Might and Magic The Might and Magic Discussion Thread

[Luzur]

Finished my first M&M game - Isles of Terra! Took me 35 hours. T'was fun although was becoming a bit repetitive towards the end. The combat was fairly simplistic and I think I became too powerful although I didn't grind (not sure you can call it grinding really since there are few "random" encounters and only in the wild) and there were some dungeons which I didn't explore. I was leveling up like mad in the last quarter of the game.

My plan is to play World of Xeen and M&M 6 to 8 throughout the course of this year.

Man now i wanna re-install MM3 AGAIN

 

[Luzur]

That mod looks really, really good. World of Xeen is good enough, but that is an impressive list of fixes. Also, my biggest pet peeve has been at least improved:

Equipped armor breaks when a character is knocked below -80 HP (before this threshold was -10 HP).

Good old times when I rather played with a naked party. Constant repairing got on my nerves.

MM2
Too much randomness in combat?
My fighter can attack 3 times. But sometimes only 1x or 2x. Why omg?
His weapon can damage 1d13.
So 1-39 the damage range?

A new mod or Jeffludwigs?

 

[Darth Canoli]

A new mod or Jeffludwigs?

That quote is from page 108 / 2014 ...

Spoiler

Yes, jeff's spawn mod

 

[Luzur]

A new mod or Jeffludwigs?

That quote is from page 108 / 2014 ...

Spoiler

Yes, jeff's spawn mod

its kinda sad that people dont mod the older games more, but i guess the programming is so old that its like alien language for modern folks.

 

[AArmanFV]

I could be wrong of course, but maybe the case is lack of interest or that the mod comunnity in general can't handle anything that's not in Unity or Unreal. I don't know but maybe in the case of old DOS games you need to reverse engineer the game (maybe know assembly language, who knows) if you don't have an editing program and of course only a real programmer could do that and takes time.

 

[octavius]

I think you can do quite a lot with hex editing, but I suppose even that is more advanced than using Unity?

 

[AArmanFV]

Think that there's a lot of people that work with motors that can't understand how water vapor worked in the older cars, it's probably the same here, they don't understand the basics because they jumped directly with the sophisticated stuff. But then again I'm being prejudiced, personally I think it's the first option.

 

[Luzur]

I could be wrong of course, but maybe the case is lack of interest or that the mod comunnity in general can't handle anything that's not in Unity or Unreal. I don't know but maybe in the case of old DOS games you need to reverse engineer the game (maybe know assembly language, who knows) if you don't have an editing program and of course only a real programmer could do that and takes time.

Jeff did though (IIRC) reverse-engineer the MM3 engine and i think he have a guide on his page on how to mod it.

Edit: found his webapge again, and yeah he did manage to unpack those files appearently

http://jeffludwig.com/mm3/index.php

 

[Darth Canoli]

There's also swords of Xeen which started as a mod made by professionals but still.

Swords of Xeen is a bonus game in the 1995 Might and Magic Trilogy compilation (the trilogy refers to Might and Magic III, IV, and V).[7] It was developed by Catware.[8] Subsequently, it was also included in several series anthologies. The game was never published in standalone form.

The game began as a mod based on the Might and Magic V engine. Personalities from Catware were responsible for leading the modding effort, with story contributions from Ellen Beeman. As development progressed, collaboration with New World Computing was established, and the mod received publishing support. Swords of Xeen exploits some quirks of the engine to great effect, such as morphing monsters by using the regular animation of one monster and the attack animation of another. The game also contains bugs in scripting, which allow the player to bypass many encounters by walking sideways.

Swords of Xeen takes place on an entirely new world that is under attack by 'The Source', which claims to be the genius behind Alamar, the main enemy of Might and Magic V.

The game's graphics and sound, which had not changed from Might and Magic V, were dated.[7] However, the game was praised for its gameplay, receiving a 4/5 from one review.[7]

It'd be great to be able to mod sound effects, like replacing them by M&M 8 ones.

