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Fun for fans, but the engine is tired.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 22 / 25
Date: March 03, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Day of the Destroyer is polished, absorbing fun with a slightly better plot and a better coat of finish than the previous installment, For Blood and Honor. Hardcore fans may not like the new party system, where party members are somewhat pre-developed and recruited, giving you only one true player-developed character, but that really doesn't hinder the meat of the play: exploration, stat management, and battles. Dungeons seem bigger and more fleshed out tham those in part 7, without being the excruciating ordeals found in 6. Most of the changes are incremental - marginally improved graphics, a more polished interface, a bigger viewport, and mouselook (of sorts) - so if you're expecting a drastic leap (ala Xeen to 6), look elsewhere. The graphics are showing their age terribly - 3D acceleration has improved over 7, but still look decidedly 1996. The synopsis so far? Hardcore fans will be engaged, but lightweights and graphic tarts should look elsewhere. It's good to see this phase of the series end on a solid note, and I look forward to the next generation of Might and Magic games.

More of the same only better

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 23 / 24
Date: March 09, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I have played M&MVI,M&MVII and now M&MVIII. While most of the game layout was familiar there were a few differences where I had to read the manual to figure them out. I liked the idea of using the same engine for all three games. There wasn't the learning curve and bugs of a new engine and more time could be spent on a plot rather than better graphics. I also liked the idea of playing one character and adding or dismissing others as the game went along, kind of like Baulders Gate. They have also eliminated the annoying problem of bumping into NPC's and not being able to get past them, you just walk right through them. There was one change to the game where they didn't have a place to get food at the beginning islands so you couldn't just stay there and beef up your characters you were forced to do some exploring before your initial supply ran out. All in all I liked the improvements as well as revisiting an old friend. If you liked the other two this game is for you.

Might and Seen it Before 8

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 37 / 39
Date: March 10, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I was a big fan of M&M 6 and 7 (and all the previous ones), but it became painfully obvious after 2 minutes game time that New World made zero effort to make a new game. Simply put, this is M7M7 with a few new, and frankly annoying, new changes.

The first change involves the idea of the entire party sprouting from one central character (but not done as well as Baldur's Gate). This is marginally interesting.

The second difference is the new character classes. The Vampire, Dragon, Dark Elf, and Troll are added. Now whoever though that the Vampire should replace the Paladin (the fighter/cleric motif) must have been high. The one tolerable part of this idea is the new spells specific to each race. Frankly, though, its less than wonderful.

The AI seems to have improved slightly, though its weird that walking on a certain point guarantees that Pirates will appear from nowhere and attack. Also, the storyline seems a bit more cohesive.

All and all its a decent game (purely due to its having used such a good base design (aka MM6). Frankly, the designers should look at the original Might and Magic (still the best of the series), and try developing a game with a bit more thinking and a bit less formula.

It's worth buying, but don't expect anything new or wonderful.

I REALLY wanted to hate this game...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 29 / 32
Date: March 20, 2000
Author: Amazon User

... but I couldn't.

I loved MMVI. Played it, finished it, played it again.

With VII, 3DO irritated me by using the same engine. I couldn't stand the new way they forced the classes -- it felt like they were penalizing all classes for the sake of penalizing them, without adding any advantages for this penalization. That, and the lackluster storyline and rushed feel of the world made me really dislike MMVII (enough to give it a 2-star review).

Seeing that they released MMVIII with the same engine and most of the same concepts, I expected much of the same. However, I didn't get that. Although the graphics and gameplay are similar, I got an immersive world that I REALLY enjoy playing in. Unlike VII, the quests are laid out in a very logical manner. Although the game isn't simple, you always feel like you're getting somewhere, without ever hitting one of those "brick wall" quests.

The addition of different races that are actually DIFFERENT makes the game very fun to play as well. Racial spells for Vampires and Elves are a nice touch. Being able to update your party with new characters is also great (though I'm pretty attached to the ones I have now).

Throw all of your preconceptions aside when walking around in this world -- those dragons in Garrott Gorge won't attack you the first time you see them (in fact, they're a good way to get rid of those pesky Nagas).

I know that I'll get a lot of flack for a 5-star review, but I find this game very fun and horribly addicting. And that is really what it's all about to me.

