Heroes of Might and Magic/Might and Magic games

[LordVader]

Didn't see a thread for this, so I decided to make one. I've played Heroes II, III, and V, along with a couple of M&M games, but I had no idea what I was doing. IMO, Heroes III was the best of the series. Heroes V is good, but could be better.

[Blayze]

The first HoMaM game I played was the second one. Or rather, the demo of it. Always played as the Knight (Blue), and I suffered from one rather fatal blunder: I did not realise that there was an "End Turn" button. And so, I kept hiring heroes to explore as much of the map as they could. When I realised that it existed (The second time I installed it), I still played as the Knight, and carved a bloody path across the map. However, I always ended up dying to that sodding Purple computer player, who holed themselves up on the island in the bottom-right and managed to repel all invasions.

Later on in life, I bought the third game, and wished for my old crack army of Halflings back again. Regardless, I played as the Tower, until the Armageddon's Blade expansion, and fell in love with the Conflux. Since then, I've been throwing elementals across the world, and recently picked up the fifth game.

It didn't capture my heart in the same way that the others did before, but it's still a good game.

[LordVader]

Yeah. Conflux is so broken, though. :P. Although it is cool, I have a Town character who is a Magic Elemental.:smallbiggrin: In H2, I usually played as sorceress or warlock, as I just didn't like how weak the Knight's strongest creature was, and I hated Peasants.

[Krytha]

HOMM III is glory and nothing else. I would have V by now if my computer could run it (which it can't) but one day...

[LordVader]

I can't wait till the new expansion for V comes out- Stronghold back, more or less, and alt upgrades for every creature!:smallcool:
What was your favorite town in III?

[madfool2]

I've played 2 3 and 4.
I didn't really like 2 very much, then i played 3, amazing stuff, swamplands or stronghold for me.

For 4 i normally play Chaos.

[LordVader]

III, my favorite was Fortress all the way. I didn't play 4, but heard it was crap.

[Saint George]

I have played them all (Except for 4, no one wants to talk about 4) as they came out. The first one was just a random purchase that got my entire house hooked.

Heroes 1: I was a tad younger so my favorite town was WARLOCK. It has dragons thus bestest team ever.

Heroes 2: Necromancer. I loved the way the mummies shuffled.

Heroes 3: Here is where I finally learned how to play effectively. The Fortress town is absolutely BROKEN. It's troops demolish anything in their path with status debuffs and absolutely crazy defense. The Mighty Gorgons were simply cruel. (The stack of 50 mighty gorgons hits Ancient Behemoths for X. 1 Behemoth dies. "Ha, Gorgons suck!". Gorgons use their death gaze. 3 Behemoths die. "WTF!")

Heroes 4: Never happened. La la la.

Heroes 5: This one was fairly good. They made the game very pretty and 3D, but not much else. Necromancers seem to be the most powerful town in this game. The fact that they get more troops with each battle (Woo, 3000 skeleton archers. Who wants to fight in the shade?), raise dead is now permanent, and Vampires can raise themselves from the dead when they hit gives them a hefty advantage. The only two contenders for best would be either Dungeon for its crazy powerful troops, or Mage for unlimited magic and buffs (Spam Spectral Allies... or whatever the spell that duplicates a stack is!)

[LordVader]

Actually, patches for V nerfed Necromancy, it works different now. And in 3, the only truly broken towns were Necropolis and Conflux, Fortress was good, but overall slightly weaker then towns such as Castle and Rampart.

[Krytha]

Heroes 3: Here is where I finally learned how to play effectively. The Fortress town is absolutely BROKEN. It's troops demolish anything in their path with status debuffs and absolutely crazy defense. The Mighty Gorgons were simply cruel. (The stack of 50 mighty gorgons hits Ancient Behemoths for X. 1 Behemoth dies. "Ha, Gorgons suck!". Gorgons use their death gaze. 3 Behemoths die. "WTF!")

Actually, I think more advanced players will agree that Stronghold/Barbarians were the broken faction. People would often die far before they had a chance to climb that high on the tech tree.


Heroes 5: This one was fairly good. They made the game very pretty and 3D, but not much else. Necromancers seem to be the most powerful town in this game. The fact that they get more troops with each battle (Woo, 3000 skeleton archers. Who wants to fight in the shade?), raise dead is now permanent, and Vampires can raise themselves from the dead when they hit gives them a hefty advantage. The only two contenders for best would be either Dungeon for its crazy powerful troops, or Mage for unlimited magic and buffs (Spam Spectral Allies... or whatever the spell that duplicates a stack is!)

