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Various styles of magic
GrumpyGlowfish
Posts: 2,208 Member
One of the first and most important things I wanted from a magic pack was different styles of magic (although I used to call them branches), and according to this tweet by SimGuruRomeo, we're getting four of them: Practical, Mischief and Untamed Magic, as well as Alchemy.
Mischief and Alchemy are pretty self-explanatory, I assume Practical Magic is things like filling needs and making chores do themselves, and Untamed... Not sure. Could have something to do with emotions, perhaps, or might be a stronger (but also harder to master) kind of magic that leaves a bigger impact on the world?
What do you think? Are you happy with these magic styles? Any plans on how to use them?
Mischief and Alchemy are pretty self-explanatory, I assume Practical Magic is things like filling needs and making chores do themselves, and Untamed... Not sure. Could have something to do with emotions, perhaps, or might be a stronger (but also harder to master) kind of magic that leaves a bigger impact on the world?
What do you think? Are you happy with these magic styles? Any plans on how to use them?
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Untamed is curious though....maybe it's a chaos thing and the caster tries to implement one spell, but another happens? Adding that little bit of randomness to the game lol. That might be kind of cool.
With that in mind, Untamed is probably a lot like fire. It can be useful and helpful, but it can go out of control in a hurry and unexpectedly at that.
I agree practical will probably be used for more mundane tasks like fixing objects or cleaning.
Mischief of course is going to involve pranks such as booby trapping objects or making a sim lose their memory (I hope this ties into the mischief skill somehow).
Alchemy, I wonder if this will be the same as brewing potions like in the trailer, or if it's another skill we haven't seen yet.
I'm honestly glad at the variety of magic, as it allows us to create a range of different types of spellcasters for our stories. If i really wanted to I could make an elf/fairy who specializes in mischief magic, or an earthy witch who mainly uses practical magic. A wizard in a tall tower (please include spiral stairs, please!) who concentrates of perfecting his alchemy skill, or (most likely for me) an ambitious spellcaster determined to master all four.
I'm so excited to explore this pack and I can't wait until September 10th!
It could be something like elemental, but I'd imagine it would be difficult to master and prone to unexpected outcomes. At least that's what I would hope for.
Something wicked this way comes!
I don't use MCCC.
I think she is sage of mischeif, the green haired girl is sage of practical, and the black haired guy is untamed?
also, on the grace anansi thing, i figured the same about her being in charge of mischief magic, even though she's shown brewing a potion in the trailer... in a way, i love this, in a way i'm a bit disappointed (only disappointed because i was kind of hoping the mischief sage would be someone i didn't like so i could cheat-edit them into baron samedi)
i dunno if the black-haired guy would be a sage or not, though. he seemed awfully easy for the newbie to beat after just doing what i take to be his rite of ascension to become a spellcaster. i figure he might be another newbie, maybe a member of one of the two households in glimmerbrook
You make a good point about the black haired guy! I know the gurus said that the sages live in/stay in the large house. Its possible the blonde guy is a sage!
What I am hoping for is a variety of spells that we haven’t seen before from all the branches: transformation or transfiguration spells, conjuring, summoning and banishing spells, telekinesis spells and spells with permanent effects. Of course I hope there are a few weather spells (with cool animations) and fix-it spells, but I would rather not have the little cheaty spells that give minor buffs or are temporary. One of the problems with TS3 was that a lot of the spells were very short-lived. Magic should have a real weight to it in terms of cost and consequence.
Now that you mention Helga Hufflepuff, though, I wonder if the four styles of magic are a reference to Hogwarts.
Practical = Hufflepuff (seems like the most mundane and least powerful magic)
Mischief = Slytherin (self-explanatory)
Untamed = Gryffindor (probably the most flashy kind, like the Gryffindor kids)
Alchemy = Ravenclaw (requires intelligence)
... Okay, maybe not, but I definitely want to play around with this idea in my game!
Something wicked this way comes!
I don't use MCCC.
What a good idea! I am glad that all branches seem fairly neutral, though, personally. One of the problems with the Hogwarts houses I always thought is that 3 were so obviously good while Slytherin was so obviously bad. (Near the end this was complicated a bit, luckily, with the heroes resorting to using an Unforgivable Curse (Imperius) and the inclusion of good Slytherins like Snape and Horace Slughorn).
I don’t mind that we won’t have good and evil witches, per se. In previous games that was pretty limiting for Sims because they couldn’t learn or use all of the spells. I like that these branches of magic seem to be morally neutral as categories. Arguably, it should be possible for a sim to use a Mischief or Untamed spell for a good or beneficial purpose, or a practical spell for a bad or harmful purpose. Of course, within the branches I hope that there are a few spells with positive or negative effects.
I do think it’s interesting that they have said magic won’t be a skill to master. That does make me wonder how all this will work. Usually skill levels have an effect on the abilities that are unlocked in a sim, giving a higher level of options to use, and their success rate. So obviously spells and potions won’t be unlocked based on level of magic. Perhaps a sim can learn or use them in any order? Or perhaps they get unlocked through a series of mini quests (I don’t think that is likely but I would love it if true)? It might also be the case that the success or failure rate of a sim with their spells depends on factors like emotional moods or needs, and not just on skill or experience.
It also seems like the branches of magic can be combined, which suggests that an individual spellcaster could learn to master them all. (Of course the skill tree could interfere with that if Sims are only able to use a set number of spells at one time, or if the curses drain or limit their powers in some way).
That is great because it allows a high level of customization and difference to exist between magic users. I do confess, however, to being a bit sad that our sims won’t get to sit around reading a magic skill book like they could with Vampiric Lore.
It would be interesting, though, if individual spells required a certain level of logic or fitness or cooking (or whatever) as well as a certain mood to be successful.
All I know is this.
You get a spellbook that you can track your spells and potions. So it seems the skill tree isn't spells per se but abilities and passives and we have to learn the actual spells stead of 'buying' them off a list.
Something wicked this way comes!
I don't use MCCC.
I haven't seen anything (yet) that would say there won't be a Spellcaster Lore book to learn from. Sure, there are Sages who can help with learning magical skill/spells and they're needed for a Sim to be turned into a Spellcaster unless you create them in CAS. But there still might be various ways to learn all the magical things.
As for the learning all the variations:
I'm looking forward to seeing what each of the variations entails!