Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
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Arkane Studios and Floodgate Entertainment (single-player)
Kuju Entertainment (multiplayer)
Kuju Entertainment (multiplayer)
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- 'Dark Messiah' redirects here. For the character known as the Dark or Demon Messiah, see Sareth.
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, additionally subtitled Elements on Xbox 360, is a first-person action game developed by Arkane Studios and Floodgate Entertainment. Kuju Entertainment developed the multiplayer mode. The player controls Sareth, the apprentice of the wizard Phenrig, after he is sent to the city of Stonehelm to accompany an expedition trying to retrieve a powerful artifact known as 'The Skull of Shadows.'
Dark Messiah Of Might And Magic Torrent
Elements was released on February 12, 2008, over a year after its debut on PC. It adds new levels in the single-player campaign, a revamped multiplayer mode, numerous bug-fixes, and adjustments for the console experience.[1]
GameplayEdit
The game emphasizes environmental combat, by way of using scripted traps or terrain features. Actions include cutting ropes to release heavy objects, kicking enemies over a cliff or into a bed of spikes, and breaking support beams to collapse a structure and crush enemies underneath.
Enemies are generally difficult to kill in straightforward combat, although characters developed for this purpose may have an easier time. Characters with high stealth can sneak up behind enemies and perform a lethal backstab maneuver, while players skilled with a bow can use it to snipe enemies from a distance.
Magic spells can be used to damage the enemy, heal the player, or serve a number of utility purposes.
As the player completes objectives throughout the game, Dark Messiah awards experience points that can be used to buy skills in one of three skill trees: Combat, Magic, and Miscellaneous. The Combat tree improves the power and efficiency of physical attacks. The Magic tree grants access to new spells. The Miscellaneous tree contains general improvements, including Stealth.
Although some enemies will drop unremarkable, normal items when killed, looting in Dark Messiah is mostly a fixed affair. Valuable items are placed in specific locations for the player to find. Each item has fixed stats, and the selection of items is also limited, with only a small number of different weapons or armor in each category. Additionally, advanced items typically have a skill requirement, with the end result being that the character equips only a handful of different items over the course of the game, as allowed by skill selections.
StorylineEdit
The protagonist of Dark Messiah is a young man named Sareth, who is under the tutelage of the Wizard Phenrig. After years of studying the arts of magic and physical training in the arts of war, he is finally taken on an expedition to retrieve a rare artifact known as the Shantiri Crystal. After finding the Crystal and disposing of the would be rival expedition, Sareth is tasked to bring the crystal to an associate of Phenrig's, the Wizard Menelag, who is also the lord of the city of Stonehelm. Menelag and Phenrig have certain 'mutual interests' that involve finding an artifact called the Skull of Shadows. Menelag apparently is unable to continue his search without the Crystal. To guide him on his way, a spirit named Xana will reside in Sareth's mind.
Shortly after arriving in Stonehelm, Sareth witnesses an undead cyclops and a small army of ghouls sent by the Necromancers breach Stonehelm's defenses and begin to overwhelm the guards. Sareth is recruited to help in the defense effort by taking control of a ballista. Using this, he manages to stun the undead cyclops long enough for a guard to stab it in the eye, thus killing it. Seeing their most valuable asset destroyed, the remnants of the invading force beat a hasty retreat. Sareth then resumes his search for Menelag. Upon reaching the front gate of Menelag's manor, Sareth is greeted by Leanna, the young niece and pupil of Menelag. That night, the three enjoy a small feast in Sareth's honor after which Menelag informs Sareth that they will set sail the following morning to resume the search for the Skull.
In the middle of the night, the crystal is stolen by a ghoul, who murders Menelag in the process. Sareth then chases the ghoul to a warehouse, where he finds the necromancer Arantir using the crystal's power to open a portal to Nar-Heresh, the necromancer city. Sareth manages to steal the crystal back and escape to the docks, where he falls asleep. In a dream, he recalls his meeting with Phenrig, except that Phenrig appears to be holding Sareth by a leash. He also sees Xana again, but as she transfers her consciousness into his mind, she appears to be a demon. Sareth and Leanna leave Stonehelm by boat and travel to the island with the Skull of Shadows. While en route, Sareth has another dream in which he kills Leanna, and Arantir alludes that she is only the first of many victims.
