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| The nine-game series (not counting the Heroes spin-offs) begins. |
Might and Magic: Book One - Secret of the Inner Sanctum
United States
New World Computing (developer and publisher)
Released in 1986 for Apple II; 1987 for Commodore 64, FM-7, PC-88, and DOS; 1988 for Macintosh, PC-98, Sharp X1, Sharp X68000, and MSX; 1992 for NES
Date Started: 3 July 2010
Last week, I announced that I was taking a break from The Bard's Tale II, and shortly thereafter I found myself playing a game that looks a lot like The Bard's Tale II: Might and Magic: Book One - Secret of the Inner Sanctum. Like The Bard's Tale series before it, Might and Magic is a descendant of Wizardry, offering a tile-based multi-party game in a first-person perspective. The game's approach to combat, magic, and exploration seem remarkably like its predecessors.
Yet playing it, I found myself enjoying it a lot more than The Bard's Tale II. This may have been external. I finally finished my traveling season and I've returned home for a full month (expect a post nearly every night in July). But there are some game play features that improve upon what came before, even if the graphics aren't quite as good (among other things, there seems to be no animation).
Might and Magic I was released for the Apple II in 1986. I'm playing a DOS port from a year later. It was the first publication of New World Computing and is the beginning of one of the most successful franchises in game history. I'm sure I played it before, back in the 1980s, but frankly I can't remember it. The first Might and Magic of which I have any real memory is III.
The game does not begin promising. Based on the game manual I consulted, Might and Magic tosses you into the world with no hints whatsoever as to the world's history and what your quest is all about--or, indeed, if you even have a quest. There's a cryptic line in the manual: "When you begin, the uncharted world of Might and Magic is as strange and unfamiliar to you as it is to your characters." Huh? Why is that?
To get a clue, I consulted the evocative map of the Land of Varn. The map is divided into 20 sections (A1-E4), that show some neat terrain: rivers, sea, mountains, a volcano, forest, plains, a desert plateau. Towns and castles are shown on the map as are numerous monsters: a scorpion, a sea dragon, a knight on horseback. Do these indicate actual game encounters or are they just decorative? Based on a clue I picked up in the first town, Sorpigal, I think the former. A statue reads: "One by water, one by land, one by air, one by sand. The wheel of luck will favorably pay, the more of these menacing beasts you slay. Although wishes may come true, all the beasts will become anew."
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| Only the Ultima series has had cooler maps so far. |
The basic characteristics of the game break no new ground. There are six character classes: knight, paladin, sorcerer, cleric, archer, and robber. Each requires a different minimum combination of seven attributes: intellect, might, personality, endurance, speed, accuracy, and luck. There are five races: human, elf, dwarf, gnome, and half-orc. You can choose your alignment from good, neutral, and evil, and set your sex and name.
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| A very basic character creation process. |
Character level is based on experience, which is accumulated through quests and combat. Your level determines your hit points and spell points and, for spellcasters, what spell level they can cast. The magic system features 47 sorcerer spells and 47 cleric spells, divided into 7 levels. Obviously, higher level spells use more spell points and many also require gems, which you pick up from slain foes.
All characters start at age 18 and can age through magic and natural passage of time. Your skills deteriorate as you age, and after age 80 there's a chance of dying in your sleep! Fortunately, there's a rejuvenation spell to reverse old age. As in the Ultima games, your characters have a food store and they eat a meal every time you rest. One major difference that seems to be a bit unbalanced: every time you rest, all of your hit points and spell points are regenerated. As food isn't terribly expensive, this suggests the major difficulty in the game will come in the form of individual encounters rather than the culmination of encounters like Wizardry and The Bard's Tale.
I created a party of six characters. I couldn't think of any reason not to just include one of each character type, so I did that, mixing races, sexes, and alignments. If you're curious, my party consists of:
- Palamedes, a good male half-orc paladin (kudos to Might and Magic for allowing any race to be a paladin well ahead of D&D)
- Redbeard, a neutral male dwarf knight
- Kata, a neutral female elf archer
- Lone Wolf, an evil male gnome robber
- Sarah, a good female elf cleric
- Grey Star, a good male human sorcerer
The game starts you with clubs, 10 meals, and absolutely no gold. I needed to find something to beat with clubs before I could even think about an edged weapon. Each character has between 8 and 10 hit points and the two spellcasters have 5 spell points. Talk about brutal.
