a last information: Good news for you.
There is a mod to add respawn in M&m3.
http://www.jeffludwig.com/mm3/download.php

It's just for you. I hope that you would like Might&diablomagic 3.

I don't want diablo-like; I like my turn-based gameplay. When I am thinking of playing an RPG, I am generally looking for a turn-based game. (Of course, I am thinking of giving Morrowind another go, and that game is not turn-based; on the other hand, it does have respawning enemies (Cliff Racers, for example).)


That's only a good solution for shorter games; for longer games (like nearly all RPGs), it isn't reasonable to have a player restart after 8+ hours of gameplay.

Now, if a game were only 2-3 hours (at most) long, restarting wouldn't be such a bad idea.

I am sorry to say that but vast majority of CRPGs (before 2000s and its heavy focus on graphics and story) had respawn and you could come back to earlier areas and be like god there. It is harder to remember CRPGs which had no respawn pre-2000s, and those were basically some action/smth hybrids.

And yes, MM isn't diablo-like game, it can beat the heck out ot Diablo 1 in terms of loot and monster killing :) More variety also:) In all - monsters, loot and dungeons, and much more quests :)

And if you beat final boss in MM6 you can continue playing the game (though final dungeon will be gone), so this game was even made in mind with continuing after end :) You can finish some side quests, see how powerful you can become, etc.

I have to say it is very interesting to read your posts, and I do see your point of view on why you dislike MM6-8 and your opinion about respawning in RPGs, but posts like these come out as sanctimonious. There is really no need for this.

Might&magic, baldur's gate, ravenlfot stradh's possession, stonekeep, etc.
Lots of rpg before 2000 didn't have respawn or just limited respawn like in lands of lore.

some rpgs had respawn but it didn't change that respawn is the cancer of rpg for lots of reasons.
The problem of respawn is that broke all characters progression (if with respawn you can have high level withtout exploring the game, all the game will be too easy and no fun.), broke all the coherence of scenario.
Why ennemies respawn when you have killed them? It's not logicval except if there is a reason. In M&M6 there is no reason. In lands of lore, there is a reason. the problem is that in lots of rpgs using respawns, respawn is never justify.

There are lots of reasons why respawn is not a good thing and bring nothing.

It's a very strange idea.
When you make an error, you resstart. It's normal.
If you won't restart, you must play at games where mistake is not a problem.

Might and Magic all had respawns. Even Clouds of Xeen - if you leave some town without killing "boss", it will repopulate, try it with Vertigo.

Baldur's Gate had respawns. All over the place.

I didn't play Strahd's Possession, but people say it also has partial respawn.

Stoneskeep is pure action hybrid, with heavy emphasize on action part.

Add on top of this Wizardry, Eye of Beholders, Bard's Tales, Dragon Quests, Final Fantasies, Oubliette, Moria, Faery Tales, etc. Vast majority of CRPGs had respawn. Even Fallout and Planescape Torment had respawns. As well as Arcanum.

What became cancer to RPGs - level scaling and no respawning. it tainted a lot of modern RPGs which otherwise could be a much better games.

Action/Adventure genres don't usually have respawn, I agree. Perhaps it is you who are not into CRPG genre?

What about games with level scaling and respawns? (Oblivion and Final Fantasy 8 are both examples of this.)

Respawning in action games is actually quite common in games that allow backtracking. For example, you see it happening in both Zelda and Metriod (in the latter, sometimes even when you don't leave the screen). Castlevania games have areas where Medusa Heads spawn endlessly (typically threatening to knock you into a pit or petrify you, depending on the game). Even in the original Mario, if you die or go into a backwards pipe, enemies will respawn, and there are bullet bill and cheep cheep generators.