The necro town is fairly unchanged mechanically from HoMM 3.

It's not so much whether I had a favourite town - but my least favourite towns were Castle and Tower. Just... boring I guess. All the rest were great.

[LordVader]

Stronghold is only good at rushing on smaller maps, though. XL, they die. And Fortress is perhaps the only other town that can build as fast as Stronghold, they can get Level 6 on day 2.:smallbiggrin: But Conflux is broken cause of extremely powerful Level 2-3, and ridiculous level 7. Necro is broken in III due to sheer numbers of Skeletons.

[Kain_Tempest]

Ahh... The Heroes games were how I was first introduced to the Might and Magic series. My first was the demo of Heroes 2, followed by the original Heroes, then all the way to number 3. Though I only took the H2 expansion. I really liked H2 overall, the atmosphere was great, and the armies felt unique in how they were built. H3 kinda took away the uniqueness of the creatures and replaced it with town building uniqueness. This lead to more unbalanced play where the Barbarian faction could chew everyone up in the early game. (I never thought you could Zerg rush in a turn based strategy game.) I played H4 once and never wanted to see it again. I played the H5 demo and was suprised to find that the difficulty felt like it had increased, but very little change from H3.

Might and Magic... Ah nothing like the single four-headed player. I only played one of these games, #7, and was severely disappointed with the series. The screenshots made these games look teriffic and very much like a protean Oblivion, but when you played the thing worked like an awful Doom clone. I won't say what the ending was, but it honestly left a bad taste in my mouth. I stopped play might and magic completely after finishing that damn game. Yuck!

[LordVader]

I think the new M&M has you playing as one person.:smallconfused:
Stronghold would only be able to successfully rush on smaller maps though, on larger maps, there's too much distance to cover. I like 2 as well, but could never figure out the answers to those damn Sphinxes!:smallannoyed:

[Krytha]

That is incorrect. Stronghold is not disadvantaged on larger maps. They tear through small maps, and the fact that a good barbarian player can take on any creep challenge early on means you'll be facing enemy heroes 6-10 levels above you with far more resources (and therefore more forces). What happens in the early game affects the long term regardless of whether they knock on your gate in one week or 1.5 months.

[LordVader]

Well, I'm not really good at this game, so yeah. But I've been on the Heroes Community forum, which is basically the un-official forum for the Heroes series, and never seen Stronghold as being the strongest. It's usually Conflux, then Necropolis if you have time to swarm Skellies, and then Castle.

[Krytha]

Honestly, necrotown is fine, but not just because of skeletons. To make them really effective (and survive a march across the field) you need TONS of them which means they won't come into play until late game (by which point you may or may not have died already). Necromancy is pretty weak in early stages (usually just recouping your skeleton losses if that) so being careful with your troops is fairly critical (that and I never get zombies grrr). Conflux is an expansion so I don't really know if they use it in competition. The times I played conflux were kind of fun, but also kind of boring too (Phoenixes were the only monster I was really interested in... elementals... BAh!)

[LordVader]

Conflux is terribly overpowered. The level 2 and 3 are by far the strongest for their level, nothing else is even close. The level 4-5 are weak, admittedly, but the level 6 is good, the level 7 is ridiculous because you get 2 for every 1 they get, and they have rebirth, which means it's actually 3 to 1! Admittedly, phoenixes aren't great, but in those numbers, they're unstoppable. Their Grail building is also rigged.

[TheBoneSplitter]

I'm one of the lucky few that has the first game, and can still play it. It's still pretty good for an 11 year old game (okay, the REAL first would probably be King's Bounty, which I heard and even seen screens that there's going to be a remake of it in the woodworks), and I play it every now and again. I own (me and my Mother collectively, actually, since she keeps Heroes V for her computer that can make it work nowadays) every game and expansion, and I've played IV and thought it was good with a little bit of practice and getting used to.

[Larrin]

HoMM 3 is still the best in my eyes, everything else is just trying to make a different game to justify new graphics, and they haven't ever recaptured the charm.

Conflux is fun for mass unit rampages, but i found most of the elementals kinda 'lifeless' (ie not fun to use) compare to other towns units, not sure why. But Pheonix swarms are really really fun.

Necropolis! Vampire lords, Dread knights and Power liches, these three units make up for any other weakness this town could have (like zombies) and the extra units are just icing on the cake. in the scenarios where you have the Necromacers cowl that will give you Liches with your necromancy skill at master level....i filled up every slot with 100+ power liches and walked around killing armies in three shots (thanks to their death cloud and the grouping around ammo carts and ballistas!)

