Looking backward: First impressions on HoMM4

[Akul]

but it does appear I have to rethink my strategy this map

Correct. The gameplay ain't the same when you don't have combat skills. I think... I never use Combat skill.

[Omega_Destroyer]

To compensate for the lack of fighting prowess, when playing Bohb's campaign I'd always pick up a secondary might here. Made things a lot smoother. Of course raising the nature tree as high as you can certainly helps.

[darknessfood]

Yeah, summoning is nice to. If you master that one really quick, you can summon lvl 5 creatures (feary dragons etc..). For each start on a new campaign, that is nice !

[pacobac]

tu summon fearies, fenix, mantis (=level 4 creatures no level 5) you need be GM nature, not so easy !!! (without power up, GM druid is level 12 - 13)

[Qurqirish Dragon]

So far, I haven't been offered summoning at all. WIth 5 magic schools, I'm lucky to even get an advancement in the magic type that I have most access to.
As for another hero, I was talking about day 1 on the 4th map. a new hero would not help, and the nice might hero I developed in the first 3 maps didn't carry over to 4 (and since this is in the storyline, I can't complain about a bug either )

[darknessfood]

tu summon fearies, fenix, mantis (=level 4 creatures no level 5) you need be GM nature, not so easy !!! (without power up, GM druid is level 12 - 13)

But you can summon an army quite easy!

[asandir]

just having someone else to take the hit or the retal is normally enough

[Alamar]

@QD: I'm not very familiar with the H4 expansions but from my experience with HoMM4 if you don't take combat [at least MR & defense raising skills] then you've just upped the difficulty level by about 5x.

My hats go off to people who are able to get by without one of the most critical sets of skills an H4 Hero could have.

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BTW: Very nice thread. I don't agree with all of the ratings/conclusions/etc. but I can't argue that there is a unique perspective here.

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I would like to add that when games that were released years apart [10+ for HoMM] you have to be very careful in how you do comparisons & rankings to make sure that you're comparing apples to apples.

[Qurqirish Dragon]

@QD: I'm not very familiar with the H4 expansions but from my experience with HoMM4 if you don't take combat [at least MR & defense raising skills] then you've just upped the difficulty level by about 5x.

In Bohb's campaign, your starting (carry-over) hero starts with all 5 magic skills. You have no chance for combat. I am enjoying the different strategy needed, however.

BTW: Very nice thread. I don't agree with all of the ratings/conclusions/etc. but I can't argue that there is a unique perspective here.

Thanks. And as have said previously, all comments were my impressions. You are free to agree or disagrees with them (GASP! someone who allows a different opinion! Is this guy nuts ?! )

I would like to add that when games that were released years apart [10+ for HoMM] you have to be very careful in how you do comparisons & rankings to make sure that you're comparing apples to apples.

I tried to consider that. Some things are not subject to aging as much as others. For example, graphics QUALITY is subject to aging, but graphics STYLE is not. Since I like the more cartoonish graphics of the earlier games, I might have liked the later ones more if they continued in this style, perhaps going to a cell-shaded style.

[Alamar]

Do you have any more thoughts on H4 or the expansions?

[darknessfood]

Well, i dunno if it's a question to the main people but ill answer it anyway

The first startup of HoMM 4 was a nice suprise. Nice looking background and the music was kinda nice. I looked some over the menu and saw that there were a lot of maps to play and that was a good thing.
Then i looked at the "campaign" display and i found it pretty dissapointing that you didn't have ANY campaigns to unlock. That was kinda a bummer, but nevertheless were there 6 campaigns to play, WOW. With that in mind i started playing a campaign and thus my first HoMM 4 map. The looks were great (nice main map) and it was playing like the old HoMM 4 (didn't expect anything else). My first combat wasn't that far away and so i started batling some thiefs who popped outa nowhere, it seemed that it was a special ability that it had. Nice, can't wait to see what other creatures has special abilities. Well seemed there were a lot of abilities and they were pretty cool imo. Then after a few minutes i had my first castle and started building some creature dwellings, and then ofcourse the upgrade.... what... WTF... NO UPGRADES?!?!? That kinda sucked.
But now i'm gonna level my hero, that's pretty cool done, but you have to know what you are doing, otherwise you get a lame character...
The campaigns were nice, but they had NO connection to eachother, wich wasn't very cool. You didn't get the feeling of playing a major epic story, too bad.
The sounds were cool, and the music was really well done. The game was pretty in ballance and additcive, just like a HoMM game should be. Can't wait for the expansions...