 

[Luzur]

There's also swords of Xeen which started as a mod made by professionals but still.

Swords of Xeen is a bonus game in the 1995 Might and Magic Trilogy compilation (the trilogy refers to Might and Magic III, IV, and V).[7] It was developed by Catware.[8] Subsequently, it was also included in several series anthologies. The game was never published in standalone form.

The game began as a mod based on the Might and Magic V engine. Personalities from Catware were responsible for leading the modding effort, with story contributions from Ellen Beeman. As development progressed, collaboration with New World Computing was established, and the mod received publishing support. Swords of Xeen exploits some quirks of the engine to great effect, such as morphing monsters by using the regular animation of one monster and the attack animation of another. The game also contains bugs in scripting, which allow the player to bypass many encounters by walking sideways.

Swords of Xeen takes place on an entirely new world that is under attack by 'The Source', which claims to be the genius behind Alamar, the main enemy of Might and Magic V.

The game's graphics and sound, which had not changed from Might and Magic V, were dated.[7] However, the game was praised for its gameplay, receiving a 4/5 from one review.[7]

It'd be great to be able to mod sound effects, like replacing them by M&M 8 ones.

Thanks for the info bro, but i already know of it LOL

 

[Darth Canoli]

Nice, you beat my incomplete box collection missing M&M 1/2/9/10 and Heroes IV+

 

[Luzur]

Nice, you beat my incomplete box collection missing M&M 1/2/9/10 and Heroes IV+

well if you look around in the pic there is more even.

 

[AArmanFV]

M&M III onwards game boxes always seem very well treated by the pass of time compared to other series.

 

[fantadomat]

M&M III onwards game boxes always seem very well treated by the pass of time compared to other series.

Because they are superior to other series!

 

[Luzur]

M&M III onwards game boxes always seem very well treated by the pass of time compared to other series.

Mine have been taped and fixed though, they been around for a long time now, years in piles on a shelf under my computer, some years on a shelf next to my computer, then alot of years in a box in the attic, then now up on shelves again. I also accidently sat on the lid to MM2 once as a kid, so thats been glued together again.

It all looks like this atm:

bigger pic https://postimg.cc/YGpkW1fN

 

[Luzur]

Greetings,

I've setup a Discord server for Might & Magic related discussion with the hope it'll help in keeping the community alive.

Invite link: https://discord.gg/tBj4qF5 (If you're unfamiliar with Discord, simply follow the link to join -- by default the browser-based client is used, however desktop and mobile versions are also available)

All are welcome to join.

 

[Luzur]

Hey folks, I wanted to present a project of mine that occupies my time recently. It is a re-writing from scratch (no decompilation) of an engine to play Might and Magic 6, 7 and 8. The engine requires original game data, so you must legally own the game. It is just an executable (plus some data files) that you can drop in the game folder (say bought from GoG) and run it. It is a modern rendering of the 20+ years old games.

The video below contains playing MM7, MM6 and MM8 (to show that it works with all of them).

https://youtu.be/oCvSdejAO9I

There have been other efforts to bring MM 6,7 and 8 games to present but mine is different because
- it does not recreate the levels using Unreal/Unity/etc level editor, it depends on the original game data. This means it is not gray area legal and also it means every stone and rock is where they are supposed to be
- it actually is playable: scripting works, fighting works, traveling works, UI (mostly) works, and many other game mechanics work (NOTE there is still a lot missing, I am not claiming a full game(s)!)

It is done using my own engine, because I wanted the challenge. It is cross platform, so if anything, it will make MM 6,7,8 be playable on a lot of OS's (uses OpenGL for graphics).

Here is more YouTube blurb:

Might and Magic is © Ubisoft. I do not claim copyright over the game. This is just a demo using original games files (legally owned). This is not a product, just a video of a private demo. It just shows what you can do with some sweat and passion to bring those old games back to life.

