Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era - Ubisoft returns to Enroth - coming to Early Access in Q2 2025

[stephensmall]

You guys are talking about a person who has an account here. Should I retardo?

You want some help? I could flag all the posts in the forum that make derogatory comments about another poster. Should only take a few years.

Yes please, but not derogatory comments, just the nudes.

Those aren't leaked pictures or anything, she has publicly posted them herself.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Heroes of Might and Magic is generic fantasy.

Yeah, it doesn't get much more generic than greek mythology and tolkien stuff when it comes to fantasy.

I think these new designs also have a problem with readability.

This is the actual problem.

Starsector dev described it best imo and coined the term 'greebles'. The models have too many details. The dragon has too many bits of armour, both it and the hydra have too many spiky bits and ridges in the scales. All those models are overly detailed and busy. Bad design, full stop.

Models in games are like a logo; you should be able to see what it is just from the sillouhette and it should have a distinct colour scheme too with some sharp contrast to make it more legible at a distance. This is especially important in a tacical/strategy game where you'll spend most time zoomed out to get a good overview of the situation.

Highly recommended read for and developers out there, as is the blog in general:

https://fractalsoftworks.com/2015/07/26/the-trouble-with-greebles/

 

[Kabas]

Heroes of Might and Magic is generic fantasy.

It is indeed a very generic fantasy that made a heavy use of mythological and classical D&D tropes.
Minotaurs live in labyrinths while fancy dressed vampires live in gothic mansions, elves are renowned archers who live in a forest while dwarfs like their gold and mines. Dragons are not going to be anything other than what you imagine your average classic dragon to be and even sci-fi elements from RPGs like droids or blasters look exactly like what you imagine if someone said "sci-fi robot" or "space blaster".

As weird as it sounds this reliance on ultra basic but widely and instantly recognizable fantasy elements is what makes old Might & Magic world kinda unique.

 

[Arrowgrab]

Starsector dev described it best imo and coined the term 'greebles'. The models have too many details. The dragon has too many bits of armour, both it and the hydra have too many spiky bits and ridges in the scales. All those models are overly detailed and busy. Bad design, full stop.

Irrelevant to the bigger discussion, but the Starsector developer didn't coin the word "greeble." It comes from real-life miniatures modelling.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I wouldn't say unique exactly, but I think the generic elements work well to give the player some commonly understood shorthand that lets the world be complex in other ways without being an information overload or including a bunch of info dumps. It means when I encounter a traditional labyrinth and it's full of giant cow men I immediately know why and it feels like it makes sense, even if that's objectively incredibly silly and out of left field. It pushes those elements into the back of your mind so you can focus more on the gameplay, instead of asking yourself why a bunch of cat ladies are in a desert, where they got all those grenades, where the fuck they live and why they aren't fighting anything else that lives there.

 

[Vagabond Merchant]

Heroes of Might and Magic is generic fantasy.

It is indeed a very generic fantasy that made a heavy use of mythological and classical D&D tropes.
Minotaurs live in labyrinths while fancy dressed vampires live in gothic mansions, elves are renowned archers who live in a forest while dwarfs like their gold and mines. Dragons are not going to be anything other than what you imagine your average classic dragon to be and even sci-fi elements from RPGs like droids or blasters look exactly like what you imagine if someone said "sci-fi robot" or "space blaster".

As weird as it sounds this reliance on ultra basic but widely and instantly recognizable fantasy elements is what makes old Might & Magic world kinda unique.
View attachment 54330

While being like that, HoMM3 also spices things up a bit by making weird culture mixes that surprisingly work. Rampart for example has a mix of nordic and greek mythology with japanese architecture. Tower has jewish stuff mixed with arabic and others, etc. You can take generic fantasy and make it memorable through execution and adding details here and there. Problem is the execution nowadays is cookie cutter factory line style and everything actually looks the same

 

[sebas]

Fuck that rounded art-deco blue sludge of a UI. (and fuck Civ VI along with it)

 

[Hydro]

Dead geam

 

[Infinitron]

 

[Aemar]

HoMM: Generic Trash.

No amount of 'sequels' can resurrect the spirit of the original series.

 

[Baron Tahn]

As an aside it's crazy we are now seeing 'early access' advertised nearly a year away as if its the relesse of an actual game. I tried to look up release dates for a few games in early access the other day and they all have wikis that state the release was the date early access released. Im looking for the actual release date fools, not the paid demos!

