Might & Magic 2
Well, I didn't have too much time to play last night, but I wanted to make do with what I got, so I went back to C3 and the hidden Druid Cave there. I was right, the password to enter was "druids". A simple enough puzzle to figure out, and upon entry I discovered I was knee deep in druid sewage. Yes, it was described as gross as it sounds. Also, most of the cave is considered a dangerous area, so resting can only be done in designated Meditation Rooms. To add to the danger, there are elemental snares in certain areas that deal damage to all party members. These cannot be avoided by levitation, and they cannot be mitigated through elemental defense spells.
However, there are several things worth finding in this cave. The snares can be mitigated through use of teleportation spells, and while the druid enemies within cast silence every turn, the monsters with them usually aren't tough enough to pose a real threat as I head to a Meditation Room to rest and recover. Some of the alcoves and numerous hidden rooms contain magic gear, though in general it hasn't been anything more than fodder for me to sell. I did encounter a quest within from an elder druid to seek out his young protege who has apparently turned evil and kill him. Unfortunately, I also stumbled across that protege, and he both hits hard and is incredibly hard to hit, so I'm going to need more levels and greater accuracy to be able to fight him effectively. I'll come back later to finish him off.
The most important secret of the Druid Cave is what I'm calling the spinach closet. It's a secret room near the sewer hole you enter the cave through; you can teleport directly to it from where you enter. The great thing about this room is that it contains a bunch of spinach that can be eaten every time you enter the cave. After resting, the spinach adds a permanent +10 boost to Might for everyone in the party, so it's eat spinach, teleport to the nearest Meditation Room to rest, leave, and return...at least until I've topped off what I can do through stat boosts.
What do I mean by that? Well, Might & Magic II plays with the stat bonuses beyond what the first game offered. In the original M&M, stats could go up to 255 before looping back to 0, but there was no benefit to going over 40, because they simply stopped adding additional benefit. In M&MII, stats continue to add greater benefits at certain break points. However, permanent stat increases such as the Might spinach can only boost a stat into the 50s; from there, further boosts must come from gear, spells, or usable items. Since it's anywhere in the 50s, that means that someone coming in with a 20 can get the +10 boost 3 times, and they'll cap at 50. Conversely, someone with a 19 will be able to get that boost four times and cap out at 59.
Thanks to this weird system, Noise the sorcerer now has the highest base Might in the party, at 59. Ack has the highest at 60 through gear, while Marurun also uses gear to reach 59, though both are actually at 50. Thus, going into the game with a 19 in a stat is actually better than going in with a 20. Still, I'll take what I can get. As a result, the evening was spent mapping most of the Druid Cave, nearly all of C3 on the overworld map, and pumping up Might in all characters to the max I could get from the spinach. Not only that, I managed to earn enough experience in the process to push Ack, Prfsnl, and Key to level 11. My power grows.
RPG Progress Report
Re: RPG Progress Report
Might & Magic 2
Since I didn't get to it last time, I decided that now was the perfect chance to attempt the Red Triple Crown. This was a step up in difficulty, and while I successfully manged to defeat all opponents in the three arenas, it was not without deaths in the party each time. I actually consider this a good thing, as it shows where I'm at in order to prep for the final level, the Black Triple Crown. Plus the gold and experience rewards are fairly substantial, so running through this level in the arenas will likely be good for me.
Once complete though, I then needed to move to the third castle with a red key to find the red bishop. I'd previously located the necessary castle, but I hadn't explored it at all. Once again I marched across the overworld, pushed into the castle, and started exploring. 75% of the castle map filled out later, I uncovered the red bishop, along with a whopping 100k experience bonus for completing the Red Triple Crown. Combining this with the rewards from the arena fights and the battles to get to the red bishop's location, and I'm probably netting enough to level everyone once per triple crown run at this level, so I may do this a few more times for leveling purposes.
