The little things you miss from previous HOMM games

The new Heroes games produced by Ubisoft. Please specify which game you are referring to in your post.
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The little things you miss from previous HOMM games

Unread postby Wombatfeatures » 23 Jun 2006, 20:26

Alright, so some of these have been mentioned before in various threads of one kind or another, but some haven't so there ! :D Some of the little (and no so little) things can REALLY make a big difference to a game that is verging on great:

1. The post-game stats page. You remember when the dragon breathed fire on the congrats page after completing a map and it told you your score, the number of days played and had a monster as a rating. Likewise the hiscore page. With these you could play a map a second time and try to beat your previous score. Nival, please put these back!!

2. The sound effects for map objects. Where's my little Irish Leprechaun jig when I interact with the "Garden of the Wee-folk" ? What happened to the sounds with the other objects? Gone I tell ye! HOMM 2 was the best in this regard with a wide variety of sounds for EVERY single object. The Sphinx was particularly memorable I recall. Nival, please put these back too!

3. The beautiful flora and fauna. In HOMM 2-4 we had lots of brightly coloured flowers and grasses for the grass terrain. Bright bluebells, yellow daises and red roses, little gardens sprinkled here and there all of which made the game really seem alive. Pity that in HOMM 5 we've just got a few red flowers and maybe the occassional blue on (if you look hard enough on the combat map) but they don't hold a candle to the previous games. In fact, the only decoration for the grassland terrain I recall is the pumpkin patch/sunflowers (not counting trees and mountains which are pretty mandatory). Maybe we'll see more in the expansion or a patch...

4. The Flavour text for the artifacts/map objects. This has been mentioned before but I really like to read these, even after I know what most of them are. How hard could it be to put them back? After all, the code is there with the likes of the arena and witch's hut.

5. There was also a little ditty played out when you first entered combat. A short 5 second piece that signalled "Oh no, you've done it now". Best examples were in HOMM 2 and 3. I don't think 4 did it, and sadly 5 doesn't either.

6. Creature banks. You used to get lots of these, dwarven hill mounds that you had to fight to get a reward. Naga banks full of Nagas. Graveyards with ghosts and zombies in them. In HOMM 5 I've found two so far. The crypt and Dragon Utopia. Are there any more? There should be!! Also why not tell me how many creatures are guarding it before I click yes, that way I can judge if my army can beat them or not. Grrr!

These are the things I miss most. Some of them are trivial things but these can really give a game that "cared about" feeling. Come on, Nival, give us back some of the things we miss most... ;)

P.S - Is it just me or are there no unit shadows on the combat map for the underground/swamp section. Plenty on grass terrain...

P.P.S - One more thing, does anyone else get motion sickness from the title page. That camera just will not keep still! I can't bear to look at it sometimes. :ill:

P.P.P.S - God this is getting daft now, but why did they make the gems and crystals use the same 3D model on the map (all they did was change the colour for god's sake!) Make the gems multicoloured at the very least!
Last edited by Wombatfeatures on 23 Jun 2006, 20:40, edited 3 times in total.

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Unread postby Akul » 23 Jun 2006, 20:29

If I posted a list, I would be banned for overhelming the forum page :D
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Unread postby Indral » 23 Jun 2006, 20:41

yep.
no point in listing loads of stuff. i doubt they'll listen anyhow.
for me, H3 is a perfect and beautiful game, all it needed was maybe even MORE creatures..

but people constantly want more, even if you give them what they want.. they want more and more... more graphics more everything..
noone is satisfied..

but i am. i have my H3 and i doubt H5 or any Hx iz going to beat it..

if they put back all creatures from H3, i think maybe i'll play H5 seriously, though.

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Unread postby Wombatfeatures » 23 Jun 2006, 21:07

Yes, Heroes 3 was probably the pinnacle of the series. But I don't want more of anything, I just want them to put back what they "left out" from the other games, after all, they were trying to make a 3D version of HOMM 3.

Don't get me wrong though, HOMM 5 is still great and a good step in the right direction if nothing else. If only they'd just go that extra mile...

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Unread postby Indral » 23 Jun 2006, 21:16

there are so many things that went wrong in H5, but that's probably due to the entirely new engine.

it will take a lott of effort to make this 3D environment look as good as the old 2D.

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Unread postby Akul » 23 Jun 2006, 21:56

I don't see a logic in spending 4 years on making a remake. IMO, every game should be different and NEVER a remake unles the game is from the time of DOS.
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Unread postby MrSteamTank » 23 Jun 2006, 21:58

Sauron wrote:I don't see a logic in spending 4 years on making a remake. IMO, every game should be different and NEVER a remake unles the game is from the time of DOS.
Heroes 4 was different and look were that left 3do. I definitely agree with this philosphy but apparantly the market does not now that I see how well heroes V did.

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Unread postby Akul » 23 Jun 2006, 22:02

MrSteamTank wrote:
Sauron wrote:I don't see a logic in spending 4 years on making a remake. IMO, every game should be different and NEVER a remake unles the game is from the time of DOS.
Heroes 4 was different and look were that left 3do. I definitely agree with this philosphy but apparantly the market does not now that I see how well heroes V did.
How much time must I repeat it?1 They bankrupt because the cursed "Four Riders of Apocalypse" which was the most expensive project ever and it was cancelled.
H5 (thankfully) wasn't a H3 clone but its upgrade. Sequel must either be upgraded game or totally new game but with same roots.
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Unread postby Bethel » 23 Jun 2006, 22:32

Of all the things I miss, I miss the caravan the most. The best thing to come out of H4, and they left it out of H5. Now I have to hire a hero to do nothing but run around collecting creatures on a weekly basis. The least they could have been done was to have creatures accumulate until you could get someone back. Caravaning was the best tho' - being able not only to have the creatures come to your town, but to send them between towns.

