Might and Magic: Platinum Edition

List Price: $39.99 Discount Price: $34.99

Features:

• Might and Magic VI (The Mandate of Heaven) offers classic fantasy role-playing
• Might and Magic VII (For Blood and Honor) brings expanded character races and classes
• Might and Magic VIII (Day of the Destroyer) explores the fantasy world of Jadame
• Might and Magic IX includes 65 quests, NPCs, 40 levels, and 23 skills
• For 1 player

Accessories:
PC Gamer (1-year)	Games for Windows: The Official Magazine

Customer Reviews:

The Ones that Run are Great [Posted on 2007-01-09]
Although this contains the disks for MM6, 7, 8 and 9, only 6 and 9 run on my system. I am totally hooked on MM6 and have been since it first came out. After installing 7 and 8, they would not run on my system, so I cannot say if I like them or not. MM9 runs, but I still like 6 the best. It may be old and outdated to some people, but a classic is a classic regardless what new stuff comes out.

RPGs don't get any better than this! [Posted on 2007-05-11]
RPGs don't get any better than this - except for Wizardry 8, last of the great single-player RPGs. I've played all of these many times, except for Might & Magic 9. That one is not exactly worthy of the Might & Magic name, but still satisfying for an old school gamer.

I've played these games on Windows XP Media Center Edition SP2, with little problems. If you do have problem, try the compatibility settings. Right-click on the shortcut used to launch the game, select Properties, and click the Compatibility tab. Running in compatibility mode for Windows 98/ME should do the trick.

Even better, the games work fine in Windows Vista! I dual-boot XP and Vista, so I can try out software in Vista. I have to run these games as administrator, but they work great. The new Games folder in Vista even shows cover art and game info for these older games! Just launch a game, and Vista will add a shortcut to the Games folder. I didn't even have to reinstall the games after installing them in XP.

Why don't developers make games like these any more? It's fine to have new fancy graphics (Oblivion), but what happened to old-school gameplay? I like having a party that I define, rather than a party that I discover (Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic, etc.). I like being able to advance my characters to outrageous levels and power, and not have the rest of the world level up with me (all Elder Scrolls). I really hate the click-to-move interface of some newer games (Neverwinter Nights).

Don't get me wrong - I've enjoyed many of the newer RPGs, especially Knights of the Old Republic, but I still miss old school gameplay enough to keep going back to Might & Magic and Wizardry. The ultimate RPG would combine Oblivion graphics with Bard's Tale 3 game play (but add auto-mapping, since I threw out all my graph paper long ago).

An excellent trip to the oldies [Posted on 2007-09-24]
I have been a fan of Might and Magic since the release of the sixth series (The Mandate of Heaven). This collection is, as far as I'm concerned, the ultimate Might & Magic collection, even though MM9 is in it. There are several other collections available that include the earlier series, but since MM6 was the first to be run in Windows, visual appeal on the earlier versions would not be a compelling aspect of those games. Then again, Might & Magic was never about the great 3D engines that games nowadays are bragging about. Might & Magic is about the adventure in a beautifully made fantasy world - and, of course, the occasional 12-hour session in front of the PC and realizing that the sun is already up.

Something that might disappointment people is the packaging.3DO/NWC did not even bother to put the precious disks inside a hard plastic case. Instead, the 8 CD's are placed on a three-fold CD thin cardboard sleeve where the CD's keep falling out of. There are, however, small poster size maps of all 4 games and the CD's have a good design on it. Once again, you should realize that M&M is not about the size of the box or how hard the case is or how beautiful it looks, its about the magic it brings... hahaha

Windows XP Issues:
There are issues regarding running the game in Windows XP. Some say the these games will run only on Windows 95/98/ME. I have WinXP and they work fine now. For those who have problems under WinXP, first make sure that all these M&M games are in compatibility mode (after installation, right-click on desktop shortcut, click on COMPATIBILITY tab, enable "Run this game on compatibility mode", and select Windows 98/ME). For MM7-MM9, the games ran immediately with no problems at all. MM6, however, had a unique problem : a SHRINKER problem regarding the game file "mss32.dll". Apparently, this problem is due to the compressed DLL file mentioned above, and not about Windows XP (?). Use a file called DESHRINKER (just Google it 'coz I lost the URL already) to solve this problem - this worked for me. If the problem persists.... then... I can't help you. Sorry.

M & M they are all here! [Posted on 2007-11-15]
I started out playing M&M VI 10 years ago (Wow- it has really been that long??) and have been addicted ever since.

This product has 6(VI) through 9(IX) versions with CD's and maps, but no manuals. I figured that may be the case when I ordered them as I got them new from a marketplace seller at a very good price. At least my brother will be glad there will be no more borrowing of his games/CD's!
I gather that the manuals are on the CD's, and there are always webrings and sites other players have that are helpful if I get stuck or need to know something.

Even though the first 3 of these games (VI through VIII) gave me addicting hours of game play (and YEARS of addicting replay ; ) I gave 4 stars because I am wondering what in the world they did to IX or 9??
It seems like it was thrown together to just get something out there.

As with all other games they had to try some new thing or interface that to me, messed things up. I am not very far into the game but got so frustrated when I got to the (M-wherever) islands that I turned it off. I will try again as a devoted M & M player, but so far it is horrible. It sort of reminds me of Myst where you wander around by yourself with no one else around.
The ally characters you meet (in IX) are just standing there-not moving or animated (except for the dumb enemies that attack)--that I have seen so far. I don't like the new character inventory either. Maybe it will hold more items than the old. Maybe I just need to take some time to get used to the "new"?
We shall see.

For sure though I will be going back to my saved VIII game that I am almost finished with as it is much more exciting.
If they make any more M & M's they need to go back to what WAS doing well before IX!

dose not work with XP on duol core  [Posted on 2008-02-13]
i could never get it to work on my pent 4 4500 doul core with DirectX 9.c and XP and 3do games are out of bussiness and ubisoft bought the name but dose not upgrade or stand behind the 3do games . some disagreement about wiether they work on xp well if your computer is older and not a duol core with a older version on direct X it works but if your updated and have a good computer with XP they well not run . other srevice have changed some the older M & M 1-4 like game tap for exsample but they your paying a monthly fee and no CD to own

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