That said, I didn't want to simply give up on my exploration, so I made it a goal to finally finish filling out all of overworld map C3 and check out more of map area C4. With C3 fully explored, I now have complete maps for 3 of the 20 overworld areas. I also attempted to explore out towards the fourth castle, but the random encounters out in that direction are brutal in comparison to what I've been facing, so it's currently no dice going that way. After getting crushed so brutally, I wanted a morale boost, so I tracked down a group of 255 orcs, which midway called for reinforcements, making it a fight with 355 orcs all told. I slew them all with relatively little effort on my part. Considering a few levels ago I got ground down by them with 50 to go, I can definitely tell I've gotten tougher.
What next? Well, I've explored the dungeons under a couple of towns, so perhaps I'll revisit the third town, Thundara, and push through exploring more of the map there. They have an outer wall filled with monsters and a dreaded snowbeast that I have yet to encounter, so I'm very curious what that fight will be like. I'm also sitting on a couple of skill potions, so it might be worth going and attempting some of the bigger, nastier enemies I've seen. So long as someone survives, I could end up with a ton of experience and gaining some levels. Also, I should seek the other stat boosters; Key got a new weapon that boosts Might, officially making her the strongest party member at 61 right now. And the Red Triple Crown is an excellent fall back for ensuring I continue to build my party up.
Since I didn't get to it last time, I decided that now was the perfect chance to attempt the Red Triple Crown. This was a step up in difficulty, and while I successfully manged to defeat all opponents in the three arenas, it was not without deaths in the party each time. I actually consider this a good thing, as it shows where I'm at in order to prep for the final level, the Black Triple Crown. Plus the gold and experience rewards are fairly substantial, so running through this level in the arenas will likely be good for me.
Once complete though, I then needed to move to the third castle with a red key to find the red bishop. I'd previously located the necessary castle, but I hadn't explored it at all. Once again I marched across the overworld, pushed into the castle, and started exploring. 75% of the castle map filled out later, I uncovered the red bishop, along with a whopping 100k experience bonus for completing the Red Triple Crown. Combining this with the rewards from the arena fights and the battles to get to the red bishop's location, and I'm probably netting enough to level everyone once per triple crown run at this level, so I may do this a few more times for leveling purposes.
That said, I didn't want to simply give up on my exploration, so I made it a goal to finally finish filling out all of overworld map C3 and check out more of map area C4. With C3 fully explored, I now have complete maps for 3 of the 20 overworld areas. I also attempted to explore out towards the fourth castle, but the random encounters out in that direction are brutal in comparison to what I've been facing, so it's currently no dice going that way. After getting crushed so brutally, I wanted a morale boost, so I tracked down a group of 255 orcs, which midway called for reinforcements, making it a fight with 355 orcs all told. I slew them all with relatively little effort on my part. Considering a few levels ago I got ground down by them with 50 to go, I can definitely tell I've gotten tougher.
What next? Well, I've explored the dungeons under a couple of towns, so perhaps I'll revisit the third town, Thundara, and push through exploring more of the map there. They have an outer wall filled with monsters and a dreaded snowbeast that I have yet to encounter, so I'm very curious what that fight will be like. I'm also sitting on a couple of skill potions, so it might be worth going and attempting some of the bigger, nastier enemies I've seen. So long as someone survives, I could end up with a ton of experience and gaining some levels. Also, I should seek the other stat boosters; Key got a new weapon that boosts Might, officially making her the strongest party member at 61 right now. And the Red Triple Crown is an excellent fall back for ensuring I continue to build my party up.
Re: RPG Progress Report
Might and Magic 2
Yeah, I let a week go by before posting. I wasn't sure if you guys really needed daily updates on this sort of thing, though they are a nice way for me to decompress and put down my thoughts.
When I left off, my characters were around level 11 or so. In the last week, I've bolstered them up to level 15, with one at 16. How? Exploration! I've made it a point to go exploring, and in the process I've successfully boosted my stats too. While I'm not always able to map every area due to dangers and a few instant deaths, I have successfully managed to uncover all of A-2, A-3, B-2, B-3, B-4, C-1, C-2, C-3, and D-4. That's 9 of the 20 overworld sections in the game, and many of the rest have large swathes uncovered. Unfortunately, it also means I've had some harrowing encounters, such as a Dragon Lord sitting in D-1 near an area with radiation that instantly exterminates one of my characters when I visit. As a consequence, I can't explore it all, but I'm doing what I can.
