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Ugh, that penultimate boss is a pain with the Bracelet. Just finally had to turn it off. The last boss is actually ridiculously easy in comparison.

First 50:

51. Ori and the Blind Forest - Xbox One
52. AM2R - PC
53. Total Annihilation - PC
54. I Am Setsuna - PS4
55. Planetary Annihilation Titans - PC
56. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - PC
57. Dark Reign - Rise of the Shadowhand - PC
58. Dragon Age Inquisition - Jaws of Hakkon - PC
59. Dragon Age Inquisition - The Descent - PC
60. Dragon Age Inquisition - Trespasser - PC
61. The Witcher 3 - Hearts of Stone - PC
62. The Witcher 3 - Blood & Wine - PC
63. ReCore - Xbox One
64. Final Fantasy Tactics - PS1
65. Resident Evil 6 - PC
66. Knuckles Chaotix - 32X
67. Assault Suit Leynos - PS4
68. Might & Magic 2 - Gate to Another World - PC
69. Might & Magic 4 - Clouds of Xeen - PC
70. Might & Magic 5 - Darkside of Xeen - PC

I've wrapped up the ongoing story of the first five Might & Magic games, though I still have the postgame content that only exists in the combined 4&5 game. Darkside of Xeen is a culmination of everything that's been going on in the previous games, and a fitting end to the quintology.

Darkside of Xeen can be played standalone, but it will be a bit hard at the get-go. Newly created characters start at level 3 (or 5, not sure which, definitely not 1), and the quests in the first town all give out huge amounts of experience. In fact, a running theme through this game is that quests give out large amounts of experience and therefore you should track them all down. You'll actually have to do more of them in order to complete the main quest, as you need to collect a large number of MacGuffins that are located in the various quest dungeons. Like Might & Magic 2 this is a high-powered game; I ended at level 85 and my characters all had stats boosted to 50 at minimum, and a few had their prime stats at the effective cap. You're going to need that power, though, as many of the late game enemies can still work through a fully buffed party if you don't come at them in full force.

Overall the game has a darker feel than Clouds of Xeen. The palette of the land is darker, and the terrain has more of a "world in decline" feel to it. Additionally, you need to unlock access to all the towns. While you can sneak into the first two the other three will require you to progress quests to enter. The big bad of 4&5 has set up base on this side of the land, whereas it was just his general on the other side and his general hadn't fully pushed through his campaign yet. There's an overall sense of this being a world under siege.

One thing I noticed was that my spellcasters started to lose their luster. At these high levels (and having mostly Obsidian gear from drops) I'm getting so many attacks per turn that the magic doesn't keep up, outside the scaling magic. But my casters were now powerful enough to contribute in physical combat anyway. They were still useful for their buffs, but I feel like I could easily have replaced the sorcerer with an archer, and maybe kept the cleric for the deep SP pool (especially for divine intervention, which is the only healing spell worth a damn at this point).

One really nice aspect of Darkside is there are a lot of puzzles in it. While every Might & Magic game has had a puzzle or two this one throws a couple in every dungeon. Some are navigational, while others are logic or wordplay puzzles. It keeps the gameplay engaging even for the portions where you're massively overpowered because you brought over characters from Clouds of Xeen.

As I mentioned this wraps up the story of the first five Might & Magic games. You gain access to the logs of the two characters who have been part of the series since the beginning and get more explicit information as to what's been going on in the five games, and in the backstory in general. Things that were only mentioned obliquely in previous games are explained in detail.

On to the postgame!

Is part X somehow related to the Xeen games? Maybe I am smoking cheeb.

And there's the legit win in SGnG. Figured out the pattern quite well on the green demon. Easiest way to get there is a perfect run with crossbow, know where the chests are, get the Bracelet almost at the end of the stage, and then finish it all off. The first demon is a bit more unpredictable. You can also do it like I did and make it from the beginning of the stage with the Bracelet. I didn't have Gold Armor, so that makes it a little tougher, but being cautiously aggressive with that first form is the name of the game, then you should have enough time to wait out the second.

