Might and Magic The Might and Magic Discussion Thread

[Shilver]

I'm loving this thread, and I'm glad it keeps delivering in 2020. I started these games for the first time within the past two weeks, having no previous experience with any of the CRPG Might and Magic games. But one of my favorites is Heroes of Might and Magic II so I had to give it a shot after seeing it circulating GOG on recommendations. I've put decent chunk of time into IV and VI so far and it's tough to pull a favorite. I'm using Might and Magic VI, VII, VIII mod for reference so a lot of MM:VI party/character build quirks are cleaned up with it from what I can tell.

Reading these threads it seemed like it may be a good idea to start with III or IV so I opted to start up with IV. To be honest, I thought it was too old school for me and put it down within a few minutes (more later).

I decided to try a more modern approach with MM:VI, and it really jived with me. MM:IV is a game older than me, I didn't have the experience of trying these out in their respective times, so this version felt more akin to my Morrowind experience.

After a few solid play-throughs I got to Castle Ironfist and have my custom party locked and loaded to run through Baal temple. Combat feels great with the seamless crossplay between turn-based and action. I'm pretty suprised with how well the MM:VIII engine runs also (or maybe it's the mod, not sure?), I feel like that was a big ass deal at the time either way. The dungeons are expansive and have character vs the modern copy-paste garbage. That's not to say there isn't copy-paste elements here, it's unavoidable in the end; but you can really tell MM:VI went all out with their designs for their time. Super impressed. The overworld mechanics are fun and I like fighting giant mobs and repositioning using Bow/Spells and freezing on a favorable angle. Where MM:VI shined to me, even though it's the same "drop off in a world with a note, good luck" startup as IV, is the game just flows easier and it's easier to pickup on the subtle mechanics. With a new understand and appreciation of the mechanics I decided to hop back into IV because....really all the reviews say it's so great and there HAS to be a reason people keep saying this all these years later. Now I have a good knowledge of the base mechanics I imagined it can't be much different in previous installments.

Loading back up IV, now knowing I can also create a custom party at the Inns. I went ahead and used a SpriteEditor and imported my own custom portraits too. It's just taken off from there, I actually understood the importance of Rangers, Mages and different spells now. I cleared the starting town and the whole world is open now, I went to the Pyramid town and cleared out the sewers; which was actually a battle of wits. At one point I rested and thought my DOSBox broke as I was in a black screen and didn't realize you need to use the Light spell LOL. Things like this just don't exist in today's RPGs and I wish I could encapsulate that feeling in words. I'm finally seeing the light on why this game is such a Cult classic.The fact you can teleport anywhere right away also?? F#% yeah! I haven't been able to put it down and I can't remember the last time I was up until 4am when I need to work the next day. You really have to dig for information is my biggest gripe, but the gameplay is straightforward enough where you don't need to know all the little mechanics and part of the greatness is piecing this world together.

Looking forward to finishing these gems, and savoring the wait to play-through VI, VII, VIII with the modpack. Hopefully no major bugs there haha.

 

[Zaratoth]

Heya all, long time lurker (from XFIRE days) but finally thought of making an account.

Similar story with Shilver actually, been meaning to try M&M for more than a decade now, grew up playing Heroes (3 in my case) and have fond memories of reading articles for the RPG series. At some point I tried out some other dungeon crawlers in Dosbox, like Eye of the Beholder, and disliked it so much that I put my hopes of ever playing them in a coffin and buried them deep in the ground. However, funny twist of fate, I recently got nostalgic about many gaming related things and dug up some old articles I used to read back in the day and I said to myself "You always wanted to play those games. At least try." So I run up my already purchased copy of M&M 6 in GOG (6,7,8 were the main games I wanted to try all along. I've been dreaming of having a poster of 6's main art for 15 years at least) while hoping for the best, but bracing up for just uninstalling it the next day. Ohhhh, boy.

20 hours in, still doing dungeons, love clearing out cities before moving to the next, just exploring what new skills I can expert in each new town, what quests are available. It's pure bliss. Also, I found out 7 and 8 in a sale during the same period I started, so I grabbed them right away. Now I'm legitimately thinking of getting a boxed version of 6, just for collection purposes, but we'll see.

