In this review, we try to be the ultimate adventurer in the 16-Bit DOS game Might and Magic III – Isles of Terra. We find out how well this RPG game plays.
This game was released in 1991 and is the third game in the main series.
Our knowledge of this series is quite good. We played the original Might and Magic – Book One – Secret of the Inner Sanctum. That game ended up being passable. From there, we tried Might and Magic II – Gates to Another World. That game did improve on things, but wound up only being passable still.
From there, we skip forward to our first impression of the franchise, Might and Magic 6 – Mandate of Heaven. That game earned an excellent score and is highly recommended. From there, we tried Might and Magic VII – For Blood and Honor. That game wound up being OK all around. After that, we tried Might and Magic VIII – Day of the Destroyer. That game got a pretty solid score here. Finally, we tried Might and Magic IX. Like the previous game in the series, that game got a pretty solid score as well.
Obviously, there is a noticeable gap between games in the series we haven’t played yet, so we are working on closing it. This game contributes to that effort.
Inside the game itself, there isn’t much of a story to start players out, but as you advance through the game, the story does gradually fill out.
The user interface might seem a bit confusing at first. If you played the previous games, the keyboard shortcuts are largely the same. The thing with this game is that you now have mouse control and can click things. The gem above the character portraits, but below the view space is your options menu. You can access this menu with tab (new to the series at this point).
“Q” is your quick reference. You can access some quick stats about your entire party such as HP, Mana, Armour Class (AC), condition of each character, party gold, party food, and party gems.
You can also click on your characters portraits to get more detailed information about each character. This will show general stats such as strength and endurance. This menu can also show you the different skills and awards each character has as well. Additionally, you can access your items in this menu (both equipped and general items). Exchange will allow you to change the order of your characters (which might be somewhat rare once you have your party configured to your liking).
Like the previous game, you can recover your health by resting. 8 hours will pass when you do this. The thing is, you’ll also consume 6 food. So, especially towards the beginning, keep an eye on your food supply.
Some minor conditions can be removed by sleeping (such as sleep), but other conditions like poison, disease, and cursed will need attention. Some conditions can be removed by a spell, but chances are, you’ll need to visit a temple to remove some of these conditions (cursed can only be lifted at a temple).
Since you start your adventure in front of the inn in Fountain Head, the next logical thing to point out is the inn. The inn represents one of the first big changes in this series. Previously, if you needed to save, you needed to “check in” at the inn. In this game, you can save anywhere you like. When you reload, your position, status, and, well, everything else, will reload as well. This makes it much easier to venture out into the big world of the Isles of Terra.
While that function has changed, the Inn still functions as a place to configure your party. Like the previous game, you’ll need to rescue the different hirelings all over the Isles in order to use them. The thing is, they cost money every day you have them on board. Still, you can have up to two at a time, enabling you to get a total of 8 characters in your party.
If you are unsatisfied with your current party (and this party is quite well balanced save for a lack of a character to cast druid spells of course), you can swap characters out at the Inn. You’ll be able to roll new characters with different stats and abilities. Among the character classes, there is the knight, paladin, robber, cleric, sorcerer, druid, ninja, and barbarian. This game represents a small increase in classes available to players over the previous game, so you have a lot of options to balance out your party and configure it to your liking.
Like previous games, this game features a training ground. If a character or two gets enough experience points to level up, return here and train your character to get to the next level. Different training grounds have different caps on how high they can train, but the training ground at Blistering Heights is your go-to training facility when all other grounds cap out. Don’t worry, all of them cost the same.
In addition to this, there is the item store. Unlike the previous games, the inventory in these shops are greatly expanded and will restock after a while.
Also, you’ll have access to guilds in various cities. As your magic users level up, they’ll gradually gain access to more and more powerful spells. You’ll need membership to these guilds, so purchasing access is a necessity for most. They are also only open at night. Still, it is definitely worth the trouble getting access to the latest spells available to you. One slight adjustment in this game is that guilds are consolidated and now are the only places you can buy magic.
Over top of this, there are various sellers throughout the different cities. On sale are different skills you can get to make adventuring easier. Things like mountaineering and swimming can really come in handy for instance. Some places are quest specific such as the guy looking for crystal skulls. It’s worth giving all skulls to him as he can pass along valuable information along to you.
A slight alteration is the magic mirrors in this game. Previously, you had fixed teleporters. Now, you have magic mirrors that can teleport you to different fixed locations throughout the world. The only catch is that you had to find out the password for each destination. Clues are abound throughout, so you’ll gradually get most of them just by reading them.
Finally, there is the bar. This has remained largely unchanged, though now the bar is the place to buy food as well. You can also hear rumours and buy a drink if you like.
Like the previous game, each town has a dungeon you can explore. The thing is, unlike the previous games, you’re better off exploring outside first rather than taking on the dungeons right off.
When you leave the town gates, you’ll get access to the large world of the Isles of Terra. If you come across wells and springs, many of them can boost your stats temporarily. The first accessible one is off the beaten path a bit, but it can boost your Armour Class a bit.
