Lords of Magic
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| Lords of Magic | |
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| Developer(s) | Impressions Games |
| Publisher(s) |  Sierra Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | December 31, 1998 |
| Genre(s) | Role-playing game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Platform(s) | Windows 95, Windows 98 (see below for later rereleases) |
| Media | CD-ROM |
Lords of Magic is a turn-based strategy PC game designed for Windows 95/98 by Sierra Entertainment. The game, which was distributed on CDs, includes a single-player mode and limited multiplayer features on LAN and the Internet as well.
Contents |
[edit] Gameplay
When you start a new game, you select one of 24 unique lords to play, each of whom worships one of eight different elements. The elements are Death, Air, Earth, Water, Chaos, Order, Life, and Fire. Unless you choose the Lord of Death (which is unavailable until you beat the game once), your goal is to defeat the Lord of Death, Balkoth, by killing or capturing him in battle. If you select the Lord of Death you have to take on the more difficult challenge of destroying all the other lords of magic. In the demo you can only play as the lord of Life or the lord of Earth. In addition to choosing your element, you must also choose a character class. The three classes are the warrior, the mage, and the thief.
The game is structured like Heroes of Might and Magic II: you have a champion that leads your party. The military is composed of foot soldiers, missile troops, cavalry, and reconnaissance that you recruit within your faiths city. You must move from your city to your centers of recruitment, which are the barracks, mage's tower, and thieves guild. In order to create more powerful and experienced troops, you must station champions at their respective places of learning.
The real-time combat takes place from an overhead isometric viewpoint that is reminiscent of both Diablo and Realms of Arkania. You can either engage in combat or "auto-calculate" the results. [1]
The warrior specializes in melee combat, but cannot cast spells or attack from a distance. The warrior also has the most hitpoints out of the three classes. Warriors are generally the easiest class to control and are the most forgiving to newer players.
The mage specializes in the art of magic. The spells cast by the mage can have a variety of effects and are influenced by your element and opposite element. For example, the necromancer (the death mage) can cast raise skeleton and then use the undead warrior to his advantage. On the other hand, the enchantress (life mage), has the spell turn undead which is specially crafted to destroy undead warriors such as skeletons, zombies, and death shades. The mage's hitpoints and attack skills are limited, but the mage gains more power than a warrior would with a level up.
The thief is a champion of stealth, ranged combat, and special abilities. The thief is the best with ranged weapons, such as bows and throwing knives. The thief's main ability is to slip into stealth mode. In stealth mode, there is a chance that you will be able to move around undetected. The second ability is subdue hero. When a thief uses this power, there is a good chance that the thief will knock out the champion and take him or her prisoner. The prisoner may then be interrogated or tortured for information as he or she sees fit. The third ability of the thief is the detect thief ability. When using detect thief, the champion cannot move but has a greater chance of detecting another thief in stealth mode.
Most units in Lords of Magic: Special Edition have the opportunity to improve upon their fighting abilities by gaining experience in battle or from imparted knowledge from heroes. At the end of a battle, the total amount of experience gained is divided equally among all the battle's survivors, even if some of the units are unable to use experience points.
The lord of a kingdom has the unique ability to progress to level 12. A hero (warrior, mage, or thief) is limited to a level of 10. Infantry, cavalry, and missile troops (e.g. archers) are limited to a maximum potential of level 5 (except in the case of the knights of Order who may be blessed at the Holy Altar for a level of 6). Magical creatures, such as a pegasus or thunder drake, are unable to gain experience, but they still take a portion of experience points away from the rest of the party.
As lord your first goal is to liberate the temple of your faith's region, thereafter the grateful people of the legion build you a stronghold at your faith's capital city. You can also gain additional strongholds and heirs by liberating the temple's of other faith's. Gameplay thereafter is to slay Balkoth, the lord of Death and in a patched version of the game you can continue after this, and attempt to kill all other lords and conquer the world.
[edit] Plot and setting
[edit] Setting
The game takes place in the land of Urak. The people of this world worship one of eight religions. Each religion has an opposite in the circle of life and the people of those faiths are bitter enemies.
[edit] Plot and characters
Balkoth, the lord of Death, has embarked on a campaign to destroy all other faiths in honor of the dark god Golgoth. The other lords scramble to expand their ranks to defend themselves against this dark threat but also to once and for all destroy their life long nemesis.
The Special Edition also contains Legends of Urak. It's a set of 5 individual quests that revolve around stories unrelated to the main plot of the game.
[edit] Special edition
The Legends of Urak featured in the special edition of the game revolve around Fables and Stories. Earth, Fire and Death each have a unique quest while Order has two quests. The Earth quest is based of of the epic poem Beowulf but involves many original battles and adventures Beo partakes in. The Fire quest revolves around a fire sorceress named Crispin who seeks out and slays a colossal ice drake in order to return the flow of lava to the fire capital. The Death adventure focuses on the necromancer's ability to raise the dead and employ them in battle to ultimately defeat a lich in battle and retrieve his staff and with it his power. The first Order adventure is loosely based off of the legends of Merlin and King Arthur and ends with the retrival of the Holy Grail and death of Mordred. The second Order adventure is only activated by clicking in the center of the circle of life in the quests menu and has a unique lord named Sigfried who transforms as the game progresses. He saves the Valkyrie Brunhilde and defeats Attila the Hun.
[edit] Musical Score
The game contains some very beautiful new-age scoring.
[edit] Development
The game was intended to combine elements of Heroes of Might and Magic II and Lords of the Realm II.
[edit] Remakes
The Lords of Magic: Special Edition was released.
[edit] Reception
The game was met with mixed reviews.
[edit] References
- ^ Ryan, Michael E. (December 30th, 1997). Lords of Magic PC Review. gamespot.com. Retrieved on March 3, 2006.
[edit] External links
- http://mantera.xorgate.com/ - Fansite with modding info
