Heroes Of Might and Magic 4? what the hell was that?

[MoNoXiDeBlue]

Hi,

I've played every Homm games except 4, why? Who knows, my questions are. Was the story line any good? Did the story line carry over into 5? and Why is Isabel such a freaking dork?

Regards.

-NoX

[BoardGuest808888]

Is story line any good ?

Yes in some case, but not in all.

Did the story carry to H V ?

No.

Why Isabel such dork ?

To make it all easier.

[Gaidal Cain]

Was the story line any good?

IMO, the H4 has some of the best stories of any heroes game. The stories in the expansions are more balnd, but standard H4 has a couple of excellent ones.

[arturchix]

Also I like the original H4 campaigns. Individually they are quite interesting, however they don't share one story (except the fact that the refugees are seeking a new life in this new world), and that's what I clearly didn't like. I mean, what it really so hard to put some references to other campaign events? In the expansions things went even worse - new continent, new heroes, new story.

[Akul]

Expansion stories suck, but the vanilla are... well excelent! You feel as if you are playing a game and reading a novel at the same time and it doesn't distrupt you

Does it carry to H5? Unfortunately not, but some fans are making H5 campaigns that continue the stor of H4.

If you get H4, I would recomend geting Equilibrius mod because it balances the game.

[Metathron]

Hi,

I've played every Homm games except 4, why? Who knows, my questions are. Was the story line any good? Did the story line carry over into 5? and Why is Isabel such a freaking dork?

Regards.

-NoX

Bottom line, assuming you are a fan of the series, you should try it out and see for yourself, but brace yourself because some of the game's concepts are very much different.

[ThunderTitan]

Also I like the original H4 campaigns. Individually they are quite interesting, however they don't share one story (except the fact that the refugees are seeking a new life in this new world), and that's what I clearly didn't like. I mean, what it really so hard to put some references to other campaign events? In the expansions things went even worse - new continent, new heroes, new story.

If they were smart the first expansion would have continued the stories with the heroes fighting eachother over something, like border skirmishes and stuff.

And there are some references to other campaigns, just nothing really eye-catching.

[Metathron]

I actually happen to like The Gathering Storm expansion, what with the new artifacts and unlikely skill combos (death+life, order+chaos). Winds of War...not so much.

[pepak]

Was the story line any good?

By far the best in all Heroes games, and one of the best in all strategic games.

[gravyluvr]

Each storyline has to do with each faction and by the time you have played a campaign you really understand the factions. HOMM5 abandoned all of the New World Computing storylines, which covered all the Might and Magic games and all the Heroes games other than the original.

[Willow]

These days it seems it's all about trying to make a game look pretty and "wow" in 3D and letting the gameplay slip along with a storyline. Also, the studios keep pushing for "something new". While I realise rehashing the same thing over and over again gets boring, a lot of older game ideas still have some life left in them and room for expansion.

In my opinion, I think Heroes IV would have been a much better game had they keep the factions as they were in Heroes III. I didn't like the merger of the Necropolis and the Inferno. What I do love about Heroes IV is the unique way of developing hero classes with the different skills (which was greatly improved by Equilibris) and the fact that heroes can be part of the army as well. Still, Heroes IV lacked a kind of ambience to it that I felt was part of Heroes III's success; I can't exactly put my finger on what it is, so let's call it the X Factor.

W

[ThunderTitan]

Still, Heroes IV lacked a kind of ambiance to it that I felt was part of Heroes III's success; I can't exactly put my finger on what it is, so let's call it the X Factor.

I believe it's called "being finished".

In my opinion, I think Heroes IV would have been a much better game had they keep the factions as they were in Heroes III. I didn't like the merger of the Necropolis and the Inferno.

They should have just left the demons out of it until the first expansion, where they could have introduced them as another might faction with some demonic powers.

[Metathron]

Liking or disliking the "infernopolis" is purely a matter of personal opinion, and I'm a little annoyed when some try to justify their disliking and pass it off as some sort of fact (not that I think anyone here has done that). I happen to think that the death/inferno combo works in this instance. I also like the H IV factions much better than the H III ones.