Caslte: None of their upgraded units suck (for their level), and alot of them rock (multiple attacks, charge damage, resurect, no melee penalty.....)

Tower: Fun units mixed with dead weight, but ohhhhh the magic.

Rampart: the best level one unit in the game...to compensate all the other units make you sad (though some of them just won't die)

Strong hold: Lots of fun, level 7 units in three days, lots of goblins, good range, ogre mages, one of my favorites for just fun fun funness.

Fortress: This is what i set the computer to when i don't want a tough game. Sucky shooter, light wieght units. Gorgons are evil and awesome and powerful, this cannot be denied....but if you can avoid them (spells, ranged units, UNDEAD(maybe)) the rest of the army will fall without incident. They sound good on paper, but they aren't reliable.

Dungeon: Black dragons alone make this team worth it. Evil eyes make it fun, Minitaur kings are the BadAsses of HoMM with their up beat attitudes and great big axes. Harpy hags are practically ranged units and their town itself has some of the best buildings (double your spell points!!!!)

HoMM 4 went to simple only 5 towns and NO upgrades, it made me sad. 5 is back on the right track, but i can't buy the game. Not because of computer power but the fact a short game lasts 15 hours....

[Varen_Tai]

I guess I don't understand what the hate for HOMM IV was because I absolutely LOVED it! Heroes on the battle field! The CARAVAN which made those stupid creature lairs on the board actually USEFUL. (Can I just tell you how teed off I am that they removed the caravan in HOMM V? :smallfurious: )

What's more is that in HOMM 3, most of my heroes ended up being fairly similar - get all four magic skills up to Expert, then bounce around the board using Expert Town Portal. One army and ultimate death for any who oppose you. But in 4, the heroes are REALLY differentiated. The magic was really difficult to level up to the highest for more than one type at a shot, and so having powerful spells really meant something. In fact, I'm disappointed that the magic/skill system in HOMM 5 isn't more like HOMM 4, though 5 is pretty cool. The gameplay was well thought out, the creatures were unique and useful. So explain to me why 4 stunk so bad when I played it all the way through and had a blast?

[TheBoneSplitter]

The CARAVAN which made those stupid creature lairs on the board actually USEFUL. (Can I just tell you how teed off I am that they removed the caravan in HOMM V? :smallfurious: )

I think caravans were reintroduced in Hammers of Fate... but yeah, the caravans rocked. I liked it because it was a daring move on their part, and I think the game itself is slightly better than V... but that's probably cause it doesn't have that many bugs and spelling errs to speak of compared to V (the expansions to III had plenty of grammatical errors, but at least they didn't compare to "Not enought movement points!".)

[LordVader]

On the subject of Fortresses' Lizard Warriors, if you are playing Shadow of Death, they are, in fact, the best level 2. Someone did a "study" at Heroes Community and proved this. And Fotresses' strengths are that it is cheap, fast-building, and monsters have good special abilities. Basilisks and Gorgons are great, Flies make for really fast scouts, you can get Wyverns Day 2...yeah, you get the point.:smallbiggrin:
And yes, they did put caravans back in Hammers of Fate.

[Cybren]

I usually played Castle or Necropolis in 3. I didn't much care for HoMaM5

[LordVader]

On the subject of 4, I don't doubt that some people liked it. But the vast majority hated it. Here's some of the more obvious drawbacks, from what I've gathered by browsing threads on this on HC.
1. Killable heroes. Let's say you have a magic hero. Hello, Arch Devil stack. Bye-bye, magic hero.
2. Only four creature levels. Bad.
3. Less towns. Bad.
4. At least one of the towns was regarded as being completely broken, I believe.

[Dhavaer]

I played Heroes 1, 2 and 3, and M&M 6 and 7. Heroes 3 is by far my favourite. I like most of the towns (except Stronghold and Fortress) but I'm particularly fond of the Tower and the Necropolis, with Dungeon coming a close third. Mmm... titans.

[Krytha]

Titans cost a zillion and one dollars which makes me cry. Dwarven treasuries... now there's an investment.

[Ethdred]

I've only played 3 but really liked it. I don't particularly have a favourite town type, as there's something to like in all of them. Probably the wizard town (Tower? I'm not really up on the descriptions) is my least fave, though I love upgrading my gremlins into bola throwers! I've not noticed any one being particularly broken, but then I've not done multiplayer. My main thing is getting fun and interesting spells to play with - spellbooks and ballistae all round!

