Heroes of might and magic VI

[ArlEammon]

I like it. It's a fun game to play, unfortunately, I keep getting the "black screen of death" every once in a while when I get into a battle.
I need to ask a question, how do you fix this problem?

[Winthur]

I like it. It's a fun game to play, unfortunately

Yes, I also find your enjoyment of this bad sequel unfortunate. :smalltongue:

[Eldan]

How is it? I liked III, played V for a while and was tempted to pick up VI when it was on sale.

[NEO|Phyte]

I snagged it back when it first came out. Most of it is lost to the haze of memory, but I recall it playing like a HoMM title, and that's all you can really ask. Bit odd only having one 'special' resource instead of multiple, but I don't recall it having any major impact on my enjoyment. I recall something about dynasty stuff, but only enough to say that there was some persists between games stuff, nothing of detail. I guess it ran through that silly ubisoft widget thing, so that's a strike against it, unless it got patched out.

Might reinstall it, see if time changed my perception.

[ArlEammon]

How is it? I liked III, played V for a while and was tempted to pick up VI when it was on sale.

It's fun to play, the Town Screens of each city are great to look at, with famously high quality heroes of might and magic music playing.
The battles are very hard though, once you meet a rival Hero. I've never beaten a rival hero yet.

[warty goblin]

I kinda like it, it's just rather slow. Not Disciples III slow, but compared to something like Age of Wonders, it's a bit plodding. Battles are fun though, and it's one of the nicer looking fantasy TBS around.

[Cespenar]

How is it? I liked III, played V for a while and was tempted to pick up VI when it was on sale.

VI is a better V, to summarize. Nowhere near III or IV, but fun anyway. I don't care much for its strategic map, since, well, sucky 3D designs, but the tactical battle part is not half bad.

Also, the story is, if below par, still better than V's.

Edit: Another positive point is that it uses some of the original themes from H2 and 3.

[MLai]

VI is a better V, to summarize.
Also, the story is, if below par, still better than V's..
I hold a minority opinion, probably because I skipped straight from HOMM2 to HOMM5, and because I actually like the Warcraft art style... but HOMM5 is a better game than HOMM6 (oh wait, name changed to MMH6), IMO.

Maybe the story is better than 5's, but I haven't been able to tell due to how damned boring and monotonous it is. At least HOMM5 had memorable characters who either made me laugh, or made me grind my teeth eager to confront and kill him/her. Many of the HOMM5 protags felt like they were having fun, and that enthusiasm is infectious. I haven't encountered that in HOMM6 yet.

I'll try to get back to HOMM6, but the game is so boring I stopped playing it for months. Better graphics? Yeah I guess it has better graphics. Problem is, graphical realism is NOT a good thing to have for HOMM6. For example, by shrinking the units down to "realistic scales" on the tactical battlefield, it makes the field look boring and indistinct losing all HOMM charm. Also most of the designs are artistically bland. Gameplay is bland as well.

[Divayth Fyr]

Also, the story is, if below par, still better than V's.
This of course isn't much of an achievement - V's story and characters were terrible.


How is it? I liked III, played V for a while and was tempted to pick up VI when it was on sale.
I've heard the last patch made it playable - it was a terrible, buggy mess at first (hell, the last beta had less bugs than the released version). Though still below other HoMM titles.


It's fun to play, the Town Screens of each city are great to look at
These could use a lot of work - but seeing how late they added them (and how they cut the costs in every way possible) it was to be expected.


Battles are fun though, and it's one of the nicer looking fantasy TBS around.
It would be much nicer if they cut a bit on the decorations on armors and painting entire armies with a single color* to denote their faction (radioactive green necropolis, golden haven and so on) and reused the models a bit less (the same dragon being the base for every draconic creature in the game, elementals working double shifts as faction units).

*with the exception of the Black Dragons who have a golden glow...

[Tengu_temp]

VI is a better V, to summarize. Nowhere near III or IV, but fun anyway.

