We all know you hate the game, HodgePodge. I think your dislike is a little irrational. There are things that could be improved, sure, but what game doesn't have these?
Let's consider:
HodgePodge wrote:
- different developer
- different publisher
Even if I grant you that Ubisoft and Nival are bad in their respective roles, there's no assurance that another developer or publisher would be better. Frankly, regardless of how I feel about H5, I think that Ubisoft and Nival are taking the game in the right direction. The rescued what was essentially a dead franchise and gave it life again. There will most likely be an H6. Who could have said that with confidence 2 years ago? Nobody. You may not like H5, but you should be thankful that someone is out there trying to make new games with the Might and Magic name. Maybe this one was a miss. That's your opinion, but if NOBODY makes a HoMM, there's not even a chance of a hit. That's a fact.
- non-cheating AI
The H4 AI was worse. Where's your criticism of that?
- fix game-stopping bugs & glitches, instead of fixing stuff that isn't broken
Such as? My game works fine. Aside from a crash caused by patching in the middle of a map, I haven't had a single crash to the desktop. Only one map that I played had to be started over because of a bug.
- different town screen design
I have mentioned the weaknesses of the town screen design in my article. They are there. But again, H4's towns were awful looking. So what - you can't expect every aspect of a game to be perfect.
- easier-to-use interface
I disagree. The H5 interface is very easy to use.
- more towns allowed on maps
No comment. I was not aware there was a limit.
- graphics which don't interfere with gameplay
I assure you that any developer trying to rescue a computer game brand name that was essentially dead would have made the same sort of graphically intense game that Nival/Ubisoft did. There's no way they would take the risk of publishing a game with sub-par visuals. I agree there are downsides to the flashy visuals. I dedicated a good chunk of my article to it. But that's what you are going to get these days from commercial publishers.
- no insipid cut-scenes
- no hiddeous voice acting
They are bad. The voice acting is not as bad as the cut scenes. But NONE of the HoMM games have been stellar in this regard.
- campaigns which can be played in any order
Many games have this trait. So what - that's such a minor thing in the grand scheme. You're just bickering because you have a chip on your shoulder.
- more maps
By my count, H3: ROE had 21 campaign maps. H4 had 34 maps. H5 had 30. Doesn't seem like they're that far off the mark. I'm not sure of the total number of stand-alones, but in the long run the stand-alones are usually far inferior to user-made maps anyway, so I don't see the difference.
- maps where the win condition isn't either defeat all enemies or find Tear of Asha
Surely you can script any ending condition you want. I can think of a number of campaign maps in H5 - and I've played only about half of them - where the win condition was not one the two you mention.
- clearly defined & easy to see revealed Puzzle Map
Huh?
- bigger variety of creatures (ie: most Dungeon creatures are Dark Elves)
The creature lineup in H5 is stronger than any other HoMM game yet, at least from a skills standpoint. I'd rather have that than a bunch of creatures that are difference in appearence but basically all play the same. Of the things that H5 does not do right, creature variety is not one of them.
- original Treant design reinstated
Yes, I'm sure that has anything to do with Ubisoft being a bad developer.
- every alignment represented in subsequent expansions
The number of campaign maps in the expansions compares very favorably with past expansions. If they made a campaign for every old faction PLUS the new faction, it would be too much to expect from an expansion. You need to have more reasonable expectations.
- user-friendly cheat codes & console
You are criticising a game for not having a convenient method for you to cheat?
- user-friendly map editor & campaign editor (most important!)
Here we agree, if the editor is as bad as has been advertised. I still haven't opened it.
You are entitled to your opinion, HodgePodge, but the fact that you cannot acknowledge any strengths to a good game that you happen to not like, tells me that there are other factors contributing to your constant scathing remarks about it. I didn't really like H4, and I thought a lot of things were done poorly, but I acknowledge many good things the game had to offer. It's called being objective.
"What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were like a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?" - Richard P. Feynman
