Might and Magic - Heroes 6 is official

[The Filth]

The cat's finally out of the bag and the game is now official!
It started yesterday with what seems as screenshot leaks and was followed up today with the official announcement.

Press release at IGN

Gamescom: Might & Magic Heroes VI First Look

MIGHT & MAGIC HEROES VI Q & A, Erwan Le Breton, Producer of Ubisoft

Trailer, Screenshots and Artwork

Preview in german

Some artwork(titles of the pictures is not official titles):
http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/4195/h6vamp.jpg
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/6334/h6demon.jpg
http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/1750/h6pike.jpg
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/8419/h6nec.jpg
http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/1247/h6svel.jpg
Sorry if these pictures turns out to be unofficial still btw. Don't know what the source is.

Also there are in game screen shots around which are linked in Celestial Heavens News

IGN list the release date as March 2011(subject for change ofc)
Now let the heated discussions and wish-listings commence!

[The Filth]

From what i can gather in the german language preview and other peoples translations it seems that:

-initiative battlesystem is going back to homm3 rounds system

-we'll see heroes divided in to might and magic again

-basic mechanisms for battle,map discovery(inkluding underground), town development and hero development with inventory is as we know it.

-5 factions(out of 10) featuring in the campaign.

-Ore, wood, crystals and gold are the only resources. In the past all fractions were based on one main resource (sulfur for inferno or gems for academy). Now all fractions have to compete for the same resources and this will add more strategy to the game.

-No more special buildings in the towns, only dwellings and production building. Towns will grow on the map when we build them.

-More than 50% of the creatures are new. Zombies are replaced by Ghouls, Horned Demons are replaced by Juggernauts. No Gremlins, Trolls, Gnolls and Kobolds

Thanks to WhiteRider and Jiriki9 from heroescommunity.com

[lotusreaver]

These are great! Thanks for posting.

[parcaleste]

It doesn't look very optimistic to me. Prequel seems HTE STUPIDEST THING to do - it's like we know what will happen story wise, so why bother care of the storyline?

[MattII]

Don't even mention the storyline, this is a complete and utter rewrite, like the fact that Necropolis shouldn't even be a separate town for another two centuries. This game is going to suck, I mean seriously, they've dropped three resources and the initiative system (one of the better features of H5 IMO), and they've scrapped all the special town buildings as well? Come on, even Nival didn't wreck it this badly.

[klaymen]

I thought Nival has utterly bastardized the game. Oh, man, how I was terribly mistaken. This looks even worse.

[Romanov77]

I say, Heroes6 is better than NO Heroes game.
I'll follow the development, but with much less hype.

[Coldy]

I love the artwork and I saw a few screen shots on the official site. It looks pretty damn impressive.

[shadowcrow]

Well, this looks, sounds and seems amazing BUT just like it would be an other game... If I compare to the other Heroes series, I can say, I miss something in it... It will have lost that loved Heroes-feeling? Yep, maybe it is the best expression to it. But hell yeh, I don't want to judge in advance, just after releasing.

[ThunderTitan]

I say, Heroes6 is better than NO Heroes game.

YOU GO TO HELL, YOU GO TO HELL AND YOU DIE!!!


Seriously now, it's that kind of thinking that causes bad games to be made... repeat after me: no game is better then a bad game... no game is better then a bad game... no game is better then a bad game... no game is better then a bad game...

[Corelanis]

Seriously now, it's that kind of thinking that causes bad games to be made.

No its the "they'll buy it anyway" thinking that makes bad games.

no game is better then a bad game.

How bad are we talking about here we talking Heroes IV bad (many cool features but rushed) or Hammers of Fate bad (total pile of ....) because there's a bit of a difference.

[MattII]

We're talking a game which doesn't even belong in the series bad. They seriously need to rename this thing, maybe Might & Magic: Empires. They definitely have to remove Heroes from the title.

[ThunderTitan]

No its the "they'll buy it anyway" thinking that makes bad games.

Yeah, see, in the real world that thinking is caused by the fact that THEY will actually buy it anyway... because they think it's better then nothing...

[OliverFA]

No its the "they'll buy it anyway" thinking that makes bad games.

Yeah, see, in the real world that thinking is caused by the fact that THEY will actually buy it anyway... because they think it's better then nothing...

Yes. But you know. Consumers have the power. If you don't like it, then just don't buy it. Fortunatelly we will have plenty of information to decide if we want to buy it or not.

[klaymen]

Yeah, see, in the real world that thinking is caused by the fact that THEY will actually buy it anyway... because they think it's better then nothing...

I've seen people saying they will buy it even despite Ubifail DRM (if it will be there) and after reasonable reaction ("Ubi DRM? FUUUUUUUUUUU") someone else told that we fail if we don't buy games from our beloved series despite minor inconvenience aka DRM.

Tell me about human stupidity.....

[ThunderTitan]

Yes. But you know. Consumers have the power. If you don't like it, then just don't buy it. Fortunatelly we will have plenty of information to decide if we want to buy it or not.

And the peasants outnumbered the nobles 100 times... it still took starving them to near death and a suggestion that they should eat cake to get the guillotine going...

[Kalah]

It actually took a bit more than that, like the concept of shift in power distribution, but hey ....

Seriously, I hope this DRM thing either goes away before H6 is released, or that it isn't implemented until after. Surely, Ubi must have realized by now that even if they don't want to change their minds on online DRM, the current infrastructure is insufficient to implement their policy. Their servers are not good enough to stay online 24/7, the failsafes are non-existent, many of their lower-level games have customers in places where Internet connectivity ...

I hope they at least modify their policy to include only the high-end games, where customers have to have equipment so powerful that they usually have Internet connected as well, are included in the online DRM. Hoping furthermore that H6 is not included in this lineup. This move would enable Ubi to focus their server resources on only a few games. Of course, I hope the whole move is shelved indefinitely.

[SplinterHoMM]

I liked most things i saw so far.Nice graphics and interface, especially in combat.No town screen is probably better with 3D (at least less slow down). Some nice awaited features like town conversion and hero reputation.

No H5 initiative/ATB is the biggest, actually huge,huge disappointment.

I want Heroes to be a big, strong, deep and complex (not complicated ) game, not another (eye)candy for kids.With lots of replayability and tactics. Want it to suit long play on big maps as well as small ones.
Features like campaigns of only 4 maps and especially hero level cap at 30 doesn't fit that picture.
Nice graphics is good, but gameplay and hero/units stats/abilities are much more important.IMO
Let's see what skill system they'll bring...

[OliverFA]

Yes. But you know. Consumers have the power. If you don't like it, then just don't buy it. Fortunatelly we will have plenty of information to decide if we want to buy it or not.

And the peasants outnumbered the nobles 100 times... it still took starving them to near death and a suggestion that they should eat cake to get the guillotine going...

Ok. I'll say in a different way. I can't make Ubi go to bankrupt by not buying the game (neither I want to), but I will know that they did not get my money for a game that I dislike. Is as simple as that.

Before buying a game, I read the reviews and play the demo. If I like what I see, then I buy the game. If I dislike it, I don't play the game. I can`t control what everybody else does. But for me it`s enough to know that if a company has my money for a game is because I like that game.

I preordered Heroes V, and I regreted it. fortnately the expansions made Heroes V a good game (not a masterpiece, but a good game) but I learned the lesson. Won't preorded blindly never again.

[ThunderTitan]

@OliverFA

But that's not hving power, it's having free will...

It actually took a bit more than that, like the concept of shift in power distribution, but hey ....

Complicate it as much as you'd like, but the underlying principle is always simple...