For those wondering, I found it!
Workout (a fight)
A pool (with acid)
A massage I can't use because I'm not a paying customer (there was a vacatino seller back in middletown
A cave (I don't enter, later)
Volleyball (giants are playing, you are the ball)
I don't find out the rest, because I die to the giants, but I assume it's all horrible. Maybe later.
It is all horrible. Picture an eleven year old kelllogo finding out that you can earn money in the arena. After saving up a bunch he buys the ticket to the resort, must be something good if it costs that much right?
Followed by getting mulched by giants, workouts, and acid pools. He had saved after spending all the gold on the ticket, so now was too broke to buy arena passes (and hadn't figured out how to search for loot just yet).
There is a reason for why the pool is acid instead of pleasant, the resort was cursed by the witch Dawn. The rest of the resort stays pretty rough tho.
They, as you may note, do 2000 dmg, and have frenzy for aoe. The half remember talk about MM2 talked about them as the way to get to level 20 right off the bat, so there must be some trick to make them easy (which I am not looking up), but I have no idea what it is, I get my ass kicked.
I won't spell it out exactly, but what happens when when the blenders use frenzy? They kill everyone in melee range, but does anything else notable happen?
I'd suggest using the spider to get Mark's keys for quick EXP. You can repeat it with the Lloyd's beacon spell pretty quickly. Gold could be an issue, but there's a 250 merchant encounter somewhere that leaves a bit of gold for the effort.
On another topic, I hate the sex-immune enemies. When they avoid an attack that way it just fails to do damage, no notice that there's an immunity to males/females was spelled out. Young me just noticed that only my archer was hurting [thing] but had no idea why. Quite frustrating to have the cleric and then the archer go down, leaving the rest of the males to slowly get wiped out while I hoped for an attack to finally land.
I won't spell it out exactly, but what happens when when the blenders use frenzy? They kill everyone in melee range, but does anything else notable happen?
I'd suggest using the spider to get Mark's keys for quick EXP. You can repeat it with the Lloyd's beacon spell pretty quickly. Gold could be an issue, but there's a 250 merchant encounter somewhere that leaves a bit of gold for the effort./
I think my issue was not using hireling didn't give me enough rows to tank it at the time and I wasn't super-invested in trying because I'm mostly trying to play as if I didn't know spoilers, so I think that, absent knowing they were super-special exp, I would have concluded that they were for later. I'm actually far enough along I beat them legit. (I let my buffer of updates get way too big, I've resolved to do a lot better then on that for mm3)
Previously, on Tundra, the snow-beast is killing people, so it's time to go after them, which turns out to be really annoying. Getting to it requires hitting a switch that requires you to travel through a long, magic negating passage. After a few tries I give up and instead I opt for the dungeon below where I find…
Inside is a red lever, having an idea what it does I pull it and continue on.
Creeeeeepy. I enter the room, and end up fighting 250 killer cadavers, which I am forced to retreat from. Annoyingly Turn Undead proves way weaker in MM2. It still only works once, but only targets enemies 'on screen' so it can, at best, kill 10 enemies… out of 250, and seems to work less often that MM1? Either way, it's not a fight I'm winning. They suicide… is it suicide when the are undead? I mean I consider 'Iranian suicide drones' to be the dumbest fear mongering. Nah it's suicide because they are presented like normal enemies and just saying 'explode' makes it unclear that it only happens if they kill themselves instead of me killing them.
Some testing reveals that if I don't press the lever, I get the frozen cadavers message, but no mass enemies in the same room. And if I do pull the level and head out, every one the outer squares of the dungeon will have killer cadavers (though only a reasonable 10ish). So the lever thaws them.
This is…. Fascinating to me, in a way? Because I think it provides contrast to the narrative of the Tundra city above. Tundra above blames the deaths on the 'snow beasts' and they are a threat but… well this many frozen cadavers suggests intelligence behind the killings. One that's been working and storing undead for a while. It, at least to me, suggests the snow beasts are the distraction, the thing that is blamed for the killings, but not the primary agent. Just one useful to have.
