Hey Escapians? Escapists? Whatever.

I m not sure why exactly I'm making this thread, but I recently stumbled upon some old picture from Heroes of Might and Magic 2 and that caused me to remember a lot of stuff.

These series basically introduced me to strategies, with some help from Age of Empires and Cossacs.

I've been remembering how I played HoMM2 and 3 about 10 years ago all the time...

So I guess this post is more of a tribute to the earlier series of heroes of might and magic...

Did anyone else like the games? What do you all think about the latest ones, HMM 4 and 5?

I've gotta get my hands on HMM 1,2,3 somewhere... and try to make them work on XP. -_-

Sorry if this is an incorrect forum to post in, I haven't made any threads since I've joined, so feel free to move or close the thread if I'm doing something wrong.

So... Yeah.

I still have a copy of HoMM 2 Gold, and it runs fine on XP and Vista without too much work.

It is definitely one of the best turn-based games I've played.

mrfft:
I still have a copy of HoMM 2 Gold, and it runs fine on XP and Vista without too much work.

It is definitely one of the best turn-based games I've played.

It still runs? sweet. I've gotta get my hand on a copy somewhere, haha.

I don't know why, but these series are basically stuck in my head as something incredibly epic, even compared to a whole lot of great games I've played since then.

I have to admit i never played HoMM 1, and i only played 2 for a short period of time before i found HoMM 3 which i got stuck on :P, really awesome game and i still have no problem putting my old cd in and giving it a run through, still as awesome as it used to be :D

I played a lot of... oh, it was either 3 or 4; I can't remember which, at a friends house, but I never actually owned any of them. It was a lot of fun; if I ever run across a cheap copy, I'll probably pick it up.

I actually had just read about HMM3in another forum here about an hour ago and remembered that I had bought a copy 2 years ago but it wouldn't run on my laptop that had vista for some reason. But luckily My laptop just died and I had to grab my old pc which has XP and can run HMM3 just fine. Just finished a match ^^

I never got into HoMM 3, mainly because I was too addicted HoMM2, but my main complaint was that the game was way too easy to break and just steamroll everything.

Ah, memories.

I've played HoMM3 a lot, and some HoMM4 (which I didn't enjoy). HoMM3 is one of my favourite games of all time.

Necropolis ftw!!

Is HoMM5 any good? I'm not sure if I dare to play it in case it's another HoMM4.

The Heroes of Might and Magic series is one of my absolute favorites. Heroes of Might and Magic III sits in all all star top five greatest games ever. I still have it and play it quite often. I could go on and on about this game, about how the complex nature of the turn-based strategy elements were crafted by some of the most clever designers of the last decade, or how its depth enables me to still learn new things about it after ten years of playing, but I digress.

Heroes IV, however, is quite possibly one of the worst games of all time. They took a tired and tested formula and created some horrible monstrosity of a game that bore only superficial similarities. The charming aesthetic was gone, the strategy had been watered down to the point of irrelevance, and a slew of unnecessary interface changes rendered the game as unplayable as it was disappointing. That game was the final nail in the coffin for 3DO, and the company collapsed shortly after the release of the game.

Heroes V, which got picked up by Ubisoft, was basically a 3D remake of Heroes II, but there were many changes to it that ruined the game. The same basic concepts of town construction and unit hiring were in place, but arbitrary interface changes made it impossible to do simple things, like transfer units between heroes outside of a town. The perfect balance of Heroes III was abandoned, leaving some races horrendously overpowered and others barely able to offer resistance. Many of the side quest structures were abandoned, which meant there was far less to do with each turn, making the whole experience seem terribly watered down. The other crippling problem was the deluge of bugs that caused the game to crash with startling regularity, and future patches did little to solve these issues.

In my opinion, Heroes of Might and Magic ended with III, and every attempt since then, even ones made with the best intentions, have served only to tarnish the memory of what was truly a classic.

-Dread_Reaper

I have played every HOMM game and five is the best, though I am biased because I love making cyclops throw goblins so much.

In response to Dread_Reaper; my game didn't crash an I could transfer units easily while here were side quests in the campaign. However I admit that the wood elf faction is horribly overpowered because of those damn sprites in he early game which can fy, have a spray atack high initiative so they move often, can cast spells an can cover half the battle field in their turn. While in the late game the combo of imbue arrow, raining arrows and meteor shower would destroy armies on its own.
While the dwarves in the first expansion pack could use armageddon and an ability which causes units to recieve a third of the damage of a spell every turn for three turns to make storming a dwarf fortress futile. Particularly because the dwarves strongest units were immune to fire so they wouldn't be hit by armageddon.

Dread_Reaper is incorrect in calling HOMM 5 another version of HOMM 2 because unlike HOMM 2 every unit has an upgrade, all facions are unique and if you bought the expansion packs, all units have an alternate upgrade for more specialised armies.

