Heroes V vs Heroes 3 for online playability

[Darkzephyr]

Hey Everyone!

I just reinstalled Heroes 3: ROE on my new PC and I'm working on getting Heroes Complete so I can fully enjoy the marvelous aspects of this old but still great classic!!

I'm also considering getting Heroes V. I've downloaded the playable demo from TOTE and I really like the Orc race. In most regards it seems to have improved on Homm3, but I'm wondering how it fares with online/multiplayer playability. So far, I've heard that Homm3 is still the Best and most played, but Homm5 may be better and more balanced with the most recent expansion and patches.

So, I'm basically here to get your opinions on which you prefer to play(or feel is better) online and why.

So far, I've only played the first mission on the Demo, but this is what I personally feel so far.

Heroes V vs Heroes 3.

Heroes V Pros
1. 2 upgrade options for every unit.
2. Unique and useful ability for almost every unit (at least for Orcs), Goblins make great multi-purpose, disposable units
3. Overall I like visual appeal and character design for the creatures a little better.
4. Unique "ability" for every race. The Bloodrage for Orcs seems very useful in combat and fairly easy to understand.
5. Good explanations for what each hero, ability, unit, action in battle does. I can understand better the consequences of a particular action in battle and exactly what benefits a hero has before I hire him.

Heroes V Cons
1. the 3D aspect is good for most games, but I had troubles finding resources at first. They seem to blend into the environment..until I found out that I could hit "ALT" or some key to reveal a blue Aura around any important locations on the map.
2. Some of the "racial abilites" seem a bit overcomplicated and confusing.
3. Only one Hero type available? Not sure about this...but it seem it seems that some towns (stronghold at the very least) Only has one hero type to choose from. At least in my case..I've only seen Barbarians so far.
4. Lots of 2 hex units can make it difficult to manuever and get key units into important position on the battlefield.
Heroes 3 Pros
1. Still a great classic that is probably the best, most solid in the Heroes series for longetivity and replayability..especially in online play.
2. More familiar with how the game mechanics work

[tb5841]

Heroes V is a better game, in my opinion - and is better balanced - than H3. It is much more complicated, and the factions feel much more different to each other than they did in H3.

But the game seems to gradually slow down if you play for a long time, making online play almost impossible. Unless you have a fantastic computer (which I don't).

[PhoenixReborn]

Both games have their subtleties.

Heroes V works ok for 1 vs. 1 multiplayer at least for me. Some have said it does not work well adding in more humans or ai players.

So I'd say heroes 3 is more stable for multiplayer.

I get plenty of enjoyment from heroes v single player. But others who have problems with the poor AI might not.

[Darkzephyr]

Ohh, so the actual game performance slows down because of the heavy demands on your machine?
Just curious..what system do you have?

I had an old PC with 512mb of Ram and it was terribley slow, especially when I had to load a game..I would leave my PC for like 5 min.


However, I know have a good machine with 2gb of ram (which ironically, failed the Homm3 test for 32mb..resulting in the test telling me Homm3 might run sluggish), so now HommV the Demo runs just fine.

So do people still play online? Do you play either/or online?

[Muszka]

But the game seems to gradually slow down if you play for a long time, making online play almost impossible. Unless you have a fantastic computer (which I don't).

"The price of beauty."

But we've seen TotE only for a couple of months, so makeing a true all-involving comparation between the Heroes Complete and Heroes V: Tribes of the East is still early.

[corleone]

I really enjoy Heroes V; but I have to tell you; my biggest issue is with multiplayer. Heroes 3 allows you to simply select a random map, choose the internet connection of the host and your on your way.

Heroes V requires you to log onto the UBI network, requires you to create a random map separately as the host, which allows the host to see the random map and then get on. Heroes V is a bit more unstable than Heroes 3.

Most people I know that play Heroes V don't use the UBI site; but use some other method that allows two computers to simulate hooking up over a local LAN. But why is this necessary. Heroes is a pain to use for multiplayer just so UBI can make you talk to their network, what a pain. I do like Heroes V and wish Multiplayer was better. But Heroes 3 is plain and easy: which is exactly what you want as a gamer.

[Muszka]

I really enjoy Heroes V; but I have to tell you; my biggest issue is with multiplayer. Heroes 3 allows you to simply select a random map, choose the internet connection of the host and your on your way.

Heroes V requires you to log onto the UBI network, requires you to create a random map separately as the host, which allows the host to see the random map and then get on. Heroes V is a bit more unstable than Heroes 3.

Most people I know that play Heroes V don't use the UBI site; but use some other method that allows two computers to simulate hooking up over a local LAN. But why is this necessary. Heroes is a pain to use for multiplayer just so UBI can make you talk to their network, what a pain. I do like Heroes V and wish Multiplayer was better. But Heroes 3 is plain and easy: which is exactly what you want as a gamer.

Don't forget, that you are talking about the "Great and Mighty UbiVal", the one firm, who made everything perfect.
Oh, no. I forgot, that wasn't UbiVal.

[nevermindspy]

I've played online homm extensivly (years in homm 3 and homm5 )
- btw for online forum and play goto www.toheroes.com.

Anyway , not sure what you want me to say ,homm 3 was awesome in multiplayer , Homm 5 is no getting awesome in multiplayer too (with the tote expansion.. ) . Its not really a competition between homm3 and 5..

[Pollo2002]

I play both, and really to me Heroes 3 is a better game. I's better for multiplayer. Heroes V just splitted the heroes 3 community for bad.
Heroes V is fine for the first day, where the flashy graphics are amazing.
But after a week of playing it i'm missing the old non-flashy but more usefull and practical graphics of heroes 3. And i definitly miss the better heroes 3 game.
Also i play for different computeres and only one can run heroes 5 properly. the fact that you can play heroes 3 from any computer is nice.
heroes 3 is more stable and run smoothly and faster han heroes 5 in online games.
Heroes 5, finish the campains and when you want to start online, throw it away and install heroes 3 back.

[Darkzephyr]

Heroes V is fine for the first day, where the flashy graphics are amazing.
But after a week of playing it i'm missing the old non-flashy but more usefull and practical graphics of heroes 3. And i definitly miss the better heroes 3 game.

I agree about the Graphics!

The graphics from Homm5 are frickin' sweet (in most cases), but for some reason it just doesn't seem as smooth as Heroes3. I think part of the reason is the battlefield tends to be zoomed out more in most cases. Also, the Hero movement feels a little awkward sometimes (the way your hero moves after you've chosed a path) and sometimes it's hard to get your units to go to certain places in battle because of the 3d aspect. Fortunately, I found out how manuever the battlefield in 3d.

Also, something about the Main Menu screen in Homm3 just screams Play ME!! That glorious angel with a flaming sword against a blue sky with that awesome music playing!! I guess it must be the nostalgia from when I first fell in love with the game and started playing it back in 2000-2001!

Anyways, I was just hoping that people play Heroes V online. It looks like it would be fun to try, but I will always enjoy Homm3!