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| Starting out in this game is tough. |
I ventured out to explore Sorpigal and almost immediately died at the hands of a band of six sprites who bombarded my party with "curse" spells making my attacks ineffective. I wanted to throw up my hands in exasperation but I re-loaded and did a little better. Through exploration, I learned:
- Sorpigal consists of a 16 x 16 square. Until I find otherwise, I'm going to assume that all Might and Magic areas are this size. This makes exploration a little quicker than in The Bard's Tale where all maps were 22 x 22. Might and Magic may actually have more levels (so far, I figure there are at least 20 outdoor areas, 5 towns of at least two levels each--I've already discovered that Sorpigal has a dungeon--and a couple of castles, for a minimum of around 35 areas), but I like that you can get through them at a faster clip. And unless there are ways of finding secret doors that don't simply involve walking in to walls (I've found a few that way), not all of the squares on each map are used.
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| Exploring Sorpigal. |
- There seems to be a lot more things in this game. I've only half-mapped Sorpigal, but I've already found half a dozen statues with cryptic clues, a trap that dumps you into the dungeon, a mystical leprechaun who offers transportation to other towns for a gem, and a jail full of monsters where if you're not careful the doors lock behind you--along with the usual shops, temple, and training facility.
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| Unfortunately, I don't have any gems and don't know when I'll find any. |
- Random encounters vary from somewhat easy to very hard. It took me a while to realize that you have to (s)earch the square after you finish fighting a battle or you don't get any treasure. Even when you search, the gold and experience rewards are not that high. Based on the encounters I've had so far, it's going to be a long time before my characters reach Level 2 and can afford decent equipment.
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| Ah, the old reliable orc. |
The game follows The Bard's Tale's convention of only allowing you to save in the inn, so you have to be careful about getting trapped too far away. Fortunately, I've discovered that if you run from combat, instead of simply skipping the battle and leaving you where you are (as in The Bard's Tale), you end up back at the inn. In dungeons, as I found out after a trap square unceremoniously dumped me into one, fleeing takes you to the entrance. This makes up a little for the fact that one out of four combats leaves all your characters dead (at least at level 1).
I'll leave combat to tomorrow's posting, but suffice to say that it seems like it has that same nail-biting ultra-tactical quality as Wizardry. I need to spend some time analyzing what makes Wizardry and this game fundamentally different from The Bard's Tale even though they seem so similar.
Again, I don't know what it is, but I'm mapping and exploring with a lot more gusto than with The Bard's Tale II despite the game's difficulty. I kind of like that I have no idea what the main quest is about (I assume it has something to do with an "inner sanctum"). I'm looking forward to continuing this one.
None of the early Might and Magic games tell you what the overall goal is about. In a sense finding out what what the quest is about is a quest in itself.
ReplyDeleteThe game's bigger than you think. Expect to have over 50 maps by the time you're finished. Every single square can be stepped on, though of course this doesn't mean there's always something to find.
The early game is brutal. I don't think there's any way around grinding - you need to find an easy fixed fight, then keep doing this fight, saving after every victory, until you get to level 2 or 3 even. It's boring but once you get out of Sorpigal and into the world the game becomes much more interesting.
If "every single square can be stepped on," I'm either missing something (is there some way to find secret doors other than just walking into walls?) or it doesn't happen until you get the Teleport spell at Level 5. Either way, I'm marking these areas inaccessible for now.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the game is tough in the early stages. I did pretty much what you suggested--essentially doing laps around Sorpigal and hitting the fixed fights--until I was level 3. It really didn't take that long, though.
wasn't there a spell that would force move you through a wall?
DeleteJust started playing MM1 myself. In the early MM games (unlike Bard's Tale) I've found that the pre-generated party is better than what you can generate yourself without lots and lots of re-rolling of stats, plus they have _some_ equipment and money. So with Crag Hack and his merry band I have survived the first half a dozen combats (which probably means my party will be wiped out in next battle).
ReplyDeleteIt's very similar to MM2, except MM2 on the Maiga had much better and animated graphic.
Another difference is that in MM2 the game checked for encounters not just when moving, but also when _turning_. Not sure if that was an Amiga only thing; I thought it was kinda weird even when I was a kid.
