I’m somewhat expecting this one to be quite like Might and Magic I. However, I still wanted to give it some kind of play. At some point, I'm expecting these earlier Might and Magics to be more than enough different from enough others to be worth attempting a full playthrough. For now, I'm just going to see where this one takes me and how far I end up going in it.
Right off the bat, I can say I wish they were a bit more different than they appear to be. I never did get to play most of Might and Magic so getting the entire series just about for next to nothing was a real treat. I suppose no matter how short in time many of them have been made from each other you can’t expect too much to be changed.
Like in the first game they have starter characters already made that are a bit better than anything you can make. While it is tempting to make my group I decided to go just go with the premade.
It will take me a little time to get used to the names and what name that class belongs to. In Might and Magic 1 I created some of my own and used some of the premade. It made it easy to tell my tank and my cleric from the rest of them since I made them. This time around I keep forgetting. At least at the very early stages.
I was quite tempted to ditch the archer and get another sorcerer. In fact, after playing for a couple of hours it feels like that is the correct move to make. I’m still debating if I want to make that move or not. Hopefully, this will be a decision I make early enough that if I do make the switch that new character won’t be so far behind.
I did end up making a group position switch. Since the robber is a melee and in the back, he is worthless. Once I switched him out for the ranger's spot who also only had a melee weapon. The ranger became worthless as well just sitting in the back doing no damage.
Like before you can only save when you go into an inn in any of the towns. I did not like that kind of restriction in the past. It makes you take a lot more inns run trips to save than you like. Otherwise, you run the risk of a random encounter killing you off and losing way too much progression going back to your last save.
This game also comes with a manual you must read to understand some rather basic things. Such as which spells are what number. Like the first game, you must select when to cast a spell which rank of the spell, and then the spell number in that rank. For instance, on my cleric, I'll have to press C, 1, 4 to cast first aid or C, 1, 6 to cast power cure for a slightly more powerful heal once he has some levels.
An older game like this means you must learn your stuff. Otherwise, you will be walking around in the dark in a dungeon instead of knowing you can cast light on your sorcerer with 1, 5 for light that lasts till you rest or have traveled.
Before I even escaped the inn I was greeted by a spirit who shared some information with me. I can already tell Might and Magic II is going to be a more colorfully vibrant game. There seems to be a lot more use of different pixels of color to give detail the first Might and Magic would not have had.
As far as I can tell. This game also has no in-game map to help guide you around if you are trying to find something. I was not even a full minute into this game and I felt as lost in the first city of this game as I did in the first city of Might and Magic I.
Despite what the graphics show this first starter town is not an outside town. There is a wall around all of it as far as I could tell wandering around. You, however, must be close enough to the wall tile before it shows up. Making you feel even more lost and acting like this town is bigger than one might expect.
I quickly found some of the more important shops in the town. Such as were to heal, train, and the blacksmith. It was tempting to see if I could afford any upgrades from the blacksmith right away, but I decided to skip out and save any gold I did get for quick training as soon as my characters got enough experience to do so.
It did not take long before I found my first quest from a wizard. He wanted me to venture down into the cave under the city. I really should have read more of what he wanted. I was so expected I ended up skipping over that part of the text with the exact details I needed.
I was not that worried. Shortly later, while lost in the starting town I found myself already entering the cave under the town. You would not think you could get more lost than just being lost. I can tell you I'm now lost squared.
It’s not a good feeling when you are encountering enemy after enemy and have no idea how to get out of a cave let alone back to the inn to save. After a while I started to think the only way, I was going to make it back to the inn was to get killed and lose all the progression I had made up to this point.
I was quite shocked I ended up surviving such large encounters this early on. In some of these encounters like this one six points of damage was enough to kill something. Not all my characters, if they could even deal damage could do that much, however. So, it took a few rounds of combat.
Final Thoughts
Out of pure dump luck after being lost for what felt like forever in the under-the-first town, I found the exit. From there I quickly found the inn and was saved. I was not expecting to survive my first encounter in this game with how brutal the first Might and Magic was at the start.
It seems like a lot of stuff will be the same. I have a feeling however there will be some twists and turns along the way. For that reason alone, and wanting to see what little story unfolds in this one I'll keep pressing forward for now.
Information
Screenshots were taken and content was written by @Enjar about Might And Magic II.
I was a big fan of these first-person dungeon crawlers, though I was horribly lost playing them on my brothers Commodore 64 (he kept the manuals hidden from me as a deterrant). I did rent many of them on NES (again, no manuals made it rougher than it had to be). It was not great fun for me early on but I either figured out what needed to be done or had a friend that had the game too and I could read their manual during lunch at school.
One game I fell in love with on the C64 was Alternate Reality: The Dungeon. No manual really needed for this one. It is brutal as can be as far as tough, but it is a great "introduction" role-playing game for anyone wanting to get into these games without all the levels of spells and power of that spell complicating the fun.
Swords and Serpents on NES is an even better introduction to this genre. Also Arcana on SNES is a great intro title for anyone interested.
I can't wait to read your thoughts on the later Might and Magic games, World of Xeen is quite a bit of fun.
Growing up I played Might and Magic VI. So far it still remains my favorite. It’s rather cool to see these early ones add in elements here or there that I grew to love in VI as they slowly progress forward.
The first Might and Magic I did not care so much for. This second one advances a little bit. Keeping some thing I don’t care much for and adds in things I do.