[Evil DM Mark3]

I am a Wizard and Tower man myself and favour II and III over all following ones. I also played II as a Risc-os player and so have played Heroes of Might and Magic. It was free in the game.

Titans rule, dragons drool!

[Tirian]

Might and Magic... Ah nothing like the single four-headed player. I only played one of these games, #7, and was severely disappointed with the series. The screenshots made these games look teriffic and very much like a protean Oblivion, but when you played the thing worked like an awful Doom clone. I won't say what the ending was, but it honestly left a bad taste in my mouth. I stopped play might and magic completely after finishing that damn game. Yuck!

I love the M&M series. 1, 3, and 9 were weak, but the rest were all quite enjoyable. It's probably harder to get into the games now since it is so natural to believe that Oblivion >> everything, and in many ways that is quite accurate. Still, there are a lot of good stories and gameplay back in the past as long as you can look past the ancient graphics and interfaces.

One thing that I really liked about M&M2, for instance, is that you were expected to create 20 characters and have another 30 NPC hirelings. There were dungeons that only paladins could enter, or that only women could enter, and so on, and at the end the world was filled with a large number of ultraheroes instead of just "you". Compare that to Morrowind, where your character fulfills the prophecy of three or four races and becomes the head of virtually every guild on the continent because that's the only way to save you from having to play the game forty times to enjoy all of the content.

But don't bother if you don't like the ending, because they all end the same way. :smalltongue:

[FdL]

Yay! I bought HoM&M V today! It looks great! I had only played one of the earliest games and loved the gameplay. But the other day I read about it in this thread, so I researched it and loved it. So here it is. I plan on buying the expansion ASAP. It looks totally like my kind of game. ^^

[Nnanji]

One of the best things about three for me was the random map generator. Combine that with the campaign editor and I was set.

I thought I heard that they were adding that to 5 in one of the expansions. Anyone know for sure?

[FdL]

One of the best things about three for me was the random map generator. Combine that with the campaign editor and I was set.

I thought I heard that they were adding that to 5 in one of the expansions. Anyone know for sure?

Yup, it's in the Hammers of Fate expansion.

Edit: I played through the first mission of HOMM V and I loved it. I like the gameplay, though I knew it beforehand. This version has a definite WC3 feel to it, which is great.

Is this played in multiplayer? Is it viable on the net or it takes ages?

[LordVader]

I played Heroes 1, 2 and 3, and M&M 6 and 7. Heroes 3 is by far my favourite. I like most of the towns (except Stronghold and Fortress) but I'm particularly fond of the Tower and the Necropolis, with Dungeon coming a close third. Mmm... titans.

You have sealed your fate. Prepare to die.:smalltongue:
I actually intensely dislike the "WC3-ish" feel of HOMM V. It just stinks, IMO. I much preferred the more "realistic" style of 3. In 3, my favorite 3 towns would have been:
1. Fortress
2. Fortress (No, this was not an accident.:smallbiggrin:)
3. Dungeon

[Cubey]

I played Fortress too (played because I didn't play HoMM 3 for quite a long time:smallfrown: ), but I didn't consider it that powerful.


On the subject of Fortresses' Lizard Warriors, if you are playing Shadow of Death, they are, in fact, the best level 2. Someone did a "study" at Heroes Community and proved this.
Do you mind providing a link to this study? It would be interesting to read.

[LordVader]

No prob, I'll link to the thread at HC. Although the guy did say he forgot to wait with the Wolf Riders. But I believe the Lizards won due to their extremely high DEF and HP.

[FdL]

I actually intensely dislike the "WC3-ish" feel of HOMM V. It just stinks, IMO. I much preferred the more "realistic" style of 3.

Well, I never even saw a screenshot of HOMM III. And I love WC3, but I tend to suck at realtime micromanagement. So this game is like a dream come true for me.

I have a question for those who have V and the expansion...
I installed the expansion, and now I have 2 icons. But unlike Warcraft 3 with its expansion, you can't play the content of the original game from the expansion. You don't get a list of campaigns with all of them.

And I haven't played yet, but I guess you don't get the benefits of the expansion's features in the original game. How crappy is this? It's like having two totally different games. I don't think this should be this way, it lacks coherence. Plus, I updated the exp. and the base game was still the old version... :s

[Krytha]

Isn't tjat because the expansion is stand-alone?

Anyway, I like the transition to a 3d world for Homm (which is basically all the jump was). Yes, the towns became slightly less detailed because they became models instead of pictures, but zooming around your town is endless fun.