Chapper:
I've played HoMM3 a lot, and some HoMM4 (which I didn't enjoy). HoMM3 is one of my favourite games of all time.

Necropolis ftw!!

Is HoMM5 any good? I'm not sure if I dare to play it in case it's another HoMM4.

I wish i knew... If HoMM 5 is anything like HoMM 3, I'd buy it instantly. HoMM4 was quite a disappointment, unfortunately =(

I think HoMM3 was the first game I wasted 6 hours of my life on in one go. Ahh, good memories.

HoMM5 is quite different from the rest (understandable since they are from a different developer). It isn't as good as HoMM3 but very few turn-based strategy games are, but it is vastly superior to the fourth game.

I'd still rather get King's Bounty, a game that's is very similar to Heroes of Might and Magic 5, yet takes its mechanics to the next level.

mrfft:
I still have a copy of HoMM 2 Gold, and it runs fine on XP and Vista without too much work.

It is definitely one of the best turn-based games I've played.

I agree, HOMM 2 was the best of the series...back when the graphics sucked pretty bad. I love it sentimentally because it was one of the first games i'd encountered that was fantasy-based...which is weird.

Actually, I rented a Heroes of Might and Magic game for PS2 once a few years back. I had a lot of fun with it - I think the story involved the king dying and you needed to go out and try and find the cure for him, and how many days you had to do it changed based on what difficulty you were playing. I enjoyed picking the militia, pikemen, cavalry, etc bust most of all loved the druids and dragons.

You guys seem to be talking a lot about game versions for the PC.. am I thinking of the same game you guys are?

ranger19:
Actually, I rented a Heroes of Might and Magic game for PS2 once a few years back. I had a lot of fun with it - I think the story involved the king dying and you needed to go out and try and find the cure for him, and how many days you had to do it changed based on what difficulty you were playing. I enjoyed picking the militia, pikemen, cavalry, etc bust most of all loved the druids and dragons.

You guys seem to be talking a lot about game versions for the PC.. am I thinking of the same game you guys are?

I had the PC version... But as long as we're talking about a mostly 2d (with i think some crappy 3d in HoMM IV, but i dont' remember, I hated that one) turn based fantasy strategy game, we're probably on the same page.

I have only played 3 and 4, and 3 was better.

I think I will try and find 3 again, because its awesome! I loved getting 100+ Master Gremlins(?) and 1 hitting most lower tier units at the start of the fight.

i remember playing HoMM2 (and later 3) all the time!

But the fourth installment wasn't as charming as its predecessors...

My Heroes 3 Complete Edition cd was torn to pieces in my cd drive... sad...fucking... day...

Anyway, Heroes 3 is probably the most fun I had in terms of TBS (that and playing Incubation vs friends).
The forth was completely disappointing, it was a sad, sad game. It didn't even looked like Heroes.
So I think that's the reason I liked HOMMV so much, it was a return to the origins looking better than ever. But didn't got a grip on me as his grandfather.

HoMM 2 and HoMM3 are all you need for a fun evening, the rest of the series are mediocre at best.

Chapper:
I've played HoMM3 a lot, and some HoMM4 (which I didn't enjoy). HoMM3 is one of my favourite games of all time.

Necropolis ftw!!

Is HoMM5 any good? I'm not sure if I dare to play it in case it's another HoMM4.

It's ok at most, not as good as 3 but i had fun with it.

Gormourn:

ranger19:
Actually, I rented a Heroes of Might and Magic game for PS2 once a few years back. I had a lot of fun with it - I think the story involved the king dying and you needed to go out and try and find the cure for him, and how many days you had to do it changed based on what difficulty you were playing. I enjoyed picking the militia, pikemen, cavalry, etc bust most of all loved the druids and dragons.

You guys seem to be talking a lot about game versions for the PC.. am I thinking of the same game you guys are?

I had the PC version... But as long as we're talking about a mostly 2d (with i think some crappy 3d in HoMM IV, but i dont' remember, I hated that one) turn based fantasy strategy game, we're probably on the same page.

Wait sorry for being as out of the loop on this as I am, but the one I played was mostly 3d.. I think. At the very least all the battles (the parts where you're on the chessboard like field) were. Was this the bad one? Because I kinda liked it...

Sadly, whenever I see that title I think of some RPG series with a very similar name (maybe it's the same series, just a different part to the RTS part) To me, heroes of might and magic is a crappy old game I bought for $2 that turned out to be from what looked like 1995 - and which started with me in some town full of pirates and lizards, with a pyramid (maybe), and ended 20 seconds later.

I used to play HoMM 2 a LOT. It was just awesome and so fun, though not very balanced. HoMM 3 was more complete and I played it quite a lot too, but HoMM 2 just had that something. Probably needless to say that the latter games were total rubbish.

I always have a copy of HOMM 3 on my hard drive. Its very simple yet very fun and I play it sometimes when I have a little time to kill.

