The Ubisoft Era

[XEL II]

If you would like to take a look at the original page visit this link:
https://www.celestialheavens.com/776

[XEL II]

>One of the hard decisions Ubisoft had to take was putting aside the old universe for a new setting: the world of Ashan<



...this was also one of their most nonsensical decisions: to scrap excellent original universe and replace it with crappy half-assed Ashan, which lore is mostly based on aspects stolen from WarCraft and Disciples universes. Great job, Ubi, great job =\



Especially considering that they were ignorant to the core Might and Magic series. They were forming their opinion on MM lore only from HoMM campaigns, and decided that MM had "no strong connection between the games", all the while ignoring NINE games from core RPG series, which formed solid lore background of the old universe.



Heck, they didn't even know the stoyline well and called Enroth, Antagarich, Jadame and Chedian continents of the same world... practically in the same sentence where they accused the old universe for "not having strong lore".



Screw Ubi for what they've done to MM franchise. The only thing I expect from Heroes VI is the connection to the old universe repeatedly proposed by Marzhin. And please, don't get LotA involved: it's a great campaign on its own, but it would've been MUCH better to reconcile Ashan with the canonical MM univere from NWC, and LotA is fanon, after all. II
Edited on Fri, Apr 29 2011, 13:11 by XEL II

[Angelspit]

Links are broken at the bottom of the article.

[HenL]

Just a minor quibble: At least one of the CoH screens(the leftmost) is from an unfinished build. The castle map is a placeholder.

[Kalah]

Links are broken at the bottom of the article.

No, they're not. They never were, you hear me?

[DragonSire]

I am really surprised that H5 was the best selling. Must have been in Europe. Cause nobody here in NA knows about it. :/

And that bit about JVC turning down the lead just broke my heart. I think that is where it all went wrong. I had so much respect for JVC, now my heart is bleeding.

[MMXAlamar]

I think the transition to Ashan could be canonized by the people of Ashan having no knowledge of the Ancients or the Kreegan, and the Ancients completely losing contact with that world. Like it or not, Ashan is a planet in the Might & Magic Universe. Treating the Dragons of Order and Chaos as metaphors for the war between the Ancients and the Creators could verify that Ashan is a planet in the old universe, yet the true origins of Ashan have been lost to time...and product sales.

[Pitsu]

And that bit about JVC turning down the lead just broke my heart. I think that is where it all went wrong. I had so much respect for JVC, now my heart is bleeding.

We do not know much about the offers. It may be that Ubi set conditions that were not acceptable. We do know that it was more than only JVC who was contacted, and only the musicans ended up with a deal with Ubi.

[Avonu]

>>>One of the hard decisions Ubisoft had to take was putting aside the old universe for a new setting: the world of Ashan

I know that Marzhin can't put any bad word about company who hire him, but at least don't excuse developers laziness to play previous games. ;P
Also, in one of interviews they claimed that just don't like previous universe sci-fi elements.


>>>Ashan offered its own background and flavor while staying true to the pillars of what made Might & Magic unique and compelling: its factions, rich bestiary, epic storylines and enchanted atmosphere.

You forgot one important pillar for MM universe (same as in Wizardry series) which was scrapped.


>>>Heroes V ushered in a return to the classic gameplay of Heroes III, with such new ideas as faction abilities, a new skill system and several new creatures.

Faction abilities were already in HoMM1: knight had better morale, brabarian pathfinding, sorceress navigation and warlock scouting. In HoMM2 these skills were official added as secondary starting skills. So this feature is no new at all.
This new skill system partialy was in HoMMIV - one general skill and 3 secondary ones (known as abilities in HV). So this idea is not new also.


>>>Heroes V became the highest-selling Might & Magic title of all time
Numbers please. Best selling in what time? Premiere day/month or the most copies over the time (which I somehow doubt)?
And where? In France, EU, all over the world?
This sentence for me seems to be directly insinuate by Ubisoft Marketing Dept. then to be actual status.

[Tale]

DragonSire: "I am really surprised that H5 was the best selling. Must have been in Europe. Cause nobody here in NA knows about it. :/"



Avonu: ">>>Heroes V became the highest-selling Might & Magic title of all time

Numbers please. Best selling in what time? Premiere day/month or the most copies over the time (which I somehow doubt)?

And where? In France, EU, all over the world?

This sentence for me seems to be directly insinuate by Ubisoft Marketing Dept. then to be actual status."



Is it really THAT surprising to you both? Consider: Heroes V got great reviews in Europe and decent reviews in North America. MetaCritic still gives Heroes V a 77 aggregated review total. Moreover, as posted on this site by Angelspit, in the holiday season of 2006, when Heroes 5 came out, UbiSoft claimed that they sold a combined 1.9 million units of Red Steel, Heroes 5, and Dark Messiah, which apparently accounted for a good number of their sales and helped lead them to become the second independent publisher in Europe and 5th in the US. Even if Red Steel sold a million copies, and Heroes 5 and Dark Messiah split the remainder, that makes it 450,000 in that holiday season alone - that is almost as much as heroes 3 sold, and doesn't count the remaining 5 years. That also doesn't count the expansions.



