Might and Magic® 6-pack Limited Edition

Why are you reading this when you could be playing Might and Magic? I can hardly believe how many hours I've spent playing this series. More than any other RPG series, I'm sure. And so many fabulous "gaming moments" to be had. Game play is fairly simple. It's all about exploring and combat. But intelligent planning and play is rewarded. And there is so much to explore and find. Yes, there are flaws (NPC dialog gets very repetitive, sometimes the sheer number of creatures to be cleared from a dungeon or cave or whatever is daunting (and takes awhile), but somehow it stays fun and you just can't quit. I know I played about 36 hours straight one time. (I was younger then. <ha ha>). There are lots of cool weapons, spells, and magic items to purchase with your loot. NPC's can join your party and confer special abilities (like flying!). The world is beautiful, interesting, fascinating, cool - and never ending. There's lots of loot to find. Innumerable creatures to be fought. Wonderful villages and special locations to discover. And even cool games to play at the local tavern (you can gamble i.e. play for money - and these games are actually well done and quite fun.) You can develop your character fairly quickly and the balance is usually good unless you wander off into an area you're not ready for yet. (And then you die quickly, LOL, but the save system is good, so no harm done.) The game mechanics are well done (at least in the later games, I did not play the earlier ones - yet! I will soon!). Combat is fun and rewards good thinking and strategy. This is one of the few RPG's where I did not feel the game was "unfair" many times. I always felt like the world and what was happening made sense. I could go on and on and on - but you get the picture. Certainly one of the greatest RPG series ever created. The value here is incredible. You will not get many deals as good as this in your lifetime. Eat it up! Thank you, GOG! You have done a real service to gamers everywhere. M&M was the first thing I put on my "games I'd like" list. Though I have the original boxed sets still for 4, 5 and 6 (and maybe 3, can't remember), this is too good to pass up. Now, I just need to find a cabin somewhere with electric power and enough rations to keep me alive for a couple of months while I play through these again. I have no idea what the total number of hours of play is, but it must easily be hundreds of hours. Man, this will be like going back to a childhood home...

At around 1995, we had a magazine series that brought top games for incredibly low prices called "Bestseller Games". When they had Might & Magic IV and Might & Magic V in two issues, my father brought it to me and we installed it. He said it is a great game, showed me the basics and we played a bit but I didn't like it much at first. The interface was a bit too complicated to me. However, when we went through Vertigo, killed some slimes, got to a wish fountain and I learnt about the skills (of which many seemed useless to me until I found a description about a few years ago) and shops it became much better. Then we accepted quests and did some. The characters got exhausted at some point and needed rest which refilled hitpoints and magic. One shop sold magic, another one weapons. Sometimes items were hidden somewhere. Well, in short: I got sucked into the game. So much that I can say now, I was done with it when I finally beat the worst of all monsters on the World of Xeen. It plagued me for years that I was able to win the game easily but had no way to defeat this monster that (spoiler) was still alive at the sky roads above the castle of Sheltem. Until I finally beat it, more than ten years after I won the game, in 2007. Of course after winning the game and playing through it a few more times in the following years I didn't play it often but it still bothered me. Now I can say, I beat Might & Magic: World of Xeen. Might & Magic III played much like WOX but with slightly worse interface and animations running too fast (thankfully this has no influence on the turn-based movement and combat). Eventually, I also beat it. On christmas 1998, I got Might & Magic VII and it was quite a fun game but it didn't feel the same anymore. Personally, I think the change to 3D with all consequences, with the new engine (used from MM6 to MM8) was debatable while MM9 is not much Might & Magic anymore but instead an RPG with a few puns that doesn't play very well but would still be a good game without the bug that the arena crashes. However, part 1 to 5 belong to the classics of turn based RPGs and at least part 3 to 5 are highly enjoyable. Part 6 uses the 3D engine and is quite fun but the graphics are horrible (those of 7 were the best of the three games that use that engine). I played part 1 as well and one must get used to it but then it seems quite good also except for the high difficulty. One however needs to write the maps down or use maps from the internet since there's no automap feature. I didn't play part 2 much yet. If you like classical RPGs, buy this and you'll love part 3 to 5. You also may want to give part 6 a shot, but expect it to be different than the first five parts. It won't feel like a real Might & Magic when you first play it. Treat it as a bonus game, see if you like it and if not, stick to the at least weeks of fun with the other games. Just a bit about the game mechanics at the end. You walk around, gain experience and get levels when you train in certain buildings found in each town (training halls). Levels make you better. You sometimes find stat-enhancing things that either give permanent or temporary status enhancements. You can create own characters in taverns or can go with the good-balanced starting group. For challenges you could try a party with only spellcasters or only fighters, without a thief. Certain (optional) things need certain stats. For example, opening boxes needs a certain might. Everything is turn-based, you can stand two fields away from a monster and shoot arrows or magic at it and it will move one field towards you if it isn't defeated yet. On the other hand, a few monsters also can shoot magic at you. For the most of the game, one will go into melee combat and beat the monsters with his X moves per turn (that increase with levels and essentially give additional damage that is calculated when one uses a melee weapon). Well, best is you find out for yourself why Might & Magic once was one of the greatest RPG series, named in one row with Ultima and Wizardry, before it became 3D. Personally I didn't play Ultima (except part 1) and Wizardry, though. My impression: Graphics: Well, see the screenshots. Either you like it or you hate it. I like it because it's comic-like without looking like a comic. Overall 7/10, with part 3 to 5 being the best Sound: Nothing special. Overall 5/10, with part 6 being the best Gameplay: 8/10 - losses mostly to missing features in part 1 and the change in part 6 Atmosphere: 10/10 - once it sucks you in, you won't get out (at least for part 3 to 5) Overall: 8/10 Part 1: 6/10 Part 2: not played Part 3: 8/10 Part 4+5 (WOX): 10/10 Part 6: 8/10 Swords of Xeen: undecided, but see it as a bonus game made by fans

