Might and Magic The Might and Magic Discussion Thread

[octavius]

I should restart M&M 2 on the Apple version instead of the DOS one.

OK. But why?
And 8 bit or 16 bit Apple?

 

[TigerKnee]

OK. But why?
And 8 bit or 16 bit Apple?

The interface looks better? I dunno

No preference.

 

[Naraya]

^It looks a bit better on Apple, and for example you can see party status (HP and conditions) at all times which is quite useful. But for me save states have been more important than that, thus I play using DOSbox.

 

[Nael]

# The pre-gen party is at least a couple of levels higher than any character you roll in MM3 - at least I recall having trouble right at the start. It'll sort itself out real quick, though.

This one's not true. However, and like in all of MM1-5, the pre-gen party gets very good stat rolls, much better than average. Getting the same rolls yourself would take a LONG time or a lot of luck.

The rest of your advice is most excellent.

Define "a LONG time."

I spent maybe 15 minutes rolling for a full party that was leaps and bounds better than the default party.

 

[Great Deceiver]

I remember someone posting a pack of the Mac versions of MM 1/2/3 bundled with an emulator; the interface looks better I guess.

 

[Nekot-The-Brave]

# The pre-gen party is at least a couple of levels higher than any character you roll in MM3 - at least I recall having trouble right at the start. It'll sort itself out real quick, though.

This one's not true. However, and like in all of MM1-5, the pre-gen party gets very good stat rolls, much better than average. Getting the same rolls yourself would take a LONG time or a lot of luck.

The rest of your advice is most excellent.

Define "a LONG time."

I spent maybe 15 minutes rolling for a full party that was leaps and bounds better than the default party.

Depends on your luck, it can take hours, or maybe just minutes if you use an editor.

 

[Nael]

# The pre-gen party is at least a couple of levels higher than any character you roll in MM3 - at least I recall having trouble right at the start. It'll sort itself out real quick, though.

This one's not true. However, and like in all of MM1-5, the pre-gen party gets very good stat rolls, much better than average. Getting the same rolls yourself would take a LONG time or a lot of luck.

The rest of your advice is most excellent.

Define "a LONG time."

I spent maybe 15 minutes rolling for a full party that was leaps and bounds better than the default party.

Depends on your luck, it can take hours, or maybe just minutes if you use an editor.

I didn't use an editor. I guess I am just blessed by the divine light of JVC.

 

[Invictus]

I always did my own party and while the palaladin is a bit weaker for melee than the knight you can balance things out by having 2 paladins instead if knight/priest... their magic is better on the long run
Dropping the robber for the ninja works well too since the ninja is a better fighter and these games ARE combat oriented
So a party of 2 paladins, barbarian, archer, Ranger, wizard does very well
The ranger is especially usefull since his druid spells like walk on water help you a lot to start
Get the mountaineer skill fast sonyou can go to the mountains around the valley of trolls to get some fairly good equipment as soon as possible
And speaking of equipment remember to strip the equipment of the starter party, that makes thing much easier

 

[Nekot-The-Brave]

Repair your weapons frequently. They break ALL the time.

 

[Naraya]

I expect quite a lot of hate for this ('tis Codex after all :D) but recently I've found a tool which changed my experience of playing M&M1 from tedious to quite fabulous.

The tool I'm talking about is called Where We Are, is free and can be downloaded from here.

It calls itself "An automapping retrofit for Might and Magic 1-5" but it's a lot more than that. Basically it's kind of a framework for playing M&M series. It manages mapping, taking notes, displaying various helpers (e.g. shop inventory, spell list, party quick reference, item list etc.) and basically keeps track of everything that happens in game so you don't have to do it.

It also is fully customizable and allows to tweak all these settings to your heart's desire.

Cherry on top is the fact that WWA integrates beautifully with DOSbox (vanilla or daum).

Here are several screenshots from one of my sessions, showing various options and screens. And yes, I named my robber Bilbo. Bite me.

Spoiler

In town:

Overworld:

Encounter:

Cleric spellcasting:

Wizard spellcasting:

Options:

 

[Snorkack]

Looks good! Seems to provide lots of nice quality-of-life features. Since a replay of the m&m is due soon anyways, your recommendation comes with perfect timing. Does it run stable?

