Academy and Sylvan artwork

[Fnord]

The object that the gremlin is holding is curved. I don't think muskets are curved. Anyway, it looks like a horn to me.

[vulnevia]

maybe the gremlin uses the objet to throw away the round objects he has on his coat?

[Fallen Angel]

@ alantor: Perhaps you should read through the dozens of posts on this phoenix issue. To sum it up, the phoenix just doesn't fit any of the themes presented in the original six towns; however, they are planning on adding multiple towns in the expansion, so it is assumed the phoenix will either be in one of those or will remain a neutral unit (this seems to be a popular option, actually).

[Fnord]

Yes, the famous Gremlin Round Object Thrower...that's it!

[Vlaad II]

Maybe he can shoot around the corner with it! (Hey, Fnord, script THAT! )

[CloudRiderX]

@Sermil:

Try www.zeldauniverse.net. Im not sure but they might have one.

@a55a55in

Well, it's hard to stay on the HOMM track without changing some things around. If every unit looked similar throughout the whole series, nothing would be new. That's boring. And, hate to say it, but these new photos ARE Heroes of Might and Magicish. Ubi owns HOMM, so whatever they draw these creatures like is HOMM, no matter what we think HOMM should look like. The game-makers control all.

[george137]

Academy creatures look very different from the old one but its not bad or anything. Also Zombie_Inc is right the gargoyles do look like paperweights. Sylvan look pretty good for the moment.

[Starbatron]

I have to disagree with you CloudRiderX. Saying something is HoMMish because the rights were bought and paid for is simply not true. They may own the rights, they may slap something with the name HoMM but what we're talking about is the spirit created by the previous games, which the new looks of the elves and the Academy towns don't stay with. They create a new spirit, or alter what was HoMM, but they don't "stay with" the old spirit of HoMM. I agree that change can be good, but I don't think things have changed well for the Academy town, or for the look of the elves. What they did keep from HoMM3 was the sameness of the types of creatures; what I mean by that is that many of the factions have the same kind of creatures. Look at the elven factions: they all have a spell casting upper unit, an infantry elven unit, a dragon, a slower but powerful unit, etc. The haven faction also has as similar set up: just substitute angel for dragon and you have the same make-up of units. I really loved HoMM3, but the sameness of the strategies for each town could be a bit boring. This was one feature they could've done away with, but didn't. And I like change in style, but their execution for the Academy was just horrid. Unless the actual screenshot creatures look much better than the artwork, I shall be sadly disappointed.

[Falsted]

Indeed, I agree with Starbatron on that.

[CloudRiderX]

Heh, double-teaming *******s. lol

I see what you mean. It's just that, 3dO's gone, and there is nothing we can do about it. Yes things will be different, and I can't say I'm completely happy. But we can't really control how the creatures look, and we still haven't played the game yet. There are more bad things then good things so far, but it could've been alot worse. But Ubisoft is doing their best I'm sure. It's sorta like Leonardo Da Vinci stopping halfway throught the Mona Lisa and letting someone else take over. They won't have any idea what the style the previous artist was aiming for. But, at least there would still be a Mona Lisa.

[Zombie_Inc]

I don't think you can comment on the strategies of each faction before seeing the special abilities and stats of the units, playing with each of them a few times. I don't think they will all have the same strategy, because it sounds like Nival are aiming for 6 very very unique factions.

[Starbatron]

First, CloudRiderX: I agree with you completely. I am hoping the results are much better than the negatives so far have made it appear. I'm trying to keep an open mind until I actually play it, but they've created some doubts in my mind. It's up to them to silence them. Now, Zomie_Inc.: I have no doubt they are AIMING at six very different factions, but they are also using HoMM3 as the main base. And you have to admit, the towns in HoMM3 had very similar strategies. And I can say, from the types of creatures revealed already (the stats don't factor in that much, as they are typically comparable for each level creature), that the towns feel very much similar and the same. The same mix of creature types appears in each town, and even though the abilities may make them vary a bit, they could have differentiated them much, much more, if they were really that concerned with making factions unique beyond the mere cosmetic appearance of each faction through graphics.

[sumalmamus]

@starbraton:

There must be a balance point, I would think, in designing between having close to identical stats at each level being boring and played the same, and the needing to avoid having one faction having two much advantage to the point of having "the cards stacked in their favor". Then we'd really be howling as there would be no player's experience acquired strategy to acquire. You'd just need to know the right "secret" faction to kick everybody's butt. I would think Ubi is struggling to keep a similar balance point between keeping everyone happy with enough similarity balanced against the creative inspiration of the new artist. I have absolutely my own previous favorites for creature appearance in 3 and 4, but lets face it, the most rabid fan has to admit the artwork wasn't the most exciting aesthetically. From what I've read elsewhere there Nival has applied a lot of thought to have subtleties in abilities and power that can be enhanced by strategy that shows they have been looking at the WOG and Equilibrius work, which still leaves me very optimistic.

[Starbatron]

Sumalmamus: Balance issues are always present, granted, but making the creature makeup of towns so much the same is taking the easy way out of that problem, and it really makes for a more boring world of factions. Look at HoMM2, for instance. There was much more variety in those towns, not only with creature abilities, but also with the make-up of each town. There was no standard, "okay, now here's what needs to happen to balance thigns: we'll give each town a spell caster, an infantry unit, a cavalry unit, a ranged unit..." you get my idea. If Nival wanted to learn how to balance factions but still make each more unique, they should look back to HoMM2. I hope your optimistic outlook is justified by the outcome, but I will maintain my doubts until they've been dispelled by the actual game.