The biggest strike against it was that it was unplayable out of the box and even unplayable after a number of rushed initial patches. There were too many bugs.

That said, the GoG version comes with a fan-made bug patch. This patch was put together after the software company folded and fixed the vast majority of the bugs, enough so that the game is stable, playable and most-likely winnable. (There are supposedly still a few minor bugs here and there that can cause problems, but not enough to usually cause issues.)

So, in other words, when released, this game was utter crap. Now, it really isn't all that bad at all.

I haven't played it, but the general consensus seems to be that this game isn't bad. It's just sad like an empty fridge. In short, it feels unfinished.

Uhm. Loading inventory, skill, or spell pages takes quite a while to load them, the turn based combat doesn't cycle (if you enter turn based mode and each of your characters take an action the game stops at a closed fist, never progressing and ... loading screens aren't displaying. The game feels like molasses. It seems pretty bad to me. Maybe not, utter crap, but bad.

I didn't have those problems. Turn-based worked fine and opening pages weren't that bad.

1 second to pause and enter turn based combat.
10 + seconds to open inventory / skills / notes / map / dialog / vendors / chests.
10 + second to open main menu. No quick save function.
10 + seconds to un-pause paused for turn based combat.
10 + seconds spent loading areas, no artwork, no progress bar, sometimes music, no "loaded" sound clip, facing a black screen.

If you liked the others, then you will like this. Its was deserving of its negative reception simply because it wasn't a completed product, although it was always ultimately finish-able.

As I said, if you liked the others, you'll like this.

It was released just about the same day that New World Computing got shut down, and it wasn't finished.
Fortunately one of the devs helped shape the first few un-official patches with the community.
Graphically it is lacking, very basic textures, very angular baddies.

Sound wise, the Sound effects are good and the music terrific.

The open world is somewhat bland, but all the dungeons appear to be relatively detailed and complex. Almost like they were done first and had real quality development time put behind them.

Whilst it is very different from the others, it's still a New World Computing game and it shows in its design and sense of fun.
The GOG version is patched as good as it going to get, so go for it.

Be sure to have a good strategy guide to hand ( the official book by Prima is very good and is still available on EBAY ) and read up on some forums about the promotion quests or you may find you've gone down the wrong promotion path and there's no way back !

I brought this on day of release in the UK and have , to date, completed it 4 times, two of those times with the GOG version.

I love all the Might & Magic games, from 6 to 9. They were always behind the times with graphics, but were always ahead of the curve with gameplay and design.

The only reason I don't play them all more often is that there are so many other modern games out there deserving of my time. Right now I'm jumping between Bravely Default on the 3DS, Dragonage Inquisition on PS4 and the remastered GTA V on PS4.

But Might & Magic were my key gaming focus for many years. MM6 completed 6 times, MM7 & 8 Completed 4 times each and MM9 completed 4 times. Simply because they are all so damned good.

So YEAH...BUY IT.

All of M&M games are great,I had no problems with M&M9..

hi my game runs on Windows 10 but it freezes after some seconds i need to press alt tab all the time and it is annyoine, pls help me what to do thx and have a nice day. And can you list me a detailed guide how should i fix this becuase i am really a big fan of these games. I already did the mentioned changes i run it in Windows xp compatibility system and in 32bit colour system pls mail me if you know anything my mail is petovyp@gmail.com

if you haven't tried already search for a thread called "Really need a fix for the menu lag for MM9" there is a download link to an unofficial patch for mm9 this is the only way I could get them game not to randomly freeze on me however be warned I found the game would still periodically crash although not very often it was annoying.

I remember it was me who uploaded that fix on GOG forums in one of such threads. Someone should really make a sticky with it, because it is hard to find this fix on the webs now, as many file hosting systems no longer host that patch (I think it was some dll file which you had to replace).

MM9 could use some TLC. Optimization and bug fixing is one thing, but with a little more dialog - and CONCISE dialog - the game could have been a complete blast. The skill and spell learning system is probably the most intricate - and IMO - best of the series.