After arriving, they find the expedition destroyed, and most of the men dead, killed by orc warriors. Sareth and Leanna are chased into the Temple of the Skull by a Pao kai which Sareth kills a little later with a gate, and Sareth proceeds alone to the top of the Temple, where he places the Shantiri Crystal, and defeats the Orc chief Aratrok in a duel. Arantir then reveals himself and appears to kill Leanna. Sareth, however, escapes to the crypt below and retrieves the Skull of Shadows. Sareth then has a vision of the Demon Sovereign Kha Beleth, who reveals himself to be Sareth's father. Kha Beleth names Sareth the Dark Messiah, and then commands to be released using the power of the Skull. Sareth wakes up to see Arantir, who takes the skull and then impales Sareth on a spike.
Fueled by Xana's demonic power, Sareth wakes up alive and gains the power to transform into a demon, which grants him uncanny strength at the cost of health. Stripped of all his belongings, Sareth uses the demon form to fight off the Orc guards as he recovers his items. He manages to leave the island and returns to Stonehelm. Once there, he takes the portal to Nar-Heresh. There, Sareth witnesses Leanna – who is still alive – being thrown into a spider pit. Saving Leanna is optional, but impacts the possible endings that the player may receive. Regardless of the player's choice, Sareth discovers Arantir's plans to sacrifice the entire population of Stonehelm in order to permanently seal Kha Beleth's prison.
Sareth then returns to a besieged Stonehelm, fighting alongside the remaining human resistance. If Leanna was rescued in the previous chapter, Sareth may visit the sanctuary in order to purge Xana from his body. If Sareth proceeds with the cleansing, he loses the ability to transform into a demon, but gains the ability to use powerful holy weapons. If Sareth is unable or unwilling to undergo the cleansing ritual, nothing will change. Whatever the case, the choices determines which endings the player may receive.
In the ancient necropolis over which Stonehelm was built, Sareth is eventually reunited with Leanna. If the player left her behind in the spider pit, she appears as a Lich, who Sareth then destroys. If Sareth saved her, but did not cleanse himself, she will attack him. If Leanna was rescued and Sareth cleansed himself, she will join Sareth in the final chapter.
Sareth then makes his way through the necropolis and eventually catches up with Arantir as he is about to perform the ritual. Sareth kills Arantir, but Arantir revives himself and summons an undead Pao Kai. Sareth fights off the Pao Kai, which forces Arantir to perform a resummoning, during which Arantir is vulnerable. Eventually Arantir is defeated, leaving Sareth to make his final decision for the Skull.
The player may use the Skull to lock his father away forever, or destroy the Skull and free his father. Each option offers a different ending. The ensuing cut scene will vary slightly depending on whether it is Leanna or Xana that accompanies Sareth at the end of the game, giving the game a total of four different endings.
MultiplayerEdit
Dark Messiah features a multiplayer mode that is similar to the gameplay of the Battlefield series in that opposing teams battle each other and earn points by performing strategic maneuvers across a large map. There are two playable factions, consisting of humans and undead, along with five playable classes. The character customization system is still present, with the limitation that players must select a predefined class and may only buy skills available for that class.
Even in the trial version (software offered for free to the public), the security suite is still packed with features that help protect and secure users.At a GlanceThe security suite’s installer can be easily downloaded from various file hosting websites. This is especially true because the company offers its security products for free to users in the market. The company stands strong amidst previous controversies that involve allegations of its breach in users’ privacy. Avg internet security 2019 lisans numaras 3. Its user base comprises of more than 200 billion all around the globe. AVG still offers one of the best security applications among competitors in the current market.
As a throwback to Rocket Arena, there is also a Colosseum mode, in which players fight individual opponents in front of an audience. When players are not battling in the current match they can bet XP on the outcome.
ReceptionEdit
Critical reaction to Dark Messiah has been divided, particularly between the US and the rest of the world. IGN, for example, gave mixed reports with their Australian team awarding the game 8.8/10 and their American team awarding it 7.0/10.