What is a big difference in this game is the way enemies spawn on the screen. In previous games, they have fixed locations with a few random encounters thrown in the mix. Now, they are generated by specific locations on the map. If you kill all the enemies in the area, they’ll eventually respawn. If you are familiar with Gauntlet, then you might be able to figure out that destroying the generators will also stop the enemies from respawning. Destroying the base will also net you items and experience bonuses to boot.
The thing with generators is that there are two different styles of playing this game. The first style is to destroy these generators as quickly as possible. A positive benefit is that it makes the area safe to travel as you don’t have enemies to worry about any more. On the flip side, you also won’t benefit from the extra experience points and gold you net when enemies in the area respawn. In a lot of guides I’ve read, the recommended strategy is to just destroy the generators. However, I found that I quickly ran out of gold to the point where healing from negative effects became impossible to do after a while. Area’s were too dangerous to travel as I was also underleveled at the same time. To make matters worse, enemies in dungeons do not respawn.
This is what caused me to reset the game. I took a completely different strategy where the only outposts I would destroy are outposts that create enemies that cause negative effects that aren’t cheap to heal (mainly screamers and their ability to cause insanity). The end result is immediate. The only time I ran low on cash was paying the heads in the swamp. Even then, this was very temporary because I found a pot of 5 million gold shortly after. I gained a lot of levels as well in the process. This wound up making the game much easier. Not pushover easier, but easier to the point where almost everything became playable after a while.
Spells can help a lot in this game. Casting them have become substantially easier in this game. As odd as it sounds, a big improvement in this game is the fact that spells now have names. Previously in the series, spells had little more than a numbering scheme (1-1, 1-2, 2-1, 2-3, etc.). In this game, the spell power levels are somewhat retained (in that you can only buy spells if you reach a certain level as a spell caster), but now, spells are shown in a list with proper names. This makes the process substantially more user-friendly. Additionally, guilds offer full explanations of what each spell does. As a result, separate reading material isn’t required to figure out spells finally!
As you work your way around the Isles, you’ll gradually see that this game features a puzzle component. Some puzzles are pretty straight forward (sell enough skulls and you’ll get the password in the dungeon below Fountain Head). Others are real brain-teasing riddles or puzzles with only the vaguest of hints. So, if you aren’t good at puzzle solving, you may still find yourself consulting a guide to get some of those tougher ones solved.
Like the previous games in the series, this game is very open world (especially for its time). There’s no real clear order of places to go. Some dungeons are optional. Others are optional, but very helpful to you. Some are required to beat the game. Some places can very easily be skipped, but you might miss out on experience points after a bit.
The thing is, as long as you have a good strategy for pulling in experience points and gold, there will always be a place for you to explore where you can toughen up your characters. Some locations are behind lock and key. As such, these area’s aren’t really meant for adventurers who are not even at level 10 yet. Still, after a bit, you might find out that a required location is very accessible because you were actually running around in optional dungeons building up your characters without knowing it. Overall, this game can maintain a very good balance as you move around.
As enemies get tougher, it easily makes sense for you to start casing magical resistances. Some places can boost these, but spells are much more convenient. If you cast a resistance spell, one of the four gems on each corner will turn green, indicating a resistance has been cast. There is also a gargoyle on the left hand side of the screen. If you cast levitate, his wings will flap. This will enable you to avoid pits. Meanwhile, the gremlin on the right will wave his hand if you find a weakened wall that you can bash down. This requires a secret door detection skill.
Bashing walls and doors can provide you with the easiest entry into certain locations. The thing is, you need a certain amount of strength to do this. Some areas require more strength then others. Also, every attempt will also cause damage to your two lead characters.
Another good strategy to employ is using your ranged weapons. Some enemies can only attack up close, so if you equip as many characters as possible with a ranged weapon, then you can use “S” to shoot them from safe distance. This can really help you save some extra HP for a later fight.
Some enemies have the capability of breaking your equipment. Some enemies can break your armour. Others can break your weapons. Some can break everything. If you do break something, you can always pop by the item shop to repair that item. It will cost you, but you probably want to stay protected by your armour, right?
Some enemies can drop loot. This can be a source for upgrading your equipment. This is also where the game departs from the previous games. Previously, you had the “+#” modifier where +1 would increase the damage of a weapon by 1 hit point. In this game, weapons and armour have multiple modifiers that can be applied to them.
An example is a helm. By itself, these items offer 2 additional armour class points (the more armour class, the higher your defence). However, if you happen to come across a steel helm, you are better off equipping the steel helm because steel can offer an additional 4AC. In total, a steel helm offers 6AC. Just know that not all modifiers are good. A wooden modifier can subtract 3 from your armour class if it’s an armour-like item. So, you can equip a wooden helm and it’ll offer -1AC. Yes, you are better off with nothing in that case.
In addition, there are other modifiers that can be applied to a helm. A velocity helm will offer you the same old 2AC, but it will also give you +30 speed.
Also, there is the “… of” modifiers. A steel helm of antidotes is capable of casting Cure Poison when used as an item. Just know that there are limited charges with these items and using up all charges can destroy the item. So, a handy bonus, but not something that can replace a full spell caster.