In the process, I've managed to uncover many of the NPCs in the game. Might & Magic 2 has a system that allows for up to 6 playable characters in the game, but you can fill out up to 8 slots by bringing along hirelings that you find throughout the world. These hirelings have a cost associated that you must pay each day, and they lack equipment when you start, but they do provide additional bodies in a tough fight. They also need to be leveled up, so the downsides are pretty big, but I've still been tracking them down for a reason I'll get into in a second. Of the 24 hirelings, I've managed to locate 22.
Why do I want to find them? Because the promotion quests can only be completed by characters of specific classes. For example, the Knight promotion quest requires I fight a jousting evil knight, but he'll only fight a party made up of Knights and Robbers. With enough hirelings, I can walk in with nearly a full party as opposed to the two characters that would normally be able to fight. Even if they're weak, they'll make a decent distraction, and I can use them all as healers if need be.
At this point, I've found the locations for the Knight, Archer, Cleric, Sorcerer, and Paladin promotion quests, as well as the Barbarian...though I do not have any Barbarians, so it's a moot point. The Robber class also can tag along with any other class for a promotion, so that means I've found all I need for my main party. The trouble now is ensuring I have the capability to reach the quest and the power to overcome it. Since traveling through forests and mountains in M&M2 requires certain skills, I'll have to train the hirelings for travel so I can go and track down these quests. As for beating them...well, that's going to take more leveling and relying on things like skill potions or stat boosts.
I've also successfully managed to beat the Black Ticket Triple Crown with the party, though it wasn't easy. Nearly every fight, I barely squeaked by, so it might not actually count since so few characters survived each battle. As a result, the game might not give me credit for the characters actually doing it. Hence, I'll need to do it again, but I'm going to need more experience before I can successfully pull it off. Experience and luck, as some of the monsters that you can fight are mercilessly tough.
I also completed a quest recently that gives me access to a time machine. Basically I had to bring the hireling Sherman to a king known as Mr. Peabody... The hirelings are made up of geek references, so yeah, I ain't exactly praising the writing here.
There are numerous dungeons that I've uncovered, and many of these I've managed to explore at least partially. I finally killed the Horvath in the Druid Cave, which resulted in my getting the Divine Intervention spell. I explored all of Tundara and slew the snowbeasts there, and I've explored most of the dungeons under all five towns. The castles I've yet to visit their dungeons, though I've found teleporters which will take me to each of them. I'm also knocking out a cave in the swamp that happens to be a dungeon spa for monsters; some of the monsters are tough, but the traps on their treasure chests are even worse. I've died twice to them, despite Prfsnl having a solid Thievery chance. One quirk of the game is that you can get your Thievery % up to 255, and you'll still fail to bypass booby traps on chests, but it's much, much rarer when it happens vs any other character attempting to open a chest.
I also finally managed to visit the fourth castle, and there the queen asked that I complete the Black Triple Crown and earn my promotions, so that's my goal. I will continue exploring and building myself up.
Keep Ack, Bone, Elkin, Key, Prfsnl, and Noise in your thoughts, folks; they have many more dangers ahead of them.
Yeah, I let a week go by before posting. I wasn't sure if you guys really needed daily updates on this sort of thing, though they are a nice way for me to decompress and put down my thoughts.
When I left off, my characters were around level 11 or so. In the last week, I've bolstered them up to level 15, with one at 16. How? Exploration! I've made it a point to go exploring, and in the process I've successfully boosted my stats too. While I'm not always able to map every area due to dangers and a few instant deaths, I have successfully managed to uncover all of A-2, A-3, B-2, B-3, B-4, C-1, C-2, C-3, and D-4. That's 9 of the 20 overworld sections in the game, and many of the rest have large swathes uncovered. Unfortunately, it also means I've had some harrowing encounters, such as a Dragon Lord sitting in D-1 near an area with radiation that instantly exterminates one of my characters when I visit. As a consequence, I can't explore it all, but I'm doing what I can.