Praise for the game came from PC Zone (UK), PC Gamer (UK), and Game Informer (USA) which awarded the game 84%, 88% and 9.25 respectively, with praise going to the game's innovative and responsive melee combat. Sonic adventure 2 battle rom. Game Informer, in particular, praised Dark Messiah for the sheer fun factor and beautiful graphics. In contrast, several publications from the US gave poor reviews. GameSpot gave the game a review score of 6.7/10 stating that it had many technical issues, repetitive gameplay, predictable story, and poor multiplayer. CNET and GameSpy each gave similar reviews with the latter giving it 3/5. 1UP.com gave the game only 4/10, criticising the over-reliance on using the kick as a weapon and dubbing it 'The Adventures of Sir Kicksalot Deathboot in the Land of the Conspicuously Placed Spike Racks'.
Overall, Metacritic assigned the game an aggregate rating of 72% based on 44 reviews.[2] On Game Rankings, the game received a score of 75% based on 50 reviews.[3]
Elements on the Xbox 360 fared significantly worse, receiving an aggregate score of 54%.[4] IGN noted that this version simplified the original game's role-playing element; players in Elements must choose one of four predetermined character classes that gain skills according to their specialty.[5] Gamespot criticized the game's control problems and graphics, stating that it 'may be the ugliest game powered by the Source engine'.[6] GameSpot nominated this version for the dubious award of Flat-Out Worst Game in its 2008 video game awards.[7]
VersionsEdit
Despite having received a 'not under 18' rating from the USK, Ubisoft announced that the two German versions of Dark Messiah will contain some changes from the internationally released version.[8] Specifically, the German version does not allow for enemies' heads or limbs to be severed, enemies cannot be impaled after death, burning enemies will die immediately and their corpses cannot be mutilated further after death. Ubisoft separately released a limited edition 'International Version' of the game (playable in English only) which is identical to the version of the game released in most other countries, and which was also released in Germany.However, since then the Bundesprüfstelle has declared, after an examination in February 2008, that the uncensored version of the game, though heavily relying on melee combat and displaying violent content, is not harmful to minors, as equal importance is laid on the setting in a fantasy world and the elaborated storyline. In a second attempt, the original version secured a 'not under 18' rating with the USK, though this now rated version has yet to be released in Germany.
VideosEdit
Might and Magic Dark Messiah E3 2006 Official Trailer (2006, Ubisoft)
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic GC Atmospheric Trailer US (2006, Ubisoft) HD
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic Official Launch Trailer (2006, Ubisoft)
Dark Messiah Elements Official Trailer
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
SourcesEdit
- ↑Dark Messiah of Might & Magic Elements Hands-On - Xbox 360 News at GameSpot
- ↑. Dark Messiah of Might & Magic (pc: 2006): Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2007-10-01.
- ↑. Dark Messiah Might and Magic Reviews. Game Rankings. Retrieved on 2007-10-01.
- ↑Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements (xbox360: 2008): Reviews
- ↑IGN: Dark Messiah of Might and Magic Elements Review
- ↑Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements for Xbox 360 Review - Xbox 360 Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Elements Review
- ↑. Flat-Out Worst Game. GameSpot.com. Retrieved on 2008-12-28.
- ↑Deutsche Version / Internationale Version - Thema entwickelt von eve community
Where is the steam folder.
