Fabrice Q&A (E3)

[Fnord]

I appreciate Fabrice taking the time to answer, even if he was unable to answer a lot of the questions at this time (for one reason or another) but I'm a bit disappointed with his answer about the random map generator.



I'm fairly certain that the only answer he gave before was the following:

"Random map generator : I'd like to have that. I'll keep you posted."



This tells us that he would like to have it but it doesn't tell us if the game will actually include one or not. I'm sure the Heroes IV crew at NWC would have liked to have a random map generator too, but nevertheless, they weren't able to include one (apparently due to the complexity), so it's a very real concern whether or not H5 will indeed end up with an RMG or not.



And Frabrice did say he would keep us posted, yet we haven't heard any more about it.



In Heroes 1, there was no RMG and not even a map editor until the Windows release. Heroes 2 came with a map editor and I believe one of the patches added a basic random map generator, but it wasn't that great. Heroes 3 included an even better map editor but didn't get an RMG until the first expansion, but although not perfect, it was still pretty incredible. Heroes 4 had a map editor that, while having lots of options plus scripting capability, was inferior to H3 editor in terms of user-friendliness and overall ease of use. And of course, no RMG was ever developed for H4. If Heroes 5 can include a good random generator in the intitial release that would be excellent, but if not, including one in the first expansion would still acceptable.



But we really would like to know for sure what's being planned and worked on.

[HellFast]

thanks a lot for asking my question



*MN: What about the underground? (HellFast)



*FC: I think there will be one.



there will be one.... i'm really happy it's better than none lol



and i'm really happy too for the whole will be more similiar to H3 than H4



for me, making some steps backward is necessary especially when before you there's a pit !!! H4 is a Pit !



very good job ! and super interview

thanks

[Sermil]

>"MN: What are the planned system requirements? (Moonman)

>

>FC: Nothing settled yet, but we're targeting what was considered an

>average system around Christmas 2003."

>

>Whow. Is't that too low? They are getting close to disappointing

>another cathegory of gamers here: the maniacs that always have

>the latest processor and video card, just to play the latest games,

>and who will be maybe disappointed with a game that asks so less...



Actually, "minspec system = good system 2 Christmases ago" is pretty standard except for the hardcore shooters. Also, one big advantage of 3D rendering is that they can probably downgrade the visuals on minspec systems (making textures smaller, reducing polygons, cutting fluff particle systems, removing fluff objects, turning off fancy water shaders, whatever), while keeping the eyecandy for the high-end folks. Easier to do in 3D than in 2D, from what I've seen. So it'll probably be pretty enough on the hardcore people's systems.

[tetsumonkai]

hehe thats one big piece of crap

nothing intresting here at all...i dont even see the reason for this interview anymore ;P

[midnight]

hero specialties back, yay!



Am I alone in saying I like the idea of heroes doing the work, not cheap pixies? Mule heroes fine by me. Next question would be if the logistics of the hero depends on movement points for creatures carried by it.



So far Ubi seems to have made the right decisions IMO.



I like the idea of flexible sized battle maps, means the small battles are quick, but big ones have plenty of room to build up the battle and have a chance to use some magic.



If I made an RMG I'd release in 1st expansion to make sure it sells. Cant just have a few new maps in an expansion pack.

[Vitirr]

I wouldn't be so sure about heroes specialities. The answer wasn't very specific and later he said nothing about heroes being unique. Perhaps he didn't undertand the question with the meaning of H3 like specialities but something else.



The idea of flexible battlemap size keep scarnig me unless the small ones will only appear when one side is far superior than the other and it takes into consideration the differece of shooters, flyers and walkers.

[vaudy]

"They are getting close to disappointing another cathegory of gamers here: the maniacs that always have the latest processor and video card, just to play the latest games, and who will be maybe disappointed with a game that asks so less..."



Okay, but what about the people who love Heroes but can't afford the latest and the best? We want to play, too, which, besides what Sermil said, is a good reason to keep the minimum req's a little lower.

[dragonn]

"Okay, but what about the people who love Heroes but can't afford the latest and the best?"

Yeah and don't forget that the power of Heroes was not it's grapchics but it's gameplay. The grapchic that is shown on the screenshots suits me very well and looks like it won't have big requirements...



I think that a lot of questions were not answered, and it bothers me why Ubisoft still tells us about so few things. I waited so long for the E3 and I we didn't get much information from it.