 

[Dark Souls II]

borderline sex workers

what's borderline about it

The personality disorder.

 

[sser]

For 3D that's a pretty good aesthetic and looks great in motion. Far better than the recent ones.

 

[ropetight]

It doesn't look so bad at first glance, map looks ok, and combined with sounds it struck a nostalgic note with me.
Then you see combat or city and realize it has combination of uncanny AI upscale quality to it; weirdly smoothed terrain combined with asian-mmorpg units design makes it uglier than Songs of Conquest, which was at least consistent.
Plus, UbiSoft and their DRM is a big no.

 

[Laz Sundays]

Less is more. I really, REALLY like the movement indicator. Game's gonna be ruined by this flamboyant design.. everything from objects to units is excessively detailed that it ends up looking bland. Nothing stands out, and it is supposed to stand out ffs. Heroes, units, structures and resources need to be outlined against the background in some better clearer way, and I'm sorry that some artists out there wasted all that time to make this - but it's not fitting at all.

Especially the units, they look so off-putting. Pictures were easier to swallow, this showcase of exploration and combat is not edible. Just no. Even Heroes 5 with their ugliest Warcraftlike graphic had a better sense for style, highlight and variety. I simply cannot see myself enjoy looking at this design..

Everything else seems amazing, though?? I'm so fucking torn over this now.

 

[Lacrymas]

The color palette is bland and readability is non-existent. It looks like Ashan in 2D.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

It's illegal to make good looking 2D games now. It's either the horrid modern take on "pixel art" or this.

 

[Hobo Elf]

It looks like Ashan in 2D.

That's exactly what this is. The game is marketed as a "return to Erathia", but the factions and and unit designs screams Ashan. There isn't an ounce of soul to be found here.

 

[Laz Sundays]

Heroes Online browser game is a 2D Ashan, looks good too. That's just a useless trivia at this point, franchise is cursed ever since Ubisoft touched it

 

[Fargus]

It looks like Ashan in 2D.

That's exactly what this is. The game is marketed as a "return to Erathia", but the factions and and unit designs screams Ashan. There isn't an ounce of soul to be found here.

Ok, i'm not big on HoMM lore. Erathia is in Enroth and Ashan is the setting made for ubisoft m&m games? And why is Ashan hated so much?

I only played Dark Messiah so i don't really know. But i remember HoMM4 starting after the destruction of Enroth in Armageddons Blade in a new world with some factions merged together and a portion of old characters that survived.

 

[Lacrymas]

Ashan is the setting of HoMM5 and onward. It's just shockingly generic, I'm struggling to find words for it because it's so stale and boring.

 

[octavius]

Ashan is the setting of HoMM5 and onward. It's just shockingly generic, I'm struggling to find words for it because it's so stale and boring.

So it's like a forgotten realm?

 

[Storyfag]

Ashan is the setting of HoMM5 and onward. It's just shockingly generic, I'm struggling to find words for it because it's so stale and boring.

So it's like a forgotten realm?

Worse, I think.

 

[InD_ImaginE]

it's a knockoff modern fantasy setting, nothing is notable. The Academy is probably the only cool faction in the game

starting with HoMM6 they also have this weird fixation to "fix" Necropolis and make them a "good" Spider Goddess worshipper for some reason. It makes them unique but is a really badly received lore change that a generic Undead is infinitely better

 

[ColonelMace]

Ashan is the setting of HoMM5 and onward. It's just shockingly generic, I'm struggling to find words for it because it's so stale and boring.

I see this repeated ad nauseam and I just can't grasp what it's supposed to mean. Wasn't Enroth generic as fuck ? You had blaster and aliens, and the overall sci-fi plot which can be surprising for someone expecting pure fantasy, sure, but besides that ?
It wasn't even original back in the 80s 90s. Even Stargate SG1 mixed these elements on TV for the greater audience.

I can understand how you'd regret the tone of the former titles. Especially HoMM4 which has some of the best writing of the old games. But the setting, really ? Are you telling me you can't wait for the opportunity to roleplay in Enroth and finally get to visit the elves of AvLee, in their magical forests doing elf and faerie stuff ?

I love Might and Magic but I don't understand the bashing of the Ubisoft setting. It's one of the points that come up the most, yet is strikingly irrelevant.
That was by far the least of these games issues. HoMM6 was horrendous. HoMM7 was barely a video game. M&MX was okayish I guess though I have tried several times to replay it and it's just impossible to tolerate anymore.
Who actually gives two shits about the setting ?