Though I am not going to play these RPGs now (I have to many as it is), but in the future I want guys to help me which is better then the other for me decide the games are:


Ultima series or Might & Magic series, which do you recommend?

And this:

Arena or Daggerfall, which is better?

Unless you give more info as to what you are looking for, it's going to be difficult to help much.
Still, from the first, I prefer Might & Magic because of the turn based element in most of the M&M series and the superior IMO 3D graphics later on.


Arena or Daggerfall? The second.

No thats pretty much it what you said , I did not meant which Ultima or Might and Magic game like Ultima 7 or M&M 5, I meant the whole series.

Gameplay wise, Might and Magic is much better than Ultima. Story wise, I should say Ultima is better. On the overall, I would recommend the Might and Magic series.

About the Elder Scrolls, definitely Daggerfall.

Overall I had more fun with M&M games, but then I have mostly just played the newer ones, MM6-8.

It is a bit unfair comparison anyway since they are a bit from different eras: when M&M6 came out (1998), Ultima series was already pretty much done with (Ultima 8 came out in 1994).

The oldest Ultimas pre-date the Might & Magic series by 5 years. During the early 80's CRPGs were unexplored territory, and you can tell that there is a lack of genre-experience in the early Ultimas. They feel crude and, well, not very good. The first two Might & Magic games are also rather crude & challenging, but the games feel more well thought out.

If you plan to start the Ultima series, I would recommend that you start at 4 or 5. While still a bit on the crude side, these actually offer some interesting gameplay and story elements (5 more than 4). Ultima 7 is a masterpiece, and should be played even if you plan to go for the M&M series. Underworld is also great (2 in particular).

As for the Might & Magic games, you can safely skip the first two if you don't like them. There is very little in the way of story connection between any of the games (other than 4-5, as they combine into one massive game), but 3 is fun.

In the end though, it comes down to what you want:
Interesting stories, characters and views on moral? Ultima
Fun combat & character customization? Might & Magic


And as for Arena vs Daggerfall: Daggerfall. It takes all that was good from Arena and refines it. And believe it or not, it is actually less buggy (that says something about how buggy Arena was).

In my opinion the Might and Magic series is what you should buy if you are looking for gameplay while Ultima is what you want for a great story.
Between Arena and Daggerfall its gotta be Daggerfall. Better gameplay, bigger world and less bugs but still fairly buggy.
You can try both for free if you want anyways

Arena and Daggerfall are both free.... if you go download them from http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Main_Page there setup just like GOG.com games a singular EXE that installs all the things you need and works perfectly... even in W864 which i just tested :)

My personal preference is the Ultima series because Ultimas V-VII are full of realistic characters with their own personal schedules, and they really feel like taking a trip into another world. For Ultima, I advise especially playing IV-VII and the two Worlds Of Ultima games, and realize VIII is more of an arcade game, and IX is an adventure game. Only I-VII are really RPGs.

As for Arena or Daggerfall, Daggerfall is really the beginning of the great Elder Scrolls games, but Arena is also worth playing. I would advise both, as Bethesda offers both for free.

Ultima really becomes amazing once you get to IV and above, and is my personal favourite. Although I recommend Might & Magic as the series is much more consistent as a whole.

Daggerfall for the second. Make sure you use [url=http://theelderscrolls.wiwiland.net/?title=Daggerfall_:_DaggerfallSetup_EN]this custom installer[/url] whenever it is that you decide to play. It's preloaded with all the fixes, updates and utilities that I think are vital to enjoying the game as it was intended.

If you are looking at classic RPG series from the 1990s:

You did not mention Quest for Glory. Quest for Glory was, IMO, the best RPG series from the 1990s. There were only five games in the series. The creators originally planned the entire anthology to have only four games, later an additional game (the third game) was added in the middle to improve transition between the second and fourth games. As the whole series were planned to have an opening, a middle transition and an ending from the start, so the whole series were very consistent and well executed, with many recurring characters and themes, and a few story arcs and plots that span the entire series.

Ultima is the second best, my personal favorite, but the first three games are unplayable. They are just way too old, so skip them. The "Ultima experience" really began at the fourth game, Quest of the Avatar. Games number 4, 5 and 6 make up one trilogy, (i.e., the "Age of Avatar" trilogy; the story of the three games centered around a few unified themes.) Games number 7, 8 and 9 are another trilogy, (the "Age of Guardian" trilogy.) Number 7 are the best in the series, and number 7 includes two main games and two expansions. Number 5 and 6 have fan remake versions, which use he Dungeon Seige engine and, IMO, are more suited for contemporary players than the original 5 and 6, which are becoming a bit outdated.

I do not particularly like Might and Magic. Number 6 is the most acclaimed in the series. Numbers 6, 7 and 8 make up the final trilogy in the series. The best Might and Maigic games are actually not the RPG. The bests are the turn-based strategy series: Heroes of Might and Magic. I'd say skip the RPG and play the Heroes series, which have very strong RPG components.

I have never played Arena so I can't say how it is. However, I hated Daggerfall. Sure, it has a gigantic world and thousands of randomly generated dungeons, towns and locations; but everything in Daggerfall was so generic. It may have thousands of different towns, but they all looked and felt the same -- as they were all generated using the same basic models and building blocks with absolutely no variations. The same goes for dungeons. The game may be huge, but it does not have any... heart. The whole world just felt very generic and dull.


Anyway, check this out: Lora's Roleplaying Game Reviews: Fun CRPGs For Busy People

Well from what I have seen Arena is more generic, all the provinces you visit like Morrowind to skyrim looks the same, so no mushroom trees in morrowind.

And I always prefer Daggerfall and I am glad I am not the only one, Arena looks too dated imo where daggerfall looks as the though its more modern for the better.

Might and Magic. Never got into Ultima myself.

Might and Magic is a more light-hearted game I'll say. The game is more on combat and dungeon crawling, while not too heavy on story telling. Ultima on the other hand is focusing on story, and also the interaction with the game world. I'll say if you want some dungeon crawling fun, go for M&M, while if you want a long tale, go for UItima.

For TES, Daggerfall is basically a much more polished and upgrade version of Arena, I'll recommand you that.

Echoing some of the other posters, I loved Might & Magic 3-5. Not much in the way of "decision making" rpgs, but just alot of fun with the traditional party of heroes, dungeon-crawling & puzzles. And there was some subtle & not-so-subtle humor as well.