External linksEdit
- Dark Messiah of Might and Magic at www.gamerankings.com
- Dark Messiah of Might and Magic at Metacritic
The Might and Magic series | ||
---|---|---|
Might and Magic RPGs | I - II - III - IV - V - VI - VII - VIII - IX - X | |
Heroes | I - II (The Price of Loyalty - Desecrated Lands) - III (Armageddon's Blade - The Shadow of Death) - IV (The Gathering Storm - Winds of War) - V (Hammers of Fate - Tribes of the East) - VI (Pirates of the Savage Sea - Danse Macabre - Shades of Darkness) - VII (Trial by Fire) | |
King's Bounty | King's Bounty - Quest for the Dragon Bone Staff - The Legend - Armored Princess - Crossworlds - Legions - Warriors of the North - Dark Side | |
Ardon series | Crusaders of Might and Magic - Warriors of Might and Magic - Shifters | |
Related titles and spinoffs | Arcomage - Heroes Chronicles - Legends of Might and Magic - Dragon Rage - Mobile (II) - Dark Messiah - Clash of Heroes - Heroes Kingdoms - Heroes Online - Duel of Champions - Elemental Guardians | |
Novels | The Dreamwright - The Shadowsmith - The Sea of Mist | |
Cancelled installments | New World Computing's Heroes V - Might and Magic Online - The Worldcrafter - New World Computing's Might and Magic X - Kingdoms of Might and Magic |
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/DarkMessiah
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Might and Magic: Dark Messiah, also known as Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, is a first person Action RPG by Arkane Studios. It is in a few ways a bit of Spiritual Successor to Arkane's previous work Arx Fatalis (Itself one of Ultima Underworld, though Dark Messiah has little relation to either of the UU games.). It takes place in Ashan, the same world as the 'Heroes of Might and Magic V' reboot.Advertisement:
The game stars Sareth, a young student of a mage called 'Phenrig' trained in both magic and martial arts. After a short training mission where a magic crystal is acquired, Phenrig sends Sareth 'half a world away' to locate an artifact known as the 'Skull of Shadows' — the crystal being a key to the Skull — with the help of fellow wizard Menelag and his apprentice/niece Leanna. Before Sareth leaves, a woman called 'Xana' is fused to his spirit by Phenrig to advise him and provide running commentary.
Combat can be best described seeing the world through the eyes of a Combat Pragmatist. The game is built on Valve Software's Source engine and it makes full use of the engine's physics component. Objects in the world of appropriate size can be picked up and thrown at foes to disrupt them, while strong blows, or the game's dedicated 'kick' attack', can knock enemies around (this is particularly pronounced with Goblins and Undead due to their lack of bulk), pushing them into traps, bottomless pits or each other. Magic is similarly more than a rocket launcher. Spells allow you to freeze the ground, throw big things around with telekinesis, light your enemies on fire and be a general badass. The environment is often littered with cliffs, barrels, oil pots and spike racks, and the player is given incentive to take advantage of these factors. Enemies are both strong and plentiful and there is no EXP rewarded for killing them, only completing objectives. The player must use everything in his arsenal and all the fun things in the environment to survive fights, especially on higher difficulties.
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Arkane Studios was announced to be working on another 'immersive first person RPG' in 2009 before their acquisition by Bethesda Softworks, which has since been revealed to be Dishonored.
Provides examples of:
- All Webbed Up: Spider lairs in Dark Messiah have loads of webbed corpses.
- Anti-Villain:
- The Orcs aren't evil, just territorial, and have every good reason to keep you from taking the Skull Of Shadows.
- Arantir is honestly trying to stop the prophesy from being fulfilled. Which, if you opt to do and release your demonic father, ends up making him the lesser evil.
- Anti Anti Christ/The Antichrist: Sareth, depending on your choice.
- Arrows on Fire: If you hold down the attack button to keep your bow drawn, you can set the arrow alight using fires in-game, such as torches. This allows you to deal fire damage and/or set barrels of oil on fire.
- Artificial Stupidity: The AI doesn't recognize that walking through a burning puddle of oil is a bad idea.
- Awesome, but Impractical: The inferno spell does tremendous damage to a foe standing right in front of you, and blinds you while it is being cast so that you can't see if the foe has stepped back out of the fire. With practice this needn't be a problem however.
- Back Stab: You can pull off stealth kills once you raise your Sneak skill high enough. Useless Useful Spell is averted here, this technique works on the Final Boss.
- Bad Dreams: Two of them, one where you dance with Leanna and then stab her while Arantir watches, and one when you remember your first meeting with Xana in a different way. Depending on whether you betray Leanna later, the dancing dream can also be foreshadowing.
- Betty and Veronica: The game presents you with two strongly contrasted female companions in the form of the blonde, goody-two-shoes mage Leanna and the exotic, sultry, and Obviously Evil Xana.
