Myth II: Soulblighter

Myth II: Soulblighter is a real-time tactics game; unlike real-time strategy games, the player does not have to engage in resource micromanagement or economic macromanagement, does not have to construct a base or buildings, and does not have to gradually build up their army by acquiring resources and researching new technologies. Instead, each level begins with the player's army already assembled and ready for combat. During the game, the player controls forces of various sizes made up of a number of different units, each possessing their own strengths and weaknesses. In single-player mode, only Light units are playable, but in online multiplayer mode, the player can control both Light and Dark units. in Soulblighter, showing the selection of a single unit. The player has selected a bowman named Hadrian (the unit surrounded by a yellow rectangle). The image also shows unselected warriors, who are currently attacking enemy units. At the top of the screen is the Status Bar. The mini-map of the battlefield is just below on the right. At the bottom of the screen is the Control Bar. Basic gameplay involves the player selecting and commanding units. To select an individual unit, the player clicks on that unit. Once selected, the unit is surrounded by a yellow rectangle, beside which is a health meter, which diminishes as the unit takes damage. Units capable of utilising magic also have a mana meter in addition to their health meter. As they use magic, this meter diminishes, and then slowly regenerates over time. Units do not regenerate health, however, and there is no way to construct new units (although in some single-player missions, reinforcements are automatically received at predetermined points). To select all nearby units of a given type, the player double-clicks on any individual unit of that type. To select multiple units of different types, the player can either "shift click" (hold down the shift key and click on each individual unit) or use "band-selection" (click and hold the mouse button on a piece of ground, then drag the cursor across the screen. This causes a yellow box to appear, which grows and shrinks as it follows the cursor's movement. When the player releases the button, any units within the box are selected). The player can instantly select all units on screen, irrespective of type, by pressing the enter key. The player can also assign manually selected unit groupings to a specific key on the keyboard, and when that key is pressed, it instantly selects the desired group of units. Once one or more units have been selected, the player can click on the ground to make them walk to the selected spot, or click on an enemy to make them attack. Units with projectile weapons, such as archers and dwarves can also be ordered to attack a specific spot on the ground, rather than an enemy. It is also important that the player have their units facing in the right direction. This is accomplished by pressing the left or the right arrow key or moving the mouse to rotate the direction of the units as they move to the selected location. Facing the correct direction is especially important when using formations, of which there are nine available. After selecting a group of units, the player must press the corresponding formation button on the keyboard, and then click on the ground where they want the units to form. The player can also order all selected units to scatter and to retreat. When a single unit is selected, information about that unit appears in the "Status Bar" at the top of the HUD; the unit's name, a brief biography, how many kills he has, how many battles he has survived, and (if he is capable of carrying items) his inventory. When multiple units are selected, the names, types, and quantity of units will appear, but there will be no biography or information on their kills or previous battles. The HUD also features a transparent overhead mini-map, which displays information about the current battlefield; the player's field of vision is indicated by a yellow trapezoid, enemy units appear as red dots, friendly non-playable units as blue dots, and the player's army as green dots. The player can click anywhere on the mini-map to instantly jump to that location. The mini-map does not initially display the entire battlefield; the player must explore the area for it to become fully mapped. The player can also order troops to move to any location on the mapped area of the battlefield by right-clicking on that area in the mini-map. The player has full control over the camera throughout the game, and can move it backwards and forwards, left and right, orbit left and right (keeps the camera focused on a single spot while making a 360 degree circle around that spot), rotate left and right (the camera remains in the same spot but the player's point of view moves from side to side), and zoom in and out. All movements can be carried out via the keyboard and mouse. Using the mouse to move backwards, forwards, left and right is accomplished by moving the cursor to the top, bottom, left or right of