Nothing like charging towards the end of a game to get your heart pumping. I knew I was getting close to the end and had no idea just how close I was getting. First, however, I had to travel through a giant crystal.
With the new device, I was handed to be used as a key. It was to enter the giant fire crystal that was in the middle of Ravenshore. I was tasked with going into a place called Planes Between Planes. I know that is kind of lame. There I needed to resolve why terrible events were happening on this planet once and for all.
The place was called Escaton’s Crystal and was I ever glad it was in the middle of Ravenshore. I'd be running towards the door more than once to recover from the insane battles I'd be faced with inside.
There were lots of emerald, sapphire, and ruby dragons and other creatures inside. These things would not go down without a fight. They could also dish out some heavy damage. I was often times ducking behind the crystal walls of this place trying to pull as few as possible to face off against at a time.
While the dungeon itself was not that massive. More or less just a tunnel from where I was into the plane between the planes. It felt longer with how long it took me to clear through it. I then had to activate a portal and take it to the other side.
On the other side, I was greeted by even harder creatures. Oh did I wish I had a laser pistol like you end up getting in many of the other Might and Magic games. It sure was needed here. It felt like I was lacking the damage output needed to face this place.
At one point I was half tempted to turn around and head back to my realm of safety. Quite a few regions had been respawning for a while now. Unlike a lot of other Might and Magic games, I loved to re-clear regions. I just for some reason did not feel up for it in this game.
So instead, I fought off some rather nasty terrors. These things along with its other friends were the worst. They took a while to kill. On top of that, I sometimes found myself against massive packs of them.
I ended up going a bit in each direction from where I zoned in. I was trying to get a feeling for the region hoping I might get pulled to one spot or another. More or less I was just hoping to get lucky with finding what I needed to do as quickly as possible.
As it would turn out. There would be a few things I'd end up needing to do in this region. They would also end up being in the different corners of the map. So hoping to save any struggle and time in dealing with things like terrors ended up being out of the question.
After a while, I did end up finding a place called Escaton’s Palace. This place ended up being quite infuriating. There were lots of long winding hallways and lots of locked doorways.
What I needed to do was go around clearing out the place looking for levers to pull and buttons to press. I would make a full circle around the outer portion of the dungeon interacting with anything I could.
I would then go around again hoping to find whatever door that opened. I’d then go around the next section and try to work out what new area I'd end up unlocking.
Sometimes I'd go back over the space areas a few times over. As I could not find a path forward by unlocking the next door I needed. More than once I'd realize I had passed by a hallway I had yet to explore down and find yet another lever to pull.
After far too much time I made my way into what was the last room in the dungeon. In there was someone named Escaton. It seemed like he might have been behind a lot of the issues the world was facing. It also seemed like he did not care what happened or not.
What he was doing was trying to find someone worth his time. While it did not seem like I was. He did end up asking me three riddles. After solving them I was given a set of keys and told to find the dungeons they could be used to unlock.
It was then time to enter into the different dungeons and free a bunch of trapped elemental bosses. I first entered the Prison of the Lord of Fire. Like a lot of the upcoming prison dungeons, I'd end up clearing out it was rather small.
At the end of it, I came across a rather angry trapped individual. While it seemed like he was close to death. I could tell he had a lot of fights left him in. So naturally I released the Pyrannaste into the world. What other choice did I have? None that I could tell.
I then slowly traveled over the land to each of the remaining three corners. While it was quite a trying time. I ended up releasing the earth lord Gralkor the Cruel, water lord Acwalander, and lastly the air lord Shalwend.
I then got to sit back and enjoy quite a nice little final cutscene of the game. Along with the final score screen. While I had quite a few levels I could train the game declared me to beat it at level 73 in under three years.
You know that feeling you get when you beat a long-drawn-out game? I don’t get that feeling till I've written the last post about the game. While there were many things I was not a fan of Might and Magic VIII from dungeon length to how similar it was to the Might and Magic games before it.
I’m more than willing to admit I had a blast playing this one. I’m a little sad I did not get to enjoy this game back in the day playing it on a CRT monitor. That must have been something else.
I even hopped back into the game for a short amount of time. I just had to go get another ten levels on my characters. I’ll also admit to going back to some of those dragon caves I had long forgotten about and slayed quite a few dragons for treasure I no longer needed.
It’s also always a bit of a shame when quite a fun adventure ends. I’m also somewhat relieved as these Might and Magic games can take a while to beat them the first time around if you are trying to do most of the questing. While this one ended up being a bit shorter than the others by a decent amount. I was still quite grateful for the amount of gameplay I got out of it. Something modern-day games seem to struggle with these days.
Screenshots were taken and content was written by @Enjar about Might And Magic VIII.
