Might & Magic thread

[Gamerlord]

This is the thread for discussing the good old role playing game series Might and Magic, NOT Heroes of Might and Magic.

To those of you who say "What is Might and Magic?":
I pity the fool! That means you.
http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/m586/Gamerlord2/Oldschool.jpg?t=1299356609
What you see above you is old school roleplaying games, AKA Might & Magic.
Might and Magic was not just a role playing game series, back in the old days it was THE role playing game series, besides other veterans such as Ultimia. And personally, it is my favorite series of them all. The games can be daunting at first, with the utter lack of any tutorial, and the first two can be nightmarish. However, once you get the hang of it, you will find a true gem of a series. If you are interested you can buy it here for $10 (http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/might_and_magic_6_limited_edition)

So, to start the conversation:
What is your favorite game in the series? I personally like World of Xeen the most.

[Morty]

I only played Might & Magic IX, sadly, and as everyone knows, it sucks. I've been meaning to play the older games a few times, but never got around to it.

[factotum]

MM6 and MM7 were definitely the high point of the series, IMHO. The earlier games were just a bit *too* primitive for modern sensibilities, MM8 was too short, and MM9 sucked as mentioned above. If they could only combine MM6 and 7--7 had much better character setup than 6 did, but 6 was definitely the superior game in terms of scope and storyline.

[Morty]

Now that you mention it, I played MM5 for a moment. But as you said, it was just a bit too primitive and user-unfriendly. I might give MM6 and/or MM7 a shot one day...

[Castaras]

MM7 is probably the best imo, but I like MM8 the best. :smallbiggrin:

[Gamerlord]

I only played 1-6, so I cannot comment on 7-9.

[Domochevsky]

Yeah, World of Xeen probably is still my personal favorite... also because of the unique thing it did by merging 4 (Clouds of Xeen) and 5 (Darkside of Xeen) into a single world upon copying a few files. Raw genious. :smallsmile:

I think i also played 6, but can't really remember anything about it. :smallconfused:

[Cespenar]

Have played 6, 7, 8, and I must say, 6-7 are very good games. Hell, I might say 6 got me hooked in the RPG genre in the first place.

[Winterwind]

Only played 3-5, and I still love all three of them. Too primitive? Shush! What's not fun about chasing around planet-destroying robots in a medieval setting, with the ultimate goal of recreating the entire world? :smalltongue:

The only thing I hated? Experience outpacing gold by such a ridiculous margin. Quite soon, experience was no kind of cap whatsoever on the level of one's heroes; only the gold available for training becamme one.

[Gaius Marius]

I have only played Dark Messiah. Am I missing much in term of play quality?

[Domochevsky]

Yeah kinda. Dark Messiah is a fun game in itself, but has little to no connection to the other games in any regard whatsoever.

[factotum]

What Domochevsky said. Dark Messiah was a fun little sneaky FPS kind of thing, but it bore no relation to the main Might and Magic series other than the name.

[drakir_nosslin]

Ohh! MM 7 is one of the biggest nostalgia trips ever. And now I have to play it. Thanks for reminding me! :smallbiggrin:

Awesome game.

[Caustic Soda]

I've only really played MM 6 and 7 myself. I bought a pack with 1-6 off GOG.com, but the first games were too clunky for my taste.
Completely unlike the roguelikes I enjoy, which have transparent and easy-to-get interfaces [/Hypocrisy]

Of the two, I enjoyed MM7 most. The combat system in 7 really is much more balanced than 6, and it doesn't have the annoying "wait around for the equinox" quests for druids. MM6 does have a more interesting world, but OTOH I found many of the dungeons too long. I prefer my hack n'slash in smaller chunks. Of course, nostalgia may well play a part here, since I played 7 first.


I have only played Dark Messiah. Am I missing much in term of play quality?

In part. From my experience with the Dark Messiah demo, it seems to focus more on action and less on the RPG part. The Might and Magic games offer more build options and equipment, but melee combat just involves clicking on your target. so the real question is how much you enjoyed the combat system and sneaking around in Dark Messiah. because the M&M games don't have that.

