Might & Magic Heroes 7. Day 1 impressions

MMH7 was released 13 hours ago. I've been playing the game for about 11 hours (took a 1.5 hour nap and .5 hour lunch), so guess that's a hint of my first impressions

Technically, though some people have reported crashes, in my 2 marathonic sessions I haven't crashed once. Supposedly the crashes have to do with corrupted pre-load assets and doing an uninstall and reinstall fixes it for most. Also supposedly the multiplayer part seems to de-sync frequently, but I don't play MP so don't know about that.

As for non-crash bugs, yes there are bugs as expected for any new release. Nothing that has stopped me from continuing so far, like some text showing behing some graphics, or the healing spell not accurately showing how many troops it'll resurrect. Minor stuff.

As for UPlay, I'm glad to report that unlike MMH6 it's totally transparent and doesn't affect gameplay in any way.

It's not a AAA title. That shows in several places, like in the not in-game cutscenes, it's basically a static picture that zooms in to the face of whoever's talking. Also they reused some assets (like some music and some creature 3d) from the previous game.

My only minor complaint so far is that, at least so far (I'm playing my 3rd campaign map out of like 24 or so), the difficulty for 'Normal' is roflstompage. I switched to 'Hard' and still feels easy, but at least I lose a creature here and there.

Unlike MMH6, the campaigns are (from what I can tell) independent, so you can do campaign after campaign and the story won't suffer. I haven't play stand-alone scenarios or random generated maps, so no opinion on those.

So overall so far, I'm a happy camper.

11 hours and you're only on the 3rd campaign map?

If you had to compare it to any of the previous HoMM titles, which would you compare it to?

Coincidently, I'm about to start messing around with HoMM VI for the first time.

And oddly enough, I've been playing Heroes of Might and Magic Five for the past three days on and off, and even on hard it.......well, isn't. Did they really just dumb down the entire series after three? That was the last one I played before this, never did try four either.

JDR13 said:

11 hours and you're only on the 3rd campaign map?

If you had to compare it to any of the previous HoMM titles, which would you compare it to?

Coincidently, I'm about to start messing around with HoMM VI for the first time.

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I'm on the 4th map now I think it's too early to tell, as so far I haven't experienced the game's strategic AI. The 4 campaign maps I've played are totally scripted, which is fun and all but I can't say if the strategic AI is smart on a normal game. From what I've experienced so far, I would put it on par with 5 (I liked 6 better than 5, but its technical issues and Uplay tie-ins pushes it down below 5).

Carnifex said:

And oddly enough, I've been playing Heroes of Might and Magic Five for the past three days on and off, and even on hard it…….well, isn't. Did they really just dumb down the entire series after three? That was the last one I played before this, never did try four either.

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Again, my opinion is specific to campaigns as I only play the campaigns in these games, but I don't remember HoMM5 being easy (will have to play it again to remember).

What technical issues did you experience with VI? I've played it for a few hours now, and it seems very polished.

It doesn't seem terribly exciting though.

Thank you for your impressions.

How large are the largest maps? Is there a proper random map generator?

How does the RPG aspect compare to HoMM4 and HoMM6? I liked those the best for RPG progression.

The GameStar reviewers say this is the best Heroes so far. They they it has the Heroes formula "nearly perfected", they hail the outstanding quest design which still doesn't limit the player's freedom. And like every old fart they think painted 2D city screens are teh roxor.

I hope that doesn't mean it's a perfect replica of an old HoMM - and something actually new

Thanks for the impressions ... I have to admit to dumping loads of time into HoMM V and not as much into 6 ... so I haven't bought this yet. Definitely will at some point though

At some point is the case with me too.
Complete edition, when on sale.

JDR13 said:

What technical issues did you experience with VI? I've played it for a few hours now, and it seems very polished.

It doesn't seem terribly exciting though.

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In 6? I would get a black screen that would force me to quit/reload every few hours. That's about it, but it was worse in the beginning, where many abilities just wouldn't work.

DArtagnan said:

Thank you for your impressions.

How large are the largest maps? Is there a proper random map generator?

How does the RPG aspect compare to HoMM4 and HoMM6? I liked those the best for RPG progression.

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I've only played 4 campaign maps so far and they're large enough (though don't know what you would consider large). The fact that after 11-12 hours of gameplay I'm only on the 4th map should be a hint

I haven't used the random map generator. From what I understand there is one, but it's not what you would think. Basically you open the Editor and click on 'randomize' or something, and save the map. Then once in the game, play that map as a stand-alone scenario. This (again, from what I've read) has the problem that you'd see the final map before you get to play it, unless you cover your eyes or something when generating the random map.

As for the RPGness, you'd have to define what that means for you. Depends on the campaign I think. In the Wizards campaign, map 2 doesn't continue the hero(ine) from map 1, but in the Haven (knights) campaign, the 2 heroes carry over to maps 2 and 3 (the one I'm currently playing). Heroes can go up to level 30 so plenty of customization there.

Gorath said:

The GameStar reviewers say this is the best Heroes so far.

They they it has the Heroes formula "nearly perfected",

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hahahahhahah yeah sure

I'm fairly certain that the only version of HoMM in which the AI could put up any fight in a balanced multiplayer game was HoMM 1. In all of the others it was generally a pushover to varying degrees, although some were better then others. The HoMM 1 AI was quite challenging though, probably because the game was much simpler and there were many fewer decisions for it to make.

Campaigns are another matter entirely though, and most versions of HoMM had campaign maps that were quite challenging on hard.

luj1 said:

hahahahhahah yeah sure

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I'm sure you'll trust IGN community more.
3.5 (awful):
http://www.ign.com/games/might-and-magic-heroes-7/pc-20023190

Gamespot… Again didn't make a deal with IGN's dull audience and went with 8.4 (plus GS' audience scored it with 8.5):
http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/might-and-magic-vii-for-blood-and-honor-review/1900-2542599/
WW3 is coming, I'm telling you all.

Let's see what Escapist, known for it's 10/10 on Dragon Age 2, will say.
6873957243503487067034/10 perhaps?

Well, I really dug HoMM V and the first expansion. But then got burned out on the sameness, so never played the second expansion. In general, if it's more of the same then HoMM VII will have to take a backseat to new experiences for me.

Day 2 impressions:
Ok, I've played less today, instead of 13 or so hours, I've only played maybe hmm… 8 hours (night is still young though!).
Just finished 3rd map of Haven campaign, so adding the one I played for Wizards, means I'm about to start my 5th map. Still haven't found any game-stopping bugs. Still playing on Hard and game is challenging enough but I haven't been defeated yet (except for one battle you are supposed to lose). I think I could play in Hero difficulty but that scares me so I'll stay in Hard.

Still loving the game, still loving the campaign play.

Well, I got a quick look at a "demo" - and I'm going to stay away from this.

wolfing said:

Day 2 impressions:
...
Still loving the game, still loving the campaign play.

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If you're trying to persuade *me* into buying it sooner than I thought, you're doing a great job.

So, no unforgivabble annoyances? Ubisoft changed to a saint over night?
Somehow it's hard to imagine.

Interesting. I wasn't even aware that it had been released. Thank you for the impressions, I'll have to look into this.

I admit I've only taken a quick look at this, but all my instincts practically screamed: soulless cash-grab.

I hope I'm wrong, but I really don't think so. At the very least, I strongly advise waiting a few months to see if a "magical" patch arrives.

You've been warned