I have played 3-9 over the past year and a half. I may do 1&2 sometime in the future after I try something different for a while. I originally bought and played 3 when it first came out but never finished it. Thanks to unexpectedly having a lot of time on my hands, combined with discovering GOG, I've decided to indulge my love for role playing. I'm not a fan of modern real time shooters. I prefer building a party and bringing them thru an adventure.

I didn't expect to enjoy 6-9 as much as I do because I enjoyed the older ones so much having played those style of games so long ago. I love the way the skill system progressed thru the games. If I have to name my biggest complaint it would have to be the way the magic system is overpowered by the damage of the physical attacks. I would start off using spells in combat but quickly realized that a party full of archers would create havoc and smash and slash was more satisfying. I've found that the spells I was mainly using were for healing, protection, and travel. I was relying on muscle to deal with the majority of enemies.

My favorite of all the games was surprisingly 9. I was skeptical going in because of the negative reviews I read about it. I experienced some of the technical glitches but got around them by saving a lot. I loved the Nordic theme and I'm on my third run through. I've tried all the characters and have found the best party to be Gladiator/Assassin/Priest/Paladin. Surprisingly a Wizard isn't needed in this game unless you want to concentrate solely on damage magic.

Next I plan to check out Realms of Arkania. I hear good things about it.

I've played every M&M except 1, 2 and 9. My favourites are 5 from the old grid-based engine and 7 from the fully 3D engine. Most people prever M&M6, but I found the endless dungeons and throngs of enemies in them a bit too much. M&M7 is much "cozier", moreso because you get to own your own castle and land. I even enjoyed M&M8 – it has a tight story, if a bit trite. But the Necropolis town is a highlight for me.

You're right, in M&M6-9 might is right, as you can turn your party into a meat grinder where you just mash spacebar and run headlong into enemies.

Realms of Arkania is a good game, but much slower and more ponderous. Also more difficult. Be sure to check some FAQs because the character generation system was copied from the pen & paper system, but not all of the skills were actually implemented in the game so you might waste skill points on some useless ones.

idk being able to 1 shoot dragons with 1 spell seems pretty good, then again I agree with the archers being best. I think the newer the game the better it is so I'd agree that mm8 and 9 are the best game wise, the issue is the story and scale get so much worse after 6.

Not much love for MM1 and MM2 here.

While their graphics are crude even by 1991 standards, especially MM1, their combat system is arguably, the best in the series, with formations, front row, medium row and back row. Tanks can actually tank, your sorcerer is protected from physical attacks most of the time, and your robber and archer will use their missile weapons most of the time.

The interface to cast spells is the worst thing for me, having to rely on the manual for the spell numbers, but MM2 improved upon MM1 drastically by adding an automap and removing random HP level ups.
The "Where Are We" mod rectifies all of it and drastically improves their quality of life to MM3-4-5 levels.

MM2 is arguably the hardest game in the series. MM2, like MM6, lets you fights armies of monsters.

Yes, MM3 was a huge step down in terms of combat.

In particular:
* MM1 and MM2 would show damage numbers (something I consider to be a *very* basic feature), but MM3 does not.
* MM1 and MM2 also show your HP on the main combat screen. In MM3, you need to press a key to bring up the screen with everybody's HP.
* In MM3, every enemy type has only one type of attack. Furthermore, in any given area, there are only a small number of enemy types. (I think MM4's Vertigo (which is just like MM3 in terms of combat) has only 3 enemy types, and they all only do acid/poison damage.)
* The balance gets off at higher levels. Bows don't scale, and Holy Bonus scales too well. At high levels, basically the only strategy is to cast Holy Bonus on your attackers (and Heroism if you're having trouble hitting), go into melee range, and just auto-attack. It's actually even worse in the Xeen games (particularly MM5) because those spells I mention now target the entire party, plus there's Day of Protection.

Going back to MM2, there is one thing I've noticed: Way too many enemies resist fire and cold. Even undead, which in most RPGs are vulnerable to fire (often weak against it) are typically outright immune in MM2. It gets to the point where spells like Fireball and Cold Ray/Beam are not worth attempting unless you're fighting an enemy that is basically made of the opposite element (like using cold spells on fire elementals).

(Interestingly enough, the Ultima series has a similar issue with its class system. Ultima 3's class system is the best in the series. Ultima 4 reduced the number of classes, didn't balance them well, and the Fighter class is terrible in that game. With Ultima 5 they basically gave up and reduced the number of classes to 4, 1 of which is main character exclusive.)

MM1 is actually great for its time (1986, mind you). It easily blows away its predecessors in the Wizardry and Bard's Tale series.

MM2 did some impressive things too, but it's so bogged down with the old-fashioned design philosophy of kicking the player in the junk at every opportunity, enemies that actively erase progress, and battles that are interminably long rather than truly challenging.

MM3 was incredibly refreshing cause it got rid of all the miserable stuff from MM2 and got back to focusing on fun. The CM-32 midi soundtrack is delightful as well. It's the most impressive game in the series with respect to its time of release.