[drakir_nosslin]

And thanks to this thread I just installed and began playing MM7 again :smalltongue:

Party consists of 3 sorcerers and one cleric. I've never done a all magic party before, so this is going to be interesting. However, I just realized that I'm going to have to fight those damn medusas... So, how do I do that without any fighters with me?

[factotum]

Using bows, arrows, and lots of luck given that none of your characters are very good with those weapons? :smallwink:

[Triaxx]

Nine is the only one I've ever played, but it's tons of fun.

[Gamerlord]

Nine is the only one I've ever played, but it's tons of fun.

Is this sarcasm? I cannot tell.

[Caustic Soda]

And thanks to this thread I just installed and began playing MM7 again :smalltongue:

Party consists of 3 sorcerers and one cleric. I've never done a all magic party before, so this is going to be interesting. However, I just realized that I'm going to have to fight those damn medusas... So, how do I do that without any fighters with me?

Well Medusas don't do all that much damage, the real threat is in their tendency to paralyze/petrify your characters. So get the first cleric promotion and Protection from Magic before doing the mines, add Regeneration to outlast their damage and Heroism and Bless to deal decent damage. Speaking of which, two daggers is the way to go for Sorcerers. Daggers may be the second-weakest weapon type in the game, but that doesn't really matter, because Heroism and Fire Aura are two of the most potent and cost-effective spells in the game, and dual-wielding makes them apply twice. At the cost of only a little more fiddling with fire Aura and the approximately 3000 gold needed per Sorcerer to enable dual-wielding.

[Corlindale]

I love Might & Magic VII - this might in part be due to the nostalgia factor (I played VII first), but I still think it's a fantastic game, and once in a while I pick it up again to try out new and challenging party compositions (4 x Sorceror - one for each element - is great fun, though traps are a real pain until you can get Telekinesis) . One of these days I should really get around to the 4 x Ranger challenge I've been meaning to do.

VI is very good too - I think it has much better music and in general a nicer "mood" than VII, but game-mechanics wise VII is so much more streamlined, and it also has less absurdly huge dungeons (which may of course be both a blessing and a curse). The entire Dark/Light path is also a great element which VI lacks. VI also seems to be more challenging than VII, but that may just be because I know VII like the back of my hand at this point, including the optimal order of doing all the quests - whereas with VI I'm a bit more in the dark.

VIII was decent enough, but disappointing as a follow-up to VI and VII. It also got ridiculously easy pretty quickly - partly because of dragons, partly because of the ability to pick up lvl 50 characters through quests while the rest of your party was very low-level. For example, getting access to the super-useful Fly spell in VII was a very complex matter, because you had to travel to all sorts of dangerous areas to get your Sorceror/Druid promoted first (and it felt really rewarding when you finally got it) - whereas in VIII you just collect a couple of horseshoes, go to Garrote Gorge and recruit the first dragon.

[Triaxx]

Actually it was a typo. I meant 8, but I didn't check and thought it was 9. My bad.

[factotum]

If you've only played 8 you should really try out 6 and 7 as well--same engine, slightly different character advancement, and both longer than 8. Yes, you don't get to play as a dragon, but you can't have everything!

[darkjubs]

MM7 was easily one of my favorite games in middle/high school. I've played through it at least...4 times I think? I bought a pack with the first 7 games or something back around the time 8 came out. I never cared much for the early dos ones, and I had a hard time with 6 for some reason. 8 and 9 definitely weren't as good, but I played through them anyways.

As a side note, see my post here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=10450020&postcount=59) on how to completely break 7 in ways the developers never imagined.

[Caustic Soda]

speaking of glitches and infinite money, there also is the obvious one of using Fire Aura on everything once you get GM Fire Magic. You don't even need someone with merchant skill, going from a 1-gp club to a 2001-gp Club of the Inferno can turn a profit any day of the week.

[Triaxx]

No dragons? For shame.

Besides, they're worth it for the firebreath.

[factotum]

As a side note, see my post here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=10450020&postcount=59) on how to completely break 7 in ways the developers never imagined.

