I guess I find straight hack-n-cleave action a bit dull.
Not a lot of strategy there. Of course, if it's done well, that's a different story.
And it's not like the offensive spells are much better - some of those have been horribly over-strength. Think of meteor storm in (especially) MM6, when you would get several characters casting it vs the hundreds of drakes on the one map, or wiping out dozens of dragons on another. Again, not much strategy there. Most of the time these games are simply too easy. There's not a whole lot more involved than go in, nuke everything, get the gold, level up. And wow, the steroids they have in those lands! You start out as a wimpy puke who is challenged to kill a dragonfly, and 2 months later you're wiping out dozens of Lich Kings and Oculuses. (Can you imagine what the UFC dudes would do with that stuff?)
I just don't remember too many times in ANY of the MM series when I was really challenged by a combat, unless of course I was wandering into something WAYYYY above my level (which is the only way to do it, IMHO). I'd just like to see critters towards the end of the game that are god-like - or in other words, have areas where megadragons are somewhat common.
The one truly memorable, insanely difficult, and strategically demanding situation I can recall in ANY CRPG was on the way to Shurugeon Castle in Wiz+Warriors. DANG! You're wandering along minding your own biz, fending off a Redleg or two, and BLAMMO, out of the blue you're just wiped out! Loved it!!!
