Heroes of Might and Magic

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Up until recently I have spent quite some time playing Heroes 3. I also had the 2 expansion packs Armageddons Blade and Shadows of Death. I found the game to be well balanced, and enjoyed playing using the random map generator. With this you could almost guarantee a different experience every time you played. I even downloaded the wrath of gods mod which was a bit of a disappointment.
As you may imagine, I was like a child awaiting christmas during the lead up to the launch of heroes 4. And what a complete pile of **** that was. In an effort to move my gaming into the 21st century I have looked around for a similar game - I have tried etherlords and some RTS type games such as warcraft 3. These really did'nt hit the mark for me as RTS games are a bit hectic for my tastes. I could really do with a successor to this masterpiece anyone got any suggestions?

 

I have found Disciples 2 a whole lot better than HoMM -the artwork and general feeling is to my tastes, and it's pretty much balanced too. It might be a bit basic, in the software side, but you should give it a try.

 

Thanks for your response Virne - I have tried Disciples 2 and did enjoy it until I had completed it. As you stated it is rather basic and I found the replay value to be poor. The art work was great although there was probably only about 20 frames of animation for each character. But I think it was the replay value and 100s of possibilities that made heroes 3 stand out for me - I just can't seem to find anything to match the experience.

 

Have you tryed Cossacks?
Although its probably best to wait for the release of Cossacks 2.

 

Thanks for your feedback - I have played cossacks and did enjoy it - however I would prefer something in the fantasy genre. Although this was a good game in its own right similar to medieval total war. I am probably being just being too fussy - perhaps this everquest RTS (is it Lords of Everquest?)game that has been brought out recently, anybody played this? or Lords of the realm 3?

 

There is a Lord of the Rings RTS/RPG coming out soon...I think it's called Middle Earth War, or something like that.

It is being highly touted as perhaps one of the games of the year.

 

@ TDO

Have you tried the new scenarios available at their homesite? (Or the one at my own? ) They should give some replay value, if that is what you are seeking.

 

I thought that Lord of the rings game was had been released already? although it would'nt surprise me if it had slipped - it will be interesting to see of they have made the best of the license.

Virne - cheers I'll check this scenario out, as long as I have still got the CD's for disciples.

 

Ever play Warlords 3? not the RTS, but the turnbased one. A little old but still fun.

I really like Kohan, too. It's an RTS at a much more mellow pace. I certainly replayed it a bunch...I'd love to get some multiplayer going with that sometime...

 

The Lord of the rings game is called 'The Battle for Middle Earth' and it's not out yet AFAIK.

 

There was a LotR RTS game released back in November or December, but it basically sucked. Nothing more than C&C with Middle Earth characters.

The one Lazy mentioned is the one I was speaking of. I think it comes out in May.

 

Lords of Everquest is crap. As for LoR3, it's not exactly fantasy.

HoMM is probably the best "classical fantasy" strategy game available. Shame that 3do is defunct.

I hear that Spellforce is a fun game.

 

'The Lord of the Rings: War of the Ring' is the RTS, using the Battle Realms engine, that Hacken Slash is reffering to. It's made by the company who got the rights to the Lotr books, whereas EA have the rights to the Lotr films (the new ones, AFAIK no-one has the rights to the original - which sucked lol).

Due to not being able to use the films, which target a wider audience, in the game, as well as the fact that the battle realms engine probably wasn't the best choice the game didn't sell very well.

'Battle for middle earth' on the other hand looks to be very promising, not least because using the C&C generals engine it looks like they will be able to deliver upon 'five hundred+ units on screen, fighting, at one time'. Sweeeet!

 

Warlords III: Darklords Rising is excellent.

Lords of Magic:SE is turn-based exploration + real time & Pause/issue orders combat and is pretty decent(though would be better if it were simply turn based combat).

Warlords Battlecry II(I haven't tried 3 yet) is good. It is real time but the "pause and issue orders" feature makes it manageable.

Age of WOnders is a good turn based fantasy strat'(I have not played AoW 2 yet but it has gotten good reviews...particularly the "Shadowmagic" expansion) but not as good as HoMM 3 + expansions.

Sadly the only fantasy strats that will even run on modern rigs which are comparable to H3 in quality is Warlords IILR. The otheres mentioned are good but not "One more turn" good.

 

I own. Medieval Total War. Age of Empires. Cossacks.

Any new RTS will need to be perfection for me to spend money on it when I have those 3 sitting on the shelf.

 

Looks like I will have to wait for this Lords of the Ring game then.

 

Wait for Heroes of Might and Magic V

 

It's not made by the same people that made the original, though.

 

True enough but rumour has it that both Jon van Caneghem and Rob King are or will be involved.

 

If you want fanstasy strategy games, try Age of Wonders II shadow magic, it's a stand alone expansion, and it's very entertaining. It has 15 races and they are all pretty different. The best feature is the random scenario generator, which offers infinite replay value. I even got it for 20 bucks from EB world.