Might and Magic The Might and Magic Discussion Thread

[Luzur]

Turns out I didn't need dgVoodoo for MM8, since GrayPatch has widescreen support. So now it's easier to make screenshots and unlike MM7 I can play Acromage.

Graphically it is an improvement over 6 and 7, but not a drastic one.

But I'm a bit confused about the Pirate attack. If I play turn based the pirates rape the lizards, but in real time it's the lizards who are stonger. Also new Pirates seem to spawn out of thin air. Am I supposed to just ignore the fighting?

i usually just run past them and never engage. you will also notice pirate captains on their ships. If you are willing to cheese you can strafe in real time while shooting with bows. No loot or pirate swarm improvenents, also exp isnt worth your time. Stopping those pirate attacks is part of main quest line

You could also kill them all,it is a lot of respaning,but they are not endless. It is a good way to make money and maybe level up. You could always come back in a few levels and with the chosen party. Also you can't shoot all the captains,but one or two at best.

You can shoot them all, but it require some clever placement of the party (as in on the last pixel before you drop into the water and turned at a precise angle) and lots of patience.

 

[Luzur]

Turns out I didn't need dgVoodoo for MM8, since GrayPatch has widescreen support. So now it's easier to make screenshots and unlike MM7 I can play Acromage.

Graphically it is an improvement over 6 and 7, but not a drastic one.

But I'm a bit confused about the Pirate attack. If I play turn based the pirates rape the lizards, but in real time it's the lizards who are stonger. Also new Pirates seem to spawn out of thin air. Am I supposed to just ignore the fighting?

IIRC, pirates respawn indefinitely, as do the lizards.
They are just there to add a sense of urgency to your initial mission.

yeah i researched that once many eyars ago, took a cheated party and just nuked those pirate hordes over and over for like a year or so ingame, didnt change the spawn rate at all.

 

[Lacrymas]

Those dwarf mines though.

 

[Grunker]

Out of curiosity, which Hirelings do you guys usually use in 6 & 7? I think I'll pick up my playthrough of MM6 again soon.

 

[Lacrymas]

Those that give more xp.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Best bonus to magic skills and xp.

 

[fantadomat]

Those that give more xp.

Yeah,get instructor and a teacher fast for that 25% xp boost.

 

[Daidre]

I also used repair guy from Paradise Valley in the endgame. Moving rings between chars for repairs when exterminating Dragonsand and other locations with item-breaking monsters annoyed me so much that I fired instructor to get him.

 

[T. Reich]

Out of curiosity, which Hirelings do you guys usually use in 6 & 7? I think I'll pick up my playthrough of MM6 again soon.

Depends on your party composition and goals, innit?

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[octavius]

I like the Town Portal guy before I can cast it myself.
Then I usually go for those who increase XP gain and magic skills.

 

[fantadomat]

I like the Town Portal guy before I can cast it myself.

He is pretty useless,you have to visit the town before using it,thus exploring and getting xp is better.

 

[octavius]

I like the Town Portal guy before I can cast it myself.

He is pretty useless,you have to visit the town before using it,thus exploring and getting xp is better.

But it helps getting a better score if you can shave off some time. So not a first choice; I think I started with money gathering hirelings before that.

In MM8 I'm rather pissed that only three places seem to count as Towns, and Alvar is not among them. And getting GM Water Magic means fighting nasty Water Elementals, I bet. I already had to bravely regroup from the Earth Elementals in their plane.

 

[fantadomat]

I like the Town Portal guy before I can cast it myself.

He is pretty useless,you have to visit the town before using it,thus exploring and getting xp is better.

But it helps getting a better score if you can shave off some time. So not a first choice; I think I started with money gathering hirelings before that.

In MM8 I'm rather pissed that only three places seem to count as Towns, and Alvar is not among them. And getting GM Water Magic means fighting nasty Water Elementals, I bet. I already had to bravely regroup from the Earth Elementals in their plane.

If you go for score,sure i agree. Also alvar is a town portal place,did you drink from the fountain? There is a bunch of town portal places in the game,like the minotoure lire and the pirate islands. Also you could use invisibility to run past the water elements. The hardest elemental enemies are the fire ones,the do have very powerful area of effect spells that butthurt you a lot.

 

[Darth Canoli]

In MM8 I'm rather pissed that only three places seem to count as Towns, and Alvar is not among them. And getting GM Water Magic means fighting nasty Water Elementals, I bet. I already had to bravely regroup from the Earth Elementals in their plane.

