H5 Deconstructed Continues

[Angelspit]

<img src="/https://www.celestialheavens.com/homm5/ ... losion.jpg" align=right vspace=10 hspace=10>In case you are stuck at work or home alone on a Friday night, we have a little diversion for you. The <a href="/https://www.celestialheavens.com/689">second part of Heroes V, Deconstructed</a> is now online. Picking up where the discussion about graphics ended, Corribus tells us why he felt graphics impede gameplay. He also talks about music, sound effects and those infamous cut scenes. Please join the discussions.



The next part of the series will be up on Monday.

If you would like to take a look at the original page visit this link:
https://www.celestialheavens.com/689

[PhoenixReborn]

Quick responses: 1. Yes the cutscenes are horrible. 2. There is a cinematic camera button to check in the game options. If you check it off the game will occasionally give you a close up of a death animation or a shot and then pop out to the overhead view.



I find the starting view, one mouse wheel roll in to be just right. You can see everything on the battlefield, but your a little closer than the default.

[Avalon-Eternal]

No I personally am not keen on the cut scenes. Just too corny. Give me my H4 text boxes.



Graphics... I like them, but then I find that I don't miss them when playing H3 or H4. And it's much easier to play H3 and 4 because the graphics don't slow it down, performance and vexing wise.



Death animations own though Great article by the way.
Edited on Fri, May 25 2007, 12:39 by Avalon-Eternal

[Corribus]

Thanks for the tip, Phoenix. I will try it. I am *still* trying to figure out what cues the music go by. Is the music related to faction? The music I hear seems to be independent of the terrain, which is a mistake IMO. I loved in H2 walking into snow terrain and hearing that wintery melody. Plus it broke up the music and made it less repetitive. If the music goes by faction, then you hear the same music over and over and over, and that gets very monotonous.

[theGryphon]

Music is not changing by terrain, but you will hear the thread mill or fighting roosters if you go by them. You're right that it gets monotonous after some time...



Don't get me started with cutscenes... And the feeling that cutscenes get better into the Inferno campaign is because they are more like cinematics but not stupid ventriloquist dialogs with ridiculous spell casting

[Corribus]

@The Gryphon

Maybe since Agrael has a helmet, the fact that his lips don't move when he talks isn't as distracting?

[Kareeah Indaga]

Err, "CATHERINE will raise her sword and shout something"?



On topic, I thought Agrael's voice wasn't bad, but I agree it doesn't fit; it really clashed in (you got to the second campaign, right? So this won't be a spoiler for you then) the first cutscene he appeared in, the one where he more or less got down on one knee and proposed to Isabel. That is not an ideal voice type for revealing one's feelings to the object of one's affections. Real life people may not have a choice in how they sound, but Nival did and it was a lousy one, though it might have worked out better if that wasn't the first time we heard from him. *grumble grumble*



Biara's voice just struck me as too blalant.

[Corribus]

I don't have anything against the voice, or even the way the lines were read. So, I don't criticize the voice actor. But, the voice just doesn't fit the part, IMO.

[winterfate]

Err, "CATHERINE will raise her sword and shout something"?

On topic, I thought Agrael's voice wasn't bad, but I agree it doesn't fit; it really clashed in (you got to the second campaign, right? So this won't be a spoiler for you then) the first cutscene he appeared in, the one where he more or less got down on one knee and proposed to Isabel. That is not an ideal voice type for revealing one's feelings to the object of one's affections. Real life people may not have a choice in how they sound, but Nival did and it was a lousy one, though it might have worked out better if that wasn't the first time we heard from him. *grumble grumble*

Biara's voice just struck me as too blalant.

Yeah and their lips don't move at all...
How can they talk without moving their lips?

Most of the characters in that game (at least in the original version) have very stereotypical personalities, IMO.

Besides, love that trascends boundaries is a clichéd concept in games...
Not that it doesn't happen in real life but...

I'm starting to rant...I'll stop.

[Elvin]

About the camera I initially found it annoying to navigate but now it's like a second nature to me. Try holding ctrl and rotating with the arrow keys, it's easier. What I still hate is how the underground messes with the visitable locations...Thank goodness there is the option for closeups, the death animations are just sweet!