Do you have any more thoughts on H4 or the expansions?

Well, i walked into a store and they sold the whole package of HoMM 4 for 10 euros. I bought it right away and ran home. Cool, this is some wicked sh*t!!! Can't wait to see the changes and new creatures or castles. Started it up, saw a nice screen with some other music! Looked to the campaign menu and saw that you have to play 5 of them to unlock the 6th. That's cool! And a shitload of maps were included again, now i cannot leave my room for months. Then when i started up a map and wanted to see what new castle there was, i didn't see anything. IS THIS A JOKE. When i looked around the web, iv'e read that there wasn't any, and there were only 6 new creatures included in 2 expansions. What the hell was that all about. Nevertheless, i still have a lot of fun. Even until this day.

Long story short: It was nice but at some points dissapointing...

[Qurqirish Dragon]

Do you have any more thoughts on H4 or the expansions?

Not yet. I've been playing other games recently - I played through Twilight Princess on the Wii, and I am currently in the middle of Paper Mario: the Thousand year door (Gamecube game, but since I never had a GC, the Wii works just fine for this)

I'll probably go back to the expansions soon. I'm part-way through Bohb's campaign right now.So far, there doesn't seem to be too much more to say, though. I've encountered a few new map sites (selling scrolls, which I have never used anyway), and one new creature (I think it was a gnasher - the behemoth-like shooter. I took out 50 of them with just Bohb. Cast forgetfulness on round 1, then slow, then summon water elementals, using teleport to keep them away, and casting mana flare at some point to really extend the spell points - but having 300+ of them, I had no worries about running out.

[Alamar]

Hmmm ... Now I wonder if I should just go ahead an pop for H3 & H4 complete while I can find them easily enough ......

[Akul]

QD, you do know that scrolls are used to LEARN spells, do you?

[Qurqirish Dragon]

QD, you do know that scrolls are used to LEARN spells, do you?

You mean permanently? That wasn't clear from the artifact description. From the description, it seemed that "open" scrolls gave you the ability to cast a spell, if you had the appropriate magic skill, while the "closed" ones gave you the ability to cast a spell regardless of magic skill. I'll have to double-check. ( of course, at this point, I think I know every spell for the schools available on the current map) This would have made things easier when I really wanted heal on an earlier map. (no sites selling life scrolls, but I did find some)

In case I can't figure it out, how do learn the spell from the scroll?

[Robenhagen]

In case I can't figure it out, how do learn the spell from the scroll?

You drag it on to the left hand (the shield hand) on the paper doll.

[Qurqirish Dragon]

In case I can't figure it out, how do learn the spell from the scroll?

You drag it on to the left hand (the shield hand) on the paper doll.

Yeah, I just discovered that when I got home to check. I guess I never got a scroll for a spell I didn't already know before. Is there an easy way (from the purchase scroll screen, preferably) to tell if you already know the spell being offered?

[darknessfood]

@QD: I don't think so . Just need to check your spellbook, unless you kinda know what you already have ...

[Qurqirish Dragon]

@QD: I don't think so . Just need to check your spellbook, unless you kinda know what you already have ...

That's annoying. Particularly in Bohb's campaign, where you have all 5 magic schools.- the spellbook is so cluttered. At least the filter tabs in the spellbook help.
Anyway, I finished that campaign last night. Sometime today I'll probably start the next one.

[Akul]

When you open the Market screen, double-click on the hero potrait and then on the spellbook. Check if you have the spell. If not, close the hero-screen and buy the scroll. Then double-click on hero potraot again and put the scroll into his hand.

Simple.