Anticipating the gaming greatness coming with Might & Magic 6 Limited Edition, which comprehends some games I always wanted to try, I'd like to know from people who actually played through Might & Magic 4 and 5: I understand I can transmorph both into a single larger game. Do I miss something by playing World of Xeen instead of each one separately?

World of Xeen is basically Clouds of Xeen and Darkside of Xeen mixed together. You can travel from one game/world to the other by using some pyramids scattered all over the map. As far as I know, you can finish the main quest of each world/game without visiting the other, but there is a third major quest that need a lot of travelling.

Each game represents two different maps, you can warp between them at set points in the game (Via pyramids IIRC). You are free to complete one before moving over the the other. But I don't recall if there is anything that unlocks areas on the opposite map when the games were merged as one.
From what I remember, the third major quest requires the each game to have their individual quest completed first.
There is a lot of travel, but by that point, you should have little trouble with the majority of the enemies as you backtrack.

I never played them, but from what I read, you get some bonus quest by merging.

Not ever having the chance of playing any of the games in the M&M series back in the days (it was hardly marketed down here in Brazil I think, unlike the HoM&M series), I'd like to know from the people that know better, which are the games I should look for.
Back in the days, I was told World of Xeen was the ultimate, but then I stopped hearing about the series at all, only to find boxes of MM9 and Dark Messiah in stores years later and suspecting they were rather disappointing at that time. Looking for info on review sites like Gamespot, they rated MM6 ultra high, MM7 pretty good, MM8 awful, MM9 and DM disappointing. They never rated MM1 to MM5.
So, which games do you think I should aim for (having all series in mind, not just those here on the site)? Myself being a fan of mid nineties RPGs such as Ultima VII, Dark Sun Shattered Lands, Star Trail (the Dark Eye 2), Eye of the beholder to some measure, Ultima Underworld...

I will honestly skip the first three games and go for World of Xeen first. After that, M&M VI and VII would be great choices. VIII is still pretty good IMO.

I just installed M&M6 LE and I was very positively impressed with the sounds effects and music from M&M3 and on. I found the 3D rendered cutscenes of M&M6 well above the average of its time too! The controls will take some getting used to, I see there's a number of shortcuts (A for attack, B for bashing doors and boxes etc) I'll need to memorize.
I'm not very readily impressed by games that have monsters crawling all over the place, in towns, in taverns, everywherem but I'll certainly give these jewel a long try now.

Gamespot is just one site, and not a very credible one at that. Dark Messiah for example I personally really enjoy despite all the bad reviews it's gotten. If you're looking for what all those reviewers were looking for, then you're not going to like it. If you're looking for other things, you may love it. I recommend just playing as many demos as possible and/or finding a reviewer or two you trust and find you often agree with.

3-7 are all quite good and have aged very well, but out of those five, 6 is honestly my least favorite. I haven't played any of the others (yet). Going into the series, I would hit 3, 4 and 5 first.

Most people don't like Gamespot much. I find it usable and generally useful, while most other review sites are cluttered and hard to navigate. I frequently disagree with Gamespot's ratings, but use them as reference. Even if they rated Gothic 7 and I'd rate it 9, we both agree it had nice action and atmosphere, an unusual plot, high challenge and lots of bugs.
Another site I check is MobyGames, but mostly for screenshots. If a game get a high rating on MobyGames it's most like one of the best games of all time -- many great games rated as lot as 60-70%.
I'd like to have more references like this. Do you know any great review sites of yours so I can have more opinions too?

[url=]http://www.rpgfan.com/[/url]
One of my favorites. Ever see this one?

Sure haven't, will look into it! Why's it good (besides specializing in my favorite genre)?

Yeah, it's a well enough laid out site..I just don't trust them. Did you know they get their own booth and are catered at E3 and such? Along with IGN. Pretty disgusting. This is just one example..
But yeah, right on, I gotcha. I just worry about all the people who blindly read GameSpot (e.g. "popular = good").
MobyGames is one of my favourites though the owners are jerks who don't seem to appreciate the fact their users are making them tons of money. Needless to say, I block their ads shamelessly. :P
I would recommend , [url=http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/]Neoseeker, , [url=http://www.gamesetwatch.com/]GameSetWatch (their Prince of Persia column sold me), , [url=http://www.eat-sleep-game.com/]eat. sleep. game., and Giant Bomb. :)

Now you brought up the main reason why people mostly discredit Gamespot and this kind of sites I think: stupid previews. Me, a more or less regular user of Gamespot, can't stand a single preview.
I found some good material on RPG Fan and I'll bookmark it, but I'm still to find a site that is well organized as Gamespot. I like to have the ability to zap from the review page to patch downloads in one click, and then to similar games or videos for example. MobyGames is good at that too (you can reach all games in a series easily, all material is bound together, despite having lackluster reviews and ratings). RPG Fan did the opposite: instead of giving each game a page with all material, you have to leave the review sections of the site to reach the screenshots section and then find the game again...
I used to enjoy PC demo magazines back in the days, but not anymore. They only speak of new games, and I'm more often than not looking for info on the older ones. And even if I still wanted new games, there're no such magazines of note down here in Brazil these days, not with demo CDs. For some reason, they stopped that trend here about ten years ago, don't ask why.
I'll check these other sites you mentioned too.

See, this attitude towards the major sites is what I don't understand. Regardless of content most people seem to think they're "bad" just because they're "big". What's wrong if they enter major gaming events? And what if they make a ton of money while at it? Just a thought...
Thanks for the bookmarks, I'll check those too (as stated before, I really wish I can find more of the quick to navigate reviews/screenshots/videos/downloads sites).