I was told to be able to get to the end game I needed to visit each of the four elemental planes (fire, water, earth, and air.) In each one, I would find that element and they would be combined into a key that would allow me passage into a crystal doorway.
Since the first time, I laid my eyes on the massive fire-looking crystal in Ravenshoe. I’ve been wanting to get inside of that place. I had no idea it would be the passageway to the end game and I'd be waiting this long to do so.
At this point, it became quite clear to me that the insane amount of skill points I had stockpiled on each character was not going to be needed. There was never going to be a new weapons skill I was going to be training for. So, I invested heavily in the best skill each character had from light magic to swords. This ended up boosting my group's damage output by a decent amount.
I then started to make my way to the four corners of the map. Each has a portal to one of the four elemental planes in them. The first place I'd be stopping at was the Plane of Air.
I was half expecting to fall to my death when I first entered into the Plane of Air. As I did not have the flying spell cast. It seems however out of the developers being lazy the ground was just invisible. While there were these little globs that seemed to be indicating a path I was safe to step off the path as I pleased.
In each of the four elemental planes would also be a grandmaster for that element. Among looking for the elemental stone in each one of them. I had my eyes peeled to pick up Grandmaster level for fire, water, earth, and air.
I ended up clearing out a few little areas in the Planes of Air before I found the Castle of Air. It was kind of odd as some of the elemental planes would end up having a dungeon in them to run. While others I'd just end up finding the elemental stone I needed while exploring them.
After a fair bit of clearing along with finding an insane +58 armor and +6 armsmaster skill chest piece. I came across the Heart of Air that was out in the open just sitting there to be taken.
Next up I went to the plane of water. Thankfully I did not need to worry about drowning while underwater. The creatures down there were quite nasty.
This also ended up being one of those places where I was not looking for any kind of dungeon. The Heart of Water would just be sitting in the back of the zone waiting for me to pluck it from where it was resting.
This place also allowed me to gain grandmaster in water. I had it in my inventory for far too long Lloyd’s Beacon. It’s a shame I had to wait so far into the game before being able to use it. With it, I now could put a beacon down anywhere in the game for a limited number of days and teleport back to it as needed. This would end up coming quite in handy in a short amount of time.
The Plane of water ended up having quite a few long twisting deadened paths. After clearing out what felt like every inch of the region, I found the Heart of Air and teleported out. Not wanting any more of this place.
The Plane of Earth as one might expect was underground. The place was filled with some rather nasty earth creatures that almost managed to kill me more than once. Out of the four elemental planes this place ended up being the hardest for me to clear.
I was kind of glad I did not end up running this place before the Plane of Water. LLoyd’s Beacon ended up coming quite in handy in here. My cleric ended up getting killed on more than one occasion.
Just when I thought I was getting to the end of yet another tunnel. I’d run into a massive room of creatures followed by even further tunnels. I was half tempted at one point to just teleport out and come back later on.
I however noticed I was no longer going in short tunnels. They were now getting rather long. They then opened up to perhaps the biggest room in the entire plane. After a bit more clearing, I found the next elemental stone I needed.
I town ported out and headed to Shadowspire for some training of levels. I must have gained over a dozen levels since the last time I visited a trainer. On top of that, all my inventory space was filled with high-value stuff to sell. I made some massive stacks of gold from the first three elemental plans I raided.
All that was left was the Plane of Fire. While the fire elementals were not that bad in smaller groups. The entryway into the next plane was rough. I ended up having to take the portal back three times just to heal up and rest before marching back in for further punishment.
This also ended up being the other elemental plane where I'd need to raid a castle. The Castle of Fire was quite intimidating in size from the outside. That was however just for show. As many of the passageways inside were quite tiny.
There was some platform jumping required in this one. As it just so happens, I missed landing my jump. Found myself plummeting into a vat of lava at the bottom. Thankfully I was able to cast the levitation spell and that kept me from taking any further damage from the lava.
After I made I thought of the jumping sections of the zones on my next try. I found myself in a tunnel of lava on all sides. I was having to fight a massive fire elemental that seemed to be guarding something at the other end.
Thankfully it was a five-on-one match. It took most of my remaining mana but I managed to defeat the fire elemental that was guarding the last elemental piece I needed.
I then headed back to the mage Xanthor and gave him earth, fire, water, and air heart stones. In exchange, he gave me back a strange device that I could use to enter the fire crystal that was in the middle of Ravenshore.
I decided it would be best to head back to the trainer for some further levels. I also managed to discover I had a few more ring upgrades with higher stats than the ones my character was wearing while I was selling things off to clear up inventory space.
Screenshots were taken and content was written by @Enjar about Might And Magic VIII.
