HOMM "Complete"

[skavenhorde]

Sorta off topic, but which one would you guys consider the best HOMM game out of the whole series?

 

[dteowner]

I've only played the demo for HoMM5 so far, but I still feel pretty safe voting for HoMM3.

 

[JDR13]

I've never finished any of the HoMM games, but I've played at least the demo for all of them. I was definitely impressed by HoMM3 the most.

 

[Rithrandil]

HOMM3 was my favorite. If they remade it in higher resolutions I'd probably still play it.

 

[skavenhorde]

HOMM 3 it is then

I think that was right around the time I bought Age of Wonders and didn't buy HOMM because it looked silly in comparison or maybe it was that AoW was more like Masters of Magic and nothing, imo, has been as good as that game. Plus, I played Age of wonders for quite a long time and was quite poor at the time.

I bought Heroes III from GoG when they released it, but never got around to playing it. With this many recommendations, it has just been bumped up on my 'must play list' in a few months after the holiday season. Thanks.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

I would still love to see this released in NA.

If you are *really* that desperate, then I could buy a box for you and send it to you. But I must warn you : That would be cost-intensive ... 40 Euros plus shipping fees, which could become 10-30 Euros, I don't really know ... It's a big box, and heavy ...

 

[RivianWitch]

HOMM3 was my favorite. If they remade it in higher resolutions I'd probably still play it.

Hey, what do you mean? I still sometimes play HOMM1!

As to which is the best, I also vote HOMM 3, but with the proviso that i can't really give an informed opinion on HOMM 5, since I never got the chance to finish it. What I played of it I liked. I left off while still a demon. I really must get back to it, actually.

So many games.. - so little time..

Even though I have all the HOMM games, I'd really like the complete box set. If only I could somehow justify the cost... Some of the discs are a bit scratched - think that's a good enough excuse?

 

[magerette]

I agree with the consensus. If you're only going to play one incarnation of the series, it should be HOMM3—in fact, I was playing it yesterday. HOMM3: Shadow of Death expansion in particular, though some of the campaigns were a lot better in vanilla 3. But for mapmaking purposes, I always use SOD.

HOMM2 was a great game but cripplingly hard sometimes and very dated to play now. Never played the first in the series.

AFA HOMM5, like RivianWitch, I liked it. Campaigns were well done and interesting, and it kept the spirit and the best of the gameplay of HOMM3. My only problem with it was the 3D camera implementation screwing up your area of view, but you could get used to that fairly quickly. HOMM5 is also just a bit less demanding and unforgiving in the campaigns—a bit easier, if you will. I played all the way through 5 and the first expansion with great enjoyment, but didn't much care for the continuing nerfing they introduced, or the dwarf race especially, in the last expansion—could be I'm more of a follower of the pointy-eared races, and I don't see much point in a strategy game not needing strategy.

Footnote: I suppose HOMM4 deserves some sort of mention. I recently tried to give it more of a fair evaluation, but it's just a very different game. It was okay, but did too much swinging from depressingly difficult to way too easy for me.

 

[Rithrandil]

Hey, what do you mean? I still sometimes play HOMM1!

As to which is the best, I also vote HOMM 3, but with the proviso that i can't really give an informed opinion on HOMM 5, since I never got the chance to finish it. What I played of it I liked. I left off while still a demon. I really must get back to it, actually.

So many games.. - so little time..

Even though I have all the HOMM games, I'd really like the complete box set. If only I could somehow justify the cost… Some of the discs are a bit scratched - think that's a good enough excuse?

I get a headache playing earlier games at those resolutions. Something with the size and widescreen-yness of my monitor makes my head hurt after 20 or 30 minutes. If the resolution is scaleable or if I can window it then It doesn't bother me.

 

[RivianWitch]

I get a headache playing earlier games at those resolutions. Something with the size and widescreen-yness of my monitor makes my head hurt after 20 or 30 minutes. If the resolution is scaleable or if I can window it then It doesn't bother me.

I can imagine. Can't you go windowed mode, though?
I've still hung on to my little 19 " 4:3 LCD screen all this time, though I've been seriously considering going widescreen. I just need a little push and a bunch of spare cash. (...and a bit more space, come to think of it.)

Anyway HOMM 1 is really more for the nostalgia. I've played every damned map and campaign you can think of in that game. Loved it back in the day.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

To me - despite my love for it - it was quite difficult. I was glad to be able to finish a single map ... I guess one can only be a successful war lord if one has no scruples against dropping troops anytime, no matter what.

To me, this playing style was desastrous. I mean I'm a kind of player to whom everyv single troop is important ... I'm rather like the antique general who is said to have been crying while standing before his army and knowing how few people might survive the battle ... and so many whom he would *personally* know, would die ...

I think there is no strategy game there nowadays which values troops *that* much, and least of them all HOMM, I had the feeling. In HOMM, troops were nothing but digital entities, just numbers, nothing more.

In Age of Wonders, on the other hand, troops could gain some kind of experience & levels the longer they survived ...

 

[RivianWitch]

You'll hate to see me play strategies, Alrik. I'm a heartless bast***

In RTS games with a pop cap, if I have no more use for a certain kind of pop, like civilians, or simple basic troops, for instance, I press "delete" on them and down they go, dead as doornails…

I know you meant something else, -you want your troops to gain exp. along with your leader, and in a way you can, since you can level some of them up - as a class though, not as individuals, of course.

 

[Rithrandil]

I can imagine. Can't you go windowed mode, though?
I've still hung on to my little 19 " 4:3 LCD screen all this time, though I've been seriously considering going widescreen. I just need a little push and a bunch of spare cash. (…and a bit more space, come to think of it.)

Anyway HOMM 1 is really more for the nostalgia. I've played every damned map and campaign you can think of in that game. Loved it back in the day.

I don't remember seeing the option for windowed mode, but if it's there then someone let me know 'cause I'll totally go dig up my CDs.

 

[skavenhorde]

Rith, here you go:
http://www.gog.com/en/forum/heroes_of_might_and_magic/windowed_mode

 

[Rithrandil]

Oooh. Thanks, man.

 

[magerette]

Alrik, you might like Fantasy Wars/Elven Legacy--though it's rather a difficult game, your troops do get to be more meaningful entities by gaining experience and lots of different perks through leveling. They're mainly more meaningful to me because they become more useful though. I'm pretty cynical about the lives of computer creatures also.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Thanks. I once played the demo of Fantasy Wars, and it was a bit too difficult for me.

Maybe I'll buy it later, when it has become cheaper.

 

[txa1265]

Thanks. I once played the demo of Fantasy Wars, and it was a bit too difficult for me.

Maybe I'll buy it later, when it has become cheaper.

I just got the Siege add-on for Elven Legacy ... and still need to finish Ranger ...

 

[magerette]

My Elven Legacy is on the way--how does it compare to the original, Mike? Just as hard?

 

[txa1265]

I think so, though I have much more time with EL, and only got Fantasy Wars later.