History VideoGame / MightAndMagic

* NeglectfulPrecursors: Subverted. The Ancients seem to have vanished from the face of the galaxy, leaving the inhabitants of their various artificial worlds to deal with the likes of Sheltem and the Kreegan. However, it's not that simple: as VIII makes clear, they ''are'' fighting the Kreegan, they just don't have the resources to save their lost colonies and experiments from the Kreegan most of the time ([[spoiler: or, for that matter, to destroy most infested colonies]]), what with the ongoing galaxy-scale war. Sheltem, a [[SlidingScaleOfVillainThreat multi-world threat]] who is completely impossible for heroes from a LostColony to defeat, rates only a single Corak unit with no backup.

* SchizoTech: The medieval technology of the playable races is contrasted with the futuristic technology of the Ancients. In some games, your characters can use both.

* IncrediblyLamePun: Most of the [[ShoutOut Shout Outs]] are these.
** Hell, M&M6 also [[spoiler:reversed the names of the Enterprise crew to use as passwords.]]

''Might and Magic IX'' [[WhatCouldHaveBeen almost happened]], but [[ObviousBeta what we got instead]] was such that many fans wish they [[FanonDisContinuity hadn't even bothered]]. The same goes for a number of failed spinoffs, such as the action-RPG ''Crusaders'', the ''VideoGame/KingsBounty'' remake ''Quest for the Dragon Bone Staff'', and the ''VideoGame/CounterStrike'' [[FollowTheLeader clone]] ''Legends''. It was set on Axeoth, the same planet as ''Heroes IV'', but on a different continent with no story connections.

** IX was the first (and only, unless you count that one stage from VII) in the series to give characters the ability to actually swim (i.e., to go down beneath the surface of the water instead of treating it like solid ground). Due to [[ObviousBeta other issues]], however, this ability was completely worthless for a lack of any reason whatsoever to go swimming.

* ObviousBeta: ''Might and Magic IX'' was cited by the developers themselves as being "pre-alpha at best".

** The ''Forbidden Saga'' quest, also in ''X'', which is about finding nine books the Inquisition has deemed heretical and wants to burn, but which the quest giver wants to preserve. The books are poetic retellings of the first nine games in the series (the ninth ends with a comment about it being '[[ObviousBeta obviously unfinished]]') written by a Lord Caneghem...[[invoked]]

* LaResistance: This seems to have caused the crisis in ''X'', and it's a villainous example. After the chaos that Uriel caused in the war prior to the events, the young Empress Gwendolyn Falcon of the Agyn Peninsula introduced a set of reforms to stem the unrest (first and foremost, [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything separating the authority of the church from that of the state, seeing as blindly following an angel was a mistake that caused the war]]) that many of "the more conservative" nobles objected to, causing political upheaval and threats of succession, possibly leading to outright insurrection judging from the state of things currently. (In Sorpigal, you hear both sides of the issue, some citizens supporting the Empress, and others supporting the dissidents.) [[spoiler:As it turns out, the resistance is a side effect of the true threat, and their are two separate resistance movements, both led by an UnwittingPawn of the true threat. The leader of the first, less potent one is an officer who was driven mad by witnessing the true evil behind the plot, and believes that Gwendolyn has been replaced by a demon and that the faceless are ruling the Peninsula; he even thinks your characters are demons when you confront him. His dying words when defeated and a journal you find give you a hint at the true evil behind it. The second, more organized revolutionary is Markus Wolfe, the leader of the Blackguards; by the time you get to Karthal, he will have controlled the city, and the heroes mission will be to ally themselves with loyalists and liberate it before focusing on [[TheManBehindTheMan the true evil behind it]].]]

** Various scrolls. Few exceptions aside (such as Fly scroll in New Sorpigal in ''IV'' or Bracada in ''VII''), there is no shop, monster drop or chest that guarantees the access to certain scrolls. Consequently, you will save the best scrolls with the spells you can't get other way until you ''really'' need them, and weaker scrolls will be sold off.
** Better magic wands with stronger spells. While ''VII'' and ''VIII'' have spell that allows you to recharge them, it has the drawback of reducing the number of charges everytime it is used, and to fully negate that, you must have Grandmastery of Water Magic at level at least 20. Therefore better wands will end collecting dust like the better scrolls.

** To a smaller degree, ''VI'' forces you to visit Free Haven afoot as all stable/ship transport to Free Haven is unavailable at first. This also means that you can't get easily to the northern/western locations, as Free Haven is a hub connecting New Sorpigal and surroundings with those ([[BeefGate not that it is a good idea to go there with low-level party]]). Once you reach free Haven and presumably talk with the Council there, you can fetch a ride to the northern/western cities.