This is a re-render of Might and Magic 6, 7 and 8 using my own engine. The levels are not recreated, all modifications are done on the fly. Most of the games logic works (fighting, scripting, inventory, AI, time management, travel between areas, etc). A lot of data had to be reversed engineered. See NOTE for thanks. See below for a list of technical upgrades.

• 
  * on the fly re-tessellation of the ground using "Phong tessellation"

• 
  * better lighting and normal smoothing

• 
  * replacement of some sprites (trees, flowers, rocks) with 3D objects

• 
  * shadows (shadow mapping)

• 
  * sun position/time of day based lights and shadows

• 
  * better sky, shader based (thanks Shadertoy)

• 
  * DOF (depth of field) effect

• 
  * added details that lacked before (grass, random rocks, etc)

• 
  * and many others

NOTE: this could never have happened without previous work done by the authors of "World of Might and Magic" (great software BTW), Greyface's work on Might and Magic games, MM7Viewer authors, mm_mapview2 authors and everyone else who delved on the internals of those games. THANK YOU!

 

[Luzur]

Quick test of ESRGAN upscaling possibilities.

And I see that Hardware Accelerated Mode is future

(second screen is from this mode).

Rebirth of M&M8
M&M7 Extended Edition
Monsters Portraits script v1.1

 

[Luzur]

by Templayer » Sun Jul 12, 2020 1:34 pm

Hello everyone!

I haven't been on this forum for months now. This single thread is unmanageable for me.

A while back I made my custom forums for that reason, with many subforums and sections.

If you wish for your ideas and bug reports to be made into GitLab Issues, please post on my forum as well.

There are many languages and forum visual styles to choose from, the blackboard one is the default. The eighties style is hilarious. Also I stole this forum's smiley package and made it much bigger. Tehehee!

Account activation is manual for now.

Forum for the Merge:
http://www.templayer.cz/Forum/viewforum.php?f=7

The unfinished website (which will have the forum in a frame):
http://www.mmmerge.templayer.cz/

Yes, the eye of the dracolich is watching you.

GitLab Issues:
https://gitlab.com/templayer/mmmerge/-/issues

Azon_PL wrote:In each Might and Magic game there is a lot of artifacts and unique items that look just as regular equipment.
I thoght I could add a little uniques to some of them just by recoloring and small edits. Examples:

Elven Chainmail

->

Medusa's Mirror

->

Grognard's Cutlass

->

Is there any desire from the community for adding something like that to the mm678 merge ar should they stay vanilla.

Those are awesome! I actually wanted to do the very same thing, but your edits are awesome! Please join us on GitLab!
Here's the Issue where you can put them (it also contains all the game's source files for MM6 "copypasted" equipment):
https://gitlab.com/templayer/mmmerge/-/issues/686

Roxterat wrote:
cthscr wrote:So, how does stealing work in MM7?
(I need formulas, numbers and nuances, ctrl+click is kinda known thing)

May I ask how did you made Stealing happen? I tried to include it but simply giving it to a character, including it in a skill table did not worked.. what should I do?
Use the Community Branch version at GitLab. Stealing was reverse-engineered back into the game by cthscr. You would need to be able to code in assembly to do that.

 

[Luzur]

ALL MODDERS READ!!Major untapped modding potental for MM9

Hello everyone, first and formost this is important for modders of all types, major or minor. This topic is not joking, there is huging modding potentioal avalible for might and magic 9 that you probley dont even know about, and you start modding it pretty darn easily today, so please bear with me a take the moment to read throughtly and carefully and excuse any spelling/grammer mistakes through-out.

Now I know your probley asking one of two questions, okay how, and who the hell are you? First my name is Quickshot14 i am an avid modder and gamer and a huge might and magic fan, i've played all might and magics starting from 2 to 9. Also most all heros of might and magic even ubisofts new might and magics. For you mm6-8 fans, i've played and finshed, mm6 and mm7 and i have finshed world of xeen (mm4&5) countless times as well. (in its orignal 3.5 format, to first cd format to last format and even tocuhed swords of xeen a bit) so i've been around.