What makes this modifier interesting is the fact that there are a number of items that can simply grant those modifiers. A ring, for instance, offers nothing to a character. A gold ring, however, gives a character an additional 6AC. What’s more is that you can equip 10 of these rings. The only drawback to fully accessorizing your character is the fact that equipped items use up an inventory spot. You have only 20 spots per character and you’ll need to hold on to key items in the process, so this system does have a subtle drawback after a while.
One question someone may have is whether or not death is permanent. The answer is “yes”, you have permanent death. This simply means that if you die, you’ll be kicked back to the menu. You can only reload your game and continue from there. There’s also no ability to save the same game in multiple spots within the game itself. So, save wisely.
For me, this game represents a huge improvement over the previous game. The fact that spells are named (and explained!) is huge in and of itself. The map system is also a huge improvement. Also, the ability to save anywhere is also a massive improvement to the game. While some may simply balk at the massive number of speed keys you can use, this game is also user friendly enough to allow players with less knowledge of DOS-based commands to get a good amount of information to the point where this game is playable just by clicking around.
Also, it is easy to tweak a strategy when one simply doesn’t work. When you want to destroy the outposts is something that is totally left up to the player which is really nice.
I also really like the open world concept this game offers. Some people might think that open world gaming only existed when Grand Theft Auto III came around, but this game is proof that non-linear open world gameplay has been around a lot longer then that. With so much that is improved over the previous game formula, this game is definitely a great example of what an open world style game can provide. In the end, it can be quite immersive.
This game isn’t without its flaws of course. For one, the ultimate objective isn’t all that clear unless you wind up reading material outside of the game. It’s possible to “stumble” on key components such as returning the orbs to a king or finding the key cards, but exactly what needed to be done to win is cloaked a bit too well in secrecy for me.
Another problem is the fact that some islands can be hard to access. The islands of illusion, for instance, is one area I never visited throughout the entire game. I wound up skipping it simply because I didn’t really know it existed. By default, you don’t have a druid in your party, so the Water Walk spell wound up being off limits save for an item. I saved one, but I never got to it because I found other places to explore.
Another thing that is still frustratingly present is the fact that you had to consult third party material to find out how powerful weapons were. There is no indication of how strong the weapons are or what the damage potential is. You might be able to guess at it a bit through the properties of armour (thanks to the AC as a hint), but full information is largely elusive it seems. The best you got is enemy names going from green to yellow to red to dead. Given how complex the party is at 6 people, this really isn’t enough information.
Also, the different permanent stat booster system is a bit hit and miss. Outside of saving before activating every single one of them, you are basically left guessing as to the effects. You might give your warrior higher intelligence or giving your barbarian higher luck when different classes could make better use of those. It would be nice (and this definitely is the case by the 6th game in the series) if there was some way of indicating what stat was going to be boosted before you use it up.
Finally, I never figured out how to sidestep unless it’s with a mouse. To me, it seems that mouse movement is the only option. Side stepping can be used to aim at a distance or to take less damage from unavoidable traps. So, it would have been nice if the number pad could handle it.
While complexity might hold this game back (which does make for a steeper learning curve), once you get used to some of the nuances of this game, this one does wind up being a very playable game. It’s got a great open world concept, lots of dungeons to explore, plenty of loot, an interesting modifier system, and a nice monster generator system. The magic system is a major improvement in this game. There are flaws, of course, with stat boosting system, some of the movements, exploration flaws, unclear ultimate objectives, and unclear weapon features. Still, despite the flaws, there is a lot to appreciate in this game.
Graphics are well done. The effects of damage is very informative in the midst of battle. The different types of locations are very nicely varied as well. All the different characters and enemies are nicely animated and drawn. Some status ailments aren’t all that clear (though quick reference can solve this at least). Overall, this is a great effort – especially considering this is a first person perspective game in the early nineties.
Another big improvement this game features is the audio. There’s more than just a few jingles here and there and the jingle for every battle victory is finally gone. In fact, there is a full soundtrack throughout the game. Dungeons, towns, castles, and the great outdoors, for instance, all have their own tracks. Those are just a few examples. The music itself is well done. Considering how few tracks there really are in the game, it’s actually impressive the music doesn’t get old after a while.
Overall, this is a very solid performing game. It’s impressive how much has improved between game II and III. It’s got a great open world concept, a nice monster generator system, vastly improved interface, and the look and feel of it works quite well. The learning curve can be a bit steep at first, the main game objective might be less than clear, movement systems and explorations can have their flaws. Still, there is a lot to enjoy in this game. Graphics are great and the audio is nicely done. I personally wondered when this game franchise started getting good and it looks like III is it. A solid game that is recommended in my books.
Overall
Furthest point in game: Beat the game (with some help from guides along the way). Final score: 4,490,502,806.
Character levels ranged between level 56 and 60.
General gameplay: 18/25
Replay value: 8/10
Graphics: 8/10
Audio: 3/5
Overall rating: 74%
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Facebook.