Wait, 4? For every step it took forward in comparison to 3, it took two steps back - fewer units, fewer city types, no upgrading, ugly artificial-looking graphics, simplified tactics... In the end, it's probably the worst game of the whole series for me. The best part is the music, which is awesome as always.


Disciples III

I hate that game for taking the amazing, vaguely anime-like dark fantasy style of Disciples 2, and turning it into another generic fantasy setting. The gameplay suffered as well.

[Cespenar]

Wait, 4? For every step it took forward in comparison to 3, it took two steps back - fewer units, fewer city types, no upgrading, ugly artificial-looking graphics, simplified tactics... In the end, it's probably the worst game of the whole series for me. The best part is the music, which is awesome as always.

Only thing I'll be agreeing with there is the ugly looking graphics. The selling point for me was the story, I think. It had the best campaigns in the whole series.

Eh, tastes differ, I guess.

[Divayth Fyr]

The selling point for me was the story, I think. It had the best campaigns in the whole series.
This is true - while I'm not a fan of H IV (it had too many changes I felt went in a bad direction and a godawful graphic style), the original campaigns were very well written, giving us some truly unique characters (Gauldoth anyone?). Unfortunately, the expansions weren't anywhere near as good.


I hate that game for taking the amazing, vaguely anime-like dark fantasy style of Disciples 2, and turning it into another generic fantasy setting. The gameplay suffered as well.
Alas, it is a worse offender than any of the Heroes games when it comes to being a bad sequel. The sad part is that even when they made a new version (Reincarnation), the trend of having bad ideas being worked into the game continued - who doesn't like being punished for being lucky (critically hitting an angel makes you take big damage), or having units get buffs which stack infinately with themselves?

[warty goblin]

It would be much nicer if they cut a bit on the decorations on armors and painting entire armies with a single color* to denote their faction (radioactive green necropolis, golden haven and so on) and reused the models a bit less (the same dragon being the base for every draconic creature in the game, elementals working double shifts as faction units).

*with the exception of the Black Dragons who have a golden glow...
It never bothered me that much; I'm fine with ornate in my fantasy art. And the pauldrons seemed generall small enough a person could actually move their shoulders.



I hate that game for taking the amazing, vaguely anime-like dark fantasy style of Disciples 2, and turning it into another generic fantasy setting. The gameplay suffered as well.
There's a lot of things I dislike about Disciples III, but I'd hardly call the art style generic. In fact I can't really think of anything else on the market that looks all that much like it

[Cespenar]

There's a lot of things I dislike about Disciples III, but I'd hardly call the art style generic. In fact I can't really think of anything else on the market that looks all that much like it

Character portraits and whatnot were... tolerable, I guess, but the tactical battle graphics were simply incomparable to those of D2.

[Krade]

Guys, guys. Clearly the greatest game was Clash of Heroes.

[Divayth Fyr]

It never bothered me that much; I'm fine with ornate in my fantasy art. And the pauldrons seemed generall small enough a person could actually move their shoulders.
I'm not sure the Sentinels would be actually able to do that - though I think their (and the crossbowmen's) helmets could be a bigger problem...


Guys, guys. Clearly the greatest game was Clash (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEfJqSjKPxg)
Fix'd ;)

[Abemad]

Wait, 4? For every step it took forward in comparison to 3, it took two steps back - fewer units, fewer city types, no upgrading, ugly artificial-looking graphics, simplified tactics... In the end, it's probably the worst game of the whole series for me. The best part is the music, which is awesome as always.



I hate that game for taking the amazing, vaguely anime-like dark fantasy style of Disciples 2, and turning it into another generic fantasy setting. The gameplay suffered as well.

With the Equilibris mod, Heroes IV actually turns into a great game (although personally, i still prefer Heroes II GOLD, also modded of course) ;)
I'm beginning to doubt if the mod will ever be updated, I think someone is still working on it, but its been years since the last update.

