Might and Magic Might & Magic X Pre-Release Thread

[Zeriel]

sorry to shit up this thread with my dumb question but do the base weapons type actually have any difference besides dmg values in MM? (playing 3 right now) I can't find out anywhere.

Mostly in what the skills do.

Obvious example: daggers start out doing maybe 1/4th the damage of 2Hers, but can be dual-wielded and very quickly get a skill tier (expert) that allow two attacks with each dagger. I'm not sure how they plan to balance 1Hers among themselves though, there are some skills that are just clearly better than others.

Oh, you meant in 3? I have no fucking clue, since it's been so long.

Heh, I already complained about the Comparator, but I was told it's no big deal.

I don't see the issue, myself. It's just a UI aide, not something that changes how you play or anything. It's also probably hella easy to implement, so why not? I don't see any real argument against it, except "you don't actually NEED this". Usually I'm against popamole, but UI things that don't affect gameplay or aesthetics? Why not make it easier to handle.

 

[Dorateen]

It's not something that will define Legacy, so I'm really not that outraged about it. I'm more annoyed by the lack of trainers for level advancement.

I guess the argument I have is more of a philosophical one. The item comparison GUI is a symbol of the modernization of these games. It speaks to the dreaded accessibility. Think about it, there wasn't this feature in Isles of Terra, or Mandate of Heaven, or in classics like Wizardry or other titles where loot was plentiful. I'd rather not see such things in one that is wearing the mantle of Old School RPG.

If I had to make a substantive point, consider this: in Pool of Radiance, the player needed to cast a Detect Magic spell on a large list of treasure in order to reveal what items might be magical. That was an item comparison of a sort, comparing mundane and magical equipment. But it required a gameplay mechanic. In Legacy, is there a cost to using the item Comparator? There is a charge of gold to identify items, right? Why not to use this comparator as well. Or if there was a merchant skill tied to it, and only that character could use the item comparison feature, then I could get behind it.

 

[Magellan]

All it does it keep you from having to flip back and forth from your inventory screen, it's really a non-issue IMO. It was implemented by player demand also. I do wish they would being back level trainers though!

 

[Zeriel]

Dorateen

I'd be willing to buy into your point completely if, say, like some really early RPGs you had to cast some spell or pay some cost every time you look at an item's stats normally. As long as we can already mouse over and see an item's stats freely, I don't see the UI feature as a big deal. That said, I am sympathetic to the whole "don't break what's already fine" argument, it just... only applies in a really vague way to this. I am looking forward to using the engine + mod tools to construct a more hardcore, less "trolololol here's 1000 potions to chug nonstop" experience, though.

 

[J_C]

Man, I am so frustrated that people voted for fucking "item comparison."

How difficult is it to math, fuckers!?

I need map notes, right now.

Actually item comparison is more important IMO than map notes. Do the math you say? Yeah, good lock when you have to go back and forth between a dozens of items, comparing every stat of theirs with the previous item's stat. That is more important than map notes, which you can make on a piece of paper.

 

[made]

That is more important than map notes, which you can make on a piece of paper.

Meh. What they should do instead is tie the automap to a skill. The higher the skill, the more detailed the map.

 

[Zeriel]

The map is pretty fine after the latest update. There are mouse-over-able notes. While annotating would be nice, I almost never use it in games that already offer some form of auto-annotate feature (like aforementioned notes).

 

[cvv]

That is more important than map notes, which you can make on a piece of paper.

Meh. What they should do instead is tie the automap to a skill. The higher the skill, the more detailed the map.

Goddamned this. Why is nobody doing that anymore? In fact, from the top of my head, there's only one game that did this - Wizardry 7. In my view it's a great solution to the ongoing debate about automap details.

 

[Darth Roxor]

That is more important than map notes, which you can make on a piece of paper.

Meh. What they should do instead is tie the automap to a skill. The higher the skill, the more detailed the map.

Goddamned this. Why is nobody doing that anymore? In fact, from the top of my head, there's only one game that did this - Wizardry 7. In my view it's a great solution to the ongoing debate about automap details.

Eschalon did that as well. One of its cooler features, in fact.

 

[made]

That is more important than map notes, which you can make on a piece of paper.

Meh. What they should do instead is tie the automap to a skill. The higher the skill, the more detailed the map.

Goddamned this. Why is nobody doing that anymore? In fact, from the top of my head, there's only one game that did this - Wizardry 7. In my view it's a great solution to the ongoing debate about automap details.

Eschalon did that as well. One of its cooler features, in fact.

Ambermoon kinda did it, with spells instead of skills tho.

 

[J_C]

That is more important than map notes, which you can make on a piece of paper.

Meh. What they should do instead is tie the automap to a skill. The higher the skill, the more detailed the map.

That's a pretty good idea. Having a cartography skill would make a lot of sense in RPGs.

 

[LeJosh]

Man, I am so frustrated that people voted for fucking "item comparison."

How difficult is it to math, fuckers!?

