Might & Magic: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum

Might & Magic: Secret of the Inner Sanctum
Studio	New World Computing
Publisher	New World Computing Gakken (Japan)
Senior Developer	Jon Van Caneghem
Erstveröffent- lichung	1986 1990 (NES) 1992 (PC Engine)
platform	Apple II , Commodore 64 , DOS , FM-7 , Mac OS , MSX , NES , PC-88 , PC-98 , PC Engine , Sharp X1 , Sharp X68000
genre	Computer role playing game
Game mode	Single player
medium	Floppy disk , cartridge , CD-ROM
language	English

Might & Magic: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum (also known as Might and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum , Might and Magic Book 1 , Might and Magic 1 , MM1 or simply Might and Magic ) is an early computer RPG by the US computer game developer New World Computing from 1986, originally published for the Apple II . It was subsequently ported to numerous other platforms and formed the start of the Might & Magic series .

Plot & scenario

The action takes place in the fictional world VARN ( Vehicular Astropod Research Nacelle ) and revolves around six adventurers who are exploring the secret of the Inner Sanctum in a kind of Grail quest . During their search, the heroes discover information about a mysterious person named Corak and their hunt for the villain Sheltem. It ends with the heroes unmasking the king as Sheltem and putting an end to his machinations. Then they pass the " Gates to Another World " ( subtitle of the second part) and travel to CRON, not knowing that Sheltem has also fled to this world.

Although VARN is largely inhabited by medieval creatures and mythical beings and magic is present, the scenario also contains a number of science fiction elements. For example, the heroes receive their first information about Sheltem while exploring a crash site of a spaceship, where the group comes across captured aliens, among other things.

Gameplay

Characters

At the beginning the player can create a group of six heroes. In addition to gender, you can choose from several races (human, elf, half-orc, gnome, dwarf). This choice affects the starting values ​​of the characters and their resistance to certain forms of attack. Every character in Might and Magic is defined by six attributes (strength, endurance, skill, charisma, intellect, luck). There are a total of six character classes:

• Knight
• cleric
• robber
• wizard
• Paladin (fighter with access to clerical spells)
• Archers (Rangers with Access to Mage Spells)

For each character, an alignment is also determined, but this has little effect on the course of the game, as the group acts uniformly. The alignment mainly affects the type of reward for a completed quest. Gender also has a minor effect.

magic

There are two forms of magic in Might and Magic , mage and cleric spells. Mage spells are available to wizards and archers, cleric spells are available to clerics and paladins. The forms of magic differ among other things in their primary ability, in magicians intelligence, in clerics charisma. The ability to do magic is limited by the available magic points, the maximum value of which depends on the primary value. These can be regenerated by staying overnight. Mage spells are offensive in nature and mainly deal damage to enemy creatures. Cleric spells are more defensive and supportive, with a focus on healing and defense spells or to cancel out negative effects (e.g. poison).

Exploration & Combat

The game world is presented in a first- person view similar to The Bard's Tale and is structured like a labyrinth. The exploration is turn-based just like the combat system , but due to the absence of opponents there is no time delay between the player's turns. He moves his group forward field by field and can rotate freely in 90 ° mode. If the group enters a field with opponents or if the program triggers a random encounter, the program switches to combat mode.

When the group encounters hostile creatures, the player is usually given the choice of running away, submitting, attempting to intimidate, or attacking the enemy before the fight. If the player chooses to fight, the game will switch to combat mode. The user interface for this is purely text-based on most platforms. The figures act in turns, the order is determined by the speed value of the respective figures. Each round also either the group of players or the opposing troops randomly receives a speed bonus.On each player-character's turn, the player selects an action from a list of options, including attacking a creature, casting a spell or attempting to run away. A fight ends when everyone on either side is either passed out, dead, or fled. The player can also lose the fight if all group members succumb to sleep or paralysis.

development

The original version for Apple II was written almost entirely by Jon Van Caneghem over a period of three years. But Van Caneghem had problems finding a publisher to distribute the game and so did it independently from his private apartment at the beginning until he managed to sign a contract with Activision .

Due to its popularity, the title was ported to numerous other contemporary platforms, including 1990 for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES, Japan release). While the basic gameplay of this version remained the same, the graphics have been improved thanks to the stronger hardware performance and minor shortcomings have been eliminated. In 1992, the Japanese market was ported for the CD expansion of the PC Engine game console , which had digitized speech output of the dialogues due to the larger storage space. However, some content changes have also been made. The possibility of free character design has been completely removed and replaced by a predefined group of heroes. One of these characters, the Paladin Amuru, was loosely inserted into the background narrative as the main character. In terms of content, the game has been expanded to include further quests and the graphics have been adapted to the Japanese target audience.

