The September equinox is an event that occurs every year, marking the transition from summer to autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and from winter to spring in the Southern Hemisphere. It is a time when the day and night are of equal length, symbolizing balance and harmony. Many cultures and traditions have rituals and practices associated with the September equinox. One such practice is ritual magic, which involves using various techniques and symbols to harness and direct energy for a specific purpose. This can include spells, chants, visualizations, and other magical tools. **The main idea:** Ritual magic is a practice associated with the September equinox, where individuals use various techniques to harness and direct energy for specific purposes.

Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer

**The main idea:** Ritual magic is a practice associated with the September equinox, where individuals use various techniques to harness and direct energy for specific purposes..

It's got what it takes to make a solid RPG, but the Might and Magic engine sure is showing its age.

Along with Bard's Tale and Ultima, the Might and Magic series was one of the first big RPGs to really draw me into the genre. I remember playing the first Might and Magic way back in the days when 64K of RAM was considered overkill, and a four-color CGA graphics card would run you a hard-earned $700. I thought it was so cool when I finished Might and Magic and there was a note from Jon Van Caneghem telling me to mail my final score to New World Computing (by the way, I never heard back from you Jon . did you get my letter?). This series had me hooked from day one, and I've been a fan ever since. Although it stayed fairly true to the traditional Tolkienesque fantasy world of elves, dwarves, and orcs, there were still parts of Might and Magic that were truly its own -- like the mysterious alien technology and constant reference to the four elemental powers. So when we got Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer into the office, I was the first to pipe up when Trent asked who wanted to review it. How does it stack up to the rest of the series? Well you'll just have to read on to find out .

Might and Magic VIII opens with a cataclysmic event in the land of Jadame. As foretold in an ancient Dark Elf prophecy, the powerful Planeswalker Escaton has returned to Jadame, raising a gigantic crystal monolith from deep beneath the earth in the center of the city of Ravenshore. Once fully risen, the crystal unleashes a massive burst of energy, hurling the citizenry of Ravenshore unfortunate enough to be near the center of town far from the city and in turn opening four elemental portals of fire, air, water, and earth in the far corners of Jadame. Guess what? Now you have to get the forces of nature back into balance and restore order to Jadame.

Okay, so the story isn't all that original -- big bad guy does big bad thing, now you have to set things right again -- but it is interesting and it's certainly a fitting tale for a fantasy backdrop. This is the stuff that good fantasy stories are made of. Little old you against the baddest of the bad, the meanest of the mean. And if there's one thing that the Might and Magic series has always been good about it's creating a good story, and Day of the Destroyer carries on this legacy. However, as compelling as the story was, it seemed to move along much more slowly when compared to the other games in the Might and Magic series. I didn't feel as drawn in to the storyline as I did in previous installments, and it took a long time for major bits of the story to unravel. Of course, with the numerous quests you'll stumble across while you're exploring the land of Jadame, you'll have plenty to do while you wait for the next facet of the big story to unfold. Usually you'll have no less than a dozen different quests pending at any given time, meaning you have a lot of choices when it comes to where you want to travel next. Like the background story, this has always been a strong point of the Might and Magic series, and the shear number of quests make the game feel more open and dynamic than many other RPGs out there.

Like its predecessors, Might and Magic VIII is a party-based RPG, meaning you control a group of people, not just one character, as you travel the lands looking for adventure. However, Day of the Destroyer takes a different approach to the party formula than the rest of the series. Now you can no longer create a group of adventurers to explore the world. Instead, you create one character at the beginning of the game and gather more adventurers throughout the course of your travels. This has both its strong and weak points. Personally, I like hand crafting my entire party, but if you're the kind of person who really gets attached to one character then you'll like this aspect of the game.

This time around the designers decided to go with a combined race/class system that includes several new breeds like Minotaurs and Vampires that Might and Magic fans have never been able to play before. Since Trent covered all of the classes in his preview of Might and Magic VIII, I'm not going to repeat all of them, but I did like the fact that you can pick from a wide mix of fantastic creatures as well as the classic character classes such as Knights and Clerics. And although you can go with a pure fighting class like the Troll or Knight, there's really not much use for a hand-to-hand combatant. Since the game is in full 3D, if you keep your party at a distance, you can pick off creatures pretty easily with ranged weapons and spells. You can even back pedal to keep your distance if they get too close. This really changes the dynamics of the traditional RPG and I hope it's an issue that 3DO looks into for Might and Magic IX.

So Might and Magic VIII has what it takes as far as story goes, which is extremely important to any role-playing game and, although you can only create one character from scratch, the variety of professions is greater than it has been in the past -- but it still has some major problems. One of the biggest lies in its aging, ailing graphics engine. This puppy looked dated back in 1998 when it made its debut in Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven, and now it just looks pitiful compared to other modern RPGs. While the cutscenes, spellbook illustrations, and rendered shop interiors look amazing, the in-game visuals are blocky, blurry, and pixelated, and look dated compared to today's standards. The engine is definitely showing its age. Of course, using an existing engine does have its advantages: you can develop a game much faster if the foundation is already there. 3DO has delivered three major Might and Magic RPGs in less than two years, so you have to weigh the good with the bad. Do you want an updated engine or do you want to play a brand-new RPG every year or so? Being a big fan of the Might and Magic series, I'm glad VIII came out so quickly, but I'm also extremely happy that Might and Magic IX will be built on Monolith's LithTech engine. The old engine has been worn out for a while, and I'll gladly wait another few years if I can play Might and Magic IX and the graphics live up to the rest of the package.