I noticed that, too, but something about playing with a pre-generated party just grates against me. The beginning WAS pretty damned difficult with no equipment, though.
ReplyDeleteMM1&2 are great, if a lot harder to play than later games in the series. For some reason the Mac ports were a lot more manageable for me to complete, although I can't remember why. The graphics were certainly marginally better in the Mac ports, but that certainly can't be why.
ReplyDeleteThe pre-gens in M&M1 are the actual Heroes in Heroes of Might & Magic. So, it's not half bad as compared to playing pre-gens of other RPGs.
ReplyDeleteNow I have to find time to install both and see this for myself.
DeleteHeroes came out much later than M&M1 so using the names there would be a nice nod to the history of the franchise. It also makes me wonder if there was any history behind those names and why they were chosen.
"It also makes me wonder if there was any history behind those names and why they were chosen."
DeleteCrag Hack was a character name that Jon Van Caneghem used all the time in his tabletop RPGs.
Ah Might And Magic 1, the first game in your list I actually played when it was new. I was totally lost in it :)
ReplyDeleteHaving no clue what the quest even is was actually a big downer for me. I like at least partial railroading. Say the typical Bioware style, yes you can pick from four locations to go to now but at least each will have some clear quests.
This though was an important game to me, it taught me things I don't like about games :p
It was a different approach, to be sure, but I rather liked it. You explored the game world for a while before the "main quest" became apparent. It would have been cool if, say, Skyrim had done this. You arrive in the province, solve a few people's problems, join a guild or two, and THEN Alduin appears.
DeleteThis is exactly why I was stunned someone actually preferes M&M I over Bard's Tale II. Guess this shows how different personal tastes can be.
DeleteI'm a long time crpg playet, too, and I have to admit BT was my very first CRPG series on the C64, so maybe I'm biased. But having no clue where to go next and what to do exactly is a real issue for me and M&M I offers absolutely NO clues for some of its vital parts. After you finish the first series of carrying this from one wizard to another, you're left alone. I can forgive having no story whatsoever present, but even then you have to admit BT II has more of a story than M&M I at least in the beginning. However, having no line of quests to follow or anything is a big turnoff for me I figured. Trying to be less subjective I still wonder if having dungeons with no purpose whatsoever makes sense gameplay-wise And M&M I has some of those AFAIR. Also remember having some strange encounters in the dugneons which dsuffered the same problem, e.g. the room that shakes in Castle Dragadoon IIRC, what was that supposed to mean? Looks like they didn't have time to finish implement something there, the same goes for some talking faces I don't remember in which dungeon they were. In all parts of BT such encounters were clues to real existing riddles, in M&M I those faces and the room were just there for the fun of it or so it seemed, maybe some inside jokes of the programmers but again, that was absolutely pointless and drawed on the overall atmosphere for me.
Again, really interesting fact how different peoples tastes are even if they really enjoy classic crpg. Back then, BT had way better reviews in my country than M&M I. M&MI is widely regarded the weakest part of the series over here. Maybe that says something about different tastes in different parts of the world, too.
Well, open ended vs linear is only one of the aspects that make up the games. Also, when it comes to sound and graphics it depends on the system on which you played it.
DeleteAs a kid I loved BT2 and played the Amiga version, which looked and sunded very good. MM1 was never released for the Amiga, so I never played it as a kis, though I loved MM2 (even more so than I did BT2).
About two years ago I played MM1 (the ugly DOS version) for the first time, and I liked it. I tried to replay BT2, but the constant random encounters every 10 seconds was such a huge turn-off.
So while I would probably not have liked MM1 as well as BT2 when I was a kid, I now consider MM1 the superior game.
BT2 has a more sensible back story and main quest, but (in my opinion) far, far worse gameplay. The gameplay--the navigating, mapping, encounters, and combats--is what makes up most of the player's experience, and I'd rather have THIS be good and the story nonsensical (or even nonexistant) than have a good framing story but boring, repetitive gameplay.
DeleteI think not having a quest from the outset makes it more authentic. If you were a newbie adventurer in real life, you would have to go arround asking people what you can do to them, and after getting experienced, get entwined in the epic quest.
DeleteI do like the idea of going around asking people what you can DO TO them...
