Myth: The Fallen Lords Review

[@MandaloreGaming]

Myth Project Magma - projectmagma.net THE LIST - docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_K3ziSxT9zcUUGCddS4sF1uNJTWHSbOwB1CQX2Rx4Uo I haven't posted the List in a while since I've been playing a lot of email catchup. I'm still way behind but it's getting more manageable. Berserkers in this video are also physically larger than they should be, but ONLY in the Myth 1 clips and none from 2's campaign. This was caused from enabling the TFL gameplay option, but why it's doing that on my version I have no idea. It shouldn't be an issue for the Myth 2 video apparently since all TFL stuff was off. Magic. ADDITIONAL EDIT: This was solved and the reason is way funnier and will come in detail in the Myth 2 video.

[@CZEFrank]

The List has returned!

[@FoldingTeaLeaves]

Who is the Iowa Stickman?

[@inishgamingentertainment1730]

I see A House of many doors is on the list. thats the one id want to see

[@ukaszgrzesik7231]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, any chance of a vid about other Ice Pick Lodge game, The Void (aka Tension, aka Turgor)?

[@thunder.perfectmind]

What's the name of the sci-fi game at 00:00:33? Looks lovely!

[@markbernal42]

Thanks for putting together this impressive review. We worked extremely hard to put this game together. There were only a few of us trying to wrangle this beast into a cohesive, enjoyable game. I was one of only two artists creating the majority of the game art with contractors providing additional support for story illustration and interface design. Most AAA games nowadays have very large teams. It was a different time. Thank you and your team for all the hard work that went into creating this video. I enjoyed watching it. Every second brought up great personal memories of the nine of us creating it!

[@MandaloreGaming]

Thanks so much! I never realized the Nine doing great work for the force of good was based on a true story, but that makes it even more magical.

[@butareyoureally1868]

Oh man, thanks a ton for being part of such a great time in gaming! Bungie was such a big part of my adolescence!!

[@MadMaxGBO]

Massive respect to you and a privilege to meet someone who worked on it! The art is fantastic and always imprinted on my mind, I always wanted more. I'm a fan of Myth my whole life and grown up on it. In my eyes it rivals Lord of the Rings as my 2 favourite fantasy titles. It has so much unused potential even to this day, all I want to know is will bungie buy back the rights, why has there never been further games made or at least a remaster? Would give anything for this in the future.

[@ChainsawGutsfuck2]

It was a fantastic game. Unique and very memorable. I spent many hours playing it when I was young.

[@HereticalGeek]

This game is a key part of my childhood, thank you so much!!

[@Mrkabrat]

30:03 "Our swords got so dull we had to fight with our bare hands. You know how hard it is to strangle the undead?" Absolute madlad of a berserker

[@axios4702]

I love the fact he is telling that to a poor knight guy who just lost his arm. He is telling a man crippled for life that the fight that crippled him "was nothing"

[@jimmyjones8676]

@@axios4702 Skill issue

[@tomtheconqerur]

@@axios4702 I think he was telling the story to comfort the guy as he was dying from losing a arm.

[@RomanvonUngernSternbergnrmfvus]

And this is why the mighty ancestors of Sam Hyde got to take down the bad guy to the berserk theme/ theme of the dumbest and best quest in pathfinder :D

[@justachannel8600]

@@tomtheconqerur This is actually a question I asked myself multiple times. I usually tend to tell some stories as a way of showing understanding, but I don't know if people see it just one-upmanship.

[@msgasmdc107]

“But we’ll see where *the pathways* lead us, in Myth II” As someone who has fallen hard into this rabbit hole you opened wide for so many people, I love this line. I love that this is basically the only reference you make about it too, not even mentioning the development studio’s name

[@Walican132]

I think I’m missing the reference. care to share?

[@hollylucianta6711]

@@Walican132 The game is made by Bungie of Halo/Destiny fame, who have also made a game called Pathways into Darkness.

[@michaelandreipalon359]

​@@Walican132And we'll recommend you to MandaloreGaming's reviews of the Marathon Trilogy and the aforementioned Pathways too.

[@ruddygreat4914]

If this is somehow more marathon lore I'm gonna explode

[@pigmentpeddler5811]

​@@ruddygreat4914 I've got some spare undies at the ready

[@matrix3509]

I absolutely love the fact that your units can apologize to your other units for friendly fire. Its such a nice touch.

[@AwakenedAvocado]

As somebody who encourages friendly fire to increase troop morale I understand this

[@followingtheroe1952]

You mean the dwarf blowing everyone up and going "...oops"

[@AwakenedAvocado]

@@followingtheroe1952 it's a dangerous job but the bombs don't launch themselves

[@Basewire99]

they even did that in Halo, so that seems to be a constant little thing they'd bring over to their other games. That was the first time i heard a friendly npc do that. It really is a fun little detail, its gotten a few good laughs outta me.

[@hypothalapotamus5293]

I think it's more funny that they curse at the other units when they get hit. Dwarves: oops (Sorry not Sorry) Berserks: God damn your eyes. Yes, I played myth tfl as a kid. There's a combination of unit pathing, a high rate of failed dwarven munitions, and bounce physics that made it more team killy than myth 2. Really the only thing that ever came close was that moment when you screwed up a terran mech push in SC:BW and all of your mines suddenly pop up. Time seems to freeze and you know that they're coming back at you, but there's nothing you can do.

[@gundorf2063]

"Infinity ends and the story passes into Myth." - MandaloreGaming, Marathon Infinity Review "But we'll see where the Pathways lead us in Myth 2." - MandaloreGaming, Myth: The Fallen Lords Review Are we.... Are we going back down the rabbit hole?

[@djdexcat]

The dark. The dreams. _The waves._

[@andrearossi6564]

You have never escaped it

[@Comkill117]

What do you meant going back? We never truly left.

[@mememachine-386]

Ye best start believing in rabbit holes, yer in one!

[@rustyshackleford1508]

*We're still inside it. We never left.*

[@lalo3841]

One crazy detail i noticed is that, for a game where the units are sprites, they actually bothered to NOT mirror the sprites. Not only that, there are also left handed variants.

[@kankeydong2500]

Man, Bungo back then was so fuckin cool.

[@Rifqiethehero]

​@@kankeydong2500truly a bungo moment, bravo vince 👏

[@gustaveardila6286]

This game achieves something that very VERY few writers manage to do, make you feel like you are truly, unmistakably the one on the losing end of a war. Plus it helps it sounds like reasonable decisions are made all around by both sides during the conflict. Wish there were more games that succeeded in what this one did.

[@Ghostvirus]

This is definitely assisted by the ruthless gameplay that punishes you if you aren't smart about positioning.

[@Goober543]

xcom and xcom 2 do a decent job at it i'd say.

[@AParticularlyConcernedCitizen]

Honestly, most wars are won because of incompetence on the part of the losing side. In Myth's case, the bad guys literally win and focus on fighting each other while ignoring the legion that will destroy their entire army because they're not considered a threat right until everything falls apart.

[@Ghostvirus]

​@@AParticularlyConcernedCitizen You also have to remember depending on the difficulty or player, you lost/ failed many times. The failed game screens kind of portray in a single image what happens if you fail a mission. And so without your ability to load from a checkpoint Balor and the Fallen Lords would have won.​

[@chucklebutt4470]

The Banner Saga series made me feel this way at many points.

[@deego237]

My memories from this game are: "Casuality, casuality, casuality, casuality" The in-game animated clips were awesome, and so were the gory battles.

[@nasserm20]

u mean "Casuality, Casuality, Casuality, CasualitIES" XDXD

[@KingZealotTactics]

Lmfao yup, and of course clicking on the dwarf time and time again just for his voice lines.

[@LordDragox412]

*CASUAL TEA*

[@snailsearwig]

The guy sounds amused when he says Casualties!

[@MrQwertyman111]

Yup, ptsd kicked in when I heard it for the first time in this vid. The difficulty in this game was something modern gamers would be freaking out on forums, stream chats and commnent sections under vids. I'm tempted to give it a go this weekend 😁

[@maxtimes3]

-A mysterious comet crashing down -Reality bending powers gained through dreams -That roar.... Goddamn it bungie.

