Might and Magic The Might and Magic Discussion Thread

[Butter]

So to conclude there's no reason for an adult to play the SNES version.

Are you one of those who think childs shouldn't see boobs or they'll be traumatised ?

I think even adults would be traumatized.

 

[Darth Canoli]

I think even adults would be traumatized.

I'd be traumatised if i didn't see any for too long.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

I feel like you have to be in a really specific kind of mindset in order to want to play the console versions of the first three MM games but not their PC counterparts. Like, I couldn't get into the first two on PC, but trying them on consoles its like I'm playing crappy Phantasy Star. Like it doesn't actually change anything in a useful way, it just makes it differently crap.

 

[Snorkack]

The SNES graphics and music are nicer and I always have a soft spot for it as the nintendo port of MM2 was my first encounter with crpgs.

But apart from that, there's no reason whatsoever to prefer this over the DOS version with Where Are We. There's missing stuff like no lighting, no party positioning, dumbed down combat and more, the controls are really atrocious. Just healing up your party with low-level spells easily takes a minute or two.

 

[Chris Koźmik]

For me it's 3-5. First two were too primitive to really enjoy, 6+ went into 3D race with FPS (the race which RPGs lost in the end). The 3-5 were just right mix, after the era of clumsy interfaces and before the 3D race era. I would even say those are playable even today (if you overlook some annoyances).

 

[Luzur]

For me it's 3-5. First two were too primitive to really enjoy, 6+ went into 3D race with FPS (the race which RPGs lost in the end). The 3-5 were just right mix, after the era of clumsy interfaces and before the 3D race era. I would even say those are playable even today (if you overlook some annoyances).

They are very playable, and i cant really find any annoyances worth mentioning, maybe people who didnt grow up with the games might find stuff to complain about.

 

[Tacgnol]

For me it's 3-5. First two were too primitive to really enjoy, 6+ went into 3D race with FPS (the race which RPGs lost in the end). The 3-5 were just right mix, after the era of clumsy interfaces and before the 3D race era. I would even say those are playable even today (if you overlook some annoyances).

They are very playable, and i cant really find any annoyances worth mentioning, maybe people who didnt grow up with the games might find stuff to complain about.

I really enjoy the MM3-5 style. They are pretty cosy RPGs.

Fun exploration, not overly hard or taxing to play and full of charm. The only thing I never liked massively was the inventory UI, but that's a pretty minor complaint.

 

[xuerebx]

They look fine to me, maybe the user interface is a bit cumbersome as there's lots of buttons always on-screen. It's only the "frame by frame movement " which I said I'll need to get used to (e.g. when you turn around, the frame changes rather than having a smooth transition).

I owned the SNES as a kid, a bit bummed I never got to play M&M at the time - didn't even know it was available on that platform! I spent my time playing Super Mario at the time, which was a great game anyway :D.

 

[Sinatar]

Solo sorcerer run done

Score was shit because I ate a year in prison getting dark mastery, but I wasn't playing for score so whatevs.

 

[Invictus]

It is interesting to look at Isles of Terra from a historic perspective; since Terra was my first Might and Magic it always held a special place for me so some of its changes might not be very apparent to new gamers but seeing the evolutionary leap from 2 to 3 was incredible

First off the presentation at the time was quite spectacular compared to other games of the same era, it was one of those games which really put in display PC games; the colorful graphics that have aged relatively well because of their cartoony design, the integrated UI where the different spell effect and special abilities where clear (like the little imp on the corner that waved it’s arm when facing secret doors for example) the way the character portraits of your party had actual personality and their status was reflected on them... it’s some things that me might take for granted nowadays but were groundbreaking back in that day

Second, the simple yet engrossing combat; yes I know Octavius you will say they dumbed down the tactical combat from the previous entries but I think it was quite a conscious decision on the part of NWC. I believe that the Might and Magic series started as a more approachable alternative to Wizardry, with better graphics and frankly bells and whistles, and that along they way they found their true identity rather than be a Dungeon Crawl Wizardry clone they became an adventure and exploration series where combat was geared more to be a fun obstacle to the puzzles and exploration.