[Tengu_temp]

Fix'd ;)

Good old Clash. The most extremely Polish HoMM-like game you could find! Also, thanks for reminding me how hilariously bad the voice acting was.

[ArlEammon]

Ummm sooo. . . does anyone know how to fix the black screen?

[Divayth Fyr]

Ummm sooo. . . does anyone know how to fix the black screen?
The problem is that it can apparently be caused by various things, and in some cases nothing seems to help people.
Some ideas from various boards:
- closing anything that is running in the background and is even remotely connected with the net/flash
- trying different drivers for the graphics card
- http://forums.ubi.com/showthread.php/712562-Are-you-still-experiencing-the-quot-black-screen-quot-issue?p=9120761&viewfull=1#post9120761
- http://steamcommunity.com/app/48220/discussions/0/846959179210403602/#c846959179220791980

[warty goblin]

Character portraits and whatnot were... tolerable, I guess, but the tactical battle graphics were simply incomparable to those of D2.

This really was not my take on it at all. I found the tactical battle graphics to have a pretty effective overall art style, with a particularly fine use of color and ornamentation to really sell the tragic quasi-gothic feel of the whole thing. Plus I rather liked the actual tactical battles, which felt like a more RPG-heavy take on Age of Wonders, instead of the (to me) much inferior unit stacks of HoMM.

[Kane]

III>IV>>V>everything else. Sorry, gotta say it.

I have infinite nostalgia and affection for III, (hell this whole series,) but I and II are too dated for me to handle. V just tried to be III, and obviously was not better at being III than III was.

(As a side note, I got really pissed off that V didn't have cheats, because I ground through two, maybe three campaigns in it, then had to switch computers and didn't think to take my data with me. Never made progress beyond that because I didn't want to have to redo the painful tutorial let alone three campaigns.)

I thought V had a lot of neat mechanics, some of which it didn't explain at all. I despise the Warcraft ears on elves with the fury of a nova. Everything else was alright or fun. Good game over all.

VI I've heard.... let's call them things about and avoided like the plague. Less complexity in less resources, less disparity between ranged and melee, some random japanese faction they added with a T7 unit stronger than Black Dragons, and so on. This topic is quite possibly the first time I've ever heard it praised.

Did it get fixed, or was everything blown out of proportion about it, or what?

[Divayth Fyr]

This topic is quite possibly the first time I've ever heard it praised.

Did it get fixed, or was everything blown out of proportion about it, or what?
It's simply YMMV at its best - some people simply like HVI (even at start - some seriously claimed that the "bugs" are the fault of users, not flaws of the game itself). The last patches did fix a crapload of bugs (though, as evidenced by the OP not all of them), but it still has the fundamental problems which simply won't be fixed.

[Cespenar]

Did it get fixed, or was everything blown out of proportion about it, or what?

Well, to put it simply, it's a better V.

[Morty]

Heroes of Might and Magic VI is interesting. It's a major departure from the previous games. Some of the new features are good, others not so much, but I like that they tried something fresh all the same. Heroes V did try to be like H3 but in 3D too hard. Things I particularly like are the re-organization of the creature tiers and giving Might heroes on-use abilities instead of only passives. Something I'm not so sure about is what I see as an increased focus on troop preservation - it's both easier to suffer little to no casualties, and it's encouraged. I didn't get very far in the campaign, but I hadn't got far in any previous Heroes game either. I seem to prefer single maps.

[Divayth Fyr]

Well, to put it simply, it's a better V.
And this is the YMMV part - I'm not sure I'd personally rate it as better than any of the other HoMM game (well, perhaps above the original...).

[MLai]

III>IV>>V>everything else. Sorry, gotta say it.
I have infinite nostalgia and affection for III, (hell this whole series,) but I and II are too dated for me to handle. V just tried to be III, and obviously was not better at being III than III was.
For me the datedness starts at III. Maybe it is a better game than V, but I'll never know because I can't play such a dated game.