[@aidonger42069]

Please explain “that roar”, I don’t see the significance of it and can’t see its connection to anything else in myth or perhaps other games, it’s eating at me and if it were elaborated or even explained that would be enough

[@kainthewarlock]

​@@aidonger42069that roar was the sound when the "god" (w'rkncacnter) woke up in Pathways into Darkness.

[@notinspectorgadget]

Time to break out the string and corkboard...again.

[@4T3hM4kr0n]

Don't worry i've got the Jjaro on speed dial, i'll get them and the s'pht'kr in here to clean up this mess

[@maxvanslagmaat6428]

The Myrkridia seen in the sequel, are also an enemy in Pathways into Darkness.

[@infantiltinferno]

Can't help but get invested in this lore, someone did a good job back in the day.

[@Jagonath]

The lore is basically lifted from The Black Company, by Glen Cook - but in reverse. E.g the Circle of Eighteen is "The Nine" in Myth, Soul Catcher is "Soul Blighter" in Myth etc.

[@sunmakergg]

@@Jagonath oh yeah? let me read that book just to see if you're being a smarmy git

[@vazhatavberidze5040]

​@@sunmakergglol, good luck readin g the entire series xD

[@m.b.7920]

@@sunmakerggseries has 7 volumes and been running for 34 years

[@inserisciunnome]

​@@JagonathReading a plot synopsis i see the inspiration, and the set up for the plot Is fairly similiar, but id hardly call the lore "lifted". The similiarities are: -that an ancient evil that was defeaten by a great Hero in the past has now returned under new Leadership. -a bunch of very powerfull individuals have been enslaved by this evil and are now its Scions, despite hating oneanother more than Their enemies -a group opposing this evil leads the armies of light against them -Comets prophetize Stuff. Granted this Is the First time i've Heard of both this game AND Of the Black Company, so maybe the connections are deeper than this, but all of these are Just fairly common Fantasy tropes

[@izzys6472]

Guess Mandalore was right, we are now back on the pathways into darkness once again. I just started watching the review now and he mentioned Madrigal, Siege of Madrigal is a soundtrack in Myth. It’s also a soundtrack in Halo: CE, which was meant to be connected back to Marathon… Oh my God……

[@Kesvalk]

and remember that the nine is a group in destiny 2 too

[@deriznohappehquite]

My hot take is that Halo is more of a Myth successor than a Marathon successor.

[@alwaysangry2232]

oh look a hole with totally not a elder god inside, does the jjaro visit that world too eventually?

[@GavoPy]

@@alwaysangry2232 Maybe mayans just put a carpet over the hole and built the piramid around it for... Reasons...

[@jasonhill8696]

@@deriznohappehquite halo started development as myth in space

[@irregularassassin6380]

Mandy's willingness to commit to the %Hero "I feel like I've heard this/been here before" bit is impressive. I feel like I've heard that scream somewhere before too...

[@EldradDinkleberg]

I know it ties into the marathon of madness but what actually is that scream? I know I've heard it and it most likely ties into the rabbit hole again just can't actually place it myself

[@irregularassassin6380]

​@@EldradDinkleberg He said the same thing in his _Pathways into Darkness_ video when discussing the ... oh boy ... W'rkncacnter's scream there. If it's from somewhere else, I wouldn't actually know. (Yes, I did look up how to spell that, lmao)​

[@EldradDinkleberg]

@@irregularassassin6380 ahhh yes the w'rkncacnter did it too, thats where I was thinking of it from. I'm interested now to see if mandy will reveal what it is during his dive into the rabbit hole, or if he is genuinely unsure

[@jasonhill8696]

@@EldradDinkleberg it’s in halo too

[@MrShadowtruth]

@@jasonhill8696 The gravemind...

[@LordKosmos]

16:04 You left out the best part from this tutorial intro... getting the narrator mad at you for using the wrong buttons or doing nothing at all. He had so many lines of text just for cursing at you and questioning your sanity ^^ Fond memories of this...and thank you for the coverage, sure is a hell of a process to get this one running.

[@LeudieBlues]

The tutorial in 2 is my favorite, the narrator will scold you for killing some farm animals there. But pulling off killing a bird in flight and he’d compliment you, only to back pedal and scold you for that too

[@MNewton]

Do you suppose he'll mention the Soulblighter frogs Easter egg from 2? Its pretty obscure these days lol

[@kingmoo]

A fun little detail from the ending that is easily missed: When all the body parts are flying from the explosion, you can see Alric's head among them. Of course, he isn't dead since he is in Myth 2, but it did answer the question of what happened to him after the fight with Balor, and just how bit that explosion was.

[@FearlessSon]

Something the developers mentioned in interviews is that sufficiently powerful magic users often can't be killed simply. The reason you had to toss Balor's head into The Great Devoid is that was the only way to avoid the Dark getting it back and resurrecting him. Presumably Alric had similar death-cheating magics and had someone regenerate his body when they got his head.

[@Fenrick]

@@FearlessSon I'm not sure it's so easy to bring the Light back. The Nine die left and right and are never resurrected. Granted, some were lost in far worse circumstances than the defeat of Balor, but I'd imagine they'd be back by Myth 2 either way.

[@countrygeneral]

​@@Fenrickhave you forgotten of the civil war? I imagine that soured the relationships between the Nine to the point of not wanting to bring most back.

[@TheNapster153]

Alric is also a dream magician, which is mentioned to be extremely powerful in this universe. If it works anything like the Warp from Warhammer, then Alric may have an astral/spiritual projection in the dreamscape, explaining his survival.

[@FearlessSon]

@@TheNapster153 The GURPS sourcebook for Myth goes a bit more into this. Dream magic is the magic of the gods who created the world, literally dreaming it into being. The dream was shattered into fragments, each fragment becoming a spell. To learn and master one of these dream fragments marks one as a dream wizard, and as each of these dream fragments are extremely powerful it says something about the powers of the wizard who holds a dream fragment. It's believed that if a wizard can learn all the dream fragments, they will become a living avatar of those gods. Alric for example knows the "Dispersal Dream", which you can see him use in the video here. It makes a target individual explode. It then makes another individual physically proximate to them explode. And the person next to them, and so on. It's a dream known for being able to shatter _entire armies_ on the battlefield if used well.

[@fenrirsrage4609]

Man this game and Homeworld Catacylsm/Emergence really makes me love the idea of just desperately trying to survive an apocalyptic being presented both in-game and in lore. I like apocalyptic scenarios and when something gets them right they definitely can leave a lasting impression.

[@giacomoromano8842]

The last Berserk telling to a wounded soldier without an arm of how this fight was nothing and he went through worse is a mood and i love it.

[@StyryderX]

I can practically hear the silent groan of "for fuck's sake, shut up granpa" from the wounded soldier.

[@AbenZin1]

It's all right, the warrior got another arm at the end!

[@giacomoromano8842]

​@@AbenZin1 too soon man!

[@TheNapster153]

​@@giacomoromano8842More like right on schedule. Now, fetch me the needle, string and some syrup! We got an arm to attach! Also, someone PLEASE have the fire going, I don't want to see another poor sod being chased by bees.

[@mirceazaharia2094]

​@@TheNapster153 *approving skeleton noises*

[@SingForAnactoria]

Alric is like, peak wizard. Just a dude in a burlap robe that screams incredibly cool lines and cast such powerful spells he decimates armies by himself

[@boxtank5288]

Demonstrating just how powerful Dreaming is in the setting. The comic even sells the fact that in a Dream Duel, a single lapse in concentration can, AND WILL, spell your doom.

[@vandujrgaming4340]

FUCK SAKE. HE'S REFERENCED IN MARATHON ISN'T HE? HE ISN'T IS HE?

[@kankeydong2500]

​@@vandujrgaming4340pls no. I haven't recovered from the Marathon brainrot yet.

[@AVerySexuallyDeviantOrange]

@@vandujrgaming4340Every 70 years Must be chosen

[@zeronikku3549]

I think Alric is a pretty cool guy. Eh kills Fallen Lords and doesn't afraid of anything.

[@ivankudinov4153]

I can't imagine how did they code all of this in 1997: object physics, cool sprite-like 3d models, friendly fire, landscape nuances, random shots. The game is itself impressive even on a theory level, not every RTS today, I'd say none of them, has those features baked in. Plus a touch of a 80-90's complex high fantasy, wow.

