Gonna give M&M 6-8 a try...

Started playing MM 6 again this year, didn't get too far into the game when I played it for the first time 4-5 years ago, hence there's plenty of unfamiliar dungeons to plunder.

One thing that I feel is particularly cool is that at the end of the dungeons I've plundered so far I've always felt there was a proper reward with decent (as in, not the shit I already have) items or amount of gold.

First got often slaughtered in real time but turn based combat is much easier (except for the run backwards and shoot exploit that the real time mode allows). I like the dungeon design, although admittedly I haven't played too many dungeon crawlers so my standards are probably not very high in this regard.

I like the Temple of Baa thing also, how it portrays those who try to appear as altruistic as a bunch of evil fuckers, obvious yet still pretty acurate and amusing parody of the church imo. Also extra props for the naming it the Temple of Baa (as in, the sound sheep make).

 

Yes one thing that is much better MM6 are the dungeons. Compared to MM7 they are much bigger and cooler. Look at Goblinwatch (the first dungeon in MM6) - you solve the riddle and complete your quest in like 10 minutes, but if you want you can go deeper and there is some sort of underground cave. There are no quests there. That cave is there just for the sake of exploring so you go in and...explore. I remember back in 1999 when I played it I was really surprised.

Also as far as I can remember puzzles in MM6 were better.

The rest of the stuff is better in MM7.

 

I hope you're using GrayFace's patch, for the modern mouse-look.

 

How is IX?

 

The attraction of MM has always been huge interesting worlds to explore. MM6 beats the shit out of 7 and 8 in this regard. The world in 6 is larger, more diverse, more interesting, and I didn't like the way 7 resorted to underground dungeons to get you to some areas (namely Nighon and Eeofol). And you simply cannot compre the dungeons. MM6's huge, vast, sprawling dungeons, compared to MM7's 2-room ones? Not a chance.

MM7 did improve in many things, especially the skill system.

 

It's always a good idea to start with the lesser of two similar consumables of enjoyment. That way you will enjoy both more, the lesser one because it's your first, and the second one because it's better.

 

why those l33t haxx0rs dont mod for IX is beyond me, Bones was going along fine but then he suddenly permastopped the development of his patch 1.4, which would have fixed alot of stuff, added in some missing original plot and even added more land to the game.

 

Seconded, I initially played MM 7 before 6, hence the world in general and dungeons in particular were a pleasant surprise to me the first time I played MM 6.

I didn't complete either of the games originally and now I'm going to play them again starting with 6. Originally got much farther in 7 though, 6 also seems to be considerably harder.

 

Have fun with that Beholder dungeon in MM6 towards the endgame. That's all I have to say.

 

Got incredibly hooked. God, are these games addictive. I've restarted MM7 three times already, trying different party configurations. Right now I'm running Paladin/Thief/Druid/Sorcerer and I think I'll stick to this one, balance is pretty good. Tried playing without a thief previously, ie. Knight/Archer/Cleric/Sorcerer, but no expertise in disarming sucks.

I'm starting to think that MM 6-8 are better than MM 3-4. The character and skill system just feels superior, the fact that I'm spending more time planning my skill increases than actually playing the damn game can serve as evidence.

A question - do some skills sum up? I don't know how perception works exactly, do I need one character with very high perception or can I spread the skill out with the same result?

 

MM 6-8 are a good combination of casual and hardcore, the secret of their artistic success. Much like Vogel's games, in fact. (Though MM's are better balanced. You can tell even without playing them because they don't have optional difficulty levels.)

 

Stop thinking. Please.

 

Yes. Only the best of the party is taken into account.

None that I can think of.

 

And, again, remember to choose the characters voice over wisely.

I ended up with the dude who goes "Whoa!" when you inspect NPCs.

 

I have to agree with that. They're quite simply awesome old-skool CRPGs. And obviously there's not much fun to be had by killing a couple of goblins. Moving them down by the dozens with giant fucking laser beams, ehrm I mean bolts and arrows, however gives a great sense of achievement.

 

Oh, but there are laser beams! Not against goblins, but nevertheless .

 

Are you sure? I thought the skill of the selected character was the one taken into account. Unless this was only for MM6 and one of the Temples of Baa where you needed the skill at Expert.

 

In M&M, only the character with the highest perception should be highlighted. You don't need much in MM6(Expert IIRC), but in MM7 and MM8 Perception will allow you to see hidden stuff as well as traps.

As some posters have already mentioned, there are some nasty places in MM6. So please be sure to be patched to either Mok's or Greyface depending on the version.

 

GrayFace for everything. Gives you modern mouse-look.

 

While I don't have much to add to this discussion I'd just like to say that killing a group of goblins, taking over their fortifications, then using their own cannons to kill whole companies of surrounding goblins is one of my fondest memories from any RPG

 

playing wizardry 8 made me seasick.

 

Tried to start MM6 again but just can't, seems like the game just isn't for me. I don't find fun in fireballing hordes upon hordes of mobs, the same thing makes me stop playing Wiz8 as soon as I reach Trynton - endless encounters. At least in MM6 areas aren't level scaled and enemies don't respawn.

I'll stick with MM7&8's more manageable numbers. Sigh.

 

They respawn in about 6 months in all games on that particular engine if memory serves, so don't be surprised when you suddenly run into a horde of goblins you've already killed in a while. Still, six months is plenty of time.

I really enjoyed MM6, it was one of my first 3D-ish first person RPG experiences and it was actually new at the time, so the graphics were actually fairly pleasing, especially the time of the day changes and the fog. Guess I have to put 6-8 to replay list now, nostalgia's coming up.

 

The respawn in M&M 6 can be pretty brutal. I wasn't amused when the whole Mire of the Damned re-populated. Different areas respawn at different rates; mutliples of 3 months iirc (minimum 6 months).

Still, it's not a total enjoyment-killer like Wizardry 8's level scaling.