Man this game rocks! (yes it does)

[DaemianLucifer]

it took three or four patches before I could get Civilization IV to run on my computer at all.

Really?Im still playing version 1.0,and it works perfectly.

[ThunderTitan]

and cohere better as an overall story than the Heroes IV campaigns.

That might be because H4 campaigns didn't have an overall story.

[Bandobras Took]

it took three or four patches before I could get Civilization IV to run on my computer at all.

Really?Im still playing version 1.0,and it works perfectly.

For many people, that was not the case. Being able to play a game right out of the box or not does color perceptions of the game as a whole. Black and White kept on freezing on me four minutes into the tutorial. I finally gave up on the game even though I had been tremendously excited. It may or may not have been a fun game, but by the time they fixed it, I had ceased to care.

Incidentally, there were a lot of people complaining about the massive slowdown due to improved graphics in Civ IV, as well. That also had to be fixed in a patch.

[jeff]

Yeah this is a great game, I did not remember how much I enjoyed hiring a hero whose sole purpose was to run around to the various creature huts so they could be brought back to a castle for upgrading, if needed and then setting up a logistical line to the front so the replacements could be delivered to the main army, that’s just wonderful. Did I mention how the fact the creature huts seem to always have the same amount of creature available whether I have been there last week or last month, I think it’s just marvelous I do not have to worry about creature growth unbalancing the game. I use to hate not getting to a particular hut because it had so many creatures and now the AI hero has them. Now the added bonus of have that special hero having the added task of visiting all of the windmills in the area to gather resources, is that a lack of linearity and it even adds multitasking to that hero. Oh, the marvelous movement of heroes so they frequently miss the resources until you re-designate on the resource/artifact, and the fabulous placement of items that (if you want to find them anyway) requires you to use that camera they spent so much time developing. This adds a layer of fun, I have not experienced in years.

You know I really hated heroes in combat being a killing machine, it’s so much better having a hero that can charge through intact castle walls reeking havoc on my opponents with impunity and then returning to the safety of the side-lines, man that rocks. I mean why should a leader suffer like their troops, it’s so much better to use them as cannon fodder, while observing from a safe distance.

Ok for the dense I am obviously not pleased with much of this game, and why should I or anyone else? To say UBI is saving the franchise so be happy is not good enough. This game if released 2 or 3 years ago would have been a marvelous update to Heroes III, which I loved. But I loved Heroes IV and UBI arrogantly ignored the many requests of Heroes fans about incorporating several H-IV innovations. Now despite my comments I think Heroes V is very close to being a great game. The mistakes I see are listed above, they do not have to bring in all of the H-IV improvements, and yes there were improvements. If they bring back caravans, automatic receiving of resources from flagged windmills and creature growth at the creature dwellings (once flagged by someone), then I will be happy. Though I would prefer to have Heroes in combat, I can live with the older format, but please let Heroes travel together, even if only one fights, and let creatures travel alone (at least heroes together.) After almost 5 years of having the computer do many of these mundane tasks (creature/resource accumulation) it does not add anything to the game except tedium to have to devote a hero to perform those tasks.

[ThunderTitan]

Come to think of it that's the main problem. They didn't really improve anything from H3, they just added some new stuff (skill tree and initiative) to it and just left the rest the same.

Seriously people, H4 improved things most didn't like in H3, but because of all the new ideeas you hated ur willing to go back to the things you didn't like in H3 rather then improving anything.

[DaemianLucifer]

I dont mind hero chaining in the sense most of you do.Its fine that creatures cannot travel without heroes and heroes cannot travel without creatures.What I do mind is the fact that creatures have infinite movement.

[reddkey]

Jeff, I appreciate your satire. I am new to the Might and Magic series, traditionally I am a dnd fan, but have played strategy games as well.

The most disappointing follow up I've ever played was Lords of the Realm 3. It was absolutely a mess. So I know what its like to be thoroughly disappointed in a release after waiting for years.

The packaging on this game well well done. The best packaging is tricky, and completely fools you as to what the game is about. This was the first Heroes title in history that I actually picked up and took a look at.

*cheer from the games marketing dept*

If a game isn't a sequel of one I've played. I don't read reviews on websites, or magazines. I go to the store, and look at the box. If it looks relatively good I buy it. The packaging was very nice. Imagine my surprise when I opened the box up and inside, the documentation proclaimed the game was turn based! I had no idea really what Might and Magic was about. I thought it was an RPG at first.

In the age of moronic RTS where its not how you implement your strategy but how fast you can click around with your mouse, I was delighted to find a modern turn based strategy game out there. I will be a Might and Magic player from here on out. So although the game may have flaws, it is still head and shoulders above the mindless RTS garbage.

Age of Empires, Warcraft 3, and on and on and on.

I've played them all. Hours and hours. I had 300+ wins with the orcs on battlenet multiplayer.

The new titles, if they're reasonably done, and well patched, will draw in new players, like myself to bolster sales, and keep the sequels rolling until, perhaps,...Heroes 7 might be the one you're looking for. Hope that helps, just stick with it.

[Bandobras Took]

Come to think of it that's the main problem. They didn't really improve anything from H3, they just added some new stuff (skill tree and initiative) to it and just left the rest the same.

Seriously people, H4 improved things most didn't like in H3, but because of all the new ideeas you hated ur willing to go back to the things you didn't like in H3 rather then improving anything.

About the only thing we've gone back to that I really didn't like in H3 is the day one exploit.

The rest for me are minor irritants. H4 merely traded in one set of minor irritants for another.

[seancdaug]

it took three or four patches before I could get Civilization IV to run on my computer at all.

Really?Im still playing version 1.0,and it works perfectly.

That's the rub, innit? There's so many potential things that can go wrong with computers that what works perfectly on one rig doesn't work at all on another. In any case, my initial problem was that the game didn't work with my video card (a known problem with ATI cards). That was fixed in the first patch, but there remained a significant memory leak that invariably led to the game crashing silently on any map larger than "small." And even on small maps, the game slowed down to the point of unplayability a few dozen turns into the thing.

Overall, the game was probably a bit more polished in terms of gameplay than Heroes V, but at least I could play Heroes V out-of-the-box, which makes me a little more forgiving of its flaws. Obviously, your mileage may vary, and it's not like I haven't run into a few bugs in Heroes V: most notably, the campaigns stopped working properly after I installed the patch, requiring that I reinstall the whole game. But for me, it's been much smoother sailing than a lot of games I've bought recently.

[jeff]

Come to think of it that's the main problem. They didn't really improve anything from H3, they just added some new stuff (skill tree and initiative) to it and just left the rest the same.

Seriously people, H4 improved things most didn't like in H3, but because of all the new ideeas you hated ur willing to go back to the things you didn't like in H3 rather then improving anything.

Marvelous, I actually thought many of you would see that's my complaint, not that they used the H-III format, but the ignored improving what was a classic. I’ll always love H-IV, but I can move on. Now improving graphics is eye candy not a step forward. Fix the irritants of H-III and they’ll have a true winner. Why are these things an irritant, easy they fixed them in H-IV, duhh.