[@Wolfoso]

It ran fantastically, too. I have no memory of it ever lagging.

[@Archtew]

I dont think friendly fire would've have been that hard. You would just have to code the projectiles to treat the friendly u its as enemies. Though everything else especially physics in a RTS game this old is impressive. I always feel like back then more was done with less and somehow we are doing less impressive things when we have the technology to do it

[@ivankudinov4153]

Yeah, I thought about it and I've come to a conclusion that modern game dev needs to reach back to its roots -- table games like DnD to take some valuable concepts with a sprinkle of imagination from them and combine it with the new tech. Instead of grinding the same 90s game ideas that were ok, but now they need to evolve. We now have indie industry, steam, AI conversation, unreal 5, all we need is some philosophy behind it all instead of $$$ marketing -- I think we'll see some amazing games soon @@Archtew

[@estefencosta1835]

Bungie's early works were handicapped somewhat by being Mac exclusives. Myth was on PC too, but they were known as a Mac developer. Lots of people don't know anything about Bungie before Halo. For my money Myth and Marathon are 2 of the greatest creative works of that era of video games but pale in popularity to games like Doom, Quake, Starcraft, etc. Myth was truly a unique beast and is sadly little known.

[@Whitecroc]

There's some really cool stuff in there. I find it very interesting that animated 3D models were a Myth 2 feature! The handful of times you see a mesh move in Myth, it's done by manipulating the transform and features just two or so frames of animation. Heck, the fact that it's done like that makes me think it might just be static objects being toggled on and off.

[@JudgeBeard]

A lot of the fantasy words used here are from ancient Irish myth. Balor (of the Evil Eye, to give him his full title, the old Irish god of Death) was the leader of the Fomorians, they fought the Tuatha De Danaan (pronounced Too-a day dan-awn, the ancient Irish gods). Balor had a single evil eye and could look out over the battlefield and destroy anything he looked at. He was killed in the second battle of Moytura, where Lugh of the Long Hand (pronounced Lew and who, through this act, would become the Irish wargod similar to Ares or Thor. Christianity would eventually go on to bastardize his name, inventing the 'Leprechaun', the irish translation meaning bent over, crooked old Lugh) threw a spear through his eye. It came out the back of his head and as he died, he blasted a crater in the ground, creating Lough Súil, which is Irish for Lake of the Eye, a real place in Sligo. Connacht is a province in Ireland (pronounced Conn-uckth). I live in that province. Muirtheimne (mur-thumb-nah) was a small Kingdom located around County Louth. The Táin (pronounced Tawn) is the story of The Cattle Raid of Cooley and our greatest hero Cúchulainn (look him up, he had the power to basically become the incredible hulk, or 'warp spasm'). Its so interesting because so much media from different countries just straight takes these words and does their own thing with them. Cúchulainn was in several Final Fantasy and Shin Megami Tensei games, the Witcher has a story about Dól Blathanna, the Valley of Flowers; bláthanna (pronounced blaw-hannah), is Irish for flowers. It kinda makes me sad though, because we have no major modern Irish works that leverages these things. Hope this was interesting to some of you!

[@coygus4422]

My Da always says he wonders why there's no movies or tv shows based on Irish mythology

[@Xenomorthian]

I heard about Balor from the Dresden Files where the Fomorians are led by his daughter Ethniu "the Last Titan" who is using his eye as a super weapon literally the entirety of the book "Battle Grounds" is just the giant battle started at the end of "Peace Talks" against the Fomorians and Ethniu I just wanted to share this cool line (I'll censor some names so it isn't a spoiler) “Who are you?” ------- asked back, his voice ringing defiance. “A daughter unloved by her monstrous father? Sold and traded like a horse? Hiding in a dark cave with her useless hangers-on for millennia? And now lashing out with her daddy’s gun.” He shook his head and bounced the Eye in his hand. “It appears that it is better to be a mortal than a Titan, these days.”

[@timedraven117]

To quote Red from Overly Sarcastic Productions, no one can speak Irish right, not even the Irish, because the Irish have five regional pronounciations for everything :D

[@JudgeBeard]

@@Xenomorthian Balor was prophecised to be killed by his grandson, so he took his daughter and hid her in a tower of glass north of Tory Island (again, a real island off the coast of Northern Ireland), Lughs father saved her and they birthed Lugh. The original story has definitely inspired this!

[@JudgeBeard]

@@timedraven117 Haha, well its not wrong! Except its more like 3 regional dialects. Donegal, Galway, Cork, the places that actually have Irish speaking areas. But the words I gave the pronunciation for are ancient and have commonly held acceptable versions.

[@JoshuaNorton]

The soldier reading his war diary left such an impression on me the first time I played it. As a kid it felt like you were really part of this desperate war for survival. God, I really wanted to replay this for so long for the dark and desperate feeling of the story but Mandalore is not kidding about the difficulties of getting Myth 1 to run.

[@torrvic1156]

This game needs a decent remake!

[@joshuagraham2843]

it did but got cancelled from kickstarter, every developer are remaking the game i wondered why modders are not remaking myth games?

[@toponimo5832]

It reminded me of the 501st journal from Battlefront 2, i really like when games/stories give you the POV of a nameless soldier

[@Bertaut]

The voice actor absolutely nailed it.

[@johndane9754]

@@torrvic1156 There was one game from, I think ten years ago now, that was inspired off of Myth but it didn't do well and I can't remember the name.

[@BalbazaktheGreat]

One of the best games I've ever played. Here's a fun story: one thing Mandalore failed to mention is that archers and dwarves aren't merely differentiated by how many kills (and therefore how much experience) they've obtained; some of them are naturally more talented than others. I had to replay the end of the last level over and over again because I just could not beat Soulblighter. That faceless horror was standing between my few remaining guys and the bottomless pit, naginata in hand just waiting to slice anyone who approached into ribbons. Sacrificing all my poor remaining soldiers to briefly distract him while the dwarf carrying Balor's head made a mad dash for the hole was the only possible avenue toward victory, but I failed again and again and again. Each time my dwarf got close enough to throw the head in, he would f'ing miss, and the head would fall just short of the hole as Soulblighter cut him into dwarf-chunks. I finally had to restart the level from the beginning, and this time I gave the head to a different dwarf - turns out the one I gave the head to the first time threw like a little dwarf maid. This time I got a miniature basketball star that sunk the exact same shot effortlessly, winning the game on the spot.

[@BenersantheBread]

Not to mess with your nostalgia but that sounds like an awful mechanic

[@BalbazaktheGreat]

@@BenersantheBread A bit frustrating at times, for sure, but in the end it's really just another form of difficulty to overcome.

[@shaynehughes6645]

@@BalbazaktheGreat Is that stat listed anywhere or is it basically rng?

[@BalbazaktheGreat]

It's random as far as I know. I don't have any proof of it being a thing beyond my own experience that some units just seem to shoot better.@@shaynehughes6645

[@jayceneal5273]

Their skill is mapped to their kill amount. The higher the kills the better they fight

[@MoggusDoggus]

The narration had unexpectedly good writing. I was expecting 90s fantasy cringe but I was pleasantly surprised. I'm vested in the story now and want to see what happens in Myth 2

[@BeatCrazed]

Play it! Myth 2 is an incremental but significant improvement over the first game and well worth playing. Hell, even if you don't like the gameplay it's still worth it to sleepwalk through on timid difficulty for the story.

[@FearlessSon]

Here's the setup: the world goes through cycles, where it is ruled by the Light or the Dark, and they swap every thousand years. The Dark ruled for a thousand years, then the Light ruled for a thousand years, and this game takes place at the close of this most recent age of Light, as the Dark is ascendent and about to take their place ruling the world again. Then costly heroic effort and yada-yada, the world is saved, hooray! Except... it wasn't the Light's turn to win...

[@alex301980]

@@BeatCrazed I don't really remember a timid difficulty with these games. Admittedly it was a long time ago and I was younger but I remember it being hard as nails.

[@BeatCrazed]

@@alex301980 It's there. One can argue whether it's actually all that easy in an objective sense, but Timid is the easiest difficulty in the game.

