MM9 - what you don't like and what you like in it

The role-playing games (I-X) that started it all and the various spin-offs (including Dark Messiah).
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Avonu
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MM9 - what you don't like and what you like in it

Unread postby Avonu » 09 Jul 2011, 08:11

MMIX - "the worst of Might and Magic games" but why? It was bugged, unfinished, with awful graphics and generally step back in franchise but are these only reasons for not liking this game?

Now, nearly decade later, when games are releasing bugged, unfinished ("we will patch it later" or "we will patch it with DLC"), short and very easy what you think about Writ of Fate?

Which features of game you don't like, which ones you can live on and which ones you like (if any)?

And please, without "I don't like all of it" ;P and bugs (because no one like bugs, right?).



I will start:
What I don't like:

- Hero Screen - MM6-8 have superior inventory screen with items looking great on your characters and need of arrange of your backpack. MM9 instead has "mail stamps" invntory with extrame small items look and no need to arrange your inventory - armour or scroll takes same space.

- No Arcomage in Taverns

- No Alchemy

- No trade - inMM7-8 you can buy goods and sell them with profit. Not so important thing but I like sometimes to be a merchant.

-Spell system - nofly, invisibility, armageddon and other spells we used in MM6-8. On the other hand, we get chain lightning and pillar of fire which are nice.

- Not enough monsters on maps. Only handful of them and zones are empty without them.

- NPCs are not killable.

- Nearly no hireale NPCs (and general not nough NPCs).

- Silly main quest (and very similiar to MM6's).

- And many, many more which I don't remember right now.



What I like:

- Dungeons desing - unfortunately only some of dungeon are nice but they are very good - Wizard's Lab and Lich Lab in Yarwick, Thjorgard Mines and of course Dark Passage and Thousand Terrors - these two last are very well made with nice (but not so hard) riddles inside them.

- Paper dolls - when your character advance in his/her class, his/her look also change. Unfortunately there is no difference between look of Dwarf and Elf Lich or Assassin.

- Dragon - Now it's dragon, not some duck to shot down.

- Music (especially in 1000 Terrors)

- Lich promotion quest line - now it is not easy to become one-man army but the reward is worth of it.

- Temple of Honk quest line.

- Probably few more which I don't remember right now.

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Unread postby Lord13 » 09 Jul 2011, 09:51

Din't like:

-Bad atmosphere/world, older MnM titles had unique atmosphere
and a "warm" feeling, the 9th part is so cold and fake.

-Bugs, many of them, and some so nasty(like the one that pc
was freezing at some loading screens and had to reset the whole
system)

-Story was not something special, and very common.

-No paper dolls! I loved the paper dolls of MnM 6-8 :(

-Music,sounds

Liked:

-The class system.

-Some(very few) side quests


-A first try to see MnM universe at more modern 3d graphicks
(ofc the result was not what I expected)

-Still was a first person party based cRPG with turn based
combats option, a dead genre at our gaming age.
Every man dies...
Every beast dies...
Only heroes live forever!

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hatsforclowns
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Unread postby hatsforclowns » 09 Jul 2011, 10:51

It's easier to list what I like:

* It's a Might & Magic game
* It's a 1st person view RPG with real-time and turn-based combat

Then again, it was basically an alpha released as a full game.
Last edited by hatsforclowns on 09 Jul 2011, 13:58, edited 1 time in total.

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Unread postby GreatEmerald » 09 Jul 2011, 11:48

I haven't played it myself yet (and RPGenie's playthrough disappeared before I could watch it :( And it's still not finished to begin with ), so I can't comment on it. Interesting points, though.

Apparently the music there was composed by the usual MM composers, so it should be good.

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Unread postby Corlagon » 09 Jul 2011, 13:26

I could talk for hours about what could have been improved in MM9 if the devs had more time, but my main complaint is just that it was so shockingly bland. Boring graphics, boring characters, boring places (with the exception of some great dungeons of course). A generally lifeless gameworld without much charm or atmosphere. It's just the complete antithesis to the vibrancy of Terra or Xeen or Enroth.

