Myth 2: Soulblighter Review

Myth 2 sees Soulblighter return to wreak some more undead havoc across a new campaign with some answers on why Balor was in such a dark mood.
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Thumbnail art and additional art and animation by ‎@sneksucks
Additional art by @Rythaze and @RatDadJoe
Soulblighter voice by @SteakBentley
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Twitter: / lord_mandalore
Intro - 00:00
Issues & Fixes - 01:00
Game Premise - 01:50
Visuals - 03:14
Music & Sound Design - 05:46
Gameplay Mechanics - 07:35
The Recall - 11:11
The Campaign - 12:06 (SPOI𝘓ERS)
Chimera - 36:50
Myth 3 - 38:35
Conclusions - 38:44
The Pathways - 40:07
Credits - 42:59
Then What? - 43:55
#myth #gaming #bungie

[@MandaloreGaming]

Myth 2 Project Magma - projectmagma.net/downloads/ THE LIST - docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_K3ziSxT9zcUUGCddS4sF1uNJTWHSbOwB1CQX2Rx4Uo Thanks to everyone who helped out with this. Apologies for the unusual upload time as there were some backend delays.

[@AB0BA_69]

Thank you for making my Saturday just this much more awesome, Mandalore!! ❤

[@Logan-bd6fq]

Have you ever thought about covering Universe at War: Earth Assault?

[@romanianstrigoi2988]

Can you review Worlords Battlecry trilogy please? P.S:is similar like Myth but with more mechanics.

[@citycobra]

Myth 3 review soon?

[@charlesthoreson4162]

The past few videos have missed the mark for sure. This series just doesn’t seem entertaining enough to warrant a series review.

[@EldradDinkleberg]

The true beauty of The Deceiver as a character is that him being totally honest and dependable until the end is the most deceitful outcome

[@517342]

Maybe he was called the Deceiver because that's what the other Fallen Lords called him.

[@Salantor]

@@517342 All the Fallen Lords have titles instead of names when it comes to human side of things, so he probably got that one years before the games.

[@whiteeye9584]

@@517342 or meaby they called him that because he decive them

[@rafaelfigfigueiredo2988]

maybe the real deceiver was the friends we made along the way

[@Pilvenuga]

who knows, maybe he is still looking for his old master, the head. or perhaps Mjarin really is completely dead so Myrdred is free to be the knowledgeable nerd he always was

[@NotOnLand]

At the end of the Marathon Infinity video he said "Infinity ends, and the story passes into Myth." GODDAMN YOU MANDY. HE PLAYED US LIKE A FIDDLE.

[@vahlok2568]

I wouldnt call that playing, Myth was Bungie biggest game before Halo. Wasn’t meant to be really surprising lol

[@NotOnLand]

@@vahlok2568 I'd never heard of it before and it's a common enough turn of phrase

[@armaniel667]

@@NotOnLand I think it was meant as a wink (easter egg even) to those who are in Bungie rabbit hole. It only works if others (first time viewers) don't get it.

[@paulstamm3955]

@@armaniel667 he mentioned Sword Logic too but I’m glad he’s not jumping into the hellscape that is Destiny lore

[@Comkill117]

He should have ended this saying “if Oni Bungie made Myth III it could have been a great trilogy all around.”

[@IxodesPersulcatus]

The Deceiver just getting up, saying "close enough" implying he'd been awake the whole time and the "magic words" are just a formality, is now one of my favorite moments of all time.

[@TheNapster153]

I mean, he is undead. If Shiver could returm from being vaporised in a dream duel, I din't see why Deceiver can't. Plus, there's also Watcher who mirrors Deceiver for being in an inanimate situation but still being of influence.

[@atelier4378]

Totally referencing Evil Dead 3: Army Of Darkness here. The magic words are pretty much the same.

[@LehySnek]

If you replay that mission, the magic words are different every time. Here are the quotes: "Er... claptrap verboso... um... neckbone." "Um... clambake veratus... er... nicktoo?" "Clatu... um... virtuosos nomnom." "E Pubis Numnum! Errr..."

[@Lucifronz]

@@atelier4378 That in turn was referencing The Day the Earth Stood Still. We can't know for sure which reference was being made, but given that these are undead beings, Evil Dead is probably the safe bet. "Klaatu barada nikto!"

[@alphanoodle1877]

maybe he was trying to see if someone would go through all the trouble to bring him back. Cuz if someone does, certainly they want you alive and on their side, so if they are that convinced you will help them why not?

[@Meitti]

I love how Sauron being frozen in place and being pummeled to death by a mob of angry berserkers was the actual canonical way he was defeated. Imagine Lord of the Rings instead of heroic king defeating Sauron, Galadriel freezes him in place and a bunch of faceless soldiers just mob and stab the Prince of Evil to death.

[@lukeraymond6927]

To be fair, that was a hell of a gambit that cost what was left of the Legion to pull that off.

[@WritesMe]

Myth be metal.

[@eyeballpapercut4400]

I would pay for a movie or game where the big bad villain gets ended rightly by a rain of sword pommels like how Muslims do Jumra in Hajj

[@dorpth]

It was a cool touch that showed you just how ridiculously powerful Balor was. Even when immobilized and totally helpless, it took half a dozen burly barbarians with giant claymore swords a good minute of all out hacking in order to finally kill him. Gives you an idea of just how utterly invincible he was normally. Not even Sauron was that powerful.

[@LordOfGilneas]

@@dorpth might be because Balor didn't have a mcguffin be the source of all his powers unlike sauron.

[@NeverDry999]

The Myrkridia from Myth 2 look like the kind of creatures that the Myrkridia from Myth 1 would enslave and keep as pets.

[@ryanzhu546]

Well it could be they devolved descendants, it wasn't the first time bungee pulled that trick.

[@darkomihajlovski3135]

​@@ryanzhu546that depends if you consider myth 3 canon in which case they were always like that if you don't then its possible

[@electricbayonet2]

Just for my two-cents, the ‘Myrkridia’ as shown would have been better as a ‘Roadside Picnic’ version of the Uruk-hai. They aren’t the Myrkridia. They aren’t even the primary means by which the Myrkridia ravaged the world. Not even close. Instead, they’re a casual expression of the scale of power and evil that the Myrkridia represented. Control of these creatures brings the power to level nations, but it could even be left ambiguous if the Myrkridia even made them on purpose.

[@RomanvonUngernSternbergnrmfvus]

@@ryanzhu546 so this was the white girl equivalent to the og race? They interbreed with their pets resulting in this Pygmy thing that’s a glorified crew?

[@RomanvonUngernSternbergnrmfvus]

@@electricbayonet2 I like the idea that these things are the fruit flies to the real creature picnic or they are like those birds gators use to clean their teeth or just a poorly made facsimile

[@ForTheJerusalem]

I love the idea that someone just decided to modify a mod to recreate an old game in it's sequel just for the sake of making barbarians slightly bigger, truly a servant of tzeentch.

[@ericsteenbergen9470]

Please, the Bigger Barbarians are most definitely the favored of Slaanesh, have you seen a Keeper of Secrets?

[@dimas3829]

More like Rick Blood's entusiast darkies.

[@livanbard]

​@@ericsteenbergen9470have you seen a kaeric acolyte?

[@haloisepie]

@@livanbard You ever seen a grown man naked?

[@jaccobbailey8247]

They’re a Black Legionnaire! A member of chaos undivided. Big Barbarians are a mixture of Khorn and Slaanesh, and the mod maker is a cultist of Tzeentch. Dunno if there’s anything for Grandfather tho

[@NoMoreCrumbs]

The Myrkridia are nearly exactly the character model of the werewolf enemy from Pathways into Darkness

[@martinnavarrete5279]

Oh no the w'rncacnter

[@sourhour3403]

But did the... I'm just gonna type W, you know what I mean... see the Myrkridia and dream up the weird tip toe ghouls when it later came to earth or is this something unrelated? Plus, I do not actually believe that the Myrkridia and what we see alive in this game are the same creatures. Maybe the Summoner instead drew upon the dreams of the W, and brought forth what he THOUGHT were they Myrkridia? You know, confirmation bias. Expects to summon bloodthirsty, powerful, flesh-eating monsters. Summons bloodthirsty, powerful, flesh eating monsters that are distinctly different, but how would he know? It's been a long time.