And there is an uncomfortable, but fitting, reversal. Above, there are 'frozen monsters'. Monsters, 'not humans' are to be frozen. An accepted, above ground practice. Perhaps for fresh meat, perhaps for some other reason. But below, far more humans… or once humans, are frozen just like the monsters above.
To what end, or even who did it… I have no idea. Because if there is a quest or continuation of this plot, I have never found it. It's just a creepy little thing you can find. One that sticks in my mind and gives speculations… a plan by some evil organization to 'mwahaha kill the city' type deal? Or building an army to conquer somewhere else? It puts me in mind of the immortal army in Full metal Alchemist, one meant for control, but in this case, possibly let loose by foolish adventurers with no idea of the consequences… though in the end perhaps better for it.
(though one possibility is that it is the work of the snow-beasts, who are far more intelligent than anyone realizes. Storing humans below the way humans store monsters above)
Also, as I'm exploring the bay south of it…
Are these supposed to be connected to the Tundra corpses? Or their own corpses? I never once figure out what these are, and honestly if anyone knows, I'd love to hear it.
With the Tundra dungeon, and the mapping, the party hits level 13 with everyone and I get my old friend, magic sword, on my wizard. As an aoe spell that can be used indoors, I think it's going to be my bread and butter from now on. (spoiler, I'm right. There are two aoes that are stronger, but the first is most more costly and the second is fire dmg, which a lot of monsters resist, magic swords lack of resistance really sets it above, especially since it now does dmg scaling with your level)
The Vulcania and Atlantia Caverns don't have any real story to them, far as I can tell, minus Vulcania requiring levitate because of lava pits (if you float above the heat doesn't rise!). But 'volcanoe' isn't as much of a story to me.
I do, however, find two things of importance. First in Atlantia..
If I read it it says I am enlightened but can't find any change- This drives me nuts enough I look it up and see it's supposed to be a perm stat boost! They just only display after you rest or battle. I check around and, after resting, find that yes, my int has all gone up by 10. I can do this until my chars are 50 or above, just by entering and exiting the dungeon. (This is more evidence the game intends for large parties, the stats you start with don't really matter, since you can boost to 50. Especially since I looked up stats and..
AC/dmg HP per SP per
Stat Rating: Bonus: Level: Level:
0-13 0 3 3
14-15 1 4 4
16-17 2 5 5
18-19 3 6 6
20-22 4 7 7
23-26 5 8 8
27-30 6 9 9
31-45 7 10 10
46-60 8 11 11
61-75 9 12 12
76-90 10 13 13
91-105 11 14 14
106-120 12 15 15
121-135 13 16 16
136-150 14 17 17
151-175 15 18 18
176-200 16 3 19
201-225 17 3 20
226-250 18 3 21
251-255 19 3 22
See this? This is the chart of stats. From 13-19 every 2 stat gains a bonus to whatever the stat governs. Then every 3 until 30. The it's every 15 points, until 150, when it is every 25. So while your stats have BIG effects at lower levels, they don't at higher. The stat boosts make it guaranteed that everyone is going to have stats in the 50-59 range with very little effort. Which means that the stats will be the same for everyone, +8, unless you go to a huge amount of effort.
(Yes, I looked this up, no I'm not sorry. Especially when it turns out the HP/endurance is misprogrammed and anything above 175 is TREATED AS 0!)
This means I have ½ of the stat maxing trick, if I only find a place to trade Int away-I'm golden.
There is nothing else of major interest in the area (Besides tough fights) so I move on to Vulcania.
So this happens, and nothing happens and at first I figure 'okay if I don't, listen, I fight him, right?'.
No.
This?
This is the endurance booster.
Never, in a million years would have guessed from the context, but it is.
With town caverns beaten, time for more world map exploration
(I do not challenge the lich yet. Also: science! Is a thing here. Like in the sense they know and call it that)
(No, I remember high end devils, no way)
Well that's…. Horrifying. I think this place is not a place of honor.