[LordVader]

Dude, an expansion never, ever, ever updates the old version. You play the expansion to get the features the expansion has. You want the updated old game, d/l patches and play the old game, not the expansion.
And I'll say it again, I liked the more realistic feel of III over the cartoony V. For screenies of III, see the first spoiler in my sig, and the ones I posted in "Introducing someone to turn-based combat" thread. ((Name is probably a bit different, but you should be able to find it.))
Frozen Throne didn't let you play the WC3 campaigns with it either. Expansions to a game never let you play the original version on the expansion .

[Varen_Tai]

Not quite true - both Starcraft and Baldur's Gate 2 had changes to the game itself that if you installed the expansion with the original, all those changes were reflected immediately in the original game. And that's just off the top of my head.

[LordVader]

What changes in Starcraft? To play the new units, campaigns, etc, you have to use Brood War. And I believe, for HoF, that it is "behind" somewhat in patching as opposed to vanilla Heroes V- for example, the HoF necromancy system is still the old one- last time I checked, anyways.

[FdL]

Lots of games do that, Warcraft 3 is the best example. To me it makes a lot of sense, because otherwise it's just having different games instead of ADDING stuff, expanding the original game.
Well, I've haven't played through the original game, but it would still be better to have all options together from the expansion. I thought installing it would add to the original game...Also, I had to update both games. This is wrong.

[LordVader]

Expansions do not add to the original game. Patches do that. Expansions add their new content solely to the expansion, in every game I've ever played.

[Gralamin]

I've unfortunately only played Heroes 2 and Heroes 5, both of which where fantastic games.

I actually need to reinstall 5...

[LordVader]

Yeah, 2 was great. Except for those darn Sphinxes! I could never get the answer!:smallmad:

[Evil DM Mark3]

I got the answer once. My "prize" was -15000 gold...

[LordVader]

Hahaha.:smalltongue: I literally tried the same one like 15 times. The question was, "What makes the world go round?" I had no idea. Of course, I was like 12.

[Cybren]

Expansions do not add to the original game. Patches do that. Expansions add their new content solely to the expansion, in every game I've ever played.

Expansions add the new content to the original game.

Hence, expansion.

If you mean, you can't use expansion content in the original games content, that depends on the game.

[LordVader]

Yes, they add on the stuff to the original game, but you have to play the expansion to get its features. I think what he was saying was he was disappointed that you cannot install the expansion, and play the original so that you can have all the campaigns, etc, with the benefit of the expansion's features.
Incidentally, did anyone ever get the answer to that Sphinx question? It'd be pretty interesting to know.:smalltongue:

[Krytha]

Money? Love? Gamefaqs?

[Castaras]

Not played any HoMM, but I have played from MM IV to MM IX...

Although I've only finished VIII and IX. Those two and VII were my favourites of the ones I've played, with VII being my favourite of the three.

[LordVader]

Tried Money and Love. Knowing the old HoMM games, with their sense of humor, it was probably something completely random and silly.

[Attilargh]

I'd put my money on "gravity".

[Bluelantern]

I played the 2 and still play the 3, who people say (and I think it is true) is the best of the series. I saw the images of the 4 and just din't like it, 5 appears to have a better production but people keep saying that is nearly unplayable :smallamused:

[LordVader]

Crap, Gravity makes sense...d'oh!
5 is pretty good IMO, actually. They even found a way to more or less balance out necromancy.

[FdL]

I think what he was saying was he was disappointed that you cannot install the expansion, and play the original so that you can have all the campaigns, etc, with the benefit of the expansion's features.


Actually it was things like accessing all the campaigns from the expansion, and for the single player custom scenarios. I know the original campaigns can't be redesigned, but even then it would be easier for the developers to keep everything unified in relation to the patch versions. You even have to configure the expansion separately, FCOL.

The game (HoMM V) crashes awfully after finishing mission 2 of the first campaign. I couldn't fix that even with the latest patch. Has this happened to anyone? I had to resort to a savegame which lets me select next mission, but I lose most of my heroes build and items, also buildings in the fortress... :s

Also, the cheats don't work, this could have helped me to regain my spells and buildings :S Did they stop working in the latest versions or it changed somehow? Can't get it to work.

[Malek]

Well I had experiences with all parts of the series. My Opinions?