DeleteThese posts intrigued me so much I downloaded Might & Magic I through VI from GOG, and wow, I'm hooked. I don't have too much time to play (having a five-month-old will do that to you), so it's been slow going, but I've been enjoying the hell out it. I chalk it up to your great writing and explanations as to why the game works, and not just what the game is like.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Alex. I'm glad you've enjoyed both the postings and the game.
DeleteI remember playing the C64 version on my C128. All these years later I misremembered it as Might and Magic II, but thanks to your blog I stand corrected.
ReplyDeleteI have owned this game for a long time, having bought a bundle pack of M&M I-VI on cd years ago. Could never get the darn thing to work though. I played the game once on the NES when I was a kid and remembered liking it. Well, with the D-fend reloaded app, I got the game running no problem. Can even slow down the CPU cycles to make everything readable. Damn, but I don't remember this game being so freaking hard! I open a door, walk through, big encounter! Barely survive, find a chest, open with robber, TRAP! knocks half my party out. I turn around to leave, doors locked! Unlock with my robber, TRAP! My knocked out members are now dead! I can't handle this kind of stress! :0P
ReplyDeleteIt stabilizes after you gain a few levels, but yeah, that sounds like my initial experiences with the game.
DeleteI owned this game and couldn't play it because the floppy was corrupted or something. I don't remember what the deal was, but I thought the MANUAL was SO INTERESTING!
ReplyDelete"When you begin, the uncharted world of Might and Magic is as strange and unfamiliar to you as it is to your characters."
The monsters! The spells! I think I wound up playing the second installment before finally playing the first and it didn't quite live up to what I dreamt about when reading that damn manual.
ReplyDeleteIt's strange to me that you enjoyed this so much, when the thing is just totally grinding my gears. I've put in about two weeks or so, and have tonnes of maps to show for it, but it just keeps on finding new ways to be totally unfair.
An NPC who takes all my items with no warning or recourse? Sure! Instant-death fights that I can only encounter after an extremely long session of exploring past no-challenge fights that I'll have to repeat eventually? Check. It also has quests that bug out if you don't guess which character's inventory to hold an item that the quest does not mention, along with incorrectly worded English for critical game-progress messages.
Just now I managed to follow a serise of teleports and land in an area that I hadn't mapped yet, but was in an easyish zone outside. I went through a series of fights carefully resting and tediously reprotecting after every single fight. In the last square I found a Lich and a bunch of mummies. What? Okay well, let's try to run. Nope. Well... Okay fine let's see if I can survive. I have a hugely exciting difficult and scary fight that I squeak through. I plan to search, and then Fly to Sorpigal and immediately save.
FOR SOME REASON search here just starts the fight again with no warning. This is completely inconsistent with probably 45 hours of gameplay so far. I die and lose an hour of progress. Again.
The thing is from where I sit this is just vastly inferior to The Bard's Tale. Might & Magic Book One has such a failure to communicate a goal, puzzles that depend on badly worded text, combat that's far too slow and yet features things like 8 combats in a row in a corridor, a real lack of any coherent theming, and yet manages to pack in lots of cheap gameovers.
I *liked* the start of the game where I died a lot and had to scrape by to advance. The later game where I'm not scraping but saving is very inconvenient and results in huge amounts of wasted time is not really working for me.
I absolutely cannot disagree with you on the facts you present, and yet I had a totally opposite reaction as to my enjoyment of the game.
DeleteOh, well. It would be a dull world if we all had the same tastes.
I guess there is a reason why MM1, along with Knights of Legend, is the only game for which I used a DosBox version with Save States function...
DeleteFWIW, the first time i wrote that comment I made an explicit callout to the variability of taste, and that being normal and all.
DeleteIt was only after blogger lost it a few times that I got a little hastier in recomposing it.
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@PetrusOctavianus: I managed to get a save states build going as a result of this straw-camel-back experience. Hoping it restores the fun for me.
I know this is a long time aho but did you have bug problems? For dome reason in Dusk I have found no traps or portals but they should be there.
ReplyDeleteNo, I didn't experience any problems like that. My blog isn't a very good source for tech support, unfortunately. I'd try one of the GameFAQs forums.
DeleteThanks addict, turns out my apple ][ version was bugged but I went to GOG and got the whole series through to 9, I did play the original nes version but never got far, without you I never would have figured out that I was suppose to map the areas, thanks for turning me on to this great series. You also turned me to another series but I'll post my comment about it there.
