Might and Magic: Clouds of Xeen in 6 minutes

2008-03-06 08:05:49 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

I have beaten 'Might and Magic: Clouds of Xeen' in under 6 minutes. You can see the video here:

The issue is, the run was performed and recorded using Dosbox. I know that this is not valid for SDA submission due to the possibility of tampering.

While searching the forums I found that this game was on at least one "request list". My question is this: Is anyone still interested in this run?

If so I can put forth the effort to build a PC capable of running the game natively so that I can get a legitimate recording (not to mention polish the mistakes in the above video). But I don't want to take the time if, well, nobody cares. Wink

Any interest? Any comments are appreciated, thanks.

Thread title:

AquaTiger

2008-03-06 10:47:17 am

Never give up!

You'll probably get some support from people who will give their support regardless, but I'm the one who put up the requests for the Might and Magic series, so I'm definitely interested.

Just a couple comments right now:

1) The Might and Magic series is about as freeform an RPG as I've ever seen, and getting the weapons that'll let you complete the game immediately is great evidence of that.

2) I was working on speedrunning the sixth game in the series, The Mandate of Heaven (which I really ought to get back to), and my strategy for that game relied on Town Portal and Lloyd's Beacon as well. Clearly, some things have never changed.

3) And what's with that screen when you leave Vertigo normally? Is that 3DO's attempt at copy protection?

BedsoreMan

2008-03-06 06:10:54 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Quote:

what's with that screen when you leave Vertigo normally? Is that 3DO's attempt at copy protection?

Yes, that's the copy protection.

Maglok

2008-03-07 02:43:17 pm

Dum die dum

I'd be interested in seeing it. I have very fond memories of the game, I got it on CD with the others, but it won't run anymore. Sad

BedsoreMan

2008-03-07 07:19:03 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Quote:

it won't run anymore. Sad

Hence the Dosbox recording. :-/

I suppose I'll get started on putting together a rig capable of running the game natively for a submission-worthy video.

No ETA. Grin

mikwuyma

2008-03-07 07:47:20 pm

My feelings on The Demon Rush

Wow, I remember playing this game all the time when I was 10. I must have played it for at least 50 hours and never beat it (there were so many quests I didn't know which ones pertained to the main plot)

Watching this run was pretty cool, even if I didn't understand half of the stuff that was going on. I'm guessing you did those quests so you could actually hit/damage Xeen.

How are you normally supposed to confront Xeen? It seems pretty random that you can just warp straight to him.

BedsoreMan

Edit history:

BedsoreMan: 2008-03-08 08:55:16 pm

2008-03-08 08:49:38 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

I just tried something new and I can cut out the 2nd trip to Shangri-la by buying Heroism the first time that I'm there, instead of a 2nd trip for Day of Protection. Should save ~30 seconds. I would really like to get this under the 5 minute mark, because who doesn't love round numbers?

Quote:

I'm guessing you did those quests so you could actually hit/damage Xeen.

Yes. I tried just going straight to him and nobody can hit him, just whiffs. Level 8-9 seems to be the magic number. Notice that the only char that successfully hit him in this run was the Knight, who comes with the Armsmaster (+ to hit) skill by default. I'm glad that he wasn't the first (or second, or third) to be insta-killed by Xeen. Smiley

One of the few points in this run that requires a little luck.

It's not always that way; I have had other chars succeed in hitting Xeen, but at those levels the Knight is the only one that hits consistently.

The first quest in Vertigo is done solely for the 4k gold it provides, needed to buy spells and train the Cleric.

The "cartographer's challenge" quest in Castleview gives enough exp to train the Cleric to a high enough level to have the SP to cast Town Portal (sapping all of my gold).

Town Portal to Necropolis and go into the desert- the genie lamp gives a choice of rewards; I picked 200k gold to have the cash to train everyone. The boulder's riddle gives 1 million exp to everyone, enough to train to level 11 or 12. Obviously this and the quest in Castleview exploit my previous knowledge of the answers to the riddles.

Quote:

How are you normally supposed to confront Xeen? It seems pretty random that you can just warp straight to him.

The normal way is a long and involved process. A FAQ/walkthrough would give more specifics, but basically-

Purchase the broken down castle Newcastle for 50k gold.

In a series of progressively more difficult dungeons, obtain "King's Megacredits", which are used to repair/upgrade the castle.

Once the castle is fully upgraded, obtain the Xeen Slayer Sword from its dungeon. This is the only way to get the Xeen Slayer (just 1 of them) normally without telling the magic mirror "I Lost It".

Rescue the King's advisor Crodo from Darzog Tower.

After speaking with Crodo, return to Darzog Tower and access the clouds above it.

After performing a few "tests" in the clouds, you gain access to Lord Xeen's fortress.

Fight your way through a series of Xeen's Guards in the fortress, including fighting "Xeen's Pet", a green dragon, just before you reach Xeen himself.

The rest is as shown in the video- defeat Xeen and obtain his Scepter of Temporal Distortion. The only thing that can damage him is the Xeen Slayer Sword. Touch the Scepter to the 6th magic mirror and watch the credits.

Doing all of this the "normal" way takes at the very least a few hours, probably 5-10. You can speed up the process by leveling up on the dark side first. After level 20 or so, all of the content in the light/clouds side is a joke.

