The End of Deconstruction

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Omega_Destroyer
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Unread postby Omega_Destroyer » 07 Jun 2007, 17:52

ThunderTitan wrote:How about mentally challenged characters that annoy with their mere presence, twists a retarded monkey could see a mile away, cut-scenes that made my eyes bleed. As i said before, it's not the story, but the storytelling that's awful.
What are you talking about it? It blew my FREAKIN' MIND when I found out Biara was really that Dungeon chick in disguise.
And the chickens. Those damn chickens.

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Unread postby Gaidal Cain » 07 Jun 2007, 18:13

Corribus wrote:Seriously - the old cut-scenes weren't really that inspiring, either. Certainly, I think you would agree that they were not the highpoint of the game. Although, I don't put it past you TT to disagree with anything. ;)
I agree that they weren't that special- but on the other hand, they weren't the main means of conveying the story either. they were limited, but NWC realized that they were and didn't strecth them further than they could hold.
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Unread postby Corribus » 07 Jun 2007, 18:19

Omega_Destroyer wrote: What are you talking about it? It blew my FREAKIN' MIND when I found out Biara was really that Dungeon chick in disguise.
Yeah I was surprised, too. Or should say: I was surprised a moment ago when you just told me. :ugh:
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Unread postby HodgePodge » 07 Jun 2007, 18:20

Corribus wrote: These were all just cardboard cut-outs. Sure, I remember their names. But that's about it. About the only character who was truly interesting in any of the HoMM campaigns was Gauldoth.
Well, that's YOUR own personal opinion. I should have added Gauldoth to the list too; but for me, Roland, Catherine, Gulu, Solmyr & Emilia were at least as memorial, if not more so, than Gauldoth. Just MY own personal opinion. :)
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Unread postby Bandobras Took » 07 Jun 2007, 18:41

ThunderTitan wrote: But i've always preferred story/storytelling over everything else.
And now for Thunder Titan's cogent examples of his ability to critique and understand stories:
I'm not saying its a bad thing, just that for all their talk about "a better story" they're using elements from H3.
That campaign was a bunch of fairy tales rolled into one. That's exactly what made playing it interesting. Plus, if you think something's original you're just ignorant of its inspiration.
And, indeed, follow the H5 story arc based on already revealed plot elements:
Agrael is a Dark Elf, Nicolai a Vampire, the undead will try to take over the world. Easy as pie.
And Agrael is secretly working for the undead to kill Nicolai so they can bring him back so they can use him to lead the undead armies.
QueenIsabel=QueenCatherine
Agrael/Raelag=LordHaart
Godric=Christian

DemonSovereign=LuciferKreegan
Nicolai=KingGryphonheart, with some Roland thrown in.
Look again big uncorporeal eye. It's not just one similarity, it's the turning into undead, defeating the demons and then probably fighting against a betrayal by the undead (you really think the undead won't betray Isabel?).
And (in H3) powerful Necromancers didn't kill the king, he got poisoned by someone who was secretly working for another faction. If the Agrael - Raelag conection is real than that's another similarity.
And changeing a few motives for the main characters doesn't create a world of difference, so what if she wants him raised, if in the end she still gets to destroy him? It's a variation on the same story.
And don't tell me that Isabel is not going to kick ass, as they did make her Character nr. 1! For crying out loud, it's called Queen Isabel's War!
Sure, they should make the bio read: Raelag is actualy Agrael's identity in the dungeon, and he'll betray the demons and then get killed by Isabel and/or Nicolai. Just so you know I saw the bio long before this thread started.
And what makes you think the demons are gonna be the focus of the entire story in H5?
Not to mention comprehension of Tolkien:
From the book I got the impresion that the army Aragorn got wasn't made up of undead, but some sort of cursed humans.
Considering that he doesn't want a Heroes story to continue in the tradition of previous Heroes stories but openly applauds bad writing so long as it has its source in fairy tales, not to mention being almost completely wrong in his analysis of the H5 plot, I'll leave it to the learned divines of this board to judge whether Thunder Titan would actually be able to tell the difference between a good story/writing and his dirty laundry. :tired:
Far too many people speak their minds without first verifying the quality of their source material.

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Unread postby ThunderTitan » 08 Jun 2007, 10:45

You're right, my accuracy rate was a little over 50%... based on almost nothing (hero bios and pictures)... man, was i COMPLETELY wrong or what.

And continuing in the tradition of the previous stories?! Yeah, telling the same story with a few modified things in every game is such a good thing.
No, there is no originality, but copying from yourself is just lazy.

As for the H4 nature campaign, IMO the whole thing was written to appeal to a sense of nostalgia, which it kinda succeeded in, at least for me.



As for Tolkien, his undead certainly aren't like the ones common in modern fantasy (most of them seem to be like the Ringwraiths, which never really died), and his writing leaves alot to the imagination, which is pretty nice.
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Corribus
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Unread postby Corribus » 10 Jun 2007, 00:02

Speaking of the AI, I have noticed that it really seems to only care about gold mines. It will walk for miles - even past undefended towns and other mines - just to claim a gold mine. Strange.
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Unread postby winterfate » 10 Jun 2007, 00:07

Money is everything Corribus. ;)

I've seen unguarded artifacts before. The computer certainly has a skewed vision of what's important and what's not. (good artifacts, btw, not some +1 Defense cheap thingie.)

On Heroic at least, the computer could probably win with just its starting town (such are the bonuses it gets). I've only won 3 times in HOMM5 at Heroic, and all 3 times have been with Sylvan (my beloved Wood Elves :D).
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Unread postby Omega_Destroyer » 10 Jun 2007, 02:37

While playing "The School" the computer completey ignored really powerful artifacts, like the Crown of Sar Issas, and chests.
And the chickens. Those damn chickens.

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Unread postby winterfate » 11 Jun 2007, 04:17

To add to that, I've had games where the only artifacts they have are thanks to Utopias...(ignoring the obvious part that Utopias do give some prety good artifacts on occasion).
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Unread postby asandir » 11 Jun 2007, 06:42

HodgePodge wrote:
Corribus wrote: These were all just cardboard cut-outs. Sure, I remember their names. But that's about it. About the only character who was truly interesting in any of the HoMM campaigns was Gauldoth.
Well, that's YOUR own personal opinion. I should have added Gauldoth to the list too; but for me, Roland, Catherine, Gulu, Solmyr & Emilia were at least as memorial, if not more so, than Gauldoth. Just MY own personal opinion. :)
and that's what it all comes down to really .... personal opinion
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Heroes V, Deconstructed (4)

Unread postby Kalah » 25 Jul 2010, 15:56

Excellent stuff - I've only just now bothered to read this all the way through. Very well done.
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