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So recently I've completed the entire World of Xeen after starting it for the fourth time. In this instance it took me "only" 40 hours since I already knew the solutions for the quests and puzzles in MM4 and the first half of MM5. I greatly enjoyed the exploration aspect of the game, found the loot system quite groundbreaking for the time, and appreciated the hand-drawn graphics, even though the two games are often too goofy for their own good (hard to be immesed in main plot after that).

Now I'm considering starting a playthrough of MM3. My question is, how does it compare to MM4&5? I hear the engine was improved in the latter, but was it too awful in MM3? What about Terra, is it more or less vibrant than Xeen? Are the quests and puzzles enjoyable? How's the character progression (i like it slow and gradual)? Do you like MM3 or MM4&5 better and why?

I don't get much gaming time and I like to commit to every game I start, so I'd like to know whether Isles of Terra is worth playing, having experienced World of Xeen and MM7.
Isles of Terra is better than World of Xeen IMO. The game is somewhat more challenging, and with hirelings you have 8 characters on which to spread all your loot. If you enjoyed Xeen, definitely play Isles of Terra.

The games use the same engine, and I can't remember there being any significant improvements for MM4.
Loot system in MM3 is better than in MM4-5. MM3 is bigger than MM4 or MM5, but smaller than World of Xeen.

Graphically, MM4 and MM5 look more vivid.

Character progression in MM3 is just like in all MM games. You start p[laying with weaklings, but they end up being supergods on mega-steroids. Characters progress at a steady pace (like in other MM games).

Quests and puzzles are good. Dungeons are great.

I find it hard to say which I liked more - MM3 or World of Xeen. Both are great games. This game is definitely worth playing.
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Charon121: How's the character progression (i like it slow and gradual)?
It really depends. For a new player, character progression is going to be fairly slow at first (though, IIRC, not as slow as in Clouds of Xeen). For someone who knows her way around the game, however, it's possible to get powerful really quickly; doing the dragon dungeon early is possible if you know what you're doing, and with the help of a bank, it's possible to reach level 200 quickly. (Of course, doing so will cause so much time to pass that your initial characters and the hirelings will be too old to be useful, so that might not be a good idea.)

One tip: Put a Druid or Ranger (I suggest Range) into your party, as those are the only class that can learn the Walk on Water spell, and given that the game's subtitle is *Isles* of Terra, that spell just might come in handy.

One other tip (this applies to Xeen as well): Using Power Shield to reduce damage to 0 will also prevent status effects. I mention this because of one enemy in particular.

Edit: One clarification: When I say it's possible to reach level 200 quickly in MM3, I am talking real time, not in-game time. It actually takes so much in game time that, if a time limit had actually been implemented, this trick might cause you to actually hit it. (I believe at least one of these games actually has some time limit message, but the actual time limit either isn't coded or is nonfunctional.)
Post edited August 14, 2017 by dtgreene
I liked MM3 better, because WoX felt too easy overall. Of the first generation (1-5) of Might and Magic, Iiked 3 best, and it's tied with 6 of my favourite MM game overall.

It's the same engine. The biggest difference is that
t̶h̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶v̶e̶n̶t̶o̶r̶y̶ ̶s̶c̶r̶e̶e̶n̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶M̶M̶3̶ ̶d̶i̶d̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶c̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶y̶p̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶i̶t̶e̶m̶s̶ ̶e̶q̶u̶i̶p̶p̶e̶d̶.̶ ̶Y̶o̶u̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶1̶8̶ ̶i̶t̶e̶m̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶i̶t̶.̶ ̶I̶t̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶1̶8̶ ̶r̶i̶n̶g̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶e̶x̶a̶m̶p̶l̶e̶.
Also you had 2 hirelings in MM3.

EDIT: Sorry my mistake:
You can equip only one of any of these items: Melee Weapon, Off-hand object(this can be a shield, a gem, a potion, or whatever, and you can't equip anything in this slot if you're equipped with a two-handed Melee Weapon), Ranged Weapon, Armor, Headgear, Boots, Gauntlets, Cloak, Belt and Necklace. You can equip up to 4 Medals and up to 10 Rings though.

It's not as I remembered it. Inventory was still item-type dependent, but you could have 4 medals and 10 rings, which was reduced in WoX.
http://shrines.rpgclassics.com/pc/mm3/general.shtml
Post edited August 14, 2017 by ZFR
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ZFR: I liked MM3 better, because WoX felt too easy overall. Of the first generation (1-5) of Might and Magic, Iiked 3 best, and it's tied with 6 of my favourite MM game overall.

