Hiya!

Alright, to be fair, I tried the first game in the series once on the NES and HATED it. However, when I saw the pack here, I decided to give it another go keeping in mind that back in the day DOS to NES conversions were usually less than stellar for the more control-intensive titles.

Since buying the pack, I've found myself entranced. As was recommended by a number of users, I tried out World of Xeen first, and enjoyed the few minutes I tried before dying my first time immensely. Then I tried six, with the same experience. Now I've actually bothered to read the instruction books, and with graph paper in hand I'm tackling the series in order.

I'm having an absolute BLAST in the first game, SO much better than on the NES. Hard as hell? Yes. But worth it, even if I was stupid and screwed up my roster file, leading me to have to delete the default party without saving any of their equipment/gold/etc.

Just thought I'd share my two cents :P

In addition, though, looking through the GoG archives told me they've got a series of editorials on the Might and Magic series, but I could never find the first article? Maybe I'm just silly, but I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction?

Welcome rasufelle!

Glad you're into the collection as much as we do!
While googling I found nothing of this Might and Magic editorial, but if you ever find it, I'd also be interesting in looking at it.

I've also started with MM1 and am still playing it. Be sure to check out this site, it has all the maps, info and everything.
http://www.mightandmagicgrove.com/mm1/mm1.htm

I noticed from your avatar pic you probably like FFX-2 too. Personally I liked FFX way more, but FFX-2 had a decent battle system.

A woman into Might and Magic... it's a shame you don't live Canada, or I'd marry you on the spot!

:P

Well, thanks! And yes, I have a love/love relationship with the entire Final Fantasy line. Rikku is one of my favorite characters in the entire series, but my personal favorite of the games is actually IX. I usually either use this avatar, or the Vampira avatar from the Plan 9 Riff Trax pack. Guess it's a good thing I picked this one!

Also, thanks for the site recommendation, it has been bookmarked and perused! For the most part, though, I'm trying to avoid the predrawn maps since part of the point of playing older computer games is the challenge of managing them without the aid of modern tech. I feel bad enough having to use the .pdf file of the manual rather than having a real one by my side!

Canada sounds nice, but I don't think I'm ready for that kind of commitment, sorry!

>>but my personal favorite of the games is actually IX.

Yeah, it's one of my favorites as well. The world was very interesting to explore and the final boss and Ozma were a fun challenge. The characters were endearing, as well.

>>Also, thanks for the site recommendation, it has been bookmarked and perused! For the most part, though, I'm trying to avoid the predrawn maps since part of the point of playing older computer games is the challenge of managing them without the aid of modern tech. I feel bad enough having to use the .pdf file of the manual rather than having a real one by my side!

Same here. Although, you can always print it. As for the hint book, I have to admit that the table with all the weapon and item specs make it a must.

May I ask what your party is? Describe their name, class, race, gender.

>>Canada sounds nice, but I don't think I'm ready for that kind of commitment, sorry!

I was kidding. :P

You're playing the first game? I know this is GOG an' all but the graphics scared me off and as much as i enjoyed a youth filled with graph paper, a pencil and an eraser i really don't think i could do it again.

I'm playing Xeen at the moment (more off than on) and whilst it's a more casual rpg compared to say the RoA series it still find my ass handed to me on a regular basis.

I think i just have to face facts and admit that even if i ever got the chance to play the Wizardry trilogy (which i have always lusted after) my hardcore rpg days are long gone. It's the sofa, a controller and console rpg's from here on in. *sighs*

Pencil and eraser? wimp, real hardcore players use pen!

UndeadHalfOrc:

You were kidding? Aww :D

robobrien:

Yep! The first one, where it all began. Really, once you get past the idiosyncrasies of the UI and memorize the numbers for some of the more useful spells it's not as bad as it seems. I do have a bad habit of forgetting to search corpses, though, which has probably screwed me over far more often than I'd care to admit.

The party I'm using is
--1 -- Gim, a good male Dwarf Paladin
-- 2 -- Ruhn, a good male Half Orc Knight
-- 3 -- Rhiana, a good female Elf Archer
-- 4 -- Amia, a good female Human Cleric
-- 5 -- Mindi, a good female Gnome Robber
-- 6 -- Bard, a good male Elf Sorcerer
They're all level three currently, except for Mr. Sorcerer who is only level 2 because I can't afford to level him up yet. I should probably be higher level by now since I've got a good ten hours of gameplay in, but again, forgetting to search corpses can kind of screw you over, as can having to resurrect party members early in the game. Even now, I just left the first city yesterday only to be killed within minutes. It is very wicked, but very fun.

Orryyrro:

I guess I'm a wimp since I'm using pencil, but at least I'm a wimp with accurate maps!

Yeah, I've had to get "creative" sometimes when I've accidentally drawn a wall somewhere there wasn't one....

I mean, i'm perfect, I never make mistakes that's why I use pen! Um, lookbehindyouthere'sadistraction!

Some of us ... older gamers remember the pen and paper fondly but prefer to play Might and Magic with a spreadsheet open beside and liberal use of the Border commands.
Much easier on the desk space than trying to keep a bunch of graph pages in line!

Yeah, learning to search corpses is pretty much critical, as it's the primary way you'll get items (you will quickly need better stuff than is available at any of the stores). But, one nice thing about MM1 (and MM2 for that matter) is that you can always return to places you've been and fight everything again. So not searching corpses doesn't really "screw you over", it just slows you down. Some monster encounters do scale to your level, which will start to get hard if you haven't been upgrading your equipment fast enough, but other fights are always the same, and you can keep doing them over and over for treasure if you feel you need to catch up.

It's good to see another person starting from the beginning of the series and enjoying it, like I did! It's quite cool to see how the games evolved.

Then i guess it was my sister who was the hardcore rpger then because when we played Phantasy Star she insisted on using one of those fat multi biro pens that every kid seemed to have back in the eighties to draw up the maps.

You couldn't seperate me from my pencil and eraser...add two six sided dice and a Fighting Fantasy book and i was one happy pup...oh crap i'm starting to reminisce, eject, eject! *everything starts going wavy*

Agreed! I bought the pack as much for a history lesson as anything else, the same reason I'll be buying the Zork pack eventually. That said, I'm enjoying them as much for watching the development of many of the elements modern RPG players take for granted as for how engrossing the games themselves are.

What can I say, I'm a true gaming nerd :P

And once I grasped the whole "16X16 grid" element of the first game, mapping was a breeze too. I do a bit of DMing on occasion, so mapping using graphing paper's not something that bothers me.