[@Zyzyx442]

@@BeatCrazed even the third is worth it for the story but myth2 was amazing, could replay a map several times just to try different strats. often barely winning, mostly lost :)

[@Magusman27]

I think one of the reasons why the narrative is good is because of the book series the writers were very heavily inspired by (The Black Company), and they really did a good job of sticking to the tone and feel of that series.

[@PitchBlackYeti]

I only had the demo of Myth and played the hell out of it despite my PC being too weak and savegames taking approx. 5 minutes to load. There were only 2 missions, the opening one and the Trow campfire one. I remember reading the Black Company some time later in life and it felt familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it. Only when one day nostalgia kicked in and I watched some Myth story videos it all clicked into place, checked the wiki and there it was , the riddle answered :)

[@khankhomrad8855]

For sure. Myth took heavy inspiration from the first three books of the Black Company.

[@ingamevirus3043]

Shame One Eye is not in the game.

[@ZonsoAvalune]

Seriously. I’ve not heard of this game before and this is the most Black Company game I’ve ever seen. The first three books, anyway.

[@THENEW6]

man i thought that during the entire video, how similar this is to the black company. This explains a lot

[@nattobees]

This is already an amazing video but getting the line "he will kill it harder than I've seen most things in a game die" and then hard cut to Balor destroying that whole group of soldiers just elevated this to a whole new level. That and the rain of heads and blood from Balor obliterating another group of soldiers while he casually goes on his monologue had me laughing hard enough to pause and write a comment

[@TheNapster153]

Real talk, I wish that we can see that level of destruction in a game like Warhammer Total War. I don't know why, but the series just doesn't cut it for me and I can't ever put my finger on it.

[@TheManeymon]

@@TheNapster153 probably because CA won't try harder so long as they keep making money and their current player base is satisfied. they are literally min-maxing their current playerbase's happiness level so it stays just a few points above the revolt level, just like a total war player would.

[@StyryderX]

@@TheNapster153 I take it's CA trying to keep the general feel of the tabletop magic, where the most devastating magic would *only* almost devastate 2-3 regiments. Also this sort of destruction is fun to invoke on enemies, much less fun if it's done on you (*especially* the aftermath of you rebuilding your loss)

[@TheNapster153]

@@StyryderX They could have as a side option. It'd be hilarious still to see the kind of brainfarts people get and watch men and monster alike fly faster than Sseth finds his med pills

[@Trickyboy1337]

I think the rain of blood and heads is actually him showering Alric with the dead two thousand men of the legion who gave their lives in a diversionary attack for his chance to kill Balor.

[@2WARDEN2]

I can't believe at the start of the video I was rolling at my eyes at lore: The enemy being called the "Dark" and all these other simple names and tropes from the outset. By the end of the video I was leaning forward in my chair just soaking up every little thing and tidbit. What a wild ride. Bless you for digging up these gems.

[@gabrieleomaggio1461]

Myth is a classic example of how tropes that are overused can still work like a charm if the story around them is great.

[@InvestmentBankr]

It is really important to remember, they weren't tropes then, they were the OG. Like kids today who critique sinefeld; they dont realize the origin of so many sitcom jokes.

[@TitanDarwin]

@@gabrieleomaggio1461 There's a reason TVTropes has an article literally called Tropes Are Tools. In most cases it depends on how you use them, not which ones.

[@Leiska86]

I'm really hoping for a Myth 2 video now so I can continue to story. lol

[@kankeydong2500]

You wouldn't believe my horror when I realized this used to be a Bungie property that used a Light vs Dark thematic.

[@hughkelliher315]

Seeing "the Siege of Madrigal" and realizing this was made by Bungie made me horrified to think that the story would be connected to Marathon somehow.

[@Biancaw.e]

seeing the bungie in the description after 30 minutes of video made my blood run cold and started thinking "how the fuck does this connect to marathon?"

[@RobertTheSmall]

the unit hovered at 31:23 is called a marsh flick'ta so yeah there's a good chance it's very related. Not to mention the Nine are referred to as gods in the Destiny world and the Dark in Destiny tends to be more related to the mind/control compared to the Light's physical so I would not be surprised if there's more to Myth that meets the eye

[@matthewwhiteside4619]

I was considering making a joke about waiting to see how this was connected to Marathon but I guess it's not actually a joke

[@tuscanlegate2303]

Myth is the origin point of the Bungie extended universe

[@inserisciunnome]

The fact the video Ended with the phrase "We'll see where the *Pathways* lead us" made me audibly Gasp

[@shshyie]

"The Last City", "The Nine", "The Dark" GODDAMNIT BUNGIE

[@WTFisTingispingis]

Wait a second.

[@ProjectXa3-1]

@@WTFisTingispingis honestly "The Dark" is so generic that I don't even count it, but FUCK the NINE FUCK

[@TheGrandOracle]

Took me a minute tbh

[@vermojonson8835]

the fallen lords are sometimes referred to as "The Fallen" too

[@ProjectXa3-1]

@@vermojonson8835 ffffUCK

[@Jagonath]

The thing that really makes Myth stand out is constant feeling of dread. Nothing else in the Fantasy genre truly makes you believe that humanity is living its last days, fighting a hopeless fight against total extinction.

[@gamingtonight1526]

Try Warhammer - Shadow of the Horned Rat - does the same thing! Never been repeated in any other Warhammer game!

[@GearShotgun]

Its like the fantasy version of Homeworld: Cataclysm

[@jackhipp5370]

​@@GearShotgun My thinking exactly!

[@monsieurdorgat6864]

I kind of appreciate their willingness to question the status quo. So much fantasy is "Good guys always do good and bad guys are cartoonishly evil" with absolutely no real nuance between. I like Myth's reveal that their OG golden boy is actually fucked.

[@Sandwich1414]

The only other game I've seen capture that feeling of world ending dread is Drakangard. It really feels like the end times are upon you.

[@brennanchaudhry8925]

I have to say, I think this game's story was hugely influenced by Glenn Cook's Black Company series. It also takes place in the POV of a single soldier, who is only vaguely aware of the events of the world, and also involves a number of infighting, resurrected sorcerers bonded to an evil master. It's not hard to see a lot of parallels between the two, I can't recommend Black Company enough, its maybe my favourite fantasy series. Great video!

[@bahlalthewatcher4790]

Jason Jones and the other writers were hugely influenced by the black company - they made a conscious decision to build a world and narrative that adopted a similar tone and avoided standard Tolkien-lite fantasy cliches of pure good v pure evil.

[@caseygoddard]

Yup. The setting for the Myth games was heavily inspired by Glenn Cook's Black Company novels along with Irish Mythology...well, the names at least.

[@brennanchaudhry8925]

@@bahlalthewatcher4790 Thats awesome, I absolutely love the tone and setting of Black Company, cool to see it used in other narratives

[@mathewscarff6428]

Kept scrolling until I saw a comment mentioning 'The Black Company'. Currently reading through it and I definitely picked up on a lot of the tonal and narrative similarities. Glad it wasn't just in my head.

[@shouphf]

I was thinking the same thing while watching the video. Glad to see I'm not that crazy after all.

[@PhotonTrooperGaming]

Funny part here 23:35 : Due to unknown reasons, the Forest Giants are not teleported inside The Tain. And since the Legion only stays there for a couple of moments (even though they were stuck there over an week), you can see on the victory screen that the Forest Giants are confused and one is grabbing a piece of the Tain already destroyed. It is very weird when you spot this in the first time because you need to play two levels to understand what happened in the victory screen of Forest Heart. I don't want to make self-promotion but I had a hell of match in 15 minutes hunting down the 4 Trows, I believe that in this run I did not saved the game at all. And after years, I still have no idea on why Forest Giants did not go inside the Tain. My Forest Giant almost killed Soulblighter in this scenario, lol

[@MinamotoTerumi]

21:49 is one of my favorite moments in gaming period. Immediately you understand just how terrifying magic users can be in Myth, and how utterly fucked you would be trying to fight one of the fallen lords directly.