I picked up HOMM V just to check it out and to my surprise it wasn't garbage. Its a little more complicated than the old ones, but they have managed to keep the game's feel even into 3D. I applaud them for this. I wouldn't recommend it over 3 but its still a good game.

Note: I have only played HOMM 2, 3, and 5.

urprobablyright:
Sadly, whenever I see that title I think of some RPG series with a very similar name (maybe it's the same series, just a different part to the RTS part) To me, heroes of might and magic is a crappy old game I bought for $2 that turned out to be from what looked like 1995 - and which started with me in some town full of pirates and lizards, with a pyramid (maybe), and ended 20 seconds later.

That's probably Might & Magic, the RPG series Heroes of Might & Magic is a spinoff of. Those were nice too for the time but the universe aside, the two series really have nothing to do with each other. Especially now that Heroes of Might & Magic V is essentially a wholly different game from its predecessors and Might & Magic is a dead series.

And HOMM is not an RTS, it's turn-based.

Someone is recording their playthrough of the entire series for all of posterity.

I could never actually get into the series, myself.

I loved them. For me, I played 1&2 very briefly but it was 3 that got my attention (especially when it has all the expansions). 4 was pretty bad to me and 5 was okay, but it didn't repair enough of what they took away from 3. 3 was absolute genius and still sits in my favorite games lists like an unmoving guardian to the subterrainian area. I always picked the dungeon (but its all s&m in the new one).

I haven't played the Heroes 5 expansions with the dwarves and the orcs, they any good?

I play HoMM 3 a lot, its still a great game for me.

You can buy 3 with it's expansion pretty cheap off Amazon.

I didnt like Heroes 5 as much, the battles weren't as in depth.

I only played 2 and 3 back when they were new, and they were awesome. Hot-seat multiplayer was the best.

I'm currently enjoying HoMM 4, and I'm going to get my hands on the expansions as soon as I can.

I like it as a single player experience,and it seems I'm stuck with that because of the fact that its multiplayer servers are deserted.

As sad as it is, I was introduced to Heroes when I bought a used copy of the Gameboy Color version about five or six years back. Then, I saw HoMM4 in a jewelcase at bestbuy for $9.99, and I figured, why the Hell not?

Dread_Reaper:

The same basic concepts of town construction and unit hiring were in place, but arbitrary interface changes made it impossible to do simple things, like transfer units between heroes outside of a town.

This is wrong. You CAN transfer units outside of town. It works just the same way as moving items(drag/drop), with the added option of selecting just how many numbers move.

The perfect balance of Heroes III was abandoned, leaving some races horrendously overpowered and others barely able to offer resistance.

I only got the first expansion pack for Heroes 5, so I cannot comment on the orcs, but I do know about the rest. The dwarves from Hammers of Fate have sick rune powers, but the 6 core races from the original are pretty even.

The other crippling problem was the deluge of bugs that caused the game to crash with startling regularity, and future patches did little to solve these issues.

Your mileage may vary. It doesn't crash on me.

urprobablyright:
Sadly, whenever I see that title I think of some RPG series with a very similar name (maybe it's the same series, just a different part to the RTS part) To me, heroes of might and magic is a crappy old game I bought for $2 that turned out to be from what looked like 1995 - and which started with me in some town full of pirates and lizards, with a pyramid (maybe), and ended 20 seconds later.

Oh that's not it. I m not sure how that game comes into the series, I had it too. On my box, at least, it was titled "Heroes of Might and Magic VIII" and it was basically an old RPG. I kinda liked it though, it had it's merits.

We're mainly talking about the turnbased strategy games, aka Heroes of Might and Magic I - V

veloper:
Blah blah *snip*

You may be right on this point dude, but bugger all good it does me, since I never actually had time to find out. The constant crashes resulted in my power source going haywire and exploding. I never deigned to reinstall it for fear of losing another computer to its malice. I'm sure some of that garbage has been patched by now, but I have no intention of finding out.

Either way, it can't compare to Heroes III.

-Dread_Reaper

Gormourn:

Oh that's not it. I m not sure how that game comes into the series, I had it too. On my box, at least, it was titled "Heroes of Might and Magic VIII" and it was basically an old RPG. I kinda liked it though, it had it's merits.

Eh, like I said: the Might and Magic series is the original series that Heroes is a spinoff of. You probably played this.

The M&M series basically takes place in the same world as HoMM does with some of the events happening concurrently within the two series.

Woe Is You:

Gormourn:

Oh that's not it. I m not sure how that game comes into the series, I had it too. On my box, at least, it was titled "Heroes of Might and Magic VIII" and it was basically an old RPG. I kinda liked it though, it had it's merits.

Eh, like I said: the Might and Magic series is the original series that Heroes is a spinoff of. You probably played this.

The M&M series basically takes place in the same world as HoMM does with some of the events happening concurrently within the two series.

Yeah, I missed your post because i was replying straight from my "unread messages".

And yeah, that was the game i played.