The Chronicles Available Again

Angelspit · Unread postby **Angelspit** » 25 Jun 2011, 00:09

<img src="/https://www.celestialheavens.com/featur ... _offer.jpg" align=right vspace=10 hspace=10>Good Old Games have recently made the <a href="/http://www.gog.com/en/news/new_release_ ... rs">Heroes Chronicles games</a> available for purchase once again. Each chapter of these standalone single-player scenarios built on the Heroes of Might and Magic III engine focus heavily on storytelling and on 2-3 factions at a time. Some people in the community loved the stories of Tarnum, others hated the games for their limited features. From the GOG site:

<i>"Follow the steps of Tarnum, a barbarian who, upon hearing from a bard about a tale that barbarians were once ruled the continent of Antagarich, unites the savage tribes and wages war on everyone. This renegade has to serve the ancient Ancestors (the Barbarian gods) to redeem his soul in order to be permitted into the Paradise, the barbarian Valhalla.

Visit a plethora of places ranging from barren caves to lush jungles over the course of hundreds of centuries and several worlds. In the Elemental Plane, subjugate the Elemental Lords that want to conquer the real world. In the Underworld, deal with various powerful demons to retrieve a heroes soul--and more! Guide Tarnum through an epic story of struggle, success, defeat, and redemption..."</i>

I personally really enjoyed the Tarnum stories, even if like many fans I found the scenarios a little too easy. Also, there is no multiplayer, hotseat or otherwise. All eight chapters are sold for $9.99.

If you would like to take a look at the original page visit this link:
https://www.celestialheavens.com/1308960591

DragonSire · Unread postby **DragonSire** » 25 Jun 2011, 00:15

I could only ever find 4 of them. When the next sale hits I will be picking this up to see what the other 4 have to offer.

ThunderTitan · Unread postby **ThunderTitan** » 25 Jun 2011, 14:06

Yeah, 4.99$ sounds like a fairer price for what they are (a bunch of campaign maps).

Evernight · Unread postby **Evernight** » 26 Jun 2011, 04:08

I appreciated the expanded Antagarich mythos, but that's about it...

DragonSire · Unread postby **DragonSire** » 26 Jun 2011, 16:24

I actually enjoyed playing the ones that I could find. I look forward to the next GOG sale. Hopefully this summer during their Staycation promotion.

MMXAlamar · Unread postby **MMXAlamar** » 26 Jun 2011, 19:39

This ****ing rocks! There is a lot of great storyline in Heroes Chronicles!

XEL II · Unread postby **XEL II** » 26 Jun 2011, 21:37

Nah, storyline Might and Magic and HoMM is way better IMO.

ThunderTitan · Unread postby **ThunderTitan** » 27 Jun 2011, 11:46

Well, it was some nice backstory, that's always welcomed (as long as it doesn't retcon too muc)

XEL II · Unread postby **XEL II** » 27 Jun 2011, 18:40

That stuff about the Ancestors was convoluted, however. It wasn't even explained who the Ancestors were. Paradise appears to be the Ancestors keeping souls of virtuous warriors and Barabrians after death, but the origin of Ancestors' themselves (and why Barbarians on Enroth worship them) was never clarified.

ThunderTitan · Unread postby **ThunderTitan** » 28 Jun 2011, 20:43

Unexplained and convoluted aren't the same thing...

XEL II · Unread postby **XEL II** » 28 Jun 2011, 22:21

They are in this case.

ThunderTitan · Unread postby **ThunderTitan** » 28 Jun 2011, 22:54

Until they actually explain it there's not enough info to say if they're convoluted or not...

XEL II · Unread postby **XEL II** » 28 Jun 2011, 23:07

It's convoluted because it's unexplained, i.e. it doen't fit too much.

ThunderTitan · Unread postby **ThunderTitan** » 29 Jun 2011, 07:17

Being unexplained is why it's hard to tell either way.

For all we know they could just be robots/programs that take the most effective form (Wizard of Oz style) that where left by the Ancients to make sure of something blah, blah, blah...

Marzhin · Unread postby **Marzhin** » 29 Jun 2011, 07:33

@TT : that's more on less the explanation I chose in LotA (and probably contradicted a few other things in the process), but clearly it's not simple to explain the Ancestors, Paradise, etc., in the established lore of the Ancient Universe.

GreatEmerald · Unread postby **GreatEmerald** » 29 Jun 2011, 09:59

Yea, my interpretation is similar. They could be either creations of the Ancients or just some really powerful wizards. But things like paradise are probably just another plane. Underworld is just a cavern, though, nothing mystical about it, just that it has some sort of a psychotropic effect (I blame shrooms, I guess).

ThunderTitan · Unread postby **ThunderTitan** » 29 Jun 2011, 14:06

Oh course ghosts, spirits and souls do exist in the world, and the ancients don't have to be the source of everything.

GreatEmerald · Unread postby **GreatEmerald** » 29 Jun 2011, 15:38

Yea, but they are not as important. The whole idea of MM is that the unimportant things are magical, while the whole important part that wraps the magic is technology. So you get to that technology only when you're about to finish the game. Here, however, making real paradises and gods collides with that technological wrapper.

ThunderTitan · Unread postby **ThunderTitan** » 29 Jun 2011, 17:28

Yeah, that's like saying that if God showed up tomorrow the technology that got us into space is totally unimportant and can't advance to a stage where w could leave the Sol system... there's no correlation between the two (obviously God would make no statements about the future of the tech).

XEL II · Unread postby **XEL II** » 29 Jun 2011, 18:02

IMO Prdise doesn't have to be another plane (CotU intro is not a reliable source, it's a vision created by Deezelisk). Maybe some kind of astral plane, though. Like the souls of virtuous warriors and Barbarians being linked to the Ancestors.

As for the Ancestors themselves, all the "gods" in MM either members of the advanced race (see Olympus and Arslegard) or are mythical. Ancestors appear to be some sort of ancients spirits worshipped by the Barabrians, rather that gods. I think their origin could be kept a partial mystery, without anything concrete about it. That would be pretty interesting

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