Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven

The Good
The story line was engrossing. This game really hit home with me and helped me break my addiction to an on-line text RPG. Well-picked background music really helped set the tone, and this was one of the first games where I closed my door to drown out other sounds.

The interface was fairly well done, though I used turn-based almost exclusively in battle. The few times I didn't I was launching ranged weapons at the enemy and strafing side to side to dodge the return fire. It worked fantastically, but it felt cheap. It wasn't hard to confuse or screw up the AI.

Gameplay was also balanced. There were good and bad things about pretty much every character.

The backgrounds changed with the weather.

The Bad
Considering how good I think the game is, a lot. Maybe I'm just more of a story line/gameplay type guy.

Graphics were shoddy. The box said something about 3D acceleration, but I'm still looking for it. Backgrounds looked like they came from a cartoon, and didn't move much.

Sound effects were definitely not high on the priority list in development. They're there, and they are useful to know when someone is dying or being attacked, but if a ball of lightning goes whizzing past you, it doesn't make a sound.

The AI was really dumb. Sometimes it helped because enemies had so many HPs it was ridiculous, but often I felt I was taking advantage of it.

There was really very little in terms of AD&D rules. Stats could be jacked way up (over 100, I think), and getting another +1 to Strength just got old.

There were far too many ways to improve your character, and the story line was so un-linear, it was like Baldur's Gate where you wonder what will happen if you finish something out of order. While it was nice to have side-quests and such, I often felt swamped with too many to complete, and not sure which one to do first. There was also no real clue about where to go next. I found myself fighting level 3 monsters at level 20, then thinking it would have been a lot easier to have fought that before doing whatever it was I did.

It was very long.

The Bottom Line
It's a great game. I never played any of the other M&M's before this one, but I didn't really feel that I missed anything. After getting part way through the game I went back and read some of the history, and it's actually quite interesting.

I wouldn't try to finish the game without a strategy guide (personally), but it's a lot of fun even if you don't finish it.

As inspiration, you may want to watch the intro a few times. It really sets the tone.