Review Might & Magic VI: Review - Here there be monsters...

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven; New World Computing

Varn reviews Might & Magic VI, one of those old game from the days when RPGs didn't allow you to respec at the sign of a tough battle:

I have been told by a townsperson whose name I cannot recall, that the Dark Magic master can be found in a small town called Sweetwater. What at first seemed an absurdly easy task for the power it would grant my party has quickly turned into a nightmare. Over the hill near Sweetwater are swarms of Titans and there is no other way in to the town. I cast the “fly” spell, nervously hover over the beasts while taking massive damage, and drop down to the ground to cross to the next zone. Once it loads, my party survives for about 3 seconds before being obliterated by the giants’ shock attacks. My last save was 3 hours ago and I think I’ve been playing for 6 hours straight, but I can’t be sure. The only indication is the slight ray of light coming through a crack between the blinds. Fighting off sleep, I reload, and try again.​

What? Reloading in my RPG?

 

[Sceptic]

I see my prestigious comments went unheeded. The aesthetic ones I can live without; the outright factual errors have no excuse though

Still,

Aside from these (mostly minor) points, great job
The section on exploration in particular made me go

 

[Darth Roxor]

Good to see this one embedded on the site

 

[Yeesh]

Way to keep it real.

But on the other hand, oh man don't tempt me. I don't know why I find such a strong allure to the idea of slogging my way through M&M VII, but christ how much time will that take? I'm not going to live forever...

 

[halflingbarbarian]

I am going to reinstall and play MM7 right now (6 is too daunting, went through it once before). One thing I feel you didn't emphasise is how the graphics for the inventory equipment is very satisfying (I don't know whether it is the art style or ?) and equiping a character with a myriad of weapons and armor and rings and omgawd itz heavan. Few other games give me that gratifying feeling of upgrading equipment and having it so vividly represented on the paper doll (which is also beautifully drawn).

Maybe it's just me.

 

[BlaineMono]

Released in 1998, Might & Magic VI is the 6th game in the Might and Magic series.

THANK YOU FOR CLARIFYING THAT

also M&M 4+5 (what an awesome idea btw) and 7 were much better

 

[Gord]

This game strips down all of the unnecessary elements many RPGs feature these days and simply focuses on building characters, killing enemies, dungeon crawling, exploring and looting.

Doesn't sound to different from Dragon Age...

 

[MicoSelva]

Quite a nice review, but not without some errors as sceptic already mentioned.

you cannot move in turn-based, although enemies do. You have to go out of turn-based mode, move in real-time, and then go back in to turn-based.

What?
Anyone correct me if I'm wrong, but there's a moment each turn when hand indicator changes into a fist (if I recall). You can move Your party then, with unfolding fingers indicating how much movement is left.

Anyway - good job.

 

[hoverdog]

It was introduced in MM7.

 

[Dorf]

Wow, I remember playing this game and from what I remember it beat me like a rented mule. Back in '98 I played a lot of games and had a short temper for being slapped like a red headed stepchild.

With that said i am going to have to get my hands on another copy since I think I had this game on 3.5" floppy disks and I threw them out years ago. I think I have a better temper for a game like this now. It is definitely a game for older gamers, which is why you don't see games like this anymore.

 

[Canus]

It's amazingly fun, but between the status effects and the small fucking armies you encounter it'll show you what it's like to be a beaten wife. In this case of course not buffing is the same as burning a dinner.

 

[tindrli]

Ah those 90-es.. great times and great games

 

[circ]

I like M&M VIII. You could just ride a dragon and blow the shit out of titans and the like from the air. And it had really cool prestige classes that I remember. And tons of good stuff. I'd probably think it looks and plays like ass today though.

 

[Lightknight]

Doesn't sound to different from Dragon Age...

Except DA's charaters actually have...well, characters. And dialogues. With choices. The rest is about the same, bad character building system, bad magic system, boring combat in general.