VI I've heard.... let's call them things about and avoided like the plague. Less complexity in less resources, less disparity between ranged and melee, some random japanese faction they added with a T7 unit stronger than Black Dragons, and so on. This topic is quite possibly the first time I've ever heard it praised.
It is not a better V. It is not like V at all. I replayed V's campaign twice (that's a lot for me), and the single maps multiple times. I have yet to finish Act 1 of MMH6 because I got bored.
The art direction lacks charm, the creatures lack charm, the town screens lack charm, the maps lack charm, the gameplay lacks charm, and the hero leveling lacks charm.
And yes I hate the random anime faction with a passion. The least they could have done was use Hindu aesthetics for the NAGA faction. But noooooo, we need more animuuuuuuuu.

[tensai_oni]

This topic is quite possibly the first time I've ever heard it praised.

Did it get fixed, or was everything blown out of proportion about it, or what?

Of course it got blown out of proportion. When a major cause of outrage is the game being streamlined to only 3 resources (+gold), you know the fanbase has nothing more serious to complain about.

Even though the game had its flaws. But to discover that, they'd have to actually play it rather than raging over press release information.



And yes I hate the random anime faction with a passion. The least they could have done was use Hindu aesthetics for the NAGA faction. But noooooo, we need more animuuuuuuuu.

Because anything Japan-themed is anime, am I right? Nevermind that all units were various types of aquatic fish or lizards and didn't look anime-like at all.

The outrage over MMH6 reminds me of the HoMM III expansion that was supposed to have a science fiction city. Fans raged endlessly, so the city was changed into a boring (and broken) elemental-themed faction that mostly used already existing units. The fanbase cheered and patted each others on the back, that they got what they wanted even though it was crap and the original Forge looked much more interesting.

Because any fanbase of an established series is afraid of change and wants stuff to be always the same. This is why the sixth Heroes game is disliked, because it's too different. HoMM IV was disliked for being different too. But it helps that this one game was actually bad.

[Divayth Fyr]

Of course it got blown out of proportion. When a major cause of outrage is the game being streamlined to only 3 resources (+gold), you know the fanbase has nothing more serious to complain about.
That was the biggest outrage before the release - after it most of the complaints turned to bugs, the lack of certain features that defined the series (town screens) and the "logic" behind certain decisions (like reusing the same model for different units when all the factions got unique catapults).


Because any fanbase of an established series is afraid of change and wants stuff to be always the same. This is why the sixth Heroes game is disliked, because it's too different. HoMM IV was disliked for being different too. But it helps that this one game was actually bad.
While this is true, it doesn't help that in both cases a lot of changes didn't really work or went in a bad direction.

[Cespenar]

This whole thing is going into "somebody is wrong on the internet" territory fast.

[tensai_oni]

This whole thing is going into "somebody is wrong on the internet" territory fast.

My point here is: there is legitimate criticism you can raise against the game.
But it's not "only 3 resources?!" Or "weeaboo city ewww".

[MLai]

My point here is: there is legitimate criticism you can raise against the game.
But it's not "only 3 resources?!" Or "weeaboo city ewww".
Actually both of those complaints are legit, though they're not the only ones. FYI, I have the game and tried playing it several missions in. I think I'm currently at the last mission of Act I. These are not blind complaints.

(1) Trimming down of resources actually does mean less complexity in teching strategy and map strategy, as well as making maps much less eventful. A common complaint is that MMH6 maps feel "empty."

(2) Considering Naga stems from Hindu mythology, uhh yes it is relevant we were deprived of a faction of rich aesthetics potential, in favor of yet another something from Japan. It is relevant because we have too much popular art/gaming influence from Japan as it is, creating aesthetics fatigue. Not because I have something against Japan per se.

[Winthur]

Of course it got blown out of proportion. When a major cause of outrage is the game being streamlined to only 3 resources (+gold), you know the fanbase has nothing more serious to complain about.