In the process, I've managed to uncover many of the NPCs in the game. Might & Magic 2 has a system that allows for up to 6 playable characters in the game, but you can fill out up to 8 slots by bringing along hirelings that you find throughout the world. These hirelings have a cost associated that you must pay each day, and they lack equipment when you start, but they do provide additional bodies in a tough fight. They also need to be leveled up, so the downsides are pretty big, but I've still been tracking them down for a reason I'll get into in a second. Of the 24 hirelings, I've managed to locate 22.
Why do I want to find them? Because the promotion quests can only be completed by characters of specific classes. For example, the Knight promotion quest requires I fight a jousting evil knight, but he'll only fight a party made up of Knights and Robbers. With enough hirelings, I can walk in with nearly a full party as opposed to the two characters that would normally be able to fight. Even if they're weak, they'll make a decent distraction, and I can use them all as healers if need be.
At this point, I've found the locations for the Knight, Archer, Cleric, Sorcerer, and Paladin promotion quests, as well as the Barbarian...though I do not have any Barbarians, so it's a moot point. The Robber class also can tag along with any other class for a promotion, so that means I've found all I need for my main party. The trouble now is ensuring I have the capability to reach the quest and the power to overcome it. Since traveling through forests and mountains in M&M2 requires certain skills, I'll have to train the hirelings for travel so I can go and track down these quests. As for beating them...well, that's going to take more leveling and relying on things like skill potions or stat boosts.
I've also successfully managed to beat the Black Ticket Triple Crown with the party, though it wasn't easy. Nearly every fight, I barely squeaked by, so it might not actually count since so few characters survived each battle. As a result, the game might not give me credit for the characters actually doing it. Hence, I'll need to do it again, but I'm going to need more experience before I can successfully pull it off. Experience and luck, as some of the monsters that you can fight are mercilessly tough.
I also completed a quest recently that gives me access to a time machine. Basically I had to bring the hireling Sherman to a king known as Mr. Peabody... The hirelings are made up of geek references, so yeah, I ain't exactly praising the writing here.
There are numerous dungeons that I've uncovered, and many of these I've managed to explore at least partially. I finally killed the Horvath in the Druid Cave, which resulted in my getting the Divine Intervention spell. I explored all of Tundara and slew the snowbeasts there, and I've explored most of the dungeons under all five towns. The castles I've yet to visit their dungeons, though I've found teleporters which will take me to each of them. I'm also knocking out a cave in the swamp that happens to be a dungeon spa for monsters; some of the monsters are tough, but the traps on their treasure chests are even worse. I've died twice to them, despite Prfsnl having a solid Thievery chance. One quirk of the game is that you can get your Thievery % up to 255, and you'll still fail to bypass booby traps on chests, but it's much, much rarer when it happens vs any other character attempting to open a chest.
I also finally managed to visit the fourth castle, and there the queen asked that I complete the Black Triple Crown and earn my promotions, so that's my goal. I will continue exploring and building myself up.
Keep Ack, Bone, Elkin, Key, Prfsnl, and Noise in your thoughts, folks; they have many more dangers ahead of them.
Re: RPG Progress Report
Might and Magic 2
All right, time for another update.
I found the circus. It's perhaps the most important event in the game. Why? Because you can compete in various games and win a Cupie Doll. This doll is then taken to a hermit who points you to a special pond. If you seek the pond and bathe in it, then the next time you play a circus game, you get +10 permanently added to a stat, depending on which game you picked. For example, pick the strength game, and it's +10 might, while a three shell game is +10 intellect. These numbers max out at 100 too, which is significantly better than the 50s max that the previous booster locations I was seeking could do. Unfortunately, the downside is that the circus is only available for part of the year, while the booster locations are available year-round.
Still, I managed to figure out what to do and have since used the circus to pump up the party's might, endurance, speed, and intellect to 100 for everyone. Personality got the treatment next to help certain Cleric spells, so it's now in the 60s. That leaves luck and accuracy, and I've found the luck booster location, so with the circus gone, I'm still working to get that one up for folks.