** ''VIII'': Both Light and Dark magic can be learned form the start, but their Grandmasters are located at Regna, which is made accessible onlu quite late into the story. Consequently the ultimate spells in both schools won't be used until then and some spells of lower mastery are far less potent. Averted with Elemental schools - their Grandmaster teachers are located in respective Elemental Planes, but you can access them and in case of Plane of Air it shouldn't be much trouble with Invisibility (which you most likely have when you're trying to Grandmaster Air Magic).

** In ''VII'' they have the "Strange Temple" [[spoiler: which is another version of the NWC Dungeon, which is reached by using a model-temple-in-a-bottle found in sunken ship. Unlike the version in ''VI'', his has a pretty dangerous {{Superboss}} in it, called a "Blaster Guy C", who's much like a boss that was fought previously.]]
** In ''VIII'' there is also [[spoiler:another version of the NWC dungeon, the Giant Sword in Plane Between Planes, which you can only enter if you'll take a flute from Lord Brinne's Tomb in Ravenshore.]]
** In ''X'', there is Limbo, [[spoiler: which is like the previous ones, a dungeon resembling the Ubisoft offices, but also resembling a space station, a CallBack to the science fiction levels of previous games. There are a lot of odd monsters there named after the dev team (who you can actually talk to in this case), and your mission is to defeat the six "Ubimancers" who have invaded the place. Once you do, a guy tells you they can [[BreakingTheFourthWall safely start work on the next Might & Magic project]].]]

* DiscOneNuke: Where do we ''start''? Broadly speaking, the [[WideOpenSandbox open-world gameplay]] in this series makes these inevitable; it's nearly always possible to wander somewhere where you shouldn't be, avoid fights and traps, and find items or bonii that let you trivially autofight through the areas where you should be exploring.

*** Sulman's treason letter nets you a solid 6000 gold pieces to start with if you know where to take the letter. New Sorpigal has a flight scroll hidden near the bank, and the Buccaneer's Lair has a hidden gate to Dragonsand, an incredibly high level map full of treasures, and a shrine that gives a +20 bonus to all stats of the party. If you use the scroll, snatch the bonii and the treasures, you can flee to Abdul's desert resort and hire a gate master to teleport to any city in the game and arm yourself with the highest tier gear at the start.

** In [=MMVII=], the devils are long-armed spiky alien things. In [=HoMM3=], which takes place ''at the same time'', the devils are... pretty much your standard red-skinned black-robed horned humanoid devils. There is no explanation even attempted for this - at least, not in ''VII'' or ''Heroes III''. ''VI'' (which takes place at the same time as ''Heroes II'', slightly earlier than ''VII'') implies 'caste system' is the answer for some discrepancies (it also features -- prominently in the intro movie -- devils that are long-armed spiky alien things with horns and red skin).

** ''IX'' never got around to having any explicit Science Fiction elements, leaving them to a few references that people that played the older games would recognize as not actually being fantasy after all. ''X'' isn't allowed to have explicit Science Fiction elements, being set in Ubisoft's Ashan setting... [[spoiler:"explicit" being the key word there. Two quests ''heavily'' imply that Ashan is in the old setting after all, one of them featuring what appears to be a character from the mid-90s novels... a character that happened to have been an undercover operative for a post-Silence interstellar state.]]

* SelfDestructMechanism: Might and Magic VI and VII, as well as Heroes of Might and Magic III deal with an alien invasion. It turns out that the ancients who originally colonised the world also made a robot who would go to worlds attacked by the aliens and eliminate the threat at any cost. In VIII, he has arrived and his programming kicked in and started the self-destruct mechanism of the entire world, even though you already defeated the aliens.
** The endgame of V: [[spoiler:Corak initiates his own self-destruct to (finally) take down Sheltem. It works.]]
** A minor one in VI; if you aren't paying attention and forget to pick up a vital scroll before going to the demon hive to destroy it, the resulting explosion destroys the planet in a rather well-done cinematic.
** In the spinoff ''Swords of Xeen'', you need to use the mechanism to destroy the alien spaceship. One spell lets you teleport outside, since the timer is linked only to attempts on exiting the spacecraft.

** ''M&M'' games commonly start out as apparently pure fantasy world, but towards the end it is revealed the world is actually a LostColony, and LostTechnology is brought into the plot. However, the magic is still very real and the Ancients brought elves, dwarves, orcs, halflings, etc. over on the vessels that colonized these planets as well as humans, and themselves seem to have practiced an advanced synthesis of technology and magic. Later games would introduce the Science Fiction elements earlier; ''Might & Magic VI'' and ''VII'', for example, allowed you to mow down Liches with your blaster pistols. Or ''be'' a Lich. With a laser pistol, scuba gear, and infiltrating a spaceship to steal technology.

