Might and Magic 2 (Ch. 3)

Ongoing blog of Might and Magic 2: Gates to Another World

Chapter 3 - Middlegate

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After learning about the storied and complex history of this new world from our native traveling companions, the first order of business was to familiarize ourselves with the immediate area.

Our goal on Varn was simple--we set out to look for the Inner Sanctum. Our goal this time around was a little more nebulous and hard to define. We knew that Corak--or at least his spirit, still lay dormant somewhere in the world. And that so long as he lay dead, the prisoner Sheltem was free to run amok with whatever schemes he desired to plot.


The first place we found just adjacent to the Inn was the local watering hole--the Slaughtered Lamb.

Here, the sultry waitress beckoned us to take our order in between her waiting on the various tables. I have a slight allergy to alcohol and can't stand to drink it, but taverns like these also served as local feedbags for us to gather our rations for travel. To our dismay however, we found that our coin purse was empty.


The long journey through the Gates had left Sam and I drained of energy. And most of our gear did not survive the trip. We set out from the Inn with only basic weapons and, as we now discovered. Our current rations would only last a few days at most.

 Taverns also offer specialty drinks and meals that can either give you small day-long buffs or alternately poison/disease you.

Well--Sam and I had experience in this area from the day we started in Sorpigal with no money or resources to use. With crime running rampant--then in Sorpigal as it was here in Middlegate, we would simply crash some local thugs and take their money. Just like old times.

"This isn't quite as heroic as I imagined." Sam quipped at me as we crashed into a local flop house looking for trouble. The only trouble we had stirred up were the beggars who were sleeping here. Filthy and wielding gnarled walking sticks.

I felt sheepish and tried to excuse ourselves and leave. However--the Beggars actually advanced on us and began striking at us with their sticks--raving at us to give them our food and belongings! It seemed we had a fight on our hands after all.

Hiding is a new combat option in MM2. Hiding has a lower chance of success than running, but if it succeeds--it allows you to avoid combat -without- running back to the 'safe square' as in MM1.

 During the heated scuffle that followed, one of the ragged men knocked me on the head with his walking stick and then made a grab for my bag of gems! Ha! The joke was on him, I didn't have any!

There are more enemies with special attacks like these in this game. Some enemies take gems--some take food or gold. Some drain xp. etcetera etcetera.

 I think we all, even Lucreto, felt slightly guilty about chasing the beggars out of their own hovel. But once they'd started biting and trying to steal from us I think we were justified in defending ourselves.

Intelligent men and creatures carried their valuables in lockboxes like these that could be found when searching after a battle. And, just like on Varn--protecting them with many and varied traps was par for the course. Sofia was the only one among us who knew a little about disarming and opening locks--and took a chance at it.

Well--it could have been worse. Finn was a dedicated robber and it took him a long time to get all of the basics of disarmament down. It would take Sofia a little longer, but at least we were expecting it this time.

There are many, many traps in Might and Magic 2.

 Off in a quieter corner of the town we found a small home with a sign hanging out front:  "Otto the Mapmaker". Inside, Otto offered to teach one of us the basics of his craft for just 10 gold. We had gathered that much from the Beggar's hoard and Lucreto offered to become our dedicated cartographer.

Oh thank God, this game finally has an in-game map. It's not the most detailed thing in the world, but this does make exploring new territories -that- much less of a pain in the butt if you're too lazy to make your own with graph paper.

Without Faulkner here, I was relying on Lucreto to make accurate maps and direct us in our journey. I wasn't sure this was the wisest course of action, since I scarce trusted the mad elf to direct his own way to the lavatory at the Inn, but my fears abated when I saw he was already making good progress on this corner of Middlegate.

Secondary skills are a new introduction in this game. Some, such as Cartographer--only need to be on one party member for everyone to take advantage of it. Others are more demanding or more character-specific. Pathfinding, for instance--allows you to cross through the dense forest squares on the overworld--but you must have at least two in your party with the skill. Any one character can only have two secondary skills max.

 Occasionally we ran into these strange creatures. They had the ability to cast a sleeping spell, which was dangerous for us, as unequipped as we were. However, their large bulbous heads were quite fragile and they scattered easily under a connecting blow.

These novice magic users were eager to try out their recently-learned flame arrow spells and thought our group seemed like the perfect target to pick on. I don't think they were expecting Sam and I to be quite as sturdy as we were and after their first volley they cringed helplessly as we walloped them and scared them away. But not before taking their lunch money.

I thought Sorpigal's battle-rat infestation was bad. These babies were easily twice as large and only half as intelligent. Without any goods on them, we wouldn't even get any treasure for our trouble!

Now -this- was more like it! We stumbled about these thieves-in-training in a hidden closet near the Slaughtered Lamb. Occasionally in combat they would pilfer a few coins from our purse if they got in close enough--but we won it all back in the end.

In one of the more lonely alleys we were accosted by a very large group of goblins! Individually, they were much scrawnier than any one of us. But in this large group it was a truly worthy battle!

Using a trick Sam and I learned from Varn--we used the cramped quarters of the alley to our advantage, taking them on one or two at a time until they were all defeated.

The same division between melee range/long range exists in this game as it did in the first Might and Magic. With a slight tweak. Let's say for instance in this battle, Volkmeir and Sam are the only ones in melee range. If one of them gets knocked unconscious, then the next available person in the lineup--Deanna in this case, 'moves up' to melee range in the unconscious person's place. This is irreversible--healing the unconscious person and getting them back into the fight does -not- move Deanna back out of range.

