Game: Heroes of Might and Magic

[Xrlderek]

I got Heroes of Might and Magic III around 5-6 years ago. I remember it as being a very good game. I also bought IV, but didn't start playing it for some reason. I played through it yesterday, but it just didn't feel as good, I'm not really sure why though. I didn't like the way the role the heroes had etc, instead of overlooking the game and helping, they were now in the fight themselves, and they could die. They could also become extremely powerful if you focused on the combat skills, making some steps of the campaigns far too easy(although, admittedly, that was sort of fun too). I didn't like the creature system either. I liked it better when you could upgrade them, instead of having to choose between two creatures each step up the ladder. Still an ok game, it was enjoyable, but I preferred III.

I'm thinking about buying HoMM V. Probably the latest expansion because it works standalone. I've heard and read that it is much more like III than IV was. I hope so, I was slightly disappointed with IV.

Check out HoMM III if you've never heard of it. It's a great game, with loads of hours of play. I think it might just be my favourite game.

[Death BOO Z]

I really liked Heroes IV, we actually played it for a while in the army a month ago. the fighting heros bring a really RPG approach of level-grinding the hero and getting him to learn new spells.
the problem, as you've said, is with the combat skill (which makes the hero supreme fighter) and the overall balance, there's almost no real way to fight 'scores' of catapults (winds of war expension), and it still lacks siege feauters.

[Xrlderek]

Yeah, I forgot to mention the lack of siege features. Having built a castle and defending a town didn't make much difference compared to normal combat on the map. No towers etc. What I liked about it was the level progression of the skills, having 5 levels for each skill, instead of three like in Heroes III.

Ended up buying Heroes V and I think it's ok so far. It has siege features, it seems like the skills are a bit more balanced etc. One thing disappointed me though, what I loved about Heroes III was playing the maps generated by the random map generator. I tried making the biggest map, with 8 opponents, with the underground level. Impossible to play. Each turn the computer opponents use 5-10 minutes. I don't have a slow computer either. The environment and the fights look nice in 3D though.

[BurnHavoc]

HOMM3 still holds a place in my heart as one of the best games I've ever played. Right alongside SystemShock 2 and AvP2 at LANs.

[TwisT]

All Heroes games are great but i must say army building and siege fights was best in HOMM3. But i enjoyed the storys in the campaigns in HOMM4 best. HOMM5 i didn't get to finish before my hard drive crashed and after that i never downloaded it again but now that you have reminded me about it i think i will give it another try and check those campaigns out.

How do you compare the campaigns from the 5th game against 3rd and 4th?

[Xrlderek]

All Heroes games are great but i must say army building and siege fights was best in HOMM3. But i enjoyed the storys in the campaigns in HOMM4 best. HOMM5 i didn't get to finish before my hard drive crashed and after that i never downloaded it again but now that you have reminded me about it i think i will give it another try and check those campaigns out.

How do you compare the campaigns from the 5th game against 3rd and 4th?

Well, I've heard that the main plot of the original campaigns in V revolved around a failed honeymoon because of monsters, so I started with the latest expansion instead. I haven't had much time, so I have barely played through the first campaign. I liked it, the story was good. I prefer the campaigns in III myself, but also enjoyed the ones in IV. The first ones in IV were nice, but the ones that came with the winds of war expansion weren't very good. I can't really compare, because I haven't finished the game yet, but as of where I am in the game the campaigns in III and IV are better.