[@notanaveragedoktah8390]

They're technically the original shadow wizard money gang

[@OtherSideLLC]

​@@notanaveragedoktah8390grixis supremacy baby

[@AwakenedAvocado]

Weak just hit it with s drone

[@nonya1366]

@@notanaveragedoktah8390 they LOVE casting spells

[@vukodlak5]

"I have seen the last of you!" still lives on in my brain after all these years. As does the Deceiver's "The years have ...not been kind, have they, fair Ravanna" from Myth2. What great games these were.

[@kyrthoma]

"WELL IF IT ISN'T ALRIC'S LAPDOG"

[@sapphyrus]

And my favorite quote that still endures 26 years from Myth 2 is Soulblighter and Alric’s exchange: “Is that all left of your pitiful army Alric?” “It is more than enough to deal with the likes of you!”

[@thetoaster6413]

I remember this game. That 'casualty' triggered some memories of my childhood, hearing that while watching my dad play. I remember I was terrified with the enemies and the story of impending doom.

[@butareyoureally1868]

I played the demo a few times, and man, I tell you, few things have conveyed the feeling of hopelessness and desperation of an unwinnable, world-ending struggle like this game. Some of the missions in Ground Control 2 did a good job, though!

[@javkiller]

This and the "death" whisper from Black & White. Absolutely haunting.

[@Wolfoso]

I still say "causality" or "casualties!" every now and then when playing other games. This is one of my favorite series ever, and it's so sad it hasn't received any good treatment for a GOG adaptation.

[@craylof77]

Mandy; I could just *tell* who wrote this story, you didn’t even have to mention it. Let’s hope these pathways take us somewhere safe and not mind melting like last time

[@sangerzonnvolt6712]

After this the next video was pathways into darkness soooooo......

[@Ghostvirus]

Jason Jones actually cowrote Marathon and Myth. The credited Myth:The Fallen Lords writers were: Jason Jones, Robert McLees, and Doug Zartman

[@craylof77]

@@Ghostvirus that’s actually super interesting! Thanks for the comment. There’s something about the quality of their writing, the way they describe loss and insurmountable odds; that’s very bungie. I’m currently playing all the Halo games and reach and CE both had that vibe to the max

[@slyseal2091]

when the pathways lead into darkness

[@Ironclad17]

Well now we know what the Myrkridia were.

[@proydoha8730]

One of the journal entries were imprinted in my mind and I think it will never go away:"Back in Forest Heart, Alric convinced our officers that the west was lost. That our small force could contribute nothing to the hopeless battles that would soon be fought around Madrigal, Willow and Tandem. These cities would fall, he said, and all their people would die, whether we sacrificed ourselves or not." The desperate mood of those journal entries was perfect.

[@nathanielrhein3714]

This game was a major part of my childhood. You're spot on with the sense of desperation, hopelessness, and cataclysm. Like Marathon, the story leaves a lot of questions unanswered, but unlike the enigmatic and philosophical Durandal, the narrators of Myth/Myth 2 are entirely sincere and prosaic. It gives you a much better sense of what's happening day-to-day, what the world feels like for the people who live in it; but a much worse sense of what, if anything, is really in control. In your Myth 2 review, you should mention the heavy influence of Glen Cook's "The Black Company" series. Cook, a veteran, wrote his series from the PoV of a regular soldier who really doesn't have a handle on all this magic stuff, and this tone carries over into Myth. Many plot points are also more or less lifted directly, such as the comet, the Dark Lords, the Nine, and the tossing of a head into a different dimension. I believe there's even a tangential connection between The Black Company and Pathways into Darkness.

[@canicheenrage]

There isn't a metaphorical Durandal, but a very tangible Balmung.

[@frozenbean]

I'm really impressed by your dedication to go through Bungie's entire pre-Halo catalogue.

[@assisczar]

Bungie did this? Oh Oh no Please tell me we are not going back into the habbit hole, I can't take it anymore

[@xilon56]

If you still think this is "pre-halo" you haven't gone far enough down the rabbit hole. The signs are there, wake up sheeple

[@wallyhackenslacker]

Pro "Minotaur: the Labyrinths of Crete" when Mandy?

[@StrikeWarlock]

​@@assisczargoing back? You never left

[@mikhaelgribkov4117]

WAIT, THAT ROAR..... IT'S ALL THE SAME UNIVERSE.

[@Shadow-sword]

Between this and home world Armageddon, I find I have a soft spot for end time’s stories that treat the concept with the weight it deserves

[@caseykoons]

I knew you were headed to this game, and that the story would find you! This game (all of bungie back in the Macintosh '90's) was my childhood. My brother made it a mission to keep every dwarf alive through the whole campaign and him beating "a long awaited party" with no deaths is like a family legend.

[@KarazolaX]

Those drums at the beginning of this video, they sound straight out of Combat Evolved. It's such a beautiful piece of connective tissue that links Bungie's games together. I LOVE details like that.

[@Cypherwraith001]

Fun fact, Marty O' Donnell actually snuck one of the tracks from this game, The Siege of Madrigal, into every Halo game up until Reach.

[@quinnamations9715]

Man, I sure do love being surprised at 4 am by a Mandalore upload

[@j22563]

1pm*

[@SilentSakura-]

6 am here.

[@funguy398]

13 here

[@phunkyzilla]

Californian detected! DESTROY

[@Darek_B52]

7am here

[@HereticalGeek]

I am a HUGE OG Myth fangirl. I grew up playing these games with my grandfather, Myth 1 and 2. The story and history of the world has always intrigued me so much, and I've copied it time and time again for my own settings in TTRPGs.

[@Sorain1]

Hay, good settings are good settings, and lend themselves to great stories told within them.

[@АндрейНеугодников-м6е]

I wish i had such a cool grandpa

[@crowsbridge]

that's cool

[@Whitecroc]

Did you read Black Company? Myth is essentially Black Company with serial numbers filed off.

[@mt4592]

​@@WhitecrocWater sleeps.

[@BacklogReviewer]

A tonne of the words mando is having trouble with here are Irish words - Cailleach, for example, is the Irish for “witch” and pronounced like “Kai- lock.” “Connacht” is one of the four Irish provinces, and is pronounced “Con-ocht” with the “och” sounding like “loch.” Someone who wrote for this game had an Irish-English dictionary to hand lmao

[@NucleaRaptor]

If there's one thing I know about Gaelic, it's that if you can think of the most unnatural and counterintuitive way to pronounce the jumbled scrabble of letters in front of you - it turns out to be the correct way!

[@BacklogReviewer]

@@NucleaRaptor that’s actually a really common misconception - “Scots Gaelic” is a language afaik, but Gaelic by itself isn’t really a thing relating to the Irish language! The language itself would be called Gaeilge, like how English is the name of the language. “Speaking Irish” would roughly translate to “Caint as Gaeilge.” Translated literally that means something like “speaking through Irish”

[@MrTurok999]

Never heard that pronunciation of Cailleach before, here in the West it's pronounced something like "Kyle-loch". It's really hard to type out the pronunciation in English though haha.

[@BacklogReviewer]

@@MrTurok999 I never realised how hard the “ach” sound is to write phonetically until I wrote this comment lmao

[@hax0rush]

​@@NucleaRaptorenglish and irish are completely unrelated, of course trying to use one's rules for the other would seem unnatural and counterintuitive. don't say shit like this

[@Skanking-Corpse]

Myth is a brilliant game and I'm really surprised that nearly no one has attempted to do that style of game play again. It's so intense playing a game like this knowing you have to form a strategy and prepare for the unexpected, with just a handful of units. Old school Bungie were masters of story telling.

[@rygar8bit2]

Nordic Warriors on Steam.

[@davidsenra2495]

Myth is such an underrated series. I find it astonishing how many people have never heard of this masterpiece.

[@rpgnpc]

Most of the time when I try to talk about it with other people they think I'm referring to Myst. :(

[@matthewrawls1184]

@@rpgnpc That was a problem even in '97 when Myth:TFL came out.

[@ChristopherSadlowski]

I remember seeing the Myth box in the store back in the dinosaur age! I would always pick it up, look at it, read the back, then put it back down. I did that with a lot of games, come to think of it. I especially remember seeing Fallout on the shelf and doing the same thing multiple times. I really missed out on a lot of good games doing that as a tween and teen.