(I don't. One, cause I'm a wimp who doesn't like slaughter. 2 because it's 100% going to be 250 goblins and I don't want to fight that, big encounters suck)
While exploring the desert I kept falling into the 'nomad's cave' in sinkholes and decided to just explore it,mostly consisting of fights against various thief enemies (at least till the game runs out of them and starts throwing ninja and vikings). In it I find treasure-
(it's 166 gold, a piddling amount)
This hint on the other hand, big. Like, random, contextless hints appear in all dungeons but this one feels really important. Because I've been getting hints about 'elemental disks' in Castle Xabran, and I'm sure I need those for something. So knowing it's time-travel only and its location is great.
Also, the speed booster!
Other than that, there are weapons and a lot of hints around things in the area. These are just presented as hints but I could see 'in universe' as us picking up maps and stuff if I wanted to justify it.
With the map finished I decide to check up on Lord Slayer castle. Lord Slayer's castle is, unsurprisingly, a series of 'kill designated monster' quests. Flavor wise it has areas that are encounters on every tile. Which makes sense, but since that's done in other areas, it doesn't quite have as much of a flavor win as Lord Hoardall's (hoard-all) palace. It works, but it doesn't get the same delight, which also might be because I'm more expecting it.
I decided to find out what the Lord-level Quest is and it…. Well I was going to share a screenshot, only to realize for some reason it's not saved, so instead I'll say that it wants me to kill three specific 'evil' mobs (Dragon Lord, Queen Beetle and the Serpent King). I'm guessing Lord Hoardall's Lord quest is also a 'get specific item' rather than a randomly generated 'get me x item' quest.
Some more exploring reveals Lord Slayer is kinda a might-loving jerk.
I also find his Zoo, and his zookeeper
It's a encounter with a court jester. Remember them?
Exploring more the Zoo has like… animals, and then ogres which racism, haha, but then I found it had humans like witches and illusio…
Oh god. It's magic users.
His zoo has magic users.
It's a dungeon he calls a 'zoo' and puts magic users in it.
I'm torn between calling him an asshole and respect for that level of petty. If the game has a serious narrative about discriminated magic users this might be horrible and like 'bad' but as far as I can tell it's only him and it's just so fucking petty. (also he completely ignores me using magic in my fights, which flavor loss, he should screw you over if you use magic in his quests)
In the lower dungeon of the castle I find…
Oh okay you ARE also a racist ass* Technically all dungeons seem to have these but kinda amuses me that the mighty guy is anti-half orc when they are the stereotypical 'might' race. Or maybe that's pro-half orc? "Half-orcs shouldn't be in dungeons. That's for magic users"
I also find this guy.
Any racist joke is one bad joke too many.
And finally, this guy.
Nope, had this before with that stupid MM1 merchant, we are not doing this. Exploration is fine, but I am looking this up.
This isn't a trade of items.
No, it's a trade of Stats.
5 int for 3 Str
Which is normally bad, but I know where the int place is, and it grants int unlimited if yours is low so trade int for str, then boost your int back to 50 rinse and repeat and…
That's infinite(or 255 strength).
At this point, rather than going infinite, (and I will take any cheapness I find) I look up the trades because it's planning time.
+3 Mgt, -5 Int
+3 Mgt, -5 Per
+3 Int, -5 End
+3 Per, -5 Lck
+3 End, -5 Spd
+3 Spd, -5 Mgt
+3 Acc, -5 Spd
+3 Lck, -5 Per
Based on this I think the orders is
Everyone gets Accuracy
Archer/Mage gets Int
Everyone gets Per or Luck
Everyone gets End
Everyone gets Speed
those who want it get Might
Which should max out the relevant stats for everyone (except luck for people maxxing perception)
As of now I have one trade, (I tried not to look up the others locations ,but I know they are always in castles)
And the boosts for
Int (Atlanta caverns)
Speed (Nomad Cave)
End (Vulcana)
Which means I am good for the accuracy and Int boosts if I find them, so I opt to continue castle exploring, and save the trade for later.
