Hey Im kinda pretty new to the whole world of old school rpgs. I picked up the 6 pack and I'm trying to figure out which one to start with, I've seen suggestions to skip the first 3 completely and just play the rest. I've also seen a few that have said start from the first one. So I'm pretty much clueless any advice would be great.

I started with 6 before I every played any of the others, and 6 is my faviorte (Only with the 1-6 package, of all of them it is 7.) So give it a try.

That depends what you think you can cope with. If you want to explore a world in 3D then MM6 is for you. If you're feeling a bit more brave then load up World of Xeen and see what you think.

FYI: World of Xeen is a combination of two games: MM4 (Clouds of Xeen) and MM5 (Darkside of Xeen). To play MM4 by itself, load up World of Xeen and just don't travel to the darkside by pyramid.

The reason I recommend starting with MM4 is that it has a reasonably intuative interface, and is quite short - uncharacteristically so for a Might and Magic game. If you find that you like MM4 then you can go on and complete the rest of World of Xeen while you're there, or go back and do MM3 to fill yourself in on the backstory before completing the saga in World of Xeen.

The interface for MM3 is pretty much the same as MM4, but it is a considerably longer game. MM3 is probably the better jumping-on point plotwise, but it doesn't really matter very much at all.

Leave MM1 and MM2 unless you're up for a real retro challenge.

I pretty much agree with BreathingMeat. My favorite games in the series are MM4 and MM5, which combine to form one giant game, World of Xeen. The only game that I haven't played yet is MM3.

You kind of have three sets of games in the series. MM1 and MM2 are really old and require you to draw your own maps and stuff. There are other issues that are a result of their age, such as only being able to save in an inn, and a high reliance on random monster encounters and random loot. These games can be fun if you are willing to put in the effort, but may be a bit too much hassle as a starting point.

MM3-5 are still fully turn-based but are more graphical and varied in content. Most people prefer World of Xeen out of these but I've heard good things about MM3 also. There are still a few old-school design elements present, like having to identify equipment (although you can just use the included cluebook to look up item stats instead... I recommend this).

Then there's MM6, which is fully 3D, and can be played in real-time or switched to turn-based mode. I found MM6 to be a bit of a monster slog, especially in outdoor areas where there are huge swarms of enemies. I liked the dungeon design a lot though, which is quite varied and uses the 3D engine to great effect in producing levels that extend in the third dimension. It's definitely the most modern and in many ways most accessible game in the pack.

I like the Xeen games because, while there is lots of combat, there's also a lot of puzzle solving, interesting places to visit and lots of little details and secrets to uncover. These different activities felt more balanced than MM6, which is mostly fighting (there's puzzles and exploration too, but fighting felt like the focus for me). I also find the graphics in the Xeen games actually aged pretty well, and are bright and varied. The game also does well in differentiating its various dungeons and locations, keeping everything interesting through varied looks and level designs.

So yeah, MM6 is the most modern so it might be a good place to start if you are new to oldschool RPGs. You might also try MM4 and MM5 for a different experience, which is more oldschool but still fairly accessible for the genre. Just try some of the games out! If you don't like one, you can try a different one and see if you like it better.

Being of an era, I have to say: go from #1. Learn to get your face bloodied. Accept crushing losses at the hands of apparently-harmless monsters. Persevere. Tear wolverines apart with your bare hands. And move forward from there.

A little more seriously (but not much): Might and Magic Book One is a game of its era, a product of its time. It was a time when it was accepted that when you started the game, you simply didn't get too attached to anything in particular, because everything could be stolen (or, the M&M I, inadvertantly traded) every character could be killed, and every discovery could be snatched away. You made special trips to safe areas to save your game whenever you accomplished anything of significance. You worked for your enjoyment - you drew maps, took notes, and solved puzzles, and you were rewarded with a real sense of accomplishment upon completion not just of the game, but of every single aspect thereof.
I have yet to move past the first game. I will, eventually, once I beat it.

The best descriptor that I've heard of such games came from this very board, somewhere, by someone I didn't know and don't remember, so I'll paraphrase: Might and Magic comes from a time in the RPG world where beating the game was a challenge, and not a given. If that's not for you, perhaps jumping in at a later point might help. I don't know, I'm not there yet!

The GOG installer will install all 6 games, so you can take a look at them and their manuals before deciding if you wish.
I recommend starting with MM3, the game which I played first and liked the most. If it's too difficult for you start MM4+5:WoX which has some bigger maps but easier combat, even on warrior mode.

MM1+ MM2 are oldschool games with very few saving points, random encounters appearing out of nowhere and less comfortable interface. They can be still fun to play today but I'd play the newer and better parts first. Nothing related to MM1 or MM2 appears in MM3-5 and in MM6 only the starting town (New Sorpigal) is named after MM1.

MM6 with real time combat, 3D, many trainers and huge dungeons is more complicated and harder to get into than MM3-5.

Not necessarily! If you hit the options button when you launch the installer you can pick which games you want to install. You can also do fun things like change the install path and even point to an existing install of DOSBox if you already have it. I don't think I'd go that far... I found MM1 and MM2 to be very enjoyable, but I do agree that later games were better. As others have noted, the first two games are quite hard, and will take some effort to get into, but they can also be very rewarding. And while there are not too many details that carry over through the series, the things that do carry over definitely add to the experience, at least for me.

They're all good imho, Yes, even the ninth one. I wish they just make a 10th one then i could go to my grave a happy corpse.

To answer your question, I'd go with first, sixth and ninth (if you have it) these versions all were totally different than the previous versions. Enjoy!

This is not unusual in the RPG world; one needs only examine the reverse-scaling difficulty in Dragon Warrior / Dragon Quest or the Final Fantasy series to see it. It's simply a change in gaming (and game designer) attitude over time.

Depends.

World of Xeen ( 4 and 5 }s huge and a lot of fun.

Storyline you can play 1 hrough 3 for one story ( though 7 has a cookie telling happened after 3. ) World of Xeen 4 is its own cmplete story.

Story line wise heroes of might and magic 1 then 2 then MM6 then heroes 3 then MM7 ( my fav ) then the heroes 3 expansion then 8 then the unmentionable awful MM9 that you can skip by just playing heroes of might and magic 4 as it gets you up to date,

For just jumping in an dgetting the best of MM, i say play world of xeen mm6 and if you still like the series buy 7 and 8. 7 and 8 introduce a fun tavern game called acromage.