MM8 is by far the weakest of the three Might & Magic games based on the Mandate of Heaven engine...but it's a really fun RPG regardless. It's smaller than MM6-7 and not nearly as well balanced, but the pacing is a bit better as a result and the colorful game world is a nice change from the somber dirt-brown landscapes of MM7.

Now the big question remains; will we get the infamously unfinished MM9 as well? As one of the few people who enjoyed playing through that game (post-patch), it'd be nice to see it on GOG...

I was just browsing the pictures of M&M8 and I see "Minotaur" is a Class in this game. How exactly does that work? You're either a bull-man or you're not...its a Race.

And now let's hope GOG will skip the infamously horrible Might And Magic IX (It's called Good Old Games, not Bad Old Games) and gives Heroes Chronicles the release it deserves.

When I saw this I thought "How many Might and Magic games are there" and I looked it up and found out there is one more left.

How much do they change between each game?

If Dark Messiah of M&M is just as good as Arx Fatalis at the very least, that would be an instant buy for me here at GOG, regardless of the price! :)

The change between MM1 and MM2 is large but the mechanics and controls are largely the same. 2 to 3 is a major leap, many mechanics changed as well as the the controls. MM3 is more streamlined than MM2 though not nearly as long. MM 4, 5 look very similiar to MM3 and use many of the same mechanics and controls, they just polished everything up really.

MM6 introduces a whole new engine and system for just about everything. The concepts are pretty much the only thing that remained the same from MM1-5 and MM6. Almost everything else is different at this point. Oh and up until MM6 all MMs were 2D, turned based, and had strictly 90 degree turning in the first person perspective. So MM6 is where the series had a major overhaul.

MM7 uses the same engine as MM6 but introduces more variables like classes, a new tier of skill level, skills, and two different story arcs. It also introduces major restrictions on character skills. In MM6 pretty much any class could master any skill it could learn. They tried to build in some restrictions but due to game bugs these restrictions never really worked. In MM7 the restrictions are very strict. It prevents mages from being able to become front line Knife fighters. All in All MM7 is much more balanced and refined than MM6, though (in my opinion) not as fun.

MM8 again uses the same engine as 6 and 7 but changes things up alot. In MM1-7 you created a whole party in the beginning and pretty much stuck with it for the game. In MM8 you create 1 character and pick/choose others throughout the game. It blurs the line of classes and races though. If your "class" has a race name the race IS the class, otherwise the character is human. Screwy I know...

MM9 Overhauls everything again and attempts to simplify skills, classes, and spells. It also bumps up the graphics a good amount. The interface is lighter and the controls make the game more action oriented. Much could be said about the changes, but I am trying to keep this civil.

Leave it to you crazy limeys to make an adjective out of a noun like "pants."

As for Might & Magic IX, I enjoyed it quite a lot except for one significant drawback: a bug in the quest progression in the last third or quarter of the game that rendered further progress impossible if certain actions weren't conducted in a particular order. This wasn't by design, but fast declining 3DO didn't have the resources to correct this in any official patches, much less during their pre-release quality testing (when it should have been detected and fixed in the first place).

Otherwise I liked the game's updated interface, new Monolith 3D engine (similar to that of Blood 2's, which was released about 3 years prior), and storyline that maintained at least some continuity with the worlds in which previous Might & Magic (and Heroes) games were set. It's worth inclusion in the GoG catalog if a patch (assuming someone with talent in the vast M&M community has created one) that corrects the issue I described is provided.

The Minotaur is a mix of Paladin and Ranger from MM7. Minotaurs get Grandmaster Axe, Grandmaster Perception(to see hidden stuff and traps), and get pretty good secondary skills. They aren't so good for using magic with, can't use helms or boots or shields, and don't get Repair or Regeneration like the Knight and Troll do.

Thanks for the clarification. I guess its like the old Basic D&D I played back in the mid/late 80's...Dwarves, Elves, and Halflings were all considered "Classes" of their own.

Between MM7 and MM8 it barely changes at all. Same engine, same sound effects, similar quests, similar spells.

Between MM8 and MM9 it fundamentally changes from good to shit.

Yet another game to buy . . . =)

Might and Magic 9... blegh.

That's exactly what I thought when I read what you said. Indeed, I had no trouble finding 6, 7 and (yuck) 9.

If GOG release M&M 9 I think I will buy it anyway... But only during a promo, of course.