 

[newtmonkey]

Might & Magic: Book One (PC)
Damn this game is long lol.
I am pretty certain I started my current party just over a year ago, putting a few hours in here and there in between sessions where I get addicted and play it straight for 4-5 hours (like today).

My party has just reached level 9 and it feels like I can handle most encounters that are not extremely difficult fixed encounters. I've got most of the land explored and several leads forward, so I think the game is approaching the end. I've even stumbled upon what I think is the main story/quest.

It's hard to believe this game came out in 1986 and was largely the work of a single person. What other contemporary RPG even approaches the size and sheer amount of (quality) content of this game? Maybe Starflight, if that's considered an RPG.

The map design is just so good in M&M. Every dungeon is memorable, and even though the outside area is basically just a massive dungeon with tree and mountain graphics instead of wall graphics, it really does feel like you are exploring a massive world, complete with roads and even signs pointing you to towns. I mentioned this elsewhere, but it's simply amazing how closely the outside map matches up with the hand drawn map provided with the game... simply amazing.

 

[calgary.alberta]

Might & Magic: Book One & two are very long long games and mostly not for a good reason. First game having to save only at the Inn sucks, and having to deal with hunger which later on isn't a big issue at the start is.

 

[octavius]

It's hard to believe this game came out in 1986 and was largely the work of a single person. What other contemporary RPG even approaches the size and sheer amount of (quality) content of this game? Maybe Starflight, if that's considered an RPG.

Ultima IV is comparable when it comes to content, but has weaker game mechanics.

So how many Black Boxes have you found?

 

[newtmonkey]

octavius
Ultima IV is indeed a huge game, but I think the exploration suffers due to mindless combat, boring dungeons, and a mostly empty land to explore. Don't get me wrong, U4 is a masterpiece that is great in spite of its failings, but I felt U4 was more like a mystery you had to uncover by putting together clues (whether by reading the manual, studying the map, or gathering information from people in towns), compared with M&M1 which is more like an "exploration for exploration's sake" kind of game.

I haven't found any black boxes yet!

calgary.alberta
I disagree, at least with M&M1. Saving at inns is hardly a problem at low levels as you typically stay around the towns at that point, and once you are ready to really begin exploring you should have access to the Fly spell. Food is also not an issue at any point in the game as it is only needed to fully heal when resting and only becomes an issue when you are exploring a desert area.
Granted, the first few hours can be brutal, but the slow increase in power—from struggling to win any battle at all, to flying all over the world slapping down demons and dragons—is a huge part of what makes this game (and RPGs in general) so rewarding. If the save and food system annoyed you enough to stop playing, I would recommend sticking with it because they are both really only an annoyance at the very beginning of the game.

 

[Average Manatee]

One thing I'm curious about is how do M&M 1/2 play with a non-standard party configuration? In other words no sorcerors, or no clerics, or most/all casters?

I kind of got the feeling that the game was designed for the starting party, with the M&M2 new classes being obvious improvements on their M&M1 counterparts. Lots of situations and encounters seemed designed to be dealt with by specific spells, or needed strong physical attacks. Is the game still decently balanced without a wide spread of classes?

 

[newtmonkey]

Might & Magic: Book One (PC)
Finished! I was a lot closer to the end than I thought. I finished exploring the last few overland areas then proceeded to complete the game. I think I ended with an average character level of 11, prior to the massive experience award you get for finishing (good for 2-3 levels per character in my case).

As I mentioned above, this game is absolutely massive, especially for 1986. I easily spent 70+ hours on this, and I didn't even do everything; I left several dungeons partially unexplored, I didn't defeat any of the super monsters depicted on the physical map that comes with the game, and I finished the quest chains for only two of the Lords. However, I've held onto my save file if I ever decide to go back and do all the stuff I missed.

Overall, I was very impressed with this game, and would easily rank it among my top 10 games of all time. The only negative thing I can even say about this game is that, in the early-mid stage of the game you end up with lots of sessions where you explore a few squares, hit an impossible encounter, reload, etc. This only lasts a short while though, as you quickly get access to spells that make exploring much easier. On top of that, the game is so nonlinear that you can always just head off in any direction if you get stuck, so it's never frustrating.