Why is it significant to pump up everyone's stats? Because this in turn helps make the party tougher so they can complete their job quests! With my newly pumped up team, I took Ack and Prfsnl to complete the Knight quest, since Robbers can help anyone out. Boom, he went down in a single hit from Ack, and both guys got their promotions and five levels worth of experience. You can only promote once, but with a beefy Prfsnl now backing up everyone, I was then able to perform the tests to get Elkin and Marurun promoted as well. This means only Key and Noise need their promotions, but their's are more complicated: they involve quests as opposed to the fights that the others had to win.
In particular, Key's will require being a minimum of level 17, since I need access to a level 9 spell to defeat a troop of ghosts. She's currently at level 16, so one level to go. Noise's quest requires going to two castles and helping a couple of wizards; I've already found the castles, so it's just a matter of getting through, though due to the limitations of gear for wizards, Noise is definitely going to have to rely more on Prfsnl to get through any combat that occurs.
What to do in the meantime? Well, I continue to explore castle dungeons and areas of the world I haven't yet spent much time in. Most of the overworld is mapped out, but there are still some areas I've hardly touched. There is also the luck booster, which I may go do, though it's behind a fight that is still tough despite the boosted stats because the enemies are extremely lucky. I will hopefully someday find that accuracy booster, but at least I've got things to do while the days pass by for the circus to return.
I also need to go back and redo the Black Triple Crown, just to make sure that everyone has gotten credit for it. It shouldn't be nearly as hard this time, but we'll see.
All right, time for another update.
I found the circus. It's perhaps the most important event in the game. Why? Because you can compete in various games and win a Cupie Doll. This doll is then taken to a hermit who points you to a special pond. If you seek the pond and bathe in it, then the next time you play a circus game, you get +10 permanently added to a stat, depending on which game you picked. For example, pick the strength game, and it's +10 might, while a three shell game is +10 intellect. These numbers max out at 100 too, which is significantly better than the 50s max that the previous booster locations I was seeking could do. Unfortunately, the downside is that the circus is only available for part of the year, while the booster locations are available year-round.
Still, I managed to figure out what to do and have since used the circus to pump up the party's might, endurance, speed, and intellect to 100 for everyone. Personality got the treatment next to help certain Cleric spells, so it's now in the 60s. That leaves luck and accuracy, and I've found the luck booster location, so with the circus gone, I'm still working to get that one up for folks.
Why is it significant to pump up everyone's stats? Because this in turn helps make the party tougher so they can complete their job quests! With my newly pumped up team, I took Ack and Prfsnl to complete the Knight quest, since Robbers can help anyone out. Boom, he went down in a single hit from Ack, and both guys got their promotions and five levels worth of experience. You can only promote once, but with a beefy Prfsnl now backing up everyone, I was then able to perform the tests to get Elkin and Marurun promoted as well. This means only Key and Noise need their promotions, but their's are more complicated: they involve quests as opposed to the fights that the others had to win.
In particular, Key's will require being a minimum of level 17, since I need access to a level 9 spell to defeat a troop of ghosts. She's currently at level 16, so one level to go. Noise's quest requires going to two castles and helping a couple of wizards; I've already found the castles, so it's just a matter of getting through, though due to the limitations of gear for wizards, Noise is definitely going to have to rely more on Prfsnl to get through any combat that occurs.
What to do in the meantime? Well, I continue to explore castle dungeons and areas of the world I haven't yet spent much time in. Most of the overworld is mapped out, but there are still some areas I've hardly touched. There is also the luck booster, which I may go do, though it's behind a fight that is still tough despite the boosted stats because the enemies are extremely lucky. I will hopefully someday find that accuracy booster, but at least I've got things to do while the days pass by for the circus to return.
I also need to go back and redo the Black Triple Crown, just to make sure that everyone has gotten credit for it. It shouldn't be nearly as hard this time, but we'll see.
Re: RPG Progress Report
So do you have a sense yet of what your goal is once your party is sufficiently buffed?
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
Re: RPG Progress Report
From what I have gathered, I have to speak with that queen once I have all the promotions and everyone has bested the Black Triple Crown. I know I also have to do some kind of time travel and gather up some discs
Re: RPG Progress Report
Might & Magic 2
I know, you've all been waiting with bated breath to see when I'd get back to posting about my experience with Might & Magic 2. Truth is, yeah, playing the first and second Might & Magic games did lead to some burn out, so I needed a break for some other games. That break ended up longer than expected, but I finally sat down and started whittling away at the game again.
