Finally started my first MM8 game.

[UndeadHalfOrc]

Picked the default starting lady (Knight), named her Valeska (a Knight from HoMM3.)
Recruited the Necro and Vampire, then the Cleric.
Bought some weapons, learned some skills.

Then I died to Meteor Shower. Lost all my 917 gold

Does the Cleric leave you after a while or he can stay permanently? I was hoping of making him my permanent cleric.

I don't plan on using dragons at all.

[Sir William S Titan]

The cleric stays until you tell him to go to the adventurer's inn.

A warning, since this is your first game. Don't enter the pyramid structure in turn-based mode. Accepting party members while in turn-based mode, the game doesn't like. I think that if you refuse the new member, in turn-based mode, you would be fine, but not accepting the new member.

[UndeadHalfOrc]

Don't worry, I NEVER used Turn Based Mode in neither MM6 or MM7, (and so never experienced the many bugs associated with it) and I'm not gonna start now

[Sir William S Titan]

Ah. Well, you should be fine, then. I, myself, don't really use turn-based mode, either. Not much, at least. I use it for pausing the game, and for getting a good look at what I'm up against before I start fighting, but that's about it.

[HodgePodge]

Picked the default starting lady (Knight), named her Valeska (a Knight from HoMM3.)
Recruited the Necro and Vampire, then the Cleric.
Bought some weapons, learned some skills.

Then I died to Meteor Shower. Lost all my 917 gold

Does the Cleric leave you after a while or he can stay permanently? I was hoping of making him my permanent cleric.

I don't plan on using dragons at all.

You can build up your cleric and he can be your permenent cleric throughout the game. You can hire & dismiss characters at will. If you want to rehire a character you dismissed, just go back to the Adventurers Guild and rehire him or her.

I think you'll miss out on a good part of the game if you don't at least give a Dragon a try. There is a young dragon (only Level 5) for hire in a cave in Garrote Gorge who will readily join your party without any other requirements. Many of the other characters come with restrictions before they'll join your party.

Oh yeah, and if your party is already full when a character agrees to join, they will go to the Adventurers Guild and wait for you there to be hired. And if you dismiss a character, they will also wait for you at the Adventurers Guild. You should let as many characters join as possible because you can safely store all your extra stuff in their inventories at the Adventurers Guild. The Adventurers Guild never respawns and is never attacked so you can safely store stuff there.

Good Luck & Have Fun!

[Corribus]

There were bugs associated with the turn based mode? I never encountered any...

[DaveO]

Having a Cleric and Vampire is a bit redundant if you ask me. The only reason to have a Cleric is Light spells, but if you must have them then the Cleric is a must-have. As HodgePodge mentioned, you can swap out the Cleric at certain alliances but I prefer to stick with characters that I can either hire or build myself. As far as the Dragons go, they make the game too easy even with just one. IF the standard flame attack was spell based too, it would be one way to make the Dragon more balanced.

Perhaps a 'bug' with Turn Based Mode is that standard Dragon attacks ALWAYS hit.

[ShadoMan]

yeah, ignore what you've heard on the forums and just try a dragon. He's part of the game and fun to try. Of all the games, the start of mm8 is by far my fav. You'll get another knight soon, so no worries. Just play through the game figuring things out yourself. Forget what we say about the game, and just enjoy it the 1st time through.

[HodgePodge]

… As far as the Dragons go, they make the game too easy even with just one. IF the standard flame attack was spell based too, it would be one way to make the Dragon more balanced.

Perhaps a 'bug' with Turn Based Mode is that standard Dragon attacks ALWAYS hit.

yeah, ignore what you've heard on the forums and just try a dragon. He's part of the game and fun to try. Of all the games, the start of mm8 is by far my fav. You'll get another knight soon, so no worries. Just play through the game figuring things out yourself. Forget what we say about the game, and just enjoy it the 1st time through.

Yeah, and they're also the cutest characters in the game! …

[masterpoobaa]

i think dragons are good characters for noobs.
Get one asap and assign every last skillpoint to dragon skill.
gotta love (Level X 1d10)+10 damage!

[Lord13]

Yeap i agree, dragons are great for some1
who don't now well the game, the 2nd time
you will start it just ignore them, personally
i play it with 4 no-dragon members. Later i
will try it solo.
Btw, how u can play without turn based mode?
I mean this is what i loved at MnM, hit a button
and so simple u have turn based(they are few bugs
thought).

[DaveO]

Ever notice how obvious it was that the designers had zero time to give alternate gender options for the Troll and the Minotaur? Now IF MM10 is ever created, we may see how the lack of 'babes' for both of them makes them not an option as a character choice in MM10.

[UndeadHalfOrc]

As a general rule, if the developers think that females of a certain race would be quite ugly, then they don't include them

The only playable race I've ever seen that allowed only females but no males were AD&D Thri-Kreen (Humanoid Mantis)

[dcinroc]

Having a Cleric and Vampire is a bit redundant if you ask me. The only reason to have a Cleric is Light spells, but if you must have them then the Cleric is a must-have.

Actually, I think Clerics have HUGE advantage over Vampires. GM Magic Protection is nice, as is Power Cure, and Light Magic is fantastic.

Furthermore, the Cleric "Quest" is a gimme and could be accomplished just by killing the wolves on your way to Murmurwoods via Garrot Gorge or Alvar, whereas the Vampire has to either have the Invisibility spell or be high enough level to take out the cyclopses and Efreet (and even invisibility won't get you past the cyclopses cuz they block the corridor).

[HodgePodge]

Actually, I think Clerics have HUGE advantage over Vampires. GM Magic Protection is nice, as is Power Cure, and Light Magic is fantastic.

I agree. The only advantage a Vampire has is the Levitate Spell.