And owning mills, etc so that the treasure was automatically deposited to your account. (Same idea, different specific.)

sigh...

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Unread postby Metal Wolf » 23 Jun 2006, 22:50

One of the things that I miss are the portraits of the heroes from HOMM2 - The heroes always had a unique backgroud behind them - Some were standing near a river bank, some were sailing in a ship amid the storm, some were pictured being atop of a dark, mysterious tower...
It gave a very certain atmosphere, a very certain feel, there was no need for biographies because the pic had said it all - the image gave the player's imagination do the work, and it was cool.
Sadly, only HOMM2 had this feature (HOMM1 and 3 had it only to some extent while homm 4-5 didnt have it at all)...

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Unread postby jeff » 23 Jun 2006, 23:12

Indral wrote:yep.
H3 is a perfect and beautiful game, all it needed was maybe even MORE creatures
H-III was a beautiful game in its day, but that day is gone. Like it or not H-IV had some improvements that are sorely missed in H-V. It’s H-V’s close modeling of H-III that is one of its biggest weaknesses. In the past micromanaging resources and creature growth was relatively new and had a little interest. Now I bought everything H-III including all of the Chronicles, but by the end of those games I was fed up with running a hero around collecting troops and resources. It was been there, done that, got the T-shirt, let’s move on. H-IV correctly handled those mundane tasks. It is driving me nuts doing those things with a dedicated hero or two; some sites are too far apart to service with one hero. Now why care if you don’t get there, well there’s no creature growth, so if you miss it you lose a weeks growth (what fun that is) :loll: . The return to the H-III hero hiring is a joke. The computer picks the heroes to select (sorry but I want to choose), and no limits on how many. Now it has not occurred here so I don’t know if it will work, but on more than one occasion I saved a city in H-III by hiring heroes, having them do suicide runs weakening the AI until it was weakened enough to take on with my main army. So let me choose the hero (of course some won’t be made available for storyline reasons) and limit the number I can hire at a city if you must. I know this has been debated, but having creatures show up all on Monday makes no sense at all even to the simple minded. In H-III it made the program code somewhat simpler but that’s not an issue anymore. Though I admit with no caravans running the heroes around would be a continuous never ending cycle of fun. :vomit:

I truly want to love H-V, but the arrogant decision to sanitize all aspects of H-IV from the release has wounded its quality. :? To give a graphic overall was necessary to keep the game fresh and competitive as most of us play other games. However to be great it has to take a step forward, I find this game took 1 step forward (the graphics), but two steps back. I am half way through the Necromancer campaign and I am already bored. I did not play at all today, I just could not think of a good reason to start up the game. :bored: So what does it need:

1. Caravans
2. Automatic Resources from flagged mills
3. Creature Growth at dwellings once flagged
4. Choice in Heroes I can hire

Notice I did not say heroes on the battlefield, we’ll address that again before H-VI. :D
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Unread postby HodgePodge » 23 Jun 2006, 23:15

Bethel wrote:Of all the things I miss, I miss the caravan the most. …

And owning mills, etc so that the treasure was automatically deposited to your account. (Same idea, different specific.)

sigh...
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Unread postby Omega_Destroyer » 23 Jun 2006, 23:16

Automatic resources from mills and creature dwelliings would be a nice feature to have back.

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Unread postby ThunderTitan » 23 Jun 2006, 23:20

jeff wrote: 1. Caravans
2. Automatic Resources from flagged mills
3. Creature Growth at dwellings once flagged
4. Choice in Heroes I can hire

Notice I did not say heroes on the battlefield, we’ll address that again before H-VI. :D
Chosing heroes. Another great thing H4 had which shouldn't have been eliminated. :disagree:

Seriously, they never played the game, I can't explain it otherwise.
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Unread postby Gus » 23 Jun 2006, 23:27

Heroes in H4 didn't have specialties, though, did they? I can't remember them having some.

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Unread postby ThunderTitan » 23 Jun 2006, 23:31

Gus wrote:Heroes in H4 didn't have specialties, though, did they? I can't remember them having some.

Thats true, but a strategy game shouldn't be about getting lucky and having the right hero.
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Unread postby Gus » 23 Jun 2006, 23:34

oh, i agree, i was just making sure i remembered all right.

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Unread postby Da' vane » 24 Jun 2006, 00:19

No... HoMM IV didn't have specialities, which was a bit weak. I remember discussing the idea of adding at least different starting skill combinations in the Equilibris Mod, but this was shot down because the ability to choose meant that players would naturally opt for all the best heroes...

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Unread postby ThunderTitan » 24 Jun 2006, 00:34

Well they could try to balance the specials so that none of them is overpowered. Or limit them to adv map advantage or something.
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Unread postby cornellian » 24 Jun 2006, 00:57

It really is hard to find a reasonable logic behind Nival's decision to return to 'Heroes of Windmills and Dwellings'. I noticed that in a typical HoMM V game, a good 30% of the time, if not more, is spent for something that was perfectly handled in the previous installment of the series..

When RTS games cut micromanagement as much as they can, when even shooters slowly revolutionized themselves to have <15 hours of campaigns, this simply is a wrong step backwards.


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