I love the Wizardry game but they can be so ponderous sometimes where every combat is a little mini puzzle while combat in Might and Magic 3 became fast, fun and pretty to look at... the kind of game you played with your friends while eating potato crisps as a kid on a Friday night having some fun and anybody could pick it up and play

And lastly the gameplay itself, all the loot itself became such a great part of the game with Obsidian shield and Ruby katanas but the simply and easy way you navigated your items, equipping them one you identified them, and traded them. The ease in choosing spells, casting them and the switching from long range to melee making the game feel fast and fun. The huge range of enemies and magical creatures with different abilites which inflicted various status on your characters rather than the basic “bang you lose 15 hp” made you think more strategic combat and the use of the various Fountains and Shrines allowed you to “abuse” the system to try to brave higher leve areas to find a cache of higher powered treasure for your party. I still remember with a smile buffing my chars to brave the Cyclops Cave, rushing to get mapping (auto map was also quite rare in those days) and mountaineering so I could raid the Valley of the Gargoyles for hidden catches of treasure while the monsters couldn’t reach me

All in all it was a change of pace for NWC which would probe to be a success (although admittedly it was one of the lowest selling games in the series) which would lay the foundation for the more polished but ultimately less focused and more derrivative Xeen games

 

[AArmanFV]

I'd been playing this (M&M I) for almost 3 weeks and I can't believe how massive is for a game released in 1986, and I think I'm not even half through it. The quest design is really good, you get thrown into the world having little clues about the world that will develop by exploring the lands, there's literally always something to find in each map and eventually the findings will chain and come together, which is making me very hooked while progressing. There's so much to map though, sometimes it's just too much and I have to rest a bit, that's something coming from a man who likes doing it, graph paper sellers got rich the time this came out.

The combat is fine, but I prefer the old wizardry in that regard.

 

[Butter]

Playing MM6 right now, and for some reason everybody hates me. Not 10 minutes into the game and all I've done is kill monsters, and all the NPCs are treating me like a piece of shit?

 

[CryptRat]

You probably accidentaly hit an NPC.

 

[Efe]

donate to temple

 

[Butter]

I just installed the GreyFace patch and started a new game. I went directly to the nearest peasant and he said "I heard you've committed a lot of crimes, including killing people." I don't know what the fuck is going on with this game.

 

[Falkner]

Are your characters black?

 

[m_s0]

I just installed the GreyFace patch and started a new game. I went directly to the nearest peasant and he said "I heard you've committed a lot of crimes, including killing people." I don't know what the fuck is going on with this game.

I think that's just your starting reputation causing this - I recall some npcs being this way in my playthroughs as well. Ignore, play the game, it should go away eventually (fairly quickly).

 

[octavius]

Are your characters black?

Or wearing MAGA hats?

 

[Dungeon Lord]

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:

This.is.great.

 

[xuerebx]

On recommendations from the previous page I'm 15 hours into MMIII. It's fun, although fairly simplistic, I guess the fun is more on the exploration aspect and finding/buying new spells rather than the combat system itself. It would have been great if you could write notes in a journal or on the map, it would make traversing easier. The inability to compare equipment (instead having to identify each item) is slightly infuriating when you have a lot of new loot and want to split them across the party too.

Do the 2 games in WoX improve upon IoT in any of the above aspects?

 

[fantadomat]

It is pretty much the same. The Inventory system is pretty much the worst part of the older mm games. MM4 does have more clearer and easy to remember world than MM3 tho.

 

[Butter]

WoX has autonotes for things like fountain locations.

 

[octavius]

You can always take screenshots of important info.

 

[xuerebx]

Yeah I'm using my mobile for that, and writing down some notes. It's a 1991 game so I understand certain gameplay features only became common later.

 

[akkadian5]

Considering that early MM had aspects for mapping enthusiasts, handwritten notes are inevitable in a sense.


By the way, there is a strange behavior in the DOS version of Book 1 that I haven't seen mentioned before.
Look at this image...

This is the Dragadune dungeon.
The walls are red, right?

As anyone who has played the DOS version with common settings knows, the walls of the MM1 are usually all white.
However, this is the DOS version only. On Apple II and C64 versions, some dungeons have red walls.
To conclude, it seems that the DOS version of EGA mode has a problem and cannot handle the wall of different colors. If you set the screen mode to tandy or cga with graphset.exe, you will be able to see these differences.
(In tandy mode, it is necessary to change the setting of DOSBOX)