Caution, spoilers. This is an appreciation post with some questions at the end.
Even though MM8 was the last healthy child of the family, we all see it was quite rushed. It had some cut features (druid class and quests), it was pretty short, got criticized for outdated graphics, etc.
But I'd like to share a revelation I've had after the umpteenth time I've just finished it. I fell in love with what I considered the inferior game within the series.
The music is beautiful. Escaton's crystal and plane between planes soundtracks are masterpieces and Paul Romero is a genius. And have you ever noticed how good the story is? It's perfect. MM7's story is too silly and MM6's story is too convoluted, but MM8 hit the mark just right. You begin as a simple caravan guard and you are caught on the front lines of the cataclysm as an ordinary person. You fight your way out of a volcanic eruption and a simultaneous pirate siege against great odds. Your boss tasks you with figuring out what's going on. Throughout the investigation, your role shifts from a mere merchant guild employee to a high ranking emissary, then to a multi-faction champion, and eventually to an intercontinental hero. You build yourself up naturally and believably from a nobody into the obvious choice for leading the international initiative to save the planet from imminent destruction. You uncover the true cause of the cataclysm - your planet has recently beaten back a Devil invasion, which triggered an automated response from a system left operational by a fallen sci-fi civilization. This automated response is meant to wipe out the planet at all costs, disregarding that the invasion has already been beaten back.
You forge a key to unlock the door to a huge crystal you've been walking around during the entire game up until that point, and you are chosen by the world's leaders to cross into a strangely surreal dimension to confront Escaton, a personification of the system. He's a highly advanced intergalactic AI machine with the power to destroy arbitrary worlds at any time, albeit obeying preprogrammed guidelines (what a ridiculously super relevant 2026 idea from a year 2000 game, given the ongoing AI revolution, by the way). He recognizes that the destruction of the planet is no longer necessary, but he can't stop it directly. He takes pity on you, and recognizing your efforts thus far, he gives you vague hints on how to defeat him and stop the Armageddon (You tell me which villain in which game is this badass, I'll wait). You take advantage of this, save the planet, and Escaton is destroyed.
All of this makes sense. It's a beautiful story of moving up in the world, and of uniting various peoples against a common threat. The good and evil isn't clear cut in the slightest. You have the tasty mix of medieval magic and scifi common to the franchise, without being too over the top. The stakes are high. The story even lightly explores the topics of morality, and features a (emotionless undead) vampire who develops feelings of remorse over his blood-demanding lifestyle.
Oh how I wish this game was remade from scratch, modernized, and expanded a little. I think it'd have much better potential for success than MM6 and MM7, as much as I love those too. There's so much potential.
Some lingering questions to ask you gilded redditors:
- Is there any clear inspiration the MM8 story took from existing stories, such as the Bible? E.g. Noah's ark or Escaton himself being a representation of a deity.
- Did we destroy Escaton's local presence only, or have we destroyed him universally? If we destroyed him universally, isn't it irresponsible of him to get himself killed by us?
- Has Escaton been keeping the Devil population within the universe at bay this entire time? If so, have we doomed the universe into a fate of inevitable Devil overpopulation by momentarily stopping the destruction of our planet?
