Hi, I'm trying to go very old school with M&M3. Never played a game of that series but I know the genre (but only from newer entries).

Starting in that town, I don't know what to do really. Is the combat turn based? I just klicked always at the sword icon and somehow i managed to survive a few fights. But what do all these symbols mean? Is there an option to always see the minimap? I think i saw a screenshot with the minimap attached to the HUD. How to level up? Is there something i need to do in the beginning?

Many questions I know, i hope you can help me.

Combat is turn based, but is so basic that it could just as well have been real time.

You need to cast the Wizard Eye spell to get the mini map.

To level up you need to go to the training hall. It costs money and uses game time.
Also, every time you enter a building it uses a day.

In the beginning, go outside and kill everything in the immediate area, and destroy the monster nests.

Read this. It has some general info you should know (It doesn't contain any spoilers)

http://shrines.rpgclassics.com/pc/mm3/general.shtml

I found the manual for this game to be particularly lacking. Gives nice story, but nothing about game mechanics.

Heh, I was thinking of pulling a RTFM, but then I remembered that the MM3 manual is a very atypical M&M manual; it's more like an Ultima manual.

Actually, in MM3, it only uses an hour.

I believe that if you enter a building between 5:00 AM and 5:59 AM, the next day will start, but things that normally happen at the start of a new day (specifically including spells expiring and hireling fees being paid) will fail to occur; this can allow you to keep spell or fountain effects indefinitely (and is probably why they changed that for World of Xeen).

That brings up another thing: If you find a fountain, take advantage of it! Some fountains can heal you above your normal maximum, boost stats, or even (temporarily) boost your level.

Oh, one tip that will come in handy later (one particularly nasty enemy comes to mind): If, with the use of Power Shield or Protection from Elements, you reduce the damage from an attack to 0, you will also prevent any status ailments associated with the attack from occurring.

ok thanks to all, I will try my best.

ok I leveled a bit, found my way around and I think I got most of the mechanics so far. But how do I compare items. I found some stuff but there is no place I can see how good some armor or weapon is?

Here you go.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/snes/588491-might-and-magic-iii-isles-of-terra/faqs/55704

An item consists basically of a base item and modifiers. I can't remember exactly how many modifiers an item can have, but if it's a for example a Silver Mace of Curing, then
Mace does 2-8 damage
Silver modifer adds +2 to hit and +4 to damage
of Curing Modifiers allows it to cast Cure.

ok thanks

Here are three tips for you.

1. Use the keyboard only. The game is far easier to control with the keyboard then with the mouse. Here is a way to test it. Go into your inventory and quickly equip or remove all items from your character with your mouse. Then do the same thing with your keyboard. You should find the keyboard to be much faster.

2. In the third game, only druids (and maybe Rangers, I don't remember) can cast Walk on Water. If you do not have a druid in your party, make sure to find an item that has walk on water charges on it and keep it. There is a spell that will let you recharge your rechargeable items.

3. Hire two hirelings and get them killed (the tombstone icon). You no longer have to pay them but you can still use their inventory space. You do not need them to fight for you. The game is easy enough without them.

these are good tips, thanks. But what do you mean with keyboard only, I have to use the mouse for the buttons. I only walk with keyboard and the rest I do with the mouse.

All of those buttons have hotkeys. You never need to click any of them. If you want to try controlling the game with the keyboard only, just google 'might and magic 3 hotkeys' or 'might and magic 3 command reference card' or something along those lines to find the hotkeys. I have played the game all the way through several times now over the years and I know the experience is better when you stick with the keyboard only. The interface for this game just works better with the keyboard.

Here are a few hotkeys

(S)hoot
(F)ight
(C)ast
(R)est

F1 through F8 to bring you to the stats screens of your party members.

1, 2, 3 will cycle through which monster you actually want to attack when fighting more then one.

Any button that has a label on it will show the first letter in a different color. That is the hotkey for that button.

In the end however, YMMV, and you may prefer the mouse. Whatever you decide, enjoy the game. :)

ok thanks I will try that.

The MM3 subsite on RPGClassics is an excellent resource - http://shrines.rpgclassics.com/pc/mm3/

It, unfortunately, is incomplete in the walkthrough but is otherwise a useful resource for creatures, quests, items, basic mechanics et.