Heroes of Might & Magic 7

[CptMace]

Well Limbic can finally get back to its former glory !

Spoiler

Ride the bull !

good things for this franchise came to an end a long time ago.

Yeah Heroes IV and M&M9 were pretty awful.

 

[thesheeep]

And it will go down in history as "vitriolic fans and a lack of progress killed the franchise".

... which wouldn't even be wrong.
But I doubt the simple lack of quality in the games will make it to the reasons often.

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

MMX was a very good blobber. Fuck the haters.

 

[Zeriel]

Yeah, I don't get the hate for MMX unless for purely technical reasons. Gameplay wise I can't think of anything in the last decade as solid in that genre from the West.

 

[Parsifarka]

MMX is decent, but pales in comparison with WoX: it's so fucking slow. Of course, in the land of the blind...

 

[Archibald]

I don't understand what WoX has to do with it? By same argument we could discredit majority of games in the series?

 

[Darth Roxor]

mmx is p bad

 

[Parsifarka]

I don't understand what WoX has to do with it? By same argument we could discredit majority of games in the series?

They repeated over and over again how MMX 'Legacy' stands for an homage to Isles of Terra and World of Xeen. It's the obvious choice for comparison in order to evaluate the degree in which Limbic achieved what they expressed as a goal. And they failed.
Why would we discredit the majority of games in the series? M&M6 tried something new and achieved it, and the rest followed it until... well, M&M IX, which discredits itself without any need for reference.

 

[Archibald]

I was unaware of it supposedly being an homage so now that makes a bit more sense to me

 

[rvm1975]

Whats all teh fuss about HoMM7? Tried it yesterday, played a couple of weeks, looks decent. More of the same ofc, but nothing as scandalous as 6.

all about money

 

[Nekot-The-Brave]

Whats all teh fuss about HoMM7? Tried it yesterday, played a couple of weeks, looks decent. More of the same ofc, but nothing as scandalous as 6.

all about money

So the expansion, which costs $20 less than the base game, is better than base game because it costs less AND has a better score?

 

[v1rus]

Whats all teh fuss about HoMM7? Tried it yesterday, played a couple of weeks, looks decent. More of the same ofc, but nothing as scandalous as 6.

all about money

So the expansion, which costs $20 less than the base game, is better than base game because it costs less AND has a better score?

And has extras, liek moar neutral minions and ofc, a new faction.

 

[Parsifarka]

Fucking Ubisoft. Funfact - убийство (ubiistvo) means murder on Russian.

So you know Russian? Then please update me on what is going on with Equilibris 3.6 and the Heroes IV HD announced in August.
Regarding, Heroes IV, I love it in every aspect. My relation with that game is beyond what I could reasonably explain, it just hits all the right keys of my soul and plays with me rather than I with it. I perfectly understand why a Heroes II-III lover (and I'm one of them) would find it utterly disappointing, but even with its obvious flaws for me it's pretty close to being THE game -and I hope it will finally become if the Russians ever release that stuff in which they have been working for years. If I ever have time to learn how to mod a game, it will certainly be Heroes IV.

As for Heroes VI, I completed all the campaigns (something I couldn't with Heroes V), including the DLC and the expansion pack, and I have to say that they are piss poorly designed -not only for the absolutely stupid plot and cringeworthy cutscenes, but the maps are extremely awful, and not just for their annoying glitches -big and devoided, most of them require to get your hero into your castle for a month in order to recruit a force capable of assaulting the enemy final fortress; and to get to that point you have to run a stupid race of town-porting for hours.
The DLC and expansions were much better designed (not good, but at least somewhat enjoyable). But, at the end, I played through all of it, so I don't have the right to say how shitty it is because, well, it provided me with hundreds of hours of entertainment during over a year. So it's shit, but I kinda liked its taste (I paid less than ten euros for the whole thing).

For Heroes VII I expect something similar, or even a better feeling, once I buy it for 10E with the expansion pack included.
I'm glad Ubisoft finally lets it rest. Perhaps that ambitious project lead by Quantomas will end up in something good in a couple of years.

 

[thesheeep]

When was actually the last page when people talked about HoMM VII?

Edit:
It almost pains me to see this game dying so silently.
It was IMO far more fun than part VI, yet I was never able to finish it because bugs.
I hope the next attempt at a HoMM-like game will have an art direction not sprung from an anime's fever dream, though.

 

[Valky]

When was actually the last page when people talked about HoMM VII?

Edit:
It almost pains me to see this game dying so silently.
It was IMO far more fun than part VI, yet I was never able to finish it because bugs.
I hope the next attempt at a HoMM-like game will have an art direction not sprung from an anime's fever dream, though.

There was a HoMM VII? The series ended with NWC.