What did I do? MAKE PROGRESS. The first thing to do upon returning to the game was make another attempt at the Black Triple Crown, and this time I bested it with all six main party members still alive, thus making them all winners. With this necessary step out of the way, I dug around a bit in dungeons and went to take on the Luck Wolves again to boost the party's luck stats permanently by another 10. In the process, Key and Noise earned enough experience to go up to level 17, which was the next big hurdle I faced.
Why was that a hurdle? Because level 17 is the necessary break point to reach your most powerful spells. While it wasn't as important for Noise to hit it as a sorcerer for his job quest, it was vital for Key. If you've managed to track down the right spot, one of her top tier spells is Holy Word, which instantly annihilates all undead. With this spell in tow, I geared up a party full of clerics and robbers and went to battle for Corak's soul. It's guarded by a troupe of ghosts, but Holy Word slew them all, and I then took it to his resting place, where I had to fight a few more battles before unlocking access to his body. After a few more Holy Words, Corak's spirit returned life to his corpse, and Key was officially promoted. This also earned her a bunch of experience, so she shot up to level 21 along with the rest of the party...except Noise.
Why did Noise go last? Because the sorcerer quest is complicated, and because it's Noise. I mean...come on. But with 5 of 6 characters done, he had to get his + too, so I loaded up this time with Robbers and Sorcerers and headed to the Castles of Good and Evil to free the wizards within and restore balance. Each castle has a similar layout, where you have to take a clue and pick a door to go through. Each row has one good door with no fights, but the rest are all battles. Trial and error can teach you the right door, but instead it's usually better just to figure out the clue and move on. After some frustrating time and some tough battles, I made it through both of these dungeons, the Noise also earned his promotion and enough experience to reach level 21.
With the party now promoted and winners of the full Triple Crown, I headed to Luxus to speak to the queen. She promptly told me to speak to her father about his time machine...oh hell, I had already done that. I've had access to the time machine for a while. On the way back to the main town I use as my base of operations, I stopped off to kill a lich lord and gain access to one of the last two NPC Hirelings I was missing, Mr. Wizard. The experience pay out also boosted everyone up to level 22. Before going into time, I decided to check out a few more little things, such as getting the spell of Fire Transmutation in the mountains of the northeast map corner as well as killing the Dragon Lord, who proved to be a rather easy fight for a buffed party with access to max level spells. I rested, saved, and headed to see Mr. Peabody's time machine.
In the year 800, a giant dragon slays a king. If only I had the elemental talons and an orb, I could save him and change history! Well, I have a rough idea of where the talons are, so now I'm taking stabs at exploring a castle that exists in the year 800 which is demolished by the time you reach the 900s where I operate. This castle provides clues to spell and hireling locations, so I figure it's worth checking out anyway.
I know, you've all been waiting with bated breath to see when I'd get back to posting about my experience with Might & Magic 2. Truth is, yeah, playing the first and second Might & Magic games did lead to some burn out, so I needed a break for some other games. That break ended up longer than expected, but I finally sat down and started whittling away at the game again.
What did I do? MAKE PROGRESS. The first thing to do upon returning to the game was make another attempt at the Black Triple Crown, and this time I bested it with all six main party members still alive, thus making them all winners. With this necessary step out of the way, I dug around a bit in dungeons and went to take on the Luck Wolves again to boost the party's luck stats permanently by another 10. In the process, Key and Noise earned enough experience to go up to level 17, which was the next big hurdle I faced.
Why was that a hurdle? Because level 17 is the necessary break point to reach your most powerful spells. While it wasn't as important for Noise to hit it as a sorcerer for his job quest, it was vital for Key. If you've managed to track down the right spot, one of her top tier spells is Holy Word, which instantly annihilates all undead. With this spell in tow, I geared up a party full of clerics and robbers and went to battle for Corak's soul. It's guarded by a troupe of ghosts, but Holy Word slew them all, and I then took it to his resting place, where I had to fight a few more battles before unlocking access to his body. After a few more Holy Words, Corak's spirit returned life to his corpse, and Key was officially promoted. This also earned her a bunch of experience, so she shot up to level 21 along with the rest of the party...except Noise.