[@Pfhorrest]

The Deceiver's heel-face turn makes a lot more sense if you know some information published on Bungie's site before the release of even TFL: three of the Fallen Lords were Ancient Evils, but the other three were Turned From The Light, and among the latter group were the Deceiver. He was a good guy until Balor turned him dark; and now with Balor gone, he's a good guy again.

[@WintersTheSixth]

*deceiver gets auto balanced back* Deceiver: fuck it, let's GOOOO

[@Lucifronz]

But isn't Soulblighter almost certainly Damas? He's not "light"-sided, but if the Deceiver can be free of that evil, why wouldn't Soulblighter be? And why wouldn't he want to preserve what his ally had fought so hard for in the past instead of destroy it further? Feels pretty thin, but I think overall they did a pretty decent job of making an interesting story. Seriously, not many RTS games of that era put much effort into it. Even the really good ones.

[@Never_heart]

Honestly I kind of prefer the idea that an ancient evil underwent a major internal reflection after being forcably ressurected and enslaved by an even greater evil power for many decades. Just the idea that while erasing entire armies with magic, the Deciever was in his own head thinking "You know what, I guess it does suck to be controlled by someone like this. Maybe I shouldn't go back to that version of myself if I get the chance to break free"

[@boxtank5288]

@@Never_heart 'Oh look, a good opportunity to start THAT plan.' *Ahem* "HEY WATCHER! You bitter about losing your 'Relief' hand?~" (Many years later) "OK Yeah that worked...Also OW."

[@Robert399]

Those 3 are The Deceiver, Shiver and Soulblighter, right (bearing in mind "light" ≠ good)? And the 3 ancient evils were The Watcher and the 2 unnamed ones?

[@skullboy108]

"The Library on Legendary is a sadistic mission" made my inner Halo kid shudder

[@okupant880]

Man, that one is a tough nut to crack, but personally i find Cortana to be the level to trigger supressed dread.

[@greatsaiyaguy8868]

Immediate flashbacks man…

[@toobig7150]

​@@okupant880at least in cortana you can do strategies, there's different weapons around, you can hide from the ranged forms, and even scape them/trap them on some areas, but the library it's a literal corridor with nowhere to hide, where each encounter throws floods from bottom, top, right and left. The library it's what would had keep Lovecraft wake up at night.

[@pkpong]

I never wanted to play the flood levels growing up, in fact I didn’t beat any of the halo games until I was 14/15 despite having the first 2 halos and an og Xbox almost all my life. I just refused to play the levels with the flood because they scared me so much

[@icyjiub2228]

Hell you can hear the same drum fills Marty would use in the Halo soundtrack in this game. Especially at around 6:30 ish you can easily lay over the chorus of Walk in the Woods. EDIT: Annnd he's playing Peril at 12:15

[@kevinczaractual]

I have to say, the unfolding "Bungie as an eldritch horror codex" narrative rabbit hole is really winning me over. And great job to all others who contributed to this beautiful madness.

[@percher4824]

it never ends

[@pob_42]

Arching to the single point of consciousness. Find yourself, starting back.

[@1r0zz]

@@percher4824 I think it ended around destiny 2(or even the first one) release. There are still call-backs, cameos and some narrative elements, but now destiny 2 seems hellbent to remove any deeper or interesting elements from the game narrative, even the game own narrative. The last dlcs were especially rough

[@BladedEdge]

The next video would be... the seventh?

[@mitchellbenbrook2041]

I appreciate the L in the "spoilers" section being an upside down 7

[@VertSecretStash]

The moment Marathon was mentioned I was struck by a terrible realization that we were going back in to those forsaken Pathways Into Darkness and I was NOT prepared for it.

[@kabob0077]

We will never escape them, these Pathways go on and on and on and on. As soon as we think we've left them behind we find out we're just on a forked path.

[@emperorIng360]

The real crime is that I have not heard I'VE GOT A BONE TO PICK WITH YOU in either video.

[@innacrisis6991]

There's been little hints sprinkled in, like him mentioning sword logic at 14:11, but overall he's been really, really good at keeping the fact this is a bungie game out of both videos

[@Cypherwraith001]

If Mandy doesn't mention the publisher/developer in the overview, there's a pretty good chance that it's another Bungie/Marathon rabbit hole.

[@jacob5169]

It suddenly made sense why the most powerful form of magic was called "Dream magic." They're altering the w'rkncacnter's dreams and manipulating reality as a result

[@kabob0077]

27:52 The Deceiver deceived us by making us think he'd betray us but was really loyal... What a masterwork of subverting expectations.

[@WritesMe]

It's about family.

[@Bluecho4]

When you've already told every lie in the book, and everyone knows you're a liar, the only deception left to enact is telling the truth.

[@kankeydong2500]

​@@WritesMeNow I expect the Deceiver to pull up with a 1970 Dodge Charger now.

[@HontounoShiramizu]

The rare case of the phrase used to describe good storytelling.

[@christopherclayton5500]

So are you saying the real deceit was the friend we made along the way?

[@folkloristofthefuture8152]

I cannot express how much I was hoping for a skeleton to pop out saying I've got a bone to pick with you during that ending, but the Antonymous Agony cameo was excellent

[@trampoline11x]

I was expecting to hear Durandal Gianni say something cursed. I mean, Myrkridian Haze demanding my pancreus was plenty cursed to...

[@skinnysnorlax1876]

Mind fillin me in on the haze memes? That was the only video I legitimately couldn't stomach, despite Mandy's great efforts. The cringe was just too visceral for me

[@marcinkrz3140]

There also is (believe it or not) Gerten of Banban reference in there

[@trampoline11x]

@@skinnysnorlax1876 not sure what to say. Just the usual [insert character] edits mandies discord server is good at. Especially the Lowry channel. I dont follow myself, I just see it occasionally on stream vods. That game was insane tone deaf edge from start to finnish so haze just being a random call back

[@brendenmccrudden5860]

There was a glimpse of fear and hunger too, with the fear and hunger ghoul

[@mans51]

The big Turnip the guards talked about is likely a reference to the Blackadder episode where the character Baldrick wastes thousands of pounds on a big turnip.

[@vinnyethanol]

Thousands of pounds of what?

[@lorenzooliveira1157]

@@vinnyethanolon a big turnip, sir.

[@egamruf]

Is it a waste?! He always wanted a turnip in the country, after all.

[@IndustrialBonecraft]

Thank God somebody knows!

[@TheKaratejesus]

@@vinnyethanol pounds is a british currency

[@markbernal42]

Wow! Well done video review and so quickly after the Myth I review! Just as this video states, we had just finished Myth I and now had a better understanding about the development possibilities of the Myth game engine. The only problem... the majority of the Myth I dev team shifted to the development of a new game called... Halo? I was now the most experienced developer on the Myth II team. Everyone else had been recently hired or joined near the end of Myth I (as I recall). Fortunately just about everyone stepped up and did a great job to get the game completed in a relatively short amount of time. "Crunch", for several of us, took on a new meaning, yet we prevailed. Thanks for all your hard work at putting together this wonderful retrospective.💯

[@MandaloreGaming]

Thanks again for all your work and stopping by. I'm sure a ton of people still want to pick your brain about development and the setting!

[@teutonicbone4388]

So then, the remnants of the Myth I team split up to make 2 games, both with a frustratingly difficult level called "Library" that's awful to play on legendary difficulty?

[@emeraldaurora1958]

What was your favourite moment in the development process? Getting a particular bit of code to work? Taking a chance which paid off? Seeing the finished product? Myth II was one of the first games I ever played. Definitely a bit young at the time, but this woman will never forget it. (I got stuck after the Bridge mission as a kid) ^^ Y'all did amazing work!

[@torrvic1156]

Thank you sir for all of your hard work! You’re legend! Please make Myth great again! P.S. I think Action RPG in a setting of Myth can be a great thing.

[@markbernal42]

@@emeraldaurora1958 Thank you! Creating animated 3D models that transformed the landscape mesh are what I enjoyed the most. I had learned a lot about the game engine creating Myth I so Myth II was the opportunity to apply it. The first one I made was the draw bridge the final one was the overpass bridge in the volcano. Of course the completed game is always the ultimate achievement.🙂

[@MidlifeCrisisJoe]

The "Myrkridia Problem" is such a consistent one in fiction in all forms. Very hard to pull off the "even bigger fish" when you set up a truly powerful villain, and it probably should be a thing that people get outsider opinion on much more often since you never want to have the audience give the equivalent of a "they're just bat people?" response.