I need map notes, right now.

Actually item comparison is more important IMO than map notes. Do the math you say? Yeah, good lock when you have to go back and forth between a dozens of items, comparing every stat of theirs with the previous item's stat. That is more important than map notes, which you can make on a piece of paper.

Why not do the math on paper?

Yeah, I really don't feel like drawing a map out by hand for this game when there is an auto-map already and implementing a note system is not difficult. The names I can remember just fine in town at least. I just feel that notes are vital for travelling outside sorpigal and dungeons.

Cartography skill would be cool.

 

[Infinitron]

You do know they're going to implement notes too eventually, right

 

[LeJosh]

Yeah.

Just being impatient, as we could have had them already.

So far my playthrough is ok, one guy seems to break his weapons every round whilst all the others stay intact.

I wanted to try different weapon disciplines for each Barb. but it seems that may have been less efficient, too early to tell. 2 Maul wielders, dual-wield axe and spear. Why? Just to see what it'd be like.

May make 3 Barb plus magic user but I'm enjoying these four.

 

[Suicidal]

People are complaining that they added helpful UI features?

 

[LeJosh]

Not quite, honestly, I don't deny comparator's usefulness.

But it was a community vote and it beat notes, hence my posts above.

 

[Jack Dandy]

I think tying map detail to skill is pretty dumb.
Having a gradually-revealing map where you can write down notes is the best option, as it is makes the player feel more involved in the adventure taking place.

I know it did for me with UU.. It made me feel like it was my "own" adventure, so to speak. I even used the post-dungeon blank pages to type down notes and quest logs. It was neat as hell.

 

[Suicidal]

Not quite, honestly, I don't deny comparator's usefulness.

But it was a community vote and it beat notes, hence my posts above.

I haven't been really following this game's development so I'm a bit confused - they were going to add either one or the other, based on what community voted for the most? Or are they gonna add map notes eventually? Both are really useful interface features so ofc it's better to have both.

Also, dafuq happened to everyone's avatars?

 

[Infinitron]

Not quite, honestly, I don't deny comparator's usefulness.

But it was a community vote and it beat notes, hence my posts above.

I haven't been really following this game's development so I'm a bit confused - they were going to add either one or the other, based on what community voted for the most? Or are they gonna add map notes eventually? Both are really useful interface features so ofc it's better to have both.

You do know they're going to implement notes too eventually, right

 

[Suicidal]

So all's well then.

 

[Infinitron]

A little status update: https://mightandmagicx-legacy.ubi.com/opendev/blog/post/view/after-the-patch-is-before-the-patch

Stephan, at what stage is the development of MMX right now?
We just released the first official patch. The good news is that with this deployment we finally did one full production cycle: "Develop -> Release Early Access -> Unofficial Patch -> Official Patch". The bad news is that it was more work and tension than expected.

We applied the full delivery process including a lot of approvals from different Ubisoft teams: quality assurance, compatibility testing, Uplay, installer, epilepsy tests, et cetera. As a result we had various warnings for the patch and it was more work than expected to fix the issues (and waive some of the minor ones).

Anyways, the patch is out now, and from the development point of view it´s actually a good learning for future patches and the full release.

So how is work going, are we making progress?
The overall development is making progress, but we can feel the time pressure. Especially on the content creation side. Level designers built a lot of new levels and are really working hard to meet quality and time expectations. Even though we now have all of the main story levels (at least as raw levels) it´s challenging to put the pieces together. Basically, the last 20% to finalize a level (lighting, decoration, optimization, sound and ambient effects, connecting quests, NPCs, dialogues and another gazillion of annoying small tasks) take more than 20% of the overall time. At least that´s how it feels...

That sounds like a lot of work. How's the team doing?
Within the team we are currently doing some shifting on the staffing to meet all deadlines. We will add a sound designer to help with sound and ambient effects within the levels, we have added a new team member (Marta) to support our Team Lead Thomas and we are trying to come up with good ideas how to ease the work for the content creation team.

What´s next?
The next huge step will be the first version of the modding kit which will be released with the second official patch. Aside from the modding kit the patch will focus on community feedback, gameplay and balancing changes as well as additional game mechanics.

Looks like they stuffed the world with dungeons. Hope they haven't bitten off more than they can chew.

 

[Zeriel]

The last 20% taking 50% of development time is a common principle/feature of software development, so yeah, hardly surprised.

I am not sure what to make of them originally planning to release this thing in September, though.

I am currently playing MM IV while waiting on the next patch release. Please add more health and mana potions soon. I am pretty much stuck.
Keep up the good work!

Oh lord, we're fucked.

 

[Jack Dandy]

I hope they'll make it so you can't just spam potions and call it a day.

 

[Infinitron]

Bunch of new screenshots here: http://gamebanshee.com/news/112525-might-a-magic-x-legacy-screenshots.html

 

[Infinitron]

Freemage wins: https://mightandmagicx-legacy.ubi.com/opendev/blog/post/view/favorite-class-the-results