[@davidsenra2495]

@@ChristopherSadlowski I loved spending hours checking out those big boxes in the stores, even if 90% of times I ended going home empty-handed 😂 And to be honest, I wouldn't really mind if I could do the same thing the very next day. Browsing game boxes was a pleasure in itself.

[@Mathadar]

I still have the box for my collection of Myth TFL and Myth 2 SB, with the mod packs included from back in the early 2000's.

[@RIlianP]

The world of the game is heavily "inspired" by the The Black Company novel series by Glen Cook, particularly on the first 5 or 6 books.

[@billedefoudre]

No way!! I played and read those so far apart from each other that I never made the connection 😱😱👍👍👏👌

[@tylerweitzel7768]

Yep, that's what I was going to say. I spent the whole video going "Oh shit, it's the Dominator and the Ten Who Were Taken!"

[@Themoredeluded]

Black Company worth reading for Myth fans then?

[@khankhomrad8855]

​@@Themoredeludedyup. The first book of the Black Company is very similar to Myth, both in tone and plot.

[@torrvic1156]

Are there any movies dedicated to this Black Company books?

[@TheGamingNobility]

I remember seeing the box art for this game at a flea market sale. What a way to revisit this game.

[@LORDOFDORKNESS42]

I just noticed on a rewatch that the title card this time, has Balor stride forward to cut the review banner. Given the whole 'Bungie Meta Plot Rabbit Hole' thing AND how Balor crushes all in his way, that's a really neat touch. Nice!

[@Xzorzin]

I still remember one mission I played in this when I was ten, think it was the second one. A Dwarf threw a bomb at a group of Thralls. The Thralls exploded, with one of their skulls flying directly into the dwarf at high speed, killing him instantly. I ragequit for about a week then beat the game out of spite. Good times.

[@Comkill117]

Their names and deeds will never be forgotten… Definitely a lot of fun this one. Not the most in depth strategy game ever, but neat. It brought in a lot of features Bungie would use in later games for sure, and it being their first game with Marty O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori is just the icing on the cake. Love its OST.

[@mahastep]

You haven’t spent too much time on multiplayer. It’s literally the most in-depth strategy gsm ever created.

[@Comkill117]

@@mahastepThat’s fair, I haven’t played multiplayer. It probably does go way further there.

[@c-puff]

A guy getting a full arrow to the chest only to hear the other soldier off-handedly going "sorry!" is really top tier. A+

[@misterscienceguy]

Man the demo for this game was just glorious. It blew my mind as a kid.

[@k1d666]

the demo was the first pc game i've played, it was preinstalled (alongside a Carmageddon demo) on a PC my dad got from his company, i've spent so many hours blowing shit up with dwarves on that first level alone.

[@ahuras238]

Seeing those gibs exploding on the background menu clip on the demo sold me on the game as a kid.

[@SpecShadow]

and then you play the Myth II demo and wonders why is your pc not booting

[@JamesW6179]

I absolutely loved Myth when I was younger. After beating the game, it inspired me to look up all I could about it, and found that the "Black Company" series of novels had helped inspire the tone/aesthetics/story. I picked up those novels, and they became some of my favorite fantasy novels since.

[@jsteckle4897]

Love the series it does not get enough love

[@unclemestor]

The young version of me had the same introduction to the black company series

[@rustyfe]

I was just thinking this had Black Company vibes, glad I’m not crazy

[@OneOfTheLoveless]

This is just the epitome of great writing. Make a setting, leave a lot of questions and answer some of them. Sad that this kind of writing had disappeared from the games I play.

[@niall_sanderson]

FromSoftware does this sort of writing in their games, but they can be intimidating to get into for a lot of people

[@LieutenantAlaki]

Leaving questions you don't intend to answer is the reason we got the Star Wars sequel trilogy.

[@mixmastermind]

​@LieutenantAlaki no, attempting to answers questions that didn't need to be answered got us the sequels.

[@Shadd421]

I always assumed there were no Myrkridia to be found in the Tain because once they devoured all the other prisoners they turned on themselves. Thanks Mandalore for reviewing the series that defined my childhood!

[@nonya1366]

Wouldn't that mean there'd be *one* left? Barring of course bleed out... But what is worse: Being a soldier who finds the skull pile of myrkridia's Or the one who found the last one standing?

[@LargeBlueCircle]

@@nonya1366well we dont really know how they age but given the Legion was in there for days... weeks? And to Soulblighter it felt like seconds, its safe to assume that thousands of years could have passed in the Tain since the time of Connacht. Could have died from starvation, age, spiders, traps....

[@nonya1366]

@@LargeBlueCircle I have a hard time counting eldritch monsters dead. Both because such beings may simply not consume food. And for narrative reasons, counting anything as dramatic as that out makes it all the harder to discount. But you are probably right.

[@Jimbo55151]

Nah man they found a portal and devoured the forerunners

[@TheNapster153]

Someone here explained that the world of Myth works using what is called as "dream spells". I wrote a reply back explaining a theory that the Myrkridia are less a race and more a result of a Dream Spell. It would explain the Skull Structures perfect assembly, especially if you consider that the standard on top to be some form of Rune; physical manifestation of the spell. The reason because the Tain is empty is because the Dream Fragment or Spell related to the Tain is lost. The One the spell belonged to could've also 'awakened' causing the Myrkridia to cease existing. It may also explain Balor's violent reaction to it. Just imagine knowing that everything you know and believe in is a result of another's imagination, that YOU are just a non-existant given life by something that can't even acknowledge it. Wouldn't you be driven to some level of deranged? Then of course, in this reality, there is a spell that does exactly that and conjures the most horrific NIGHTMARES into existence; mockeries of existence and dreams. I started feeling bad for Balor when I realised this.

[@victorrachok2830]

The animated parts look seriously impressive, can't remember other games that made them this smooth. Also, gory, physics based combat looks beautiful. I really hope a spiritual successor will be developed one day, that was really good.

[@javkiller]

Incidentally this is from around the same time there were rumblings about the original version of World of Warcraft, back when it was supposed to be an animated point and click adventure that was eerily reminiscent of these cutscenes. Man what a wild era of gaming, I miss it dearly.

[@Jeoku]

Bungie contracted out the animated cinematic

[@Micalovits]

The story gave me huge vibes of The Black Company by Glen Cook, the same dread and mystery around everything, the perspective of a soldier for storytelling, magic users being TERRIFYING. The first books would also have been out for around 10 years when this came out, so they might have been inspiration!

[@matthewrawls1184]

They definitely were inspiration. Reading interviews with Jason Jones that he was influenced by the Black Company series when designing and writing Myth is what got me into the book series.

[@crowsbridge]

This game got me to read that series. I love em both. The myth narrator even has a line.."They hope to use the Watcher's arm against him, if we find it. Rather like knowing his true name, only better." I believe that to be a reference to the black company since it also had a emphasis on knowing a wizard's 'true name'. The fallen lords are pretty similar to the 'ten who were taken' as well. Also, one of the 9 in myth is named Murgen.

[@estefencosta1835]

@@crowsbridge Yep, and the job they did capturing the tone and feel of The Black Company is absolutely incredible. There hasn't been a game like Myth before or since.

[@bldbar118]

It’s worth it to watch a playlist of the cut-scenes and intros for both games in order. The story, even without the gameplay elements is that good. Myth 2 in particular has some of the best story pacing I’ve seen in gaming.

[@bldbar118]

I also love the point about how legendary difficulty captures the epic nature of the story very well.

[@rustyshackleford1508]

Myth really sounds so similar to the Black Company, both in tone and with so many of its story beats and world elements. Great series by the way, an easy recommend to anyone who likes their grounded dark fantasy.

[@getthegoons]

I've only read the first book, but I got the same vibes

[@bahlalthewatcher4790]

Yep, the writers were heavily influenced by the black company books.

[@1RoundInTheChamber]

I was gonna comment the same thing. I'd heard a bit about Myth when talking about the Black Company online, but seeing the review really hammers it home.

[@anotherkenlon]

It's not just similar, it's basically a straight rip of the basic premise of the books. Not that there's anything wrong with that - "Good artists copy, great artists steal," after all.

[@Alberich_Prince_of_Dwarves]

I appreciate when you make videos on video games I had never even imagined existed. Myth sounds like it has a lot of incredible stories to tell from a strange Fantasy world but the gameplay looks to be something I wouldn't have the stamina or patience for because of how current games are tailor made with anti-frustration measures and how pampered I have become because of it.

