DaveO-MM: Apparently, changing cycles in DOSBox won't help much but another solution I found is below.
http://vogons.zetafleet.com/viewtopic.php?p=183149#183149 This is indeed the best solution, and fortunately, UndeadHalfOrc [EDIT: Apparently it was actually MisteRL] has done most of the work for you by creating an executable that performs the edits automatically. Check his post here:
http://www.gog.com/en/forum/might_and_magic_series/mm1_read_this_if_you_think_the_text_appears_too_fast/post7 I was originally using cycles when I played MM1 but then switched to this fix and it's MUCH better. You can increase cycles again so the game doesn't lag, but the text goes by at a normal speed. There are only a very few text messages, such as an enemy skipping its turn in combat, that still go by really fast, and these aren't really important.
Note that MM1 is the only game with this problem, MM2 and onwards work fine at normal speed with no tweaks.
EDIT: I forgot to mention that you should also set the combat delay speed to 9. To do this, you have to wait until combat starts, then hit the "D" key for Delay, and then set it to 9. Annoyingly, you have to set this each time you run the game, but once you set it it will stay until you quit. With the in-game delay setting set to 9 and the patch that UndeadHalfOrc put together, you should have plenty of time to read all the text.