It's the same engine. The biggest difference is that the inventory screen in MM3 didn't care about type of items equipped. You had 18 items and that's it. It could be 18 rings for example.
Also you had 2 hirelings in MM3.
Could you Marilith it up with 18 swords? Because that would amuse me.
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ZFR: I liked MM3 better, because WoX felt too easy overall. Of the first generation (1-5) of Might and Magic, Iiked 3 best, and it's tied with 6 of my favourite MM game overall.

It's the same engine. The biggest difference is that the inventory screen in MM3 didn't care about type of items equipped. You had 18 items and that's it. It could be 18 rings for example.
Also you had 2 hirelings in MM3.
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Bookwyrm627: Could you Marilith it up with 18 swords? Because that would amuse me.
I believe you still have to worry about body slots; you can't equip more than one item that would go in the same slot, so no equipping multiple weapons at the same time.
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ZFR: I liked MM3 better, because WoX felt too easy overall. Of the first generation (1-5) of Might and Magic, Iiked 3 best, and it's tied with 6 of my favourite MM game overall.

It's the same engine. The biggest difference is that the inventory screen in MM3 didn't care about type of items equipped. You had 18 items and that's it. It could be 18 rings for example.
Also you had 2 hirelings in MM3.
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Bookwyrm627: Could you Marilith it up with 18 swords? Because that would amuse me.
...
Memory is failing me to be honest. I can't remember if there were any restrictions for weapons/armor.


EDIT: Sorry my mistake:
You can equip only one of any of these items: Melee Weapon, Off-hand object(this can be a shield, a gem, a potion, or whatever, and you can't equip anything in this slot if you're equipped with a two-handed Melee Weapon), Ranged Weapon, Armor, Headgear, Boots, Gauntlets, Cloak, Belt and Necklace. You can equip up to 4 Medals and up to 10 Rings though.

It's not as I remembered it. Inventory was still item-type dependent, but you could have 4 medals and 10 rings, which was reduced in WoX.
http://shrines.rpgclassics.com/pc/mm3/general.shtml
Post edited August 14, 2017 by ZFR
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dtgreene: I believe you still have to worry about body slots; you can't equip more than one item that would go in the same slot, so no equipping multiple weapons at the same time.
WoX had inventory categories: weapons/armor/accessories/misc., so this probably means that in MM3 all items are lumped together under a single inventory category, although you still cannot equip multiple items of the same type (with the exception of accessories). Ten rings equipped (Mr T style) sounds goofy enough for MM at least. And I was amused by your unfortunate choice of words (body slots and items that go into them :D).
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Charon121: And I was amused by your unfortunate choice of words (body slots and items that go into them :D).
Well, body slots seems to be the most appropriate term for this sort of limitation. I've used this term to refer to other games that have similar rules.

For example, in SaGa 1 and 2, characters have 8 equipment/ability slots, but there's a rule that you can't equip 2 pieces of armor that take the same body slots. Weapons don't have that rule (though, due to the way the battle system works, you can only select one to attack with on your turn), and in SaGa 2, the rule does not apply to robots (so, if you want to equip 7 suits of armor, you can do that if you're a robot). If you thought 10 rings was goofy enough, check out SaGa games with robots (SaGa 2, SaGa Frontier (I recommend T260's scenario), or even the SaGa 3 remake (not the original, which has different rules for robots)).

With that said, there are a few other differences of note regarding items between MM3 and WoX:

1. In MM3, the material of non-weapon equipment always affects your AC. In particular, a wooden ring (for example) will lower your AC (in a game where high AC is better). This does not apply to accessories in WoX.

2. In MM3, any item can have a spell attached to it. This does not apply in WoX; only items of one specific category can cast spells, and those items have no other purpose. Also, note that MM3 has no restrictions on what spells can go on items (powerful spells like Implosion appear more often than you'd expect, while Walk on Water is actually quite rare on items); in WoX, high level spells never appear on random treasure (which makes endgame treasure finds a bit disappointing), and a rule was added to prevent you from recharging potions, scrolls, and any item that casts "recharge item" (yes, in MM3, you can use an item to recharge itself; this also works in MM2).

