Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer is a role-playing video game developed for Microsoft Windows by New World Computing and released in 2000 by the 3DO Company. It is the eighth game in the Might and Magic series. The game received middling critical reviews, a first for the series, with several critics citing the game's length and its increasingly dated game engine, which had been left fundamentally unaltered since Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven in 1998.^[1]

• 1Gameplay
• 2Plot

Gameplay[edit]

Might and Magic VIII is based on the Might and Magic VI game engine, and many of its elements are strongly similar to the previous two titles in the series. Unlike the previous two games, however, Might and Magic VIII introduces a new party management system that allows all but one of the five possible player characters to be hired, dismissed or re-hired at any time during gameplay. The character class system used in the previous two games has similarly been overhauled, with only the cleric and knight classes remaining. The experience, spells, levelling and skill system present in both previous Might and Magic titles is retained, with only minor updates.In place of the traditional class system, Might and Magic VIII features non-archetypical playable races. Aside from human knights, clerics and necromancers, available classes include minotaurs, dragons, vampires, dark elves, and trolls, each of whom possesses traits unique to their particular race. As with its two predecessors, the game world is divided into fourteen 'regions', including five elemental planes, each of which contains a varying mix of explorable towns, dungeons and wildernesses. Enemies are fought in either real-time or turn-based combat, depending on the player's preference.

Quest system[edit]

In typical Might and Magic fashion, the game is fairly non-linear, so quests can be completed at the player's own leisure, though the completion of storyline quests is essential for progression. Dialog, lore and exploration are important to progression in the game, with some dungeons involving relevant puzzles. In addition, side quests and dungeons can warrant rewards if completed, but are not vital to the main storyline. Also, promotion quests can increase the capabilities of particular classes of character.

Like Might and Magic VII, the game includes a system of choices which affect fundamental aspects of gameplay. Throughout the course of the storyline, the player is given opportunities to side with either dragons or dragon hunters, and either sun priests or necromancers. This choice is permanent and affects several quests, NPC reactions and available recruitable characters. However, unlike its prequel, the game's ending sequence is not affected by the outcome of these choices.

Plot[edit]

Backstory[edit]

Might and Magic VIII takes place on the fictional world of Enroth, upon the continent of Jadame, and acts as a sequel to Might and Magic VII and Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's Blade.^[2] Over a thousand years ago, the interstellar war between the Ancients and the Kreegan drove both races off of one of the Ancients' many colony worlds.^[3] During the millennium since, the original colonists and natives of that world built their own society and culture from the ruin, the stories of the Ancients and the Kreegan having long since passed into legend. Ten years ago, as depicted in Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven, the Kreegan invaded the world. The heroes of Might and Magic VI destroyed the Kreegan Queen, and the last of the Kreegan were wiped out over the course of Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia, Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor and Heroes III: Armageddon's Blade.^[4] The Ancients, however, anticipating disaster should the Kreegan manage to gain a foothold on the world, had already enacted a scorched earth plan: rather than let the world fall into the hands of their ancient enemies, they would see it destroyed outright.^[5]

A servant of the Ancients, the planeswalker Escaton, arrives in the village of Ravenshore on the continent of Jadame. Approaching the center of town, he summons a giant crystal which unleashes an elemental storm across the continent. There is widespread destruction and the boundaries to the four Elemental Planes are breached. Now elementals and monsters from beyond the boundaries are threatening to invade, fulfilling Escaton's plan to draw the powers of the elements toward the crystal and destroy the world, and the player must assemble a party of heroes to prevent this.

The game features several recurring characters from previous titles in the series, including the Elemental Lords from Might and Magic II, the Ironfists from Heroes of Might and Magic, and the necromancers Sandro and Thant from Heroes of Might and Magic III.

Setting[edit]

The continent of Jadame is first introduced in this game, previously unmentioned in the series. The four elemental gateways appear in the four corners of Jadame: the Gateway of Earth on one of the Dagger Wound Islands (southeast), the Gateway of Water in Ravage Roaming (southwest), the Gateway of Air in the Murmurwoods (northwest), and the Gateway of Fire in the Ironsand Desert (northeast). In each case they cause an environmental disaster: a volcano in the Dagger Wound Island chain erupts and the tremors destroy the bridges that link the islands, the minotaur undercity in Ravage Roaming is flooded, the trees in a large area of the Murmurwoods are uprooted by the winds, and much of the troll settlement in Ironsand is destroyed by an explosion of fire. Escaton raised an enormous crystal in the centre of the city of Ravenshore, which acts as the portal to the Plane Between Planes, where the Destroyer resides.

