Myth II: Soulblighter
Encyclopedia
Myth II: Soulblighter is a 1998 real-time tactics
computer game for the PC
and Macintosh
developed by Bungie
. It is a sequel to Myth: The Fallen Lords and the second game in the Myth series.
Like the previous installment, Myth II is a real-time tactics where players are given a pre-determined selection of units with their own strengths and weakness, without the option to recruit any further units later in battle, emphasizing the strategy aspect of the gameplay.
In both single and multiplayer games, players can utilize units in different way such as combat formations and special abilities and making use of terrain. While some units from the previous Myth retain their special abilities such as the Dwarf satchel charge and Journeyman healing, other past units like the Bowmen are able to fire a secondary fire arrow that can set the targeted area aflame damaging nearby units and can use a knife as a last resort when in close combat. While some other units for both the Light and Dark sides aren’t present in Soulblighter such as the Forest Giants and Myrmidons, new units are made available such Dwarven Mortars and the Myrkridia, previously only mentioned in The Fallen Lords. The previously Dark Trow giants are also made available for use by the Light, being classed as unaligned.
The single player campaign is only playable from the perspective of the Light, through a series of both linear and non-linear laid out levels, with end of level stats and individual unit kill counts and prevalence still present, along with the option to play them cooperatively in multiplayer through online or local network.
. After clearing the town, the soldiers are then sent to rescue live men being held at a cemetery by brigands. After freeing them, one is escorted back to Tallow where he reveals to the mayor that the instances of grave robbing lead back to Keep Kildaer, ruled by the sinister Baron Kildaer. With the help of an invisible dwarven pathfinder named Jari, Crüniac’s forces sneak inside the Baron's castle and kill him and lay torch to the keep, but as they make their escape, a veritable legion of undead march out of the gates in pursuit.
In this pursuit, Crüniac is killed with warrior Garrick hearing his last words that Soulblighter has returned. Garrick retrieves from his body a Journal taken from the Baron’s library, the Journal of a soldier who fought in the Great War sixty years prior (being the same who narrated the plot in The Fallen Lords). The Journal later helps in locating the Total Codex, an ancient tome which spoke of events that had yet to transpire. From the Codex, Alric discerns that Soulblighter is trying to locate "The Summoner", a man who would resurrect the Myrkridia, a race of bloodthirsty monsters. In his search for The Summoner, Soulblighter marches through and destroys major Cath Bruig cities on his way to Madrigal, where Alric has stayed to save any remaining survivors. A man reports back to Alric after having been interrogated by a horrific woman, later confirmed to be Shiver, who was killed in the Great War but was recently resurrected by Soulblighter himself. Before setting sail, Alric and his men narrowly escape the now-resurrected Myrkridia.
Seeking to fight fire with fire, Alric then leads the search to find The Deceiver, who once fought for Balor, but was less devout to his fellow Fallen Lords. He is eventually found and resurrected after being left for dead in a frozen lake for six decades. Allying himself with Alric, The Deceiver and a small reluctant force head to the ruins of Rhi’ornin, the dominion of the Trow giants who also served Balor in the Great War. By winning a game of their choosing, The Deceiver convinces the Trow to join their cause. With their help, Alric's forces recapture the lost city of Muirthemne, the former capital of the Cath Bruig, and brave its haunted catacombs in search of the legendary Ibis Crown. Alric is then crowned as the new Emperor of the Cath Bruig. In reclaiming Muirthemne, the ancient order of the Heron Guard is re-established.
In order to quell the onslaught of Myrkridia, The Deceiver plans to travel to Forest Heart and locate a fragment of the Tain, a mystical artifact that once imprisoned the Myrkridia, and enter it to hunt down and kill The Summoner. After succeeding in his plan, The Deceiver suddenly launches a sneak attack on Soulblighter’s camp, which fails and results in him and his forces being imprisoned. During this time however, the jailor Phelot, a Shade supposedly allied with the Dark, frees one group of men with the rest quickly fighting back against the Dark. Once rescued, The Deceiver overwhelms Soulblighter and kills one of the fiend's crows, robbing much of his power and preventing him from fleeing in that manner again. Following the prison break, The Deceiver hunts down Shiver with a group of five heroes in the desert south of Silvermines. In their confrontation, Shiver is betrayed by her general Phelot, who promptly lays waste to her army while The Deceiver kills Shiver. Unfortunately, her death triggers a devastating backlash that kills The Deceiver at the same time.