The sound engine could also use a major overhaul. The soundtrack is decent enough, but the few-and-far-between sound effects are thin and unimpressive compared to modern games. It's almost as if they were recorded in someone's basement on a Saturday afternoon, or maybe produced with a circa 1979 Casio keyboard. There's just nothing here that's very memorable or worth mentioning . except for the repetitive battle fanfare you'll hear again and again and again and again. If I hear that damn annoying "ta-da" sound that plays every time you enter turn-based combat one more time I'm going to jab a sharp pencil in my ears. I had a weird dream last night with Richard Nixon and Bob Marley, and the only thing that came out of their mouths was that fanfare noise. I woke up in a cold sweat screaming. I've also been getting anonymous death threats ever since I started playing Day of the Destroyer, and I swear it's from the art guys who sit on the other side of the cubicle wall from me -- right behind my speakers.

Unfortunately for Might and Magic VIII, though, the dated graphics and sound aren't the only problems with the game. Another big failing is the wonky game interface. Often times I found myself wrestling with the interface just to get to basic functions like inventory distribution and skill point allocation. The interface is extremely inexact and I found myself being forced back into buildings or drinking from fountains when I was changing my character by selecting him/her with the mouse, even if I was hundreds of yards away from the particular building with my back turned. This proved to be very frustrating, and it's a problem I've never experienced with the previous installments of the Might and Magic series. The best way to counteract this, I found, was to select my party members with the number keys, but I'd still rather have the option of using the mouse without being forced back into a building.

In the end, Might and Magic VIII is a classic computer RPG with a great storyline and some really nice features, but technology (or lack thereof) is just tearing it apart. It's a little bit of "guh!" mixed with a whole lotta "muh?," and it really does leave a lot to be desired. Is it worth playing? Certainly, if you've been with the series for a while and need a new Might and Magic fix. It gets the job done, but it is wearisome and disappointing in places, so don't expect a masterpiece if you decide to pick it up. However, if you're a casual RPG gamer that's looking for a new adventure to keep you busy for a while, I'd skip Might and Magic VIII altogether. It's just too frustrating and dated to keep new gamers that interested. On an up note, we can't wait to see the next installment in the Might and Magic series, which is supposed to run on LithTech technology. It's going to be a while, but I don't think I can take another Might and Magic based on an old engine.

Verdict

Might and Magic is a marvel. I wasn't sure how Sorrent's and JAMDAT's RPGs could be bested, but leave it to the good folks that made Splinter Cell to decisively do it. I think my favorite thing about Might and Magic, besides the visuals, is the way it treats the player with smarts. The hints keep coming until the game rightfully decides you should know better. And every time you find something new, you get a nice little blurb about its function. No guesswork here.

With 15 levels, Might and Magic is sure to keep any RPG enthralled for as long as they cans tare at their phone. And Might and Magic gives plenty of reason to stare, as the game looks remarkable. I love that we're in GBA territory these days.

The real choice now is if this is the mobile game for you. If you're a big RPG fan, this is a no-brainer. Part with your doubloons and make with the downloading. However, if you're the kind of gamer that players cell games in five minute spurts, then Might and Magic may not be your best investment. May we recommend Gameloft's Block Breaker Deluxe instead?

Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer

Also known as: Might and Magic: Day of the Destroyer (Japan)
Developer: New World Computing
Publishers: 3DO Company (US/EU), Imagineer (JP)
Platforms: Windows , PlayStation 2
Released in JP: September 6, 2001
Released in US: February 29, 2000
Released in EU: February 29, 2000

The eighth installment of the Might and Magic series.

• 1 Sub-Page
• 2 Debug Options
• 3 Unused Sound Effects
• 4 Unused Locations and Videos
• 5 Unused NPC
  • 5.1 Wandering NPCs
  • 5.2 Indoor NPCs
    • 5.2.1 Unused Portraits from Indoor Cinematics
    • 5.2.2 Unused NPCs
    • 7.1 Random NPCs
    • 7.2 Arcomage
    • 7.3 Paperdolls
    • 7.4 Miscellaneous
    • 11.1 Path Leftovers
    • 11.2 Places Removed from the Maps
    • 11.3 Leftover Demo Text
    • 11.4 Unused Tutorial Level
    • 11.5 Unused Weather Conditions
    • 12.1 Unused Monster Spawns
    • 12.2 Thunder Lizards
    • 12.3 Lizardmen Casting Spells
    • 13.1 Placeholder Entries
    • 14.1 The Tomb of Lord Brinne
    • 14.2 Developer Dungeon
    

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    Reviews for "Exploring the Sacred Geometry of the September Equinox with Ritual Magic"

    1. Jennifer - 1 star - I was really disappointed with the September equinox ritual magic. The book promised to provide a unique approach to rituals, but it fell short in so many ways. Firstly, the instructions were vague and unclear, leaving me confused throughout the whole process. Additionally, the author seemed to assume that the reader already had a strong background in magic, making it difficult for a beginner like myself to follow along. I had high hopes for this book, but it ultimately left me frustrated and unsatisfied.

    2. Mark - 2 stars - I found the September equinox ritual magic to be quite underwhelming. The rituals described in the book lacked depth and originality, often relying on tired and cliché practices. It felt like the author was simply rehashing common ideas without adding any new insights or perspectives. Furthermore, the instructions were overly complicated and convoluted, making it difficult to engage with the rituals effectively. Overall, I was hoping for something more innovative and thought-provoking, but unfortunately, this book failed to deliver.

    3. Sarah - 2 stars - The September equinox ritual magic didn't live up to my expectations. While the concept of harnessing the energies of the equinox intrigued me, the execution of the rituals in this book fell flat. The author's writing style was dry and uninspiring, making it hard to stay engaged throughout the book. Additionally, the lack of clear explanations and guidance made it challenging to fully understand and implement the rituals. I was hoping for a transformative experience, but instead, I was left feeling unimpressed and disconnected.

    Connecting with Your Higher Self through September Equinox Ritual Magic