Like all of you, I was very very let down with might and magic 9 and like all of you i pretty much was upset that 3do and NWC died. And thou I enjoy a lot of rpgs like morrwind and oblivion, I love might and magic, because of its old school rpg flavor, and most important the party aspect of the game. Theres nothing i love more then getting make my own party and name it my family and freinds. Just makes it more fun and thats the thing i think of for might and magic, its more about your acutal party stats and skills then just there euipment,

But on to the main event, so love or hate or indiffrent to might and magic ix, theres a huge modding potentional that pretty much everyone doesnt know about. First i bought mm9 when it first came out and even dled the orignal patch, as anyone knows the game is still very buggy with this patch and in most cases totaly unplayable (particlaury conversionations and the promotions) I got fairly far in my orignal playthrough till I hit one of thoese moments and i just put it on the shelf, never to htink of again. I did try to bring it down once but there was a major nvida or some sort of driver issue that didnt make the game run. I put it back on the shelf expecting never to really play it again witch is a shame, its not the best mm ever but it wasnt the worst (thats crusaders of mm period lol)

So here i am sooooo many years latter and i happen upon RPGenies youtube page, for thoese who dont know RPGenie has been playing all the might and magics and puting full length parts of the gameplay up for all to see its really quite neat, then I saw he was playing 9 so i figured i'd give it a check cause I was wondering how. As i'm watching the first video after the very lame intro cinmatic, hes showing a version 1.3 in his might and magic and talking about an unoffical patch. Now I knew and know the modding scene is a buzz for mm but its been strickly 6-8 and nothing for nine. So I did a search and found TELPS 1.3 un-offical patch, what this does is fixes a lot of bugs in the game to at least make it totaly playable (all thoese conversation bugs and esppicaly promotion ones are totaly fixed theres still other bugs and of course fallign through the world is always a rare possiblty) so I picked it up reall small easy to install and played.

I got more curious as they were planing on a 1.4 to acutally add mroe fixes and such to the gameplay and everything so I looked into it. Apprenlty its been prety much delayed but I got info on how to get some tools to mod MM9. Again bear with me, for thoese who dont know MM9 was built/runs on a version of the Lithtech engine. Used for various games (system shock 2, no one lives forever, alien vs preadator 2 etc) the link to the tools is for no one lives forveer tool uttiles that was released. Obviously none were relased for might and magic 9 becuase 3do and NWC went by by.

But intrestingly enough, no ones lives forever lilthtech engine is about the same as might and magic 9's. The tools include pretty much everything you need to mod, some tutorials, model program import/exports, a model editor/viewer, a map/world editor viewer and so on. The most important thing is the rez tool. For thoese who do not know all game files are storted in a rez file format, witch is a type of compresed format, this tools allows the user to export and import and create new rez files easily (its a cmd prompt tool)

So with these tools we can export everything out of the might and magic 9 rez files, sounds, voices, scripts, levels, textures, sprites, models, skins, ui etc. you will find all these files are pretty easy and usable to edit, for example all voice files are waves all sound files are waves, all textures are dtx's all sprites are spr files, all skins are dtxs and so on. The most important parts here, the scripts and data information are all uncompolied easy to read and editable. All scripts are in pure format heres a code snipet for exmaple from one of the files (BANKORB.INC)


CODE: SELECT ALL

;--------------------------------------------------
;BankOrb.inc
; timmy
; handles Fiachna A'Lanth for the Orb of Linking
;
; edited by Bones 6/12/02
; TELP Patch 1.3 -- prevents Fiachna from taking extra orbs
; (except for one extra at quest completion)
;--------------------------------------------------
#include globals.inc