I still hope there will be caravans, though...



And hurray for Poland! I'm very glad that we have been noticed...

[Marcus333]

What's the difference between open and closed BETAs?

[Qurqirish Dragon]

Not an overly large amount of new info.Mostly re-enforcing the ideas we already had. I am very happy about the minspec, though. I got my new computer in october 2004, so if the minspec is geared towards end-of-2003, I should be able to enjoy a lot of the special features. Also, if they overrun the minspec, I can still play :-)



And about etas- a closed beta is done in-house, or with a small outside group. An open beta is usually spread to a larger test audience, and not exclusively in-house.

[CloudRiderX]

Well....this is strange. No creatures without heroes. Thats dissappointing. That was one of my favorite features of H4. Now we'll have to spend money to recruit heroes without armies to send them out to get resources. But that's funny. I thought I saw one of the screenshots with an Imp or something right next to a hero on a horse. It couldn't be a Demon hero, way too small, but its possible they were going to but then dropped the idea.

I also kinda wish they would continue the storyline, because if they don't, the Heroes series will turn into more of a Final Fantasy series. As much as I like Final Fantasy, I don't want Heroes to have a completely different story every time. I enjoy following and playing the story as it moves.

[gedassan]

I like the concept that creatures must travel with heroes. It was a no-brainer to send out several of your smallest creatures to gather resources in HOMM IV. While now you'll have to actually make decisions whether to hire a hero or save for that next building. Good gameplay design, I think.



About hero specialties, Fabrice said they are in. However, as I understood it, heroes of the same class may be equal in their starting stats (attack, defense etc or whatever they are using in this sequel) and starting skills. So Crag Hack - specialty offense, but like all barbarians, he may have basic offense and basic pathfinding as starting skills, 4 attack, 0 defense etc. Surely Crag Hack will make it to HOMM V:)

[CloudRiderX]

If it was up to me, I'd keep most of the heroes. It gives you confidence when you can use a hero you've seen before and like. But if their are no heroes from the previous games, I'm losing excitement. If Crag Hack makes it, shouldn't Gelu too?

[dragonn]

No doubt, to make Heroes V a worthy sequel of the series the story must at least be connected in some way to the previous games. Personally I hope that each hero will have his unique abilities like in Heroes III, not like in Heroes IV were every hero from the same class had the same abilities (only bio and portrait were diffrent), because it was one of the most disapointing thing in the game.

[CloudRiderX]

Gedassan: But also, what's the point of sending out a hero, for 2500 gold, to get killed after 2 turns by something, when you could send out an Peasant or Imp for 25 Gold, who travel twice as fast(which means more resources) and if they get killed, no one cares. I understand where you're coming from, because that was the exact problem I had when I first played Heroes games. I would only have one hero, because I wanted to advance in my town rather then advance on the field. This resulted in a loss both ways. If I chose not to hire a hero continually, others discover more of the map and get more resources. If I continually chose to hire a hero instead, I would have less monsters, upgrades, and town buildings. Now I hire many heroes and just do my best, and its worked well, but H4s way of monsters out of hero armies let you take a breath once in a while. Maybe for V, they should make Leadership bonuses or something, like in Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth. It worked like this. When you had a hero near or in a group of allies, it gave them bonus Health, Attack, Defense, everything. You could really see a diference too.

[Blue_Camel]

"In Heroes IV, creatures CAN grab resources just lying around the adventure map; they just cannot flag any of the resource generators (mines, sawmills, ore pits, etc.) I was hoping that creatures would still be able to scout out the adventure map in Heroes V. It's amazing how much one little sprite can accomplish."



this is exactly why they are doing the right thing in making it so that creatures cannot travel without a hero. As someone said before, it takes strategy to decide whether or not to spend the extra money on another scouting hero to go get some loose resources .. however if creatures can travel on their own.. then you just brainlessly send out 1 sprite to pick it up.. no strategy there. Also for scouting and other things in general, you once again have to decide how many heroes to recruit.. that decision is gone when creatures can move on their own.



Good call, Muaddib and development team.

[george137]

I agree blue camel but what if the hero just had a really rough battle and needs extra creatures. The creatures could simply go to the hero. If the closest town is really far away then you could be able to get extra units two times faste.

[Breza]

Will boarding a boat still take up a whole day of movement like on other games? Or will it just deplete some of your movement?