HoMM I: I got it free with some mag. I installed it. I ran it. Once. Then I deleted it and I never wish to install it again. It might have been a great game in it's time, but in current times the graphics and s-s-s-s-s-s-lownes of combat are too much for me to bear (and mind you I usually enjoy playing old games)

HoMM II: Never played it much but I liked it. It was an awesome game, even if tad unbalanced (*cough*peasants*laugh*)

HoMM III: Only have Shadow of Death (so I never got to know Conflux city or whatever it was named) but I enjoy it much whenever I sit down to play it a bit. My personal favourite town is Necropolis - loved it since Homm II, though I usually find that I do better with Castle :/

HoMM IV: Personally I don't find this part as bad as people try to make it - sure it had it downfalls, but it had good ideas to (C a r a v a n s ! ! !). Not as good as HoMM III but I still enjoy playing it.

HoMM V: Played only demo - didn't get the full game as my computer is too wimpy to play it at reasonable speed - but the game seems decent from what I've seen. One thing that I disliked from what I saw was the grid though. It's just not the same without old hexagonal grid >>

I also played Might & Magic 6 and 7, and liked both.

[Gralamin]

The game (HoMM V) crashes awfully after finishing mission 2 of the first campaign. I couldn't fix that even with the latest patch. Has this happened to anyone? I had to resort to a savegame which lets me select next mission, but I lose most of my heroes build and items, also buildings in the fortress... :s
What exactly happens? Does your computer freeze up? Does the game quit itself? Does your computer turn itself off?
It could be a simple overheating problem, or it could be something else. I've never had it happen.


Also, the cheats don't work, this could have helped me to regain my spells and buildings :S Did they stop working in the latest versions or it changed somehow? Can't get it to work.

The cheats that now work require you to use the console (http://www.heroesofmightandmagic.com/heroes5/heroes5_cheats.shtml).

[Tekar]

Expansions do not add to the original game. Patches do that. Expansions add their new content solely to the expansion, in every game I've ever played.
Yes they do. Best example that *I* can think of was Baldur's Gate 1 which had some quite big changes to the main game in it's expansion. It all just depends on the game but your statement is definatly untrue.

[FdL]

What exactly happens? Does your computer freeze up? Does the game quit itself? Does your computer turn itself off?
It could be a simple overheating problem, or it could be something else. I've never had it happen.


No, it's not a hardware problem, it's the game that crashes. It simply crashes back to windows after clicking the "close" button on the mission win screen. I've searched the net and this same thing has been reported by other people. I actually replayed the entire level because of something I read, and it still happens. :(



The cheats that now work require you to use the console (http://www.heroesofmightandmagic.com/heroes5/heroes5_cheats.shtml).
[/QUOTE]

I know, I've been here. But I can't get the console to appear!!!! :( I edited everthing as said, even changed the key for the console, because I'm not sure if my ̃keyboard has the required key (I can't find it looking at it). But it doesn't work. Maybe this has to do with the key more than with the .cfg edits.
I want to be sure this works in 1.5, did you try it with the game updated to 1.5?

This sucks, this is the only game I've played in a long time, I love it but it crashes awfully. :(

[Gralamin]

No, it's not a hardware problem, it's the game that crashes. It simply crashes back to windows after clicking the "close" button on the mission win screen. I've searched the net and this same thing has been reported by other people. I actually replayed the entire level because of something I read, and it still happens. :(


I know, I've been here. But I can't get the console to appear!!!! :( I edited everthing as said, even changed the key for the console, because I'm not sure if my ̃keyboard has the required key (I can't find it looking at it). But it doesn't work. Maybe this has to do with the key more than with the .cfg edits.
I want to be sure this works in 1.5, did you try it with the game updated to 1.5?

This sucks, this is the only game I've played in a long time, I love it but it crashes awfully. :(
It works for me in 1.5. Did you change the one in the My documents directory, not the one in the game directory?

On a standard keyboard, the ` key is right by one (Should also produce ~). If you have a condensed laptop keyboard (no numpad; Home, pgup, pgdn, end are all on the right) It might be anywhere. On my condensed one it is by left alt.

[FdL]

It works for me in 1.5. Did you change the one in the My documents directory, not the one in the game directory?

On a standard keyboard, the ` key is right by one (Should also produce ~). If you have a condensed laptop keyboard (no numpad; Home, pgup, pgdn, end are all on the right) It might be anywhere. On my condensed one it is by left alt.

YAY! It worked! I don't know what I was doing wrong. I could edit the old skills back, and the items. It still sucks, but I guess I'm going to be able to go on.

