Revisiting Might and Magic 7 or 8

[duerer]

Hi Codexites,

following my bad habit of visiting old-school RPGs I've missed for some reason in the past, I am looking forward to investigate the Might and Magic series.

Currently I am playing World of Xeen but I want to try out a "newer" MM too - but can't decide between MM7 and MM8.

What I've heard/seen so far:
MM6:
MM7 is MM6 with extra polish, so skip it...

MM7:
+: Upbeat tone
+: permanent party members
-: no user labels in automap
?: thin story? (not sure about it - I'm still in Emerald Isle)

MM8:
+: more atmospheric
+: better automap & journal
-: over-dependance on hirelings
-: jumping puzzles
?: better story? (not sure about it - I'm still in Ravenshore)
?: better dungeon structure? (not sure about it - but the first one is small and interesting)

Any *objective* long-term recommendations for a MM-newbie who doesn't care about MM6 but hugely enjoys WoX?

 

[Wyrmlord]

If you enjoy WoX, go back further to MM3, Isles Of Terra, if you have not played it.

There's a whole bunch of stuff in Isles Of Terra which you do not see in World Of Xeen, like a party of 8 with 2 recruitables. It's also a far tighter and harder game, with more content packed into each area.

I tried out MM6 very recently, and I have been unimpressed. It removes the turn-based combat of previous MM games with twitchy real-time, and although there is a turn-based mode, it is very stilted, and requires you to switch to while in real-time, so fights end up being a matter of how quickly you press Enter and get into turn-based, because if you do so too late, the enemy may already have attacked you in real-time.

 

[Andhaira]

Wyrmlord, you can set it up so combat is always turnbased in MM6. The turnbased combat is similar to how it is in World of Xeen.

@OP: Play MM7 first. Its the best MM game. Huge world, freeform structure, and two distinct paths (good/evil) to take. It also has a great minigame called Arco mage (though MM8 also has it)

 

[Wyrmlord]

It still lacks any quantifiable precision.

In older MM, when you see that the enemy rogue is 5 tiles away from you, you know that you can do 5 ranged attacks/spells before you engage each other in meelee.

In the newer ones, you can't calculate this. Hell, it is also difficult to see how far the enemy is from you, because sometimes it will seem like he is at a distance, but you see that he is attacking you in meelee.

 

[duerer]

Thanks guys for the tip!

As for MM3, I've played it for a while back then - I agree that it is a very cool game!
(Actually the sweet memories of MM3 were the main reason why my interest returned back to the MM series)

However, now I'm a bit jaded, so the luxury of a better journal in MM:WoX is a definite plus for me -- and that's the main incentive to try out the more recent ones.

IMHO, the real-time/turn based thing is very annoying at first, but soon I realized a cheap tactic: shoot the enemy from a distance in real-time, then finish off in turn based mode... Yeah, it's different than I got used to in WoX... just hope the game does compensate it in the long-term with cool puzzles/dungeons and an interesting story...

 

[Luzur]

play them all,from MM1 to MM9, like i would.

but if you are hard-core on the graphics MM1 and MM2 could be a little...different.

 

[Serious_Business]

Are you kidding? Don't play that boring inane shit, go to the gym instead

Jesus christ

 

[Wyrmlord]

Are you kidding? Don't play that boring inane shit, go to the gym instead

Jesus christ

I don't know what is more annoying - your sporadic random statements every once in a million years or your refusal to die.

 

[Luzur]

Are you kidding? Don't play that boring inane shit, go to the gym instead

Jesus christ

so why are you not at the gym instead of posting here? hmmm?

 

[duerer]

Now I get it.
Hack&slash fanatics wanna slaughter trolls!

 

[SkeleTony]

Now I get it.
Hack&slash fanatics wanna slaughter trolls!

*Chuckles*

That was pretty good...*salutes*


Bust seriously, M&M 7 is better than M&M 6 for several reasons. Not stuck playing all humans, more classes, better dungeons, that card game you can play at taverns and I am too stoned to remember the name of right now... etc.
And M&M 8 is just fucking TERRIBLE! Not only did they do that stupid thing of 'Races = classes'(re: you choose to play either several different types of humans such as warriors, rogues, mages etc but can also play minotaurs and dragons(yes...FUCKING DRAGONS!) and such(with NO variation in roles) as 'classes'.) but that old build engine rip-off looks absurd in the year 2000(which is when the game was released (IIRC) and the dungeons(which I admittedly did not get through many) seem to be stupid from what I have read in reviews and guides and such online.
M&M 9 is actually better than this game(after you apply the fan-made patches).

 

[Wyrmlord]

SkeleTony, didn't Realms Of Arkania also have that Race = Class element?

I always thought it was wierd.

The list of classes would have names like 'Huntress', 'Fighter', 'Thorwalian', and 'Dwarf'. As if being a fighter precludes being human and being born a dwarf also determines 'dwarf' to be your profession. It seems as if they did this as a way of being faithful to the setting or something.

 

[Micormic]

Now I get it.
Hack&slash fanatics wanna slaughter trolls!