[@ManDuderGuy]

"Just bat people" is a really big deal when there's hordes of them and you've got medieval weaponry.

[@Sir_Bucket]

I would like to point out the "bat people" look exactly like an ennemy in Pathways into the Darkness

[@chillyavian7718]

@@Sir_BucketThe Bungian Monomyth has no limits

[@Sir_Bucket]

@@chillyavian7718 we are all trapped in the black hole that is this franchise

[@Flight_of_Icarus]

A villain I felt that way about relatively recently was Doomfist. Guy was touted as being this gigachad level threat that took all of Overwatch to barely manage to take down, and then Blizzard decided to introduce him as a playable character and now he's getting killed pretty much like anyone else.

[@christopherbronson3275]

Deceiver while casually holding a literal piece of Souldblighter's soul: "I have always wanted one of these"

[@MrGeneralHeavy]

The Myrkridian's in Myth 2 are only anti-climactic because they hadn't fully begun to morb.

[@TeeBeeOhh]

I honestly think that's not the worst way to do your ancient evil race, the ones we fight are babies, mature over time and get more and more dangerous

[@atls2049]

Its morbin time

[@Jsay18]

RISE MY MORBINITE BROTHERS

[@Scroolewse]

What?

[@adenowirus]

@@TeeBeeOhh Another approach would be if at first they would look unassuming, but later we would learn that they took over a town and used... something to merge the townspeople into some sort of eldritch war engine.

[@Fr3k3]

A big orb appearing the sky signaling a clash between Light and Dark? Interesting concept.

[@alexanderh3876]

The twin tailed comet!

[@Pedro-zu3uq]

The End and the Death.

[@Harxaly]

Hearing Mandy mention "sword logic" shook me like it's my sleeper agent activation code

[@winstonsmith3703]

When does he say it?

[@real_yanoosh6553]

@@winstonsmith3703 14:10

[@Bluecho4]

It reminds me of "Sleuth Diplomacy" from _Problem Sleuth._ Which is to say, busting out the Tommy Gun.

[@Crusader-yq1bf]

Oh god now I can't unhear it... it's all connected

[@notinspectorgadget]

"I must kill...the queen."

[@ramblinjack1797]

That transition between the cutscene crow’s eye and Mandy’s logo at 0:48 was so damn clean

[@nipsynuggets4930]

was looking for this comment :D

[@cc1093]

Also new intro or just old school manga version?

[@wynnedm1941]

Wild to think The Deceiver might have been "good" because his mild insanity could come from understanding this cycle and feeling compelled to follow or encourage it.

[@tylerp.5004]

Could also be the other way- His refusal of the Cycles Of Bungie was punished by or led to making him extremely mad and deranged, though despite this he's still able to push on regardless of the Cycles and continue assisting whatever good comes to smack down evil.

[@kankeydong2500]

Well he *did* deceive us, alright.

[@TheNapster153]

​@@tylerp.5004This might mean he's the analogue of Durandal from Marathon

[@Flamme-Sanabi]

@@tylerp.5004 Cycle of Bungie??

[@tylerp.5004]

@@TheNapster153 goddamnit i didn't mean that literally, fuck. EYE was perfect for one of Mandy's first videos because holy shit there are so many Cycles Of Guilt across these games.

[@voxlknight2155]

So the Deceiver is called that because he punked the _bad_ guys, not the good guys. That's honestly a pretty cool twist.

[@marley7868]

he punked the bad guys when they were good guys so mostly kept his morals intact

[@isaacfreeman1]

That ending animation was a great representation of the mystery and horror of the Myrkridia being undone by existing like they do in the game. The architects of the prior dark age. "Give me your pancreas, or me and my bat boys are gonna ghoul the place up. Don't make me get Big Lenny!"

[@MrJoeVex]

That flash of Oni was a delight to know Mandalore is truly going down the Bungie rabbithole

[@gojira7824]

I wonder what connective tissue Oni has to the rest of this schizohole

[@tomsko863]

I sure hope he does ONI but his LIST says he doesn't own it and hasn't played it.

[@lachlanmcgowan5712]

I caught the mention of a "Deadly Brain" as well...

[@ignotumperignotius630]

Down the bunghole

[@Comkill117]

Part of why Oni’s a bit muddy in the rabbit hole is because it was made by Bungie West, not Bungie proper in Chicago. Actually it was their only game before being brought together with the main studio in the move to Washington for Halo. Still has some stuff here and there that connects though, just mot as much as the rest as far as I can tell.

[@booradley6832]

The Deciever also helps you because you are his first truly reliable "friend" in a long time. You came to help him when he was completely screwed, and gave him his chance at vengeance. For someone who's life goals include do evil shit and destroy those he hates, sometimes priorities mean you have to drop the former to achieve the latter. Since you gave him his freedom, and the chance at his revenge, he has no reason to hate you any longer, and keeping you alive means ostensibly keeping himself alive, since you can always resurrect his undying ass. I actually love his character and that he doesnt turn on you.

[@gabrieleomaggio1461]

Also he had no real reason to hate you to begin with: he was brought back by Balor to serve as his general but Balor and the other Fallen Lords held no love for him. No wonder he and the Watcher fought twice during the Great War.

[@janefkrbtt]

I also like the idea he knows exactly what vibes he gives off. and in a pure 'The Deceiver' bit. he didn't trick the player who is fully expecting a heel turn at any moment.

[@booradley6832]

There's also the fact that you didnt "bind" him or make an attempt to overpower and control him. You resurrected him and asked for his help. I don't know that anyone has treated him with that level of respect before, certainly not Balor.

[@MasticatingRobot]

Myth and Myth2 were such influential games on me as a kid, especially the mission briefings. Later I discovered they were inspired by Glen Cook's "Black Company" series, which became my favorite fantasy novels. Twenty years later I started a company called Stoic and was the designer/writer of Banner Saga, which was heavily inspired by both. Hadn't thought about Myth in a long time though, thanks for the stroll down memory lane.

[@kallemort]

Man, I love Banner Saga. Should get around to playing the third one.

[@kolyakolya9216]

Banner Saga is incredible!

[@ChadSaltzpyreEnjoyer]

I love Banner Saga, have a poster of it hanging up in my room. I'm to this day scared of finishing the third one because I'm worried about how sad it will make me lol. Crazy to see someone like you down here in the comments. Really hope to see more from you guys in the future, your art style was so innovative and now knowing that you were influenced by Myth helps contextualize all of the animated cutscenes in the Banner Saga.

[@MasticatingRobot]

Thanks! I totally get not wanting to finish the trilogy, I do stuff like that too. Wanted to comment here cause I almost forgot how much of an influence this and Black Company was on us! Right now we're working on a game called Towerborne- pretty different but a lot similar DNA, story-wise @@ChadSaltzpyreEnjoyer

[@TheNapster153]

Hoh, I didn't expect this. I figured there was som connection, but Banner Lord's story has always been more of its own thing in my eyes. Still, your crew made an outstanding game! Haven't gotten a chance to finish Part 3 yet. Loved it already, however.

[@padraigmurphy8710]

The distinct unimaginable horror that the marathon symbol is in fact the image of the rouge star Durendal mentions, it’s trail leaving eldritch horrors in its wake, like some kind of unimaginable madness warped into some crude imitation of that which creates all life, and it might in fact be the inspiration for the traveler in destiny and…Christ…I’m dare not imagine the true scope of this fuckery,

[@keyofdoornarutorscat]

Just a ball, bouncing around

[@KerythDraws]

Its funny that the original idea for the Traveler in destiny was going to be that all of the alien races you fight in game were once influenced or affected by the Traveler and eventually warped into the monsters that want you and it dead. The heart of darkness from the first game was also supposed to be the inside of the Traveler.

[@dimas3829]

@@KerythDraws oh, so you play as edlritch abomination in Destiny. Makes sense. I guess from the outsider look it seems like as if in Stlaker you was a monolith's worshipper.

[@hateraccoon5686]

We need a comprehensive list of Mandy's Bungie Brainrot triggering sentences.

[@wesleyeberly228]

Agreed I hear him say sword logic half way through the video and it’s like a trigger

[@DetectiveOlivaw]

He’s specifically using the same phrases in all these videos, like “This is still just an overview,” or “This isn’t something I wanna lose my mind over.” That and constructing sentence specifically to cause brainrot in others, like “One mission has you return to Covenant to retrieve the Total Codex from the rebuilt Great Library. The Library on legendary is a sadistic mission.” And like… he’s doing that on purpose! Just like Bungie did!!

