Might & Magic IX

Here are my likes and dislikes on the game.
I may not have liked a lot of things about
the game but I still enjoyed playing it.

I did use God Mode for this game once I found
out how hard and fast the enemy was but don't
have a God Mode for any other game that I own.


Acually I used it through most of it because
the experience points really built up faster
than they would have without it.

I found that the game was very stingy with the
experience points on its own.

I am not crazy about these fighting games to
begin with so it doesn't bother me that I used
God mode at all.

This God mode made you walk slow and jerky but
at least you can survive with it and get
experience points faster.
You can turn it off while you are walking in
the town areas.

Stuff I like about it:

1. No food to worry about.

2. Monsters give you (one or more of the following;
money+spells+skills+scrolls+item ....
not just money OR just item OR nothing).

3. I like that it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg to travel by boat.

4. The drawn out map is OK as long as you look at the map as soon as you enter an area or town so you know where you came in.

5. The graphics,people and music are good.

6. I like how the magic spell gets stronger as you get stronger.

7. I like that you can carry a lot of inventory items something like maybe 30 items or so per person.

8. I like that you can store the items in the Bank's Safety Deposit Box whenever you want once you get that working.

9. I like that you can sell anything in any store instead of having to go the particular store for each item. The General store will buy armor or spells or weapons and so on.

10. At least column of fire doesn't hurt you while
you cast it like dragon breath did.

Stuff I don't like about it:

1. Monsters go behind you and are way to
strong for you at the start of the game.
Also you can't seem to lure only 1 or 2 at a time because all of them (however many there are in the area) come at you at the same time.

2. You haven't got a choice of easy or medium
or hard... just hard...that's it. A game should give you a choice.

3. Inventory is small pictures and hard to make out what you have but at least you can read what you have by right clicking on the item.

4. I miss the invisible spell and the fly spell and also the jump spell and Water Walk.

5. I miss the fountains to get your health and spell points up but at least you can rest anytime and not have to go to town to get more food for that.

6. I don't like how long it takes the game to load and to get out of the game takes just as long if not longer

7. I don't like that you have to be an Expert in 2 things and Master in something else before you can even learn a spell.

8. I don't like the cursor being attached to the camera and its hard to view the monsters health while in combat because a key on the keyboard is what you push to see it.

9. I don't like not knowing when the spells you cast run out so I just keep casting them often.

10. The wizard eye is very small and doesn't last long and the torch doesn't cover a very big area even later when you are stronger.

11. I made a mistake and picked the same promotion for two of my guys and couldn't change one of them to something else.

I have also come across bugs here and there but most were such that the game said I did something when I really didn't,oh well.

Also there are a couple of bugs in the game that if you don't
kill everything in the area the game will mess it up for you.

I will play this game again.

I did install the patch and maybe saved myself more trouble.

Here are games I have played (some more than once) and will play again.
I don't keep scores but Might and Magic games give you a certificate at
the end of the game.

1. Might & Magic 6 1st time score is 6236
2. Might & Magic 7 1st time score is 5426
3. Might & Magic 8 1st time score is 1809
4. Might & Magic 9 1st time score is 25593
5. Summoner
6. The Longest Journey
7. Myst
8. Riven
9. Myst III
10. Prince of Persia 3D
11. Darkstone
12. King's Quest 7 & 8 (Mask of Eternity,Princless Bride)
13. Mummy (Tomb of the Pharoah)
14. Lands of Lore (Gardians of Destiny)

There are many more games but I don't want to make this way longer than it is.

VHL Magic,

It sure is nice to see your review of this game because I know the series has a huge following among many gamers.

Interesting to read through your listing of pros and cons. Certainly easy to follow too. I look forward to seeing more of your reviews.

Laura

i agree with much of your pros and cons. some things I have a different opinion about:

1. your pro #4. I think the totally drawn out map was a massively egregious blunder on the developers' part. A map that reveals itself as you explore it is far preferable.

2. your pro #2. I didn't like how every single monster (almost without fail) gave you an item. I much prefer for most monsters to give money only, as in the previous MM games. The problem with accumulating all these items is the time it takes to then sell them. I found it to be a VERY significant time sink. And you have to do it, too, because training is 3 times as expensive as in previous MM games--so you will NEED this money.

3. I thought the graphics could have been better, though I don't care much about graphics in MM games--they've never been good.

4. your con #7. I kinda liked the spell system. I think I'm in the minority on that one, though

Finally, I agree with your assessment that despite it's flaws, and the surprising fact that in the final analysis it's not as good as its predecessors, I still found the game somewhat compelling.

rick