And you know what ? if anyone cares to dig deep and find what NWC promised to give us - was even closer to DA. There was supposed to be some kind of reputation system with you helping one lord angering other lords. Combining magic akin to what Magic & Mayhem actually delivered at about the same time. Screenshots were masterfully photoshoped to induce jawdropping. But then we find out that its a simple dungeon crawler. Always the case. I recently saw MDK tech demo video, they sure had to cut a lot to fit the final product mold...

A time when RPGs encouraged exploration within a sprawling, detailed game-world

Well, sprawling and detailed in this case means that the map is divided in squares, and there will be a town somewhere, and in other corners, as far away as possible, will always be story dungeons.

There is also an attribute system with seven attributes that you can boost: might, intellect, personality, endurance, accuracy, speed and luck.

Which attribute system is, amazingly enough, plays sooooo little into your characters performance - its confusing as to why they even put it in the game anyway ?

you will always be trying to boost your attributes because they make a big difference in combat.

Nope.

This is one of my favourite features in RPGs as you are always looking forward to some new, mysterious locale.

Well, yeah, except that in MM6 there is nothing waiting for you AT this mysterious new locale, except a horde after horde after horde of monsters.

In my view this is how dungeons should be – the thought of doing them alone should scare you so that getting through them is a real reward

The only problem is that they give a perfect impression that the dungeon was built here JUST for your party. It has otherwise no point in even being there, much less being a convoluted mess of corridors. Who lives in these dungeons when heroes arent around ???

 

[circ]

Except DA's charaters actually have...well, characters. And dialogues. With choices. The rest is about the same, bad character building system, bad magic system, boring combat in general.

Retards have character too, that doesn't make them likable. I'd rather take badly fleshed out characters and LARP up the rest if I felt like it, than annoying cunts courtesy of BioWare.

 

[Mrowak]

Except DA's charaters actually have...well, characters. And dialogues. With choices. The rest is about the same, bad character building system, bad magic system, boring combat in general.

Retards have character too, that doesn't make them likable. I'd rather take badly fleshed out characters and LARP up the rest if I felt like it, than annoying cunts courtesy of BioWare.

This.

In spite of being a compulsive storyfag I have to say: I have had tons of fun with all the Might & Magics I played (from IV to VIII) in contrast with anything Bioware has concocted since BG2.

 

[Storyfag]

Except DA's charaters actually have...well, characters. And dialogues. With choices. The rest is about the same, bad character building system, bad magic system, boring combat in general.

Retards have character too, that doesn't make them likable. I'd rather take badly fleshed out characters and LARP up the rest if I felt like it, than annoying cunts courtesy of BioWare.

This.

In spite of being a compulsive storyfag I have to say: I have had tons of fun with all the Might & Magics I played (from IV to VIII) in contrast with anything Bioware has concocted since BG2.

All too true, though I'm the Storyfag and *also* a starwarsfag, so I'm inclined to make an exception for KotOR. But *only* on account of getting my Star Wars fix.

 

[Jaesun]

Excellent review Varn.

 

[Sceptic]

also M&M 4+5 (what an awesome idea btw) and 7 were much better

WOX has already been reviewed. There is, OTOH, a distinct lack of MM7 review in this prestigious magazine. Hint hint.

In spite of being a compulsive storyfag I have to say: I have had tons of fun with all the Might & Magics I played (from IV to VIII)

I see a distinct lack of Isles of Terra in there. If you liked WOX, you'll like Terra. Definitely recommend playing it.

 

[Varn]

Cheers for the comments - the factual errors were there because it's been so long since i've played it, this review is based on me playing it like 5 yrs ago (and around 5 years before that was the first playthrough) hence why i thought you had to deliver the letter to the king instead of Wilbur Ironfist etc... I still haven't had the time or patience to replay it yet unfortunately.

I also agree that equipping your characters is very satisfying particularly given that much of the weapons and armor have unique sprites etc.

 

[Invictus]

Good review, I never played the Might and Magic games after Xeen and have been thinking of doing that one of these days. I did try it out with a mouselook mod and it seemed fine, although I agree the graphics have not aged well at all compared to 3,4 & 5