Being able to grind out levels/equipment/whatever is exactly what makes some games more fun or even reasonably doable. Not everyone has the patience or time to figure out some potentially obscure way of beating end game enemies. Or they might simply not have the reflexes to do so. Or they didn't locate all of the loot/XP from prior areas because they didn't take the doodad to the far corner and then backtrack to the thingamajig and open the sealed door. Random encounters and respawning enemies can allow people to brute force their way past some of the harder challenges, if necessary.

Sometimes it is done poorly (looking at your cliff racers, Morrowind!!), but often it is fine. Like Secret of Mana. If you don't need to stick around and kill these things, then don't! Move to the next area, and keep on skimming until you have to slow down.

Forcing restarts because the player did something that didn't look like a mistake, or even was encouraged by the game, doesn't sound like good game design. Sure, maybe redoing an hour is alright occasionally, but how often have you had to restart after putting in 30-40 hours because your build just doesn't happen to have the raw DPS/other abilities to kill a required boss? It will take me months to invest enough play time to play through some of these longer RPGs once, so please don't force me to start over when I'm 75% through because you made a boss that requires certain levels of certain abilities to be beaten.

Or it can lead to absurdities like previous versions of D2, where you did everything you could not to spend those precious skill points because you needed them in skills at the end of the skill tree in order to be effective in end game content. So you had level 30 characters using level 1 skills and hoarding 20+ skill points. You had to be rushed by high level players unless you wanted to face a long, hard slog.

Personally, I count Oblivion and other TES games as 3D Action/Adventure with some RPG elements. They are very good games but they are more from the other genres.

Final Fantasy 8 was horrible in so many ways. Constant cutscenes, constantly imposed minigames with timers. In whatever little actual game there was, the only way to deal OK damage was by summons, and their animations were so long (especially in 1st PC's unoptimized port with low fps)... I am among those people who consider FF8 as very bad game, doubtlessly the worst game in FF main series. Yes, but it is more about the point that no-respawn is used more in other genres, in CRPGs it was highly frowned upon.

From what I understand, there are two other ways to do good damage:
1. Junction some powerful spell to your Strength stat. This increases the damage you do significantly, especially if your level is low (and hence enemies have fewer HP).
2. Abuse limit breaks. Keep your HP low (at low levels, junctioning Curaga (get from Tents) to your HP and not healing the extra HP might be enough), cast Aura once the spell becomes available, and keep skipping turns until a limit break become usable.

After posting this, I realize that anybody unfamiliar with the game will see much of what I wrote as non-sense, as I am not aware of any other game with the Junction concept, and the strategies of keeping your level and current HP low seem counter-intuitive. (Reminds me of Final Fantasy 2, where the best strategy involves avoiding armor (but still using shields).)

Of note, I haven't actually played Final Fantasy 8 (except for the PC version's demo, which was enough to convince me that the game shared many of the major flaws that FF7 had, like long cutscenes and summon animations).

On the other hand, Final Fantasy 8 does have some great music.

Good junctions aren't available right from the start. Due to level-scaling, all the good junctions are available at Lv.30+. Tents are expensive, and you don't get Gil until some missions, and even then it is very limited (until you start exploiting GF transmutes).

Limit Break is risky without Aura, because while you keep refreshing command menu (tro trigger break), time keeps advancing. Most of Limit Breaks are sucky except for Squall's final break. However one of Rinoa's Limit Breaks deals infinite damage to everything, and it is called "The End" - it one-shots everything (including final form of final boss) and can't be resisted. I fully agree. And I think that music was the only good thing in FF8.

If you like playing the Triple Triad card game, then you can exploit that and get some powerful magic before even heading over to Timber. It's fairly easy to break this game early due to the card game. Personally, I like FF8 the best best, although it isn't everyone's cup of tea.

I'd like to offer a small fix to your limit break: It's Selphie who has The End, but Rinoa has one called Invincible Moon that makes the party, well, Invincible.

I will also agree that the music is great.

I just rechecked it and you are right, The End was Selphie's Limit Break.

Might and Magic VI was open world, it just wasnt seemless. Lost in translation I think.