[@munfurai8083]

@@DetectiveOlivaw "When the dead speak, you should listen"

[@TheFlappening]

​@@wesleyeberly228Sword logic is all the scarier when thinking about how all the AI in bungie games are named after famous swords

[@winstonsmith3703]

​@@TheFlappeningwell not in destiny.

[@muttipi]

the deceiver actually turning out to be a real one is a fun twist and it kinda made me choke up for a second, I don't know why but I just love rehabilitation arcs.

[@WordoftheElderGods]

I fucking love it when there's an evil-looking person who's actually ride or die with you.

[@pnutz_2]

the deception is that he's not deceiving, it's like the inquisitor being loyal in space marine

[@toobig7399]

He may be deranged but he's not a bitch.

[@deejorno]

I'm partial to them, especially since their stories parallel my own, but damn does it feel awesome to see someone turn good. The final season of Barry was a rollercoaster for that

[@sicksock435446]

I did this in a DND campaign I ran where the "evil dragon" coerced the party into defusing a brewing war between the forces of Heaven and Hell. Basically "Good Omens" but with 200% more green dragon drug mafia.

[@UnclePutte]

My wild two-buck theory about the Myrks: they devolved severely during their imprisonment within the Tain, and lost most of their "civilization" - such as the use of arms and armor, magic and the like.

[@Hrungni]

I half expected the final animation sequence to be an elaborate "I've got a bone to pick with you!" joke. Great work as always!

[@Ironclad17]

33:45 I'm probably reading too much into it, but a mythical cattle raid is one of oldest most universal stories among all of humanity and it's sort of the foundation for the concept of glory in war, raiding, and pillaging. The Indo-European cattle-raiding myth is the basis for the Wild Hunt, legendary feats of Indra, Beowulf, Odysseus (the cattle of Helios), etc. If the Tain is an endless hellscape filled with mindless warring monsters it's sort of a twisted depiction of Valhalla and naming it after one of the cattle raiding legends is clever.

[@BARMN89]

So would you say that the the Raid is the Shadow of all Legends?

[@VashdaCrash]

​@@BARMN89That's clever, but the reference is awful lol

[@MandaloreGaming]

​@@BARMN89please no

[@electricbayonet2]

@@MandaloreGaming Just imagine: in countless years as the details of history becomes muddled and forgotten, there could be a day when a historian says that countless myths and stories around the world were inspired by Raid: Shadow Legends. "Ah, yes, the ancient bard Jerr Tooclean's epic 'Lord of Ring,' also made use of fantastic species first seen in 'Raid: Shadow Legends,' the wandering amusement for which thousands of jubilant prayers were raised to Guuh’Gal Plague-Storr.

[@g3th_]

That's a wonderful observation you just made.

[@thehoodedteddy1335]

5 bucks the “casualties” soundbite will return periodically in Mandalore’s videos

[@Sorain1]

It should, all kinds of fun could be had with it!

[@deriznohappehquite]

⁠​⁠@@Sorain1 If he ever makes a video on Pikmin, it should return.

[@barrelwimp2698]

When the strings pick up as the narrator says “Soulblighter” after Cruniac dies is one of my favorite video game moments

[@WritesMe]

Goosebumps.

[@popexx1]

mine was when alric confronted soulblighter and said "when this is over you will be but a myth too soulblighter"

[@barrelwimp2698]

so true @@popexx1

[@stupidsillylace]

The Deceiver Marv-ing Soulblighter is proof that videogames are truly a development of the human ability to create artwork

[@sneksucks]

this was such a blast to work on. i wish they let us keep the full house theme for the credits

[@StrikeWarlock]

Well done, Snek

[@aethelfrithofbernica]

Dude your animations were awesome. Were those flood postules I saw in one of the frames?

[@burge117]

Well done man ❤

[@markbernal42]

That ending was fantastic!🔥

[@booradley6832]

You know, sometimes if a joke is good enough its worth shelling out to get legal use of it?

[@Sorain1]

I feel like the Myrkridia problem could be solved by putting in the reveal that Soulblighter was _lying_ about the bat people being the legendary nightmare fuel. That would frame these ' Myrkridia' as something terrifying enough people could believe they were the myth. If you found them intimidating, the real thing must be worse. If you found them a let down, your fears are restored.

[@517342]

Perhaps they could have been some sort of failed hybridization experiment where they tried to fuse Myrkridian remains with humans. It wasn't the real deal but still good enough to use. If Soulblighter went against the natural progression of fate, perhaps he found the Summoner too early when he still didn't fully recreate them as he was meant to.

[@BobbinRobbin777]

Or better, have the "Myrkridia" be revealed as the very creatures a certain pile of heads belonged to.

[@roberthartburg266]

I don't think it's really a problem. What is non-scary to us as player or viewer of a review in a game, can be pants shittingly horrifying to a character that has to experience it as his own reality. We laught at the idea of gigantic carnivorous batpeople scouring the land and bulding skull pyramids inside eldritch temple as silly, but it wouldn't be silly to a human with only access to medieval technology that has to experience the destruction to these batpeople cause first hand. Another thing is time. We make jokes today about the Nazis, but you wouldn't find them funny if it's the 1940s and you are living in the Eastern European countryside. The Myrkridia have just been recently ressurected and are just footsoldiers, but by the time of Connacht the Myrkridia might have run human butcher factories like the ones the Vampires tried to build in the TV-Serie The Strain.

[@BobbinRobbin777]

@rexsupreme1840 …No, i meant the heads of the real Myrkridia’s victims (all either mixed together or taking form of a stronger foe from their past) BECAME the ”Myrkridia” we see in game?

[@dgmt1]

I played myth III before the first 2, and the myrkridian in that game left a fairly strong impression on me. I went into the game expecting the standard heroic fantasy trope style gameplay and got completely wiped by the myrkridian on the first mission. That was when I realised the myth games were something different and I loved the way the myrkridian and trow were portrayed. The game really did have an end of the world vibe with you often just trying to survive rather than clearing out the map like so many other games. So going into myth 1 and 2 with those expectation set, I didn't feel disappointed when the myrkridian reappeared in myth 2.

[@cyberdoga5728]

I like to think that their time in the dimensional prison thingy devolved them super hard, but if this is what came out compared to the other mooks this is still scary if this is them at their weakest.

[@WritesMe]

This!!!

[@QuintessentialWalrus]

Man, you can REALLY tell that Marty O'Donnell did the music for this game. The way he uses percussion is like nothing else I've ever heard from another composer. Half of these songs sound like demo tracks for Halo 1 lol

[@kaizokuAUTO]

such a unique composer

[@jimmydasani8922]

God he creates such incredible music. Myth is a game ive never played and hardly heard about until i saw Mandalore review them and i can absolutely find myself jammin this soundtrack in my car. Now i gotta play the game

[@pabloosset2533]

The Deceiver went from an obviously evil guy to an absolute bro. Character development at its finest. Edit: That animation at the end is your best joke yet. Kudos.

[@MrMaradok]

It’s a stretch, but, the guy who brought back the Myrkridia is, like Mandalore said, called the “Summoner,” not the “Resurrector,” so I can see, with how much was NOT known about the Myrkridia, how somebody might summon them on what they DO know. If that’s the case, it’s like he was summoning “memories” of the Myrkridia, but ones based on The Summoners memories, which is based on half remembered folklore and unreliable anecdotes

[@lorenzomeulli750]

I mean, it's a theory. But I think it's more likely that OG Myrkridia were simply more and organized with their own powers and whatever. These are just their natural forms. Summon a naked ass human to a fantasy war and he won't be much of a threat. Summon a guy with a tank and his entire society providing air support and logistics and he will fuck things up.

[@TheNapster153]

I had the same thought, but switch the terms. Note, the 'summoner' was pulling skulls from the platforms, which supports the idea that he isn't making originals. A personal idea I had for the original Myrkridian caster was that, like the liked of Alric and the Nine along with some Fallen, they are a Dream Caster. The REAL Myrkridian summoner has to find the Dream Spell that brought them into existence in the first place. Hence, no spell and caster (dreamer), no Myrkridia. The Myrkridia, in turn, are the mortal nightmare personified. Think of entities from Birdbox but visible and cruel and brutal. There, you have your eldritch monsters.