* ScienceFantasy: ''M&M'' games commonly start out as apparently pure fantasy world, but towards the end it is revealed the world is actually a LostColony, and LostTechnology is brought into the plot. However, the magic is still very real and the Ancients brought elves, dwarves, orcs, halflings, etc. over on the vessels that colonized these planets as well as humans, and themselves seem to have practiced an advanced synthesis of technology and magic. Later games would introduce the Science Fiction elements earlier; ''Might & Magic VI'' and ''VII'', for example, allowed you to mow down Liches with your blaster pistols.
** Or ''be'' a lich. With a laser pistol, scuba gear, and infiltrating a spaceship to steal technology.

* DeathOfAThousandCuts: This is how blasters work for the player characters in ''VI'' and ''VII''. Each individual blaster shot does very little damage (though it has a very high chance to hit), but each character can fire a blaster many times in a single round. Some blaster-wielding enemies, however, can outright eradicate your characters in an instant.

* DeathOfAThousandCuts: This is how blasters work for the player characters in ''VI'' and ''VII''. Each individual blaster shot does very little damage (though it has a very high chance to hit), but each character can use a blaster many times in a single round. Some blaster-wielding enemies, however, can outright eradicate your characters in an instant.

* DeathOfAThousandCuts: This is how blasters work ([[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard for you, at least]]).

* DarkHorseVictory: The main characters' efforts to restore Harmondale in VII lead to [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Erathia and Tularea going to war over the area again]]. The war has three possible victors: 'Humans' (that is, Erathia[[note]]Both sides have human ''and'' elven citizens[[/note]]), 'Elves' (Tularea) and [[spoiler: Harmondale. Turn the Gryphonheart Trumpet over to the Arbiter and the area ends up as an independent kingdom]].

* CameBackWrong: A word of advice: asking a necromancer (from the "evil" temples in VII) to revive your dead teammates is a bad idea.[[spoiler: Character comes back, but with a "zombie" condition... And it can be pretty much of a JumpScare if you are unprepared]]

** In [=MMVII=], the devils are long armed spiky alien things. In [=HoMM3=], which takes place ''at the same time'', the devils are... pretty much your standard red-skinned black-robed horned humanoid devils. There is no explanation even attempted for this - at least, not in VII or Heroes III. VI (which takes place at the same time as Heroes 3, slightly earlier than VII) implies 'caste system' is the answer for some discrepancies (it also features -- prominently in the intro movie -- devils that are long-armed spiky alien things with horns and red skin).

* TheAtoner: In ''VII'', one of the warlocks you meet on Warlocks of Nighon that you talk to admits that they and the Kreegan were allies during the events of ''[[Videogame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic HoMMIII]]'', something they ''deeply'' regret, not just because [[NotWhatISignedUpFor they realized what the Kreegan's true goal was]], but because the Kreegan army abandoned them and left them to die after their plan failed causing their numbers to be decimated. (Quite possibly, this is why they are more approachable than the other "dark" folks in the game.) [[spoiler:However, at the end of ''Armageddon's Blade'', Nighon allies with the Kreegans once more, though that alliance is even more short-lived]].

** ''VI'' has an area called the Temple of Snakes, which contains some medium-level enemies and a lone Gold Dragon(one of the strongest non-unique enemies in the game). But if you know about the secret panel or are unlucky enough to accidentally hit it, you find a small alcove with a few treasure chests and a fat peasant named Q. He has approximately 8 times the HP of the next toughest monster in the game, and continuously casts Finger of Death against you, eradicating a character when it hits. (If you defeat him, there's a treasure in this room that's worth the effort: the Horn of Ros. The strategy guide described it as "A horn that doesn't seem to work". Oh, ''it works'' all right. It shows you the numerical HP remaining when you view an enemy's health bar, which is ''very'' useful. (Buff up beforehand, and hope he doesn't hit your cleric with it. Besides his Finger of Death, which has a low hit rate, he doesn't do anything noteworthy. He just has a crapton of HP, so it will take some time to get him down. But he is not terribly difficult, especially when compared to the [=MegaDragon=] of MM V.)

** The Megadragon also appears in VII, where he is once again easy to miss and completely optional. He's a lot weaker than he is in previous games, but still exceedingly tough - he's basically a red dragon with extra attack power and a chance to eradicate anyone who he hits.

