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Any tips for starting my first MM8 game?
04/19/2021, 16:08:46

    Ramillies writes:

    After winning MM6 twice and MM7 once, there comes the time for MM8. However, I have heard many complaints that the game is badly balanced because you can hire high-level characters pretty much right away, which makes the game far too easy (I also heard a wagonload of complaints about dragon characters being too overpowered.)

    So the question is: is there anything special I should do, or abstain from doing (as, for instance, hiring dragons), in order to have a good balanced first MM8 game? I'd like to strike the middle ground: making the game nor too easy, nor too difficult, so that it's interesting but not punishing.

    I also know that there is a mod for creating a whole party of five right at the beginning. Would you say it's advisable to use it for the first game, or should I let it go?

    Finally: if you would recommend me to start the game as is, with the single character, would some classes be more preferable to others? (For instance, let's say that a knight can be hired very early on; then I would probably want to make my main character something different than a knight, in order to have a nice variety.)

    Thanks!





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Yes – but with the caveat that my tips are based on the party I like, which is a magic-heavy one.
04/20/2021, 10:05:40

    Peter2 writes:

    This game allows only one player character that you create; the other four characters in the party have to be selected from a range of characters that you find in the game. My preferred party is cleric, necromancer, dark elf, vampire, and dragon, because that gives the party access to all the different forms of magic.

    The most rounded character in my opinion is the dark elf. This makes a very good starter and you get a well-balanced party very quickly, consisting of dark elf, cleric, necromancer, vampire and knight. Later on, you can swap out any of these (except your created character, of course) for any of a range of other characters including a troll, a minotaur, and a dragon. The quickest way to get flight is to get the dragon and concentrate on developing him.

    However, you can find a high-level dark elf (Cauri Blackthorne) relatively quickly, and an alternative plan would be to start off with either a cleric or a necromancer as the created PC, and fill out the other 4 places in the party with the four level 1 characters that you find in the Dagger wound Islands, which is where you start. Assuming that you started by creating a cleric, your initial party will be 2 clerics, a necromancer, a vampire and a knight, and my long term plan would be to replace the “other” cleric and the knight with Cauri Blackthorne and the young dragon.

    You can find created characters of a range of strengths, and I did play one game where I aimed to get high level characters into my party as quickly as possible. I found this to give a very poor game for two main reasons:– first, I completely lost the pleasure of seeing my characters develop, and second, the party became so powerful that the game became far too easy.

    I would go with creating a dark elf, getting a party of low level characters, and sticking with them until the end. The game replays quite well, and you can try the other races in later games.

    HTH!





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Thanks! By the way, what do you think about the dragon character?
04/21/2021, 15:53:32

    Ramillies writes:

    I heard much wailing about him being way too powerful. Would it be better (i. e. more balanced) not to hire him then? Or is it not that bad with him?




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Repeats some of above, but my response
04/27/2021, 00:15:10

    Ossie writes:

    The Dragon isn't hanging around to pick up in the Adventurers Inn like other early-game characters. He's out in the wild, and you have to find him, and unless you've already planned out where to go, it will be a while before you pick him up anyway. By that time, he's still useful, but far from game breaking, and you may well have developed other characters beyond him. His biggest bonus is flying as far as I'm concerned, not overall fighting power, and if you apply the same method to your Necro as you have to with the Dragon to get flying asap, your Necro might well get Master Air Magic before you find the Dragon anyway.

    Interestingly, the Dragon's weakest element is Endurance, so he's a bit of a glass cannon anyway: lots of strong attacks that will wipe out groups of low-level enemies, but at higher levels he's often the first to drop and no stronger than other might classes





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Good to hear that.
04/28/2021, 19:48:05

    Ramillies writes:





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I come to the same conclusion as Peter2, but for slightly different reasons (minor spoilers because I've forgotten how to hide and highlight text)
04/27/2021, 00:01:01

    Ossie writes:

    Firstly, the game can become somewhat easier precisely *because* of the ability to hire high-level NPCs (and, to a lesser extent, the Dragon) at a relatively early stage. If you don't do this, you eliminate most criticisms about the game.