[@aickavon]

There's a lot of fun fan theoring out of this. I for one think that they probably had something similar to warhammer 40k's greenskins. Where the orkz were once terrifying and organized beasts, but over time degraded and devolved into far more managable (But still lethal) threat.

[@SakuraKurosaki10]

So he summoned forth his idea of the Myrkridia but his ideas kinda suck. I'll take it.

[@novemberbravo6194]

All of the subtle (and not so subtle) Bungie references in this video make me, just...so, so happy. Everything from “the Library on Legendary is a nightmare” to mentioning the Sword Logic. Oh Mandalore, where would we be without you? I hope the folks over at Bungie appreciate all the evangelising you do on behalf of their back catalogue.

[@TheFlappening]

Every single one of your bungie game reviews tickles my brain in the "best not indulged lest the beings beyond sight catch on" kind of way. Thank you. Also as an Irishman I simultaneously love and hate the cheesy, mispronounced misrepresentation my country's folklore gets in videogames.

[@evieoverride]

“The Library on Legendary is a sadistic mission” Bungie really does like to repeat their own patterns, huh?

[@squadass99]

Just waiting for a Library mission in Destiny to carry on this trend lol.

[@TheAsylumCat]

​@squadass99 there's multiple phrases mandy used that catch my attention like a dog hearing the word walk

[@Supercohboy]

@@TheAsylumCat Would you say that some of these phrases acted like...a dog whistle? Albeit the gamer sort in this case, instead of the unseemly sort.

[@aaronturkey]

| . |

[@okankyoto]

Almost like something out of an old dream but you can't exactly remember.

[@Kodaemon]

I am honestly surprised that Mandalore doesn't directly mention how the Halo theme gets introduced JUST as the journeyman explains the cyclical nature of the universe to the protagonist.

[@dryued6874]

The ending cinematic made me think Mandalore finally snapped from all the Bungie madness and started to _contribute_ to it. I'm not sure if the ending made me feel cheated or relieved.

[@chillyavian7718]

Do we not contribute to it? The only thing tying the Master Chief and the Security Officer together is that they are HERO%, and are reincarnated every time we play a game

[@fy8798]

The deceiver is my favorite character in this. Just great setup, the grand deception of how things turned out.

[@TheArklyte]

27:36 Deceiver, a "ride or die" magic user that looks like an old man in a cloak and goes out of his way to go save the emperor... wait, hold on!

[@EnemyN7]

I don't get it, could you please explain?

[@maxi1ification]

@@EnemyN7he's referring to Malcador, from Warhammer 40K

[@user-xk9ws1lq3w]

@@maxi1ification so, let me get this straight. There is a possibility, that myth is a setup for marathon, which can be consider to be a setup\alt. timeline of halo, which could all be placed in WH40k universe. Someone needs to make a game out of it.

[@JasoTheRed48F2]

Fucking Malcador!

[@AC-hj9tv]

​@@maxi1ificationBased lore god

[@LORDOFDORKNESS42]

...Honestly, the dark lord, the one that was once twisted from being the champion of light, a man near invincible and that can explode armies by dreaming at them... *Actually* having sealed away part of his own army of bat-people, due to "just" having CRIPPLING Chiroptophobia, would be a pretty funny reveal. Like something out of Discworld, almost.

[@electricbayonet2]

Cue the sitcom version of the dynamic among the Fallen Lords, with Balor constantly trying to 'subtly' get Soulblighter to wear a mask of some type because his half-flayed face makes him look uncomfortably bat-like.

[@SpecShadow]

devs could get away with silly twists like that back then these days gamers would obliterate them for that

[@LORDOFDORKNESS42]

@@SpecShadow I think it depends on how its presented. Like, if its a humanizing mistake or flaw, one of the reasons you're actually able to beat such a badass by getting under their skin? Like that banner in Myth 1, or Handsome Jack in a twisted way actually caring for Pandora and his daughter and him becoming far more serious late game due to those? I think a lot of players would be into that. But if it's more a mean spirited 'gotcha, how DARE you care about these characters, you loser? This story is DARK AND EDGY~!' like how Last of Us 2 did, or how you're not allowed to slap Darren down to size in Kingmaker... Well, then people are going to be pretty rightfully ticked off by, well, bad story telling, IMHO.

[@isaacsnediker-morscheck3382]

Myth also got a sourcebook for GURPS 3rd edition, though it is now long out of print. From the reviews I found it seemed to be an ok book, the dry, toolkit oriented writing GURPS uses didn't do a good job of communicating Myth's tone, but it provides some extra world information and everything you need to run a TTRPG in the Myth setting.

[@gregoryspurgeon8974]

I have it, and the description you heard is not bad. But while the writing itself is a bit dry, much ink is spilled trying to describe the themes, flavor and tone of Myth. One of those little GURPS sidebars is about the ambience of Myth combat and includes a subsection called Heady Business. From that: "...many combatants have an excessive interest in decapitating the competition". Hehe. Interestingly, there is a section of the book dedicated to using Fear and Loathing to combine GURPS and Myth II gameplay, which was a pretty ambitious idea. Unfortunately for me, I only got the book long after I was able to run Myth II on my computer anymore. I hope you find a copy if you are looking. I'm keeping mine.

[@freakyzoid3565]

Recently managed to get a digital copy and there’s section about combining it with GURPS Space with a description along the lines of: “In the far future the war between Light and Darkness will engulf the galaxy, with mortals armies replaced by fleets of mighty battleships, and champions of Darkness extinguishing stars.”

[@joshuakim5240]

That turnip conversation between the 1 door guards sounded like a conversation straight out of Red vs Blue and it is such a shame that the story of the turnip guards didn't end up being a hidden easter egg storyline where they'd show up in various hidden areas and continue the conversation.

[@Dakeyras83]

It is from Blackadder

[@hateraccoon5686]

Of all the bungie motifs, I wasnt expecting "Sadastic Libraries" to be one of them.

[@bahlalthewatcher4790]

To be fair, the great library isn’t really sadistic, it’s a pretty fun hill defence level and is great for co-op. Oni’s library level is also pretty cool, one of my favourites.

[@Zenlore6499]

Solo Bungie lore is just so endearing. Seemingly innocuous bits of storytelling and design can be linked to events and locations in completely different games; so cool!

[@Psytinker]

At some point, I realized I am not listening to someone recycling story beats and concepts, but someone's personal TimeCube-tier personal philosophy and world view.

[@lorddimps238]

Right? Like in game, the Journeymen are simply a healer unit. In the lore, they are the disgraced, ageless bodyguards of the Cath Bruig Emperor who cast aside their weapons and armor and wear a fur coat and gold tiles stripped from the royal palace in an act of penance.

[@WritesMe]

@@Psytinker Educated stupid by evil word lies

[@Cryten0]

I mean, it is purposefully vague on almost all points so that they do not collide in logic. It allows them to fit but it also relies on head cannon connections. In this case we just get the possibility that the ancient doom creature / weapon could be the devoid.

[@fconstraints]

I'm so glad you mentioned Glen Cook's Black Company as an inspiration for Myth. When I was watching the first video I kept going, "Gee, this all sounds so similar to the Black Company series..." I highly recommend those books for anyone who hasn't read them yet and enjoys some dark fantasy. They're popular but not nearly as well known as they deserve to be.

[@thephantasticmatt6750]

I'm not sure the Deceiver really was ever evil, he just looked insane. He struck me as a morally compromised, but not evil, dream wielder who ended up under Balor's thumb because of prior knowledge as his life as Connacht. Balor kind of just gathered the grab bag of powerful folks to use for his conquest. Counterpoint, I liked the Myrkridia in this game! The fact that they looked so savage and evil was chilling. They looked like ancient vampire flesh eaters. The fact that they built pyramids of their victims heads made me wonder what dark god or pact they served. I'm just glad they didn't look like one more skeletal, insect, or demon/human hybrid. These designs felt more "real" for lack of a better term. Thanks for the review!

[@FearlessSon]

You know, I have to commend you for all these little animations you've had inserted into these Bungie game retrospectives. You really managed to get across the feel of being a Bungie fan across the many, many, *many* years. It's a feeling I'd long since given up on describing as anything other than "You had to be there," but you managed to get it across.