I always liked the entirely deliberate way the developers let you do something similar in MM6. There was a building in the starting town where, if you flew onto the top and clicked the wall at a certain point, you'd be teleported to a shrine in the middle of Dragonsand--you could get from there into the New World Computing dungeon and pick up some nice starting money and loot.

But, of course, you wouldn't have the Fly spell at such a low level, making it impossible to do this! Which is why the developers included a hidden Fly scroll in the town--can't remember exactly where it was, but if you found it, you were nicely set up for a good start to the game.

[BlackSheep]

I first played M&M III when I was a kid. I remember geeking out at how the intro movie actually talked using only the PC speaker. For some reason, IV and V didn't hold my interest as well. When VI came out, though, I made a point of picking up the collector's edition. They took a nice step forward with VII, but I felt like VIII was a bit of a step back. Then IX came around and I somehow managed to muddle through all the way to the very end where it crashed to desktop right at the ending. I "rageuninstalled" it and didn't look at it again for years, before finally picking it back up again and finishing it. The rest of the series had its own unique mythology. I was really disappointed that they went in such a different direction near the end.

[Blayze]

Oh man, I loved 7 when I played it as a kid--but not as much as I loved and abused the HoMaM 2 demo at that same age, even though I could never muster the forces necessary to clear the place on the map I came to refer to as Wizard Island.

Also, did anyone else take the mission to steal from the (Elf, I think?) king and then waltz into his palace and explain what you did to him? Morbid curiosity at its finest, there, Lil' Blayze.

[Winterwind]

I first played M&M III when I was a kid. I remember geeking out at how the intro movie actually talked using only the PC speaker.Oh, yes, that fascinated me too. :smallbiggrin:


For some reason, IV and V didn't hold my interest as well.IV and V were a lot less serious and immersive than III. III had all these descriptions of each area you came to, had a description of every shop and tavern you entered, had prophecies and rhymes all over the walls telling of both future and current events, usually kept a much more serious tone in all of its descriptions and events, and went for a much more epic mood (at least initially). I mean, the first quest in III is freeing a city from the Rat King, who has imprisoned the city's guardian spirit installed there by the gods, and there are statues actually talking about how heroes shall come and vanquish the Rat King and such. The first quest in IV is freeing a city from a bug infestation brought there by the supposed fraudy exterminator, and his involvement is found out by finding his shopping list (which includes monsters and monster chow). This, in a nutshell, is the difference in tone between the two games.

III also was way more difficult. It had all these rhymes and puzzles that required some serious thought to be solved (and often were nigh impossible to solve anyhow); in IV, not only were the puzzles much easier, but you could usually find hints or even outright solutions somewhere, if you just searched long enough.

On the plus side, IV and V had this really epic overarching plot of uniting both sides of the world. And it was nice how IV and V were actually a continuation of the plot of III, though it didn't become clear for a pretty long time (at least, it never occurred to me until I found these crashed space shuttles in V's fire land that Alamar was actually Sheltem :smallredface:).

[pffh]

Oh man I love these games 8 is probably my favorite since it was my first I played the ever loving **** out of that game but one place always eluded me. You see in the town with the big crystal there was a small fenced off area at the root of a mountain (in the northern most part of the town iirc) with a stone door in the ground that according to the text when moused over led to the vault of time.

Did anyone ever manage to open it? I never found a key.

[BlackSheep]

IV and V were a lot less serious and immersive than III...

Ah ha, thank you for that. It's been a while since I played IV or V so I couldn't really remember the details about what made them dissatisfying to me.




Did anyone ever manage to open it? I never found a key.

I believe the key to that was the prize for completing the Obelisk quest. I think it just contained some artifact-quality gear

[Blayze]

Something about murdering a unicorn.

Edit: Also, fellow HoMaM 2 fans: Halflings. Did anyone else field entire armies of these shin-bludgeoning fools as a Necromancer, or is it just me?