Last playthrough, not long ago, i cleaned the place but it was a real pain, specially the entrance around the portal where they surround you, you're certainly supposed to strategize, i killed as many as i could, took the portal back and came back fresh but the rest of the water plane is more of the same so fandomat's tactic is certainly better.

Still, there is a couple of "town portal" places, i think i didn't drink to alvar's fountain as well at first, there's also balthazar's lair which can also be reached with town portal, at least after you cleared it.

 

[octavius]

Grrr...you have to drink from the fountain first?
I thought you just had to visit the place after you got the spell.

And good idea about the Invisibility Spell. Too bad I was not prepared for that.

 

[fantadomat]

Also you have the "fly" mechanic in the underwater plane from what i remember. Invisibility is also a good way to get master water in MM7.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Actually, i think you can teleport anywhere as soon as you get the spell is you drank from the fountains already.

 

[Storyfag]

The best tactic for the Plane of Water is obviously Armageddon.

 

[octavius]

Hmm...I noticed that it's considered an outdoors area.
Maybe I should try again with different tactics...

 

[Sceptic]

Out of curiosity, which Hirelings do you guys usually use in 6 & 7? I think I'll pick up my playthrough of MM6 again soon.

I usually get the guy who gives 5% XP and Identify as a priority (he's in a house on one of the islands off New Sorpigal IIRC), then go for either another XP booster, or for Repair as others have mentioned. The Identify one is nice because it saves you having to swap items back and forth to your identifier AND it gives you that little bit of extra XP. Merchant is nice early on but unlike WOX I don't usually run out of gold in MM6.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Manisan]

I've tried play MM1 in the NES rom version, but I find the world map very hard to understand. Then I tried the original :\ but I dunno if the problem is really the configuration of dosbox (is the same on Wizardry 7), I think the combat goes very fast same to NPCS speechs. I really wanted that launched translation to PC Engine version.

MM2 I like in several aspects. But I found the Genesis version very slow :\ I got discouraged.

MM3 is very good using the mod to rolland sound. I find pretty the graphics too. But honestly, I play might and magic
understanding nothing; because english isn't my native language (because this I make some mistakes :\ I'm still learning). Because this in the past, when I finished I put in GOG forum the question about the history, because I liked it. I find it fascinating

MM4 is my first title of the series, then is my favorite, but I'm playing now the 5 and I think that the title evolution is visible. You now can make some decisions and have some options of talk with the npcs, but I'm still like more the happy aura of the 4.

MM6 I've played but I've lost my save of 60 hours :\ I think that game is very good, but is very different of the others. Is open world, but not in the same way to their predecessors. Don't have skills like climb or swim, and the aging system is more complex and hard then the others - what is good and bad in the same time.

MM7-8 I just tested. I find the graphics of these more poor :\ I did not go far in the 7, but in the 8 I find some mechanics cool, but very linear.

My favorite style of MM is 3-5, but I like MM6 too.

 

[Darth Canoli]

My favorite style of MM is 3-5, but I like MM6 too.

That's called good taste, sir.

 

[octavius]

I tried to complete the game in as short time as possible while at the same time playing normally.
So I never rested, but went to a training hall at the end of each day. I could have trained up lvl 80 at the end, but that would have meant a lower score. And it would have been overkill anyway, since the late game enemies are far too weak.
I fumbled a bit with getting Town Portal and Lloyd's Beacon ASAP, and missed the fountain in Alvar and the fact that by conquering the Ogre Fortress more caravan routes would open.
Never attempted any of the Dragon lairs, so I may have gotten a better score if I did.
And I ignored the whole Bounty Hunters quest.

Overall an enjoyable enough game, but it felt rather uninspired.
The companions was a new feature, but what was the point when there's no interjections, no banter and no inter party dynamics like in Baldur's Gate 2? A missed opportunity there.

Apart from that there was hardly anything new. Same item system and skill system. They are good systems, but one gets a bit tired of them after three games.
Also, curious how a game series that changed so little went less hard core with each new game, with smaller dungeons and weaker enemies.

EDIT: The game has some similarities to MM2, like the four elemental corners and their Elemental Lords, and the ability to rotate your squad with companions. The latter is not as well implemented in MM8, though.

And I never found out about the Vault of Time. What did I miss?