And as mentioned, the final final boss is a wimp. Kinda funny, that.

First 50:

51. Ori and the Blind Forest - Xbox One
52. AM2R - PC
53. Total Annihilation - PC
54. I Am Setsuna - PS4
55. Planetary Annihilation Titans - PC
56. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - PC
57. Dark Reign - Rise of the Shadowhand - PC
58. Dragon Age Inquisition - Jaws of Hakkon - PC
59. Dragon Age Inquisition - The Descent - PC
60. Dragon Age Inquisition - Trespasser - PC
61. The Witcher 3 - Hearts of Stone - PC
62. The Witcher 3 - Blood & Wine - PC
63. ReCore - Xbox One
64. Final Fantasy Tactics - PS1
65. Resident Evil 6 - PC
66. Knuckles Chaotix - 32X
67. Assault Suit Leynos - PS4
68. Might & Magic 2 - Gate to Another World - PC
69. Might & Magic 4 - Clouds of Xeen - PC
70. Might & Magic 5 - Darkside of Xeen - PC
71. Might & Magic 4&5 - World of Xeen - PC

If you're playing the combined version of Might & Magic 4 & 5 then you gain access to some postgame content once you have defeated the big bads of each individual game. This consists of uniting the two sides of Xeen into a single entity; in the end the flat world is converted into a sphere, allowing both peoples to intermingle freely.

The post game consists of a few required dungeons and one optional challenge dungeons. You need to get the elements in balance, rescue Prince Roland, and finally bring everything to a location above Darkstone Tower. Rescuing Prince Roland is what requires you to go through both Dragon Tower and Darkstone Tower, and both involve some puzzle solving and a lot of very high level enemies. But the standout is the challenge dungeon.

The first floor is to solve a crossword puzzle. The entire map is a giant crossword puzzle and the floor changes from water to ground as you fill in the correct answers. The second floor is mostly about combat against some unique enemies. The third floor is a navigational puzzle where you have to ring four gongs without touching any piles of treasure; the Jump spell is crucial here. The last floor is the heart of Xeen itself, and it's mostly for flavor. There's also a ton of clones of Lord Xeen, so I hope you remembered your Xeen Slayer Sword.

BoneSnapDeez wrote:Is part X somehow related to the Xeen games? Maybe I am smoking cheeb.

It is not. X is squarely in the fantasy-only Ubisoft continuity. The devs even wanted to try and reintroduce some of the sci-fi stuff but were denied (though the non-canon dev room itself apparently does have some throwbacks to the classic story).

So what now, Popo? Moving on to 6 or taking a break?

I was debating doing Swords of Xeen, but I think I'm going to take a bit of a break. I do think I'll do Swords of Xeen before the end of the year.

January:

February:

March:

April:

May:

June:

July:

August:

September:

October:

134) JAWS (NES)
135) Chronicles of Teddy: Harmony of Exidus
136) Double Dragon II: The Revenge (PCE CD)
137) Splatterhouse (TG-16)
138) Super Dodge Ball (PCE)
139) Demon's Crest (SNES)
140) Splatterhouse 2 (GEN)
141) Super Ghouls 'N' Ghosts (SNES)
142) Stargate (SNES)

Not entirely sure why, but I've always thought Stargate (and most of Probe's action games like Judge Dredd) looked interesting, but I never put much time into them. Well, this one's done, and it's... a lot better than you'd think. Nothing mind-blowing, but certainly not the worst game I've ever played.

Kurt Russell (yes, they managed to get his likeness) can shoot his gun multiple directions, throw grenades, and do some ledge-climbing. It's a bit like a more responsive Flashback or something, although there are some control quirks at times.

The last boss is pretty tough. Turns out the best method to win is to find certain spots and defend yourself via gunfire, and unload grenades when you can. I also managed to miss one of the bomb pieces earlier in the game, so I got the bad ending. Turns out I barely missed it, I went back with a save state, and finished it again. Kind of an annoying thing, so make sure to look everywhere for them (and the heiroglyphics)!