[Gamerlord]

GOG is now selling Might & Magic 7 (http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/might_and_magic_7_for_blood_and_honor) Which means they might soon have the whole collection.
/Semi-obvious thread bump

[factotum]

A bit ironic that they put Arcomage as one of the game's cool features--I don't remember most people thinking that when the game was first released. :smallwink:

[pffh]

Hey arcomage is awesome and if I could I would play it in real life :smallcool:

[Blayze]

I used to play the standalone Arcomage game, but sadly--like Castle of the Winds--it doesn't run on my machine any more.

[Winterwind]

I used to play the standalone Arcomage game, but sadly--like Castle of the Winds--it doesn't run on my machine any more.Have you tried running it with DOSBox? Worked wonders for Castle of the Winds for me, anyhow...

[Domochevsky]

Remind me... are any of the games after 5 still turn-based?

[Gamerlord]

Remind me... are any of the games after 5 still turn-based?

Yes and no.

They are by default real-time, but you can have combat go turn-based.

[Slayn82]

Played the series from III to V. Awesome games, althought a tad bit easier than Wizardry series. I mean, Isles of Terra had the arena, where after a few fights, you could end up facing a giant beetle. Hard as nails, but kill him, and you get so many, so many gems, and so much xp, that you are set for the whole remainder of the game.

Now, making your own maps in the ms paint, that was fun.

[factotum]

Have you tried running it with DOSBox? Worked wonders for Castle of the Winds for me, anyhow...

It's a DirectX application, so you'd need a complete Windows install on your DOSBox for that to work. Speaking of which, Castle of the Winds is a Windows app as well, isn't it--how did you run that under DOSBox?

Domochevsky: yes, as stated, you can go into turn-based mode in 6, 7 and 8, but I always felt like that was kind of cheating--made it a lot easier to hit monsters when they were just frozen in mid-air! My usual MO was to equip all my characters with ranged weapons and hold down the attack button until everything was dead, which worked surprisingly well in most cases. :smallwink:

[Triaxx]

How about WINE?

[Blayze]

I've already tried getting drunk enough to hallucinate that I'm playing it. Doesn't quite work; there's a very delicate BAL that needs to be maintained in order to successfully delude myself--too much or too little at any point and the illusion breaks.

Besides, I prefer cider.

[Winterwind]

It's a DirectX application, so you'd need a complete Windows install on your DOSBox for that to work. Speaking of which, Castle of the Winds is a Windows app as well, isn't it--how did you run that under DOSBox?...you know, that's a good question. :smallconfused:

I'll check how I did that when I'm back home. :smallredface:

[Thufir]

Party consists of 3 sorcerers and one cleric. I've never done a all magic party before, so this is going to be interesting. However, I just realized that I'm going to have to fight those damn medusas... So, how do I do that without any fighters with me?

Explain to me when and why you have to fight medusas? Just run past them.


I love Might & Magic VII - this might in part be due to the nostalgia factor (I played VII first), but I still think it's a fantastic game, and once in a while I pick it up again to try out new and challenging party compositions (4 x Sorceror - one for each element - is great fun, though traps are a real pain until you can get Telekinesis) . One of these days I should really get around to the 4 x Ranger challenge I've been meaning to do.

I started games a while back each with four of the same class, one of each race, for every class. Completed the game with knights, got variable ways through on each game, then the game kind of stopped working properly and I haven't sorted it out yet.


A bit ironic that they put Arcomage as one of the game's cool features--I don't remember most people thinking that when the game was first released. :smallwink:

ARCOMAGE IS THE BEST THING EVER.

At some point I'm going to write a lengthy blog post about MM7, and how it's a rather good and fun game, despite having certain important flaws and how some of it could be much more intresting in a tabletop version where they could fully live up to the potential outlined in the descriptions of them.
Oh, and how I started trying to speed run it.

[Triaxx]

Is it not wholly saddening that like Final Fantasy 8, that the cardgame is a more entertaining timesink?

[Balain]

I just recently played mm2 to 8, I plan to play 9, Getting 6 and 7 to play on windows 7 was a pain in the but but got it working. The older ones I played on dosbox or emulators.

Might and Magic was one of the best games in the day. I remember loving the intro to clouds of xeen. When the narrator says something like "...and the peasants were happy" and the peasants say "yay"n a bored, Blasé way.