DeleteInspired by your playthrough I've finally decided to give it a go. I'm a huge World of Xeen fan, but always skipped over Book One due to the interface. I've gotten over it (now that I know I need to map the damn thing).
ReplyDeleteI'm about 8 hours in and I've explored all of the non-hidden parts of Sorpigal (Upper Level) and some of the dungeon below. I decided to go with the default party, however in my most recent trip to the dungeons, one of my characters is dead (which I only discovered after several rests and healing spells used). I have gotten 0 gold thus far and so I need to roll up my very first replacement character until such time as I get the first guy (who had finally reached level 2!) back to life. For that I need to find some damn gold.
It's been 6 years since I played it, but I remember how brutal MM1 was for the first few levels. You basically have to wander around Sorpigal, hitting the fixed fights until you exhaust them, then sleeping in the inn to re-set them. Repeat 20 times, losing parties along the way, of course, before you're strong enough to adventure outward.
Delete"I have gotten 0 gold thus far." You're remembering to hit (S)earch after every battle?
For those interested (Chet, I know you won't play this one as it is a console release that was never on a computer) a translation project has translated the Japanese version of Might & Magic - Secret of the Inner Sanctum for the Famicom into English. It seems they didn't follow the plot of the American game when making a version for Japan. However, when they translated it for the NES, they restored the American script. Now youc an play the Japanese plot, in English.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.romhacking.net//#article2421
http://www.romhacking.net/hacks/5412/
PC engine also had a curious japanese version of might and magic. I'd love to see this translated too
DeleteThis video shows extracts (graphics and audio) for six different platform versions of MM1: C-64, Apple, NES, PC Engine (Japanese), PC-98 (Japanese) and DOS:
Deletehttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_vvvybyRjjQ.
There are timestamps in the description for each segment. Of course the different years show in the graphics. The PC Engine has a voiced intro and if you didn't know it's MM, based on the images used you could think it's for a JRPG.
For those who wonder which one to play, the author's comments, also in the description, are:
"- C64: Better Sound than DOS but worse graphics. Same Mechanics and Gameplay as DOS. Somewhat slower than DOS.
- Apple//: Worst graphics but the original game. Same Mechanics and Gameplay as DOS
- NES: Nice graphics and okay music, Automap, but awfully slow. Almost unplayable except you take your time to make coffee during every combat you encounter. No, really, it's that slow, you actually can make a hot beverage during casting dancing sword on 10+ enemies.
- PC Engine: Nice graphics and music, Minimap, best version of the game, but japanese only. Where is the guy who wanted to make an English Rom hack? Yes, someone worked on it, but didn't finish the job.
- PC-98: Nice drawn graphics, but no music. Nice version but japanese only. Rom hack? Hello?^^
- DOS: Ugly and noisy but fast as hell. Best version if you have no time to lose."
However, an element to factor in also is if you plan to transfer your characters to the next instalment - as he also notes in the comments.
The NES version's speed problems are easily fixed with a modern emulator. I played it recently and found it to be pretty good, but also a bit neutered compared to the various computer versions; enemies threw out fewer status effects and it's extremely cheap to pay the temple to restore any status effect, so the only one that ever really matters is Eradicated. Overall an easier experience, but definitely the nicest graphics you can get in a version with English text currently.
DeleteThat is a really cool comparison video, thanks for posting it.
DeleteHello, CRPG Addict and other visitors to this blog. I've recently been playing Might & Magic I for the NES (kind of apropos of nothing) and I wanted to drop a message here about it, since I thought you might find it interesting in your part-time occupation as an RPG historian. I thought about emailing you privately, but figured it might also be interesting to any random passers-by who happen to stumble across this. My intent is not to "set the record straight" or prompt a blog post or anything, just to relate my experience.
ReplyDeleteIn one of your postings a few years back you had said you consider console versions of these games to be "toy versions." While many console ports are inferior in various ways, or at best a sidegrade, I've discovered that Might & Magic I on NES could be considered the best version of the game...of course depending on your preferences. It feels like the closest thing the game has ever had to a remake or remaster, a complete presentation overhaul with other additional features to smooth the experience. It is not perfect, and I will state all its shortcomings as well, but I feel its advantages outweigh its issues.