#number nKey
#String sLocation

#number nRude
#number nKey2

; flag variables
#number Visible = 1
#number Solid = 8192
#number Gravity = 131072

;Parameters

;p0 the key to CheckFor when player placed the orb



;--------------------------------------------------
:OnRude
;--------------------------------------------------


haskey 330 g_ntemp
if (g_ntemp==TRUE)
takekey 330
haskey nKey g_ntemp
if (g_ntemp==TRUE)
Playsound sounds\events\quest.wav, DoNothing, 100, 24000, FALSE, 100
takeitem 252
givekey nKey2
Gosub CheckAll
endif
endif
exit
As you can see its pretty lua/c based in format. The script files come in two types, .inc and .scr these are obvious to anyone whos done most scripting, .inc are include files and .scr are source files. ALL of these and i mean all are uncompressed and editable!! This includes and probley isnt limted to, the ai functionlay, conversations, quests, traps, doors, factions etc. anything thats scripted is here ready to play with. The reason these files are so open is because NWC left them that way. Acording to what I read and understand, since NWC was pressed by 3do for time to get this out in order to try and make a profit to stay afloat, they lost an extra 2-3 months of 12 hour working days on the game. So of course a lot was left unfished, slopply thrown togetehr and so on, but they left pretty much everything, ESPPICALy these script files totaly open so they could easly patch and make changes/fixes and so on latter on (like they did for 1.2 just before 3do went bankrupt)

Now modders if that alone dosnt wet your appiatate theres even more, but just to wrap you head around what this means let me put it this way, were looking a good code changes for a lot of diffrent things, not just bug fixing, but the possiblites are big and small. A small example would be the adjustment of hireable npcs in the game, making them not only more cost worthy but usable, to large, adding a new quest line or even new ai for example. So now lets move on to the next important part that is also script related but is not pure script and is simple just noted as DATA. I'm happy to say this is fully editable and has even more potetional in conjuction with scritping. most of these data files if there not a script is all pretty much in a table or CSV format.

A simple example is the .rude files. These files despiste there funny name deal with npcs conversations, there all in a table or CSV format. Heres an example of one of the files. (NPC4.RUDE) (this is displayed in its pure format from notepad)
CODE: SELECT ALL

4,999,1,"Goodbye.","goodbye",-1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
4,2,1,"We have one of those.","Somewhere on the Isle of Ashes, inside the ruins of Verhoffin's Tower is his diary. We are very interested in what the diary might contain regarding what he did. Retrieve this for us, and you shall become Mages.",13,205,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
4,5,1,"Sorry to bother you.","You are not sorry, but certainly bothersome. Good day.",999,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
4,4,1,"We wish to become Mages.","Our tasks are reserved for those Scholars who would become Mages.",2,205,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,2082,0,0,0,0,4,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
4,3,1,"We will take this quest.","Then do not dally. Good luck.",997,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,4,0,0,0,0,285,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
4,997,1,"Goodbye.","asdf",-14,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
4,20,1,"We found a silver one.","Oh my! This is terribly interesting. We better get to work on this right away!",4,281,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,286,0,0,0,0,286,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
4,13,1,"You want us to get it for you?","Yes. There are some reports that it may not be in the Verhoffin Ruins at all, and that it is actually in Drangheim. Wherever it is, find it and bring it here.",3,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
4,2,2,"We don't have one of those, but perhaps we could work for you.","Our tasks are reserved for Scholars only.",5,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0

Most other files are like this as well, for example there are simple .TXT files that are CSV format that contain things such as AISPAWN, MASTERITEMLIST, MONSTERS, SPELLS, PCVOICES, WEAPONS and much more. And if that isnt enough for you lets move on the acutal interface now.

