Dark Messiah of Might and Magic

[Seven]

Hello,

This Game belongs to the *newer* ones (compared to Quake).
It was released in 2006 (which is still fairly old, hehe).

If you like the Heretic/Hexen series, you will like this game too
It costs only a few bucks or less now.

I was always a great fan of fantasy ambience games and therefore was more than excited in 2006 before it was released.
Unfortunately the games movement speed is not handled the usual way, that is why I never played it too long:
The backwards speed is very slow compared to forward speed. And in combat situations, it was a gamebreaker for me.

Some time ago I wanted to play this jewel again and see if the "engine" knowledge from Quake could help to get rid of this backward *sneaking* speed.

I know, it is not meant to play this game with equal speed for forward and backward walking/running, but hey, it is a lot more fun to play it now.

I struggled my way through the engines cvars-list and finaly found it. Long story short:
Here is what you have to add to your autoexec.cfg (inside your \mm\cfg folder) to get a *normal* movement behaviour:

// added by Seven:
sv_cheats 1
hl2_sprintspeed 220  		 // (default ist 180)   faster movement
hl2_sprintsidespeed 220 	 // (default ist 180)   faster movement
hl2_sprintforwardsidespeed 210 // (default ist 180)   faster movement
hl2_megasprintspeed 300  	 // (default ist 270)   faster movement
hl2_sprintbackspeed 200 	 // (default ist 60)    faster movement
hl2_walkforwardsidespeed 190	 // (default ist 80)    faster movement

Then start your game with this extension:

mm.exe -console +exec autoexec.cfg

Again, this may be a kind of cheating. That is what you have to decide for yourself. But at least you are moving with the same speed in all directions now, which is common in First-Person-Shooters and which held me from playing it till now.


Here are some impressions.
This game has amazing monster models !
And really unique and neat combat techniques and player features !

[Mathuzzz]

One of the best games of the last decade, especially when you play as a mage. It is the only newer game, that reminds/plays at least a bit like old fantasy shooters.
It could have been less linear (it is not completely linear - it has secrets after all, and some levels are designed more open ended, but could have been more)
Also, as you mentioned, overall it could have been more dynamic.

Also, this game has the most dreadfully designed spiders. With my arachnophobia, I had serious issues with certain areas in the game

[OMacKnight]

After playing M&M7 and 8 again, then this. I just lost interest real fast. But it was a pretty rad game.

[talisa]

oooh, a might&magic game which is like an oldschool fantasy FPS?
i gotta have a look at that game

[Seven]

Hello OMacKnight & talisa,

I am a "Heroes of Might + Magic" player (as well as the amazing "Kings Bounty" series), and also played the original Might & Magic 8 game, but Dark Messiah has not much to do with the "Might + Magic" series/universe.
It is a game of its own.

But nevertheless, it is a game worth playing.

[OMacKnight]

Oh the Heroes Series...

I'm sure HoM&M3 is my most played PC game of all time xD

But I will have to check it out when I get a new optical drive, I'll have to get an external since one of my IDE ports is screwed and my system is too old to actually use this magical "SATA" ;P. It did seem rather fun, but nothing really grabbed me for the first couple of hours. Though I'll take your word and give it another try in future as I may enjoy it this time.

[Amran]

I always found the story and dialog in the game to definitely be lacking, but nonetheless it's still quite fun. (And rather cheap to get a hold of these days!)

Interestingly, there's also a XBOX 360 version which has quite a number of changes in it as well. Some new/modified areas and collectibles to find throughout, but I seem to recall they also simplified the player class system.