[Winterwind]

...you know, that's a good question. :smallconfused:

I'll check how I did that when I'm back home. :smallredface:So, yeah, I checked it now, and it turns out I misremembered - I didn't run it in DOSBox, my system simply is capable of running it as is.

That's on both my old (Windows 2000) and new (Windows 7) computer though; I have no idea why it seems to function just fine on anything I put it on when other people apparently have such big problems getting it to run... :smallconfused:


Might and Magic was one of the best games in the day. I remember loving the intro to clouds of xeen. When the narrator says something like "...and the peasants were happy" and the peasants say "yay"n a bored, Blasé way.That intro was seriously one of the most cheesy things ever animated. :smallbiggrin:

[Wookieetank]

Might and magic IV and V were my favorites out of the series. I found the idea of them being on opposite sides of the same flat world quite entertaining and the ability to freely move between the two through portals was a nifty concept. Managed to beat IV without too many problems, but then moving on to V using the characters I beat IV with and getting continually curb stomped kept me from finishing that one. I don't know if I was wandering around in V's version of the dragon lands or what, but for watever reason, it wasn't going well for me. :smallsigh:

[Winterwind]

Might and magic IV and V were my favorites out of the series. I found the idea of them being on opposite sides of the same flat world quite entertaining and the ability to freely move between the two through portals was a nifty concept. Managed to beat IV without too many problems, but then moving on to V using the characters I beat IV with and getting continually curb stomped kept me from finishing that one. I don't know if I was wandering around in V's version of the dragon lands or what, but for watever reason, it wasn't going well for me. :smallsigh:V is pretty tricky in where you are supposed to go in which order. There are plenty of places there (especially up in the clouds) where just a few steps into the wrong direction, with no visible boundaries, can suddenly have you fighting monsters 50 levels higher than a moment before. And it's more difficult than IV anyhow.

[factotum]

That's on both my old (Windows 2000) and new (Windows 7) computer though; I have no idea why it seems to function just fine on anything I put it on when other people apparently have such big problems getting it to run... :smallconfused:


Just a guess here: your Windows 7 machine is 32-bit? One of the things that Microsoft removed from the 64-bit versions of Windows is the ability to run old 16-bit Windows 3.1 applications such as Castle of the Winds.

[Castaras]

I just recently played mm2 to 8, I plan to play 9, Getting 6 and 7 to play on windows 7 was a pain in the but but got it working. The older ones I played on dosbox or emulators.


Just to warn you, 9 is totally different to the other games. For one, it's in very buggy 3d. For another, the voice acting is about a quarter finished. And there's all sorts of bugs. Plus the story isn't that great.

However, game play wise, I love 9's class and magic structures compared to the older MM games.

[Winterwind]

Just a guess here: your Windows 7 machine is 32-bit? One of the things that Microsoft removed from the 64-bit versions of Windows is the ability to run old 16-bit Windows 3.1 applications such as Castle of the Winds.Ah. Yeah, that would be it.

[DBear]

Played the series from III to V. Awesome games, althought a tad bit easier than Wizardry series. .

Dude, anything's easier than the Wizardry series. That it ever got as successful as it did can only mean that many RPG players are in fact masochists.

And really, Darkside of Xeen should be counted as M&M IV part 2.

[Morty]

I decided to buy Might & Magic VII from GoG.com. It'll be a few days before I do that, though, and for now I'm planning my party. Would a team of a Goblin Knight, a Dwarven Ranger, a Human Sorcerer and an Elven Druid work?

[Corlindale]

Would a team of a Goblin Knight, a Dwarven Ranger, a Human Sorcerer and an Elven Druid work?

It would work ok, but you might miss having a Cleric. Access to GM Self magic is a pretty big deal, and since you have a Sorceror for the elemental magic skills anyway you could swap the druid for a cleric without too much of a loss (though GM Alchemy is neat). Generally I always pick a Cleric and a Sorceror for my party, unless I want a challenge.