Not being a native english speaker I missed those as a kid. MM7 was actually a brand new game when I was small, but the language barrier stopped me from playing it. The games are ancient, but legit. Hard to say if you will complete those, as these are rather long (spent the most time playing VII and IV+V), but you will get a good taste of classic high fantasy. I think this is what I missed the most in games - all the tabletop and computer games add twists and novelties. It's good to sometimes go back to how things were. Honsetly gave me more fun than Skyrim, Fallout IV and some other games that are highly regarded by mainstream.

Might & Magic is a series of Immersive role-playing games that get progressively better with every instalment; featuring challenging combat, well-written lore for you to unravel, colorful and attractive pixel art that still holds up well today, and of course, the freedom to go wherever you please to uncover these uncharted, mythical lands.. But they are NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. Unlike streamlined role playing games, there's no hand-holding. You're expected to be more involved in these worlds as if you were actually living in them. You have to do things like take notes when you discover important clues, or use your logical deduction skills to solve puzzles with the information given to you by NPC's.. and this seperates old-school role playing games from the likes of Skyrim and Final Fantasy. If that sounds appealing to you, BUY THIS PACK AT FULL PRICE. It's worth it JUST for Might & Magic 3 through 6 alone because they're considerably more refined than earlier games in the series for a modern gamer. However, Might and Magic 1 & 2 are worth trying too because they're included and they were both important because they built up to the perfection of Might & Magic 3. Can't recommend this series enough, you put some dedication into them and you get a lot of value out of them!

I've beaten Might and Magic 6 twice now, once with a party of two knights, a sorcerer, and a cleric and the second time with a party that was two sorcerers, a cleric, and a druid. And it was fun both times, though way easier the second time (because I knew more). In the game you choose four charactes out of a possible six classes; three pure classes and three hybrid classes. The knight is all might and no magic. The sorcerer is all elemental magic. The cleric is all body/mind/spirit magic. The druid is a mix of cleric and sorcerer. The archer is a mix of the knight and sorcerer. The paladin is a mix of the knight and cleric. I'd say the easiest party to play for a new person would be a party of a knight, paladin, cleric, and sorcerer. The game can be brutally hard in the beginning if you're new, and it doesn't even attempt to hold your hand. Expect to die fighting goblins, but whenever you die you just restart with the same xp (but no gold) at the town entrance. You'll want to pick off one weak enemy here and one there until you're a high enough level. Your people won't have the weapons they need or the armor they need or the spells they need or anything. But once you get over that first hump it's a lot of fun. Don't hesitate to look things up online. When my sister and I played through this game in our younger days we had the strategy guide open next to the computer and it was still hard. It's a big world and they often don't explain much to you. It's an old-school hack-and-slash and dungeon-crawling adventure. Not much story. You kill things, you level up, you kill more things. Eventually you fly around like a god and drop meteors on your enemies. If you've got a few bucks and a lot of free time, this game is for you.