 

[Luzur]

I always did my own party and while the palaladin is a bit weaker for melee than the knight you can balance things out by having 2 paladins instead if knight/priest... their magic is better on the long run
Dropping the robber for the ninja works well too since the ninja is a better fighter and these games ARE combat oriented
So a party of 2 paladins, barbarian, archer, Ranger, wizard does very well
The ranger is especially usefull since his druid spells like walk on water help you a lot to start
Get the mountaineer skill fast sonyou can go to the mountains around the valley of trolls to get some fairly good equipment as soon as possible
And speaking of equipment remember to strip the equipment of the starter party, that makes thing much easier

Also, keys to Dungeons from the hirelings in MM3

 

[Naraya]

Does it run stable?

Yep - I had no stability (or other) problems during the few days I'm using it.

One more thing - I forgot to mention that all the helper windows show and hide automatically (e.g. I select CAST on my cleric in DOSbox, and cleric spellcasting window opens, I enter the shop and appropriate shop window opens etc.).

 

[Invictus]

I always did my own party and while the palaladin is a bit weaker for melee than the knight you can balance things out by having 2 paladins instead if knight/priest... their magic is better on the long run
Dropping the robber for the ninja works well too since the ninja is a better fighter and these games ARE combat oriented
So a party of 2 paladins, barbarian, archer, Ranger, wizard does very well
The ranger is especially usefull since his druid spells like walk on water help you a lot to start
Get the mountaineer skill fast sonyou can go to the mountains around the valley of trolls to get some fairly good equipment as soon as possible
And speaking of equipment remember to strip the equipment of the starter party, that makes thing much easier

Also, keys to Dungeons from the hirelings in MM3

What do you mean Luzur? Hirelings have their own keys? I have replayed that game 3 times from top to bottom a I never knew that!

 

[octavius]

You never checked the hirelings' inventories?

 

[TigerKnee]

Does it integrate with the Mac version?

 

[Comte]

Can I trade Gems in for gold somewhere in Might and Magic III? Or are they used for something else?

 

[Maggot]

Some spells require gems if that's what you're asking.

 

[Wayward Son]

Can I trade Gems in for gold somewhere in Might and Magic III? Or are they used for something else?

Spells, some of them anyway.

 

[Invictus]

Yeah now I remermber they have the keys I never hired hirelings save for my first playthrough so I had forgotten
Fuuuu now I want to replay it again
Definetly my favorite M&M game despite recognizing Xeen to be better

 

[Luzur]

Yeah now I remermber they have the keys I never hired hirelings save for my first playthrough so I had forgotten
Fuuuu now I want to replay it again
Definetly my favorite M&M game despite recognizing Xeen to be better

What? they are an excellent source of stuff in the early part.

Hire them, rob them, then ditch them (or keep them if you can afford.)

 

[Nekot-The-Brave]

You never checked the hirelings' inventories?

I never used a hireling on my mm3 playthrough.

 

[Sceptic]

I expect quite a lot of hate for this ('tis Codex after all :D) but recently I've found a tool which changed my experience of playing M&M1 from tedious to quite fabulous.

The tool I'm talking about is called Where We Are, is free and can be downloaded from here.

It calls itself "An automapping retrofit for Might and Magic 1-5" but it's a lot more than that. Basically it's kind of a framework for playing M&M series. It manages mapping, taking notes, displaying various helpers (e.g. shop inventory, spell list, party quick reference, item list etc.) and basically keeps track of everything that happens in game so you don't have to do it.

It also is fully customizable and allows to tweak all these settings to your heart's desire.

Cherry on top is the fact that WWA integrates beautifully with DOSbox (vanilla or daum).

Dat outdoor automap overlay

So if I understand the automap, you can set it to function in a similar way to MM2-5 automap, where it will only uncover the square after you step on it, both indoors and outdoors? At this point I don't have the patience to redraw new maps every time I replay the game, but I hate using my old maps because it makes it too easy to beeline directly to locations of interest. This'd be quite great.

 

[Naraya]

So if I understand the automap, you can set it to function in a similar way to MM2-5 automap, where it will only uncover the square after you step on it, both indoors and outdoors? At this point I don't have the patience to redraw new maps every time I replay the game, but I hate using my old maps because it makes it too easy to beeline directly to locations of interest. This'd be quite great.

Exactly - you can do what you want with the map - set it to read only, manage everything yourself (manually click tiles) or let game uncover tiles as you go. The WAW file is created during the gameplay session and contains all the necessary map data. And again - everything is configurable in the "Maps" menu

 

[Watser]

Hidden Asbestos Now you know where to take GC in the future!