Alric and Soulblighter lead their armies into one final confrontation at the foot of the volcano Tharsis. Soulblighter is pushed back into the volcano itself where he plans a last desperate attempt against the Light by shattering the Cloudspine mountain range, an act that would cause widespread devastation over the land. Alric eventually tracks him down and breaks the rock Soulblighter stands on, causing him to plummet to his definitive death in the molten lava, ending forever the Fallen Lords threat over the world.
by Loki Software
.
A game entitled Green Berets, set in Vietnam War
, was released in 2001 by Take-Two Interactive
following their acquisition of the Myth franchise after Bungie was acquired by Microsoft. Green Berets was powered by the Myth II engine, and included a full copy of the game.
.
Myth II continues to have a supportive fanbase. Although Bungie no longer develops the code, they have released the code to a limited set of programmers for continued development. While the game is over a decade old, new releases are still being developed, and hosted at The Tain.
Real-time tactics
Real-time tactics or RTT is a subgenre of tactical wargames played in real-time simulating the considerations and circumstances of operational warfare and military tactics...
computer game for the PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
and Macintosh
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
developed by Bungie
Bungie
Bungie, Inc is an American video game developer currently located in Bellevue, Washington, USA. The company was established in May 1991 by University of Chicago undergraduate student Alex Seropian, who later brought in programmer Jason Jones after publishing Jones' game Minotaur: The Labyrinths of...
. It is a sequel to Myth: The Fallen Lords and the second game in the Myth series.
Gameplay
In both single and multiplayer games, players can utilize units in different way such as combat formations and special abilities and making use of terrain. While some units from the previous Myth retain their special abilities such as the Dwarf satchel charge and Journeyman healing, other past units like the Bowmen are able to fire a secondary fire arrow that can set the targeted area aflame damaging nearby units and can use a knife as a last resort when in close combat. While some other units for both the Light and Dark sides aren’t present in Soulblighter such as the Forest Giants and Myrmidons, new units are made available such Dwarven Mortars and the Myrkridia, previously only mentioned in The Fallen Lords. The previously Dark Trow giants are also made available for use by the Light, being classed as unaligned.
The single player campaign is only playable from the perspective of the Light, through a series of both linear and non-linear laid out levels, with end of level stats and individual unit kill counts and prevalence still present, along with the option to play them cooperatively in multiplayer through online or local network.
Setting
60 years after the Great War and the fall of Balor the Leveler, the remaining armies of The Province led by Alric have managed to restore their lands, with the once fallen city of Madrigal now standing as the capital. The forces of the Dark are only a few scattered remnants, however, the fate of Balor's general - Soulblighter, remains unknown.Plot
The story is then told through a series of Journal entries from a lone soldier who is part of a small contingency led by Commander Crüniac. While passing through the town of Tallow, the company is asked to investigate reports of grave robbing. At first little is thought of the matter until they arrive at Willow Creek. Originally believing to find the city raided by bandits, they discover it is actually swarming with undeadUndead
Undead is a collective name for fictional, mythological, or legendary beings that are deceased and yet behave as if alive. Undead may be incorporeal, such as ghosts, or corporeal, such as vampires and zombies...
. After clearing the town, the soldiers are then sent to rescue live men being held at a cemetery by brigands. After freeing them, one is escorted back to Tallow where he reveals to the mayor that the instances of grave robbing lead back to Keep Kildaer, ruled by the sinister Baron Kildaer. With the help of an invisible dwarven pathfinder named Jari, Crüniac’s forces sneak inside the Baron's castle and kill him and lay torch to the keep, but as they make their escape, a veritable legion of undead march out of the gates in pursuit.