3. in MM3, if you get reduced to -10 HP, only your cuirass breaks. In WoX, if this happens, all your armor, including things like helms and gauntlets, will break. (I actually find this so annoying in WoX that I have given up on armor entirely in that game; it's just more trouble than it's worth.)
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dtgreene: 3. in MM3, if you get reduced to -10 HP, only your cuirass breaks. In WoX, if this happens, all your armor, including things like helms and gauntlets, will break. (I actually find this so annoying in WoX that I have given up on armor entirely in that game; it's just more trouble than it's worth.)
That's the single most annoying thing in WoX. I couldn't even figure out the mechanics of it. Eventually the cost of repairing high-quality armor became so high that it was a serous drain on my training fund so I had to let my characters wander around with broken armor (since some monster would have broken it within a day of repairing). I'm glad that it's not as severe in MM3.
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Bookwyrm627: Could you Marilith it up with 18 swords? Because that would amuse me.
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ZFR: ...
Memory is failing me to be honest. I can't remember if there were any restrictions for weapons/armor.

EDIT: Sorry my mistake:
You can equip only one of any of these items: Melee Weapon, Off-hand object(this can be a shield, a gem, a potion, or whatever, and you can't equip anything in this slot if you're equipped with a two-handed Melee Weapon), Ranged Weapon, Armor, Headgear, Boots, Gauntlets, Cloak, Belt and Necklace. You can equip up to 4 Medals and up to 10 Rings though.

It's not as I remembered it. Inventory was still item-type dependent, but you could have 4 medals and 10 rings, which was reduced in WoX.
http://shrines.rpgclassics.com/pc/mm3/general.shtml
Shucks. It has been a long time since I played MM3, and I figured things out by pushing buttons and trying to divine what was happening.

So you just have 16 inventory slots, regardless of whether you're holding 16 rings or 16 suits of plate armor.
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Bookwyrm627: So you just have 16 inventory slots, regardless of whether you're holding 16 rings or 16 suits of plate armor.
18 slots.
Limitations were to equipping, not carrying. You could carry 18 swords, but only equip one.
(based on screenshots; my memory is rusty).
For me MM3 is better than world of Xeen. It's more challenging (especially at the beginning) but with your knowledge of the mechanics you should be able to do well.
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Charon121: So recently I've completed the entire World of Xeen after starting it for the fourth time. In this instance it took me "only" 40 hours since I already knew the solutions for the quests and puzzles in MM4 and the first half of MM5. I greatly enjoyed the exploration aspect of the game, found the loot system quite groundbreaking for the time, and appreciated the hand-drawn graphics, even though the two games are often too goofy for their own good (hard to be immesed in main plot after that).

Now I'm considering starting a playthrough of MM3. My question is, how does it compare to MM4&5? I hear the engine was improved in the latter, but was it too awful in MM3? What about Terra, is it more or less vibrant than Xeen? Are the quests and puzzles enjoyable? How's the character progression (i like it slow and gradual)? Do you like MM3 or MM4&5 better and why?

I don't get much gaming time and I like to commit to every game I start, so I'd like to know whether Isles of Terra is worth playing, having experienced World of Xeen and MM7.
M&M 3and world of xeen are nearly the same. World of xeen is altmost M&M3 enhanced edition: better graphics even if graphics in M&M3 are good (same engine). quest journal with notes because in M&M3 there i no quest journal with notes (you must use pen and paper for quests)

For newbie, M&M 3 is the best because it's the easiest M&M of the series. Start is not very difficult (M&M 5 without 4, is more difficult and the star of M&M4 has the same difficulty like 3).

In M&M 3 there are more caverns that are more interesting. I prefer caverns in 3 than tower in world of xeen.

Music is as good as in world of xeen.

loot is the same (maybe less obsidian object in world of xeen but same variety).

Money is infinite. In world of xeen, you can lack of money by moment but in M&M 3, it's impossible. I have finished each time with 20 000 000 and more at the bank. It's a problem because game is too easy.

A problem is that in M&m3, some ennemies break your armor and weapons too often. This problem have been corrected in world of xeen.

M&M 3 is an excellent M&M and the best for me.

My rankings (M&M 1 and 2 are the only M&M that I have never played)
M&M 3 > M&M 4+5 > M&M 10 >> M&M 7 (less boring than M&M6) > M&M 6 (boring, lots of problems introduced, IA very bad, ugly even at the release, no open world, variety of loot has disappeared, more hack'nslash by moment than rpg, dungeons less interesting, 3d not exploited, respawn (the worst of the worst) etc)>>>>>>> M&M 9 and 8
Post edited August 15, 2017 by stephane910