[@sneksucks]

it's a weird paradox for me. being a turn of the millenium slav, nothing bungie did caught on here. both due to material factors at the time, and just in general. it was always very unknowable and distant to me. mandy's telling of the bungie experience really resonated with me for some reason, and with the animations i was hoping to at least partly express my fondness and fascination for this. both here and for last year's infinity vid, mandy initially approached me only asking i do some pngs, but i end up going down these rabbit holes and the end product ends up being what it is. thanks a lot for your kind words, im glad someone noticed

[@Fr3k3]

@@sneksucks well you did a hell of a job. I was engrossed the entire time!

[@StrikeWarlock]

​@@sneksuckshe took you into Pathways into Darkness

[@winter_wight]

@@sneksucksyou really did amazing work on this, seeing dark haze appear as a fear & hunger ghoul killed me

[@katarjin]

@@sneksucks Your hard work paid off big time, sure this video would have been fine with just a few images but the animation is what helps it stand out in a big way.

[@josephmatthews7698]

I remember when this game came out 30 years ago, I looked at it on the shelf and thought "nah better not. I need someone to make a longform video style review and let me know if it's worth playing." 30 years later and I can finally confidently say, 'Nah, probably not for me.' Thank you Mandalore Gaming!

[@georgeridden1705]

LMAO

[@darkomihajlovski3135]

there's a lot of old games i have no desire to play but enjoy people explaining the story and mechanics

[@evanpetelle5669]

@@darkomihajlovski3135likewise. What’s up with that?

[@johnnyboy2537]

​@@evanpetelle5669 You can find ideas interesting but not enjoy the execution. I like a lot of the ideas of Endless Legend but like Mandy reviewing it more than I do playing it. Probably because the battle system is a slog for me when I'm not using auto resolve.

[@darkomihajlovski3135]

@@evanpetelle5669 i think its because its a lot easier to appreciate something when you don't have to deal with it yourself like myth has a great story but gameplay wise you ither love it or hate it since its basically kitting simulator and a lot of people hate that play style

[@latenightbitesdeedee]

"The library on legendary is a sadistic mission" Ah yes. A bungie staple I guess.

[@user-burner]

The combination banban, fear and hunger, and anonymous agony nonsense at the end fucking killed me

[@user-burner]

Also the morbius

[@WhitetailMusic]

Man I feel you on the "..that's them" with the ancient evil race Iwas expecting something considerably less comprehensible and more lovecraftian than just big pointy people

[@kankeydong2500]

Considering how they hyped them up as these sadistic eldritch demons that pushed the world into the brink of ruin much harder than Balor did, yeah. It is quite underwhelming.

[@max_360]

@@kankeydong2500 After seeing them in this, my thoughts went maybe they multiply incredibly fast. Since numbers uncountable seems like a pretty terrifying thing(especially to a medieval era).

[@StyryderX]

@@kankeydong2500 And also something that clearly left deep impression on the Big Bad Guy, to the point he went ballistic just from seeing their flag.

[@enider]

@@StyryderX Yea, I have a hard time seeing how they are more terrifying than any other monster or undead that exists in the Myth world. Feels like they should have been truly alien

[@masterofraw1175]

It's sad to see the unknowable madness that went behind Myth and Marathon go away as Halo went on

[@necromax13]

The madness is in Halo's DNA. Ultimately I feel like straying away from the madness contributed to Halo's overwhelming success, though it might not have been a deliberate decision to do so. Maybe Bungie did it out of technical limitations?

[@rookd2067]

@@necromax13 Nah, more then likely it was just a consequence of what every game studio had to go through in the late 90s, growing budgets and team sizes. after the late 90s and going into the earlier 2000s budgets and team sizes on high profile game studios ballooned at an absolutely crazy rate and not every studio really survived the transition intact. More then likely the minds that made the madness of early bungie so interesting got drowned out as the team got larger to accommodate bigger and better Halo games. likewise Rareware also ended up pretty much biting the dust completely for similar reasons.

[@necromax13]

@@rookd2067 I like the way you write. Very convincingly conveying fallacies.

[@rookd2067]

@@necromax13 Lol, what part of is a fallacy? this is pretty well known. By the time Bungie finished with Myth 2 here their studio numbered 15 people. After their buyout by Microsoft and them finishing Halo CE in 2001 their studio numbered 40+ designers. They effectively more than doubled their staff in less then a 3 year period.

[@durpson]

@@necromax13 All the Marathon stuff died when 343 took over

[@TheLunysgwen]

I got the chance to Beta Test Myth 3 when I was a kid and it was an interesting experience, pre-social media and having zero testing experience, it gave me good insight to the industry. The folks I interacted with were very passionate about the game and it's a shame it turned out like it did.

[@haydynjones2493]

Good LORD the stories for both this and Myth 1 have so many similarities to Glen Cook's work. Not just the ten who were taken and fallen lords, but this idea of repeating cycles of evil, ancient buried horrors, and undying animus reappearing every so often to drive a new dark champion. The book swordbearer (also Glen Cook) has a huge number of these elements as well. I know you mention the books in this review, but the similarity in the stories is huge, I actually love that.

[@anonymousmcanonymous3055]

Yeah. I really loved Myth's lore (even if the game filtered me at the first mission), so reading the Black Company was really fun. Or rather, is IS fun, since I'm on the third book. Shame it wasn't more successful than it already was, it's the perfect setting for games. Shame I keep imagining The Lady as Venat, I know they're too different.

[@Urbanmember1]

I am fully convinced that mandalore will just make an art movie in the next 10 years

[@TheHughgee]

Mandalore's Jacob's Ladder inspired by Bungie induced schizophrenia will be a sight to behold

[@lyrathemad]

I imagined the myrkridia as a dead space-style parasite and the bone blocks were either the remains of them or the bits they didn't like what they actually are is much more... underwhelming

[@darthskarr8975]

I was waiting for Mandie to say sike. I kept checking the video run time and thought "There'll be a twist later." I was on the edge of my seat with the Pathways bit. But no.... Just... Bruh....

[@first-last311]

I thought they were like the Flood.

[@levongevorgyan6789]

Or an insect race with the depravity of the Ayleids.

[@andrearossi6564]

In my head they looked like Shoggoths

[@adanfuenets3148]

To be fair they were a Myth in the setting, and myths tend to exsaderate reality. So while still formidable and clearly in their hay day where truly world crushing, they weren't something eldritch. Because let's face it, even mortals can be crueler then are given credit for.

[@MrSonny6155]

Soulblighter as a doting father figure is quite wholesome if you ignore the blinding. Canon to the comedy spin off where Soulblighter and Alric team up to hunt vampires.

[@gacharizer1372]

The head is Mjarin (revealed in Myth 3 - the non Bungie game) which was the previous Leveler at the time that Connacht (who became the current Leveler in the series, Balor) was the main character.

[@Leochain7274]

I wounder what pathways into darkness this video will take us.

[@shadeflash5953]

It really is the mystery of the druids (tm)

[@seamussmyth1928]

It's going to be a real Marathon

[@Awoken_Remmuz]

And will it lead to finding our halo? Ascend to our destiny?

[@cpom5075]

This comment thread has a nice Ring (A Mind Melting Adventure Game) to it.

[@1357alpha7531]

GODDDAMIT THIS THREAD

[@Aska2468]

"The Library on Legendary is a sadistic mission" Well, at least Bungie's consistent

[@Headlessgenie]

"The Library on Legendary is a sadistic mission" Where have we heard this before?

[@BossEvasion]

Love that the Deceiver kinda just went "Sure, let's go with that." When the Berserker completely mispronounced the incantation. Which I'm pretty sure is from Evil Dead, which makes it funnier.

[@stephenlehman8938]

While you're right that it's from Evil Dead, the incantation (Klaatu barada nikto) is originally from the 1951 sci-fi film "The Day the Earth Stood Still" which has been referenced by many creators, like Sam Rami in Evil Dead and George Lucas in Star Wars. (Klaatu, Barada, and Nikto are all species or people in Jabba's court in Return of the Jedi)

[@legateelizabeth]

Man, Bungie's interconnectivity is what every GM *wishes* they could do. Have a running 'is this the same thing?' through every single game you run, no matter the genre, with some kind of implied cosmology. It's both recycling your ideas and a little wink and a nod to the people who stay at your table.

[@michaelmoore2679]

I dunno. I find it more… masturbatory. Fun to indulge in, but not very productive and weird to hear praise for.

[@TheDoc_K]

@@michaelmoore2679 that's cynical, and a little rude.

