Which game to play <tell me what you would do!>?

[Yskonyn]

Hi people!

I am a long time Heroes fan and bought the Heroes Complete box a while back. Due to work, moving home and whatnot I haven't been able to play much Heroes yet and today I decided to take the box out of the moving box, but opun opening the Heroes Complete box I was presented by a grave question;

Which game shall I play first?
What would you do?

To add some details about my 'heroes history';
-Had lots of fun playing III, IV and less so V (but that was due to performance issues, not gameplay because I never got to play decently).
-Never finished a single campaign in any of the titles. Mostly played downloaded maps in hotseat with a friend or with my girl, so all the stories are more or less fresh and new.

Of course this is a 'luxury problem' having all games, but still I would like to know what you would do!

[EvilNed]

Well, IMO, you've got three chocies:

- Heroes 1 and 2 are basicly the same game. Heroes 2 is just a souped up remake of Heroes 1.

- Again, Heroes 5 is mostly a remake of Heroes 3 and starts on a new story as well. After playing Heroes 5, I can't see myself going back to Heroes 3 anytime soon. I might give it a try, just because, but really. Heroes 5 is much more fun to play. At least for me. The world is more living.

- And then we have the odd one out. Heroes 4. I don't think you should start with this. I think you should play either Heroes 2 or Heroes 5. But you know just as well as I what's "new and different" with Heroes 4, so you can decide if you liked it enough to start with it.

Personally? I love Heroes 4 because it's got great atmosphere and it's very different from the others. So unlike Heroes 1,2,3 and 5 which are all essentially the same game, Heroes 4 is a different game. :p

If you want the story, Heroes 1-4 sort off "share" a continuous story, even if they all start over. But each of these games might refer back to the older games. Minor references, mostly, tho.

Heroes 5 is a new world and a new story.

What I would do? Well, being me, I'd probably install them all and then play a Custom game from each of them, in order. Just to get a feel for them all. Then do the campaign for the one I liked the most.

[gibby84]

All the heroes are good to start with in my opinion. If you want to start with a fresh storyline, go with Heroes II (the first one basically doesn't have the storyline), plus I think the second one is the best one.

[Fewtger]

That is, if 1 and 2 actually work. I've got the same box, but my computer wouldn't allow me to install neither 1 nor 2.

[EvilNed]

I got Heroes 2 working fine on a dual core with windows XP. So unless you're running vista, it shouldn't be a problem.

[Corlagon]

Heroes I-IV is a consistent storyline (but set over two worlds). You won't really understand it fully if you just play HoMM because Might and Magic 6-9 also fill gaps between the sequels and expansions.

Timeline chronology:

HoMM 1
HoMM 2
HoMM 3 Shadow of Death
MM6
HoMM 3 Restoration of Erathia
MM7
HoMM 3 Armageddon's Blade
MM8
HoMM 4
MM9 (concurrent with Heroes IV)

And the Heroes Chronicles also happen at varying times and tie up many loose ends. It's speculated but not proven that the Might and Magic novels (Dreamwright and Shadowsmith) are "distant future" sequels to HoMM 4.

So mostly agreed with EvilNed, though each game doesn't start up a new set of stories again with a loose canon, not more so than Warcraft at least.

[JackintheMox]

I may be biased <:) but I'd recommend HOMM 3. It is the game in the HOMM series that hooked me more so than any other game and I think it stands head and shoulders above 4 and 5. 2 is also an excellent game, so I would certainly recommend 2 or 3 as the first you play. If you do choose 3, be sure to check out the Wake of Gods add-on that adds even more flexibility and customization in the gameplay.

However, there certainly isn't a bad pick in the HOMM series!

[Yskonyn]

Thanks for the input people!
As I had anticipated; as many voices as many opinions.

I think I am going for Heroes II and work my way upwards in order.
IF I get them installed, however (see other thread).

[lotusreaver]

Are you asking which game to play first, or which game to complete first? If you're planning to complete the game (meaning finishing all the campaigns) I would probably start with HOMMIII, Armageddon's Blade, Shadow of Death, and then HOMM IV. HOMMII is charming and HOMMV is pretty. But I think the meat of the original storyline happens in HOMMIII and IV.

In terms of which game to play first, but not necessarily complete, I would recommend playing them in order from I to V. Mainly, this is because each game becomes more complex. So when you play I, you'll quickly figure out strategies with hiring heroes, building buildings, flagging mines, etc. By the time you move to II, you'll start to figure out more about resource management with respect to upgrades and also more advanced spell casting techniques. Then, add extra layers of complexity in III and IV.

[Qurqirish Dragon]

Well, IMO, you've got three chocies:

- Heroes 1 and 2 are basicly the same game. Heroes 2 is just a souped up remake of Heroes 1.

I must disagree with this. Heroes 1 had a completely different magic system from all the other heroes games. There is definitely a very different feel to this game from the others.

- Again, Heroes 5 is mostly a remake of Heroes 3 and starts on a new story as well. After playing Heroes 5, I can't see myself going back to Heroes 3 anytime soon. I might give it a try, just because, but really. Heroes 5 is much more fun to play. At least for me. The world is more living.

