Last faction - Sanctuary

[Orfinn]

One of my top 3 favorites. Sanctuary (needs a more asian town name...) anlong with Stronghold and Inferno.

[sylvanllewelyn]

We have no idea about gameplay but the theme looks like it will taste worse than samosas in soy sauce.

What I mean is Asia is so big that it's diversity is greater than between Europe and Middle East. If you go ethnic theme, don't force totally incompatible ones together. Choose Central, East or South/SE Asia and stick with it.

[yourworstnightmare]

According to the new info (found here http://might-and-magic.ubi.com/heroes-6 ... m:6-231-32)
there are three species of Naga. One is the deep naga and one is the snake haired Medusas I presume. But what is the third?

[Romanov77]

I'll be frank, I HATE all these ethnics themes.

It was the same with the Homm5 middle eastern wizards.
I know that even the old tower had some middle eastern references (Genies) or Greek (Titans) but Ubi is taking this to the extreme.

Yeah, right, now lets deal with the real 'ethnics' issue, the medieval Europe Haven.

Medieval Europe is widely accepted as the generic fantasy setting.

Creating new factions with different "themes" is fine but Ubi is pushing way too far.
To me, it just looks like a marketing device to penetrate the asian market and anime lovers.
Just like the stupid Games Workshop decision to create the useless faction known as Tau in Warhammer4k.

[Mirez]

and the way the orcs lean towards native Americans is fine?

[yourworstnightmare]

and the way the orcs lean towards native Americans is fine?

Well, they were pretty much Mongols in the last game. And Sylvan was heavily influenced by both native American themes and Celtic themes. And the Dwarves were Norse.

[Mirez]

my point exactly, people draw inspiration from stuff. Whether that stuff has been used to death or is actually semi-original doesn't really matter.

[Blocks100]

I don't think this new faction actually looks like a cohesive army. Some sort of rat boy, water spirits and Samaria-naga. It looks too disjointed. I hate to criticise Black Hole because up until now they looked to have been doing a pretty good job, but this is just...ughhhhr.

[Romanov77]

and the way the orcs lean towards native Americans is fine?

No.
Personally, I think it sucks.

The ethnic element in Homm6 is overdone...unlike the old Homm3/4 factions.

[Muszka]

When I was a kid I hated Ubisoft, if I remember correctly without any logical reason. Now I now why. It's just me or, they really killed black dragons, and most of traditions that were there long before the name Ubisoft existed. From the King's bounty onwards, there were dragons as a playable unit. Now we got some rip-off drakes and a heavily money oriented game. I didn't said a bad word about the company for the commerce twist in H5 but this time they went to far. I am not stubborn, but some things should be respected. I agree with the innovation, but when selfishness kills tradition for the sake of money, so I bighead can have more money to buy new car to his lover and overindulged kid than sad times are coming. I know this so much... since my country suffers from the same problem, and not in gaming but overall....
This just not bode well...

[Zamolxis]

@Muszka: You cannot kill that which is already dead.

Ubi killed most of traditions in H5 already. And I'm talking of things more dear to me than Black Dragons (which yes, in a way we had in H5, but they were neither really black, nor really cool, nor majestic, nor anything I would have expected them to be).

So I don't see what can they do worse in H6, which leaves me with only hoping for an improvement. When talking about creatures dear to me, I prefer the creature totally out, then in, but twisted (ugly, dumbed down, humiliated, etc > see H5's Hydras). So no Black Dragons yet among announced creatures is not the worse. They may still be in there among the neutrals, or later in an expansion pack at least (and that I'm pretty sure of). Just pray they implement them right. It would be more depressive to see them in, but as some stupid mid level creature, enslaved by some hookers-so-called-warriors, or thrown into some alignment which does not make sense to start with.

[Infiltrator]

Ubi killed most of traditions in H5 already. And I'm talking of things more dear to me than Black Dragons (which yes, in a way we had in H5, but they were neither really black, nor really cool, nor majestic, nor anything I would have expected them to be).