All interface art files are .PCX format, And animations for such as the loading screen or just button highlighting seem to be controeld by simple text files. For example, The boat for the loading screen, is contained in the ART/LOADSCREEN directory, there is 3 files, 2 pcx's and 1 txt file. The pcx fles are of the boat going left and back right and the txt file seems to be a controler for it. Loading
CODE: SELECT ALL

All ya gotta do is make the little boat move right and left in
the space provided. Use the "Right" boat when moving right and the
"Left" boad when moving left.

Boat Space 298x 346y 209x36

Yippy skippy!
Obviously i'm not 100% sure but thats some intresting stuff.

So far so good right, you can feel the possiblites in your head but theres still a couple major points we havnt addresed, models obviousl and the most important levels(or worlds as lithtech likes to call them)

So first the models seem totlay open and changeable/editiable, as i said the tools come with some exporters (for some olders 3d programes but its there) these shoudl owrk fine and theres an entire viewer/editor of some sort, i havnt played around with this that much yet.

So this brings us to the levels/worlds. And this is where things seem to hit a bit of a hurdle, so let me explain this throughlty. There are two file formats for level/world files. Theres a .ED file, witch is an uncomplied editor read version of the world/level, this allows the included edtior tool to open and view the world/level and is fully editable. From there it gets complied using another included tool (called processor.exe) into a .DAT file, this is much larger and is used specfilty for running in the game engine/playtime.

So whats the problem here? All .DAT files are included and intact, but only a handfull of .ED files are included, and unforuntly none of them are major outdoor/city areas. There are still some .ED files of note here, particlary the 1000TERRORS and CHASMOFTHEDEAD levels/worlds are of particualr note, also included are the ANSKRAMKEEP, ARSLEGARDCITY, BATHHOUSE, BEETHOVEN and BOOTCAMP(witch i belive is the first starting island) are all included and fully editable with the editor tool. So theres plenty there to play with and learn from. BUT the major issue here, for at leats thoese looking to learn/do/change major world/level areas we dont have the orignal .ED format to edit and all my attempts to look for anyway to convert a complied .DAT level back to .ED has been in vain.

So this is probley the only major obvious hurdle right now that I can see for might and magic 9 editing, and it can only really be resovled one of three ways. The first and most obvious and hard way is just remaking these level from scratch, witch i see no reason it couldnt be done...it would of course be very hard since a lot of the refrences and such needed would have to been doen and its deifnlty the most time consuming.

The second and third and the biggest possiblity I belive with this mm modding community, one of two 3rd party programs. The first being a compiled map editor of some sort, in other words a way to edit/add spawn points and things of that nature. The other witch i think is the best soultion and should be able to do with the resources we have is a decompiler from a compiled .dat map back to a .ed format. These 3 seem like the most obvious solution to this problem. Beside this there is still huge possiblites, brand new worlds/levels should be and i belive are totaly possible!

So this is all the extent that I know so far, I have been draging myself all over the net the last 24 hours looking for more info but there isnt much if any, and it seems like all our major modders here didnt even have a clue (like me) that mm9 was even editable let a lone a lot easier the any of mm6-8 and if you need one final reason for modding mm9, i dont see any reason wht a tc of mm6 or 7 or 8 into 9 couldnt be at least a very good possiblity???!!! And if anything we can make the game better, hell the TELP patch alone as deifnlty made the game at least funner.

So this is my plea and information to you the MM community and modding community a like, BDJ, mastero, and everyone whos up, take a look at this seriously for yourself, i will continue my investagations as I can, i'm a bit limted since I dont have some software installed (i guess its baout time i reinstalled photoshop already) and i'm not very profecitnt and this is definlty no a one person job. I know if we all poke our heads into it we will see just how deep the rabit hole goes and we already have a porven working and knowing mod with the TELP 1.3 patch. It works, it runs, it simple, no exe hacking needed no changes to the exe and it dosnt even break older game saves (read up on it for more) so lets all check it out.

I thank you for taking the time to read all this and i hope your as excited about the potentional here as I am getting, i know it would be a lot of fun, and yes the engine isnt the greatest but netheir is mm6-8 as well. So please take a look.

