I recently revisited Might & Magic 3 and World of Xeen for a second time. These three games are my favourite parts of the series as I just love the fast paced & addictive gameplay. The last time I played them was about three years ago and found them surprisingly easy this time around, probably because I had a better idea of the order in which to do things now. I remember getting my arse kicked quite often during my first run, especially in MM3.

The last time I played these games, I remember using my sorcerer, cleric and their respective attack spells all the time, but this time around I didn't have to because my paladin & knight killed most monsters immediately. I just made sure they received most of the might, speed & accuracy bonuses. The only combat spells I cast were pretty much power shield & heroism/day...

Although I found it quite fun mowing down wave after wave of monsters, I do miss some of the challenge it gave me in the past. I'm curious as to what strategies you guys have used when playing these games and for those who've tried, is it more fun playing with a smaller party or too difficult?

Personally I thought the combat was so simplistic (a disappointment compared to MM1-2) that it could just as well have been real time.
I gave all characters missile weapons, and if you hit A twice rapidly you get two missile attacks per round. I rarely used spells in MM3, mostly saving them for the few dangerous enemies like Liches, robots and especially Minotaurs.

You also increase in levels so quickly that you go through the whole game with almost no resting, since each time you're at the training grounds you get max HP and SP.

I really liked the exploration and the extra score for using little in-game time, but with the combat being so simplistic and easy compared to MM1-2 and 6-7, 3-5 are not my favurite M&M games.

One of my favorite things to do in World of Xeen is to do the Dragon Tower early. Actually getting to the Dragon Tower requires going into areas that have fairly difficult enemies that you *need* magic to defeat at lower levels. In doing so, powerful magic actually sees some good use. When you accomplish this, the game gives you huge rewards. (For normal players, it's actually not a bad idea to do this before the Labyrinth of Lost Souls, a dungeon that features strong enemies that, unlike the ones in (and leading up to) Dragon Tower, have high magic resistance.)

There are a couple rules I like to use when playing:
1. Pretend that the stat boost in Corak's spaceship doesn't exist. (This eliminates the need to save most permanent stat boosts to late game.)
2. No training in Castle Kalindra or Olympus; that means no training past level 50. Level bonuses (both temporary and permanent) are allowed to raise your level past that. This eliminates money issues late game.

In World of Xeen you can play Darkside only (leave Clouds right at the start and don't return before Darkside is finished) for the additional challenge.

Just be warned: If you do this, you will find Clouds to be absurdly easy when you do return.

(Incidentally, Dragon Tower early has a similar issue: With the experience gained and the 50 levels fountain, the rest of the game (before the World of Xeen part) will be extremely easy.)

Thanks for all your ideas. I guess one could just put together a new second party when starting Clouds or Darkside, unless one party needs certain awards from both games to unite the worlds.

the first two times I ever played MM3, I found it super easy (well at least the combat, the riddles are not so easy; also that ignores a bunch of false starts). I think this was due to having a well thought out party, as well as finding an obsidian weapon really early on. (party was barbarian, knight, robber, cleric, druid, sorc). (was two playthroughs because I went and saved in the last area without having found the 6th key, so I was stuck and had to start over).

just played a new party and found it much more challenging this time. I didn't find an early obsidian item, and I didn't have quite as well thought out party as before, basically just picking classes I didn't use much before. (knight, pally, ranger, archer, ninja, druid). (I now feel that druid and ranger are by far the worst classes. best party would be something like knight, pally, archer, robber, cleric, sorc).

this made for a WAY more interesting game, since before a lot of the bad guys I just carved through like butter, but now a lot of them that had used to be push overs were now actually challenging and I had to respond differently to different enemies.

I think one good way to keep the game challenging would be to refuse to use obsidian weapons altogether. +50 damage is just way too much.

I like to do this in the Xeen games. The game gets way too unbalanced in favor of melee attacks (which are the most boring form of combat) at high level. When a Sorcerer is better off making physical attacks than casting spells, you know there is a problem.

I like using the Xeen Slayer Sword. You can get it early (though that could be considered a cheat), and it gets no attack or damage bonus. On the other hand, it *ignores* resistance, eliminating the need to use spells to kill ghosts, and that might not be desirable.

The best way to keep spells viable, I've found, is to limit your advancement. At low levels, magic works particularly well in the Castle Alamar basement, assuming you have Implosion and enough gems. (If you are in the basement but lack Implosion, Shangri-La is just a Time Distortion away, assuming you aren't playing Darkside alone.)

Of note, another thing I do in the Xeen games is that I tend to not wear armor. I find that, without the need to manage armor inventory or worry about armor breaking, the game is much more fun. Also, many enemies use attacks that AC doesn't help against, and there are AC fountains for when you actually need it. (One notable exception: In the Southern Sphinx, it might be useful to get your Cleric's AC up really high (over 200) so that Dragon Mummies (which are not undead) will miss their attacks, and you might need some Obsidian armor for that.)

Ignoring obisidian gear might be a good idea. During this last run of MM3 I got one early on as well, perhaps that made it easier. It just felt like a breeze during the last half. The only monster that stood put up a fight were the terminators and that's because of their insta-death attack, the others didn't even get a chance to attack before I killed them. When I finished the game I'd explored all the dungeons and was around level 75. I still had several millions left, but there didn't seem to be a point to leveling up at that point.

Here's a fun fact about MM5:

The Mega Dragon is worth 100 million experience, divided between the survivors. If you are not yet level 15 or higher, experience awards from combat are doubled. (I do not know how temporary level boosts interact with this rule.)

This means that, if only one character survives the battle, and that character is level 14 or lower, the character will earn 200 million experience points. That is, I believe, enough experience for a level 1 character with no previous experience to advance to level 200, which is the highest level you can train to.

Hence, we have a challenge: Kill the Mega Dragon with one survivor whose level must not be higher than 14. Good Luck! (Note: The rule only constrains the survivor's level: It is allowed to have higher level characters in the party, as long as they don't survive the battle.)