abstract
| - First five Might and Magic games were released during nine yead period from 1986 to 1995. First three installments were ported to a variety of computer architectures and OSes, Might and Magic IV and V were released for DOS and Mac only. Player characters have "statistics" analogous to Dungeons and Dragons Ability scores. The world is presented as a labyrinth, utilizing a first person perspective interface similar to that employed by Bard's Tale, where the gaming world is divided into a maze-like grid and the player's movement options are to move forward or backward, or turn ninety degrees left or right. The walls represent mountain ridges, cave stone, rows of trees or whatever obstruction might be expected in the terrain being explored. Exploration, like combat, is turn-based in Might and Magic; hence in-game time does not pass while the player delays. If the party moves to a place where there are hostile creatures, or if a random encounter occurs, the player is usually given the option to run away, attempt to surrender to the creatures, or to attack. If the player elects to attack, or if their combat evasion attempt fails, the game enters combat mode On most platforms, the combat interface is presented in a text-only format. Turn-based combat is conducted, with each combatant acting in order of their speed statistic. Each round a random speed bonus is applied to either the player's party or the enemy creatures. On each player-character's turn, the player selects an action from a limited list of options, including attacking a creature, casting a spell or attempting to run away. Combat ends when all combatants from one side or the other have either been rendered unconscious or dead (usually by having their hit points reduced to zero), or fled from combat. The player can also lose the combat by allowing all members of the party to succumb to sleep or paralysis effects.
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