*Chuckles*

That was pretty good...*salutes*


Bust seriously, M&M 7 is better than M&M 6 for several reasons. Not stuck playing all humans, more classes, better dungeons, that card game you can play at taverns and I am too stoned to remember the name of right now... etc.
And M&M 8 is just fucking TERRIBLE! Not only did they do that stupid thing of 'Races = classes'(re: you choose to play either several different types of humans such as warriors, rogues, mages etc but can also play minotaurs and dragons(yes...FUCKING DRAGONS!) and such(with NO variation in roles) as 'classes'.) but that old build engine rip-off looks absurd in the year 2000(which is when the game was released (IIRC) and the dungeons(which I admittedly did not get through many) seem to be stupid from what I have read in reviews and guides and such online.
M&M 9 is actually better than this game(after you apply the fan-made patches).

you try to hard retard

 

[Jaesun]

play them all,from MM1 to MM9, like i would.

This. Though, I just didn't like 1. *shrug*

 

[duerer]

play them all,from MM1 to MM9, like i would.

Heh, and keep the woman and the children in a cryostasis chamber while doing so?

Anyway, back to the point: as I mentioned before, I *do* like old-school RPGs, but the luxuries of current-gen stuffs spoiled me (automap, journal, etc).

So, here's my confusion: IMHO MM8 does have a cool interface (map with annotations, yeeeah), a somewhat better, more atmospheric start-off, yet it was hated by universally everyone.
On the other hand, MM7's interface is somewhat passable, starts as a ridiculous Monty Python-sytle parody, the very first quest is way off-balanced, but still seems to be the darling of the series...

Am I missing something?

 

[Jaesun]

If you only have time for one, I'd recommend what the faggoty codexers recommend Man Date of Hevan MM VI.

VI or VII don't really have THAT bad of graphics.

Just remember to the the FLY spell ASAP.

 

[Suchy]

M&M6+ are total crap. Really... Oblivion was more fun.

 

[Lurkar]

Arcomage is fucking awesome

 

[Luzur]

play them all,from MM1 to MM9, like i would.

Heh, and keep the woman and the children in a cryostasis chamber while doing so?

Anyway, back to the point: as I mentioned before, I *do* like old-school RPGs, but the luxuries of current-gen stuffs spoiled me (automap, journal, etc).

So, here's my confusion: IMHO MM8 does have a cool interface (map with annotations, yeeeah), a somewhat better, more atmospheric start-off, yet it was hated by universally everyone.
On the other hand, MM7's interface is somewhat passable, starts as a ridiculous Monty Python-sytle parody, the very first quest is way off-balanced, but still seems to be the darling of the series...

Am I missing something?

wife and kids? of course you can play them all even if you had 5 kids and wifes. you simply "make" the time you want to play.

and the darling of the series is World of Xeen, cant get it more perfect then that.

and yep, Fly spell is important and Arcomage must be played.

 

[DaveO]

You could play MM8 and get a chance to meet and/or kill my virtual self. :twisted:

 

[Luzur]

you are in MM8 too? where?

 

[DaveO]

Go check my previous posts, add 2+2(don't come up with 5) and you should be able to figure it out...

 

[Luzur]

so now you send me off on a quest for old posts.

i hope they are all in this thread an not spread all over Codex?

 

[SkeleTony]

SkeleTony, didn't Realms Of Arkania also have that Race = Class element?

I always thought it was wierd.

The list of classes would have names like 'Huntress', 'Fighter', 'Thorwalian', and 'Dwarf'. As if being a fighter precludes being human and being born a dwarf also determines 'dwarf' to be your profession. It seems as if they did this as a way of being faithful to the setting or something.

Came from the original D&D. Ideally a 'Class' is a vocational/occupational archetype and different races/species SHOULD have a variety of 'classes' open to them. RoA was a decent game system in it's own right, sans the silly lack of race distinction(though the insane 'survival' aspect made me lose interest) and the RoA series did not allow you to play dragons and such crap!

 

[SkeleTony]

Now I get it.
Hack&slash fanatics wanna slaughter trolls!

*Chuckles*

That was pretty good...*salutes*


Bust seriously, M&M 7 is better than M&M 6 for several reasons. Not stuck playing all humans, more classes, better dungeons, that card game you can play at taverns and I am too stoned to remember the name of right now... etc.
And M&M 8 is just fucking TERRIBLE! Not only did they do that stupid thing of 'Races = classes'(re: you choose to play either several different types of humans such as warriors, rogues, mages etc but can also play minotaurs and dragons(yes...FUCKING DRAGONS!) and such(with NO variation in roles) as 'classes'.) but that old build engine rip-off looks absurd in the year 2000(which is when the game was released (IIRC) and the dungeons(which I admittedly did not get through many) seem to be stupid from what I have read in reviews and guides and such online.
M&M 9 is actually better than this game(after you apply the fan-made patches).

you try to hard retard

And you don't try hard enough. T-O-O is how you spell "too" as in "You try too hard".

Silly kids...the Warhammer Online servers must be down.