[@DawnStack]

Did have to save scum alot in this game. Was pretty frustrating but felt good when you finally finished a mission

[@Doug-Strong]

the "anti-frustration" measures for old games like this is save scumming, unfortunately

[@Alberich_Prince_of_Dwarves]

@@Doug-Strong Yeah and I was always terrible at saving my games. I think I actually quit Final Fantasy IV because I died like four hours into the game and I hadn't saved. It's just a thing I forget about, it's actually annoying.

[@wolfsigma]

So glad you covered this game. It was one of my absolute favorites yet somehow all I truly remember for sure was the horrible dwarf only side missions and the desperate run for the hole. My dwarf chucked the head a bare instant before Soulblighter cut him down. Most epic game moment ever.

[@ffffffffROTHY]

Story accurate

[@ballbatboy]

Just when I thought Mandalore couldn't impress me anymore with a game series, he puts up a Myth review that drops like a line of dwarven satchel charges in the middle of a pass full of fallen. CASUALTY!

[@odstbag337]

The names of the difficulties, the tone of the setting, the Siege of Madrigal (both the event and the track), a desperate fight in a losing war, and an unknowable evil? Those pathways you mentioned at the end, they lead into darkness, don't they?

[@void-creature]

This is a bungie game. 31:22 help me

[@LordIsrafel]

He put it into his 'Bungie Rabbithole' playlist...

[@namae_70e]

The magic in this game taught my child-self the very valuable life lesson of how dangerous magic can be. If the guy beside you explodes violently, it's already too late: you're next. Thank you, Myth.

[@Blacklabel003]

This and Myth 2 were amazing games. I played the hell out of them, wish there would be a remaster or a new one some day.

[@grandmasgopnik9642]

Honestly I had never heard of these games but I would absolutely love to see a remake and play the hell out of that.

[@rainfoxhound8199]

There was another, Myth III - The Wolf Age and it was a fucking messy, bug riddled travesty of a Warcraft 3 clone brought to you by the hacks at Mumbo Jumbo.

[@Blacklabel003]

@rainfoxhound8199 yeah I never played the third one. The 2nd one was my favorite and I used to mod the hell out of it.

[@sinisterdesign]

I grew up absolutely loving this game--the atmosphere, the sense of desperation in every mission, the hilarious unit barks...it's a very special game, even if it was RNG-heavy to a degree I wouldn't tolerate in another game of the genre. It makes me sad that Bungie stopped making these incredibly unique games to churn out yet more FPSes (as if the world didn't have enough of those).

[@MythMasterMao]

The 'Enemy has bound former heroes and sorcerers referred to simply as 'The X'' instantly reminded me of Glen Cook's The Black Company, the way the story is presented in the briefings... also reminds me of The Black Company! There had to be someone on the team who was reading it, surely.

[@Doug-Strong]

Glad I wasn't the only one who felt the similarities.

[@frankfs8415]

Something so inherently hardcore about learning that the ingame demigods among people are now the forces behind destruction and they've shed everything about their former selves, even their names

[@user-jq1mg2mz7o]

also there's a Murgen in here

[@bahlalthewatcher4790]

The whole team were huge fans of the Black Company. The idea of a story told from the perspective of a narrator who is just a random grunt (well, maybe Croaker is more than just a grunt) who only gets a rough idea of parts of the overall conflict is directly lifted from the books. It is different enough to be its own thing though, and i think Myth’s lore is more compelling (unsurprising since the lore isn’t really what the black company is about).

[@Wolfoso]

Third time I've seen this comparison. I really need to read these books.

[@echorome6260]

I think about this game almost every day. I'm 33 and I have a daughter now, but I just feel like this game was a weird fever dream I had that seemed to last for years. Every DnD game I've ever run has had a town called Otter Ferry and a city called Madrigal, and not a single person has picked up on it. A few years ago I looked up some let's plays just to make sure that the game actually did exist...

[@Broxym]

Naming cities in Tribal Wars online games - Madrigal, Muirthemne...been there and done that too, brother! 🥰🤩

[@pabloaguirreherrainz5426]

I'm also obsessed with this game and its lore. The fever dream is strong.

[@james-s-smith]

There were a lot of sneaky references in this video, but I haven't seen anyone mention the one at 3:06, where the screenshot in the back scrolling vertically was edited to be named "TFL Who is the Comet?" and the description text is the "I have been Roland, Beowulf, Achilles, Gilgamesh." text from Marathon 2. STRAP IN, FOLKS

[@MortimerSCrane]

I have been looking for these games since I was tiny. The main thing I could remember was the Soulblighter's face and weapon. It was not easy searching with just that. Then along comes Mandalore with a video, unlocking a flood of memories, finally giving me solace and satisfaction.

[@Broxym]

Ooooh nice 😍. Enjoy the ride 😎. If you have good english, you will enjoy those prologues and story. I was playing this game as a child, with my father... nostalgia is hell of a drug 😃 Thanks for vid, Mandalore!

[@joshuagraham2843]

i remember if you keep your men alive for later game they appear the name but if you lose some of your soldier you’ll have a low unit its a good detail

[@michaelofstjoseph]

This is one of my favorite videos from you. Such a shame how much fun, hilarious, and creative art is abandoned.

[@oldsaddad7274]

Could you really say Myth is abandoned? It's probably older than most of the people watching this video, and it released as 2 complete games, before the rights were bought by take two. Maybe abandonware is just more broad of a definition than I'm giving it credit for

[@darksaiyan2006]

The dwarves from Myth stuck in my mind ever since I was a kid. Those explosives just feel so damn powerful, with gibbing enemies, and the flying debris able to hit or even kill other units!

[@emeralduber]

The amount of pain Mandy is willing to go through with these games never fails to amaze

[@frankangelo1983]

This is one of the greatest game series of all time.

[@mememachine-386]

Mandy's work is legitimately impressive historical work for video games.

[@MaxCady7.62]

Idk this game looks super sick.

[@davidsenra2495]

There's no pain in this one, man. This game is a real treat.

[@Antares-highdrake]

​@@davidsenra2495 l think the pain was getting it to work

[@ThatsRaf]

All I remember from this game is "Casualty!" I remember playing demo of this attached to a CD of one of gaming magazines, and yet I recognize none of the graphics, except molotov cocktails being thrown around. Thanks for this blast from the past.

[@Fightersword]

It's crazy seeing this show up on your channel. I used to have a friend that really only played Myth (when he played games), and he tried to get me into it. Seeing this video suddenly pop up on your channel is kind of crazy, brings back so many memories about that friend.

[@MNewton]

Also, the magical wind sound from the screaming hole in ground is taken from the same library as some of the Morrowind casting sounds, specifically ones you cast on yourself. The actual screaming and bellowing sounds are from somewhere I can't place so they are layering some samples together.

[@Fgw3Master1]

The screaming and bellowing sound partially like Morrowind's shock and frost projectiles.

[@mikhaelgribkov4117]

@@icantthinkofagoodusername4464 wait...... Bungie made Myth series. OH SHIIIIIIIII.

[@icantthinkofagoodusername4464]

@@mikhaelgribkov4117 Here we go again…

[@grandmasgopnik9642]

@@mikhaelgribkov4117did they really oh lord 😅

[@excusablegold]

I know that I've also heard the magical wind sound effect in Dungeon Siege. Produced by the appropriately-named Healing Wind spell

[@irvingforbush]

My favorite thing about Myth is all of the stuff left around after battles, the dead bodies, the blood stains, the scorch marks, none of it fades away over time like in other RTS games. It stays on the map until the mission is over.

[@BasedAcyka]

Holy shit when I asked for this review on your Marathon video I seriously thought I was adding a drop to the ocean that is your list. Super happy to see you did it!

[@WELLbethere]

As someone else said, the writing in this is very Glen Cook, specifically The Black Company series. He's pretty much the grandfather of grimdark fantasy imo. The Fallen are almost exactly like the Ten Who Were Taken.

[@butareyoureally1868]

29:18 - That "scream-roar" is the same sound used in Oni when you overcharge on hypo-sprays!

