Is there a way to make heroes IV not suck?

[Mirage]

Is there a patch or something out to improve this game. I have h4 complete, I decided to give it another shot because I've been enjoying h5 since release and people keep saying h4 is much better. I had h4 at release but when it was released it was barely playable and I think it had no multiplayer/hotseat and the AI was crap so I just stopped playing after a couple hours and never went back to it. I really enjoyed h2 and h3, and h5 so far as well. I heard there was some kind of equilibrius mod or something for h4.

I tried playing the first campaign the barbarian one where you have to do all the quests to bring the villages together, anyways I'm not enjoying it. I hate the battlefield view, where's the grid can I turn it on?, the simultaneous attack is weird but I can get used to it, the line of sight on the archers is a pain because I can't pick where my troops' starting positions are and I spend half the battle maneuvering them instead of shooting, I don't care for the style of graphics for creature either but I can get past that.

Did anyone play the first campaign and enjoy it? Are the later campaigns or later expansion missions better? Can I find some good user made maps/mods. I'm sure the people that love this game cannot be playing the same game I am, please help me find the goodness in h4 that people talk about.

[ThunderTitan]

Different people, different tastes.

Here's a link for Equilibris:
http://www.celestialheavens.com/forums/ ... .php?t=599

And most people recomend using player made maps with H4.

[Pol]

Equilibris mod
Patches
Picked maps (by Psychobabble)

* Grid is comming with the latest patch. Actually combat system in h4 is fair good... Campaigns, I don't know, seems not interesting to me, no match to theirs h3 ancestors....

[gravyluvr]

Some people just weren't meant to be HOMM4 fans. If it hasn't taken by now, why even try. This is why I don't play HOMM3 much anymore compared to HOMM2 and HOMM4.

Personally, I would try to find a faction you like or want to experience playing.

If you have HOMM4 Complete, I would try The Dancing Crusader by Grumpy Old Wizard. It lets you play all facets of Nature. It does tend to be a little difficult though.

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[ThunderTitan]

Well he should try to get past the initial shock of the damn view, and stuff like that. Like he said, he gave up at first cause of the whole "can only play for 30 min if you're lucky" thing.

[DaemianLucifer]

I tried playing the first campaign the barbarian one where you have to do all the quests to bring the villages together, anyways I'm not enjoying it. I hate the battlefield view, where's the grid can I turn it on?, the simultaneous attack is weird but I can get used to it, the line of sight on the archers is a pain because I can't pick where my troops' starting positions are and I spend half the battle maneuvering them instead of shooting, I don't care for the style of graphics for creature either but I can get past that.

Ill just say what others didnt:The three buttons on the left of your army managment screen are the formations you start your battle in.The first two formations put stacks in places 1,3,5 and 7(from left to right)in the front row,and stacks in places 2,4 and 6 in back row.The difference is that with the second they are tightly grouped,so only AOE effects can target your back row.The third formation places 1,3 and 5 in front 2,4 and 6 in the second row and 7 in the back.This way you protect the middle stack(4) from all attacks but it wont be able to move.This was explained in the manual as well.Dont turn on the grid,its weird,but if you want turn on the movement shadow(its found in options when you acces them from the BF).

Did anyone play the first campaign and enjoy it? Are the later campaigns or later expansion missions better? Can I find some good user made maps/mods. I'm sure the people that love this game cannot be playing the same game I am, please help me find the goodness in h4 that people talk about.

All the campaigns in the original are,more or less fun.The best,though,are order and death,imo.The expansion campaigns on the other hand are dumb.The only good thing about the second expansion is that you build 5 characters in 5 different campaigns and then pit all of them in the final one.

[pepak]

Is there a patch or something out to improve this game.

There are multiple platches and they do improve the game a little (sincle you have H4 complete, you have all the patches already installed). Still, you will get far bigger improvement by playing fan-made maps rather than the maps provided with the game.

I hate the battlefield view, where's the grid can I turn it on?

In the first patch. It may not be what you are looking for, unlike other games in the series H4 uses a large number of tiny squares (each creature takes something like 9 to est. 36 squares).

the line of sight on the archers is a pain because I can't pick where my troops' starting positions are

Yes you can. The starting location of each unit is pretty much constant for a given formation and slot number.

Did anyone play the first campaign and enjoy it? Are the later campaigns or later expansion missions better?

The campaigns in the basic game are excellent in terms of storyline, probably the best I've seen in a strategy game so far. As far as challenge goes, they are either very poor or fiendishly difficult.

The expansion set campaigns and scenarios are bland, IMO.

Can I find some good user made maps/mods.

A ind of Thorns, Trapped Inside the Beast, My Brother's Keeper, The Last Chance, Ky (for very innovative use of scripts, not so much for the actual gameplay), Draconic...

I'm sure the people that love this game cannot be playing the same game I am, please help me find the goodness in h4 that people talk about.

Each to his own. I never saw what's so good in H5 and given the unpleasantness with the collector's edition, I very much doubt I ever will. It may be the opposite for you.

[Mirage]

Thanks for all the replies. Good to know how to change the formations, that should prove helpful thanks for the tip DL.

Is it recommended to install the equilibrius mod, or should I give the game more time as is first?

Thanks again.

[ThunderTitan]

Is it recommended to install the equilibrius mod, or should I give the game more time as is first?

Equi doesn't overide te original. So you can still play both. But if you don't like the gameplay it's not going to change much.

[Akul]

Equilibris mod
Patches
Picked maps (by Psychobabble)

* Grid is comming with the latest patch. Actually combat system in h4 is fair good... Campaigns, I don't know, seems not interesting to me, no match to theirs h3 ancestors....