[@legateelizabeth]

@@TheDoc_K Nah, it's a valid take. 'Self indulgent' might be a more polite way to put it, which it absolutely is. The entire thing is basically one big in-joke, except it's not a joke. In-drama? It gets away with being acceptable since it's basically never relevant as they're all self-contained stories, but it's absolutely a little bit self indulgent. Productive I'd argue, mind. In the same way Bungie refined elements of their games gameplay wise, they refined story elements to use them in new ways. Building on your prior work is absolutely a productive way to go about things.

[@WordoftheElderGods]

@@michaelmoore2679 What do you mean by "not very productive"?

[@NFS0038]

​@@legateelizabethI think for me it just proves that artists who iterate on their previous works to practice and hone their craft are the path to becoming masters. Imagine how many works the great sculptors and oil painters copied over and over again, using similar ideas if not outright reproductions, until they perfected the technique and created masterpieces. And so Halo was born, conquered and dominated video games for a decade.

[@dc8836]

Glen Cook's writing is excellent. Highly recommend it. Not just The Black Company series, but pretty much everything he's done. Black Company and Garrett, P.I. are his best works, but he's done *excellent* sci-fi with Passage at Arms (WW2-esque submarine warfare, but in spaaaaace!) and the Starfishers series, and he also did a pretty cool series called Darkwar, as well as a series called The Instrumentalities of the Night, which use the real-world late medieval and early Renaissance periods as a backdrop and add fantasy elements from there. He also has a pretty solid one-off sci-fi book called The Dragon Never Sleeps. He relatively recently wrote an excellent interquel addition to The Black Company series, and there's supposedly a proper sequel in the works as well. He has a very terse, "no wasted words" style of writing that's very different from the tendency of most fantasy authors to just bang on and on and on about things, and his fantasy tends to be much more grounded - wizards might be able to wreak havoc and blow up entire formations of troops, but they can't be everywhere and they can be overwhelmed by enough troops. They're field artillery and support, not gods. A typical Black Company book might run 200-300 pages in a standard mass market paperback book, while something from Brandon Sanderson is probably edging towards 1000 pages. Highly, highly recommended for anyone that's never read his stuff.

[@BlackSunCompany]

I hadn't done any research on Myth until after going through these reviews but kept thinking of Cook's Black Company, especially the first trilogy, while watching those mission intros. The narrator's tone definitely echoes Croaker's accounts and the Fallen Lords mirror the Taken. I think Myth well demonstrates how to take inspiration from a source without feeling like a copy. Agreed - Cook is a jewel of a writer. Cook has always been good at keeping stories on a very personal level and expands in scope gradually enough as you go along that you don't feel lost in the scale or in fantasy word salad. Darkwar is absolutely fantastic and I absolutely cannot recommend it enough as an introductory omnibus to his work.

[@carlschneider4229]

Dude, I kept getting Black Company vibes too!

[@johnalogue9832]

I have added a search for "Passage at Arms" to my tab hoard, thank you.

[@Bagel920]

I’ve never heard of him before now, I guess I’ll have to check his work out

[@caementicium284]

I discovered Glen Cook through Steven Erikson and while I think I prefer the Malazan Book of the Fallen for qualities beyond the distinction of scale between it and the Black Company; (especially during the middle part of the Black Company where it drags its feet a bit) - The Black Company really is written to feel fundamentally human above and beyond what Erikson accomplishes. The last paragraph of Soldiers Live - and everything up until that point that supplies it with meaning - is probably the single most emotionally evocative little piece of fiction I've read.

[@Cyrielx2]

Please don't skip Myth 3. It's the only one i never got to play because of technical limitations and you'd be doing me personally a solid

[@LanderKoenig]

42:52 this is my favorite part. Surprisingly wholesome, a welcome one at that

[@Millaren]

That ending with pathways was crazy.

[@Jacob-hq2vb]

Watching this I just couldn't stop thinking how the names and magic were so similar to The Ten Who Were Taken, as well as the comet. And then having The Black Company mentioned made me feel so big brained

[@MisleadTruth]

Kind of makes you wonder if the Traveler in Destiny is the comet referenced in Myth. Because the travel did herald the age of light and darkness.

[@welltemperedclavier819]

Thank you for making this video! Myth had a unique attitude and approach to RTS games, and I'm a little sad at how it's mostly been forgotten. Decades ago, I found an interesting fan theory on one of the old Myth fan sites. Namely, that Balor had indeed ushered in a successful Age of Darkness. But instead of him ruling over a realm of the undead, the evils would come from necromancy and other dark magics becoming much more accessible. Soulblighter's attack is the first major example of this, but it won't even be close to the last (Chimera might be another example). Nor is it necessarily limited to the undead; there could be others like the Summoner out there. While the powers that be might be able to hold this at bay for a while, they can't do it forever. In other words, Balor created the fantasy equivalent of unchecked nuclear weapons proliferation.

[@MandaloreGaming]

That's a cool concept that would definitely explain the turmoil. A shame we didn't get to see how things played out.

[@welltemperedclavier819]

@@MandaloreGaming There's some precedent for it, too. The last age of darkness, the Wind Age, didn't have an overlord. The Leveler who summoned the Myrkridia, Moagim, was long gone by Connacht's time so far as anyone can tell. In other words, the Leveler only needs to start an age of darkness; they don't have to be there to run the place

[@grandpathong]

oppenbalor? balorheimer?

[@Knight3rrant]

It was referred to as an RTT (real time tactical) game. Accurately, as there is no 'strategy' involved. Only tactics.

[@ZiggySol]

@@welltemperedclavier819 Makes sense. In the last age of darkness humans were still holding out after 1000 years, while in this one Balor had almost won after a mere 50.

[@devoidofvoltz2562]

I think the thing they did wrong with the Myrkridia was making them so numerous. I get that it's kind of needed for an rts game but they could have hammed it up a bit. Take those weird shadow enemies (what even was up with them?), call them Mykridia shadows and use them instead of bat creatures. Make what you fight not even the real deal, implying that the og's were so utterly horrifying that even the shadows they cast became murder monsters.

[@electricbayonet2]

That actually sounds like a good way to keep them both threatening and mysterious. It even gives a neat level of in-universe ambiguity: they're called 'Myrkridian shadows,' but there's so little known about the Myrkridians themselves that it's a genuine matter of historical debate _why_ they're called that. Are they an enslaved race, that lives in the figurative shadow of the Myrkridians? Are they scavengers that follow in the wake of the incalculable evils committed by the Myrkridians, living beneath the Myrkridians' notice but spreading further suffering in the lands they pass over? Are they the twisted remains of other species, warped beyond recognition by the Myrkridians, and the name 'Myrkridian shadow' is in reference to the terrible fate that befalls those who are unlucky enough to 'survive' at the whims of such a terrible race? Or, as you suggest, is the name disturbingly literal: that the Myrkridians were so utterly evil and anathema to the world itself that even their _shadows_ spawn nightmares. It would even kinda play into the ambiguously-defined nature of dream magic if the Myrkridia were basically living nightmares, and it would play to the scale on which the Myrkridians were a threat if these roided-up bat ogres were just one (possibly of forgotten countless) consequence of the Myrkridians merely existing on or plane.

[@pabloaguirreherrainz5426]

Yeah, those things... they were called Mahir. The little lore about them in the flavor texts still give me chills: "...an obsidion flame howled in a tongue he understood not, it's words violent, clear and distinct, tearing his breast and pulling him toward the dark thing which had risen from the shadows." "Though he couldn't have been dead more than an hour, his corpse resembled a centuries old mummy... and it crumbled like dry leaves at a touch."

[@LeudieBlues]

@@pabloaguirreherrainz5426 Yeah those things creeped me out, I remember the penultimate mission has a bunch of them hugging the canyon walls as you follow Alric to face Soulblighter.

[@Penguinsfishing]

Comparing the reveal of the Myrkridia to the reveal of the Flood, you can really see how much Bungie improved when it comes to unspeakable horrors.

[@yrrosimyarin]

I was 15 when I played Myth II and the Myrkridia still haunt my nightmares. I thought their introduction was sufficiently terrifying at the time. They are also point for point the most powerful units in the game. Sad to hear they didn’t hit as well for anyone else…

[@joszax]

I thought they lived up to the earlier descriptions. More people need to have their individually named warriors slaughtered in Gate of Storms!

[@Shannon4710]

They really didn't do it for me. I don't think any design would really be good enough since I think what I liked most about them was that they were largely unknown. I think the unknown is far scarier to me than any design could be. I am however glad that you liked them and I don't think you are alone even if you might be in a minority.

