An interesting flashback

The new Heroes games produced by Ubisoft. Please specify which game you are referring to in your post.

Does HV have that special "something" for you?

Yes
34
44%
No
43
56%
 
Total votes: 77

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asandir
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An interesting flashback

Unread postby asandir » 18 Sep 2006, 03:49

Now this is not a bashing topic, just my own observation (there has been a fair bit of bashing happening this weekend)

With my copy of HV I got HII Gold as well, but hadn't even installed it (had HV since 18 May) since I have played it exhaustively in the past. Anyway I installed the sucker yesterday, and cranked up a game .... 5 hours later I'm still playing the campaign (original first then the expansions) and have no idea where those hours went .... this did not happen with HV

it's interesting that a game put out almost 10 years ago, that i have completed and played to death, can capture my interest so much more then a new version of the "same" game, I wonder if the same would happen with HIII and HIV? will try and see once i have finished HII again

i'm not saying HV is bad, but I find that it is really just missing that special "something" that the earlier incarnations had (yep, even HIV for me)

that's sad :(

and because I haven't created a poll before, I will now
Human madness is the howl of a child with a shattered heart.

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Unread postby Darkion » 18 Sep 2006, 05:06

Unfortunately, I had to vote No. I really tried to get into the game several times but I just don't like the campaign heroes or the storyline, something that never happened with any of the previous installments in the series. The individual maps they included didn't grab my attention either, maybe I'll change my mind after fan maps begin appearing in the near future.

At the moment I'm just waiting for a (hopefully) final patch. To drown my sorrows I'm replaying the Heroes II campaigns, I hadn't touched those in years, and I lurk in here to watch the daily pyrotechnics, heh...

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asandir
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Unread postby asandir » 18 Sep 2006, 05:30

that's what I'm doing, and they are brilliant .... I'd forgotten how awesome some of the maps were
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Unread postby MistWeaver » 18 Sep 2006, 05:30

Not for me either. And I agree - its sad.
Actualy, its the first Heroes game for me that didnt contain "addiction" in it. And the problem is not becouse the game is unfinished.
Heroes4 shows that unfinished game can still have that special "something" in it.
The reason is probably that NWC were doing Games, while Nival - product.

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Unread postby DaemianLucifer » 18 Sep 2006, 05:36

What do you think I voted? :devil:

I did say this as soon as I got the game.On the plus side,though,I can eat,sleep,and even end the game without spending hours playing that just one more turn.Not a big plus there,mind you :(

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asandir
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Unread postby asandir » 18 Sep 2006, 05:43

yeah, not really much of a bonus when you paid to get the thing (i hope)

I may get the expansion, but this is dependant on what happens over the next few months with this game, or I may revert and try the older versions for the next few years
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Unread postby MrSteamTank » 18 Sep 2006, 05:45

I found the graphics gorgeous in this game, however, the glaring oversights and lack of features(multiplay hotseat and simultaneous turns....how could they forget these) completely threw me out of the immersion.

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Unread postby cornellian » 18 Sep 2006, 05:48

I voted no as well, and I believe that though the campaigns are less interesting, especially after the great campaigns of Homm IV expansions; the real problem is the pacing and this has much to do with the graphics engine..

Not that I didn't appreciate the engine, it is great and graphics are very beautiful for a turn based strategy game, but few can deny that 3D slows the game to a crawl.. Add the small number of objects in the map the player can interact with, and the braindead AI; you have a game that you do the same things over and over again (it's even worse than previous installments), one that hardly ever challenges you and when it does, it does because it cheats and you can't help but think that it is unfair, and overall one that simply doesn't have that old 'spirit'...

I must admit that Heroes V felt like leaving a cute girl with brains for a bombshell with 60 IQ..

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Unread postby DaemianLucifer » 18 Sep 2006, 06:10

stefan.urlus wrote:yeah, not really much of a bonus when you paid to get the thing (i hope)
Nah,borrowed from a friend.For indefinite time :devious: I told you Im no sheep(though I know quite a few) :devil:

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Unread postby asandir » 18 Sep 2006, 06:22

nice post cornellian :D

i agree about the 3D stuff, having gone back in the series, I appreciate fast computer turns, load times etc, the graphics may be worse, but the gameplay seems better .... IMO a significant trade off in HII's favour, and as for adventure map objects, yep just played mission 3 in HII Original Campaign and it is simply littered with stuff
Nah,borrowed from a friend.For indefinite time I told you Im no sheep(though I know quite a few)
no doubt
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Unread postby DaemianLucifer » 18 Sep 2006, 07:32

Interesting.Everyone said no,but there is one yes.So,dont be shy,show yourself.We dont bite(its our piranhas that do that :devious: ).