There's also the uninteresting skill choices, the horrible implications of releasing a game and then hurriedly trying to dig it out of its terribleness (all the patches and DLC and we're now wondering if the game isn't "good", but "playable"?), lack of appeal among online players (though really, you can't expect the leagues to make a jump from HOMM3; from what I've seen though, M&M6H online servers are mostly empty). And I don't see how "only 3 resources" can't be a valid complaint - the point is that you don't really have to pick your battles and prioritize certain resources and sacrifice some of them to push your goal - you just flag the crystal mine.

Hell, after three games they, once again, included the Necropolis and they still didn't manage to bring it in line with the other towns.



The outrage over MMH6 reminds me of the HoMM III expansion that was supposed to have a science fiction city. Fans raged endlessly, so the city was changed into a boring (and broken) elemental-themed faction that mostly used already existing units. The fanbase cheered and patted each others on the back, that they got what they wanted even though it was crap and the original Forge looked much more interesting.

Conflux is a terrible overpowered uninspired piece of crap and the HOMM fanbase has its fair share of vocal idiots but really - they released an unfinished game. In case of HoMM3 it was just ignorance on the part of the "fanbase" who didn't realize that the Forge was damn fitting to what we just learned in the M&M lore. In case of this game it's just people figuring that the older games were more polished. I didn't like M&MH6 then, and I don't like it now, because I believe it's fundamentally broken.

[Divayth Fyr]

In case of HoMM3 it was just ignorance on the part of the "fanbase" who didn't realize that the Forge was damn fitting to what we just learned in the M&M lore. In case of this game it's just people figuring that the older games were more polished. I didn't like M&MH6 then, and I don't like it now, because I believe it's fundamentally broken.
To be fair, I feel that the problem had - partially - stemmed from the fact that if you were a HoMM player who wasn't interested in RPGs too much you didn't have a clue that there are any sci-fi elements in the lore. It wouldn't be hard to add some in campaign texts, artifact descriptions and such - but for some reason the devs didn't bother. So for a big group of people the franchise was a - more or less - standard fantasy world, where tanks, laser pistols and cyber-zombies definately didn't fit. Things like the naga tank didn't help...

[Tengu_temp]

About HoMM5:

I would put that game at least at the level of 3, if not for one thing. The AI combat algorythm is extremely lazy and broken! When two computer opponents fight each other, the game simply calculates which one has a more powerful army, and that one wins. No casualties. Attrition war was an extremely important part of HoMM since the first game, and having the AI cheat its way out of it because they couldn't bother to run a simulated battle is a very big faux pas.

Still, 5 is probably the second best HoMM game for me, after 3. I'd rate them like this:
3 > 5 > 2 > 1 > 4
Haven't played enough of 6 to put it anywhere here. 4 is technically a better game than 1 (and arguably better than 2), but it's a much worse game for its time and I had much less fun with it, so it stays at the bottom.

[Cespenar]

About HoMM5:

I would put that game at least at the level of 3, if not for one thing.


at least at the level of 3


3

So.

It has come to this.

[Winthur]

So.

It has come to this.

He's Polish, and every single Polish person has the same opinion - a HoMM game is worse the more it deviates from HoMM3. It's a hivemind.
Source: Guess.

[Morty]

If I were to buy Heroes V today, I would buy only the Tribes of the East expansion. It's standalone, and it includes many interesting new things that set it apart from being just Heroes III in 3D. I guess this way I either disprove Winthur's thesis or prove I'm not Polish.

[shadowxknight]

What are the heroes in HoMM 6 like? I liked it in 4 where I can turn my heroes into IMBA monsters, but at the same time I recognize that it takes away from the strategic and resource management departments of the game.

[NEO|Phyte]

Heroes in 6 are... hmm. I guess different is the quickest descriptor I'm coming up with. Instead of RNGing what goodies you have access to at any given level, it's more like an RPG where you've got your list of options and when you level up you get points to distribute. Haven't dug deep enough into it to say for sure how much of a difference there is between heroes of different factions.