[@fedupN]

Same. I found the Myrkridia terrifying. Suitably matched the savagery from Myth I. Remember, they are whispers and myths from a half remembered age defeated by humans before. So being killable didnt take away from their horrible self, same way the Fallen Lords remained threatening even after some died in Myth I.

[@legacy9171]

They're terrifying in that they really punish even the slightest mistake and if you were a kid playing through on timid it was the first time you couldnt win by having your warriors do the fighting

[@Marinealver]

I think that was where they tried to have their "flood" moment, which they perfected it by Halo. So the Flood was more than Myrkidia moment.

[@nopenoperson8964]

"Undead attack the town" finally a super sneaky Mandalore reference that I understood without being told about it

[@user-eo4ln2fp8q]

Wc3?

[@ghostkai8713]

Spiders attack the town-

[@cybermang878]

Chili attacks the cabin

[@danhelsting6308]

Man - that ending animation was a great metaphor for how the Myrkrydia came across in the first game. And for the tone whiplash of their reveal in the second game.

[@ilikecatsandstuff1]

The "There's more to everyone than you think" idea reminds me a lot of Gene Wolfe's The Knight/Wizard

[@benjaminlocks]

I love this game so much, and I'll reiterate my comment from TFL - the art of Juan Ramirez which is on display between missions has always been so inspiring to me, and truly captures my imagination. I'll also add that The Deceiver sounds so much like John Huston who played Gandalf and others in the old Rankin/Bass animations. I know it can't be him because he had already passed away by this point - but that's clearly an inspiration. I also wonder if the awesome concept of cycles where heroes of one age return as villains of the next in order to give rise to new heroes that will ultimately repeat the cycle, wasn't in some way an inspiration for games like Dark Souls 2 (Or DS in general I suppose) that really played around with the idea of good becoming evil so that more good could rise up etc. It really makes me think just how many things have been inspired in some way or another by Myth.

[@sofija1996]

While Miyazaki is very fond of Western fantasy (novels and PnP RPGs more so than video games), I feel that Souls games might draw more from the spiritual/existential cycles (and breaking out of them) found in Asian religions/philosophies like buddhism, and from the theme of "corrupting stagnation" (especially fear of stagnant water) found in Japanese folklore, since their point is less about transitioning from good to evil to good again, and more about aggressive pursuit of power and fear of change/death/end resulting in halting/unnaturally altering the cycle (which in turn leads to outbreaks of supernatural disease or curses that can destroy the land itself). Then again, you could argue that there is some similarity with the apocalyptic tone of both series and with how Myth's greatest heroes are destined to become villains as the cycle progresses vs. how the heroic or sympathetic figures of the Souls games often fall from grace, die miserably or turn out to be petty tyrants.

[@markbernal42]

Juan Ramirez created great imagery for the Myth mission screens. He is such a great visual storyteller that I always knew that his illustrations would be on-point for the narrative and I never worried about his art looking fantastic!

[@WritesMe]

I think Myth is about Baby Boomers.

[@benjaminlocks]

@@markbernal42 thank you from the bottom of my heart, and thank everyone who worked on these games for giving me a childhood full of rich imagination that has stayed with me through life because of your dazzling spectacles and thrilling narratives. I will always be grateful for the effort you all put into these games and the memories they gave me - even if some of those memories are admittedly traumatic nightmares about dwarves facing the wrong direction.

[@markbernal42]

@@benjaminlocks Thank you! Darn dwarves! 😂💥

[@yureinobbie68]

Wow, the guy who recalled the game even though it was Christmas... that dude should be the patron saint of developers. Really gives me goosebumps to see how far we've regressed just from the option of online patches.

[@sofija1996]

There's a really cool article archived online that retells the whole story of Bungie up until Myth 2's release, including the juicy details of the uninstaller bug debacle - apparently it cost them about 800 000 USD just to cover the retailer fines (the game's development budget was estimated to be about 1 million + another 1-1,5 million in marketing, and the studio was mostly kept afloat during Myth 2's development by their savings from Myth 1's sales - delaying the sequel was a huge financial risk), they had to swap out the CDs manually, FedEx lost the shipment of "version 1.1" stickers they needed to put on the game boxes and they needed to find a site to print a new batch on the fly, they've had a brief power outage in the repackaging warehouse that scared the crap out of them, and the city where Bungie's offices were located was hit by a massive snowstorm, forcing one of the head developers to pull some strings to first hitch a ride to another city's airport, then grab a last-minute flight to (IIRC) a different state where the warehouse was. Basically almost anything that could go wrong went wrong, and yet the game was not only a critical success, but also managed to outsell its predecessor in a short timeframe.

[@WordoftheElderGods]

evolved, not regressed. Regressed would mean we were that at one point, then changed, and now moving back to it.

[@yureinobbie68]

@@WordoftheElderGods Yeah, that was what I meant. I consider it a step back, to release broken games before they're done, just because you can hand in a fix later.

[@scrungo8635]

I was extremely tired watching this video and half falling asleep. But I've played so much destiny that when mandy said "sword logic" at 14:09 it felt like someone shocked me back to life.

[@Khloroh]

Same, I was listening to this as background while I was playing Destiny. Pulled my attention real quick lol

[@TheAsylumCat]

At this point I am fully convinced that The Final Shape is another worcencacenter or however you spell that.

[@TheHeroOfTime777]

@@TheAsylumCat Surprise, it's actually the Traveler!

[@ltraltier6009]

The traveler is a wrcancntr egg.

[@Pattamatt1998]

​@@ltraltier6009real

[@mrtspence]

That music sounds so much like Halo music. Had to be Martin O'Donnell. What a fantastic score for those briefings. EDIT: I was RIGHT! That is O'Donnell and Salvatore. Such an iconic sound. @MandaloreGaming, it sure makes it a lot more fitting when you use Peril from Halo 2 as the background piece as you find a way to do in every video!

[@thecandlemaker1329]

The tiles in baron Cac a Ghlacadh's bathroom have the Covenant symbol on them, which proves that the biggest turnip in the world is in fact Durandal.

[@silveredbullet802]

To think it all started with me finding video game reviews and suddenly I got blessed with masterpieces made by mandy and sseth.

[@perryborn2777]

For me the pipeline was Zero Punctuation, Sseth, Mandalore, Civvie11, then Grimbeard (Check him out if you haven't, he's really good, and really underrated)

[@skinnysnorlax1876]

@@perryborn2777 civvie mentioned, like given. I don't make the rules, I just follow em

[@perryborn2777]

@@skinnysnorlax1876 I like that rule

[@sebs-shenanigans]

So glad I discovered mandalore when I did. This man continuously brought stuff to my eye, that I was never aware of and never failed to peak my curiosity you commenters are absolute 24 karat gold.

[@joelwoodall1050]

Pique

[@liamaclellan3024]

​@@cloudycolacorpmistakes like that are a diamond dozen

[@marocat4749]

He is also on a podcast and talks about his bizarre events.

[@judgeprime3730]

@@cloudycolacorplol 😂😂. I like the cut of your jib good sir

[@vrygon8893]

​@@liamaclellan3024tote-alley agreed

[@Connacht89]

29:24 at least for this mission, the duel between Shiver and the Deceiver happens on the same day of the assault of Alric's army against Soulblighter, the 25th of April, so it's possible that the narrator wasn't informed of the outcome yet when writing the briefing for mission 23 (not sure though, as in the briefing for mission 22 he said that Alric would have attacked *after* Shiver's death). Of course, there is no later mention, not even in the epilogue.

[@InternetHydra]

26:14 That's a grin that says "A crow is fine too..."

[@scbgamingpresents]

I will say as a big Halo and Destiny lore nerd, seeing the older Bungie games like this and Marathon and seeing the Links from there and references in the newer games is really interesting and cool

[@zombine64]

Good on Soulblighter saving that kid from witnessing such horrors.

[@AntonSlavik111]

I will say i like how Myth 3 talked about the Myrkridia being from a world of darkness and eternal hunger so when they were first brought in to the myth world it was a bloodbath that brought the world even closer to death than the armies of the dark. I also like that The Leveler is the same creature but at the same time different depending on its host body that's why in Connacht body it hated the Myrkridia.

[@hisshame]

God I love Marathon. Mandalore, the way that ending sequence visually tied so many things together was unbelievable