Here are the links:
To the No One Lives Forever Tools to use: CLICK HERE
To the TELPs 1.3 Patch page: CLICK HERE
To the TELPs forum with some refrences of the info i found: CLICK HERE
To RPGenie's Youtube page for mm9 gameplay w/ 1.3 patch): CLICK HERE
To My Blogs Youtube page (also w/ mm9 gaemplay w/ 1.3 patch): CLICK HERE

comments questions etc please ask. Thanks.

 

[Robber Baron]

The task of fixing MM9 is akin to making a whole new game from the ground. On Lithtech. Do people really want that?

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

Let me get this straight, before we get a fairly easy way of modding MM6-8, we get a fairly easy way of modding MM9.
I'm still okay with it though.

 

[J_C]

There's also swords of Xeen which started as a mod made by professionals but still.

Swords of Xeen is a bonus game in the 1995 Might and Magic Trilogy compilation (the trilogy refers to Might and Magic III, IV, and V).[7] It was developed by Catware.[8] Subsequently, it was also included in several series anthologies. The game was never published in standalone form.

The game began as a mod based on the Might and Magic V engine. Personalities from Catware were responsible for leading the modding effort, with story contributions from Ellen Beeman. As development progressed, collaboration with New World Computing was established, and the mod received publishing support. Swords of Xeen exploits some quirks of the engine to great effect, such as morphing monsters by using the regular animation of one monster and the attack animation of another. The game also contains bugs in scripting, which allow the player to bypass many encounters by walking sideways.

Swords of Xeen takes place on an entirely new world that is under attack by 'The Source', which claims to be the genius behind Alamar, the main enemy of Might and Magic V.

The game's graphics and sound, which had not changed from Might and Magic V, were dated.[7] However, the game was praised for its gameplay, receiving a 4/5 from one review.[7]

It'd be great to be able to mod sound effects, like replacing them by M&M 8 ones.

Thanks for the info bro, but i already know of it LOL

 

[azimovhaas8 (Moth)]

I have multiple candidates for best Might and Magic game in series - and from M&M games i played and completed, here is no really mediocre or bad games. Some games still really stand out by quality and other's plagued by their own set of problems.
Never played M&M 9 till completion [and 9-th part requires so much rework that it is easier to just create new game completely from scratch] - and did not touched M&M 10 (probably will complete M&M 10 at some point in future), so i do not going to rate them.

Everything is pretty subjective and probably nothing really new for experienced players here. Still, maybe this text will give interesting throughts or ideas to *somebody* out there! : ]

In short: M&M 6 > M&M 1 > M&M 4-5 > M&M 3 > M&M 2 = M&M 7 > M&M 8...
Let's start with the top.
Might and Magic 6: Mandate of Heavens -> (+) Well made and detailed world map full of secrets, big enough dungeons to satisfy most players (and not as gigant as in Daggerfall, for example) - exploration of different places on map is usually worth it. Almost all dungeons (excpet for 2, if i'm not mistaken) are connected with main-game progression or side-quests. Skill system, potion creation process, along with combat are intuitive and easy to grasp - yet combat challenging and interesting, for most lenght of game (depends on party composition). Main plot serves it purpose - sci-fi elements are well integrated. Game feels completed even with some minor problems and production quality is HERE.
(~) Some elements of combat work much better in different mod (precision requiring spells with turn-based mod - and futuristic weapons with real-time combat).
(-) Game get slightly repetetive near middle-part of game, before mass destruction spells such as Meteor Shower. Problems with game balance (magical paths disbalance - looking at Earth spells first and foremost; Knight class loses it's charm fairly quickly). Slightly clunky controls - fixable with GreyFace patch*

