Might And Magic 3 "Isles of Terra"
Developer: New World Computing
Released: in 1991
Engine: The engine is truly very impressive now. We have been given a mouse, the graphics are now called VGA, and the ability to use SoundBlaster has appeared ;) The musical accompaniment is no longer irritating and evokes the mysterious atmosphere of the Middle Ages. It turned out simply magnificent.
Interface: Now everything is much more convenient. With the mouse, you can access almost any necessary menu. The inventory now looks more intuitive with images for each item. You can even move using the mouse. The character portraits at the bottom of the screen, familiar from later parts, have appeared. [In general, everything has become approximately as players of subsequent (4-8) parts are used to seeing it].
Plot: At the beginning, we are given a letter from Corak asking us to find a certain magical well and free Morphose. The biggest and most awaited surprise of this part: the plot finally becomes clear to us — the entire backstory of this universe is revealed. Then comes the confrontation between Corak and Sheltom via our heroes on Terra.
Backstory: It was the era of the "Ancients" — an era of peace and prosperity. The civilization of the "Ancients" had come a long way in its formation and consolidation. It had now colonized the unoccupied free stars and spread across the vast expanses of the universe. Sometimes flights to the next star took hundreds of years, but the culture and existence of the Ancients consisted of many thousands of years spent in the expanses of creation, and therefore generations changed, while peace and harmony continued to feed the energy of light. Everything would have been wonderful if not for the meeting of two societies, identical in goal but opposite in the means of its implementation: in one of the explored nebulae of the universe, the "Ancients" encountered a civilization just as complex and ancient, the "Kreegans", whose goal was to settle all planets they encountered on their path while completely destroying any remaining traces of existence there. Thus began the Great Elemental War, when armadas of terrible, incredible creatures created by the "Kreegans" using Elemental Manipulation Technology invaded the planetary colonies of the "Ancients". In the end, the "Ancients" managed to push the enemy back from their territories. But all the planets located in the combat zones were completely devastated. The "Ancients" decided to launch a Great Experiment to restore the planets: they wanted to revive artificial ecosystems there for further colonization. The first such planet chosen was the third planet of the Minos system — Terra. After the war, this world was completely destroyed — the "Kreegans" left only an island surrounded by lava, where their created demonic hell-spawn resided. The plan of the "Ancients" consisted of sending terraforming platforms to the planet to recreate the destroyed ecosystem, and after this part of the Experiment was completed, to colonize it again. In theory, the project looked quite feasible, but how could they know how it would actually turn out?
The "Ancients" created the cyborg Sheltom, who was supposed to protect Terra from any possible disturbances and anomalies that could arise during the restoration of the planet. Then, Sheltom, along with the planet restoration platform modules, departed for Terra on the massive ship "Shikbat Zera". Time passed, the experiment was approaching its final success, but there is always a drop of chaos in an inevitably correct and bright path: while creating the cyborg, the "Ancients" made an error in the program. The cyborg, realizing his power on Terra and considering himself its sole ruler, managed to disconnect from the Center's obedience and took control of himself into his own hands. Now he controlled his fate independently.
At the Center, they create a new cyborg — Corak, whose main task was to stop his rebellious predecessor. At this time, it was just time for the Great Experiment to conclude, and the "Ancients" were preparing to colonize planets with artificial ecosystems. To do this, the "Ancients" sent a huge planetoid called "Kron" into space. On it were Varns, huge transports with colonists living inside. Varns themselves already possessed an artificial ecosystem — kind of suns possessing life-bearing energy. The Varns were to visit planets with artificial ecosystems for their further colonization. The final destination of their journey was Terra. Corak was also on board the planetoid, tasked with putting an end to the rebellious cyborg on Terra. Sheltom, however, having learned of the grand plans for his destruction, did not intend to wait and, using star gates, moved to one of the Varns, and then to the ship "Kron" itself. After that, he redirected one of the Varns into the depths of one of the planets. That is the backstory...
HwKeeper
