In this review, we try to solve our ogre breath in the 16-Bit DOS game Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen. We find out how well this RPG game plays.
This game was released in 1993 and is the fifth game in the main series.
Our knowledge is almost complete in this series now. We played Might and Magic: Book One – Secret of the Inner Sanctum. That game wound up being passable, but not much beyond that. From there, we tried Might and Magic II – Gates to Another World. That game also wound up being passable, but nothing spectacular beyond that. After that, we tried Might and Magic III – Isles of Terra. That game wound up being a very solid worthwhile game to play. After that, we tried Might and Magic IV – Clouds of Xeen. That’s the first game in the chronology that earned a great score.
After that, we played Might and Magic 6 – Mandate of Heaven. That game got an excellent score and wound up being our favourite of the series to date. Still a highly recommended game. Next up is Might and Magic VII – For Blood and Honour. That game got a decent score all around. From there, we tried Might and Magic VIII – Day of the Destroyer. That game got a solid score and wound up being quite enjoyable. Finally, we played Might and Magic IX. If it weren’t for the bugs, I’d call it another great game. Unfortunately, bugs wound up holding this game back, relegating it to being a rather solid game instead. Still worth playing if you ask me.
Obviously, you can see that there is one game missing in this collection: game number five. Yes, we are finally getting this game played.
One particularly interesting thing about this game is the fact that it is both a sequel and expansion to the previous game in the series. Together, these two games form the “World of Xeen” game. You have two choices when playing this game: starting a fresh party or using the previous party. If you are new to this game, most people who have experience with these games would recommend you beat the previous game first before tackling this one. The reason for this is that monsters are generally much tougher. It is possible to start with a fresh party, but this largely only serves to make the beginning portions of this game much harder. I personally chose to start with the party I left off with in the previous game which had 6 characters hovering around level 18 or so.
As for the storyline, this game obviously starts directly after the events of the previous game. Having defeated Sheltem using the Sword of Xeen, you follow him into the planets darkside. When you arrive, you learn that the guardian of the darkside, the Dragon Pharaoh, has sent a command orb directly to your party. You immediately get the task of returning the command orb to the Dragon Pharoah, but not before you complete a series of tasks to get to him.
Ideally, when you teleport to the darkside, you’ll want to be inside Castleview. To get there, use the teleporter just outside of Vertigo on Cloudside. Otherwise, your first few steps may not be all that pleasant.
While enemies are much tougher, they also dole out more experience points. Additionally, you can solve various puzzles throughout the city to gain a massive boost in experience points right off the bat. You’ll also notice that the trainers have much higher training caps as well. While you likely won’t need it, the apparent level cap of this game is set to 200 – might higher than the 20th level in the previous game. While that sounds like there is 10 times the content, in this game, you just gain levels at a much faster pace.
As for weapons and armour, in this game, it’s much easier to get the much tougher materials (such as sapphire, ruby, or even diamond. This enables players to really boost not only their ability to attack, but also greatly boosts their armour class as well. One thing is for sure, gold seemed so impressive previously, but when you swap out your gold plate armour for a diamond plate armour, gold seems laughably weak by comparison. For those wondering, obsidian is the ultimate material if you can find it.
One new feature is that the secondary skills have been altered. You can get a couple of new secondary skills to aid you on your quest. Do know, however, that in this game, it is possible to lose your skills as well. An example is the cartography challenge. If you decide to try and guess the answer to the cartography side quest and guess wrong, you actually lose your cartography skill. It’s possible to re-buy the skill, but you are already losing gold in the process because of your failure.
Another element in this game is the fact that it is possible to cure your magical aging. It’s not until later in the game, but it is possible to cure this. Curing aging issues is incredibly useful because some bonuses age you horribly. Unlock the cure and the penalties are very very worth it.
You can also buy additional powerful spells. Some spells are definitely worth attempting to get while others will simply grow more powerful thanks to your ability to boost your levels much higher much more quickly.