Might and Magic 1: Secret of Inner Sanctum -> (+) Most interesting and tactical combat in whole series without need to resort for "cheeze" for game completion (party members positions matters a lot, spell-casters will gain useful spells with levels). Positional magic (jump, etherialize) have important uses; interesting puzzles. After player will understand gameplay framework - here is a lot of cool stuff to do (Epic Beasts, side-quests for high-level characters such as quest for visiting all castles). All classes are balanced between themselves (even hybrid classes, like archer or paladin). Extreme amount of items for it's time. Ability to triviliaze a game.
(~) Main Plot is *cryptic* and player need to be responsive for environment. Some plot-relevant items can be lost forever.
(-) Astral Plane is something that does not give any nice memories to me. Tedious grind between levels 10 and 12 by slaughtering hordes of Wyverns.

Might and Magic 4-5: World of Xeen - > (+) General atmosphere of game is closest to good fairy-tale! Darkside of Xeen is more interesting design wise, darker - while Lightside of Xeen is more comforting. Game world is interconnected; most places and landmarks serve their purpose. Skills system and combat are intuitive. Quests and dungeons are gorgeous. Probably one of the best points to make people hooked on old CRPG's! Process of creating your own castle and game progression. Quality of life features.
(-) Combat and game difficulty is extremly easy, sadly - hard for me to personally feel myself as saviour of world. Some "bonus" dungeons are not very well made.

Might and Magic 3: Isles of terra -> (+) Moderately easy, but not to a point of it being bad. Druids / rangers as new classes with their own magical path being new and interesting addition to a series. System of hirelings reworked, compared to M&M 2. World is genuily interesting to explore - personally, fire-themed center of map is my favorite place. Quality of life features.
(~) Art-style is a bit odd - but it is matter of personal preferences.
(-) Not a huge variety in encounters, most monsters does not provide interesting opportunities. Melee themed attacks generally are superior to magic, as long magic is not required.

Might and Magic 2: Gates to Another World -> (+) Hardest possible encounters in whole series (ton of devil kings near end of game, even if they're bypassable, for example) and generally great deal of danger. Bribery is present opportunity and can save time to player. Great side-quests with rescuing bishops from castles. Time travel and ability to enter elemental planes; class "promotion" quests. Items and spell combinations.
(~) Many elements and features that are persisnet in later games (such as Lloyd Beacon that player going to get from wizard himself) are here, but may seem under-developed. Magic system uses both auto-aquired spells with leveling and spells that can be aquired only at special palces, encounters or need to be bought in temples / guilds. Final puzzle.
(-) Largest amount of "cheeze" required to finish a game with comfort in whole series. Overhelming amount of enemies in single encounter, later in the game. Economy (money and gems) lose importance after areas full of dragons.

Might and Magic 7: For Blood and Honor -> (+) Balance between classes with new skills helping it (arm-master for melee classes, alchemy with druids being best in it and stealing being a niche class for thief). Fast paced gameplay and story progression, good for testing out some tactics and challenge runs. Game combat, skills, economy feel almost the same as in most modern games. Arcomage tournament!
(~) Choice between Dark and Light side is not overly significant, but have some impact to add for replayability.
(-) Ranger is a joke class; open areas design and dungeons lack in design and variety. Very short lenght of game; uniteresting and slightly ugly final "dungeon". Felt slightly easy; cleric is almost *too* strong.

Might and Magic 8: Day of the Destroyer - > (+) Good system with how player can recruit new members of party during the game. Elemental planes of Fire and Air. Game combat, skills, economy feel almost the same as in most modern games. Harder, compared to M&M 7. Monster variety is OK.
(~) Dungeons are very short, compared to both 6-th and even 7-th parts, but contain some neat puzzles. Some people like short dungeons : >
(-) Game balance (dragons are too strong, minotaurs are close to being a joke, for example). Elemental planes of Earth and Water. Final "puzzle" and final area. Game lenght is atrociuosly short.


Again - this is just how i feel about individual games, in general.
Cheers! : ]

 

[Eisen]

Do you guys use/used the cluebook?