The first character created by the player remains with the party for the entire game and is referred to as the 'Acknowledged Champion of Jadame'. This character leads the party through the adventures in the game.

Scenario[edit]

• The initial character begins on the Dagger Wound Islands with low-level equipment, as a caravan guard employed by the Merchant Guild of Alvar. The pirates of Regna have used the cataclysm and resulting chaos to raid the Dagger Wound Islands. The pirates pose a threat to the player but are being continuously held at bay by native lizardmen.
• The characters must find a way to leave the Dagger Wound Islands and reach Ravenshore, the capital of Jadame, where their duty is to inform the Merchant Guild branch of the cataclysm. More evidence is required, so the party is commissioned to 'persuade' the smuggling ring in Ravenshore to send boats to gather more information. The smugglers are required as the Regnan pirates and their navy pose an increasing threat to other ships.
• The characters are next sent to the Merchant Guild of Alvar, in Alvar City. Here, Bastian Loudrin, the High Guildmaster, recruits the party into his service and requests that more evidence be brought to him of the lake of fire which allegedly formed in the Ironsand Desert. He asks that a witness be brought to Alvar.
• In the Ironsand Desert the characters locate a witness in the troll-inhabited town of Rust. This witness will not accompany the party to Alvar until his deceased brother's ashes are placed in the family tomb, which is also now infested with hostile creatures.
• When the characters return to Alvar with the witness, a doomsday prophecy is explained - that the destruction of the world is imminent unless the land stands united. The party must attempt to make alliances with the various 'factions' of Jadame, many of which are at war with one another.
• The minotaur city of Balthazar Lair has become flooded and in order to gain an alliance with the minotaurs, the characters must succeed in unflooding the lair. This must be done whilst fending off hostile water elementals.
• A choice must be made between allying with the dragons of Garrotte Gorge or with the Dragon Hunters; the latter are at war with the dragons. This must be done by retrieving an egg from the ogres in Ravage Roaming that contains the unborn heir to the King of the Dragons, Deftclaw. Returning it to the Dragons ensures their cooperation while entrusting it to the Dragon Hunters will gain their trust.
• Finally, a choice must be made between the Necromancers of Shadowspire or the Temple of the Sun in the Murmurwoods. To ally with the Necromancers, the characters must take with them the double-agent Cleric, Dyson Leland, who poses as a Necromancer, and steal the Nightshade Brazier, hidden in the Temple of the Sun, returning it to the Necromancer's Guild. To ally with the Temple of the Sun, the player, with Dyson Leland, must destroy the Skeleton Transformer in the bowels of the Necromancer's Guild.
• When this is accomplished, it is learned that the king and queen of Enroth are on their way to help, but are hindered by the Regnan fleet. The characters must find a way to sink the fleet.
• When the fleet is sunk, king Roland Ironfist and his wife, Catherine, arrive at Ravenshore with their sage, Xanthor. Xanthor says that he is able to fashion a key to gain access to Escaton's crystal and hence the Plane Between Planes, but that in order to do this, he must use Heartstones of the four elemental planes.
• The characters are sent to the elemental planes and battles his way through hordes of raging creatures to take the heartstones. Upon the completion of this quest, Xanthor is able to fashion a 'Conflux key' to Escaton's crystal.
• In Escaton's crystal the party battles creatures constructed from crystal, which are difficult to destroy. At the end of the crystal, the player must complete a puzzle to operate the portal to the Plane Between Planes.
• The Plane Between Planes is a place of utter chaos, which has the effect of driving weaker creatures mad. The characters battle creatures which are capable of causing insanity in the party members along with other hostile creatures.
• The characters must seek out Escaton in his palace. The palace is filled with Behemoths and other deadly foes whom you must fend off while searching for switches that open up different sections of the palace which will be audibly noticeable. (There is one door that is visible with perception, but unlike any of the others it cant [sic] be open by clicking on it, only a switch will open this one) After flipping the final switch, they may approach the Ancient's lair to learn that Escaton has imprisoned the Lords of the Elemental Planes. The player must answer three riddles in order to receive the keys to their four prisons.
• When the lords of the planes have been freed, the characters return to Ravenshore to witness the destruction of Escaton's crystal and the restoration of peace to Jadame.