the screen, respectively. The player can also select preferences to allow them to control rotation and orbiting via the mouse, by moving the cursor to the top and bottom corners of the screen, respectively. Zooming can be controlled by either the keyboard or mouse wheel. Like in the original game, selecting and commanding units forms the basic gameplay of Soulblighter. The battles are more complex than simply commanding units to attack the enemy, with strategy and awareness of the conditions of the battlefield, and even the weather, also playing important roles. For example, due to the game's physics engine, objects react with one another, with units, and with the terrain. This can manifest itself simply in a severed head bouncing off one of the player's units and changing direction, but it can also have more serious consequences. For example, a dwarf could throw a molotov cocktail at an enemy on a hillside and miss, with the projectile rolling back down the hill towards the player's own units. Projectiles in general, both those used by the player and the enemy, have no guarantee of hitting anything; they are merely propelled in the direction instructed by the physics engine. Arrows, for example, may miss their intended target due to a small degree of simulated aiming error that becomes more significant at long range, or the target may move out of the way, or behind a tree or building. The weather is also something the player must always bear in mind. For example, rain or snow can put out explosive-based attacks. It is also much easier for projectile units to hit enemies below them rather than above them, and as such, positioning of the player's units is an important aspect of the game. The focus of the single-player campaign is on a smaller force defeating a much larger enemy force; in every mission, the Light units are outnumbered by enemies, often vastly, and so the player must use the terrain, employ the specific skills of their individual units, and gradually decrease the enemy force, or attempt to avoid it altogether. Units in the single-player campaign acquire experience with each kill. Experience increases attack rate, accuracy, and defence, and any unit that survives a battle will carry over to the next battle with their accumulated experience (assuming the next battle features units of that type). In multiplayer, the player starts with an army, and can customize it by trading units with other players, using point values that approximate the value of the units being traded. Multiplayer games include "Assassin" (each team has a "target unit", with the winner being the team who kills the opponents' target first), "Choke the Chicken" (identical to Assassin, except the target unit assigned to each team is a non-playable chicken), "Balls On Parade" (each team has a ball; the object is to capture as many of the opponents' balls as possible, with winner being the team in possession of the most balls at the end of the game), "Captures" (a number of balls are on the battlefield, with the winner being the player who is in possession of the most balls at the end of the match), "Flag Rally" (a number of flags are on the battlefield, with the winner being the first player to touch them all), "Hunting" (each team must kill as much wildlife as possible; each animal has a point value, and the winner is the team with the most points at the end of the game), "Last Man On The Hill" (a hill on the map is marked with a flag; whichever player owns the hill when time runs out is the winner), "Scavenger Hunt" (a number of balls are on the battlefield, with the winner being the first player to touch them all), "Stampede!" (each team starts with a herd of animals and a number of flags; the object is to shepherd the herd to the enemy flags, with each successfully herded animal earning the team one point. The winner is the team with the most points at the end of the game), "Steal The Bacon" (somewhere on the battlefield is a ball; the object is to get the ball and keep it away from the opponents, with the winner being the last team to touch the ball), "Territories" (a number of flags are on the battlefield, with the winner being the team to capture and hold the most flags), "Body Count" (team deathmatch), and "King Of The Hill" (a hill on the map is marked with a flag, with the hill captured when one or more of a team's units move within a certain range of the flag and eliminate any enemy units in the same area; the winner is the team who controls the hill for the longest amount of time). ==Plot==