About that whole North America thing: GameSpot reported that, for the week of 28 May to 3 June 2006, Heroes 5 was the fourth best selling PC game in North America while the limited edition version was the tenth best selling PC game. UbiSoft isn't making up numbers. Heroes 5 sold very well. It was a good game; it was just stupidly buggy initially and had miserable voice acting overall.
Edited on Sat, Apr 30 2011, 09:02 by Tale

[Corlagon]

Unfortunately this article is more "corporate" than the others. I don't think the claim about H5's sales is all that far-fetched, though. It was promoted very well indeed (sadly unlike its sequel has been, so far ).

[Kalah]

I don't think it is... While all the articles contain the links to Steam and GoG at the bottom, the focus of the content is plainly on the history of the series. There is no mention of whether the games are actually any good, and information such as sales figures and actual contents is a needs must in such an article.

[XEL II]

>You forgot one important pillar for MM universe (same as in Wizardry series) which was scrapped.<



Sure they don't mention one of Ubi's greatest foul ups of all time This article was written under the orders from Ubi.
Edited on Sat, Apr 30 2011, 15:14 by Kalah

[MMXAlamar]

Clash of Heroes looks retarded...And Heroes Kingdoms has potential, but the management is complete ****. They only have ONE Ubi employee moderating the whole damn game. There are many problems that need to be solved that require more help!

[XEL II]

Clash of Heroes looks retarded

Indeed.

Ubi, you know what? If you want to make an anime-ish title in your franchise, just make a freaking anime based on that franchise! Just look at Final Fantasy.

[Dalai]

Ashan was the brainchild of novelist Richard Dansky and producer Erwan Le Breton. Like its predecessors Varn, Terra and Enroth, Ashan offered its own background and flavor while staying true to the pillars of what made Might & Magic unique and compelling: its factions, rich bestiary, epic storylines and enchanted atmosphere.

Oo-oo-ops! What a shame!

Screw Ubi for what they've done to MM franchise. The only thing I expect from Heroes VI is the connection to the old universe repeatedly proposed by Marzhin.

They own it, so you'll probably have to content yourself with "helm of Crag-Hack" and "Sandro's shinbone".

[MMXAlamar]

Well at least there are fan projects to continue the Old Universe.

[hellegennes]

Scrapping the old universe was not much of a choice for UBI. They had to do it, or else spend a ridiculous amount of time researching stuff about the old universe. This is much time and money spent on something the fans would probably accuse them later, saying things like that they are not true to the old universe or misinterpreted this and that or that it has continuity errors. If they had JVC, things would be different. I understand this decision but the real problems lies with what they did with the new world, which in many fans' opinion is not interesting enough or complicated in a bad way and certainly is not as original as the old universe was.
Edited on Sun, May 01 2011, 03:30 by hellegennes

[Dalai]

Scrapping the old universe was not much of a choice for UBI.

Yes, it was.

They had to do it, or else spend a ridiculous amount of time researching stuff about the old universe.

Great point! Next time they hire a new guy to create a campaign they should scrap this universe too. And if he fails his period of probation - yep, you guessed it! Scrap that new universe and create next one. So the next guy does not "waste" his "precious" time

I thought that they are being paid to know at least something about their immediate work. Preferably more than just something, it's (was?) a triple-A project after all

This is much time and money spent on something

They purchased HoMM franchise, then they threw away all the lore, so there is only name left (the "idea" of the game can not be protected by copyright). Now they threw away the name too. Do you really see the efficiency in their money spending? I wonder how they explain it to shareholders? "M-m-m, it was a bad and weak franchise, we had to do everything from scratch..."

If they did not purchase the HoMM franchise and just tried to create a HoMM-similar game - they would probably be in the exact same position today, but $1,3 Mil richer. Frankly, I would be happier too.

I understand this decision but the real problems lies with what they did with the new world, which in many fans' opinion is not interesting enough or complicated in a bad way and certainly is not as original as the old universe was.

How can they expect to create something original if they throw away HoMM stuff and borrow stuff from wherever possible, just whatever they take into their heads?

[XEL II]

The franchise is actually MM, HoMM is a part of it. And they could have very well kept the old universe. Of course, they are not NWC, who created it, but if they did some research (played the actual games, for crying out loud), they could have created a perfectly authentic storuline.

Not to mention that the didn't have to create only HoMM V, they could also make MM X. Instead, they created shallow substitute titles like DMoMM and Clash of Heroes =\