grantsupak: I played the Genesis version of MM2 probably 20 years ago and remember enjoying it, so I picked up the 1-6 pack. Started with MM1 and it was an incredible experience! The world had such a sense of mystery, and I while it required patience, the game never felt tedious. Putting together the puzzles truly felt like an accomplishment. I'm now playing MM2 and it feels like a generic, watered down slog fest.... I was okay with large groups of weak enemies, but some of the encounters seem totally cheap. Today I ran into an enemy group with 10+ stranglers that proceeded to paralyze my entire party. Dead just like that after an hour of exploring. To me, that isn't good game design. My party is around lv. 15, and every encounter feels like a chore because is takes so long. I'm fine with large numbers of enemies every once in a while, but when every battle is 20-30 at a time, it isn't enjoyable to me. The battles with 200 goblins/orcs/whatever are beyond ridiculous. Is holding Ctrl+A supposed to be fun? I don't remember being this frustrated before, but that was a long time ago... Does it get better, or is this the gist of the game? Also, do the later games follow this same trend? Is this game just not for me?
Turn off the game sound if you haven't already; that should speed things up. While you're there, I should note that the disposition setting affects the number of enemies per encounter; change that to the lowest setting.
Also, no location should take an hour to explore, and you should be stopping in town to save your game between areas, anyway; there's no reason to lose that much.
Are you using your protection spells? (I think having Protection from Magic *might* help against status ailments, but I'm not sure.) Also, since you're level 15, don't forget to cast Power Shield at the start of every big fight before going Ctrl+A.
Also, don't steal Murray's treasure, or if you do, rest and check your stats *before* you go back to the inn (which saves the game). Even if some might consider this piece of advice a spoiler, I am posting this because the consequences are severe enough to make the game no longer fun (unless you're the sort of player who enjoys digging themself out of a hole, and it is possible to do so in this case).
Later games generally don't follow the same trend. In MM3-5, there are far fewer enemies at a time, and there isn't even a separate combat screen (though there is a definite combat mode, and the game, for whatever reason, doesn't let you load a save during combat). Also, save anywhere (well, almost in MM3) and an emergency escape feature (that costs a level in MM3 and all your gems in the Xeen games) should ensure that you don't lose much time even if you do unexpectedly get killed by a strong enemy or event. From what I hear, MM6 has some large groups of enemies, but I still haven't played it.
Edit: If you don't like when games are poorly balanced in frustrating ways, you might want to stay away from Swords of Xeen.
