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Oberon · 02-04-2002, 01:10 PM

Ok, Let me throw in my 2 cents.

I have played all (except number 3) of the wizardry series, and all of the might and magic series. Countless hours leveling up and changing classes in wiz 1, and killing all those underground monsters in M&M2 [img]smile.gif[/img]

They are two very different flavors of games, and at the same time are very similar. I'm going to limit myself to the most recent of these games, just to keep things on an even footing. So, wizardry 6, 7, and 8 are all in many ways similar, though 8 is more real-time. And Might and magic 6,7, and 8 are also very similar.

The most basic difference between the two is how 'friendly' the games are. In M&M, if you die, you find a temple, and get your guys back. Stopping by town to sell stuff was easy, and there were nearly always good things to buy. Leveling never took too long. Reloading was rarely required except on the occasional trapped chest.

In Wizardry, you were always worried about death. Eventually once your spellcaster could raise the dead, it was a little better, but not much. Ressurection items were fairly scarce, and trips to town were often way out of the way, so encumbrance was always an issue. You save constantly, and a couple mistakes in a battle meant a reload was required.

Now, as for the quest part, lets take a look at mm6, which I have recently been helping my Girlfriend play, there are 15 overland areas (and countless dungeons). Each area has lots to do, there are a total of 50 quests, and plenty of other subquests (good saleable items, places or treasures that arent part of a quest etc). You can go through the game many different ways. And you can complete a dungeon or quest in a couple hours of time.

In wizardry 8, there are maybe a dozen quests, less if you aren't actively looking for them, though there are also a lot of subquests (neat chests and whatnot to find). There are a couple ways to go through the game, but the baseline of the plot if a little more directed than might and magic (or wiz 7 for that matter). A dungeon can take 4-6 hours or more to complete in wizardry 8.

All told, I love them both, but might and magic tends to keep me interested better. I have at absolute most 3-4 hours to play games in a night, and when faced with a game like M&M, I can go do something, a dungeon or a quest. In wizardry, I was at trynton, I decided I wanted to go back to do a couple things I missed on the way. The trip back to the monestary (to use my wheel key), and maybe 4-5 random encounters along the way (all fairly unavoidable), and my 4 hours were up. The pace of the game is slower, fights take a long time. I will play wizardry to completion, but I probably wont ever replay it all the way through again, at least not for a few years [img]smile.gif[/img] . On the other hand, I feel like I really think in wizardry, I couldn't just run through and hit attack to kill monsters, and until I figured out how to use my formation and choose spells and attacks well, I was afraid of even fights, which is something that no game has really made me do in a long time.

So, for the hardcore gamer, people that have lots of time to put into a game 30+ hours a week, (I manage maybe 10-15 hours a week) this kind of game is a great thing. For those of us that have less time, the might and magic series is probably more suited, I know I will be playing M&M9 when it comes out [img]smile.gif[/img]

-Oberon

=============================================

As an aside to Jem, you may want to try mm6 or 7, rather than 8. They were both better games. You create an entire party of 4 to start with in both, in 6, the world seemed a lot larger, and in 7 you have the ability to slowly retrofit your castle (though it was horribly non-interactive) and two fairly different directions to choose halfway through the game. The puzzles are also generally hardest in 7, though most of the hardest puzzles were in side dungeons, and from what I've seen of the puzzles in Wiz8, they pale next to the earlier wizardry games. I got the very definate feel that M&M8 was made mostly to pull in some more money, and less time than was really needed went into it. You also may want to try out 'Arcanum', the genre is interesting, and the level of detail and puzzles was quite nice.

[ 02-04-2002: Message edited by: Oberon ]

[ 02-04-2002: Message edited by: Oberon ]

02-04-2002, 01:10 PM	#11
Oberon Elite Waterdeep Guard Join Date: January 22, 2002 Location: Rochester, NY Posts: 15	Ok, Let me throw in my 2 cents. I have played all (except number 3) of the wizardry series, and all of the might and magic series. Countless hours leveling up and changing classes in wiz 1, and killing all those underground monsters in M&M2 [img]smile.gif[/img] They are two very different flavors of games, and at the same time are very similar. I'm going to limit myself to the most recent of these games, just to keep things on an even footing. So, wizardry 6, 7, and 8 are all in many ways similar, though 8 is more real-time. And Might and magic 6,7, and 8 are also very similar. The most basic difference between the two is how 'friendly' the games are. In M&M, if you die, you find a temple, and get your guys back. Stopping by town to sell stuff was easy, and there were nearly always good things to buy. Leveling never took too long. Reloading was rarely required except on the occasional trapped chest. In Wizardry, you were always worried about death. Eventually once your spellcaster could raise the dead, it was a little better, but not much. Ressurection items were fairly scarce, and trips to town were often way out of the way, so encumbrance was always an issue. You save constantly, and a couple mistakes in a battle meant a reload was required. Now, as for the quest part, lets take a look at mm6, which I have recently been helping my Girlfriend play, there are 15 overland areas (and countless dungeons). Each area has lots to do, there are a total of 50 quests, and plenty of other subquests (good saleable items, places or treasures that arent part of a quest etc). You can go through the game many different ways. And you can complete a dungeon or quest in a couple hours of time. In wizardry 8, there are maybe a dozen quests, less if you aren't actively looking for them, though there are also a lot of subquests (neat chests and whatnot to find). There are a couple ways to go through the game, but the baseline of the plot if a little more directed than might and magic (or wiz 7 for that matter). A dungeon can take 4-6 hours or more to complete in wizardry 8. All told, I love them both, but might and magic tends to keep me interested better. I have at absolute most 3-4 hours to play games in a night, and when faced with a game like M&M, I can go do something, a dungeon or a quest. In wizardry, I was at trynton, I decided I wanted to go back to do a couple things I missed on the way. The trip back to the monestary (to use my wheel key), and maybe 4-5 random encounters along the way (all fairly unavoidable), and my 4 hours were up. The pace of the game is slower, fights take a long time. I will play wizardry to completion, but I probably wont ever replay it all the way through again, at least not for a few years [img]smile.gif[/img] . On the other hand, I feel like I really think in wizardry, I couldn't just run through and hit attack to kill monsters, and until I figured out how to use my formation and choose spells and attacks well, I was afraid of even fights, which is something that no game has really made me do in a long time. So, for the hardcore gamer, people that have lots of time to put into a game 30+ hours a week, (I manage maybe 10-15 hours a week) this kind of game is a great thing. For those of us that have less time, the might and magic series is probably more suited, I know I will be playing M&M9 when it comes out [img]smile.gif[/img] -Oberon ============================================= As an aside to Jem, you may want to try mm6 or 7, rather than 8. They were both better games. You create an entire party of 4 to start with in both, in 6, the world seemed a lot larger, and in 7 you have the ability to slowly retrofit your castle (though it was horribly non-interactive) and two fairly different directions to choose halfway through the game. The puzzles are also generally hardest in 7, though most of the hardest puzzles were in side dungeons, and from what I've seen of the puzzles in Wiz8, they pale next to the earlier wizardry games. I got the very definate feel that M&M8 was made mostly to pull in some more money, and less time than was really needed went into it. You also may want to try out 'Arcanum', the genre is interesting, and the level of detail and puzzles was quite nice. [ 02-04-2002: Message edited by: Oberon ] [ 02-04-2002: Message edited by: Oberon ]