[ThunderTitan]

It's annoying in that Necromancy only works for the Undead side, as for some reason the Demons aren't really part of Death as much. And the Venom Spawn seems so out of place, it would have been better as a neutral death creature imo.

Love the rest of the H4 factions myself, that's why the "infernopolis" gets the short end of the stick from me.

[Willow]

I believe it's called "being finished".

Lol, well besides that. Like I said, I can't put my finger on it. Heroes III has a kind of old-world storybook charm to it that, while Heroes IV certainly has it to some degree, I find is not quite as prevalent in the latter. Then again, Heroes IV also has elements that I prefer to Heroes III.

In any case, I think that's probably a matter of personal opinion for anyone and it was only how the game impacted me. Other people would certainly feel different. Heroes III had been my favourite game for a long time until Heroes IV came around, which then took the top spot on my list.

I haven't tried Heroes V yet, so I've downloaded the demo and will try it this week. Somehow I doubt it will knock Heroes IV off the top spot for me, though.

They should have just left the demons out of it until the first expansion, where they could have introduced them as another might faction with some demonic powers.

Yes, I agree with that. Unfortunately the way the factions were designed (the five-faction magic wheel with might at the centre) doesn't seem to leave any room for another faction to be added.

W

[ThunderTitan]

Heroes III has a kind of old-world storybook charm to it that, while Heroes IV certainly has it to some degree, I find is not quite as prevalent in the latter.

Might be the isometric view + the shininess/glow everything had. But H2 had the most "old-world storybook charm" IMO.

Yes, I agree with that. Unfortunately the way the factions were designed (the five-faction magic wheel with might at the center) doesn't seem to leave any room for another faction to be added.

Only because they didn't think there was room for more then 1 might faction. Or even another corner to oppose Nature.... given enough time i'm sure they could have thought of something.

[gravyluvr]

Unfortunately the way the factions were designed (the five-faction magic wheel with might at the centre) doesn't seem to leave any room for another faction to be added.

W

I felt that the terrain based factions were getting a little quirky and I thought that the HOMM4 factions based on schools of magic and skills were a refreshing new approach.

Ultimately I think a lot of us here thought that HOMM4 had a lot of great possibilities and that had 3do had more resources or forethought they could have let NWC make it a "killer" game. Unfortunately 3do was in financial ruin and all of their last releases were more about making the next payroll instead of growing a gaming empire.

HOMM4 shipped incomplete with a broken AI - no new news there.

But if they had taken their time and put more resources into production we would not have a lot of these arguments - we'd be playing HOMM4's second expansion still.

HOMM4 had a great branch possibility.

First... Nature had no real polar opposite on the wheel like the others...

Life <> Death
Order <> Chaos
Nature <> ??? Here is where the demons go!

The first expansion could have satisfied both the fanbase and added an incredible storyline by re-splitting Death into the two distinct factions...

Death (opposite of Life)
Skellies and Zombies
Mummies and Ghosts
Vampire and Death Knight
Lich and Bone Dragons

Demons or The Unnatural (opposite of Nature)
Imps and Gogs
Cerberus and Demons
Efreeti and Gorgons
Devils and Pit Lords

The Pit Lords could have summoned the unnatural creatures.
Gorgons was a favorite of the Fortress and could have been written into the storyline to satisfy spurned Fortress fans.

In my "fantasy" storyline, the Efreeti would have fled the Chaos faction to return to it's unnatural brethren and would have been replaced by a new Chaos creature in the expansion - probably the Wyvern from HOMM3 to continue to reintroduce the lost Fortress Creatures.

The storyline could have easily used the Demonologist (Nature+Death) advanced race and they really could have rocked us by adding a sixth magic skill (Unnatural Magic) and could have introduced a fifth Might Skill.

In my "fantasy" storyline I think they could have appeased the fans of a darker HOMM by making the fifth might skill something like Oppression. It could have introduced endless odd and entertaining combinations of advanced skills.