- Beware My Stinger Tail: In your demon form, your charged attack strikes at an enemy with your tail.
- Big 'NO!': Performed by Leanna, if you choose to release your dad.
- Blade Lock: Known as 'Contests of Might' in-game, but it's there.
- Cap: You can only hold 20 of an item at once. This really only becomes an issue with food rations (which all food becomes when picked up) and mana potions for non-pure mages.
- Character Class: Averted, the game uses a point buy system for abilities. Played straight in the multiplayer though.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Xana, as every other succubus in the series, frequently suggests that Sareth betray his allies, even when they are technically on her side. She will even betray the Demon Sovereign if Sareth chooses to leave his father sealed.. Perhaps surprisingly she stays entirely loyal to you throughout the game, even going out of her way to save and revive you when you are killed midway into the game.
- Combat Pragmatist: Sareth frequently uses his environment to his advantage (there's a reason why some dub it The Adventures of Sir Kicksalot Deathboot in the Land of Conveniently Placed Spike Racks). This is actually ideal due to a number of factors: for starters, you don't gain EXP from killing enemies, so disposing of them in the quickest way possible is ideal. Secondly, even early on enemies deal a LOT of damage and can block your attacks frequently, making it difficult to win in a straight up fight. Lastly, the games numerous systems make it easy for a skilled player to dispose of his enemies however he wishes as enemies take lots of damage from falling, being hit with heavy objects, and so on.
- Dark Messiah: Averted. The 'Dark Messiah' is not a Messianic Archetype with morally questionable goals, but a demon/human hybrid that will free the demons from their prison; he is not a dark saviour, he is the saviour of the dark. Potentially, anyway.
- Deadpan Snarker:
- Sareth eventually starts responding to Xana's 'advice' this way.
- Xana also has her moments, mostly where Leanna is concerned.
- Draco Lich: The final boss is a Spectral Dragon that Arantir summons to deal with you.
- Demonic Possession: A benevolent version is used by Xana when you are Impaled with Extreme Prejudice.
- Dual Wielding: All daggers come in pairs.
- Duel Boss: The Orc leader Aratrok challenges you to one on the stipulation that you don't use magic. If you don't follow the rules, you will have to face his 4 henchmen along with him, but given that Aratrok is already insanely powerful (one of the few foes that can survive a finisher on normal) with no traps around, it's in your best interest to do so unless you are a pure-mage and can't win the fight normally. To be fair, the way the game works, any character can take advantage of the physics engine.
- Elemental Powers: The game places heavy emphasis on this, with the three different enemy types (undead, Orcs, and humans) each being weak to a different element (holy, lightning, and fire, respectively). Interestingly, undead are weak to both holy and fire, and striking a ghoul with the Infinity +1 Sword holy weapon lights them on fire.
- Escort Mission: Leanna is subject to a few, but thankfully she 1: has her health on screen, 2: can be told to stay put, 3: heals herself (and you!), 4: Isn't an awful fighter in most of them, and the one she is outclassed in you've killed most of the enemies before starting the escort.
- Emergency Transformation: See Demonic Possession
- Evil Feels Good: So Xana promises. Sareth seems to agree if you use his Superpowered Evil Side much.
- Fake Kill Scare: Leanna appears to be killed by Arantir. However, you get the chance to rescue her from his lair later in the game.
- Fighter, Mage, Thief: The game's three skill trees basically boil down to this. The game encourages you mix and match, however, as certain abilities are quite handy regardless of your build, such as the ability to pick locks.
- Flynning: Sareth's wild flailings bear almost no resemblance whatsosever to actual bladeplay if Flurry of Blows is the player's primary way of attacking.
- Funny Background Event: When you arrive on the orc island you find two soldiers, one dead one badly wounded. Leanna and the mage Taergon will talk to the wounded one, who offers some information about the island. Meanwhile, the other mage accompanying you quietly walks over to the corpse and pokes it with his staff. Yup, he's dead.
- Gameplay Ally Immortality: Averted. Allied soldiers and mages rarely fight alongside you, and when they do they only have about as much health as the basic enemy Mooks. When Leanna follows you around as a partner, she only has slightly more health than a basic Mook and dies all too easily if she gets mobbed by two or three enemies at once.