It's probably best to start with the features. M&M1 NES revamps the darkness system entirely and incorporates it into a new automap system. Rather than simply telling you you're in "darkness" and blanking out the screen, on NES you are still perfectly capable of navigating corridors in the dark, they just appear as a deep blue color. If you expend the resources to light up the area though, you are able to fill in tiles on your automap, accessed with the select button. It's similar to the automap seen in M&M2 and beyond, with walls, doors and an arrow to show you and your facing, and in some ways deprecates the need for the Location spell. I will say that perhaps due to storage considerations (bits recorded for tiles revealed or unrevealed), the outdoor "automap" is somewhat unhelpful -- it doesn't show corridors, but instead a relatively vague bird's eye view of the land. Better than nothing, but I wish it was as good as the interiors.
Spells are not referred to by number, but by a brief 5-character name that is sufficient to describe them. Heroism is HERO1, Super Heroism is HERO2, Protection from Cold is P-COLD, etc. This is naturally a lot more convenient, and I'm not sure why that numerical method was even originally in place for 1 and 2. A form of DRM, needing to possess the manual?
At all times while navigating the world, you are reminded of which map you are on in the center of the screen, which is a welcome addition. For example, the UI will say C-SORPIGAL for the caves beneath Sorpigal. Embarrassingly, the translation from English to Japanese and back to English has resulted in Varn becoming "Barn" when traveling the overworld. Perhaps understandable, due to the era this is from and Japanese's lack of a "v" sound. Other references to Varn in text are correct, it's just that this error is conspicuous.
Here I will have to admit that I don't have experience with every version of M&M1, only that I have read and heard some complaints which may or may not be an issue in all versions. One review expressed annoyance that they couldn't tell for sure when they'd passed through a secret door, since the perspective often looks no different; the NES plays a low beep with every step to let you know you've walked forward, and definitely lets you know when you bump into a wall. In addition to this, turning left or right has a quick scrolling animation, which helps a lot in keeping your bearings. The same review also claimed that in their version, auto-combat wouldn't use the "shoot" command and would just make those characters block, but ranged characters function just fine on auto on the NES.
Apparently, I'm bumping into blogger comment size limits here, so I'll reply to this post with more in a moment...
Hi, Sporky. Thanks for visiting and talking about your experience. I really love MM1--I still think it's the best of the series, all the way through MM5 at least--and looking this over makes me want to replay it, especially since I don't really like my coverage of ANY game during the first year of my blog.
DeleteI will die on the hill that manually mapping is an integral part of playing MM1, but I appreciate that the NES has some additional interface features. As for the "toy version" bit, I don't remember saying that, but it sounds like something I'd say. I hope I made it clear that I was kidding, although I probably wasn't kidding.
I found the comment here: https://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2017/09/might-and-magic-iii-mowing-and-myconids.html?showComment=1504828778826#c1100226567618108806
DeleteAnd again, my post isn't about "taking you to task" or anything. You are correct that many versions on consoles were limited, and I'm just finding myself satisfied with this version and consider it an exception, and wanted to lay out a comparison here for posterity.
(Continuing my post from above)
DeleteThe graphics are much improved. Overworld areas have a background sky instead of just darkness, and they vary in color along with the trees and mountains, giving you some context to the map tile you're in at all times. Enemies have a great art style, and the frontmost three are displayed at all times during combat, and get pelted with various animations depending on the attack used. The single greatest addition is a small graphic for most significant locations, shopkeepers and events that you come across. You actually get to see a tiny, mangled spaceship crashed on the ground. The druids of the north, west and east are wise old men, while the druid of the south is younger and stern. You get to meet the ice princess. Finally...I like the UI character at the top of the screen watching over your game, whose futuristic design feels like he must be a representation of Corak or Sheltem (perhaps slightly spoilery).
Here's what the underground towns look like: https://i.imgur.com/URLmCZg.png
Spaceship encounter: https://i.imgur.com/RWm1DvW.png
Some monster graphics: https://i.imgur.com/bOMADdv.png
The assassin leader Paul Pead is particularly well rendered: https://i.imgur.com/iH3AwYp.png
Music is quite good too, in my opinion. I've played some of its PC port contemporaries on the NES including Bard's Tale and Pool of Radiance, and M&M1's compositions are much better. Towns are serene and comforting, castles are stately, and the overworld is bold and adventurous. It hasn't gotten monotonous for me after dozens of hours.