:edit: Also, while they aren't actively on the field like in IV, they have an attack, so might heroes can do more than just sit back and provide stat boosts, plus there are non-spell abilities you can pick up.
Also also, rather than RNGing through mage guilds at your towns, spells are gained through the aforementioned levelup points.

[shadowxknight]

Ahh. So the heroes in 6 are similar to the ones in 5. Meh, randoming abilities was cool but I think RPG-style branching does make sense and would be less frustrating.

[Divayth Fyr]

One more thing to note is that since they've made spells hero abilities, they've gained cooldowns - you can use them once every x turns (still paying the mana costs), where x is 3 or 4 for most spells, including almost (if not all) direct damage.

[LansXero]

Conflux is a terrible overpowered uninspired piece of crap and the HOMM fanbase has its fair share of vocal idiots but really - they released an unfinished game. In case of HoMM3 it was just ignorance on the part of the "fanbase" who didn't realize that the Forge was damn fitting to what we just learned in the M&M lore. In case of this game it's just people figuring that the older games were more polished. I didn't like M&MH6 then, and I don't like it now, because I believe it's fundamentally broken.

Please expand on this :O I never noticed any sci-fi elements in HoMM 3, and I cleared both the original and armageddon´s blade campaigns.

[Grif]

Please expand on this :O I never noticed any sci-fi elements in HoMM 3, and I cleared both the original and armageddon´s blade campaigns.

The sci-fi elements was revealed in the M&M games, rather than the HoMM games. (Supposedly, the Kreegans/Inferno were space aliens) It was never really emphasised in 3.

[Abemad]

The sci-fi elements was revealed in the M&M games, rather than the HoMM games. (Supposedly, the Kreegans/Inferno were space aliens) It was never really emphasised in 3.

Some of the scenarios in the Heroes II expansion revealed a bit of the sci fi elements, but not much...

[Kane]

Please expand on this :O I never noticed any sci-fi elements in HoMM 3, and I cleared both the original and armageddon´s blade campaigns.

I don't know a tremendous amount, but my impression was that, in setting, some of the portals that you could find on the overland map were ancient alien technology, not magic, and that the 'demons' were at times implied (or said?) to be aliens rather than religiously-related.

I think the Forge faction was going to have an industrial/industrial-punk feel to it. Nagas with their snake-part replaced with mechanical treads, stunsticks instead of swords, guns for ranged units, etc. There's some concept art floating around, but I don't remember too much.

Edit: I think this is some of it.

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/asgFsfvU8cM/0.jpghttp://static2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100221004540/mightandmagic/en/images/thumb/e/ee/TankConceptArt.jpg/200px-TankConceptArt.jpghttp://www.heroworld.net/artwork/h3/creature_forge_6.jpg
http://www.celestialheavens.com/viewpage.php?id=779
Second entry. The article makes me sad.:smallfrown:

[Tengu_temp]

He's Polish, and every single Polish person has the same opinion - a HoMM game is worse the more it deviates from HoMM3. It's a hivemind.
Source: Guess.

Actually, the reason I like HoMM 3 most is simple: largest variety of heroes, cities and units, without any of the few but big problems that make 5 not as good. I would love a game that combines the good parts of 3 and 4, because 4 had some amazing ideas - but these ideas were also paired with some giant steps backwards.

Also I stopped reading CDA years ago, but I assume they said that.


Please expand on this :O I never noticed any sci-fi elements in HoMM 3, and I cleared both the original and armageddon´s blade campaigns.

The Might and Magic games always had sci-fi elements to them. HoMM 3 takes place in the same world as M&M 6 and 7 (and 8? I forgot), so these elements would be a part of the setting that didn't come out of nowhere. And yes, the demons are actually aliens.

[Morty]

That, and if I remember right, the angels are actually servants of another space-faring race, who are enemies of the Kreegans.

