A new era of Might and Magic?

DaveO · Post by **DaveO** » Thu Aug 12, 2010 10:11 am

Mystery announcement from Facebook about a potential new entry to the series.

A New Era Of Might And Magic Begins

In my opinion, it's a stupid decision to even think of Might & Magic. I guess Ubisoft is not aware of Diablo 3 which will pretty much obscure any RPG for 1-2 years after its release. I've been of the opinion that Might & Magic needs to stay dead as a series, and I can't see sales of 100000 units regardless of what design choices are made. Browser based games, console releases, or a continuation of Sir Kicks a Lot from Dark Messiah would be better decisions.

galraen · Post by **galraen** » Thu Aug 12, 2010 10:27 am

Not the sort of stupid response I've come to expect from you DaveO, not sure why its a 'stupid decision' I for one will be very interested in seeing if they can live up to the standards that came before IX; although that may be optimistic.

As for Diablo 3 obscuring everything else for one or two years after it's release; not on my PC it won't! Didn't like any of the previous Diablo offerings and as they are threatening to stay true to the first two, it's unlikely that 3 will be ay different.

M&M has a far longer and, IMO, superior track record to Diablo, so if Ubisoft get it right, it could well be Diablo that finds itself 'obscured.

doady · Post by **doady** » Thu Aug 12, 2010 5:34 pm

Don't worry Ubi Soft will not pull a Bethseda, and make a Might and Magic X that has little in common with the previous games. In fact, it has been stated officially on the Facebook page that, though there will be RPGs using the Might and Magic name, there will never be a M&M X.

They respect the legacy of the originals not to name a game M&M X, so I don't see any problem with them using the M&M name.

As for Diablo, I don't see why people rag on it here. If it was not for the original Diablo, I probably would not have played games like Challenge of the Five Realms, Might & Magic VI and Baldur's Gate and become a CRPG fan. If it has the atmosphere that original had (which as lacking in II), Diablo III could revive interest in the (let's face it) dead CRPG genre, just like the original did.

galraen · Post by **galraen** » Fri Aug 13, 2010 7:20 am

doady wrote:Don't worry Ubi Soft will not pull a Bethseda, and make a Might and Magic X that has little in common with the previous games...............

.........They respect the legacy of the originals

You obviously never played M&M 9 then which definitely showed no respect for the originals!

However I'm prepared to give them a chance to redeem themselves for that abomination, and not just write the potential game off before knowing anything about it.

GawainBS · Post by **GawainBS** » Sat Aug 14, 2010 2:50 am

galraen wrote:You obviously never played M&M 9 then which definitely showed no respect for the originals!

However I'm prepared to give them a chance to redeem themselves for that abomination, and not just write the potential game off before knowing anything about it.

Now, now, I don't see what was so bad about IX.

I mean, if you uninstalled it, formatted your hard drive and buried the disc in your backyard, you might actually forget ever playing it... ;-)

doady · Post by **doady** » Sat Aug 14, 2010 6:25 am

galraen wrote:You obviously never played M&M 9 then which definitely showed no respect for the originals!

However I'm prepared to give them a chance to redeem themselves for that abomination, and not just write the potential game off before knowing anything about it.

Ubi Soft has nothing to do with the developers of M&M IX (New World Computing) as far as I know. That's probably a good thing, based on what I've heard about IX.

And no I haven't played IX. Actually, I haven't even played VII yet, which I bought when it first came out, and still own. It has been 10-11 years now. So I guess I should install it and play it some day...

galraen · Post by **galraen** » Sat Aug 14, 2010 1:41 pm

doady wrote:Ubi Soft has nothing to do with the developers of M&M IX (New World Computing) as far as I know. That's probably a good thing, based on what I've heard about IX.

And no I haven't played IX. Actually, I haven't even played VII yet, which I bought when it first came out, and still own. It has been 10-11 years now. So I guess I should install it and play it some day...

It was Ubisoft that brought out IX not New World Computing, Ubisoft comited themselves to making the game when they acquired the rights to M&M, and more to the point as far as they were concerned, Heroes of M&M. Heroes was all Ubisoft wanted, they had no interest in M&M what so ever. They fulfilled their commitment to bring out IX by hastily cobbling together a misfit of a game on an engine designed for another game entirely. All the blame for M&M 9 rest squarely with Ubisoft, and no one else.

