All of the Heroes games pretty much rock, with the potential exception of 4; I've been playing it with the Equilibris mod (which is the closest thing that game has to a fan patch), and while it is somewhat different from Heroes 3, it's surprisingly good.

MM 1-6.

Heroes games... Heroes 3 is recognized by many as the best. However, I like Heroes 4 for actually having the heroes be more relevant.

So, do you like the idea of your Heroes being commander who only sully their hands with a magic spell? Or do you like them being within' the battle, dirtying their hands on the blood of your enemies?

As I've just finally decided to buy Heroes IV this morning I'm a bit curious about it. I've seen that mod touted before, but, frankly, more often than not I'm wary of fan patches and such as they can unhinge things as much as they fix them. How balanced is it and does it really make the game better?

It's basically a balance mode (hence the name), originally geared towards people who play the game online (some of them do it competitively). I'm a largely single-player gamer, but I don't mind trying the game with an altered set of stats for characters.

Truth be told, my memory's a little fuzzy on the gameplay experience because I've been going through other games in my backlog, but there's a list of changes here: http://equilibris.celestialheavens.com/eng/changes.html

I actually looked at that page, but a change log helps me little in figuring out what the actual overall experience is like in vanilla versus mod. I guess I'll just have to find out for myself. Thanks for trying to help though.

Either HoMM 2 or 3 would be a good choice. A lot of people consider 3 to be the superior game (maybe they're right), but 2 has it's own charm that's worth exploring later on.

But if you're new to the franchise you should start with HoMM 3. You won't regret it

As of the rpg titles, MM7 was the one I've personally started with and I've really enjoyed every minute of it.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys! I ended up getting M&M 6-pack Limited Edition and M&M 7.
I hope GOG replaces World of Xeen in the Limited Edition with the fully voiced 2-cd version at some point...