It is sixty years since the Great War, when Connacht, the hero who saved the world from the Myrkridia one thousand years previously, returned in the guise of Balor, and with his lieutenants, the Fallen Lords, attempted to destroy humanity. Alric, the only surviving Avatara, is now king of The Province, ruling from Madrigal. It is an age of peace and prosperity, with the Dark existing only in stories, although the fate of Soulblighter, Balor's chief lieutenant, remains unknown. The game opens with Alric experiencing a nightmare remembering the carnage of the War. He awakens to find a crow with red eyes at his window, watching him. The game then cuts to a cluster of villages near Forest Heart. As with the first game, the story is told through the journal entries of a soldier in The Legion, which is now led by Crüniac, who the soldiers think is more interested in politics than military matters, and spends its time on what the men perceive as trivial errands. Their latest assignment has them investigate reports of grave robbing, however, they are shocked to find the village of Willow Creek besieged by undead Ghasts. They clear the village, and learn the grave robbing leads to the keep of Baron Kildaer. They head to the keep and see hundreds of Thrall moving towards Tallow. Crüniac sends a runner to warn the villagers, while The Legion attack the keep. Crüniac proves a more skilled military tactician than his men believed, masterminding an attack which results in Kildaer's death. Soon thereafter, the runner returns with news that every village in the vicinity has been destroyed, and an undead army is amassing nearby. Crüniac sets fire to the Keep, and The Legion flee into the Clouspine Mountains. Their rearguard is attacked, and Crüniac mortally wounded. With his dying words, he reveals the undead are led by Soulblighter. The rest of The Legion make it to a World Knot and teleport to Madrigal, where they inform Alric of Soulblighter's return. Alric fears he is trying to find "The Summoner", who, it is foretold, will resurrect the Myrkridia. News soon arrives that Soulblighter has sacked several cities as he moves towards Madrigal, and that Shiver, a Fallen Lord killed during the Great War, has been resurrected. Alric is soon forced to abandon Madrigal, fighting his way through a Myrkridian assault led by Shiver. The Legion head to Tandem, where Alric plans to hold the fortress at White Falls, on the river Meander, thus preventing Shiver from moving north. Meanwhile, he decides to find The Deceiver, a Fallen Lord who was openly antagonistic towards the others during the Great War. He was thought killed, but his actual fate remains unknown. Alric sends a small detachment to The Deceiver's last known location, and they learn he was trapped in the Dramas River when it froze solid around him, forcing him to use what little sorcery he had left to keep himself alive, unable to break free. The detachment locate and release him, and he advises them to head north to enlist the aid of the Trow, allies of his in ancient times. The Legion do so, and the Trow agree to join the fight against Soulblighter. The detachment, The Deceiver and the Trow head south and meet with the rest of The Legion, learning Tandem has fallen. However, Alric has ordered The Legion to recapture Muirthemne, formerly Llancarfan, capital of the Cath Bruig Empire. His plan is to find the Ibis Crown in the city's haunted catacombs, and reclaim the title of Emperor, rallying humanity behind him. A small group of volunteers enter the crypts of the city and find the Crown, with Alric declared the new Emperor, and the journeymen resuming their position as the Emperor's Royal Guard; the Heron Guard. Meanwhile, The Deceiver and a detachment travel to Forest Heart to locate a fragment of the Tain, in which Alric believes The Summoner to be hiding. They successfully find the fragment, enter the Tain, and kill The Summoner, cutting off Soulblighter from the Myrkridia. Acting on his own authority, The Deceiver then attacks Soulblighter's camp, but he and his men are captured. Phelot, a shade in charge of the prison, is in the service of The Deceiver, and frees them. The Deceiver attacks Soulblighter, who turns into a murder of crows to escape. He succeeds, but The Deceiver kills one of the crows, preventing him from fleeing in this manner again. The detachment then meet a scouting party near Silvermines; Alric and The Legion are moving to attack Soulblighter, but have been pinned down by Shiver, whom The Deceiver immediately heads to confront. He hunts her down, and Phelot destroys her army. The Deceiver then kills her, but her death triggers a magical energy backlash that also kills him. With Shiver dead, Soulblighter is forced back against the Cloudspine. His army is defeated, but he flees into the volcano Tharsis, where he plans to shatter the Cloudspine itself, causing widespread devastation. Alric and The Legion pursue him, and Alric breaks the rock on which he stands, plunging him to his death in the molten lava. With Soulblighter's death, the narrator learns of "The Leveler", an immortal evil spirit. The forces of Light and Dark rule the world successively in thousand-year cycles, with each Age of Light climaxing with the arrival of The Leveler, who ushers in an Age of Darkness. The Leveler inhabits the body of the hero who defeated him in the previous cycle — thus the hero who saves civilization is destined to destroy it - as a result Connacht returned as Balor. Soulblighter was not The Leveler; he tried to force the cycle, and as a result may have broken it. Whether this is the case will not