Matt Chat

[mattbarton.exe]

Thanks, Gilgamesh. I'm trying to decide what to do my retrospective on. Might and Magic 6 has been on my list for awhile, but perhaps it's time to look at Eye of the Beholder or Black Crypt. I haven't played either one hardly at all, so it might offend folks who expect me to be An Expert at the games I cover.

By the way, what do you think of my latest game? Jeepney Jeepers!

I bet you guys would get a big kick out of the endgame boss, Gorfinator.
http://www.armchairarcade.com/neo/node/4395

[demoniac]

I didn't like M&M6 at all. Loved the predicessors. I've been meaning to play Black Crypt until the end -- one of these days.

[spiff]

I thought dungeon master was the grand daddy of hack n slash RPGs to play?

I loved Eye of the beholder, esp II. Puzzles and the scary sound of poison spiders was really fun.

Black Crypt.. I never got into it, even with all the good reviews it just felt like a bad beholder copy...and missing that explorer feel for some reason. Can't really put my finger on it.

[gimbal]

Originally Posted by demoniac

I didn't like M&M6 at all. Loved the predicessors. I've been meaning to play Black Crypt until the end -- one of these days.

It has a certain charm. I mean its a mouse mashing shoot em up at heart, but there is SOMETHING that makes me go back from time to time... The large dungeons, the high difficulty, the secrets, the looting, the epic spells, the tongue in cheek humor... If it had a better combat system this would have been one great RPG.

I thought dungeon master was the grand daddy of hack n slash RPGs to play?

Perhaps not, but it certainly gave the genre a huge popularity boost.

[gilgamesh]

Originally Posted by mattbarton.exe

By the way, what do you think of my latest game? Jeepney Jeepers!

I bet you guys would get a big kick out of the endgame boss, Gorfinator.
http://www.armchairarcade.com/neo/node/4395

Oh no. I can't break through to him. Those aliens are getting the better of me each time.

Anyway
[ Show youtube player ]

[Zandig]

In my opinion Might and Magic VI is one of the best RPGs of all time.
It's dungeons cannot be beat. The dungeons in 7 and 8 pale in comparison.
Overall indepth and solid balanced gameplay throughout.

[gimbal]

Originally Posted by Zandig

In my opinion Might and Magic VI is one of the best RPGs of all time. It's dungeons cannot be beat.

Hm no. When it comes down to it the MM6 dungeons are basically just simplistic doom levels. But that doesn't mean they are not effective, some of the later ones are quite devilish mazes.

The one thing that was terribly designed: lifts. Especially when there are a pack of enemies waiting for you at the bottom which can of course hit you before you can even see them. Grrrrr. And then my archenemy: oozes. Especially the ones that cannot be hurt with a weapon Who's idea was it to put so many of them in the game?


edit: okay, now I've seen the episode too. Too hell with it: I'm playing this game again right now.

[gilgamesh]

I didn't play MM6. I didn't take any notice of it until now, although I think 3,4,5 are great. Maybe the Heroes of M&M distracted me. Strange.

Anyway, next episode has arrived
[ Show youtube player ]

[mattbarton.exe]

Ha, I'd forgotten about the oozes. Man, I hated those!

I think my favorite dungeon is the one with the werewolves; the entrance is carved to look like a giant wolf maw. IIRC, there's also a neat pyramid level.

I've been playing Skyrim lately and am struck by how clunky it is compared to M&M 6. Always pausing the game, checking things, swapping out spells, quaffing pots, etc. Not like M&M 6 where you're almost always doing something worth doing. I wish Skyrim had a turn-based mode like M&M 6! That'd make it much easier to control and more believable, since I don't think it's possible for me to really eat 16 carrots, 4 potatoes, and 12 cabbages in a split second.

[gilgamesh]

Ha, try eating ten slices of dry toast in less than one minute.

[gimbal]

Originally Posted by gilgamesh

Ha, try eating ten slices of dry toast in less than one minute.

A skill the Brits are proud of I bet

[gilgamesh]

Another nice one
[ Show youtube player ]

Lots of discussion about P&P versus CRPG. And he has advice for prospective game designers.

Only complaint, there is a strange gap from 26:23 to 27:25.

[gilgamesh]

[ Show youtube player ]

Best one with Jay so far. I really enjoyed it. It's also the time where Patrick Stuart comes into play.

Just downloaded the Frayed Knights demo, and so should you.
(I've played Outwars btw. Thought it was cool.)

[cosmicfrog]

humm with the 3rd and final part but matt says 4th and final part at the end heheheh

[laffer]

Thanks to the Matt Chat episode on M&M 6, I started playing it again... I've had a ton of fun with it, I'm now level 100 and very close to finishing the game... a lot of fun, in my opinion.

I have a knight (good for health, and 'share life' spell), an archer (master at both fighting skills, and all four magical 'trees' available to her), a cleric (master at fighting skills, healing skills, and dark/light skills), and a sorceror.

Though I have to agree the combat gets very reptitive, it's still a great game... lots of fun to play, good atmosphere and very addictive.
Also, I love the soundtrack!

[gimbal]

MM7 is also quite fun (but more of the same). MM8 is a big step back, I warn you.

[gilgamesh]

Excellent episode ahead
[ Show youtube player ]

DRM is bullshit. Simple as that. It's just frivolous.
I mean, guys like Jay deserve every penny, but then I doubt that there is a strong connection between his falling sales numbers and FK torrents.
Douchebags copying indie games are a sad fact of life. But how many of these would have bought FK in the first place? It's a better deal to let those who just collect games because they can have it and spread the word. Btw that "pirated software is the better product" extends to the purchase process, too.

This time he must have had a really awkward reward/work ratio. But now that the game mechanics are set, FK2 will go much smoother.

[gimbal]

Probably is not so much related. People who are sad enough to pirate the very fairly priced indie games will simply never pay for anything, unless they want to play it in MP. So no loss there.

When you are in the indie business, you need to have a mature attitude. You are creating a cheap game in a sea of cheap games. If you want to be remembered for more than a month among all that choice, make something extraordinarily good for its price, or man up and expect to not sell great. Blaming disappointing sales on anything other than yourself is not productive.

[laffer]

Finished Might & Magic VI a few days ago now, thanks to that Matt Chat episode!

Very good game, the only real flaw is it gets very repetitive... but still, really addictive and the very nice music adds a nice atmosphere.

Going to have to play M&M 7 next, and then maybe M&M 8... even though I remember that one being a letdown.

I'll leave M&M 9 alone, though

[gimbal]

Originally Posted by laffer

Very good game, the only real flaw is it gets very repetitive... but still, really addictive and the very nice music adds a nice atmosphere.

Aha, but as soon as you start to get that feeling the epic spells open up The most fun part of the game is the last few sections where you get to shower hordes of enemies with meteor storms and the likes Yeehaw!

That is something severely lacking in modern RPGs, the spells are so darned boring. Let me summon the wrath of hell on the poor fools who appose me, then you *really* have a reason to level up to greatness I'm expecting a lot from Diablo 3 in that area.