GB Feature: What an Old RPG Can Teach Today's Designers
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As I'm going through Might and Magic IV & V for a second time (called World of Xeen when combined), it reminded me back when I first bought Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra, which used the same engine. In its day it was one of the cutting edge (insert laughter) 256 color graphic games, one of which took advantage of the newer computers and graphic cards of the day. It also included a brand new 3D-esque world as well as mouse control ala Dungeon Master. That in itself wasn't new at the time, but it also featured a huge world in which to explore and that was - and is - exciting.
Obviously if I'm playing this there's some value in it, for me at least. Why, for example, am I playing this a second time instead of the record-shattering GTA IV or the critically acclaimed The Witcher? It's not just for nostalgia's sake. In this article I'm going to talk about what made the Might and Magic games one of the classic RPG series in history, and what designers of today can glean from it.
Might and Magic III contained a wonderful element from the very beginning - reward the player for exploration, and reward them well. This was a game of tiles and though it had roads, paved safer paths, and cities, it had skills for mountaineering that let you travel across mountain tiles. Pathfinding let you travel through trees. Swimming allowed you to explore the water. There were skills that were specifically designed for exploration. That's a concept that really hasn't been touched since except for maybe the Metroid series. It worked wonders in that, and also in Might and Magic.
