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While we don't recommend these for everyone, if you've already played MM8 straight once or twice then you might be interested in learning about some ways to bend the rules in your favor. If you haven't played through yet, we strongly urge you to avoid reading this article. It's up to you, of course, but you might miss out on a lot of fun if you do. It's very difficult to give proper credit for these curiosities. Many of them have been discovered independently by more than one person and no one's sure of who found them first. We must, however, give special thanks to Strider, web-traveler extraordinaire and discoverer of many bugs, for collecting and researching the most interesting ones. He has graciously shared his findings with us. You'll want to visit his website, Thorongil's Might & Magic VIII. |
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Unlimited Experience Bug There is at least one area you can get as much experience as you want (just like the killing of the zombies in MMVII ver 1.0) as long as you have the patience to continue. Go through the Serpentman Labyrinth of the Abandoned Temple and work your way down to the room that has a large pool of shallow water and a bridge down the middle. Do not enter the room. Instead, briefly step up to the doorway to get the attention of the Couatl and Serpentmen. Then back up away from the door, killing any that come out into the hallway after you. All of the creatures should be off the bridge and in the water on the left side of the doorway. Move against the wall and close to the doorway and attempt to attack using the A key. When you get to the right spot you will start hitting them but they won't be able to hit you. You can stand here as long as you want, repeatedly killing them and gaining the experience. You don't get a lot of experience for killing Couatl and Serpentmen, so it will take a while to add up. |
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Unnecessary Items There are several Quest items that can be thrown away if you need to make room in your inventory. The Sarcophagus of Korbu is a particularly striking example. Just drop it outside anywhere. Go see the Oracle in Ravenshore when you are ready to complete the quest and he'll give it back to you. He doesn't return everything, though, so be careful. You can get many of the Quest items like swords and such back like this. Just visit the Oracle if you want to use them after completing the quests. The False Report is a special case; you don't need to get a replacement. When you get to Regna and visit the Dread Pirate Stanley he will respond as though you still have it. |
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Cast Renegade Spells This bug allows a character to cast certain Spells regardless of whether they have them in their Spellbooks. Such a Spell might be one that the particular character could not ordinarily cast because they weren't at a high enough level. Perhaps the character could never learn any Spells from that school of magic. Are you interested? The Spells that can be cast this way are the last Master-level Spells in their respective schools of magic - the tenth Spell for each school. The character must have the Skill for the school of magic or ability whose Spellbook tab appears below that of the desired Spell. The schools in order are Fire, Air, Water, Earth, Spirit, Mind, Body, Light, Dark, Dark Elf, Vampire, and Dragon. For example, a Dark Elf could use this trick to cast Armageddon at any time during the game. The bug here is in the way the Quickspell works. Strider explains how to use it this way: Open your spell book and click once on any spell. Now deselect that spell without clicking on another spell and then hit the Set Quickspell icon. The easiest way I've found to do this is outlined below. The most beneficial of these Spells are Fly (allowing fast and easy movement from the start) and Armageddon (for the more blood thirsty ones out there). These Spells will be cast at Master ranking, but you need to be aware that all the effects of Skill level and Spell Point drain still apply. The Spell cost also remains the same. |
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Extra Skill Points and Stats This very powerful bug allows you to gain skill points or raise your stats as high as you want if you take the time needed. It is sort of like multi-looting in this respect. If you hit the return key to enter turn-based mode and then immediately hit and hold the spacebar while standing in front of a well or skill pedestal, multiple characters will attempt to use it -- even the ones that don't qualify anymore. There are a few prerequisites. 1) It must be something like a well or pedestal that each member uses individually. Barrels, which have only one drink, will not work with this trick. 