One of the things that strikes me about MM9 is that it has some amazing work in it when you just look at the Lindisfairne Monastery, or the Lich Lab. There were obviously talented people working very hard on it who just didn't have the time to make everything in the game rise to that level.

Actually, the same could be said for MM8, where it's maybe even more obvious, given the useless Druid circle and some other things.