Might & Magic X: Legacy Preview

There’s a hands-on preview for Might & Magic X: Legacy over at RPG Codex, based on an early build of the title. While the writer wasn’t pleased with the change of setting and a lack of puzzles, there are some fairly positive quotes over the art, character development and combat:

Managing your party in Might & Magic X: Legacy is quite straight-forward. There are a few important items you will probably want to be stocked up on when you leave town for the first time: healing potions, mana potions, antidotes, any handy scrolls you may find and so on (there seems to be scrolls available for most spells). There are also camping supplies that you will need in order to be able to rest (unless you have the Victualer hireling in the party in which case you get to rest once per day without the need for supplies).

The town alchemist does not re-stock potions in the preview build, so if that sticks into retail, you may want to play in a pretty conservative manner. There is no alchemy skill or crafting in Might and Magic X. You must rely on what few items you can initially buy in stores and what items you may find while adventuring to keep you going. There will probably be moments when you would have loved to head back to town just to re-supply, perhaps even in the middle of a dungeon. I found myself save-scumming a couple of fight just to save a potion or two, but that is probably just my OCD gaming-behavior kicking in. But I’m kind of glad there is need for the player to actually conserve potions and scrolls, rather than chug them down like in some hack-n-slash game. This makes resting and the required supplies an even more valued commodity.

There are three primary schools of combat skills for your characters to dabble in: melee combat, ranged combat, and magic. (The actual categories for skills are “Weapons”, “Miscellaneous” and “Magic Schools”, but I’m making up my own here). Melee is covered by several types of weapon skills, which include swords, axes, spears and so on. Ranged skills cover only bows and crossbow. Magic skills include the levels of aptitude in the seven different domains of magic, some which also are available to non-mages. Besides item and magic-specifc skills, there are also a few skills to improve the use of armor, shields and fighting styles. What skill are available for your characters are decided by their class. Most characters have the option to learn how to use a ranged weapon, which is nice – having a ranged alternative for all your characters is something I’d recommend.

In town is also where you may find most trainers, although you will find some out in the dungeons and elsewhere too. When in town, they are generally found in temples and barracks and the like (but they could also be merchants a few NPCs serve more roles than one). To receive training from a trainer allowing you to further advance your character’s power in a certain skill you will need to pay a fee and have the appropriate skill-points allocated (earned through leveling up, of course). Another part of character progression besides skills are the attributes. Attributes in Might and Magic X are like attributes found in so many other RPGs. Raise your Vitality for an increase in health (although in this case, the skill Endurance serves the same purpose), increase your Might to hit harder, raise your Spirit for a bigger mana pool, and so on. Character progression is all very intuitive in how it works, although finding the specific trainers you’re looking for can take a while if it’s your first time playing the game. The game definitely leaves room for metagaming, but I guess that’s true to the spirit of Might and Magic.