[@Metaretru]

Might be a coincidence since its prolly stock sound but knowing that its still bungie.....motherfucker. I gotta add Oni to the conspiracy board

[@awsomebot1]

Whatever happened tp PC gaming, why don't we get stories like this anymore? It's absolute art.

[@irvingforbush]

Because at the turn of the century PC gamers decided that they wanted to play Counterstrike, Blizzard games, and absolutely nothing else

[@richmcgee434]

"Once again, head will save the day." New high-water mark for Mandalore in the "Best Out-of-Context Quotes" category.

[@sunkrest2581]

I love 'apocalyptic' dark stories like the one in Myth. Too bad we don't see that many games/movies/books like this anymore. The focus is somewhere else.

[@TheNapster153]

True. Game of Thrones (the novels) is the only named one I know of that has something akin to this game. I'm having a blast reading the Black Company though, which is supposedly the inspiration of Myth's narrative.

[@Riskofdisconnect]

​​@@TheNapster153 if you like dark stories I can't recommend Joe Abercrombie's stuff enough, starting with "The Blade Itself". It's not openly apocalyptic to the pov characters but a LOT of stuff is going on in the background and the author lets you put the pieces together yourself most of the time. Plus fantastic character writing.

[@Jagonath]

Myth and Myth 2 are my favourite games of all time. Finishing a No Casualty, Legendary Difficult run of both games is my nerdy gamer highlight - though completing The Watcher in Myth 1 is damn near impossible even with save games. You HAVE to be able to dodge those spears. The fact you can complete both games without losing a soldier is insane though (I don't count the second last mission in Myth 2... that's more of a "minimise casualties" mission, since you don't have control of half the army).

[@MNewton]

Somewhere I still have the box full of Myth 2 total conversions that I picked up at some store or another. I actually wonder how those were sold since i think they were all fan made.

[@BeatCrazed]

In co-op the second and third players get the east and west groups, so it's probably possible. Good luck though, doing it in multiplayer would mean no saves.

[@Jagonath]

@@BeatCrazed Good point. I never played coop but in theory you could do it. Actually it might not even be that hard, Alric can handle most of it on his own.

[@BeatCrazed]

@@Jagonath True. That magic sword was well worth the dungeon crawling it took to get.

[@Jagonath]

@@BeatCrazed Actually getting it at the end is fun too. Plus, the ghost missions are just cool in general and add a lot to the lore.

[@oscarlove4394]

resurrecting dark lords, a grim potentially apocalyptic setting, strange but powerfull and terrible wizards with names like 'the deciever' or 'the watcher' all of this really reminds me of the 'black company' series. and that's very much a good thing. having never actually played this game, i'll cautiously recommend that book series if you liked this.

[@nogoodgreen3274]

I had never actually read THE LIST before, 557 games wow. Where do you find the time to play these games through AND go through all that footage to make an interesting video? Your a champ Mandy!

[@kyrthoma]

This is one of the best games of all time and was only surpassed by the sequel. As a kid I was blown away by the physics and the whacky interactions that were possible. The independent physics of every dwarf cocktail and fir'Bolg arrow really added an element of chaos that is missing from most modern games. I loved the independent limbs that trailed blood as they flew through the air. There were also tons of amazing mods (WWII, Marathon, etc.). I still have my CD for Soulblighter stashed away. Someone needs to continue the legacy of these games, but unfortunately we will be continually inundated with the newest expansion of Destiny.

[@RottenJeeves]

For me this game is one of the greatest RTS games of all time. It was way ahead of its time. I still fire it up once or twice a year and take a trip down memory lane. The mods for this game were insanely good as well.

[@davidcsimon]

This game came out when I was at University, and it became my world for a little while. There was a lot of replayability in the campaign, especially the defense missions like "Across the Gjol", and multiplayer was huge at the time. There were FFA battles, and huge team-based battles (team captains could assign units to players), with modes like CTF, bodycount, KotH, and king of the ball. You could even play the campaign missions in co-op, with the heroic rescue of Alric being especially popular. Then there was the Myth World Cup, with dozens of teams competing across the world, and all of the replays available to download and watch in-game. Thanks for this trip down a gore-splattered memory lane!

[@estefencosta1835]

My clan (order) got eliminated way too easily in the Myth world cup but I scored some FFA tournament finals and a victory in one. Probably the peak of my gaming ability.

[@Table53]

I love the frequency with which Mandalore videos appear just as I'm starting my lunch break.. it's like he knows

[@royalwithchz_5328]

Petition to rename our prisons as the Taint

[@davethefreshmaker]

One long lunch break you have m8

[@gkr2189]

I remember buying the second game and loving it as a kid, tyvm for reviewing this game Mandalore.

[@innokenti]

So glad you have got onto Myth! Two of my favourite games and I love the lore and the gameplay so much. It feels like it still hasn't been topped in either category to some extent. That narration just gives ya goosebumps

[@estefencosta1835]

Legendary narration.

[@benisrood]

The modding scene for Myth was so amazing. WW2, Marathon, and others!

[@delta1404]

>Marathon Oh... oh..... so we are going down the rabbithole again.....

[@wishiwascooler]

Vietnam also!

[@Emperor_Atlantis]

🤩Holy shit. You actually did Myth!!! "Casualty" is engraved in my mind after the dwarf throw. Really really awesome you did this classic ❤❤❤

[@deriznohappehquite]

I think Marathon Infinity has baited him down the Bungie rabbit hole. He’ll probably cover Oni and Halo too.

[@MNewton]

"Move here, move there!" "Watchit!" "Make a hole!" Yahhh," "I'm just the right height!" "Incoming!"

[@Uploadenator]

I love "Myth" so much. The tactics and gameplay bring me back to it ever since I was 10 years old. Thank you so much for making a retrospective/review about it, it's such an unsung game series and watching a thorough and incredibly efficient and highly entertaining video about it has made my entire week! I was so sad when the review ended, and absolutely cannot wait for your analysis on Myth II. Excited!! "I have killed the whooole wooooorld!"

[@Salantor]

Even now, many years after playing these games for the first time, I still get shivers down my spine hearing the word "casualty" (and panic attacks from "casualties"). Such a great presentation, such a great game.

[@Warfour579]

The lore of this game reminded me immensely of a great series of novels by Glen Cook called "The Black Company". The number of similarities made me immediately look it up and it turns out that the series was likely the inspiration for many parts of the narrative. Some things that might immediately tickle your lore brain include: 1. The ten who were taken, champions, great leaders or grand wizards who were forcibly subjugated body and mind by the dark lord "The Dominator". All of them featuring unique personalities and abilities, united only by the strong will of their master. Soulblighter is almost certainly a direct reference to Soulcatcher, a wizard who was always surrounded by crows. Commanding them to do his bidding and act as his spies. Hence Soulblighters avian escape in the game. 2. The watcher and the deceiver forces fighting each other is most likely inspired by Soulcatcher and The Limper. Two rival Taken who would often try to undermine each other, even coming to direct blows and pitting their forces against the other despite it weakening their lords position. 3. Both have a very dark and ritualistic approach to magic. That very few people are casters and the greatest among them can shape the world. The story often having hundreds of ordinary soldiers dying to some of the greater casters rending the earth open so they fall to their doom, freezing their very blood or melting them in a particularly brutal slide of magma ripping down the slope they were attempting to climb. 4. One of the biggest tips is that the entire story of myth is told by "The Journal Keeper" who records the successes and failures he sees while writing small inserts about stories hes heard of distant battles. In the black Company there is the position of "annalist." and often the person holding this title will be the dominant narrator of the story, giving their unique and biased perspective of the happenings of the world. If you haven't read the series I highly recommend it. And since Myth is likely the very foundation of the Bungie lore hole you have found yourself in, it could be very interesting to see what inspired it!

[@08DMDM]

As a kid growing up in a Mac-only house, this was one of the games I went back to over and over again (that was way too difficult for a child). Thanks for shining a light on this specific part of my nostalgia!

[@pyrejitterheart]

I feel like its been a while since an RTS review! Love it

[@aleksanderolbrych9157]

The previous game reviewed (Aliens Dark Descent) is in theory an RTS :P

[@terminator572]

​@@aleksanderolbrych9157pppp