The Other Side of the Coin lets players experience a completely new take on the Magicka universe. Take the role of Alucart the Vampire and his Necromancers to fight against the forces of good. Your mission is to thwart Vlad’s attempt to unite the humans, the dwarves and the elves.
Like the highly popular Magicka: Vietnam, The Other Side of the Coin features objective based level progression, a new story and brand new playable characters. Along with the main quest, four new challenge levels are included as well as a new playable PVP character, the Necromancer.
The Other Side of the Coin was released June 19th, 2012.
Features[]
- Play as Alucart the Vampire and his henchmen, the Necromancers
- One exciting new story challenge set among exciting new elven architecture
- 4 new challenge maps playing as Necromancers: World's End, Volcano Hideout, OSOTC Arena and the Mirror Crystal Cavern Hideout.
- Necromancer introduced to PvP
- New Steam achievements
- Innovative and dynamic spellcasting system with thousands of possible combinations
- Up to four player co-op in all game modes as well as single player option
- Experience the parody and satire of a cliché fantasy world
Things You Should Know[]
The Other Side of the Coin DLC is considered a challenge map pack, and therefore is accessible only through the challenges option in the main menu and when hosting in multiplayer, much like the Magicka: Vietnam DLC. In the main story, the player can only play as Alucart the Vampire. Subsequent players who join the game in multiplayer will serve as Necromancers. By default, the host of the multiplayer game will be selected to play Alucart, who will have both Haste () and Revive () immediately available.
There is a very important caveat to playing Alucart which makes The Other Side of the Coin DLC more difficult than the original adventure: As a vampire, you are immune to arcane, and you are weak against life. This means you cannot heal in anyway whatsoever except through your self-cast active skill, Life Drain. Press TAB on the keyboard in-game to read the detailed description. Essentially, you will charge forward (Also similar to the Space Marine Robe) and if you manage to run into a victim, you will heal yourself by snacking on their neck and draining some of their life. This works on all elves, humans, and even Vlad, so long as they are alive. When playing multiplayer, you may also use Life Drain on your fellow Necromancers, so keep a friend close by in dangerous situations.
Because Life Drain is the active skill on Alucart, he cannot pickup a staff that was dropped by enemies or allies alike. Alucart only has 1080HP, and a life attack deals 180 damage. This implies that the player will most likely have to master elemental shields ( , ) in order to prevent damage to their health bar, thus reducing the need to use Life Drain. Some players may use rock shields( ) or elemental rock shields ( ) for similar defensive purposes, but in these cases Life Drain will not work, as the rock shield covering the player prevents life drain from healing the true health bar underneath. Therefore, remove the rock shield first before using Life Drain.
Necromancers following Alucart do not have a healing problem. They can heal using Arcane, the best combo being normal Arcane Icicles ( ) or self-casting . Necromancers can quickly heal their allies with AoE Arcane Novas ( shift+ ). This also applies on the other challenge arena maps. However, Necromancers are dependent on Alucart's survival; if Alucart dies, they too will instantly die. It is for this reason that Necromancers should preferrably be at the front lines protecting their "master".
As you progress through Elwenhus, you will encounter 11 cyan-coloured Elven Horses. Finding and killing all of the Elven Horses successfully will grant you the "Friendship is Magicka" achievement on Steam (This is a direct reference to MLP:FiM.) A guide to their locations is covered after the walkthrough below.
Walkthrough[]
Attack on Elwenhus[]
The story begins on top of a mountain under an orange tree at the Elven village of Elwenhus, where Vlad has gathered diplomats from the Human, Elf and Dwarven realm to settle on a peace treaty between the three races, an alliance not attempted since the "Great Petty Quarrel." Alucart, aware of Vlad's location and the impending onslaught of goodness that is about to disrupt the balance between good and evil, takes this opportunity to exact his personal revenge on Vlad by attacking Elwenhus. Alucart storms into town and crashes an outdoor dunka-dunka banquet, decimating civilians and guards on his way through the jousting arena before confronting a Paladin and his guards at the gates in front of the mountain river pass.
Paladins are a new type of enemy in Magicka known for dropping a healing cross sigil on the ground, which grants them invincibility. To make them mortal again:
- Block him off with a shield () or rock walls of any kind ()
- Destroy his healing sigil on the ground using a Meteorite ()
- Alternatively, freezing him with water and frost before he even puts his sigil down leaves him open to an instant kill from the player.
As you cross the gate into the mountain pass, walk backwards to check for a sneaky Elven horse before crossing the first bridge. Once you reach the altar lake on the way up and destroy the waves of archers and guards, pay attention to a Magick book hiding in a bush near the 2nd bridge crossing. This is where you can obtain the Nullify spell ().
At the end of the mountain pass are Dwarven guards protecting the final bridge leading into the city centre of Elwenhus. They will blow the bridge up with dynamite before another swarm comes to attack. The solution to this is to ignite the barrel of dynamite to the right of the Dwarves, which will explode and cause the stone pillar to fall over, acting as a substitute bridge.
Once you enter the main city, you will encounter the first of three High Elven Arch Mages, responsible for guarding the magical barriers protecting the path to Vlad and the diplomats. If you can manage it, one decently charged , before other defenders get in the way, will take care of them. Otherwise, although they are not invincible like Paladins, they do a good job of being annoying as they constantly cast Nullify to cancel your spells and shields, and summon healing rain that heals allies and damages you. Occasionally they will cast AoE Water for knockback effect or AoE Life to deal damage should you get too close. Make sure you cast a life resistant rock shield () after every nullify and take them out as priority targets. Blow up the barrier afterwards with any method you please.
Head up the stairs and pick up the Blade of Surt on the right if desired. The 2nd Elven Arch Mage is here, speaking in gibberish. Focus her down like the first one and proceed by blowing through the barrier ahead after killing all the guards. This will also be marked as a checkpoint before you reach the 3rd and final Elven Arch Mage, who will have a Paladin and two more Arch Mages backing her up in addition to the guards. Remember to head north to obtain the Time Warp spell book first () before proceeding past the 3rd barrier.
Finale: Boss Fight against Vlad[]
Vlad and the diplomats are about to complete the imaginary paperwork to seal the alliance when Alucart finally arrives at the scene, challenging Vlad to a duel. After Alucart blames Vlad for his vampirism and how it has ruined his life and killed his family, Vlad reluctantly agrees to settle the old matter with Alucart through battle.
Congratulations, you have beaten The Other Side of the Coin DLC. Sadly, just as you think you've defeated Vlad and wind up for the dramatic killing blow, Vlad comes back with an evil plot twist of his own, ending the game.
Elven Horse Locations[]
There are a total of 11 Elven Horses scattered across Elwenhus. A visual gallery of their locations is below.
Gameplay Video[]
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y_5bd-Mii8&feature=relmfu
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFmxUTGZTCk&feature=relmfu
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDmItOM5Gh8
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