be known for over nine hundred years, when it comes Alric's time to assume the mantle of The Leveler. Myth II: Chimera When Alric restored the Cath Bruig Empire and reformed the Heron Guard, Four Bear Silent Oak chose to remain a journeyman, electing to lead a life of scholarship. Now, ten years later, he is plagued by visions of a mysterious woman, and a foreboding sense of evil. Convinced he must act, he seeks out his old ally, the legendary warrior Fenris, who has isolated himself in the fir'Bolg forest of Ruewood. Fenris agrees to join Four Bear, and they decide to elicit the aid of ne'Ric, a celebrated fir'Bolg. However, they soon learn the Banded Wasps of Ruewood, a normally peaceful race of giant wasps, have suddenly become aggressive. Fending off an attack by the Banded Wasps, and accompanied by fir'Bolg, a band of human warriors, and several dwarves, they head to the tomb of their former ally, Kyrand the Mage, where Fenris plans to take possession of Kyrand's amulet. There, they encounter the woman from Four Bear's visions; a sorceress named Kyrilla, who also plans to retrieve the amulet. She orders an army of Thrall to prevent Four Bear, Fenris and their men entering, but they defeat the army. Kyrilla disappears, and they enter the tomb, retrieve the amulet, and resume their search for ne'Ric, who is fighting the Banded Wasps elsewhere in Ruewood. As they search, they again encounter Kyrilla, who reveals it is she who is behind the Banded Wasps' attack. They eventually find ne'Ric, and force the Wasps to retreat. Fenris then receives a letter from Baron Geoffrey Volsung begging him for help, as he believes Kyrilla has put in motion a plot to assassinate him. Fenris, Four Bear, ne'Ric and their men head to meet Volsung on the beachhead at Cavanaugh. Upon arriving, Volsung accuses them of betraying him. Fenris is able to convince him he is incorrect, narrowly avoiding a clash between Volsung's army and their own men. They then help his men repel an attack from an army of undead. Kyrilla appears, revealing she had hoped Volsung and Fenris would kill one another. Awaiting an attack in her castle, she summons the power of her "Lord", begging him to give her the strength to avenge her father's death. The heroes and their army attack the castle, defeating Kyrilla's undead legions. She confronts them, revealing herself to be Kyrand's daughter. Four Bear gives her Kyrand's amulet, in which are stored his memories, and she realizes her "Lord", the demon Cartuke, was actually the one who killed Kyrand, who sacrificed his own life to wound Cartuke and save the lives of Fenris, Four Bear and ne'Ric. Cartuke had been manipulating Kyrilla in an effort to regain his power, but now she sees the truth, and joins the others. They head to his lair, finding him inside an energy sphere. Killing all of their men, he leaves only Fenris, Four Bear, ne'Ric and Kyrilla. In an effort to distract him, Fenris and Kyrilla attack, and as he turns them to stone, ne'Ric fires a magical arrow which kills him. Four Bear laments that once again, he has failed to save the lives of his friends, but he and ne'Ric take some consolation in the knowledge that Cartuke has finally been defeated. ==Development==

Bungie conceived of Soulblighter prior to the release of The Fallen Lords in 1997, with the only thing that would prevent them from making it being if The Fallen Lords was a commercial failure. However, when the original game proved a success, becoming Bungie's biggest selling game thus far, The team also approached the cutscenes differently. In The Fallen Lords, the cutscenes had been created by an American animation studio, but had received a mixed response from both the developers and fans of the game, with some feeling they felt cartoony, and were tonally disconnected from the rest of the game. This was something the team wanted to ensure was not repeated in Soulblighter. As Seropian explains: In terms of the game's graphics, as with The Fallen Lords, each level in Soulblighter is constructed on a polygonal mesh. The mesh used is four times finer than in the original, and hence the graphics are more detailed and smoother. Also like the first game, although the game world itself is fully 3D, the characters populating each level are 2D sprites; those in Soulblighter have many more frames of animation than those in The Fallen Lords, and so move much more smoothly. Explaining why the team stuck with using 2D sprites in a 3D terrain, producer Tuncer Deniz states: Delays Originally scheduled for North American release on November 1, 1998, Bungie were unable to have the game ready in time. According to Tuncer Deniz, the initial release date was missed because of "the time frame given to do the game, which was very small as opposed to most major titles. We added so many new things - ultimately that ends up extending the development cycle". Joost explains: By December 30, v1.1 was on the way to stores. Bungie also issued a statement on their website telling players who had managed to get a copy of v1.0 to uninstall the game by manually dragging