Also, Ranger is widely considered the weakest class - he's the Jack of All Trades, and in a game where you have a party of 4 that's not all that useful. I might swap him for a Thief or a Monk if I was trying for a more optimal party. Actually, the standard suggested party is quite decent for a first playthrough.

How optimal your party is also depends on whether you choose the Light or Dark path later in the game, but don't stress out about that too much for your first playthrough.

[Morty]

I'm not much into optimization; I like to have a party I feel good playing. I just wanted to know if I'm not crippling myself to the point the game won't be enjoyable. I suppose I can swap the Ranger for a Monk and keep him a Dwarf. I suspected Ranger would be weak, jacks-of-all trades usually are. Or I could make the dwarf a Paladin and the goblin a Thief.

[Caustic Soda]

If you do go for a Monk, be aware that a bug prevents the Staff skill from working properly in conjunction with Unarmed skill. You're *supposed* to be able to use both with GM Staff skill, at the speed of an unarmed attack, but in reality you attack with the speed of a staff. Since staves are some of the weakest as well as the slowest weapons in the game, that means you're likely to reduce your damage output by getting and using GM Staff :smallsigh:.

[Thufir]

Important point to bear in mind: If you don't have a Cleric, there is one fight late on in the game that presents certain difficulties, because the attacks of the enemy in question have an instant eradication effect, which can only be prevented by GM Protection from Magic. However, this can be resolved by taking advantage of slight issues in the enemy AI to kill him while hiding behind a pillar.

@^: Really? Because in my experience, Monk with GM Staff and Unarmed tends to regularly deal >100 per hit. Second only to the Knight in that regard.

[Corlindale]

I'm not much into optimization; I like to have a party I feel good playing. I just wanted to know if I'm not crippling myself to the point the game won't be enjoyable. I suppose I can swap the Ranger for a Monk and keep him a Dwarf. I suspected Ranger would be weak, jacks-of-all trades usually are. Or I could make the dwarf a Paladin and the goblin a Thief.

You're not crippling yourself, that party can certainly complete the game too, and it will be enjoyable :smallsmile:
My first victory was with an odd party of Paladin, Archer, Monk and Sorceror, and that went fine as well. In general it's much easier to manage without a cleric than without a sorceror.

And as for the fight late in the game, you can just steal the thing and get out of there quickly, if you can't beat him without GM Protection. That's how my cleric-less party managed it.

[Morty]

I see. I'll keep the Druid then and the other two will be either a Knight and a Monk or a Paladin and a Thief.

[Castaras]

I personally normally have a party of Goblin Monk, Goblin Rogue, Dwarf Cleric, and Dwarf Druid/Sorcerer. Works well for me. :smallsmile: Although, I've also had an easy time with a Paladin, Rogue, Monk, Druid as well. Rather than use heavy spells, it was more a run in and melee everything in real time. :smallbiggrin:

[factotum]

Rather than use heavy spells, it was more a run in and melee everything in real time. :smallbiggrin:

I rarely used attack spells either, because to use them effectively you have to be in turn-based mode and I didn't like fighting in that mode, as mentioned above. However, having spellcasters who can grant you Hour of Power, Day of the Gods, and all the other top-end buffs doesn't half help in a fight!

[Morty]

Well, I bought and downloaded the M&M7 from GoG.com. I've only played for a while but it's been fun, in an archaic sort of way. I'm having some trouble with the controls, though... they don't seem to respond properly. I'm fighting in the turn-based mode because the real-time combat is a bit confusing. I'm never really sure when the enemies are in melee range and when they're not.

[Caustic Soda]

@^: Really? Because in my experience, Monk with GM Staff and Unarmed tends to regularly deal >100 per hit. Second only to the Knight in that regard.

It does deal more damage per hit. Thing is, your hits will come slower with a staff than without one. Though IIRC the difference is most pronounced in real-time combat

[Domochevsky]

Got myself M&M7 as well and after hassling with it at first (no hardware acceleration or it dies on movies) it now runs ok.

The weird thing is that my party for some reason moves slower when walking in a specific direction (ie South), somewhat sideways in two others (ie West and East) and faster in the last (ie North).
There's double speed differences. Like some external factor applies extra movement in a specific global direction. :smallconfused:

[Maxios]

I'm going to get MM 7 in a few days. Any advice?