- Godiva Hair: Xana, in demon form.
- Good Parents: Sareth's demon-lord father is actually pretty good to his son, assuming that you don't decide to rebind him into his prison. A bit like Darth Vader and Luke, without the dueling.
- Goomba Stomp: Though it doesn't come up much, the player can damage enemies just by landing on them.
- Hard Work Hardly Works: Lampshaded by the Final Boss, who wonders who will win the duel: a twenty-year-old Magic Knight or someone who trained for centuries. In all fairness though,this is more a case of inverted Cutscene Incompetence since at this point he has literally curbstomped you in every encounter so far, even killed you by levitating you onto a shrine, impaling you. One could argue he was exhausted from raising an undead dragon and performing his banishing ritual.
- Harmless Freezing: Zapping an enemy with the Ice spell will simply leave them an immobile block of ice for a bit. You can kick them over and deal damage to them, but after a few seconds they'll defrost.
- Hero Antagonist: If you opt to be evil, then Arantir ends up as this as he's trying to prevent the calamity that you're intending to bring about.
- Horned Humanoid: Xana's demon form has six horns on her head.
- Horny Devils: Xana.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Sareth is thrown into a spike by Arantir in the middle of the game.
- Infinity -1 Sword: The Earthfire sword. You'll only obtain the game's Infinity +1 Sword at the very end of the penultimate level, and only if you're going for the Lawful Good ending. Conversely, an observant player who scours the game for secrets can wield the Earthfire sword shortly before the midgame starts, just before you run into a bunch of enemies who take extra damage from fire.
- Infinity +1 Sword: The Dragonbone weapons. Not only do they utterly destroy undead foes (the main enemies by the endgame) but the Dragons have been kind enough to supply you with one weapon of each type, so that you get an upgrade no matter what your specialization is.
- I Ate WHAT?!: Background chatter among two goblins. One has decided that if orcs eat goblins then goblins can eat orcs and recently ate both of an orc's livers. The other goblin points out that orcs only have one liver and speculates as to what the other ate a pair of.
- I Can Rule Alone: By sticking with Xana the entire game, Sareth has the option of leaving his father trapped in Sheogh so he can rule Ashan with the Skull's power.
- I Did What I Had to Do: 'I do this for the sake of Ashan.' — said by Arantir while he is killing Sareth.
- Infinity +1 Sword: Light Elemental weapons are the most powerful in the game (and also have the added benefit of doing extra damage to undead, the most common enemy type encountered), but since your character is a half-demon hybrid who's also carrying around a demoness in his head, you can't actually use them until the last chapter where you can purify yourself at the temple of the world's Crystal Dragon Jesus, who also is good enough to provide you with a Light Elemental weapon, in case you didn't manage to find any before.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Averted. Naga silkswords look just like katanas, and while they are good swords, there are better ones.
- Kicked Across The Room: A key gameplay mechanic. Your ability to kick enemies off of ledges into spikey objects or off of cliffs can make for a much simpler and easier way to fight your enemies than using weapons or magic. If you're paying close attention, you may notice that your kicks are context-sensitive; kick a person when there's nothing to knock him into/off of, and he'll just stumble back a bit. Kick a person when they're in close proximity to a deathtrap, and they'll fly back up to ten feet into whatever trap that happens to be behind them.
- Kill It with Fire: Enemies die quickly once they've been set on fire. There are multiple convenient fires to kick enemies into and even more oil jars which will create a small puddle that can be ignited with any attack that generates flame, including the multiple flaming weapons.
- Magic Knight: Actively encouraged and an explicit ability of Sareth in the manual. Melee skills are bloody cheap to purchase and the skill that makes a pure-mage build really viable is only purchasable really late into the game (that being mana regeneration, something that costs a whopping 25 skill points and even more to lead up to it in the skill tree). The same is true of pure fighters. It is very easy to run out of healing until you have the late-game hitpoint regeneration power, but the heal spell is very cheap and mana does regenerate. As a result, alternating between the two is necessary to survive. One of the reasons why the Elements port is so disliked is that this factor of gameplay was removed entirely, forcing you into being either a fighter, mage, or thief. This, as a result, turns an already challenging game into an absolute nightmare on higher difficulties.