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tolich
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Re: MM9 - what you don't like and what you like in it

Unread postby tolich » 09 Jul 2011, 13:45

Avonu wrote:No Arcomage in Taverns
There are no Arcomage in MM1-6, so why does it matter?
Avonu wrote:No Alchemy
The same. (edit: but MM6, of course :))
Avonu wrote:in MM7-8 you can buy goods and sell them with profit.
You can buy goods and sell them with profit (in the same place) if you have high level of Master Merchant.
Avonu wrote:Spell system - nofly, invisibility, armageddon and other spells we used in MM6-8. On the other hand, we get chain lightning and pillar of fire which are nice.
I like that, you cannot cheat land monsters with carpet bombing anymore.
Avonu wrote:Not enough monsters on maps. Only handful of them and zones are empty without them.
They actually get better in cooperation. Though, I agree, these swarms are too weak for experienced party. And such was before.
Avonu wrote:NPCs are not killable.
Avonu wrote:Nearly no hireable NPCs (and general not nough NPCs).
The number of hirelings is high enough. Moreover, fired hireling returns to place where he was hired.
Avonu wrote:Silly main quest (and very similiar to MM6's).
MM6 has very different main quest (destroy the Alien base) from MM9 (imprison the ****). Ah, if you mean "Ally 6 clans" then it's close to MM8 then to MM6, and is not the main quest anyway.
Avonu wrote:Dungeons desing - unfortunately only some of dungeon are nice but they are very good - Wizard's Lab and Lich Lab in Yorwick, Thjorgard Mines and of course Dark Passage and Thousand Terrors - these two last are very well made with nice (but not so hard) riddles inside them.
The Legends of Might and Magic would be nice game if haven't become fantasy Counter-Strike. I've add Inventa Storca and ruined Temple in the Frostgard region.
Avonu wrote:Paper dolls
There's none. It's just a portrait.
Avonu wrote:Dragon - Now it's dragon, not some duck to shot down.
I subscribe that!
Avonu wrote:Lich promotion quest line - now it is not easy to become one-man army but the reward is worth of it.
I subscribe that! My Lich solo was hard enough.

- no Bounty Hunting
- no item makers (that mens 'no gamblers')
- almost useless Circuses
- dungeon of secrets
+ changed Arena (now I even used it to fight)
+ Yanmir's Castle and Forest Giants there

And, I dislike some features, but I like the game in whole.

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Re: MM9 - what you don't like and what you like in it

Unread postby XEL II » 09 Jul 2011, 14:07

tolich wrote:
Avonu wrote:No Arcomage in Taverns
There are no Arcomage in MM1-6, so why does it matter?
Because Avonu likes it and dislikes the lack of it in MM IX © C.O. :)
Make you strong places to dwell and practice the evil of your arts. Build great monuments to stand through the ages and remind your followers of the task with which you have been charged. Use these halls of iniquity to perpetrate your schemes against the infestation that has taken the fields and lakes of this land from you, their rightful masters. Never forget the hatred that must finally overcome and consume mankind. Dwell in your dungeons and brood. - Sheltem the Dark

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tolich
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Re: MM9 - what you don't like and what you like in it

Unread postby tolich » 09 Jul 2011, 14:19

XEL II wrote:
tolich wrote:
Avonu wrote:No Arcomage in Taverns
There are no Arcomage in MM1-6, so why does it matter?
Because Avonu likes it and dislikes the lack of it in MM IX © C.O. :)
I found that betting at Arena brings more fun.

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Unread postby MMXAlamar » 09 Jul 2011, 17:49

Dislikes:
  • -A disjointed start to the storyline where you don't understand anything about what you're doing on the first area of Ravensford. It's not even marked on the world map.
    -Too many mountains which limited the paths you could explore (and sometimes allowed you to go off the map into a dead zone).
    -Not enough diversity of the landscape.
    -Side quests weren't very well established and many of them didn't have detailed stories and lore to back them up.
    -Lobbers were really annoying as a low-level party, and they would spawn constantly and in unlimited quantities. They'd be much better suited as bigger monsters later in the game.
    -AI system has extensive glitches and some events were mistimed.
    -Not enough areas to explore in Framon and you weren't allow to visit Mendossus, although the original plan for your characters at the beginning of the game was to go on a raid of Farndale.
    -Divine Intervention is bugged.
    -Party class and promotion system is bugged.
    -Not able to visit Hallenhalt.
    -The Afterworld is too small and lighting the Fires of Penance was more tedious than fun.
Likes:
  • -The first M&M title to be in actual 3D!
    -A very ambient and mysterious world in many aspects; i.e. the Isle of Ashes and Verhoffin's Ruins, the Chasm of the Dead (it's original name was "Kirkogaard Koenug" lol), areas in Frosgard and around the Green Man, Yanmir's Fort, etc.
    -Some incredible and amazing, extensive dungeons.
    -Some incredible and amazing monsters with unique abilities.
    -The new spellcasting system with AI was more advanced than anything before it in M&M.
    -The storyline of the Gods and the Old Ursanian Empire and putting together all of the pieces from bits of text in the game; such as Xixis (mentioned once in Guberland Tavern), some items that mention Lachmon Cove, Heronport, and Minespring. Also the mentioning of Ichvan I and Ichvan II, which is the line of the Mendossan Dynasty.
    -AI system and 3D models made a lot of game aspects much more life-like than ever before.
    -Swimming underwater, which could have been much more developed and maybe turned into ways to get into secret or new areas.