Why did Noise go last? Because the sorcerer quest is complicated, and because it's Noise. I mean...come on. But with 5 of 6 characters done, he had to get his + too, so I loaded up this time with Robbers and Sorcerers and headed to the Castles of Good and Evil to free the wizards within and restore balance. Each castle has a similar layout, where you have to take a clue and pick a door to go through. Each row has one good door with no fights, but the rest are all battles. Trial and error can teach you the right door, but instead it's usually better just to figure out the clue and move on. After some frustrating time and some tough battles, I made it through both of these dungeons, the Noise also earned his promotion and enough experience to reach level 21.
With the party now promoted and winners of the full Triple Crown, I headed to Luxus to speak to the queen. She promptly told me to speak to her father about his time machine...oh hell, I had already done that. I've had access to the time machine for a while. On the way back to the main town I use as my base of operations, I stopped off to kill a lich lord and gain access to one of the last two NPC Hirelings I was missing, Mr. Wizard. The experience pay out also boosted everyone up to level 22. Before going into time, I decided to check out a few more little things, such as getting the spell of Fire Transmutation in the mountains of the northeast map corner as well as killing the Dragon Lord, who proved to be a rather easy fight for a buffed party with access to max level spells. I rested, saved, and headed to see Mr. Peabody's time machine.
In the year 800, a giant dragon slays a king. If only I had the elemental talons and an orb, I could save him and change history! Well, I have a rough idea of where the talons are, so now I'm taking stabs at exploring a castle that exists in the year 800 which is demolished by the time you reach the 900s where I operate. This castle provides clues to spell and hireling locations, so I figure it's worth checking out anyway.
Re: RPG Progress Report
Might & Magic 2
Yep, despite the slow progress, progress is still being made. They say slow and steady wins the race, and I've got the slow part down, but remind me not to play two big RPGs in the same series back to back again any time soon. Burn out is a serious thing, and my job these days ain't helping any.
When I last left off, I was traveling through time to explore a castle that was destroyed in the 800s. After several abortive attempts mapping out a few sections, I finally stumbled across the first of my prizes: an elemental disc. It took a couple of trips, returning back to my "current" time in the 900s to rest and sell gear, but I eventually managed to acquire all four of the elemental discs. These discs are necessary for entering the elemental plains so I can gather up the four elemental talons, which are needed along with an orb to kill the super dragon in the year 800 and change history.
Unfortunately, the disc isn't all I need, as I also must find transmutation spells for the four plains to be able to enter them. These are generally found pretty close to the planar portals, so I explored a few of the areas to locate the necessary spells and took my first dip into the Plain of Air for its talon. Once inside, Elemental Hydras, Air Elementals, and a variety of other nasty critters proceeded to kick my ass, sending me limping back home each time. Facing stiff competition, I decided it was a better idea to return to powering up and exploring some of the few remaining areas that I hadn't yet wrapped up.
The first was to go back to Dawn's cave to fight the Luck Wolves and boost my own luck. I faced the battle a few times until I reached the cap, roughly in the 50s, for everyone's luck stat. I'll need the carnival to return to go higher, but for now, every stat boost is a boon.
I also returned to exploring. While looking around near Vulcania, I discovered the Gemmaker's Cave, full of gems used for magic as well as a large room full of lava. By using the levitation spell, I was able to traverse the room and retrieve several pieces of gear, including a Flaming Sword +10. This is the best melee weapon I've seen so far for the likes of Ack, so I gave it to him and passed down his Acid Sword +6 to Marurun. While his sword went to Prfsnl, I later found an Accuracy Sword +6 which replaced his weapon of choice; his shield was also replaced by a Fire Shield +5 I discovered in the cave.