- Magic Skirt: Leanna has one of the shadowy variety. Blatantly obvious in the opening to chapter 5 where she sits in-front of you and you see right down it.
- Mauve Shirt: Duncan, the surviving guard from the orc attack on the temple reappears a few times and his cousin is an important character in the final level. Duncan is pretty much doomed to die after telling you about said cousin, as he has low health and there are a few enemies he will rush. You can save him with major effort, but his AI was not programmed for the possibility, and runs around in circles afterwards.
- Mission Control: Xana, with the odd variation in that she's inside you.
- Mission Control Is Off Its Meds: The further you get, the more blatantly evil Xana gets.
- Multiple Endings: With little variation in-between each. There are four ending cinematics depending on whether you cleanse Sareth of his demonic heritage, and whether you imprison or release Sareth's father. Leanna can be killed at several points (whether by your hand, by accident, or left for dead in the lair of a Giant Spider), but she will eventually attack you if you try to play both sides.
- Multi-Melee Master: Sareth can fight with swords, staves, or daggers. And of course, his mighty boot.
- Swords are most plentiful and the most powerful weapon of the game is one. They can be paired with a shield.
- Staves do less damage, but provide better defense when blocking and provide a higher chance of knocking an opponent down and are therefore often useful when mobbed by enemies.
- Daggers always come in pairs. They do the least damage, but are the only weapons that can be used for stealth kills and a fleeing or stunned enemy can be taken down with a one-hit ranged kill by throwing the dagger.
- Mundane Made Awesome: Phenrig describes fairly mundane things with absolutely delicious quantities of ham.
- Neck Lift: Orcs can do this to you if you aren't careful, lifting up Sareth and then hurling him backwards a good distance away. If you're unlucky enough to have a particularly high dropoff behind you when this happens, well..
- Nintendo Hard: Even on normal, enemies deal a surprisingly large amount of damage. It's very easy to run out of healing potions if you don't act smart either, and even the dedicated healing spell can only be used so often. As a result, playing smart and efficiently is the way to go.
- No-Gear Level: Sareth's horse is startled away at the start of chapter 1, taking everything he found in the prologue with it. Given you get far more than what you found in the prologue (which is a short sword, 2 health potions and maybe a bow) before you have any use for it and Sareth kept the plot coupon on his person, this just makes the intro a bit more cinematic. A strange example occurs in chapter 7, where you can't even use your spells (which are treated as inventory items by the game, complete with taking up space) until you get your stuff back, nor can you pick up any items (they are stored in your taken backpack, and you still can't even hold one in your hands). Thankfully both enemies you meet before getting your stuff back are conveniently in front of a fire and bottomless pit and you can still kick, plus you just got access to a 'demon form' ability that doesn't need weapons.
- No Kill Like Overkill: The Adrenaline mechanic gifts you a powerful One-Hit Kill upon dealing enough damage to your enemies. For melee weapons, this equates to a brutal dismemberment or beatdown, and for spells they often evolve into much more powerful versions of their original effects. An example would be Weaken, which normally just slows an enemy and makes them weaker, being able to permanently shrink an opponent when used with Adrenaline.
- Obviously Evil:
- Xana.
- The Demon Sovereign isn't a slouch in the 'look evil' department: Glowing Eyes of Doom, plus red spiked armor.
- 'The Reason You Suck' Speech: Arantir is very fond of telling Sareth how pathetic he is.
- The Reveal: After you acquire the skull you've been seeking for the whole game, your Evil Overlord demonic father reveals himself to you and explains how you were his Unwitting Pawn. That said, if you'd been paying attention to the cutscenes and Xana's dialogue or even just read the manual, you probably saw this coming.
- Romantic Fusion: Xana and the protagonist are linked together magically early in the story, and the bond between them manifests as her voice broadcasting in his thoughts, and many of her demonic powers being usable by him. Given that Xana is a Succubus, their connection is given very sexual connotations, with Xana submissively promising to fulfill his every desire.