Have you even played H4 campaigns? 95% of people will say that H4 has some of the best and most original stories in fantasy genre ans the besh in HOMM.

On-topic: you should install Equilibrius as it fixes many balancing isus.

Few tips:
-don't play barbarian campaign. That one is boring as the hell (tnakfully, it is short). I recomend playing Emilias campaign. First map is pain in the ***, but other 7 maps are great and the storyline is excelent. I would also recomend playing Tawnsi's campaign as those maps are both enjojable and often require tactics.
-buy a lord hero in every town that can buy him. They increase the population and give you more gold. On bigger level, they are even better.
-start with two heroes and have theme together in army. Train theme in different skills and sens in as many battles as posible. Heroes are here as important as in H5.
-Choose two major skills for every hero. Choosing more may make your hero too weak.
-send lv1 scouting area and picking resources.

Hope this will make the game easier for you.

[Pol]

Have you even played H4 campaigns? 95% of people will say that H4 has some of the best and most original stories in fantasy genre ans the besh in HOMM.

Sure, I walked thru all of them, to see if they are worthy of, but they do not impressed me. Most of them are average (especially WoW) and not only from the view of story line. But it can be, that to the matter of stories, my judge was affected by my Heroes IV Complete cz edition...

Armageddon Blade or Restoration of Erathia were better, much much better...

[Akul]

Have you even played H4 campaigns? 95% of people will say that H4 has some of the best and most original stories in fantasy genre ans the besh in HOMM.

Sure, I walking thru all of them, to see if they are worthy of, but they do not impressed me. Most of them are average (especially WoW) and not only from the view of story line. But it can be, that to the matter of stories, my judge was affected by my Heroes IV Complete cz edition...

Armageddon Blade or Restoration of Erathia were better, much much better...

I am talking about H4std. Gs and WoW should never have been released. They are just dirting H4's name.

[Mirage]

[On-topic: you should install Equilibrius as it fixes many balancing isus.

Few tips:
-don't play barbarian campaign. That one is boring as the hell (tnakfully, it is short). I recomend playing Emilias campaign. First map is pain in the ***, but other 7 maps are great and the storyline is excelent. I would also recomend playing Tawnsi's campaign as those maps are both enjojable and often require tactics.
-buy a lord hero in every town that can buy him. They increase the population and give you more gold. On bigger level, they are even better.
-start with two heroes and have theme together in army. Train theme in different skills and sens in as many battles as posible. Heroes are here as important as in H5.
-Choose two major skills for every hero. Choosing more may make your hero too weak.
-send lv1 scouting area and picking resources.

Hope this will make the game easier for you.

Thanks I'll install equilibrius. I noticed in the first barb camp I couldn't even make any more heroes from the first town so that was a pain. I'll try Emilias campaign and see how that goes. If the story is good then hopefully I can overlook the gameplay mechanics that I don't like or am not used to at the very least.

[Gaidal Cain]

Thanks I'll install equilibrius. I noticed in the first barb camp I couldn't even make any more heroes from the first town so that was a pain. I'll try Emilias campaign and see how that goes. If the story is good then hopefully I can overlook the gameplay mechanics that I don't like or am not used to at the very least.

Well, if you want really good story, try the necromancer campaign. Very, very good story.

[Bandobras Took]

The H4 standard Chaos Campaign was also fun, for me. At all costs, avoid the writing in the Nature Campaign like the plague -- the maps are fine, but the writing's full of clichés and sappy schmaltz that would make Ubi wince.

Well, maybe it's not that bad, but I was disgusted that most of the other campaigns explored themes relating to their Ethos, and the Nature campaign was "Days of Our Druids."

[DaemianLucifer]

The H4 standard Chaos Campaign was also fun, for me. At all costs, avoid the writing in the Nature Campaign like the plague -- the maps are fine, but the writing's full of clichés and sappy schmaltz that would make Ubi wince.

Well, maybe it's not that bad, but I was disgusted that most of the other campaigns explored themes relating to their Ethos, and the Nature campaign was "Days of Our Druids."

Still beats the tree shaging pixies and findan poetry.

@Mirage

Play with equi from the since it is much more balanced,and you wont have to addapt to it later.

[Chorus]

Funny, I only got Heroes IV Complete last weekend, and I've adapted to it quickly. I find the fun is in augmenting hero skills.

The easiest way to deal with formations is to switch stacks around from the main game screen. The troops are laid out exactly as they would be in combat. This way you don't need to consider which slot number creatures are in, much less go into the army screen and do it that way. Oh wait, this only works for loose spread.

Whoda thunk Lysander would become an Illusionist, it seems so unknightly...

[Qurqirish Dragon]

In response to the topic title (but not the actual question in the full post):

The way to make H4 not suck is for Ubi to do a world-wide release of H4 Complete, so I can get a copy! (or at least a US/NA release, but I'm certain there are others who cannot get it)

[Bandobras Took]

Still beats the three shaging pixies and findan poetry.

The "Tree-shagging pixies" line at least made me laugh. It was in the fine tradition of such things as Lord Ironfist's "If you build it, they will come" journal -- ridiculous and anachronistic.

I'm going to disagree with you. The writing in the H4 Nature campaign has about one thing over H5's, and that's grammar and punctuation.

[gravyluvr]

Thanks for all the replies. Good to know how to change the formations, that should prove helpful thanks for the tip DL.

Is it recommended to install the equilibrius mod, or should I give the game more time as is first?

Thanks again.

I found the Life campaign to be a fun one too. Order may be a looooong campaign to start with.

If you are playing around with strategies, try out Land of our Forefathers to find the strength of each alignment.