Might and Magic The Might and Magic Discussion Thread

[quot]

I'm accepting that speaking in quotes is the way forward, and just provided some material for tonight's wank bank

 

[Elwro]

Glad to be of service

 

[SkeleTony]

Used the by then WAY outdated M&M 6/7 engine(practically build engine era graphics and this thing was released like in or around 2000-2001 IRC) which is not an issue for me but still...

Still what? the engine was 2 years old in MM8. TWO FUCKING YEARS OLD. There is no "still". Of all the criticisms you can level at MM8, saying "engine was outdated" is high level graphic whoring. Also, MM6 engine did terrain in a way that Build couldn't dream of. Not to mention it was true 3D, unlike Build (which had to rely on tricks. Clever tricks, but still tricks).

I repeat, GRAPHICS DO NOT MATTER TO ME. I STILL PLAY M&M 7. Am playing a game right now in fact. But M&M 6 was criticized fro looking outdated. I ignored those reviews and bought the game and enjoyed it as I knew I would. Then came M&M 7, which used the same engine and got more criticism for being "Build engine era graphics". I enjoyed M&M7 more than almost any game I had played to that point I think.
Then, a full YEAR+ after QUAKE III had been released, 3 years+ after Quake II, M&M 8 was released...still using 2D sprites(no 3D models), no mouse look, etc.

AGAIN, I could not care less about 3D graphics myself but even I had to say "really?!".

M&M 8 was not "true 3D". it was a bizarre mashup of primitive 3D and build engine era sprites. I would have gladly continued playing Duke Nukem 3D with it's 2D sprites and build engine and NEVER have upgraded to 3D if it ran on modern systems well so please refrain from trying to imply I am a "graphics whore". My fucking god man I do 2D tiled icon graphics for top down CRPGS that usually have between 2 and 7 frames of 'animation' TOTAL. My most played CRPGs are fucking Natuk and Helherron(and Nahlakh when it used to run in Dosbox with the D-fend front end)!

 

[Admiral jimbob]

Thinking of starting this series with Might and Magic 7, my friend's been raving about it for years. How does the real time/turn based combat work? Every game I've seen with a choice between the two has ended up with a horrific, imbalanced, bad representation of both (Arcanum, X-Com: Apocalypse). And I'm curious as to how real-time blob combat works at all.

 

[Elwro]

Badly. Use real time to spam arrows from far away. Use turn based when the enemies get close.

 

[DwarvenFood]

how can there be such a contrast between world of xeen and swords of xeen.. 28 vs 0. is there truly a codex general opinion on at least one issue ?

too bad i havent played either. none even. lol.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

Is the turn-based implementation good, at least?

 

[Elwro]

Not really. Exploration and ph4t l00t, pimpin' yo party like it's '95 and Tupac is still with us - that's what the game's best at.

Honestly, exploration in M&M VII can be real fun. The audio CD tracks (you have them, right? You can dl them) make for nice atmosphere. And Arcomage is a good diversion.

 

[Fowyr]

how can there be such a contrast between world of xeen and swords of xeen.. 28 vs 0. is there truly a codex general opinion on at least one issue ?

too bad i havent played either. none even. lol.

Because Swords of Xeen is not part of the series. Afair it started as mod based on M&M5. Everyone and their dog played M&M4/M&M5. But SoX? Not likely.

 

[DaveO]

Swords of Xeen is a fan-based creation and it shows in terms of monster imbalance. There's not much of an ending cinematic either. However, I'd say the difficulty is harder than MM3 and Xeen so that may be a plus to some.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebe07UyXy_8

 

[Darth Roxor]

Basic tactics when encountering a minotaur king that is 49875698475 levels above you:

a) cast protection from magic to render his eradicating ability useless
b) jump on a nearby table where he can't reach you
c) shoot him with ranged weapons for 5 minutes

Profit!

This game is so hilariously broken.

 

[DaveO]

Protection from magic is not in MM6, so you can't rely on that tactic.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Is that so?

 

[DaveO]

Ok, I was expecting Protection from magic in the Light magic school. Looks like MM6 at least made Earth magic more useful.

 

[Sceptic]

M&M 8 was not "true 3D". it was a bizarre mashup of primitive 3D and build engine era sprites.

Ah, you meant the sprites. Well yes, in this respect you're right. What I loved about the MM6-8 engine was the way it could handle both terrain outdoors and dungeons with multiple levels one above the other (TRUE multiple levels, like Quake and unlike Build). Then again I think the game used 2 different rendering engines for outdoors and dungeons.

Anyway I'll withdraw my accusation of graphic whoring and just accuse you of being an outdated-engine-when-it's-used-too-many-times whore

Protection from magic is not in MM6, so you can't rely on that tactic.