Not a terrible way to spend the day. 6.5/10? Seems a'ight, definitely above average.

First 50:

51. Ori and the Blind Forest - Xbox One
52. AM2R - PC
53. Total Annihilation - PC
54. I Am Setsuna - PS4
55. Planetary Annihilation Titans - PC
56. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - PC
57. Dark Reign - Rise of the Shadowhand - PC
58. Dragon Age Inquisition - Jaws of Hakkon - PC
59. Dragon Age Inquisition - The Descent - PC
60. Dragon Age Inquisition - Trespasser - PC
61. The Witcher 3 - Hearts of Stone - PC
62. The Witcher 3 - Blood & Wine - PC
63. ReCore - Xbox One
64. Final Fantasy Tactics - PS1
65. Resident Evil 6 - PC
66. Knuckles Chaotix - 32X
67. Assault Suit Leynos - PS4
68. Might & Magic 2 - Gate to Another World - PC
69. Might & Magic 4 - Clouds of Xeen - PC
70. Might & Magic 5 - Darkside of Xeen - PC
71. Might & Magic 4&5 - World of Xeen - PC
72. Rise of the Triad - PC

Rise of the Triad is the totally not a sequel to Wolfenstein 3D that had the unfortunate lucky to come out after Doom, relegating it to the obscure FPS's list. It's a shame, because there's a lot of fairly advanced technical stuff going on in the game. It does have a lot of rough edges, though, and not just because of the Wolfenstein engine.

Now, the game was obviously supposed to be a sequel to Wolfenstein 3D. The enemies you fight in the first three episodes all look like they would be appropriate in a Wolfenstein game, and only one sound bite (Infidel!) is a nod to the actual plot of the game, which is something about a cult using magic to get a guy? I dunno, it's the barest of excuse plots. But then Doom came out and billing yourself as a Wolfenstein sequel was a guarantee that no one would pay attention. So they gave it a fourth episode and a not Wolfenstein plot in the hopes that people would give it a chance. They didn't.

Now, since it's on the Wolfenstein engine, they're forced to use a block-based level design. However, unlike Wolfenstein this game has lots of wide open areas and it makes major usage of the Z axis; I'd say it makes better use of it than Doom does. The game makes use of it in two ways. One is jump pads, which can be used to get across barriers or just to get up somewhere high. The second is the fact that they have lots of floating platforms all over the place. These can be walked on top of and underneath if they're high enough. That doesn't sound impressive, but at the time it was unheard of. This let them get some creative level design in even though they were restricted to more blocky architecture.

The game also is very much on the arcade side of things. Your primary weapons are a pistol, dual pistols, and an MP40, all of which have infinite ammo and no reloading. You also can carry a single secondary weapon which consists of a series of missile launchers and a couple of magic items. These secondary weapons do heavy damage and are required to kill bosses and robots. Additionally, there are several powerups and power downs you can get in the game, such as flight, god mode, dog mode, mushroom mode, and bouncy mode. It all lends to a bit more of a sillier atmosphere compared to Doom.

Unfortunately, the game's rough edges are frustrating at times. The level design relies heavily on traps and moving walls (and moving walls that are on fire) which can lead to a lot of bullshit deaths. Speaking of bullshit, starting in episode 2 you encounter the Enforcer, who has way too much health, has a high damage machine gun, and can throw grenades. If you don't engage them immediately with either heavy artillery or MP40 to stunlock them they will quickly take you out. This wouldn't be so bad if they weren't such bullet sponges. The monks in the fourth episode are worse; they have as much health and do as much damage, but they make almost no noise. If you come out of a door facing the wrong way the first time you realize there's an enemy is when you take a fireball in the back that nearly kills you. It feels like a lot of fake difficulty. Also, the third boss is utterly stupid in its difficulty and the final boss has to be refought if you don't grab a hidden flight powerup, hit two switches, and go to an area behind the boss arena you need to fly into to trigger his final death.

A flawed but fun FPS from the old days.