2) There must be at least one member that qualifies to use it. For example, with a challenge pedestal, at least one member must be at 200 or above at the start. It doesn't matter if this character has won or not. 3) There must be at least one member that hasn't used it yet. For a game pedestal this means someone that hasn't won yet. For a well that gives +2 to a stat at least one member must be below the max of 16. This doesn't have to be the same member as in step 2. Actually, in the case of the game pedestals it's better if this character doesn't qualify to win yet. This will make it easier to tell if the trick will continue working. Here's what you must do. For a stat pedestal, stand in front of it, hit the RETURN key to enter turn-based mode and hold down the spacebar for a few seconds while the hand is coming up and the sound effect is heard. You should see a couple of sparkles or the message "you won X skill points". A lot of times you will see "you failed" and upon checking nobody will have won. You will have to exit turn-based mode and try again Don't hold the spacebar down too long or all your members will win; you don't want that. Check the characters that don't qualify to win and have them attempt again. If it says you failed, save the game and repeat the trick. If it says "You've already won" for all members, reload the previous saved game and try again. It takes a little practice to figure out when and just how long to hold down the spacebar but once you do, it doesn't take long to rack up skill points. Wells work the same way as the pedestals. You need to look at all the members' stat sheets. As long as one character is below 16 in the applicable stat you can save and drink again. |
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Fly Above the Ceiling While this bug came in handy a few times in MM7, you really don't need it in MM8. It is interesting nonetheless, and someone might find a use for it. We don't know who reported this first. Steve Jaqvaar heard it from Elara, who thinks she got it from Ribannah, who doesn't remember who told her. Please tell us if you know the source of this gem. In any event, this is how Steve Jaqvaar describes this bug. 1) Cast Fly. |
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Make Guards Forget Guards protecting restricted areas are easily fooled. They become hostile (as do all their compatriots within a certain distance from you) the instant you enter a designated space. However, everyone will forget your infraction if you follow the following steps. 1) Don't attack anyone. 2) Pass extirely through the space which triggers hostilities. 3) Save your game. 4) Re-load. You'll be on good terms with your hosts again. You can't see the designated trigger spaces so you'll have to rely on trial-and-error. The spaces are usually wider than your party could jump across. Be prepared to face the same challenge on the way out unless you use a transportation Spell to make your exit. |
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Pass Through Doors No doors will be closed to you if you use this trick. It exploits the fact that the graphics engine renders doors last -- after the rest of the level. Walk up to a stubborn door until you can't go any further. Now save in this position and re-load. Hold down the up arrow so that your party can move forward at the soonest instant. That instant will be a split-second before the door appears. Before it does, you'll be into the next chamber. |
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Extra Shots in Turn-Based Mode We'll need to talk about the mechanics of M&M combat to explain this quirk. Monsters get a recovery penalty whenever they're hit. They must go through a sequence of motions before they can attack again. This is true in both Real Time and Turn-Based modes. This feature of combat benefits RT play most obviously, especially in a melee, since a Monster that's been hit might not get a chance to attack again before being finished off. A Monster that has been hit in Turn-Based mode also goes through the same motions of reacting to the blow, but these motions don't take any of the Monster's allotted combat time. In other words, a Monster with a recovery time of 100 ticks doesn't acquire extra ticks when it is hit in TB mode. The combat clock will not proceed past the moment of the Monster's next attack while the Monster goes through its recoil motions. However, the clock doesn't stop for your party while this is happening - at least not entirely. Party members can still attack while the Monster is recoiling, but they can only take their turns up until the moment (that is, the clock count) when the Monster gets to take its turn. This is where the bug occurs. While the Monster is recoiling, the party member who moves last before the Monster's turn can keep on attacking until the monster finishes moving. Confused? Here's an example. Let's say that you're fighting a Pirate in TB mode and that all of your party members get to attack once before the Pirate gets a turn. Hold down the A or S key and your characters will attack in their turns. If the Pirate is hit and your system is fast enough then the character who went last will keep attacking until the Pirate is ready to attack. The Pirate won't repeat the entire recoil sequence if your character hits with one of these extra attacks, but it will spend a bit more time in its current position. As long as your character continues to connect, the Pirate won't be able to fully recover and take its turn. You won't see this on a slower system because the computer is using all its cycles to run the recoil sequence. As soon as it has a few spare cycles it will poll your character for actions. The key to making the most out of the Monster's recovery time penalty in both RT and TB play is to ensure that your characters hit their opponents at least half of the time. Do this by raising their Attack and Shoot Bonuses. |
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Bypass the Alliance Our friends at Might and Magic Net first brought this quirk to our attention. This is what they wrote. The links will take you to maps at their site. Did you know that you don't need to go to Regna to complete the game? You don't even need to form the Alliance! The only things you need to do from the start of the game are... |