There really are two parts to this game. First, it’s taking on Sheltem in an effort to beat the “Darkside” portion of the game. Once you complete this, you have the opportunity to complete your destiny by uniting both worlds. Both tasks feature their own endings and you get a score for both.
One thing I found with this game is that some of the puzzles and the difficulty curve is a bit tougher. On the flip side, there are a bunch of quests and puzzles you can complete for hundreds of thousands (and sometimes millions) of bonus experience points. So, this puts a serious emphasis on completing quests. The game is balanced with this in mind for the most part.
When you start reaching the higher levels, paying for all this extra training can be challenging. By the time you start making a run towards level 100 (the second highest cap in the game), you’ll find that training costs start exceeding 50,000 gold. If you have a good 8 – 10 additional levels you can move your characters up, you’ll looking at a very pricey six figure value just for one character. As a result, the emphasis towards the end of the game is less grinding your way to big experience points and more where you can find gold. Certain elements in the game can be exploited, but it involves continuously beating up a certain lich to maintain.
As for earlier parts of the game, all you’re really doing is moving around from area to area. If the enemies suddenly become overwhelmingly tough, then you probably aren’t meant for that area yet. All you’re doing is tracking down keys. Eventually, you’ll also need to track down passes for the different cities as well. At first, the city passes don’t seem to really come easy as you are sticking around Castleview, but they do pop out of the woodwork after a while. Just keep advancing your cause of completing quests to get there.
It’s generally really hard to find pitfalls in this game. Probably the biggest pitfall is the fact that the game does encourage you to complete an entire game just for the privilege of accessing this game. This can be a bit of a bummer if you just want to play this game.
The only other pitfall I see with this game is that it does rely quite heavily on quest completion. Defeating enemies and bosses do help increase your experience points, but most of your levels will generally come from experience point boosts, quest, and puzzle completion.
Grinding requires some exploitation of the game. A vast majority of the enemies don’t actually regenerate unlike the third game in the series. This can put a damper on your quest if you want to try and complete the game in a more authentic manner.
On a more positive side of things, this game offers at least as much exploration potential as the previous game. Dungeon’s more or less return to cities in the form of sewers. Additionally, this game does allow players to utilize elements from the previous game in this game as well. This definitely adds an additional element of adventure, though it will test your memory skills.
Overall, this game definitely delivers a lot of what the previous game offers and adds so much more to it. While it’s not an entirely flawless experience, the pitfalls are minor. There is a reliance on quest completion and boosts and the heavy reliance of the previous game. Otherwise, it’s hard to really pick out any major flaws in this game.
Graphically, this game adds a lot to the experience. It’s easy to see a developer taking a sequel released so closely to the previous iteration and just recycling the art. This game largely doesn’t do this. Enemies look much different and the overall look of the different areas has changes quite a lot. In terms of looks, it’s practically its own game it looks so different. Shopkeepers and other services are less human, giving you an “otherworldly” feeling in the process. So, a very solid effort overall.
Audio is pretty decent. This game also features an entirely different roster of music. Again, this helps you get that feeling you have entered not only a different world, but also an entirely different game as well. Sound effects are quite decent as well. So, a good overall experience on this front.
Overall, this game definitely adds a lot to the overall experience of the previous game. It’s pretty much its own game, really. While there is a heavy reliance of gamers having played the previous game as well as boosts and quest solving, this game also features a whole bunch of positives as well. In addition to another huge world to explore, you can also switch between worlds whenever you like (only really necessary towards the end of the game). Graphics are quite solid and audio is good overall as well. So, a great game to play if you ask me.
Overall
Furthest point in game: United the worlds. Have one character reach level 100. Most characters hovered around level 80 otherwise.
Score after defeating Sheltem: 0959203656
Score after uniting the worlds: 1456203916
General gameplay: 21/25
Replay value: 8/10
Graphics: 8/10
Audio: 3/5
Overall rating: 80%
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Facebook.
