I always recommend players at least try the first two games, because I enjoyed them far more than I expected. But they are definitely very old-school. The first game requires that you draw your own maps, and indeed doing so is a big part of the game; navigation is as much of a challenge as combat. The second game adds an automap and some improved graphics but is otherwise very similar in style. The third game is pretty different however, much more similar to MM4-5.

For what it's worth, I liked MM1 a little better than MM2, despite it being the oldest with a really outdated interface. I actually haven't played MM3 yet, but I liked MM4-5 (they combine into one game) more than MM6.

So I guess I'd say try the games in order, and if you're getting frustrated then try skipping ahead. If you do like MM1, you'll like MM2 as well; if not, you may want to skip straight to MM3.

Alright, thanks! I'll try the first one then, is there some kind of an app you'd recommend to use for mapping? I'd like to do it old-school, but it'd be probably use too many sheets of paper that I might misplace if I ever paused the game and wanted to return to it later, so it's much more convenient and faster (and eco-friendly!) if I just use some kind of a mapping application. I remember there was a thread I saw here ages ago about some kind of an awesome app that people were loving and it was v4 or something like that (had several major updates).

Also if the music is anything like in the later games, then I'm so totally excited!! *musical heart*

http://www.gog.com/forum/general/grid_cartographer_v3_released

Also, if you want ready made maps:
http://mightandmagicgrove.com/mm1/maps.htm
I used a few for the more difficult areas. The good thing about it is that this guy made versions without annotations. Just the maps.

Oh yeah, that's it! Is that the one you'd all recommend? Thanks ZFR! :)

I'm not really looking for any ready made maps now, but I might eventually.

Unfortunately, if you're looking for music, you're not going to find it in the first 2 games. Music didn't become a standard part of the games until the third one.

(There is some music on MM2's title screen (I don't know about MM1), but it isn't that great.)

If you want to play MM1 with music, you could try the NES version, but I wouldn't recommend it because of Locust Plagues (which wipe out your party if they get a chance to act in the NES version).

By the way, at least for MM2, I recommend turning the sound off, as having the sound on slows down combats and makes fights with 200+ enemies take even longer than they should.

Oh no! Oh well, at least I can try to look for the NES soundtrack and use it in a player while I try the game. :)

So MM2 has *some* music since it causes the fights be longer? Or just having it on when there's practically none makes it slower? That sounds unpleasant. Isn't there any way around it, like increasing the cycles in Dosbox?

The distinction being drawn is "sound effects" vs "music", where combat has sound effects.

Might & Magic 2 comes from before the time when soundcards were common for DOS systems. Hence not much music, and certainly no good music. Some other early computer brands at the time had semi-decent music facilities, but not PC clones.

PC speaker music. Oh those times :)

MM2 has a sound effect whenever you kill an enemy. When the sound effect plays, everything stops until the sound effect finishes playing. This can get annoying, especially if you are fighting off 200+ enemies. (No that is not a typo: there actually are encounters with that many enemies.)

If you turn off sound, you won't have to deal with everything stopping for a moment and can just keep autobattling, and the fight will be over much more quickly. (Of course, you might want to do some preparation first, like casting Power Shield.)

If you want to hear PC speaker music, try the DOS versions of the original Bard's Tale trilogy.

Unfortunately, Bard's Tale 3 has two songs you don't start with, and the DOS version is unfortunately badly broken. I suggest figuring out how to hack your character to get those songs if you want to hear them, finding someone else's save file, or finding the patch that fixes some of the port's major issues. (Or just play an 8-bit version in the first place.)

...please consult a mental health professional.

C64 had some pretty decent music. But swapping disks every 16 steps in any direction was rather unpleasant. The game was too big for its own good. It was refreshing to play it on PC and Sega.

It's definitely worth playing the early games even though they don't have music. Music first appears in MM3, but I don't think it sounds that much like MM6. That game has some really characterful music.

If you have the 6-pack here on GOG, there's some soundtracks included in the extras for MM4-5 I think. They are MIDI re-recorded as an audio file, though, so keep in mind that you can make that music sound very different by using soundfonts.

255? The original Bard's Tale had an encounter with 396 of them! Also, MM2 only allows the first 10 enemies to attack. BT1's encounter has 198 enemies attacking you in a single round!

Ah yes, 4 rows of 99 barbarians. But my point was, the large mindless armies in 6 is almost like a revisit to 2.