- Same Character, but Different: Retroactively with Heroes of Might and Magic VI, which was made after Dark Messiah but takes place four centuries before it. In HOMMVI, Xana is very much an Anti-VillainNoble Demon; she's sweet, honest, level-headed, and loyal, and her biography even notes that she's pretty close to being the Inferno faction's Token Good Teammate. It looks like after 400 years in Hell, by the time Dark Messiah takes place her personality has corrupted into the more typical seductive and evil succubus personality.
- Screw Destiny: If you choose so, you can spit on the millennium-old prophecy and seal Sheogh pernamently, be it from good intentions, or so that you don't have to share Ashan with anyone.
- Shielded Core Boss: The Final Boss. It's Arantir, who summons a skeletal dragon to fight you and remains invulnerable as long as it lives. After defeating it, he's open for a few seconds after which he summons it again.
- Shout-Out:
- The Master Thief's armor you can acquire towards the end of the game is embossed with a 'G', a reference to Garrett from the Thief series (which the game's stealth gameplay strongly resembles), and must be reached with use of rope arrows, one of the signature tricks of the Thief games.
- The Superior Naga Silksword bears a striking resemblance to Connor's sword from Highlander.
- Goblins sometimes shout 'Float like Goblin! Sting like bee!' while they attack you.
- Spiritual Successor: As mentioned above Dark Messiah is one to Arx Fatalis (indeed, a few file names, primarily basic weapons, use 'arx'). Additionally, Dark Messiah borrows the 'marked secrets' system of early First Person Shooters, complete with the ability to find more powerful than standard weapons/armor early, while missed equipment is sitting out in the open a few levels down the line.
- As a combat focused shooter engine driven melee combat game with no shortage of Video Game Cruelty Potential, the game feels an awful lot like the last two games of the Dark Forces Saga.
- Stripperific:
- While Leanna's outfit isn't the worst example out there, it is still effectively the 'wizard robe' armor minus the pants, 3/4s of the mantle and the sleeves.
- Xana doesn't wear much either. And her true form doesn't wear anything at all.
- Squishy Wizard: Let's just say that if you choose to play an all-mage build then make sure you can quickly reach the heal spell.
- Superpowered Evil Side: After The Reveal, Sareth can take on a demonic form, courtesy of Xana. In this mode, you cannot cast spells or use special abilities, but you can drain an enemy's health to restore your own.
- These Hands Have Killed: In the dancing dream, after Sareth stabs Leanna, he looks at his hands in horror.
- Tomato in the Mirror: Sareth is the Dark Messiah.
- Unwinnable: Your health doesn't regenerate, and healing items are both finite and relatively scarce. Even worse, the basic healing potions only restore a portion of your health, and the special items that restore you to full health are very rare and usually only found in secret areas. As a result, if you do poorly in the first few levels, it's quite possible to end up in a situation where you don't have enough health to make it past the next area, and the healing items nearby aren't enough to help you get through. However, after the first few chapters you acquire an ally who will heal you to full health after every battle, and then a ring that (very slowly) regenerates your health over time. There's also an upgrade that causes your health to regenerate, but you won't be able to purchase it until very late in the game.
- Averted if the player takes the time to explore the levels, as Full Health Potions and Magic Mushrooms can be found early on, both of which fully restore the player's health. The Magic Mushrooms also fully restore the player's mana.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential: Put it this way.. hacking the limbs off of your enemies is the least imaginative thing you can do. To put it another way, it sure is convenient how the game starts placing throwable, fragile jars of oil around the levels just as you start getting access to fire spells.
- Villain Protagonist: Potentially, depending on the ending you go for.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Though it is really hard to agree with him given he murders and imprisons civilians while laying waste to everything in his path, Arantir is out to stop you from fulfilling the prophecy and seal Sheogh forever while he's at it, which is a good-ish thing.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Phenrig disappears from the plot after the tutorial, despite being Sareth's foster father and implicitly being aligned to demons.
- Wreaking Havok: The primary function of telekinesis and kicking.
- Zombie Puke Attack: All of the zombies in the game can do this, inflicting poison damage, much to the player's annoyance.