Reception[edit]

Might and Magic VIII was released to a generally average reception, and was regarded by many critics as surprisingly inferior to previous titles in the series, though still a passable game. IGN praised the game's rendered cutscenes, storyline, setting and background along with its overall consistency and expansion on the Might and Magic universe, noting these as particularly strong points, but was disappointed with in-game graphics and the reused engine's low modern capabilities, citing these as pitiful compared to other, more modern RPGs.^[8]

This was echoed by GameSpot's reviewer, who, though intrigued by the series' addictive charm, was displeased with Might and Magic VIII's tedious interface and pointed out the imbalance of the dragon character class.^[1]Game Revolution's reviewer was dissatisfied with the plot, particularly in comparison to earlier titles, and felt the game was identical to both its prequels.^[7]

Port[edit]

In Japan, the game was ported by Imagineer for the PlayStation 2 under the title Might and Magic: Day of the Destroyer (マイト アンド マジック デイ･オブ･ザ･デストロイヤー). The game has just a few minor changes. Before this port, the last game in the main series to appear on a console was Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra, almost ten years previously.

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcMichael E. Ryan. 'Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer review.' 22 March 2000. GameSpot. Last accessed on 19 January 2006.
2. ^Catherine Ironfist: I fought alongside elementals in our campaigns against the Kreegan. I found them stalwart and loyal. I know Roland disagrees, but I cannot call their hostility here a case of fickleness New World Computing (2009-01-24). Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer. PC. The 3DO Company.
3. ^Melian: Their attacks against the empire of the Ancients disrupted the network of shipping and communications that held us all together, causing the Silence that marks the first year of our modern calendar. Without support from the homeworlds, our fledgling technology failed, bringing us to this sorry state. New World Computing (2009-01-24). Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven. PC. The 3DO Company.
4. ^Escaton: I am aware that the king and queen of Enroth have rid your world of Kreegans. Still, your world is to be destroyed. Once I am called, I must perform the Convocation. Once the Convocation is begun, it must continue. I was called while Kreegan still lived on your world. It matters not that they were dust by the time I arrived. New World Computing (2009-01-24). Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer. PC. The 3DO Company.
5. ^Escaton: Your world has fallen so far--it seemed certain you would not be able to defend yourselves against my enemies. Though I underestimated your abilities, and the Kreegans were ultimately destroyed, I still feel that I was right to err on the side of caution. New World Computing (2009-01-24). Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer. PC. The 3DO Company.
6. ^'Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer for PC'. GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 30 October 2018.
7. ^ ^abJoe. 'Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer reviewArchived 2008-05-09 at the Wayback Machine.' Game Revolution. Last accessed on 24 January 2009.
8. ^ ^abTal Blevins. 'Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer review.' 22 March 2000. IGN. Last accessed on 24 January 2009.

External links[edit]

• Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer at MobyGames
• Sergey Rozhenko aka GrayFace HomepageUnofficial patch repairing various problems and adding few new features

Might and Magic VIII's old graphics engine, repetitive gameplay, bugs, and relative ease will be too much to overlook.

By Michael E. on

When 3DO develops a game engine, it sure likes to get its money's worth. Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer is a perfect example: The hack-and-slash RPG looks and plays just like its two most recent predecessors, despite the fact that it features some fundamental design changes and gameplay enhancements. Consequently, Might and Magic VIII will only appeal to hard-core fans of the series who haven't yet grown weary of the repetitive gameplay that was introduced in Might and Magic VI and recycled in Might and Magic VII.

Might and Magic VIII is set in the land of Jadame, and the plot revolves around a mysterious crystal that has risen out of the ground in the centrally located city of Ravenshore. After the crystal's appearance, gateways to the four elemental planes have opened up in Jadame, causing cataclysmic destruction in the nearby lands. You begin as a humble caravan guard, and your first task is to escape the Dagger Wound Islands, which have been cut off from the mainland by an opportunistic pirate band intent on cashing in during the post-cataclysmic confusion. Beyond that, you must uncover the secret of the crystal and find a way to stop the elemental forces that are tearing Jadame apart.