There is Prot From Magic in MM6... but it doesn't protect against eradication or any instant-death effects
One more reason why MM6 > MM7

Thinking of starting this series with Might and Magic 7

NO
Start with 3 if you cannot stomach 1. But don't start with 7.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

I've more or less narrowed it down to either World of Xeen, 6 or 7. My gaming time is really limited these days, I don't want to take a while working my way up to the best

 

[Zomg]

Swords of Xeen is a fan-based creation and it shows in terms of monster imbalance. There's not much of an ending cinematic either. However, I'd say the difficulty is harder than MM3 and Xeen so that may be a plus to some.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebe07UyXy_8

Let's keep all the graphics and engine, except we'll use some horrible sound effects compilation disk with annoying noises to replace all the sounds for no reason fuck yes modding is cool

 

[DaveO]

Play Worlds of Xeen for the Best Ending of the entire series.

 

[Darth Roxor]

I've more or less narrowed it down to either World of Xeen, 6 or 7. My gaming time is really limited these days, I don't want to take a while working my way up to the best

World of Xeen is definitely the thing you should try.

 

[Fowyr]

I've more or less narrowed it down to either World of Xeen, 6 or 7. My gaming time is really limited these days, I don't want to take a while working my way up to the best

Try World of Xeen. It's fun and don't very time consuming. I remember finishing M&M5 (with party from M&M4) in three days. Then try M&M6. M&M7 was interesting, especially lichdom , but M&M6 have great world and good dungeons.

 

[Sceptic]

My gaming time is really limited these days, I don't want to take a while working my way up to the best

World of Xeen is definitely the thing you should try.[/quote]
I would've said 3, because that IS one of the best, but if you really must then do as Roxor says and play WOX. Then 6. And only if you want more move on to 7 (and 1, but I doubt you'll make it this far unless you end up with more free time).

 

[Darth Roxor]

I would've said 3, because that IS one of the best, but if you really must then do as Roxor says and play WOX. Then 6. And only if you want more move on to 7 (and 1, but I doubt you'll make it this far unless you end up with more free time).

Xeen is better than Isles of Terra if only because quest items don't clog up your fucking inventory. Otherwise, it's pretty much the same game, actually.

 

[Sceptic]

Xeen is better than Isles of Terra if only because quest items don't clog up your fucking inventory. Otherwise, it's pretty much the same game, actually.

In terms of mechanics? aside from a couple of things (hirelings mostly), yes. In terms of quality of content, atmosphere and so on? Terra trumps Clouds any day of the year. I generally consider Darkside to be the apex of the DOS era (except for very, very, VERY sucky puzzles), but the overall level of WOX gets brought down a tiny notch because of Clouds. Although it gets brought back up again thanks to the WOX-exclusive content (aside from Dungeon of Death) being very good.

Terra had a lot of charm. The world design is brilliant, the riddles are tough, combat is very challenging later on, Maze From Hell is ultimate awesome, and there's even some C&C! well not quite, it really doesn't matter which castle you pick, but it was pretty cool. The pyramids were also very, very awesome in terms of atmosphere. It's also the first game that started really fleshing out the universe.

 

[Darth Roxor]

To be honest, I didn't actually find much difference between Clouds and the Isles, although the archipelago approach in the latter was nice. I never used any hirelings (well, okay, I once got a ranger to cast walk on water). The ending of Terra was also pretty meh.

Another thing that was brought to the table by WOX and I really liked was using the levitation spell for aerial exploration.

As for difficulty... meh. There was pretty much no big difficulty except for gimmicks, like the dragon lord, who was retardedly easily countered with power shield and the said Maze From Hell, which was just a gigantic fest of tediousness - walk 5 steps, meet minotaur, spam implosion, rest, rinse and repeat.

Also:

Pleasant dreams... hahahaha!

 

[Sceptic]

The ending of Terra was also pretty meh.

The ending itself? yeah, it wasn't great, but I didn't mind because the entire endgame sequence in the central pyramid was awesome. And the ending was such an obvious "to be continued". And, to be fair, it was better than 2's and 4's endings combined. Not to mention BOTH were Kill Foozle endings.

Another thing that was brought to the table by WOX and I really liked was using the levitation spell for aerial exploration.

Up on the clouds you mean? yeah that was good. Darkside's entire Skyway (HURR) was a very very awesome idea, especially since it provides alternative entrances into the towers, and in one case it's in the fact the ONLY way to enter the tower (since the key is IN the tower).

As for difficulty... meh. There was pretty much no big difficulty except for gimmicks

You gotta admit the (optional) huge band of Terminators was a pretty awesome fight.

Also:

Pleasant dreams... hahahaha!

Alamar Sheltem is the best
And yes that was a gigantic spoiler

COME TO ME!