The full game is present, all 55 maps, every enemy, spell and item of the other versions. NES doesn't deserve any particular praise for this, but it's important to point out since other PC-to-console ports tend to get cut down. There is one minor compromise here: some of the text was truncated due to cartridge storage issues. I know, I know...but we're talking probably less than 5% of all messages, and not in a way that severely impacts the experience. Here's an example: in Dusk, all the shopkeepers have various spooky gimmicks to their appearance (A FAINT OUTLINE OF A MAN APPEARS, SAYING, "NEED SOME FEED (Y/N)?" or AN EERIE SILENCE PERVADES THE DESERTED INN. SUDDENLY, A GHOSTLY APPARITION APPEARS, ASKING, "SIGN IN (Y/N)?"). On NES, these were all changed to the same string (A horrifying voice speaks from the darkness: "Need help?"). However, every other town besides Dusk retains their unique shopkeepers, including Portsmith's all-female motif. Interleaved text puzzles are still present in their original form, wilderness encounters are word-for-word identical, etc. Besides this, there is the minor improvement that all the text is in proper sentence case, rather than in all caps as in the original.
What are some of the game's other issues? A comment above mentioned that it is slow. There is a menu option to increase the game's text speed, but it's true, some of the presentation additions like menu scrolling and attack animations do make it slower. However, this is only going to be an issue for those playing on original hardware, and honestly when I play these games in DosBox I use speed boost hotkeys just as often as on NES.
Many people will likely not be fans of using a d-pad and confirm/cancel buttons to navigate the menus instead of the speedier hotkeys of computer versions. For me, I like being able to play with a gamepad lazily while splitting my attention with something else, so I see this as a matter of preference.
(One last bit to submit after this...the internet tells me that blogger comments are limited to about 4000 characters...)
(Final part.)
DeleteHere's a change that isn't exactly a problem, but a small hurdle in the beginning: since the game is on a cartridge that lacks unlimited space for creating characters, they modified the systems for managing your party. When you begin the game, "you" are a knight and you name yourself, and you can pick up 5 other pre-made characters from the inn, but there's no immediate way to roll your own characters. Instead, you must travel to 2,13 in Sorpigal to find the new "guildmaster," who will allow you to fully reroll any of the pre-made party members into any class, race, gender or name you would like, sacrificing everything they are carrying (trade your clubs to other people first). A little unintuitive, but I think an elegant solution to onboarding new players with a reliable existing party, and circumventing the issue of storage space. There are 14 pre-made party members in the various towns across the world and you can reroll them all if you like.
Another minor change of questionable benefit/detriment...you are not allowed to leave Sorpigal until reaching level 2 (a guard blocks your path), which seems like a decent idea to help guide new players but could annoy veterans. Sprites are rebalanced and no longer cast curse, and are eminently killable. The "new" sprites in the NES version are locust plagues, which appear to be bugged to always deal 255 damage when they attack, so you'd better be able to kill them first.
All things considered, I've found it to be one of the few PC-to-console ports of its era that unquestionably improves the game in many areas, while making more debatable changes in others, but leaves an overall positive impression. The game itself is as much a blast as on other platforms, very well-designed and balanced for its time. For anyone with an interest in Might & Magic 1, I encourage you not to write off the console version as inferior without trying it.
Very interesting posts, Sporky! Console ports of CRPGs are underdocumented.
DeleteThere's another interesting version for the TurboGrafx CD, with a recently released fan translation:
https://www.mobygames.com/game/49135/might-and-magic/
https://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=11157.40
On another post, Teegan recently pointed out that the NES port of Pool of Radiance is great too. I get the impression that in the eighties and very early nineties, some console ports still retained a lot of the specific kind of complexity and realism of the original PC / home computer games.
If someone is held back from trying this by the EGA graphics and CGA colours or if you just like to play the DOS version sold on GOG with a look a bit nicer, there is a Graphics Overhaul Mod made by 'DrakeRaider' with help from 'LagDotCom' and published last year. It can be found here on dungeoncrawlers. See also the message by its creator on the GOG forum for the game/series.
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