Thanks a lot!!!! ^^

[LordVader]

Yes they do. Best example that *I* can think of was Baldur's Gate 1 which had some quite big changes to the main game in it's expansion. It all just depends on the game but your statement is definatly untrue.
*shrugs*
Every game I have played that has an expansion, you have to open the expansion to get those new features. For example, after installing Hammers of Fate, if you open HoMM V vanilla to play a campaign, you don't get caravans.

[FdL]

Regarding my HOMM V crash, I finished the next mission and didn't crash.

I think the logic to this is that if you load a pre-patch savegame after updating (to 1.5), then you won't be able to finish that mission, because it crashes when you do. You're not able to progress, that is.

So be careful kids if you upgrade mid-campaign. As always, it's best to upgrade to latest version before you start playing.

[LordVader]

True words.
For some reason, a hotseat game me and my cousin were doing just randomly disappeared from the save menu. Hmmm...:smallconfused:

[FdL]

Now, as pretty much a newcomer to the series, I have to make a question regarding campaign play mechanics.

Is it normal that the main character loses all his magic items when starting a new mission? Particularly in HoMM V.

[Dhavaer]

Now, as pretty much a newcomer to the series, I have to make a question regarding campaign play mechanics.

Is it normal that the main character loses all his magic items when starting a new mission? Particularly in HoMM V.

It was normal in HoMM3, I think.

[FdL]

Oh, ok. I know it's probably normal in the series. Most stuff other than skills does not carry, so it's ok.

[LordVader]

Yes, it's normal, except in certain cases where it's said a specific artifact will carry over.

[Kyeudo]

I don't get why heroes 4 gets so much hate. I love 4. The heroes actualy being on the battlefield was one of the best ideas ever, in my opinion.

In 3, I'd just get a magic hero leveled up and destroy anyone who tried to touch me with spells, but since my hero is now on the battlefield, I have to try and protect the spellcaster from being targeted.

Another great thing about 4 was you didn't need a hero to move troops around! You could just send them out to resupply your hero, or even garsison an important mine. You only needed to come back to take advantage of the mage guild and other boosting buildings.

Even the fewer levels levels of creatures works out fine. The power gap between Angels and skeletons was so massive that it was almost pointless for you to even bother with them unless you had a stack of several hundred.

I bought heroes 5 but, after playing 4, I couldn't go back to having my hero having only limited effect on the battlefield.

[Traveling_Angel]

What I like about 4 was 3 things: Hero's are units, Independent movement, and tough choices.

THe hero's are units makes the utmost sense, and is really important for how the game ought to work. It makes sense that the angels can fly over everyone and slash the Necromancer to bits, because that is what any sensible commander would do.

Independent movement makes you life easier, follows logic, and just made the experience easier.

The tough choices comes in two forms, the units and the skill tree. For those of you who skipped 4, you chose from two units at each level in each town. (Devils or Bone Dragons? Genies or Nagas? Elves or Tigers?) this makes the tactics more diverse, and makes each town unique. Sure, you can't get everything in one town, but that's life.

The skill system, however, blows that away. Each area is compartmentalized, lining each magic type with a town, and connecting each of those with its allies. And constructing an archmage is actually fun.

Why do I like the hard choices? It makes town and character development more interactive. Do I want another magic school or further better one of my existing ones, letting me get level 5 spell sooner? Do I want vampires, losing my only ranged unit? do I really want Charm?

What I really miss from 4 is the six towns. that's it. Only six town types, and each of them developed with a set of monster dichotomies. Nearly every monster can come from a town, which makes a ton of sense. Yea, it's less complex, but I prefer small areas with a lot of depth to large shallow areas.

Also a note about 4 is that the five magic using towns line up exactly with the Magic: The Gathering color wheel.

The one wish list item I have is to make the number of slots to put your units in go up to something like 20, so you can diversify as much as you want.

[Kyeudo]

I wanted just 8 slots, so you could have a nice even interface and enough space for multiple stacks of a couple creatures.

I liked that heroes 5 brought back the combat grid, which was something 4 needed, so that you could actualy protect the magic types, and I loved that they allowed you to arrange your troops before each combat to take advantage of terrain. That, however, was as far as I went with #5.

The skill system in 4 was great, and I loved it, but I felt it needed more work. You couln't have a hero who has completely no magic skills, and if you took combat you eventualy learned archery, even if you were trying to create a completely melee hero, for whatever reason you might have wanted to. They needed more than 3 subskills for each one.

Still, as I said before, heroes 5 is not up to the same benchmark as 4.

[Krytha]

Still, as I said before, heroes 5 is not up to the same benchmark as 4.

Well... you're insane.

[Kyeudo]

Well... you're insane.