The game was re-released in 1998 as a supplement to the Limited Edition of Might & Magic 6: The Mandate of Heaven .

reception

reviews publication Rating Apple II Commodore 64 DOS Mac OS 64'er k. A. 14/15 k. A. k. A. ASM k. A. 10/12 k. A. k. A. Amiga joker k. A. 55% 54% k. A. CGW Highly rec. k. A. k. A. k. A. Dragon 5/5 k. A. 5/5 3.5 / 5 (Super Mac) 4.5 / 5 (Mac II) Power play k. A. 60% k. A. k. A.

In 1987 tester James V. Trunzo praised it in the US computer magazine Compute! Might and Magic for its rich content, the non-linear gameplay and in parts the graphics, although he noted that the game lacks animation and the opponents are presented inadequately graphically. The US magazine Computer Gaming World (CGW) similarly praised the scope of the game, but criticized the fact that early versions of the game only provided new group members with clubs, which made the start of the game too difficult. In 1988, Might and Magic was inducted into the magazine's Hall of Fame for games with long-running high ratings.

The magazine Dragon tested the Apple II version in 1987 in its 122 issue. Tester Patricia Lesser judged: “ This adventure is awesome in its scope, completely fascinating, graphically pleasing, and one of the top five games ever produced for a computer ” ( German: "This adventure has a fantastic scope, is completely fascinating, graphically appealing and one of the five best games ever developed for a computer"). In issue 126, the game received the highest rating of five points. In 1988, issue 132, the DOS version was tested, which also received five points. The Mac OS version was discussed in issue 140 and received 4½ points for the Macintosh II version and 3½ for Macintosh Plus.

Matt Barton raised Might & Magic forth above all the enormous size of its game world, freedom to explore and pioneering achievements such as the inclusion of the players race, sex and convictions in the run of play in 2007 in a survey article on role-playing genre.

Van Caneghem's company developed eight direct successor titles and several offshoots over the next 15 years, including the equally popular strategy series Heroes of Might and Magic , before the studio was closed and the trademark rights were passed to Ubisoft.

Web links

• Might & Magic: Secret of the Inner Sanctum at MobyGames (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jay Kaplon, Might and Magic History , Celestial Heavens - All Things Might and Magic
2. ↑ Fander Treespook's Might and Magic Grove - MM1 Quests ( Memento of the original from September 7, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ Fander Treespook's Might and Magic Grove - MM1 Overland Map Area E2 ( Memento of the original from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m} Marie Butler-Knight, Jon Van Canegham (1997): Might and Magic Book One Secret of the Inner Sanctum Second Edition game documentation, New World Computing.
5. ^ Might and Magic (1) Walkthrough
6. ↑ Might and Magic: Secret of the Inner Sanctum at MobyGames
7. ↑ Jeff Green: Jon Van Caneghem Speaks . In: Computer Gaming World . No. 237, April 2004, pp. 40-41.
8. ↑ http://www.kultboy.com/gfx/thumb/6000/5396.jpg
9. ↑ ^{a b} http://www.kultboy.com/index.php?site=t&id=332
10. ↑ http://www.kultboy.com/index.php?site=t&id=3558
11. ↑ ^{a b} Scorpia: Might and Magic . In: Computer Gaming World . No. 36, April 1987, pp. 24-26.
12. ↑ ^{a b} Patricia Lesser: The Role of Computers . In: Dragon . No. 122, June 1987, pp. 76-80.
13. ↑ ^{a b} Hartley Lesser, Patricia Lesser: The Role of Computers . In: Dragon . No. 126, October 1987, pp. 82-88.
14. ↑ ^{a b} Hartley Lesser, Patricia Lesser, Kirk Lesser: The Role of Computers . In: Dragon . No. 132, April 1988, pp. 80-85.
15. ↑ ^{a b} Hartley Lesser, Patricia Lesser, Kirk Lesser: The Role of Computers . In: Dragon . No. 140, December 1988, pp. 74-79.
16. ↑ http://www.kultboy.com/index.php?site=t&id=248
17. ↑ James V. Trunzo: Might And Magic . In: Compute! . No. 87, August 1987, p. 57.
18. ^ The CGW Hall of Fame . In: Computer Gaming World . No. 50, August 1988, p. 55. Retrieved November 3, 2013.
19. ↑ Matt Barton: The History of Computer Role-Playing Games Part 2: The Golden Age (1985-1993) ( English ) In: Gamasutra . UBM, plc . February 23, 2007. Retrieved September 28, 2011.