I've imported my party into M&M2 and explored the starting town, but I think I'll take a break from M&M for now and and go back to Demon's Winter and Dragon Wars.

 

[octavius]

One thing I'm curious about is how do M&M 1/2 play with a non-standard party configuration? In other words no sorcerors, or no clerics, or most/all casters?

I kind of got the feeling that the game was designed for the starting party, with the M&M2 new classes being obvious improvements on their M&M1 counterparts. Lots of situations and encounters seemed designed to be dealt with by specific spells, or needed strong physical attacks. Is the game still decently balanced without a wide spread of classes?

I wouldn't play them without spell casters. Imagine fighting 255 enemies in MM2 without spells. OTOH you can compensate by spell casting items, at least in MM2.

newtmonkey, congratulations. Now defeat the Dragon Town and the Volcano God. When I replayed MM1 a couple of years ago, I left no monster boss alive, but I only ever found three of those Black Boxes that contain the best loot.

 

[Butter]

I started MM3 about a month ago and took a break around Wildabar. I came back today and could barely remember what was going on, then realized I didn't have anyone with Walk On Water in my party, so I restarted rather than bother with a mercenary. Part of me wishes the game started with creating a party from scratch, but it's also nice that you can just jump in and immediately have a full party ready to go.

 

[Luzur]

I started MM3 about a month ago and took a break around Wildabar. I came back today and could barely remember what was going on, then realized I didn't have anyone with Walk On Water in my party, so I restarted rather than bother with a mercenary. Part of me wishes the game started with creating a party from scratch, but it's also nice that you can just jump in and immediately have a full party ready to go.

Just learn to swim in Fountain Head for 200 gold each (i think it was) and you dont need Walk on Water

 

[Luzur]

MM7 ESRGAN attempt
Postby Dragonfly » Thu May 23, 2019 3:52 am

Hi, i'm working on upscaling the textures using ESRGAN.

Things done:
- downloaded python, models, etc from ESRGAN
- upscaled BITMAPS.LOD images
- created a visual c++ proj to update the BITMAPS.HWL byte to byte with these images

Next steps:
- water (transparency missing from water tiles)
- d3d sprites
- icons?

Screenshots (I'm using GrayFace Patch 2.2) (thanks GrayFace for keeping the mm flame alive).

You can download it here:
https://mega.nz/#!rnJiwKiS!hmTRAHaR_EW4 ... pZJzVDfxok
480mb

First video presentation of "The Lord of the Damned", my (not finished yet) modification for great game Might and Magic VIII. Excellent soundtrack was made by Hobbit aka Amicus. More you can read in this topics (english and polish): https://www.celestialheavens.com/foru... http://www.forum.acidcave.net/topic.p... Regards, J. M. Sower.

 

[Luzur]

[Announcement] Crusader Kings 2: The World of Enroth
Unread postby Toby » Tue Mar 03, 2020 10:09 pm

"Crusader Kings 2: The World of Enroth" is a for Crusader Kings 2 and was heavily inspired by the Warcraft: Guardians of Azeroth Mod for CK2. It is based on the Might and Magic universe by Jon Van Canegham and New World Computing. I am working on recreating the entirety of Enroth using my interpretation of the classic timeline. Play as the Human Lords, the Kreegan Generals, or the Centaur Chieftains and bring Enroth under your control! Help the Kreegans burn the Planet, create Powerful Weapons using the Heavenly Forges, reconnect Enroth to the Web of Worlds as an Independent Planetstate or reestablish the Colonial Government with the help of the Ancients.

FEATURES:
You can play as everyone on Enroth. The Chief of Goblinwatch, a Kreegan of Eofol, Slicker Silvertongue... It is your choice.
Pledge allegiance to the Kreegan Empire, the Ancient Empire, or any other of Enroth's Factions and use their help to fulfill your destiny.
Old Nations such as the Empire of Bracaduun, the Colonial Government, or Alamos can be recreated and are ready for a new Leader.
Relive the Wars of Enrothian Succession, the Night of the Shooting Star, the Restoration Wars, and many other historical events.
A class system that allows you interactions in ways suitable for your class like raising the dead or healing other's wounds.