I doubt it. They made two steps forward the heroes genre when they made Heroes 4, then took a step back and made heroes 5 and added flashy eye candy to make up for it.

[Krytha]

I doubt it. They made two steps forward the heroes genre when they made Heroes 4, then took a step back and made heroes 5 and added flashy eye candy to make up for it.

Or maybe there's a reason why Heroes 4 was the death of the franchise under 3DO...

[Kyeudo]

I am not about to speculate on the collapse of 3DO. More than likely it was some unrelated financial reason. I didn't pay attention to software companies back when it first came out.

The game is still awesome and you have yet to point out a flaw in the game, where as heroes 5 has a ton. Heck, even the storyline I've seen is crap compared with the campaigns from 4.

[talsine]

Heroe's 4 was a game where your troops don't matter, its all about the hero's, especaly the campians. It was no fun. At least 5 feels like a HoM&M game.

[Krytha]

You want me to compile a list? Do you want that in essay format or bulletpoint?

Let's begin by saying that Heroes 4 jumped the gun and hard on the transition to 3D. It wasn't graceful in any way shape or form. Heroes would eventually banish the need for armies since a single hero would be able to take on armies on their own. So why bother with monsters at all? (especially since so many of them were poorly designed, that question might answer itself). The towns became standardized, which ate up a good deal of the character that was what made the HoMM III towns FEEL unique. The choice of monster system was limiting and inflexible, not to mention that having only 4 levels was hugely disappointing. Daily creature population intensified micromanagement - and more complex didn't necessarily mean better.

Basically, Heroes IV bit off far more than it could chew. The game was underfunded, had a tacked on multiplayer and in trying to do too much, made the game worse than it had to be. 3Do may not have died because of HoMM IV, but the game sure didn't help them out financially.

[Oeep Snaec]

Sharpshooter absolutely kill in HoMaM 3.

[Kyeudo]

Let's begin by saying that Heroes 4 jumped the gun and hard on the transition to 3D. It wasn't graceful in any way shape or form.


I will agree as far as combat went. The maps and towns themselves looked fine, but then they weren't truly 3D.



Heroes would eventually banish the need for armies since a single hero would be able to take on armies on their own. So why bother with monsters at all? (especially since so many of them were poorly designed, that question might answer itself).


I had the same problem in Heroes 3. I could get a hero so high of level that with just my spells I could anihilate most neutral armies and devestate most other armies.

The only monsters that matter in 4 is the tier 3 and 4 monsters, I will agree, but then low level monsters in 3 died too quickly anyway. Its a balance issue that could have been fixed without abandoning all of 4s good points.



The towns became standardized, which ate up a good deal of the character that was what made the HoMM III towns FEEL unique. The choice of monster system was limiting and inflexible, not to mention that having only 4 levels was hugely disappointing.


I agree they could have done more to differentiate the towns than they did. However the "choose which monster you want" made towns unique. You could have your own style, rather than just ending up getting everything anyway. Some of the choices could have been harder, such as the choice between Naga and Genies, but all in all I liked it.



Daily creature population intensified micromanagement - and more complex didn't necessarily mean better.


You didn't have to buy the creatures every day. But the fact that you could buy some reinforcements if you lost a chunk of your troops was nice. It kept my heros out in the field longer, which meant more time actualy doing something, instead of long trips back to base to resupply.



Basically, Heroes IV bit off far more than it could chew. The game was underfunded, had a tacked on multiplayer and in trying to do too much, made the game worse than it had to be. 3Do may not have died because of HoMM IV, but the game sure didn't help them out financially.

I will agree that they probably tried too much at once, and could have done much better on the multiplayer side. But what they did do was easily better than 3, and I'd take 4 over 5 any day of the week.

[MR.F]

2,3 and 5 are all awesome games. I played them for tones of hours and enjoyed it. But 4 is the suckiest heroes I have ever played. heroes in the combat was totally unbalanced. I had a barbarian hero that would kill entire armies by himself.and even the 2nd imba hero sorceror couldnt do anything cause he is immune to magic. also the graphs was crap there were few units and no upgrades. but 5 erase them all. totally balanced armies and combat and the initiative system is very good. I played usually Rampart and Ivor in H3 for the love of elves.In 5 I love every army.except dwarves.

[Gijs]

it is common know that the 3DO were at it's top with HoMaM 3 but 4 was also a great game, I didn't get the old goosebumps feeling from 5 but I sure did from 2 :)

might and magic was great, especcialy 7 although a weird storyline it kicks A$$.