While I'm all for bashing Ubisoft for what they deserve, this is not their fault. Do you really think that if Nival had come up with a better, cooler or more majestic version of the BD Ubi would have just said "nah give us the crappy looking one"? No, this is Nival's fault I'm afraid.

[Zamolxis]

You're right. Take the examples I mentioned rather symbolic if you want... Ubi's messed up at least as many things as Nival in H5, but the Black Dragon was not their fault (plus, if you read my sentence again, I'm trying to make a different point, not that related to the H5 Black Dragons). But maybe I better stick to the Ubival/UbiHole terms to avoid corrections of technicality in the future. :p > though IMO each and every Nival mistake was partly Ubi's responsibility to some extent. It started with choosing them as devs, and continued with weak project management and a pretty selective ear to community feedback during the development process.

[Muszka]

I think I need a bit of clarification... I agree with you it's dead... but I think BD was the cherry on the top for me... Ubisoft/Nival/Black Hole... they are the same.. at least they are the same guilty. Anyway.. as a boss your are fully responsible for something that you lead, that you own... if you do not like the product you can reject it over and over again, you can change employees, you can do whatever you with... especially true for big companies, who don't have to care for new HR. So if the devs came out with 10 ideas which were crappy... the owners could always say... No No!! to it... as long as the devs didn't came out with a fitting one. but the the lack of passion of the devs and the greed of the owner are both the reason. As much as the ignorance of both.

And you can see I'm not into bashing these companies, as I have very few post with such content. But I guess I had enough of them...

[Bahototh]

friends,

I agree that the ethnic style(s) is a bit forced. The only faction looking somewhat cool and in shape is necropolis in my opinion. I'd rather have new features and systems in the game, but traditional factions. (as oppose to rewamped factions and overstylistic themes). There's no denying that no elves, BD's, or wizards is a departure from "the good old days". (wiping a tear)

However this one plays out, they're bound to loose some HC fans, which means less support for further chapters. Still hoping that it will be a playable game, though.

[Neidhaart]

Generic should not be defacto setting.
Rather then sticking to the one thing that been done since the dawn of time, i think its nice to see some fresh concepts. Things that stay stale have tendency to wither away.

Sure, they may loose some hardcore Heroesfans, but then i think there's an equal chance they will gain more fans just because its not just another generic "seen that, done that" thing with pretty elves and drunk dwarfs.

[Pitsu]

Longevity and success of a Homm game largely depends on the quality of maps. It is also said that they have made the editor a priority for H6. Yet, imagine that the game and editor lack generic monsters and objects (for instance peasant farm). How big variety of maps can be done with only little known objects, which are (partly) sensible only in Ashan lore? If you compare a map with a book, then the monsters and objects are words. The developers decide which words are in the vocabulary and how they can be used, mapmakers write actual stories. It is nice to have Shakespearean words to spice things up, but if at the same time vocabulary misses the most common generic words, it is impossible to tell tales. Therefore I agree with Bahototh that they better could improve the grammatic i.e. features and ways how generic objects can be used, rather than restructuring the vocabulary and replacing common words with less known alternatives. They may do the most powerful and at the same time userfriendly editor ever, but it may still fail.

[jeff]

Longevity and success of a Homm game largely depends on the quality of maps.

I agree with you an editor is the only way to ensure H-VI’s long term success. H-V will long be forgotten while H-III and H-IV will still be played because quality maps made by the fans keep them alive. For me the H-VI editor is already tittering on the brink of failure. Their announcement that it will not ship with a campaign editor was at the least disappointing. The fact that statements next sentence said that one might be shipped later was decision making for me. I will not buy H-VI until after a campaign editor ships and I hear it is as capable as the H-IV campaign editor. Without the ability to link maps and develop a story why bother with an editor at all. If they are not going to make a campaign editor, the rest of the community would be better served by their spending the money on an awesome RMG. Single maps really don’t need human involvement. Yes I know there are several fans out there that will make fabulous single map games and to them I hope the map editor is great. However my interest in H-VI is fading faster than this year’s winter.

[Romanov77]

So, still no pictures of the kung fu panda dwellings?

[Kalah]

Sadly, no.