In the first major break from previous games, you begin Might and Magic VIII with only one character. You can eventually control a party of five, but you must find and recruit your companions along the way. The other major change in Might and Magic VIII is that you can choose from a variety of races and classes not previously available. In addition to the basic cleric and knight, you can start out as a vampire, dark elf, minotaur, troll, or necromancer. As in previous games, each character type can be promoted via a specific quest for each class. Another significant new feature is the addition of dragons as playable characters, though they can only join your party after the game begins, meaning you can't create a dragon character from scratch.

Despite the modified party structure, the basic gameplay formula remains unchanged: You wander the countryside, fight vast hordes of monsters, accumulate lots of experience, gain many levels, learn and refine skills, and repeat. Though the game generally seems less reliant on having to slay hundreds of creatures as in Might and Magic VI, there are times when the number of monsters you'll face is simply ludicrous, especially toward the end of the game.

Dragons are especially useful to have when there's a lot of fighting to do. And since you have the option to recruit a dragon fairly early in the game, you'll almost immediately improve your combat effectiveness by a huge margin, which diminishes the challenge of the game. Between its devastating basic attack and its ability to breathe fire, your dragon will carry you to victory in almost every battle. And since you can quickly boost your dragon's skills to the point where it gains the ability to fly and can carry the entire party with it, you can easily pass areas through which you would have otherwise spent hours hacking and slashing. It's this gross game imbalance that makes dragons in Might and Magic VIII problematic. When you have a dragon in tow, combat becomes repetitive and tedious even when you're up against difficult foes, especially when the rest of your party is handy with ranged weapons.

Another game-balance problem is the extremely powerful invisibility spell, which is available to masters of the air-magic skill. So long as you don't bump into or attack any monsters while the spell is active, you can wander right on by your enemies and accomplish your quest goals without interference. Invisibility can greatly shorten the end game in Might and Magic VIII, where many of the quest dungeons are small and built around a destination you must reach, rather than an ultimate battle you must win.The skill system in Might and Magic VIII works well, as in the previous installment. It places a number of restrictions on character classes in an attempt to preserve the game balance, or to counteract the impact of having a dragon in your party. For example, you can't make all of your party members grand-master archers, but you can train most characters to at least use a bow. Some of the restrictions are annoying, such as the cleric class' inability to attain grand-master status with a mace, but the skill system is generally well implemented.

The only truly aggravating aspect of the skill system is that you must visit expert, master, and grand-master teachers who are scattered across the game world. Combined with the need to level up via training at specific locations, the never-ending search for teachers makes you feel like an errand boy, which can become tedious in a hurry, especially when each member of your party is eligible for several different skill upgrades at once. You'll get the sense while scurrying from teacher to teacher that you're doing so simply because the developers wanted to make the game longer. Many of the quests in the game also feel like busywork.

A quick glance at the screenshots for Might and Magic VIII will tell you that the graphics haven't changed much. It uses the same 3D engine and fuzzy 2D sprites to illustrate every monster and most environmental items. Some of the 2D sprites look better than others, such as the cyclops and the fire elementals, but they're still flat and make the game look very dated.

What's even more distressing is that the game has a few jumping puzzles, which can be very difficult to negotiate because of the engine's limited viewing area and the unresponsive keyboard controls. If the designers considered jumping puzzles to be a vital part of the game's design, then they should have at least enhanced the 3D engine to accommodate them.

The game also has a frustrating combat bug that leaves your party powerless against monsters that get too close in a melee. Once a creature gets near enough that its sprite runs off the top and bottom of the screen, your characters' melee attacks suddenly become useless. Might and Magic VIII also suffers from a number of other bugs, including random lockups that necessitate frequent use of the quick-save option. However, reloading after a quick save occasionally shuts down the magic system completely, so none of your characters can cast spells.

Might and Magic VIII can be fun to play in spite of all its problems, as it manages to retain most of the same addictive charm of the previous two installments. However, for newcomers to RPGs as well as gamers who're already tired of the recent Might and Magic games, Might and Magic VIII's old graphics engine, repetitive gameplay, bugs, and relative ease will be too much to overlook.