I just tried something new and I can cut out the 2nd trip to Shangri-la by buying Heroism the first time that I'm there, instead of a 2nd trip for Day of Protection.  Should save ~30 seconds.  I would really like to get this under the 5 minute mark, because who doesn't love round numbers?

[quote]I'm guessing you did those quests so you could actually hit/damage Xeen. [/quote]
Yes.  I tried just going straight to him and nobody can hit him, just whiffs.  Level 8-9 seems to be the magic number.  Notice that the only char that successfully hit him in this run was the Knight, who comes with the Armsmaster (+ to hit) skill by default.   I'm glad that he wasn't the first (or second, or third) to be insta-killed by Xeen.  :)  One of the few points in this run that requires a little luck.

It's not always that way; I have had other chars succeed in hitting Xeen, but at those levels the Knight is the only one that hits consistently.

The first quest in Vertigo is done solely for the 4k gold it provides, needed to buy spells and train the Cleric.

The "cartographer's challenge" quest in Castleview gives enough exp to train the Cleric to a high enough level to have the SP to cast Town Portal (sapping all of my gold).

Town Portal to Necropolis and go into the desert- the genie lamp gives a choice of rewards; I picked 200k gold to have the cash to train everyone.  The boulder's riddle gives 1 million exp to everyone, enough to train to level 11 or 12.  Obviously this and the quest in Castleview exploit my previous knowledge of the answers to the riddles.

[quote]How are you normally supposed to confront Xeen? It seems pretty random that you can just warp straight to him.[/quote]
The normal way is a long and involved process.  A FAQ/walkthrough would give more specifics, but basically-

Purchase the broken down castle Newcastle for 50k gold.

In a series of progressively more difficult dungeons, obtain "King's Megacredits", which are used to repair/upgrade the castle.

Once the castle is fully upgraded, obtain the Xeen Slayer Sword from its dungeon.  This is the only way to get the Xeen Slayer (just 1 of them) normally without telling the magic mirror "I Lost It".

Rescue the King's advisor Crodo from Darzog Tower.

After speaking with Crodo, return to Darzog Tower and access the clouds above it.

After performing a few "tests" in the clouds, you gain access to Lord Xeen's fortress.

Fight your way through a series of Xeen's Guards in the fortress, including fighting "Xeen's Pet", a green dragon, just before you reach Xeen himself.

The rest is as shown in the video- defeat Xeen and obtain his Scepter of Temporal Distortion.  The only thing that can damage him is the Xeen Slayer Sword.  Touch the Scepter to the 6th magic mirror and watch the credits.

Doing all of this the "normal" way takes at the very least a few hours, probably 5-10.  You can speed up the process by leveling up on the dark side first.  After level 20 or so, all of the content in the light/clouds side is a joke.

Maglok

2008-03-09 04:51:58 pm

Dum die dum

Impressive. Sub 5, go for it. I remember back in the days when internet wasn't so popular yet and didn't hold as much information I had it all mapped out. Well bits and pieces, but I worked on grid paper and the likes. It's awesome to see it totally taken apart.

BedsoreMan

2008-03-09 05:26:15 pm

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

Yeah, this was really one of the last great "notebook games". Back in the mid 90s I had pages and pages of notes, scratch work trying to figure out riddles and algebra problems, reminders to come back to certain places when I was stronger...

Obviously I've got a lot of love for the game. Smiley

I still consider it one of the best ones ever made. I'm happy that at least a few others enjoy this run.

Maglok

2008-03-09 05:34:07 pm

Dum die dum

Well I remember MM6 was just not the same. It has a certain appeal to be able to map something out on a squaregrid and making it all fit together.

These days there really isn't any point, online maps are almost always just better.

hhallahh

Edit history:

hhallahh: 2008-03-13 01:08:10 am

2008-03-13 01:05:08 am

I love YaBB 1G - SP1!

This was a really cool run to see, I loved World of Xeen when I was younger. This actually makes me feel kinda nostalgic, but it was such a huge game that I know I shouldn't get into it again.

I found the route really cool, but the major problem is that... if this was just Clouds of Xeen, you would have beaten the game. But it isn't, since you went to the Darkside. So while a Lord Xeen run is still neat, it's not really the end of the game. I think you should either try running it without going to the Darkside, or make a full World of Xeen run. Preferably the latter, I'd love to see it.

And yea, I have to say that I found the warps a bit sketchy, but I realize that so much of the game can be shortcutted with prior knowledge (the puzzles) that there might not be much of a point to not using them. But then again, getting the Xeen Slayer sword and just warping in front of him is a bit much... seems like you could just have different categories of runs, though, like one that only allows warping to places you've already been, if at all.

This was a really cool run to see, I loved World of Xeen when I was younger. This actually makes me feel kinda nostalgic, but it was such a huge game that I know I shouldn't get into it again.

I found the route really cool, but the major problem is that... if this was just Clouds of Xeen, you would have beaten the game. But it isn't, since you went to the Darkside. So while a Lord Xeen run is still neat, it's not really the end of the game. I think you should either try running it without going to the Darkside, or make a full World of Xeen run. Preferably the latter, I'd love to see it.

And yea, I have to say that I found the warps a bit sketchy, but I realize that so much of the game can be shortcutted with prior knowledge (the puzzles) that there might not be much of a point to not using them. But then again, getting the Xeen Slayer sword and just warping in front of him is a bit much... seems like you could just have different categories of runs, though, like one that only allows warping to places you've already been, if at all.