Once fully explored, I left the Gemmaker's Cave, saved at nearby Vulcania, and then marched onward to the Dragon's Den cave near to the fight with the Dragon Lord. Inside, there are numerous fights with Earth Wyrms, Wyverns, Cloud Dragons, Ice Dragons, and so on. I also discovered a large group of Phase Spirits that crumbled before the might of Key's awesome Cleric magic for a million experience. My exploits here also proved fruitful, netting a Flamberge +5 for Elkin that replaces his previous +4.
The Dragon's Den is only halfway explored, but several trips have managed to net me a lot of money and experience, pushing the party up around level 23-24. I'm looking to continue my explorations there, and there are some incredibly powerful spells that I'm still missing, so I may go explore to see if I can track them down. The tougher I get, the better my chances in the elemental plains.
Yep, despite the slow progress, progress is still being made. They say slow and steady wins the race, and I've got the slow part down, but remind me not to play two big RPGs in the same series back to back again any time soon. Burn out is a serious thing, and my job these days ain't helping any.
When I last left off, I was traveling through time to explore a castle that was destroyed in the 800s. After several abortive attempts mapping out a few sections, I finally stumbled across the first of my prizes: an elemental disc. It took a couple of trips, returning back to my "current" time in the 900s to rest and sell gear, but I eventually managed to acquire all four of the elemental discs. These discs are necessary for entering the elemental plains so I can gather up the four elemental talons, which are needed along with an orb to kill the super dragon in the year 800 and change history.
Unfortunately, the disc isn't all I need, as I also must find transmutation spells for the four plains to be able to enter them. These are generally found pretty close to the planar portals, so I explored a few of the areas to locate the necessary spells and took my first dip into the Plain of Air for its talon. Once inside, Elemental Hydras, Air Elementals, and a variety of other nasty critters proceeded to kick my ass, sending me limping back home each time. Facing stiff competition, I decided it was a better idea to return to powering up and exploring some of the few remaining areas that I hadn't yet wrapped up.
The first was to go back to Dawn's cave to fight the Luck Wolves and boost my own luck. I faced the battle a few times until I reached the cap, roughly in the 50s, for everyone's luck stat. I'll need the carnival to return to go higher, but for now, every stat boost is a boon.
I also returned to exploring. While looking around near Vulcania, I discovered the Gemmaker's Cave, full of gems used for magic as well as a large room full of lava. By using the levitation spell, I was able to traverse the room and retrieve several pieces of gear, including a Flaming Sword +10. This is the best melee weapon I've seen so far for the likes of Ack, so I gave it to him and passed down his Acid Sword +6 to Marurun. While his sword went to Prfsnl, I later found an Accuracy Sword +6 which replaced his weapon of choice; his shield was also replaced by a Fire Shield +5 I discovered in the cave.
Once fully explored, I left the Gemmaker's Cave, saved at nearby Vulcania, and then marched onward to the Dragon's Den cave near to the fight with the Dragon Lord. Inside, there are numerous fights with Earth Wyrms, Wyverns, Cloud Dragons, Ice Dragons, and so on. I also discovered a large group of Phase Spirits that crumbled before the might of Key's awesome Cleric magic for a million experience. My exploits here also proved fruitful, netting a Flamberge +5 for Elkin that replaces his previous +4.
The Dragon's Den is only halfway explored, but several trips have managed to net me a lot of money and experience, pushing the party up around level 23-24. I'm looking to continue my explorations there, and there are some incredibly powerful spells that I'm still missing, so I may go explore to see if I can track them down. The tougher I get, the better my chances in the elemental plains.
Re: RPG Progress Report
Story-wise you're on the home stretch my man. The dragon isn't the end goal, but is best thought of as the Giovanni fight for the last badge before doing the Elite Four. And remember to have pen and paper handy for the end of the game.
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
Re: RPG Progress Report
MrPopo wrote:Story-wise you're on the home stretch my man. The dragon isn't the end goal, but is best thought of as the Giovanni fight for the last badge before doing the Elite Four. And remember to have pen and paper handy for the end of the game.
Ha, fun. The one kicker is the ever-present question of whether I'm actually powerful enough to handle the fight.
That, and I gotta check my notes to figure out if I know where the orb actually is...