Although H5 is closer to H3 than than H2 is to H1, I still wouldn't call it a remake. The completely revamped skill system makes it play very differently - especially since it is very rare that you will max out your skills (which takes 34 skill boosts, in general, as opposed to only 22 in H3), so even when you have all your primary skills, it is sometimes a difficult decision which to improve.

- And then we have the odd one out. Heroes 4. I don't think you should start with this. I think you should play either Heroes 2 or Heroes 5. But you know just as well as I what's "new and different" with Heroes 4, so you can decide if you liked it enough to start with it.

Actually, I would suggest that you treat H4 as a separate game, as far as style is concerned. I played it after H5 (since I didn't have a system that could run it when it was new, and I couldn't find it anywhere once I had a computer that could run it). I had a thread where I discussed my impressions when playing it. (warning: spoilers!)
http://www.celestialheavens.com/forums/ ... php?t=6266

What I would do? Well, being me, I'd probably install them all and then play a Custom game from each of them, in order. Just to get a feel for them all. Then do the campaign for the one I liked the most.

I definitely agree with this. each game has its own pluses and minuses, relative to the others. The biggest difference is between H4 and the others, so you may want to play H4 after H5 on the initial play through (when getting the feel, so you don't confuse yourself), but if you get the hang of it quickly, you may want to try it in order, to get some variety in style.

[GreatEmerald]

If you want to play campaigns and know more about the history, then use Corlagon's list.
If you want to have one game to play for a long while, then use EvilNed's suggestion about playing one map in each game, then choose what you liked the most.
If you want to play all of them and not get bored, do the same, just the opposite - play what you liked the least first, then move on to what you liked more (this way there is always hope for a "brighter future" ).
If you played the main Might and Magic series games and liked them, go with HoMM4, because they're similar.

[TheUndeadKing]

If I were you, I would only stick with HoMM3 and HoMM4. Plus, you can get plenty of good custom maps for these games.

HoMM2 is a GREAT game and considered the best game in the series, but to be brutally honest, it'll probably be "too old to be enjoyable" for a newcomer like you. Same goes for HoMM1.

HoMM5? I haven't touched that piece of software for two years.

[Shyranis]

Homm1 has a "storybook" type of feel to it. The characters, while not maybe as colourful or well animated as any of the sequels, are very large and stylistic (particularly in battle). Homm1 also has a magic system more similar to D&D (memorizing spells instead of MP).

[ByteBandit]

And add another HoMM game to you list. Download WoG for H3 and you should become hooked with this instantly. It doubles the volume of H3!

[GreatEmerald]

And add another HoMM game to you list. Download WoG for H3 and you should become hooked with this instantly. It doubles the volume of H3!

Or you will look at the models, icons and additions, think "oh my gosh, who designed this?!" and uninstall it. At least that was my case. It's not a bad mod, but why, oh why did they have to replace the nice icons for skills with their own?!

[Zamolxis]

Or you will look at the models, icons and additions, think "oh my gosh, who designed this?!" and uninstall it. At least that was my case. It's not a bad mod, but why, oh why did they have to replace the nice icons for skills with their own?!

Is that why you uninstalled WoG?

j/k - to be honest, I asked myself the same question for about 2 seconds; but then I moved on and enjoyed the great parts of the mod (new creatures, artifacts, no more crappy skills etc).

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@Yskonyn: My advise is to try each of them for about a week. And at the end of each week try to force yourself to switch to another one. If you'll manage to do that for 5 weeks, you'll be able to tell which one you like most. If one of them will get you hooked so much that you won't feel like giving the others a try yet - even better. It means you discovered a game you really love. So until you'll get bored of it, no need to even check if one of the others is better or not.

In spite of what was said above, I believe each of the 5 has its originality. They all have their fans, which proves each of them appeals to (slightly) different tastes. Those who say X was just a (better/worse) copy of Y, didn't play both of them enough to remember the big differences. As Qurqirish Dragon said, H1 had a totally different magic system then all the others, so it's not like you can so easily jump to H2; and for a H3 fan, no way is H5 just a 3D remake with a better skill system (for me the amount of improvements is insignificant as compared to the amount of good things in H3 that got lost...). But that's all just a matter of taste and you'll have to try them all to see what you like best.

[Salamandre]

Emerald, this is so plain wrong...WoG is so versatile, so unlimited, so...everything you need. What's wrong with its creatures?



It seems you are way out of date and running away from progress :

[theLuckyDragon]

He didn't say creatures, he said skill icons.

[Salamandre]

No skill icons were replaced, or maybe I am blind. What icons?

[GreatEmerald]

Salamandre, the creatures that I had in that WoG version were only pallete swaps of all 7th level creatures and some others.
And I'm talking about primary skill icons, not secondary.
And overall WoG feels far from HoMM3. It does have nice additions, and a good configuration tool, but the stock HoMM3 is still good enough.

I remember a battle against an enemy that had a strong emissary, with an artifact that heals all of its HP each turn. That was a pain, even with all my troops gathered around it, I couldn't hit him enough to kill it in 1 turn. The only option was to run away from a unit that doesn't even have an attack... Although after like 20 rounds I got lucky and it went down. Creature skills and expreiance are very wrong, some creatures get skills that they shouldn't ever have...