In addition, by creating a sixth magic based factions, they would have opened door for the second expansion to the game... Who is Might's polar opposite? That's right... a return of sorts for a Conflux or All-Magic type of town. And they could have really expanded the horizons by finding an opposite for Oppression for the new Majestic faction.

I have a very hard time blaming anyone from NWC for the shortcomings of HOMM4 - it must have truly sucked to be an employee during 3do's last days - always rushed - no resources -unreal demands - no freedoms to develop. It kind of sucks to be stuck on sequels anyway since every fanboy (looks in mirror) has their own vision of the "perfect" game or progression.

I really wished that Ubisoft and Nival would have thought more about starting from the HOMM4 world instead of abandoning the world to a return of HOMM3 and even more-so about trying to create story-lines from the NWC series of M&M and HOMM instead of creating a new storyline.

(steps of soap box)

[ThunderTitan]

I agree with the Demons being the opposite of Nature, that would also leave room for the Fortress to return as the 2nd might town. Never did like the Conflux myself, a town full of Elementals just serves to make one elemental way more powerful then the other, which i don't really like and it reeks of racial unity (bad H5, bad). Plus, the Phoenix fits perfectly in a Nature town.

[gravyluvr]

I agree with the Demons being the opposite of Nature, that would also leave room for the Fortress to return as the 2nd might town. Never did like the Conflux myself, a town full of Elementals just serves to make one elemental way more powerful then the other, which i don't really like and it reeks of racial unity (bad H5, bad). Plus, the Phoenix fits perfectly in a Nature town.

I meant a totally new town... not the Conflux

Nature is a Rampart/Conflux merge
Sprite, Earth, Wind, Fire, Water and Phoenix from Conflux
Elves, Unicorn, The Tree, Gold Dragon from Rampart

I meant a new Town Type that was a polar opposite of Might.

Your heroes, like the might heroes, would only have one skill choice but it would be an anti-might skill - maybe something like the Plansewalker (which was a Conflux hero class - and a nod to Magic The Gathering).

In my "fantasy" world, the Planeswalker would have some pretty cool skills.

Planeswalking - A planeswalker uses teleportation to move around the adventure map. GM has no limitations. Basic can't move through objects and with each level-up you can start to ignore objects, creatures, etc. Also this could allow the planeswalker an ability to switch between underground and aboveground.

Mysticism - Gives the hero X spell points and increases spell point recovery by Y per day. X/Y = B-15/5 A-30/10 E-45/15 M-60/20 GM-80/40.

Linguisticism - Increases the effectiveness of all magic skills (B-20 A-40 E-60 M-80 GM-100) and stacks on the other magic skills. Master increases all current Magic Skills to the Expert Level and GM increases all magic skills to the Master Level (never decreases).

Convocation - The gamebreaker! The ability to gather (gate/port) troops to a hero (like a caravan) at a rate of B-30/day A-40/day E-50/day M-60/day GM-unlimited/day


The Mage Guild Spells... (just tossing some out there)
Sparkle
Dual Image
Cloaking/Invisibility
Dimension Door
Transfiguration
Mass Teleport!!! Entire army moves in combat
Sylex Blast

Creature Ideas...
Shadows
Sorceress - similar to the Evil Sorceress (in fact - could just be the same)

Whoever comes next could help with more creature ideas...

[MoNoXiDeBlue]

Although I've never claimed to be a "die hard fan" of the series I must admit that Homm4 is somewhat of a different experience than I anticipated, be that good or bad (it's all based upon personal opinion). Personally, I felt that Homm3+ the expansions were the best. One should keep in mind a couple of key points when sequels come along. 1. With technology always advancing it's always in the best interest of gamers to get the newest graphics. 2. New ideas are not always easy to come by when there's so many good ideas already out there, it's that extra effort to implement the new ideas while balancing the entire game. And finally 3. Not every sequel is going to be made by the original creators, as programmers, artist and directors leave the industry or move on to other games, the ball is handed to other companies such as Nival (HommV) and while I really enjoyed 5, I remember to keep in mind these aren't the same people that made 1-4. This doesn't apply to just the Homm series, but every series (exp. C&C). That's my two cents.

-NoX