Slayers dungeon is hard, enemies at the edge of what I can take, and no outdoor means no easy healing with moonlight. On top of that it has… one thing I really, really don't like.
Etherialize doesn't work.
And yes, in one sense, I get it. It means I can't break the dungeon like I did in MM1. But honestly… it feels like the bargain MM1 struck, of 'we will be unfair, but you can use spells always' is broken. Sure, MM1 kept certain squares magic-less, but never a whole dungeon. Once you had Etherialize you could go through any dungeon with it. Without… it's just a one square teleport, an objectively worse spell. It's… honestly very frustrating?
There are, thankfully, two teleportation spells that work. "Surface" which takes us outside, via cleric. The second is possibly the strongest spell in all of Might and Magic. Lloyd's Beacon.
Lloyd's Beacon is simple. Cast it once, set a beacon. Cast is again, you can either set a new beacon, or teleport back to your old one. Simple, easy and incredibly powerful. Need to port out and heal? Lloyd's Beacon. Need to save because you are worried? Lloyd's Beacon. Need to revisit a stat place and don't want to walk back and forth to reset the map? Lloyd's Beacon.
Endlessly versatile, endlessly useful. It's great, though weirdly a lot less useful in MM1/2 since sleeping is honestly very safe? Generally fights wipe me out instantly or aren't a worry.
And with that tangent, back to the dungeon. I died several times but eventually bash through several fights to get a crystal vial.
I have no idea what it does*, but go me. I opt at this point to bug out and do more exploring top-side.
*Spoiler from the future, nothing, or rather nothing for me. The castle dungeons have a set of 'no x' classes. If you go in with that class, you get teleported out. If you have none of that class, you get a unique trinket only for that class. Another set of 'you are supposed to change up party' that I will continue to bullheadedly ignore
Lloyd's Beacon is simple. Cast it once, set a beacon. Cast is again, you can either set a new beacon, or teleport back to your old one. Simple, easy and incredibly powerful. Need to port out and heal? Lloyd's Beacon. Need to save because you are worried? Lloyd's Beacon. Need to revisit a stat place and don't want to walk back and forth to reset the map? Lloyd's Beacon.
Endlessly versatile, endlessly useful. It's great, though weirdly a lot less useful in MM1/2 since sleeping is honestly very safe? Generally fights wipe me out instantly or aren't a worry.
Loyd's beacon is actually probably more useful than ever, since each caster sets a different beacon. With 2 archers/sorcerers- such as, oh say, hirelings...-you can for example freely warp between a stat booster and a stat trader to make that stat pumping significantly less tedious.
I believe each caster always set a separate beacon, actually, but 2 has a lot of mechanics that make that strongly useful.
Loyd's beacon is actually probably more useful than ever, since each caster sets a different beacon. With 2 archers/sorcerers- such as, oh say, hirelings...-you can for example freely warp between a stat booster and a stat trader to make that stat pumping significantly less tedious.
I believe each caster always set a separate beacon, actually, but 2 has a lot of mechanics that make that strongly useful.
I'm not sure that's wrong, since there are different copies of MM2 based on nintendo/dos/apple and those have differences.
But sadly it isn't true on my copy. If I set a beacon with my Wizard, and recall with my archer, I get the location my Wizard used. Using it for stat boosting/trading was my first though as soon as I got it. I used it for 1/2 of it each time though, so still helpful.
I'm pretty sure the Amiga version had a single beacon set for the whole party.
Hadn't noticed before, but the HP/SP stat boosters being in town cellars is fairly generous. Increasing stats to absurd levels was something I found quite fun in MM2. (I don't remember much about MM3 other than cranking the sorcerer's speed to about 200 and firing off Implosion at anything that looked at the party funny >.> )
(I don't remember much about MM3 other than cranking the sorcerer's speed to about 200 and firing off Implosion at anything that looked at the party funny >.> )