In this pursuit, Crüniac is killed with warrior Garrick hearing his last words that Soulblighter has returned. Garrick retrieves from his body a Journal taken from the Baron’s library, the Journal of a soldier who fought in the Great War sixty years prior (being the same who narrated the plot in The Fallen Lords). The Journal later helps in locating the Total Codex, an ancient tome which spoke of events that had yet to transpire. From the Codex, Alric discerns that Soulblighter is trying to locate "The Summoner", a man who would resurrect the Myrkridia, a race of bloodthirsty monsters. In his search for The Summoner, Soulblighter marches through and destroys major Cath Bruig cities on his way to Madrigal, where Alric has stayed to save any remaining survivors. A man reports back to Alric after having been interrogated by a horrific woman, later confirmed to be Shiver, who was killed in the Great War but was recently resurrected by Soulblighter himself. Before setting sail, Alric and his men narrowly escape the now-resurrected Myrkridia.
Seeking to fight fire with fire, Alric then leads the search to find The Deceiver, who once fought for Balor, but was less devout to his fellow Fallen Lords. He is eventually found and resurrected after being left for dead in a frozen lake for six decades. Allying himself with Alric, The Deceiver and a small reluctant force head to the ruins of Rhi’ornin, the dominion of the Trow giants who also served Balor in the Great War. By winning a game of their choosing, The Deceiver convinces the Trow to join their cause. With their help, Alric's forces recapture the lost city of Muirthemne, the former capital of the Cath Bruig, and brave its haunted catacombs in search of the legendary Ibis Crown. Alric is then crowned as the new Emperor of the Cath Bruig. In reclaiming Muirthemne, the ancient order of the Heron Guard is re-established.
In order to quell the onslaught of Myrkridia, The Deceiver plans to travel to Forest Heart and locate a fragment of the Tain, a mystical artifact that once imprisoned the Myrkridia, and enter it to hunt down and kill The Summoner. After succeeding in his plan, The Deceiver suddenly launches a sneak attack on Soulblighter’s camp, which fails and results in him and his forces being imprisoned. During this time however, the jailor Phelot, a Shade supposedly allied with the Dark, frees one group of men with the rest quickly fighting back against the Dark. Once rescued, The Deceiver overwhelms Soulblighter and kills one of the fiend's crows, robbing much of his power and preventing him from fleeing in that manner again. Following the prison break, The Deceiver hunts down Shiver with a group of five heroes in the desert south of Silvermines. In their confrontation, Shiver is betrayed by her general Phelot, who promptly lays waste to her army while The Deceiver kills Shiver. Unfortunately, her death triggers a devastating backlash that kills The Deceiver at the same time.
Alric and Soulblighter lead their armies into one final confrontation at the foot of the volcano Tharsis. Soulblighter is pushed back into the volcano itself where he plans a last desperate attempt against the Light by shattering the Cloudspine mountain range, an act that would cause widespread devastation over the land. Alric eventually tracks him down and breaks the rock Soulblighter stands on, causing him to plummet to his definitive death in the molten lava, ending forever the Fallen Lords threat over the world.
Epilogue
The journal writer/narrator concludes that man once again rebuilds his land and speaks of the cycle of the Leveler, that he is never dead, but only returns as a different form every millennium. Soulblighter, however, was not the Leveler as he tried to force to cycle at his own peril and as a result might have even broken the cycle. Whether or not this outcome is true is still unknown.Release history
The original game was released on November 30, 1998. In 1999 it was re-released with an expansion entitled Myth II: Chimera as part of Myth: The Total Codex, which also included the first game. It was later also ported to LinuxLinux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
by Loki Software
Loki Software
Loki Software, Inc. was a software firm based in Tustin, California, United States, that ported several video games from Microsoft Windows to Linux...
.
A game entitled Green Berets, set in Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, was released in 2001 by Take-Two Interactive
Take-Two Interactive
Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is a major American publisher, developer, and distributor of video games and video game peripherals. Take-Two wholly owns 2K Games and Rockstar Games. The company's headquarters are in New York City, with international headquarters in Windsor, United Kingdom...
following their acquisition of the Myth franchise after Bungie was acquired by Microsoft. Green Berets was powered by the Myth II engine, and included a full copy of the game.
Reception
Upon the game's release, Myth II: Soulblighter received a positive reception, with an average score of 88/100 based on 12 reviews at MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
.
Myth II continues to have a supportive fanbase. Although Bungie no longer develops the code, they have released the code to a limited set of programmers for continued development. While the game is over a decade old, new releases are still being developed, and hosted at The Tain.
External links
- Myth series at Bungie.net
- Myth at Bungie.org