Any Might and Magic fans here?

[7800Knight]

Any fans of the original Might and Magic series here?  

 

I've played the Genesis port of MM2 as well as the computer versions of MM3, 4 and 5.  The only one I ever beat?  It's MM3.  I've beaten that game twice.  Seriously, I love the wide open sandbox feature of the game.  You have a whole world to explore full of towns, castle, dungeons, monsters, treasures and traps.

 

To be honest, the thing I didn't like about Might and Magic 3 was trying to figure out how to win the game.  It took a walkthrough to find out all the conditions needed to actually beat the game.

[jhd]

I briefly played the original BITD. I had a copy from a friend, so I had no documentation whatsoever. Magic was selected by spell number so without the manual it was almost unplayable. I managed to map the starting town and part of the wilderness before abandoning the game in frustration. 

 

Today, I am more interested in console games, so I will check-out the Genesis version. 

[7800Knight]

The Sega Genesis port of MM2 is pretty good.  We have online walkthroughs now to get through as well as longplay videos on YouTube.  Of course, if you know the tricks of how to level up quickly, grab tons of gold and get good weapons, the game becomes much easier!     

 

 

[youxia]

I was a huge fan of this cRPG style and did really want to play them, but somewhow missed them in my Amiga days. Only got a PC in the late Nineties, and by then they were a bit outdated. I think I did play one of the later, "proper" 3D ones (M&M 9?), for a bit though.

 

I keep telling myself that I will go thorugh them (and Wizardry too) one of these days, but the truth is, it's unlikely to happen. I did start on Bard's Tale some time ago and it was fun, but they consume huge amount of time, and the simplistic combat is a big letdown. There are just so many better games in my backlog (eg nearly the whole Goldbox!)....

[BydoEmpire]

I played so much M&M on the Apple 2, I absolutely loved that game.  My older brother bought it for the c64 and went off to college.  He came back at some point and had finished the game. I was a little ticked he finished before me, but TBH I wasn't even close and wouldn't have finished it anyways.  My brother hand-drew maps of every dungeon on graph paper - which I still have.  They're awesome to see.

 

Great game, though. I still have the Apple 2 discs and tried it out a couple of years ago - it was freaking hard.  I don't know how I got so far back in the day.  More free time I suppose.

 

I did pick up the M&M collection from GOG.com years ago, too. I've started World of Xeen a couple times but haven't had a chance to really dig in.

Edited March 23, 2021 by BydoEmpire

[newtmonkey]

I finally finished Might & Magic Book 1 (DOS) just last year or so, and really enjoyed it.  It's surprising how massive the game is and how user-friendly the interface is (once you get used to it), considering it was made basically by a single guy in his garage back in 1986.

 

I transferred my party to Might & Magic II, but got burnt out a bit since I played it so quickly after the first and the two games are largely the same in many ways.  I do plan on picking it back up and eventually playing through the entire series.

 

I did play through M&MX several years ago, but didn't like it that much (though I guess I did like it enough to complete it).  It's similar to the first five games on a superficial level (grid-based movement, turn-based combat), but it had very little charm and I didn't care for the modernized combat (focusing on class roles like "tank" and "DPS damage dealer" like in an MMORPG).

 

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Anyone who is looking for a more modern interface for Might & Magic 1-5 should look into the "Where Are We?" automapping tool.  You just point it at your games (or GOG install directories if you have the GOG release of the M&M collection) and it hooks into dosbox to provide an automap as well as a modernized interface for tracking character stats, viewing monster statistics during combat, and even maintaining a quest log!

 

https://www.eskimo.com/~edv/lockscroll/WhereAreWe/

 

It also works with Wizardry 1-5 (DOS) as well as The Bard's Tale 1-3 (DOS).

 

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There have been some fun indie games released over the last few years heavily inspired by the classic M&M series:

 

http://www.silverlemurgames.com/legendsofamberland/

Legends of Amberland is inspired heavily by Might & Magic III, but quite a bit simplified even over that game!  I enjoyed it start to finish, but I felt it wasn't very deep.  It took me just around 15 hours to complete it, and I enjoyed it.

 

http://www.olderbytes.com/

Swords & Sorcery Underworld feels a bit like classic Wizardry mixed with Might & Magic.  I really enjoyed this one a lot, it added some neat wrinkles to Might & Magic 1/2 style combat and was much deeper overall than Amberland, though definitely more linear than that game.  This one took about 20 hours start to finish.

 

Both games are on Steam if anyone is looking for a somewhat modern take on the formula!

Edited March 26, 2021 by newtmonkey

[Hwlngmad]

7 hours ago, newtmonkey said:

I finally finished Might & Magic Book 1 (DOS) just last year or so, and really enjoyed it.  It's surprising how massive the game is and how user-friendly the interface is (once you get used to it), considering it was made basically by a single guy in his garage back in 1986.

 

I transferred my party to Might & Magic II, but got burnt out a bit since I played it so quickly after the first and the two games are largely the same in many ways.  I do plan on picking it back up and eventually playing through the entire series.

 

I did play through M&MX several years ago, but didn't like it that much (though I guess I did like it enough to complete it).  It's similar to the first five games on a superficial level (grid-based movement, turn-based combat), but it had very little charm and I didn't care for the modernized combat (focusing on class roles like "tank" and "DPS damage dealer" like in an MMORPG).

 

---

 

Anyone who is looking for a more modern interface for Might & Magic 1-5 should look into the "Where Are We?" automapping tool.  You just point it at your games (or GOG install directories if you have the GOG release of the M&M collection) and it hooks into dosbox to provide an automap as well as a modernized interface for tracking character stats, viewing monster statistics during combat, and even maintaining a quest log!

 

https://www.eskimo.com/~edv/lockscroll/WhereAreWe/

 

It also works with Wizardry 1-5 (DOS) as well as The Bard's Tale 1-3 (DOS).

 

---

 

There have been some fun indie games released over the last few years heavily inspired by the classic M&M series:

 

http://www.silverlemurgames.com/legendsofamberland/

Legends of Amberland is inspired heavily by Might & Magic III, but quite a bit simplified even over that game!  I enjoyed it start to finish, but I felt it wasn't very deep.  It took me just around 15 hours to complete it, and I enjoyed it.

 

http://www.olderbytes.com/

Swords & Sorcery Underworld feels a bit like classic Wizardry mixed with Might & Magic.  I really enjoyed this one a lot, it added some neat wrinkles to Might & Magic 1/2 style combat and was much deeper overall than Amberland, though definitely more linear than that game.  This one took about 20 hours start to finish.

 

Both games are on Steam if anyone is looking for a somewhat modern take on the formula!

Good stuff!  Thanks for sharing.  Much appreciated.

[Hwlngmad]

On 3/22/2021 at 8:43 PM, 7800Knight said:

The Sega Genesis port of MM2 is pretty good.  We have online walkthroughs now to get through as well as longplay videos on YouTube.  Of course, if you know the tricks of how to level up quickly, grab tons of gold and get good weapons, the game becomes much easier!     

 

 

Love the Genesis.  Will have to give this a go sometime.

[7800Knight]

I loved that fountain in Middlegate from MM2.  The game told you "Fanciful Feldecarb Fountain flows full as fluttering fairies frolic fastidiously.  Flick a farthing?"

 

If you tried to but didn't have the Fey Farthing, you'd be told that you have no farthing to flick!  To get the Fey Farthing, you had to donate to all the temples in the five towns.  Once you got the farthing and flicked it, you got the Castle Key.

 

The puzzles in the M&M games were strange.