A look back at: Heroes of Might & Magic 4 + expansions

 

Shake up the formula once, shake it up again, and shake it up some more. You can clearly tell that with the isometric viewpoint reminiscent of a number of games I played that things are gonna try to look a little more 3D. There's no grid-based movement, but arguably the true big change was actually putting in the heroes themselves to be battlers alongside their troops. This shakes up the formula quite a lot, now you gotta worry about keeping heroes alive and not to fall in battle, alongside all the other familiar things such as your towns and resources. The regular navigation is also 3D, and there's quite a lot to go through for both the main game and the expansions.

They also shook up the overall storyline of the whole universe. The world you know from previous Heroes games gets nuked, all cause Tarnum didn't really make it in Chronicles to stop Gelu and Kilgor from crossing those two legendary blades, destroying all of Enroth. Sure, Tarnum lives again, as do a number of others who, by some stroke of luck, manage to enter portals leading to Axeoth, the new world. But Heroes 4 doesn't really provide us with familiar faces to play with this time around. Everyone is new. Everyone has individual campaigns, ranging from love stories to conquering oceans to just being a barbarian son of Tarnum. The backstories tend to be far more interesting than the individual scenarios.

This does change with the Gathering Storm and Winds of War expansions. I don't know what it is, but I adore it when characters come together. Both expansions do this but in different ways. In the Gathering Storm, you build up the five main characters and they all join together to battle and defeat a greater enemy. In Winds of War, you build up the five main characters and have to have them battle each other while conquering a foe they all are trying to conquer. The latter expansion feels like you should play the most villainous of villains, cause the last scenario, you pick one to be your main conqueror. It does interest me how Heroes 4 isn't as well-received as the previous installments. I didn't find it too bad, but the shakeup of the formulas does play a part.

A look back at: Heroes of Might & Magic III, expansion packs, and Chronicles

 

Well what do you know. It's been quite the long while since I last left off on some RPG stuff, but that's cause I was doing things in consistent tandem. I definitely knew Heroes of Might & Magic III was gonna be a big one, and it truly was a big one in this regard. So big, I had to allot time to figure out how the hell I was supposed to do the expansion packs. Eventually I settled on Shadow of Death first, the Restoration of Erathia second (this is the main campaign), and finally Armageddon's Blade last. Oh, and Chronicles too, don't forget that.

From what I can tell, this is the peak of HoM&M as a franchise. The games before it have a system that was in the works, slowly becoming what it ends up being at the climax of this. And people really did appreciate it all alongside the scenario-based war battles. The hex grid is still a favorite, and there's just lots of customization options even if you are dealing with some level limits during these scenarios. It can be a bit too much at times considering you have to do some town building, recruiting of new and strange units, customizing their equipment, customizing your hero generals so their regiments are strong to go up against contenders, finding treasures, and trying to allot your time during the game so that you don't spend too much time in some scenarios.

Plot-wise, I am always sold on the idea of playing as one person or group, and then the focus ends up shifting towards a different main character. For this reason, I consider the Shadow of Death to be my favorite of the main episodes of HoM&M3. I mean, the first few campaigns all have one main hero each, but they then start coalescing, even the main villain you get to play as in his own campaign, and everyone gangs up on the guy. Restoration of Erathia provides some neat continuity to the canon storyline of HoM&M2, since Catherine is the wife of Roland and wants to find him, and then Armageddon's Blade serves as a more interesting continuity to Restoration of Erathia by then, and I love continuity a lot. Don't really care much for fighting necromancers a lot, but Restoration of Erathia provided a strange plot twist to it all. And then there's Chronicles, where while Tarnum is the only person you have as the main hero, his job class changes between campaigns, and the poor guy is looking towards just having a nice afterlife only to never get it. And honestly, going through all of these gameplay, expansion packs, and Chronicles, it can take a lot out of you, but I managed it. If you're a true die-hard for the series, this really ended up being the peak. 

A look back at: Heroes of Might & Magic II: The Succession Wars (+ The Price of Loyalty)

It's been almost two months. Yeah, it's somehow going slower once again, usually do to work commitments, but there's more to it for this installment. As expected, I went through HoM&M2, but I not only did it, I went through both main campaigns, Archibald and Roland. And this is the first time I actually did an expansion pack too, which consisted of four campaigns separate from the main game itself, yet with the same mechanics.

Mechanics-wise, HoM&M2 only really allows for more tweaking when it comes to totally new things. Now you have more skills, better use of army management, and a better magic system. Plus victory bonuses for taking specific paths. Things are a tad smaller this time around, which allows for more in terms of movement across a hex grid for battles, though regular navigation remains. When you factor in everything else, the second HoM&M really just plays like an improved version of the first. Maybe this is all I would be here for though. More "conquer everyone" missions. Though some with timers or specific characters that you need to keep alive. So they are improving in that regard while they keep the empire-building and other notable things intact.

While there probably isn't too much else to say at this point, it's really just a Heroes of Might & Magic-a-thon for me for the next couple of RPGs to check out. The biggest godsend this series has thus far is the ability to save at any time, as well as a flowchart that shows the branching paths. So having multiple saves on my file allows me to utilize things much better and make more interesting plans. I hear HoM&M3 is the most famous of the whole franchise, oddly enough, and now I wonder what's in store after all that strategy RPGing I took with this game. And there's even more expansion packs within it! This will take me quite a while.

A look back at: Heroes of Might & Magic: A Strategic Quest

Okay buckle up, you'll be seeing me trudging through this franchise next, doing a lot for it and everything. And let me tell you, there's loads of customization from the first game alone. I have always had mixed feelings about turn-based strategy RPGs in general, and I just know I'm going to be doing a TON of these games soon enough, most in the HoM&M franchise. My initial thoughts about these games were sour due to Warsong not living up to expectations, but other games like Nippon Ichi titles have made me feel slightly better. And so approaching HoM&M, I'm actually liking it, a lot actually.

For a DOS game, the graphics are surprisingly superb, the navigation is easy to follow and the combat is also easy enough to understand. The idea of "unit stacks" is nice and allows for space to be saved. Not to forget the usage of your towns, always a key component of a turn-based strategy game but it really comes to view with this game and possibly franchise as well. The towns are EVERYTHING for your created heroes, you need those unique constructions after donating enough gold to get the best of the best troops and spells, and by the end of the game those griffins, dragons, minotaurs, etc. all with their own strengths and weaknesses, become your bread and butter as you conquer everything.

Yeah, that's another interesting selling point. HoM&M actually gives you plenty of replay value, as you only have eight scenarios to do and the ultimate goal is really to "conquer everyone". In other words don't get conquered yourself either, because your generals need to keep their composure and win everything, cause if they lose, they desert your cause. Of course, other units can be persuaded in various ways to avert such a travesty, but you really want the main heroes to be properly managed and composed so that you conquer everything well. I also appreciate how the game allows you to avert a canon sequence by allowing you to play as Ironfist's rivals; though the story is supposed to be on Ironfist himself, playing as the others is another factor for the replay value. I do look forward to the rest of the series, and hopefully with better understanding of mechanics too.