-Chris

Might & Magic VIII

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 15
Date: March 31, 2000
Author: Amazon User

The game is fun to play. Sadly, like many of the newer involved RPGs to complete it, one needs to buy the strategy guide. A further complication is that the strategy guides don't come out until weeks after the game, and are much harder to find.

this would have been great back in 1994

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 6
Date: April 17, 2000
Author: Amazon User

What in the world is going on here? look at this game, thenlook at ANY similar rpg released in the last FIVE YEARS and this gameis pathetic....instead of real 3d we get 2d sprite graphics that look HORRIBLE, a plethora of pathing and AI bugs, an outdated game engine that allows you to walk down a hill but not back up it...MMVI was better than this.....to top it all off you cant create 4 of your own chars, you get to make 1, and then have to get the others from a pre-creates list....GRRRRR.....when wizardry 8 comes out, go have a look at that, because from what i can see alot of you dont play much besides M&M, so go look at some of the wonderful other RPGS out there...i mean, come on now, the quests/graphics/AI in EVERQUEST are better than in here....the minimum requirement is a 166 for the love of Pete, no point in having a 3d card for this game....bleh END

This Game Stinks

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 9 / 22
Date: April 19, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This game is lousy. It is not worth buying. I made my character thinking it would be awesome, because the charatcer creation tool has good graphics. Then I got into the game and was faced with 2D Lizardmen sprites walking around. I talk to about 10 and they all say the same thing. I went in all the buildings (Well actually when i say go into a building, i mean open the door and see a picture of the inside with no interaction at all, and the people dont talk back to you.) I then decided well this could still be cool, lets go check out the combat. So i walked around the island I was on, walking down a hill, but not being able to walk back up it. Finally finding some pirates? and buccaneers? Well I killed a few took there gold, then healed. I kept doing this untill i had killed them all. When suddenly more appeared out of no where. I then got surrounded and died. Losing all my gold my ressurecting with full life and spell points (Mana). I've got past this part now and am exploring other islands. All though i am sorry to say some of the quests that they give me are very difficult and near impossible. I never played MM1-MM7 but this looks to me as if it should be MM1 with the lack of good graphics and a decent engine that is 6 years old.

Disapointing - especially compared to the rest of the series

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: April 24, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I have long been a fan of this series and I jumped at thechance to get the next game. I knew before hand that the graphicswould not be the best around, but that wasn't important. The problem was the game felt hollow. There was much less of a plot then any of the others in the series, and was overall disappointing. The gameplay isn't that bad, but I wouldn't recommend this game for any but the most stalwart fans of the series.

Might and Magic 6 and 7 were great games in my opinion.

Good gameplay, old engine.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 37 / 40
Date: April 29, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Might and Magic VIII is a solid addition to this series. Yes, the engine is very dated, but fans of this series will not be too put off by this. The new playable races in this installment are a nice touch, although I would say that with a dragon in your party you have a big advantage. This is because it's basic flame attack uses no spell points and does a lot of damage. The dungeons in this game are not as huge as MM6, which in my opinion is just fine. While MM6 was a superior game, the dungeons did grow tiresome. Overall, this was an enjoyable game, worth the money it costs and I would recommend it to any fan of this series, as long as they can look past the dated graphics.

An Endless Slog against unintelligent monsters.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 17 / 18
Date: May 24, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Having played M&M6 and M&M7, I was really looking forward to this game. Unfortunately, once I started I lost interest pretty quickly. It is so similar to the earlier games that I felt I was just replaying one of the other titles.

My biggest problem is that there have been few if any upgrades to the basic game engine since #6. Don't get me wrong, I like the basic game engine. The world looks interesting and is easy to navigate. However, some of the problems that first bothered me in 6 have become even more annoying in the later titles. Namely:

HOARDS OF UNINTELLIGENT MONSTERS: All monsters in the M&M universe behave in exactly the same way. Once they see you, they charge to attack. (OK. A few will shoot at you from range, but the principle is still the same.) No opponents use even rudimentary tactics. As a result, every fight feels the same. And there are A LOT of fights. There are so many damn monsters in this game that your finger will get sore from pressing the attack key, and the repetition gets pretty mind numbing. In particular, I got sick of the pirates on the first island. There's a trigger zone that creates new ones every time you enter it. How many times do we really want to kill the same monster off?

MONSTERS DON'T REACT TO EVENTS AROUND THEM: The game uses the tired D&D cliche of the dungeon crawl. That is, you go into the first room, kill everything there. Rest. Move on to next room. Repeat. Guards in other rooms don't react to your presence until you attack them, even if that is months later. Frankly, I would be happier if the next game in the series used a system like the one in Fallout 2, where all the guards in a complex react in a coordinated way to your presence once they realize that you are there. This forces you to use stealth, dialog skills, and to really think about who you attack and when.

THE STORY IS STILL VERY LINEAR: Basically, you have a bunch of quests you have to do. You have no real choices in who you ally yourself with and who you attack. The world consists of people you talk to and people you kill, with no overlap between the two.

THE NPC SYSTEM COULD BE VASTLY IMPROVED: You have no choice in how you handle NPC's. You hear what they have to say, then do their quests for them. I would much rather see the game move towards an NPC systme like the one in Fallout 2, which is really quite good. Your lead character's INT determines how many things he can think of to say, and his oratory skill determines how well he can lie and manipulate people. And you always seem to have at least two or three different ways to approach any NPC.

Overall, my big problem with this game is that there just isn't a lot of thinking involved, or much freedom of action for the player. You slog your way through endless fights against repetitive and brainless monsters, only to collect a reward and then do more of the same.

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