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tolich
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Unread postby tolich » 09 Jul 2011, 19:58

Sorry, I haven't got that:
MMXAlamar wrote:The first M&M title to be in actual 3D!
How about MM6, isn't it the first one? Some people can even think that MM1 was the first one in 3D, though it was just imitation.

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GreatEmerald
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Unread postby GreatEmerald » 09 Jul 2011, 20:42

Sprites. They are just imitation.

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hatsforclowns
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Unread postby hatsforclowns » 09 Jul 2011, 23:16

MM6 was the first 3D game in the series, doesn't matter if it still used sprites for NPCs and monsters.

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Unread postby UndeadHalfOrc » 09 Jul 2011, 23:30

What I don't like about MM9 is that people still talk about it, when it should be forgotten.

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tolich
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Unread postby tolich » 10 Jul 2011, 05:07

GreatEmerald wrote:Sprites. They are just imitation.
Using Billboards technics is not a sign of fake 3D. MM1-5 is fake cause it assemble surrounding from prerendered parts. MM6 renders world on the fly, so it is real 3D.
UndeadHalfOrc wrote:What I don't like about MM9 is that people still talk about it, when it should be forgotten.
You're wrong, boy, you totally wrong. *Launches Might and Magic IX: Writ of Fate*
Last edited by tolich on 10 Jul 2011, 05:09, edited 1 time in total.

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Unread postby GreatEmerald » 10 Jul 2011, 06:15

Again, sprites are prerendered. You can say that MM6 was the first 3D game, yes; MMXAlamar is talking about MM9 being the first completely 3D game.

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Unread postby Agalloch » 10 Jul 2011, 08:53

GreatEmerald wrote:Again, sprites are prerendered. You can say that MM6 was the first 3D game, yes; MMXAlamar is talking about MM9 being the first completely 3D game.
Textures are Pre-rendered too... some amount of 3D has to be baked because fully lighting and shadowing it in real time is still near impossible, though getting closer every day!

Wire Meshes are one way of producing 3D, sprites are another, calling Wire Meshes "completely" 3D simply limits later achievements in the state of the art. If you remove NPC's, Monsters and Boats from Might and Magic 6, it is still a truly 3D experience that allows you to view much of the world from all angles.

I understand what you both mean, but The addition of Wire Mesh Models for creatures in Might and Magic IX didn't do much to make me appreciate the 3D anymore than I did with the impressive application of 3D to Might and Magic VI.

My Major problem with IX has to be the inbalance. I've tried to complete it a number of times, but get so bored that Ive never made it all the way to the end.

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MMXAlamar
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Unread postby MMXAlamar » 10 Jul 2011, 15:13

What's imbalanced about MM9? The skill systems work pretty much the same as any other Might and Magic.

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tolich
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Unread postby tolich » 10 Jul 2011, 16:40

MMXAlamar wrote:What's imbalanced about MM9? The skill systems work pretty much the same as any other Might and Magic.
There was no skills system in MM1. Skills work way differently in MM2, MM3, and MM6 (in MM7 and MM8 they work very close to MM6, so the little difference doen't matter). So how can we say that in MM9 they work the same as in whole M&M series?
GreatEmerald wrote:Again, sprites are prerendered. You can say that MM6 was the first 3D game, yes; MMXAlamar is talking about MM9 being the first completely 3D game.
Shadows are prerendered in MM9, so it isn't real 3D. :)
Lol, we going to prove that Crysis is fake 3D! :D

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MMXAlamar
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Unread postby MMXAlamar » 10 Jul 2011, 23:34

There's not much change between the skills in MM6 through MM9. The only changes are additions of new skills and in MM9 different abilities for levels of mastery.

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Unread postby tolich » 11 Jul 2011, 05:19

Also, Grand Master level of mastery and different mastery caps for classes in MM7.
Now in MM9 Lich and Wizard can wear Chain Armor, but cannot use daggers (unless throwable), and Priest can wear Plate Armor.


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