I'd suggest going to Good Old Games and buying M&M 6 first, read the thread on this forum before playing it though. DaveO gave some good links for some very necessary fixes for the version on GOG.

Seven was almost as good as Six, and well worth playing IMHO, eight I found a tad disappointing, but that could be down to personal taste; but I got the impression the game was brought out in haste in an attempt to stave of financial collapse.

DaveO · Post by **DaveO** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 5:16 pm

Everything I've seen or read thus far is indicating a new entry for Heroes of Might & Magic, but released under just Might & Magic as part of the name. That decision certainly makes more sense than trying to revive the RPG saga. I am concerned about DRM causing Ubisoft sales for the game, but I'm not a huge Heroes fanatic.

In regards to the M&M fixes mentioned earlier, the GreyFace patches don't require actual CDs like the Mok patches do. I'm currently playing MM8 under GrayFace's 1.4 patch, and it's the ONLY way to get thru the Wasp Nest in MM8 for more modern computers.

galraen · Post by **galraen** » Mon Aug 16, 2010 6:46 pm

If they were prepared to a decent job of resurrecting the M&M series I'd certainly be interested. If they can bring them up to date, and come up with a good story then why would it be a bad idea?

If on the other hand they are just bringing out a continuation of Heroes of M&M I have no interest at all; I found those games rather boring. Could it be a move into an on line Heroes game just a la Evony but just labelled M&M?

DaveO · Post by **DaveO** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 8:39 am

Ubisoft did release the first six Might & Magic games thru the Good Old Games channel. They may release the last 2 or 3 games as well, but the Limited Edition is certainly a good way of testing the waters. In regards to a new M&M story, I'm not certain what would could be done to bring fans into a new series in large numbers. I did like the ties between the 'modern' entries of the M&M series to the Heroes games for MM6 thru MM8.

Regardless of Ubisoft's decision in terms of the future for the Might & Magic RPG, I'm not sure it would be wise to try RPGs now when the genre has been in decline for the last few years. The only way I see a successful revival of M&M having a chance would be to bring in the best possible talent across the board and to release something uniquely different. I'm thinking of a game that would adapt the storyline and quests according to actions that you do. The game may start the same, but with an adapted storyline you could have a large amount of difference between one completion of the game versus another. The best way to completely explain what I mean is to look at the Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis adventure game. It has three separate paths to the conclusion.

doady · Post by **doady** » Tue Aug 17, 2010 3:08 pm

I wonder if even the Heroes series is too hardcore for today's market, let alone the regular M&M...

galraen wrote:It was Ubisoft that brought out IX not New World Computing, Ubisoft comited themselves to making the game when they acquired the rights to M&M, and more to the point as far as they were concerned, Heroes of M&M. Heroes was all Ubisoft wanted, they had no interest in M&M what so ever. They fulfilled their commitment to bring out IX by hastily cobbling together a misfit of a game on an engine designed for another game entirely. All the blame for M&M 9 rest squarely with Ubisoft, and no one else.

I see... I didn't know that. Thanks for info. I guess that explains things about IX.

galraen wrote:I'd suggest going to Good Old Games and buying M&M 6 first, read the thread on this forum before playing it though. DaveO gave some good links for some very necessary fixes for the version on GOG.

Seven was almost as good as Six, and well worth playing IMHO, eight I found a tad disappointing, but that could be down to personal taste; but I got the impression the game was brought out in haste in an attempt to stave of financial collapse.

I already have Might & Magic VI, even before I got VII. Great game, one of my faves. I have to get VIII though, but haven't heard many good things about it.

galraen · Post by **galraen** » Wed Aug 18, 2010 2:47 am

So the truth is out, there is no new era of Might & Magic, it was all a Ubisoft con trick; now I have even more reason to hate them!

Kipi · Post by **Kipi** » Mon Aug 23, 2010 11:54 am

galraen wrote:So the truth is out, there is no new era of Might & Magic, it was all a Ubisoft con trick; now I have even more reason to hate them!

Actually, could that "new era" actually mean the upcoming new Heroes of Might and Magic -game?

So far I have read one article about it and seen one trailer, but it seems that they are making some big changes to the mechanics of the game, so that could be what the the new era means.

I have to hunt down the article a bit later, but [url="http://www.gamereactor.fi/grtv/?id=8384"]here[/url] is the trailer