One thing I liked about M&M was it's tie-in to the HOMM series and it's mixture of sci-fi. Luckily they're keeping one but from the looks of HOMMVI it seems very... warcrafty IMO.

The tie-ins didn't happen until MM6, though, right? The sci-fi stuff was there from the beginning though.

Now that you've said that I've gone and watched the trailer again, closely this time, and I'm pretty sure that you're right. That's Legends of Grimrock style grid movement there for sure.

I hope they ditch grid movement. I really liked free roaming of MM6 and so forth. Unfortunately it looks like some ubi bigwigs saw the success of Grimrock and decided to copy.

After reading around the site and such, it looks like it will be very much like Legend of Grimrock - a game that's great because it's like the old-school ones, but isn't quite as good as those old school ones.

Well, fingers crossed. This may be one of the first games in a while that I preorder.

There's two ways Ubisoft can impress the fans-forwards or backwards-make some major changes to the franchise or bring some elements of the old to this one. Looks like it'll be option 2.

I agree the multi-planet universe of M&M would make it easy to implement Ashan into the old continuity...or at least add some sci-fi back!

Same, although even still I think I'd prefer them stick to the newer stuff rather than ruin the older stuff if the game doesn't live up to its potential.

Whomever wrote the Polygon article screwed up, there are 4 races, each race has 3 classes available. Pax east coverage of the new game was virtually non-existant. Not a true sequel to M&M 9 and only 25 hours to complete (according to the project lead) has me really worried.

Maybe Ubisoft is producing this title to shut up long time fans like myself by basically saying "Okay we made another M&M title, now shut the fuck up" or maybe if this game is a huge success, it may turn into a multi chapter game. I guess we weill find out in September when it becomes available.

One other thing, when were fans consulted about the new game, such as features, combat ect? It looks like Ubisoft is blowing the same smoke out of their asses. /end rant

I was glad and sad to see the 25 hours to complete. Glad, b/c I don't have 500 hours to finish a M&M title anymore and I'd love to be able to play and beat it. Sad b/c kids in middle school who do have 500 hours to kill will miss out on how engrossing a 500 hour game can be.

Well, unfortunately, this was to be expected. As much as I hoped they would really go "all the way" with being true to the series' roots and bring back sci-fi elements, the Ancients, etc., Ubi said way back when they picked up the franchise that they were going to drop all that. So, status quo on that. Oh well.

I recently played MM7 again -- twice. My first time through with an evil party it took me a good long while, but not all that much more than 25 hours. Then I went through with a good party and beat the game in well under 25 hours. So, actually, this isn't all that different from MM6-8 days.

I'm right there with you. Give me a game I can enjoy in and complete within my busy schedule. I don't have the free time I used to as a teenager.

Let's not just assume they're lying.

It was probably a small group of people who signed a non-disclosure agreement. Since the developer is European, it's entirely plausible that the small group of fans comes from a European M&M fan site. Or maybe some folks from Celestial Heavens. I didn't get the impression from the article that they meant they did some kind of wide open internet poll of anybody who wanted to look and comment.

I agree with most of your points, however, a 25 hour first playthrough seems a bit anemic, doesn't it? I'm sure there will be an iOS and android version if the game is very popular.

I can definitely understand how that would be disappointing. But, alas, that's what they're targeting. I guess I'm just happy they're giving the series another go with a classic feel, even if it's not all being done exactly the way I would do it.

If it's not going to have any link to the New World Computing continuity, it's not a M&M game IMO. Really it's just another generic Ubisoft cartoony fantasy RPG with the words "Might and Magic" on the box to trick me into pre-ordering. I shall wait and see.

Some early gameplay footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=K4IxhUtZlgY