[factotum]

There's double speed differences. Like some external factor applies extra movement in a specific global direction. :smallconfused:

You don't have a joystick or control pad plugged in that might be confusing it? Mind you, not noticed that issue myself, and I played MM7 again last year...

[Domochevsky]

You don't have a joystick or control pad plugged in that might be confusing it? Mind you, not noticed that issue myself, and I played MM7 again last year...

Nope. And when i stand still there's no extra movement.

[Cogwheel]

Dude, anything's easier than the Wizardry series.

Arbitrary Horrific Death Simulator ADOM would like to have a word with you.

The word is poisoned, and will kill you.

[Caustic Soda]

I'm going to get MM 7 in a few days. Any advice?

Well the standard party of Knight, thief, Cleric, Sorcerer is quite balanced and powerful, so you may want to start with that. Getting Bow skill for everyone early on can really help with survival. It tends to be more cost-effective to use Heroism, Bless and Fire Aura to boost damage than to use damage spells for most of the game. Likewise, Regeneration > Heal. Dual-wielding is awesome. Try to get to Master Disarm Traps ASAP, unless you enjoy having chests blow up in your face and kill half your party. turn-based combat tends to favor ranged attacks over melee.

Those are the most important things to know, off the top of my head.

[Corlindale]

I'm going to get MM 7 in a few days. Any advice?

- I second the advice of starting with the standard party, that should cover all your bases.

- Water Magic and Air Magic are important to develop for their utility spells. Fire is useful, but not essential.

- Of clerical magic, Body and Spirit are probably the best early priorities. Mind is nice, but not essential.

- It's convenient to hire a Scholar NPC ASAP - they identify all items for free (saving you a lot of skill points), AND give you an XP boost.

- If you're not going to use guides, try to visit every house in every region you come to. That's the only way to discover the essential promotion quest-givers and skill trainers. Handily, the Expert/Master teachers of any skill will tell you the location of the next trainer you need for that skill.

- The Merchant skill is very useful, as you'll need a lot of cash both to buy essential stuff, skill training, and for levelling your characters.

[Morty]

Well, I started playing M&M7. I've finished Emerald Islands and made some mistakes like teaching my Thief the Dodge skill, but it's been fine so far. Right now I'm trying to do stuff in Harrowdales, but the hordes of goblins roaming around kind of make it difficult. Sure, they die easily enough but there's so many of them my party takes a beating. I should have equipped them all with bows on Emerald Island, it seems to make everything much easier.

[Corlindale]

I'm trying to do stuff in Harrowdales, but the hordes of goblins roaming around kind of make it difficult. Sure, they die easily enough but there's so many of them my party takes a beating.

You can just run past them if killing them all seems a daunting task. Of course you can earn a bit of gold, but the main source of XP in the game is still quests rather than monster-slaying. You can do Castle Harmondale right away, but I usually wait until I've travelled around a bit and developed my skills a little.
The caves in south harmondale are also nice for beginners (though you need to run past/kill a lot of goblins to get there), and also contain a nice item which can give you an economic boost in the early game, namely
the Arcomage deck, which allows you to play the Arcomage minigame to earn money, once in every tavern across the land.
I usually go there first when I play.

If you travel around a bit there are a couple of "delivery" type quests that you can use to get a bit of xp before you start doing serious fighting - that can help give you a bit of a head start.

[Blayze]

If memory serves, you can lure enemies towards the guards--which was a part of my plan, way back when, to complete all of the starting Isle and then get every single NPC brutally murdered.

[Castaras]

- I second the advice of starting with the standard party, that should cover all your bases.

- Water Magic and Air Magic are important to develop for their utility spells. Fire is useful, but not essential.

- Of clerical magic, Body and Spirit are probably the best early priorities. Mind is nice, but not essential.

- It's convenient to hire a Scholar NPC ASAP - they identify all items for free (saving you a lot of skill points), AND give you an XP boost.