In this end, this is more or less a good thing, since it allows more fighters to get into the fray more easily against tough enemies or large groups.

 Now -there-'s a thing of beauty! Only with the Almighties of fortune smiling upon me could I find myself equipped with Plate Mail right away. This would save us a bundle on our outfitting bill. Sam was more than glad to let me liberate the plate armor and glaive for myself, knowing he'd get a chance at his soon enough.

There are lots more items in this game than in MM1. Most of them have obvious uses. The Wakeup Horn, for instance---casts 'Awaken' when used. Witches Brooms cast 'Fly'. Ray guns cast 'energy blast'. Sextants cast 'Location'. Etcetera. As expected though, all such items only have limited uses before they turn into 'Useless Item'.

 Svendegard's was the only smithy in town still operating. The equipment available for sale was all the basic stuff, but it was affordable and better than anything we had on us--excepting my recent acquisition from the goblins, that is. Ring mail was the sturdiest armor Sven had for sale, along with assorted helmets and small shields. Everyone else helped themself to a full set, except for Lucreto who, as sorcerors are wont to do, insisted on padded armor only so as not to impede his prestidigitations.

The selection of weapons left a little more to be desired. Sofia and Deanna got their crossbows, which would aid us a lot in more cramped battles. Other than that, it was short swords all around--except for Sofia, who used a pair of nunchaku.

We also purchased a green admission ticket here, for the local sporting attraction-- the Arena!

There were three like them in the various cities of Cron, we learned. One of which was right here in Middlegate. Tickets entitled the bearers to a single match, with difficulty marked by color. Green was the 'easiest'. All the way up to Yellow, Red, and the fabled 'Black'.

Ha! More goblins. And fewer than we had previously defeated in the alleys. This sad lot stood no chance against us with our new equipment!

For winning the match against the goblins, we were awarded 200 gold to split among us however we wanted. It wasn't a lot of gold, but with green tickets only costing a pittance it was an easy way to start building our purse.

With a source of income, we were able to peruse the rest of what Middlegate had to offer. Sleepy's Mages Guild had a guildmaster who could fill out the rest of Lucreto's first level spells for a modest sum of gold (If you're a member, that is.). The temples in the cities could do the same for Ruce's clerical spells.

Indeed, this is a tweak to the magic system of MM1. In MM1, at hitting the requisite level, a magic user automatically learned -all- the spells of that level. In MM2, magic users only automatically learn -some- of them, leaving the rest to either be purchased or found as quest rewards.

 At the training hall, the local guildmaster could be paid to put us through our paces and build our experience to a new level. In our journey around Cron, we'd come back to places like these many, many times.

In MM1, the trainers in each city were all created equal. In MM2, different cities have trainers of varying quality. The cheaper the trainer, the fewer the hit points you gain when you level up there. However, there is an artifact much, much later in the game that will help boost you to your 'max potential' hp.

 There was a curious fountain in a corner of the city populated by frolicking faeries that invited us to flick a farthing. But alas, we had no farthing to flick at the fanciful Feldecarb fountain.

In another corner of the city we hit our first lead for quests to do and rights to wrong in this land. The humble wizard Nordon requested our assistance in recovering a golden goblet from his collection that had been pilfered by goblins in the sewers below. With the promise of 'numerous rewards', we eagerly accepted.

 But first, we were momentarily distracted by an ornate door in Nordon's hovel. As we neared it and Deanna began trying the knob, nosily wondering what things Nordon was keeping secret, the wizard called out to us, "No, don't touch that!"

 The mage was keeping skeletons in his closet. Literally. A -lot- of them, from failed experiments in conjuration and softcore necromancy. For the safety of Middlegate, he'd been keeping them locked up in here before we ended up opening the door.

Fortunately, Ruce was able to send most of them crumbling to dust with a timely Turn Undead. The rest were easily dispatched--and Nordon seemed more relieved than upset.

Well, offering an apology for leaving his study a mess, we quickly hurried our way out.

 The cavernous sewers underneath Middlegate were our next obvious destination. It was time to track down these goblins and recover a gilded cup.










Many spells are the same or tweaked only slightly from Might and Magic 1. As I record the spells in MM2, I will only elaborate on ones that are new or very changed.

Sorceror Spells: Level 1

1-1: Awaken - Awakens sleeping party members.
1-2: Detect Magic - Detects magic in treasure or in inventory.
1-3: Energy Blast - 1-6 damage per level. Must be purchased.
1-4: Flame Arrow -  2-8 fire damage.
1-5: Light - Lights dark spaces
1-6: Location - Shows your current x,y. Must be purchased.
1-7:  Sleep - Puts groups of enemies to sleep. Must be purchased.

Clerical Spells: Level 1
1-1: Apparition - The cleric appeals to an Almighty to fill the enemy's mind with that which they most dread. Causing them to lose their nerve and be less likely to make a connecting blow in battle. Useful in the early game. Not so much in the later game when enemies get multiple attacks per round. Costs 1 SP. Must be purchased.

1-2: Awaken- Awakens sleeping party members.
1-3: Bless-  Gives a slight bonus to-hit. Must be purchased.
1-4: First Aid- Heals 8 HP to one character.
1-5: Light - Lights dark spaces.
1-6: Power Cure - Restores 1-10 HP per level. Must be purchased.
1-7: Turn Undead - Attempts to eradicate any undead enemies. More powerful with level.