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Unread postby asandir » 18 Sep 2006, 07:39

i was wondering who that mighta been, maybe JJ? except I'm sure he woulda posted if it was him
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Unread postby Gaidal Cain » 18 Sep 2006, 08:27

Not sure yet, actually. I find that when I play a map, I generally have fun. The trouble is that I have trouble to start up a map - though that's a problem with most heroes games now actually. Too much other stuff to do. So, no vote from me.
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Unread postby Jolly Joker » 18 Sep 2006, 08:34

I'm going to post here.
Heroes II got me hooked and you will always look with fondness onto a game like that. I've played II recently on some occasions, one of it being that I have the EU collector with Homm II gold and I checked some maps I didn't know yet.
The main thing is that Heroes II and Heroes V are two completely different games.
Heroes II is fast-paced. The skills are no-brainers. Building is a no-brainer as well. Lastly fights are no-brainers because you can't wait with your troops, so it's do or die most of the time (or let them come and shoot them). Moreover, with creature stats being much more tightly together (ranges from 1 to, umm, 15) and Heroes giving 10/5 % per point, neutral creatures rapidly lose the capability to do serioes damage. Lastly there is no balance whatsoever in the game - but who cares? I mean, the game is, well, fast and furious, campaigns are fast as well. You sit down start a game and are in month 3 in no time (on a bigger map).

With H V its's like, well: the first records that really got you hooked to music are really hard to top afterwards. They can be better in every respect, you still may tend to say, ah, but their debut: this rough, unpolished charme. And you remember the fascination and disbelief you felt then - a feeling that will always be harder to recreate later.

So, Heroes V is a lot more complex. Town building; Hero building; fighting; even adventuring. The game has much more depth; campaign maps are in parts tough, in parts immersive, in parts fresh and new and in parts boring. BECAUSE the game is more complex, a boring campaign map (a map that poses no specific problems, but just running around and fight pointless because easy battles is boring, for example) becomes even more boring: it gets tedious. In comparison with H II I found H IV campaigns tedious as well (not because of the story; the play was tedious).

That said, I found the campaigns in III already not as interesting to play as II. There are reasons for that, but basically I think that the campaigns in V could have had
a) one map less per campaign and
b) smaller map sizes; I notice that on many campaign maps in V a relatively big chunk of the map stays black - which is a waste; that time for making that could have been saved and put into more SP and MP maps.

So for campaigns I have to say that H II in reality is the ONLY Heroes game with the Heroes feeling.

On a normal MP map, though, Heroes V is far superior - with a price: the pace. The ease of play, the rather stratightforward pace of going ahead and do things without much planning except in certain logistic matters has been lost for depth: where to put money and resources into, needs as much consideration as planning hero development. With hero development, if you want to do it best, you'll have to print out the manual and look with each choice and so on.

So the bottom line is: less turns per hour.

So the H II Heroes feeling has been lost, and if H II is THE Heroes game, then, yes, H V doesn't have THAT Heroes feeling.
I think, though, that the game establishes a new Heroes feeling, by presenting a game sufficiently different from II, so it is possible to play both in their own right. V kills III and IV for me (with IV being never that much of an option), but not II. For those who play and like IV I expect V will kill only III, because IV is sufficiently different as well.
I don't find that bad at all.

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Unread postby Jolly Joker » 18 Sep 2006, 08:38

Oh, and for the record, the yes voter wasn't me. I didn't vote because there is no yes and no option.

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Unread postby asandir » 18 Sep 2006, 08:38

and that's why this is individual .... cause i find HIV still has that special something, just a bit of a different something, and HIII is similar to HII

HV for me just seems to be "lacking" something, it's not bad, I have enjoyed playing it, but as I said, for me it is missing that indefinable quality
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Unread postby DaemianLucifer » 18 Sep 2006, 08:41

Jolly Joker wrote: With H V its's like, well: the first records that really got you hooked to music are really hard to top afterwards. They can be better in every respect, you still may tend to say, ah, but their debut: this rough, unpolished charme. And you remember the fascination and disbelief you felt then - a feeling that will always be harder to recreate later.
Amazingly,this is one of the rare times I completelly agree with you.No matter what they do,heroes will always be below HII.I did always say that starting with HIII,every next sequel declined in quality.

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Unread postby ThunderTitan » 18 Sep 2006, 10:20

Jolly Joker wrote:I'm going to post here.
Whould have never figured that one out. :rolleyes:
su wrote: HV for me just seems to be "lacking" something, it's not bad, I have enjoyed playing it, but as I said, for me it is missing that indefinable quality
First of all it's missing what most game nowadays do, a sense that the devs had fun making it. Secondly it feels a bit sterile, and has alot of little things that piss me off, mostly functionality that's missing, even if H3 had it.
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Unread postby Metathron » 18 Sep 2006, 11:14

I voted no, but it is not as resounding a no as it would have been if I gave my opinion a couple months ago while playing the campaigns, which I think are dull, tedious and generally very shoddily made. It was only recently, after applying the patches, and tackling the single player scenarios that I found some, nay, quite a lot of, enjoyment in the game. So I'll steer clear of the campaigns, keep playing the SP maps and await the arrival of user made maps which are always one of the pinnacles of Heroes games. I'm not sure I will ever develop that special feeling in regards to HoMM V, but I think it's best to never say never.
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Unread postby LordErtz » 18 Sep 2006, 11:48

The game actually has no replay value for me right now. That's one reason it doesn't have that special something. I havent' played in at least a month or 2 because I've done the campaign twice and all the maps...

I'm waiting for some GOOD maps from fans who can hopefully save the series.


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