JOIN THE DISCORD

 

[fantadomat]

That "The Lord of the Damned" mod looks interesting,shame that it is not in english and not finished.


Does anyone knows about good mod new content about MM678?

 

[Luzur]

The Chaos Conspiracy Redone
Unread postby DaveHer » Mon Aug 05, 2019 11:41 am

The Mod was made with GrayFace modding tools and Corel Draw. The original mod was made by Big Daddy Jim and later moddified by Maestro and now by me David Hernandez. You can find GrayFace modding tools @ https://grayface.github.io/mm/#Files-from-BDJ's-site

1. Start with more money.
2. Store open late hours.
3. Stable and Boat travel almost everyday plus everyday area.
4. Six new quests that help prepare you better for those brutes in Kastution Waters. Three quests are at Ellesia, where you should go first. One quest is at Sutter's Bay and it will take you to two other quests.
5. New textures, sprites, and models.
6. New helmets, shields, rings,books, and bows.
7. Two new towns. One in "The Far Reaches" and the other in "Glacier's End". They have shops that give services and NPCs for hire.
8. Monstors drop more money and useful stuff.
9. and other changes.
Here is the Link: https://www.nexusmods.com/mightandmight ... escription
There you will see Pics of the mod.

@All
All the New textures, sprites, models, helmets, shields, rings, book, and bows, that I created for “The Chaos Conspiracy Redone” can be used in the merge and making them available to all that are involve with the merge and want to use them in their copy of the merge. In each of the four folders there is a text file with instructions as to where and how to put the files into the Lod folders. There is also step by step instructions as to how to use the editor to put the models and sprites into the map. It is not difficult to do. Here is the link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Xtwuf ... aavL9eb_Ry Right click on the folder and select download.

Last edited by Pol on Mon Apr 27, 2020 9:58 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Morrowind Mod link https://www.moddb.com/mods/enchanted-ho ... een-update
CCR Link https://www.nexusmods.com/mightandmight ... escription

 

[Luzur]

That "The Lord of the Damned" mod looks interesting,shame that it is not in english and not finished.


Does anyone knows about good mod new content about MM678?

Well theres Chaos Conspiracy, The grayface patches and Echo of Destruction

 

[Darth Canoli]

I don't know about chaos conspiracy "redone" but the version i played last year was a mess, following the new questline had you fighting overpowered monsters and not so much in a fun way some fights being alright, some others, not so much (a shitload of undead casters in a small cellar comes to mind).
It was also quite buggy.

 

[fantadomat]

I have played it and downloading it again. Is that the only new game mod about MM games?

 

[AArmanFV]

I'm playing M&M for the first time (Book One), I started with an incloosive multi-racial party with one of each available classes like the manual suggested and quickly ended up making another with two clerics. The first part is too rough, the evil Jon van Caneghem could at least given my fighters a leather armor, but no, only clubs and those are worth shit for selling . In fact, I was reading Scorpia's review and she mentioned that the second version of the game included the predefined party to turn down a little bit the difficulty at the beginning.

Anyway, I explored the caves and the outside just to see a little and is very promising, I hope it gets fun once I'm done grinding.

 

[Sinatar]

Steal the gear from the starting party for yours.

 

[AArmanFV]

I always delete the predefined party before starting, and after playing for more than an hour I don't feel that it would have saved too much time by doing that. Also, I managed to equip them already with the best stuff and leveled up all but the sorcerer.

 

[Invictus]

Guys I installed the new Greyface 2.4 patch for Might and Magic 6 and now no matter what I choose the game opens in a window even in widescreen mode with the system bar... any tips on how to turn it into borderless widescreen or simply fullscreen (with black bars of course)

 

[octavius]

Try DgVoodoo. Worked very well for me with MM7 at least.

 

[Invictus]

Try DgVoodoo. Worked very well for me with MM7 at least.

Didn’t work...
Got it running without issues using compatibility for Windows XP

 

[Sinatar]

Guys I installed the new Greyface 2.4 patch for Might and Magic 6 and now no matter what I choose the game opens in a window even in widescreen mode with the system bar... any tips on how to turn it into borderless widescreen or simply fullscreen (with black bars of course)

F4 toggles fullscreen with Greyface.