- If you're not going to use guides, try to visit every house in every region you come to. That's the only way to discover the essential promotion quest-givers and skill trainers. Handily, the Expert/Master teachers of any skill will tell you the location of the next trainer you need for that skill.

- The Merchant skill is very useful, as you'll need a lot of cash both to buy essential stuff, skill training, and for levelling your characters.

Scholar and Cartographer are my prefered NPCs. Very useful, both of them are.

[Morty]

Well, after some initial setbacks, I'm going strong. I might have made a mistake teaching my paladin Chain armor, but oh well. Now I'm wondering which schools of magic to focus on. My Paladin knows Spirit, Sorcerer knows Fire, Air and Water - albeit he only has 1 point in Water - and my Druid knows Body, Earth and Mind.

[Domochevsky]

Well, so far i found that the healing spell is the one i use the most for my cleric ...so pumping up Body for your healer is a good idea. And have someone else who can heal on backup in case your cleric gets knocked out, just to get him back into shape. Happened to me a couple times in these damn barrows and getting murdered in the haunted house. >_>

(It's really difficult to discern where you can go and where you can't without getting wasted so far. Red Dwarf Mines? Killer.)

However, traveling around places and getting all the horse shoes from the towns (3 per place) is a great idea, since each of them gives a character +2 skill points. Good to get magic significantly higher up for your casters.

[Corlindale]

Now I'm wondering which schools of magic to focus on. My Paladin knows Spirit, Sorcerer knows Fire, Air and Water - albeit he only has 1 point in Water - and my Druid knows Body, Earth and Mind.

Your druid should probably focus on Body, since he is your main source of healing. Earth will give him some offensive power, so that is also important (though Fire is probably more useful for offense - unless you've already invested a lot in Earth you could teach him Fire as well). Mind can probably wait, though it may be worth getting it to Expert for Cure Paralysis.

For your Sorceror, everything is useful. I would focus on Water and Air, though, since they give you both offensive power and utility. Sparks is actually one of the most cost-effective attack spells for most of the game, if you use it at close range. I usually make it my first priority to get Water 4 and Air 7 - Expert Water lets you learn Water Walk, which you need to have to do the promotion quests for both the Sorceror and the Druid. And later on Master Air lets you learn Fly and Invisibility, some of the most useful spells in the game. Your sorceror needs to be promoted to learn that, though (hence I also make getting him promoted an early priority).

And focus on regular combat skills with your Paladin for now. He can't even Expert his magic before he's promoted - and the first Paladin promotion quest is pretty difficult to do early in the game.

[Morty]

Thank you again for the advice. At this point, my Sorcerer's Fire Magic is at 3 and Air Magic is at 2. I suppose I'll just start pumping his XP into Water Magic and Air Magic, then. I was planning to develop my Druid's Body and Earth first and foremost anyway, so no problems there. As for the Paladin, she has Spirit Magic on 2 or 3, I don't quite remember. I'll focus on her combat skills for now, as you said.

[Thufir]

It does deal more damage per hit. Thing is, your hits will come slower with a staff than without one. Though IIRC the difference is most pronounced in real-time combat

Well, I always use real time combat, 'cause turn-based is really boring and slow. I've never tried it without the staff, but it always seemed fine enough with.


The weird thing is that my party for some reason moves slower when walking in a specific direction (ie South), somewhat sideways in two others (ie West and East) and faster in the last (ie North).
There's double speed differences. Like some external factor applies extra movement in a specific global direction. :smallconfused:

Yeah, that happens to me sometimes as well. Never known why.

OK, because I'm curious and like showing off: People who've completed MM7, what sort of scores did you get at the end of the game?

[DBear]

Arbitrary Horrific Death Simulator ADOM would like to have a word with you.

The word is poisoned, and will kill you.

Ah, I wasn't thinking of ADOM and the Rogue-likes. Well played! :smallamused:

[Cogwheel]

Ah, I wasn't thinking of ADOM and the Rogue-likes. Well played! :smallamused:

Lies. No one can play ADOM well.

[Cespenar]

Lies. No one can play ADOM well.

Except Russians.