Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven was released in 1998 by 3DO, and is part of the Might and Magic series. The world had not seen another Might and Magic game in five years before this, as the previous Might and Magic chapter was released in 1993. The game takes part on the continent of Enroth, and is mainly about the story of Roland Ironfist, being held captive by the kreegans.
Intro
The intro cinematic depicts the party in a battle, presumably in Sweet Water, trying to fend off the Kreegans. Suddenly, a red dragon lands before them, and king of the Kreegans, Lord Xenofex, approaches. The party jumps into a well, falling down, landing on some branches sticking out of the wall. They climb a little bit back up and enter a secret passage, where they are met by the magician Falagar, who trains the party and instructs them how to do things. Falagar takes the party to the small town of New Sorpigal, where the game starts.
Gameplay
The game used an all new graphics engine introduced in 1998 in full 3D, differing from the previous installment's graphics. This engine (with a few modifications), using sprites and particles, was used in both successors, Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor in 1999 and Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer in 2000. The new engine allows terrain with variable height, as well as free movement, no longer restricted by discrete squares or the four cardinal directions.
A new real-time battle mode has been introduced. The old turn-based mode can be turned on by pausing the game.
Various new spells have been introduced, one of them allowing the party to fly.
Non-human playable races were removed. Out of the ten character classes from the previous games, only six remained - Knight, Paladin, Archer, Cleric, Sorcerer, and Druid.
The party size has been reduced to four. The party can also hire up to two followers. Unlike hirelings from Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World and Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra, followers do not participate in combat, only giving a specific beneficial effect to the party. They do not have to be paid regularly, but they subtract a percentage from the gold looted by the party.
A new skill system has been introduced. Unlike the previous games, skills now have a level, which can be increased by spending skill points. Skills include using various types of weapons, armor, and magic.
Bugs
As originally released, Might and Magic VI included about a dozen noteworthy bugs, two of which are potentially game-stopping (under somewhat unusual circumstances). Some of the bugs are exploitable (for example, gaining unlimited experience from the Hall of the Fire Lord in Bootleg Bay or unlimited gold from the obelisk treasure chest. v1.1 fixed most of the exploitable bugs and all of the game-stopping ones, but introduced a few others; these were fixed in v1.2.
Despite that, some bugs remained, which later community took care of. First appeared Mok´s, Angel´s and later Greyface´s unofficial patch for the game. Latest Greyface´s patch includes previous Mok´s and Angel´s patches, solution to various bug as well as new features like playing mp3, quick save, mapping of controls.
Enemies
- Main article: List of Might and Magic VI monsters
Videos
External links
Sergey Rozhenko aka GrayFace Homepage