When MM1 came out, were there any maps included? were there any hint books?
or was the creator so sadistic and cruel as to leave you with just your wit to find everything out!
I plan on mapping MM1, but I want to play it like they did in 1985, so if there were no maps or hints included, thats how I'll play.

No maps included; you are supposed to explore and map, but there was a hint book released separately.
In those days, with abundant pirating of games, publishers sometimes earned more from their hint books than from their games.
Since I already own physical copies of MM2-6 I didn't buy GOGs versions of MM1-6, but I would think they included the hint book in their package? If not it should be available from Replacementdocs.com. I'm pretty sure I got it from there.

Might and Magic 1 did indeed have a Clue Book. I would have to dig my original out to get the date on it - the one that comes with the GOG games is dated 1992. Which is 5 Years after the release of the 1st game on Apple. However it matches the NES release date here in the US.

Fair warning: the most annoying thing for me when playing MM1 was figuring out which items are best. The game provides absolutely no in-game stats on items. You can take them back to a shop and see how much they sell for to help gauge quality but that is really annoying.

Fortunately, the cluebook includes item stats, so I just searched the PDF for the item in question to avoid any other spoilers. Sometihng to consider. But it is technically cheating, since there are some cursed items in the game and looking them up will reveal that.

So far so good, I had a couple of characters from a year ago, I decided to start with those.
Mapping is really slow, but its really grown on me.
I decided to do everything without any aid whatsoever, I'll put some photos up when the time comes

Actually is not that hard, few tips:
-All maps are 16x16, which makes it VERY easy to find hidden walls and such things, when you map an area and you see there is an empty area....then you know there is something hidden.
-Good items are easy to spot, because thunder shield is better than round shield for example. I remember i got X!XX!X! armor in the lich chest and i equip it right away I still think is one of the best armors in the game, with that name!
-Actually what you have to do in the game, is all there with clues and tips. some times you go to an area and suddenly a signal reads: blue is good(for example) and you write it down, and then a million years later, one guy ask you: which color is good? and then you have reply already. Same happen with keys, you find keys and you dont know where to use them, until you reach an area and you get the text: you cant continue without Gold key.
-As for the rest, just rest often. the hardest part in my opinion is in the frist levels, but after you get the fliying , spell, all is quick and easier. Also the time distorsion spell is superb to fly away from ugly fights.

anyway, good game!

Its great you want to map this game,but I must tell you that its been done,and quite well already
and can be found here http://mightandmagicgrove.com/mm1/maps.htm
Good Luck with it though!

Slight spoilers question:


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At what level should my party be to kill the Minotaur in the Enchanted Forest fortress?

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End spoilers, thanks in advance for your replies.

Then try another area with less poison (I think I know which area you mean). That's the beauty of non-linear games that don't scale to your level.

I know, I hate enemies/hazards that scale to your level; what's the point of leveling up if everything "levels up" with you, you are never below or above them in terms of power. Old school all the way for me.

So, no recommended level for my question above?

my computer died at this point lol. I just got a new one, so I'll resume the adventure from the beginning :{

Sad to hear that, it's happened to me once before with Baldur's Gate.

yeah, means making new characters, new levels, and new maps. But I have the rest of my life to do it hahaha, might as well start fresh now

Actually, MM1 does have some level scaling... many random encounters will get harder or will feature more enemies when the player party is higher level. But other encounters are fixed, and usually the types of monsters that appear are specific to the location so certain areas are always hard and others are always easier. I think the scaling was handled quite well in the game.

I don't remember what level I was when I did that. I do think it was pretty late in the game for me; I'd explored much of the world before tackling it. If you're having trouble, just try heading somewhere else! If there's anywhere you haven't been, go check it out and see how you fare. When you've gained some levels (and especially new spells) you can come back to try again.