Completed Let's play Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor

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Both parties are final. The original enrollment thread can be viewed here.

Yesterday I finished my Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven LP, and as promised, I will now begin LPing the successor, Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor.
This game was released the year after VI, in 1999. It uses the same graphical engine, slightly updated but very much recognisable. As such, it is very easy to get into, if you've played MMVI.
Many of the mechanics are the same in MMVII as they were in MMVI, but some have changed significantly, not least the skill mastery system. The ability of a class to learn a skill does not necessarily mean they will be able to excel in them. For instance, only sorcerers can (when they are promoted) get access to and cast the most powerful elemental spells, and only archers can achieve grandmastery in the bow skill. This leads to more meaningful choices to be made when making a party, which is why I was rather strict in what characters I wanted to include in the two parties. See the enrollment thread for more detail.
At the end of MMVI, Archibald Ironfist foreshadowed that he was not finished with Enroth, but MMVII takes place on another continent, named Erathia. That does not mean we're rid of him, as these letters taken from the manual makes evident:

MMVII does not start as dramatically as MMVI did, with demonic invasion and a flight for your life. Instead, it starts off on a small island called Emerald Isle, where our party is taking part in a competition to win the castle of Harmondale and its surrounding lands:



I think we're just about set. A proper update with actual gameplay should be coming soon.

Table of contents:
1: Landfall on Emerald Isle and an interesting proposition
2: Winning the competition, slaying dragons and basic castle maintenance
3: of dwarves and medusae, assembling a golem and travelling the world
4: Choosing sides in a war
5: Rogues and Crusaders
6: Was is fought, sides are chosen
7A: Promotions and forebodings DARK
7B: Promotions and forebodings LIGHT
8A: The advisors' quests DARK
8B: The advisors' quests LIGHT
9: Victory!

We now have our two brave parties. This LP will at some point split, so we get to follow both the canon (dark) ending, and the non-canon (light) endings eventually. Until that point, the game progresses more or less the same, yet I choose to play this with two parties simultaneously, as there are some Choices and Consequences even before then, and I want to let the people in the two parties decide what to do.
This LP will even end with one such choice to be made.

First off, let's meet our two groups. First up is our dark-siders:
Lightbane, paladin
Kayerts, monk
Storyfag, cleric
Crooked Bee, sorcerer

Then our light-siders:
Cappen, knight
TheGreat0ldOne, thief
Erebus, cleric
Mrowak, sorcerer

I plan on doing this LP the following way: each update we'll follow either the dark-side group or the light-side group. I'm thinking that I will switch between them so they get every other update. I plan on doing this LP much like I did the MMVI one, so expect plenty of dungeon crawling and maps.
I like how the spoiler tags keeps an LP uncluttered, so get used to seeing them in my LPs. M:

Now I just need to get some feedback from the two groups of adventurers. Do we take Mr. Malwicks offer or not? This choice will have implications later, but do we care about that now? The choice is yours. This is where the 8 people who are featured in this LP are required to vote.

Interesting, I didn't remember that offer. I'd like to see its consequences, but I think I'll let our dark-side colleagues take up the offer.



That doesn't sound at all like what a used-car salesman would say !


The letters of the introduction are just as deceptive as in the previous game. In MM6, they made you expect you'd get to rescue Roland ; in MM7, they make you expect that Archibald is going to be a major foe.

Is the dark-side ending really canon ? I can't remember anything suggesting it in the following games.

Mr. Malwick is clearly a stand-up bro who has our best interests at heart. Take his offer!

I remember not giving a damn about the game when I discovered the card game. It was more fun that the constant combat.

It was meant to be canon, but as the fans outrage put an end to the "forge" HoM&M expansion, they quickly changed that fact.

I love this game.

Well,

Since I got rolled out on the party competition, all I can do is wish both parties well on the game. Casting Pain Reflection is a tempting option though.

Moar game content is almost always better than less game content.

Only the light party should accept his order, though - the dark one should just lure dragonflies into the town and let them kill him (him and the bard girl so you don't pay for the lute).

Voting closed!

DARK
Lightbane Aye
Kayerts Nay
Storyfag Nay
Crooked Bee Aye
We have a tie! We'll be taking the offer, but then leading the dragonflies into town to murder everyone walking the streets (except the party of course). Unfortunately, monsters do not enter peoples houses.

LIGHT
Cappen Aye
TheGreat0ldOne Nay
Erebus Aye
Mrowak Aye
The ayes have the majority! We'll accept the offer and see what comes of it later.

Let's accept his offer and in true Evil spirit decline his future demands

Or not.

I hereby endorse the plan outlined by His Holiness

The pope's wisdom seems nigh-on infallible; let's do as he says.

Flip-floppers.

That is good choice. But I think it would be better to accept his offer, then do this to kill him anyways, it's the truly powergaming evil option.

Accept it and go - steamroll the you-know-what. Otherwise, it could prove a painful experience.

Also C&C is always a good thing.

Isn't there another introduction video, by the way ? With goblins telling Archibald (and elves telling a wizard dude) the story of a strange scene they've observed ?

I think that one takes place only after the tutorial.

Yes, you are right:

Aye on Mr. Malwicks. If he and his associates turn out to be decent guys, it's all good. If they are evil bastards, we get to purify them in the name of the light, removing a dark stain from the pristine beauty of our land etc. etc. Win-win, really

I won't be able to get any playtime in today, so this voting is still open at least until tomorrow. Should give any flip-floppers plenty of time to change their minds several times, and TheGreat0ldOne might even drop by and vote. If not, the light party will just proceed as is.

Ah, what the hell, I'll do a flip-flop. Let's take the wand.