Music is indeed a bit underwhelming and there are few memorable tracks. I did love H2 music but then again I also enjoyed the third part's. Different and not as lively but very matching I'd say. H4 also had some nice ones but the battle tracks weren't to my liking.



As for the voices I disagree about Agrael. If you have heard what Tieru said in the hall of heroes then you know that he isn't an actual demon. The bitter yet determined style of his voice fits his character. Zehir and Findan's voices aren't bad either. Markal's is just great as you will soon find out.



The cutscenes are plain bad for various reasons. One is the random casting during conversations that is just killing me and did not made it to HoF thankfully. Another is that there is no action in them. The characters stand right there stiff talking so the only solution is to throw in random animations The shots themselves could be from a better angle most of the time or have something else to spice them up. And when there are also units in them they move and act in clone formations as if...Don't worry, after haven things look better



In HoF the quality increases and there is lip synching as well.

[MistWeaver]

> That was pretty cool. Sadly, the in-game cut-scenes

> are worse. Much worse.



Well, and what did you expect ? Intro&Outro movies are rendered CG-cinematics, probably done not by Nival (outsorced)

While in-game cut-scences are based on H5 game 3d engine, with all following restrictions.

[Corribus]

Just FYI, this article was written a little while ago, so I am actually on the necro campaign right now. I agree, Markal's voice is much better, but the cut-scenes aren't. You hit, though, Elvin. The biggest problem is that they don't do anything but talk! Oh well, I'd be disappointed, but HoMM games have never had great cut-scenes.

[Caradoc]

I had a major rush when I finally got a sound card that played H2's music on 'Operatic' . I was so inspired that I made a map that used a different music setting in each region.



The H5 music is OK, but having heard each segment so many times, I'm really sick of it. Wouldn't it be nice if Nival gave us a new soundtrack in one of the expansions? Or maybe if some musically inclined modder were to take up the cause...

[Corribus]

Wasn't that great when the H2 expansion had a whole new soundtrack? And it was just as good as the original!

Maybe some modder would put the H2 soundtrack into H5.

[Telumehtar]

sorry for th off-topic post, there's a 404 message for "Battle´s land" map didn't know where I'm supposed to report it

[Saturas]

What really annoys me is that all heroes from each faction(except a few campaign heroes) are same, only the portrait is different. Oh well, you can't see the faces through helmet, but not all the heroes have helmets. They have the same animation in battle and same picture in the hero stats menu so, even though we have female wizard Jhora and the old wizard Razzak, they have same animations in battle, adventure map and stats menu.

[-thing]

Yay! Discussion about game music! I really liked the way H3's music was composed, but the arrangement sucked, being mostly made with synths opposed to the orchesteral tracks of H2. Nowadays most videogames only have their music in the background, secondary to the visuals, so it tends to be something that goes in one ear and out the other. After finishing the campaigns i turned the sounds and music off and put something playing in my stereos or iTunes instead. IMO the only thing worth hearing in H5 is the ridiculous voice acting. BTW will the next installment discuss the cliché-filled mess that some people call the plot?

[kingcranium14]

Graphics - They're fancy, but they get in the way. Among the only graphics I like are the town screens - especially Sylvan and Academy



Sound - It's okay, not extraordinary, I like Sylvan, though.



Cutscenes - Where do I start!?! At least they slightly improve in HoF and hopefully ToE





Also, that H2 music mod idea was great.
Edited on Mon, May 28 2007, 19:44 by kingcranium14

[Corribus]

@Saturas



Well, I think overall the hero portraits of H5 are better than those of H4. It would be nice if they were reflected on the battlefield, but I understand that that would have required a lot more animation.

[Campaigner]

Great article. I knew you would mention the cutscenes and that the spellcasting in them makes them look ridicoulous.

As for the story, good enough for me. No complaints.

I actually find Agrael to have the coolest voice of all heroes (haven't heard Zehir though) with Markal as a second. He's the funniest hero of all. I mean can you imagine saying "I bet you're just DYING to see <town> again" to a grave?

Actually I haven't really noticed that music was faction dependant
Now that you mention it its obvious though....

But I think it's better this way since it sounds strange with a peacey grasstheme when I lead an army of Demons, Undead or Warlocks just to change to a snow theme the second I step on a snowtile....Always thought it was strange how the music radically shifted when I selected a hero on a different terraintype....