the Gloaming Castle.
Furthermore I got all teammembers Master in Learning as so as I could (at lvl 13 I think it was). And one of my NPC's was always a Instructor and the other a Teacher or a Scholar.
My team ended up with 75 levels each, I'll leave you to judge if its worth the Learning skill and NPC's used, but I wont ever pick it in MM7.


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