** In ''VI'' you actually start in the location where the final quest takes place... during a cutscene, as you hightail out of there during the AlienInvasion. Then you meet a wizard who teleports you as far as he can from there on purpose. Said alien invasion also creates the surge of monsters, justifying the sorting algorithm.
** In ''VII'' the mosters in general get stronger the farther you get from Harmondale, but following the main questline can throw you into some rather nasty surprises. The very first quest requires you to go into a cave with red dragon, one of strongest monsters there is. You don't have to fight it though (you just need to survive to grab the quest item in its cave, which shouldn't be too troblesome unless [[DeathByMaterialism you get distracted by gold laying there]]). Once you get to Castle Harmondale and clean it from goblins and rats, you're directed to Barrow Downs which are infested by spectres and gargoyles and from there, your next quest is in dungeon full of enemies immune to physical attacks (and if you take wrong path, you'll end up facing enemies immune to magic for a change, which can also cause paralysis and petrification). It's not until you complete this quest that you're pointed to much safer locations in Erathia and Tularean Forest.

* SuicidalOverconfidence: In general, the moment the enemies detect you, they chase after you with wild abandon (or shoot at you, if they have ranged attacks, which is smarter approach) no matter if you just entered your first dungeon or you're clad in artifacts from head to toes and possessing weapons that enemy doesn't even recognize. This is somewhat logical for feral monsters (wolves, harpies) or for those at the top of food chain (dragons, behemoths) but why a group of lowly raiders still chases you after seeing you disintegrate their pals with weird looking fireball?

* SinglePreceptReligion: Neither the Path of Light nor the Path of Dark (on Planet Enroth in the old 'verse) had any real detail given to them. They both had priests, the Path of Light was vaguely good (and had a thing against undead) and the Path of Dark was vaguely evil (and had a thing ''for'' undead), and they had predecessor religions involving (respectively) the Sun and the Moon in some way, but beyond that...

* SinglePreceptReligion: Neither the Path of Light nor the Path of Dark (old verse) had any real detail given to them. They both had priests, the Path of Light was vaguely good (and has a thing against undead) and the Path of Dark was vaguely evil (and has a thing for undead), and they had predecessor religions involving (respectively) the Sun and the Moon in some way, but beyond that...

* LuredIntoATrap: [[spoiler: Forad Dorre does this to the coalition you painstakingly gathered while you're distracted with another quest.]]
* ObviousBeta: Might and Magic IX was cited by the developers themselves as being "pre-alpha at best".

In the first two games, the action was set on flat, square worlds orbiting in space. The third moved the action to a "round" ([[VideoGameGeography actually toroidal]]) planet. ''[=M&M IV=]'' and ''V'' were set on XEEN, another flat platform, with a twist: the world of ''[=M&M V=]'' was [[TitleDrop Darkside of XEEN]], literally the flip side of the world from number four. Installing both ''IV'' and ''V'' on a single computer combines both games into ''World of Xeen'' which allows your party to travel between the two sides of XEEN and complete an extra final quest to merge them into a round world. All these games have the player pitted against [[TinTyrant Sheltem]], a Planetary Guardian constructed by the Ancients, who [[AIIsACrapshoot went rogue]] and decided to protect his homeworld by blowing up all other worlds. Sheltem is finally defeated in ''M&M V'', bringing an end to that whole plot arc.

In the first two games, the action was set on flat, square worlds orbiting in space. The third moved the action to a "round" ([[VideoGameGeography actually toroidal]]) planet. ''[=M&M IV=]'' and ''V'' were set on XEEN, another flat platform, with a twist: the world of ''[=M&M V=]'' was [[TitleDrop Darkside of XEEN]], literally the flip side of the world from number four. Installing both ''IV'' and ''V'' allows your party to travel between the two sides of XEEN and complete an extra final quest to merge them into a round world. All these games have the player pitted against [[TinTyrant Sheltem]], a Planetary Guardian constructed by the Ancients, who [[AIIsACrapshoot went rogue]] and decided to protect his homeworld by blowing up all other worlds. Sheltem is finally defeated in ''M&M V'', bringing an end to that whole plot arc.

** [[spoiler: In ''III'', Sheltem's already caused a breakdown in the BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil, and by the time you encounter him and he runs into a transport tube, you've already "fixed" the balance, for what little it matters.]]

* HopelessBossFight: In ''V'', trying to face Sheltem in combat gets you automatically pwned. The only way to win is to [[spoiler: recruit a more powerful ally and watch an awesome cutscene battle]]. The [=MegaDragon=] from ''II'' is also supposed to be a hopeless fight, though it can be defeated by insanely over-leveled characters using powerful spells.