[Divayth Fyr]

Some of the scenarios in the Heroes II expansion revealed a bit of the sci fi elements, but not much...
They did? I can't remember anything like that.


That, and if I remember right, the angels are actually servants of another space-faring race, who are enemies of the Kreegans.
I believe that while this is the most popular theory, the authors never directly stated the origins of angels (though one said that if fans were told what it was, many would get a heart attack).

[Winthur]

Also I stopped reading CDA years ago, but I assume they said that.

Did you just imply I take my opinions from CDA DDDDDDD:
No, I thought everyone says that here because I never heard an opinion to the contrary.

[MLai]

In principle, I'm glad the alien cyberpunk faction never made it anywhere near an actual HOMM game. HOMM games might be part of the M&M universe, but its aesthetics selling point had always been its "fairy tale charm". It really doesn't matter what M&M does; it's a completely different game genre, and fans of HOMM might have never cared/played M&M. Such as myself.

[Winthur]

In principle, I'm glad the alien cyberpunk faction never made it anywhere near an actual HOMM game. HOMM games might be part of the M&M universe, but its aesthetics selling point had always been its "fairy tale charm". It really doesn't matter what M&M does; it's a completely different game genre, and fans of HOMM might have never cared/played M&M. Such as myself.

The problem with that whole backlash is that
1: a minority boycotted the game and they were adhered to
2: some of the threats were downright vicious according to that article
3: the expansion pack had to be rehashed and rushed to the shelves
4: as a result, we got Conflux, which is the worst town in any Heroes game period when it comes to design (especially because it's a top tier town for all the wrong reasons)

I'd rather keep the Forge if those problems could be alleviated

[Kane]

The problem with that whole backlash is that
1: a minority boycotted the game and they were adhered to
2: some of the threats were downright vicious according to that article
3: the expansion pack had to be rehashed and rushed to the shelves
4: as a result, we got Conflux, which is the worst town in any Heroes game period when it comes to design (especially because it's a top tier town for all the wrong reasons)

I'd rather keep the Forge if those problems could be alleviated

Agreed. Especially given that it was never intended to be a playable faction outside of specifically single player campaigns. It's the same kind of sorrow I felt when I learned about what Spore could have initially been, or when I remember Westwood being bought by EA.

[NEO|Phyte]

Right then, thanks to this thread, I've put 70 hours and counting into HoMMVI. Capped out my dynasty at level 40, purchased all the mechanically-relevant things out of the altar of wishes, etc etc. I don't mind the changes from previous versions, but I have worked out something that really dislike about VI.

The numbers curve is unforgiving.

With some exceptions (mostly neutral armies willing to join you), every stack of creatures in the world grows each week. I'm not sure how it decides how much they grow, but in the first inferno mission, I had something like 6 towns, and sitting on my ass for a few months recruiting an army was unable to move the threat rating on an arena down from high. That entire map had been a pain, really, because it seems practically impossible to keep hellhounds alive, so I was constantly behind on numbers.

[Gandariel]

So, after seeing this thread I just. ... Uhm, bought the game and started playing.

I will say, I have only played HoMM3 (and I friggin' LOVED it).
HoMM3 was a wonderful game in every sense, I loved every aspect of it.

After trying this new game, here are my thoughts:

HoMM6 is very different in several ways:
Your hero can attack any unit for some damage or cast a "spell" or ability : they either take mana, or have a cooldown, or are usable X times per battle (often 1)

Also, your hero has a special power he can activate once per turn, discharging energy from a bar (which fills up as your units take damage) (or at least it is like this for the human race ) .
(Human power is give immunity to damage to a stack for a turn)

When the hero levels up , you get a skill point you can use to gain stat bonuses or learn new spells.
As a first time player, I found it a bit confusing, because there were 20 or so choices.

Still, I really liked this hero thing. Feels like homm3, but with some changes that make it different and fun.