    Having said this, the challenge in MM games has always been the early and middle games - the Dragon makes this relatively easier, but soon enough you get to the point where the Dragon's attack isn't the easy path to finish encounters that it was, and there's still enough content after this point to make the game enjoyable IMO. In addition, unless you're going to re-read and plan from the start, it will probably take you a while to find the Dragon anyway, reducing this factor: the Dragon-is-OP argument really applies for subsequent playthroughs when you know exactly where to go to pick him up asap. If you just stumble on him normally, I wouldn't say he's at all game-breaking.

    Finally (for point 1!), high level characters are already levelled up and have used skill points in a pre-set way, and almost certainly NOT the way a standard min-max player would have spent them. In most cases, by the time you are able to hire a higher-level character on a class that you'd want to play, you'll have already developed an earlier character more efficiently anyway.

    Secondly, I'd start with your single character, as intended, rather than a full party (at least for your first playthrough). The early game is designed for the characters available at that point, and editing a full party would make that part easy.

    Finally, the characters available for hire early on are a Knight, a Necro, and a Cleric (also a Vampire, I think, but I never use them. If I'm not going to stick with them through the whole game, I'd rather not split the XP with someone I'll be getting rid of eventually). Your main trap disarmer in the game is the Dark Elf, so they are a good choice for a first time playthrough to balance out your early party, because there are some relatively high-level traps in the early game and you can concentrate on Disarm, while the other characters cover the other main roles. Additionally, the most well-known early available NPC is a Dark Elf, so if you're going to avoid picking her up (again, assuming like the Dragon you've pre-read and have decided where to go in the first place), the Dark Elf is a good choice to stick through for the entire game





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Thanks for both responses.
04/28/2021, 19:52:48

    Ramillies writes:

    I think I should stop philosophizing about the game and just play it . It sounds like the game brings a good amount of fun UNLESS you just decide to break it, which I'm certainly not going to try to do..




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That's fair comment
04/29/2021, 09:59:14

    Peter2 writes:

    I've played the game a number of times and always enjoyed it. The only thing that I thought was rather a pity was that I never found anything of any use in the NWC dungeon (or fortress, or building, or whatever . . .)

    And a hint – there are a number of hidden "treasure chests" located around the game, and some of them have the potential to give you some very good treasure indeed. If you're not being attacked, it's worth while taking your time and hovering the cursor over virtually anything to see whether or not you get a reaction other than a one-word description starting with a lower-case letter

    And another hint – in one location, you find a number of scrolls of Jump. Don't sell these. I found that they allowed my party to jump very slightly higher than the Jump spell did, and in one place, that made a difference between being able to reach a location and not being able to reach it. It's not essential to winning the game, but I like to go everywhere.





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So does this one have a NWC dungeon as well?
04/29/2021, 21:14:36

    Ramillies writes:

    If so, then I will at least try to find it. I didn't think it existed in MM7 and so I didn't find that one (also I had to go straight to the Lincoln because the sharks were pestering me hard).

    It's also good to see that it's still worth looking for Rocks, Torches, Trees and so on (as opposed to mere rocks, torches and trees).

    And the story with Jump scrolls sounds almost unbelievable . I'll need to try for myself.





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Oh yes ***SPOILER***
05/02/2021, 11:05:49

    Peter2 writes:

    Look for an enormous sword-hilt sticking up out of the ground




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As Peter2 says, fair comment
04/30/2021, 11:46:04

    Ossie writes:

    With the variety of races/classes (being largely the same thing in MM8), the game inherently has great replay-ability. Like many games, certain combinations make the game easier. But for a first playthrough, without any pre-planning or advance knowledge, it's a non-issue: those combinations aren't particularly easy to discover




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