the game's folder to the recycle bin. They also made the v1.1 patch available for download. The gaming press lauded Bungie's handling of the situation, praising their decision to take the financial hit and recall the game. With the release of Soulblighter, Bungie included two programming tools called "Fear" and "Loathing", which allowed players to create new units and maps. Both The Fallen Lords and Soulblighter had been created using four tools developed by Bungie themselves; "Tag Editor" edited the constants stored in the cross-platform data files; "Extractor" handled the 2D sprites and the sequencing of their animations; "Loathing" acted as the map editor; and "Fear" dealt with the 3D polygonal models such as houses, pillars, and walls. Speaking of Fear and Loathing, The Fallen Lordss producer and programmer Jason Jones explains: "Loathing is basically the map editor for Myth. You import your map into it, you change the heights, and you place your units on the map in Loathing. Fear takes care of all the models; it is used to import the 3D rendered models into Myth". Loathing was specifically built around the Myth engine and allowed the team to modify the 3D landscape, apply lighting, determine terrain type, script the AI, and position structures, scenery, and enemies. The 3D models were then imported into the game using Fear. Technology The Fallen Lords originally supported both software rendering and 3dfx's Glide hardware acceleration. Soon after it was released, Bungie released a v1.1 upgrade patch, which added support for Rendition's Redline, and 3dfx's Voodoo Rush. The game also supported 3D audio, specifically Aureal Semiconductor's A3D and Creative Labs' EAX. Later releases In 1999, Bungie re-released Soulblighter for Mac OS and Windows as part of a special edition called Myth: The Total Codex. The bundle included The Fallen Lords, Soulblighter v1.3 (Bungie's last official update of the game), the Soulblighter expansion pack Myth II: Chimera (developed by the Myth mapmaker group Badlands, in association with Bungie themselves), and official Strategies and Secrets guides for both of the main games. Soulblighter was later ported to Linux by Loki Entertainment. In June 2000, Take-Two Interactive, who had purchased 19.9% of Bungie's shares in 1999, acquired the Oni and Myth intellectual properties after Bungie was purchased outright by Microsoft. Take-Two's first Myth release was Green Berets: Powered by Myth II in July 2001. Set in the Vietnam War, Green Berets is a total conversion of the Soulblighter engine, and includes a copy of Soulblighter, as well as the Fear and Loathing tools. Developed by mapmakers from within the Myth community, in association with TalonSoft, Green Berets also features eight new multiplayer maps, and the option to use Green Berets units while playing the Soulblighter single-player campaign. Take-Two's second release was Myth II: Worlds in October. Worlds includes a copy of Soulblighter, the Soulblighter Strategies and Secrets guide in PDF form, and two disks of fan-created single-player campaigns, multiplayer maps, and gameplay mods. ==Community==

Although the official Bungie.net Myth servers closed in February 2002, the Myth series continued to have an active online fanbase for over a decade, particularly Soulblighter. After Bungie released the Total Codex bundle in 1999, which contained The Fallen Lords v1.3, Soulblighter v1.3 and the Soulblighter expansion pack, Myth II: Chimera, they ceased working to develop the game's source code, as Microsoft, who purchased the company in 2000, wanted them to concentrate on Halo. As such, they were approached by a group of programmers, artists and coders known as MythDevelopers, who asked for access to the code so as to continue its development. With the blessing of Take-Two, Bungie released their entire archive of Myth-related materials to MythDevelopers, including the source code, artwork, all creative files, and documentation. From 2003 to 2018, Magma released several major patches for Soulblighter, each of which featured fixes for bugs, graphical problems, gameplay problems, and interface issues, as well as improve the Fear and Loathing tools and the online multiplayer mode. ==Reception==

Soulblighter received "generally favorable reviews". It holds an aggregate score of 88 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on twelve reviews. It was a finalist for Computer Games Strategy Pluss 1998 "Real-Time Strategy Game of the Year" award, which ultimately went to StarCraft. Next Generation reviewed the PC and Mac versions of the game, rating them four stars out of five, and stated that "Myth II: Soulblighters charm lies in a bundle of improvements and high production values that make the parts greater than the whole. While it may not have reached WarCraft or C&C status yet, the series is deservedly a growing legend in its own time". Sales Soulblighter considerably outsold The Fallen Lords, which had been Bungie's best selling game up to that point. In North America, pre-orders for the game reached 140,000 units. ==References==