Graphics: awesome. You can zoom, even during battles. When units attack, sometimes you get a cool close up shot of the unit attacking, which was pretty cool.

Battles: nice, loved the video thing, but I have two complaints:
1) the whole thing feels a bit slow. I used the settings to increase the speed of units and stuff, but still I would like (at least unimportant battles) to be played faster.
2) between the hero having such high impact on the battle and the units (at least for the missions i played) being decently fast, I can't keep alive my archers/healers.
I will wait until I have played a bit more, but it feels like I can't get a good number of frail units. When even low level heroes can use their base attack to kill 5 archers per turn, plus their melee units can reach any point in the map in 2 turns, I felt it a bit hard to avoid melee archer action.

Other things I noticed :
Many units appear to have attacks with hit more than one square, even basic units. Archer can do a "piercing shot" if two enemies are in line.
Normal units can attack walls during a siege

Battlefield has some nice details, like traps, rocks (standing behind a rock gives bonuses against ranged attacks)

When you capture a city you can convert it to your faction.


So, overall.
Really liked the graphics, battle has some features I have to get used to, story looks OK for now.
I'll give more feedback when I play it again!

[Cespenar]

2) between the hero having such high impact on the battle and the units (at least for the missions i played) being decently fast, I can't keep alive my archers/healers.
I will wait until I have played a bit more, but it feels like I can't get a good number of frail units. When even low level heroes can use their base attack to kill 5 archers per turn, plus their melee units can reach any point in the map in 2 turns, I felt it a bit hard to avoid melee archer action.

Get 1 point in Tactics, dump your archers/priests in the corner, put 2-3 small melee stacks in front of them, put 1 large stack above them. If you don't have the necessary amount of melee stacks, split the core one. In Haven this is doubly easy: the core melee stack and its upgrade works best when split, since they protect each other and retaliate to each others' attacks.

Also, put 1 skill in light or earth to get healing or regeneration early, to pass most battles without any losses.

[MLai]

I will wait until I have played a bit more, but it feels like I can't get a good number of frail units. When even low level heroes can use their base attack to kill 5 archers per turn, plus their melee units can reach any point in the map in 2 turns, I felt it a bit hard to avoid melee archer action.
That's the fundamental disadvantage of the low-tier units in all HOMM games: Once you get a high number in its stack it can do scary damage, but it's a glass cannon in that if it gets attacked its damage potential rapidly drops due to fragile units dying.
If enemy decides to focus on your low-tier stack, it won't survive that battle. But think about how much damage it can do and how much time it'll buy for your army during those 2 turns.

[Gandariel]

Yeah, I've already put a point in tactics, and I was keeping them I'm the corners. Still, melee units get there in 2 turns anyways. I did not, however, protect then with stacks of melee. Will try.

And I'll get that skill next time I level up.

I had real trouble in the final battle of the second mission. (Lord gerhart).
I did make the stupid mistake of killing his liege (dude on front of the castle), then waiting a week for reinforcements, then attacking only to find I had to kill the liege guy again before I could reach the boss.
Anyways, I consider myself at least decent, I played homm3 a lot when I was young, and still I BARELY won the final battle with Gerhart with less than 10 Pretorians standing.
His priests kept resurrecting each other and archers, my melee took a while to tear down the walls.
He had, in total, more units than me, and I had like 60% pretorians, 30% archers and 10% priests

And @MLai, "think of the time you bought for your army".
The enemy can quite literally move one random stack of units adjacent to my archers and make them useless, aside from all the damage they take. So a random stack of their units can heavily damage my archers. If I want to defend, I have to hold back melee forces, which isn't even a good idea, since the enemy can just keep being adjacent to my archers. At least for these missions my units don't deal a lot of damage, so keeping one stack of pretorians back did absolutely nothing.

So yeah, they didn't buy me much time.

[Morty]

The thing to remember about the final battles, such as the one with Gerhard, is that the AI cheats. It will always have a number of units based on how much time has passed so far, for free.