 

[Maculo]

When was actually the last page when people talked about HoMM VII?

.

Page 1? I have never seen a HoMM thread that does not become HoMM3 at some point.

 

[thesheeep]

so in a way they're fucked if they do and fucked if they don't, so perhaps they realized it and just gave up after 5?

I'm not sure.
There would be many ways, really. MM X was not a bad idea, but a mediocre execution. I'd honestly love to have another Dark Messiah style game as well, that was a surprisingly good game.
Or, when staying within the same genre, why not develop the lore further, start in a fresh age, or a faraway unknown continent with completely new races.
There are so many possibilities to create a new game in the series without fucking it up.

Or maybe "were", because I doubt we'll see another noteworthy entry of any kind in the series soon.

 

[Valky]

so in a way they're fucked if they do and fucked if they don't, so perhaps they realized it and just gave up after 5?

I'm not sure.
There would be many ways, really. MM X was not a bad idea, but a mediocre execution. I'd honestly love to have another Dark Messiah style game as well, that was a surprisingly good game.
Or, when staying within the same genre, why not develop the lore further, start in a fresh age, or a faraway unknown continent with completely new races.
There are so many possibilities to create a new game in the series without fucking it up.

Or maybe "were", because I doubt we'll see another noteworthy entry of any kind in the series soon.

Any hope for the series is unfounded as long as Ubisoft controls the IP.

 

[Oasis]

There's now an Unofficial Community Patch for Heroes 7 that fixes a lot of bugs and changes some mechanics. Glad to see someone looking out for this game.

 

[Lacrymas]

They've been trying to make the lightning strike twice by attempting to recapture HoMM3, but it never really works out. The new setting is shit banal boring and the generic aesthetic ruins whatever enjoyment you might scrape from the bottom of the barrel.

 

[Oasis]

Anyway, did 7 amount to anything in the end?

It didn't sell well. I assume because of all of the bad Steam reviews because of all of the bugs. They might not have had a random map generator at launch either, or it at least wan't obvious how to make one. I just started playing it recently and I'm having fun. The tactical battle screen is really pretty. Not the most important thing, but cool nonetheless. It's a shame, I fear Ubisoft will just ignore the M&M IP now.

 

[cvv]

It didn't sell well. I assume because of all of the bad Steam reviews because of all of the bugs. They might not have had a random map generator at launch either, or it at least wan't obvious how to make one. I just started playing it recently and I'm having fun. The tactical battle screen is really pretty. Not the most important thing, but cool nonetheless. It's a shame, I fear Ubisoft will just ignore the M&M IP now.

Yeah I wonder if I should get this. I kindda liked all the Homams including 4, 5 and 6, despite the widespread hate. But the hating on 7 was especially strong so it's the only game I don't have yet. Then again people hated on 6 something fierce and it was ok (except for the stupid Ubi online shit). I remember having good fun with the DLC.

 

[cvv]

So I grabbed VII in the Xmas sale for like 5 dorra and now that I went down with a flu I've been playing it for about a week.

Honestly I'm baffled why this game got so much shit. Far as I'm concerend it's pretty much the same as every Heroes since after III - i.e. middling and super non-inventive. I used to love Homams but in lieu of the constant decline after the III I've switched to Disciples and King's Bounty, both of which are miles above Homams now, in terms of the RPG elements, combat design and overall fun.

That said I've bought and played every single Homam to date and I've never downright hated any of them, maybe except the V and only because the vomit inducing WOWized art style. I've finished IV, VI and now VII and it's been ok. Maybe because I'm no longer a diehard Homam fan I'm not butthurt about the various changes.

Far as I can tell VII is the least bad sequel in the "after III" era. They've probably took a page from the King's Bounty book so the combat is not as dreary as V or VI although it's still only a faint shadow of the glorious King's Bounty combat (especially Crossworlds). Also the various hero abilities seem to me more meaningful than previously.

But what's most surprising is the campaign level design - I've never seen such an innovative level design in ANY Homams. Not even Disciples II scenarios are that varied. Traditionally it's always been "start with one town, be holed up for hours, then come out and crush everything", decade after decade, sequel after sequel. Hats off to Limbic for bringing new ideas to scenario design - you're with or without towns, with various heroes scattered around, sometimes they have to cooperate, sometimes there are various ways to do quests, even with consequences for the final mission and best of all - no more chasing weak enemy heroes around the fucking map, due to garrisons, local guards and various seals.

So yeah, pretty surprised. I almost feel like defending Limbic, they've done a great job on MMX and in Homam VII they at least managed to make the franchise less stagnant and dreary. Tho it's not been exactly an amazing fun it's scratched that Homam itch for me, especially when I've played all my King's Bounties and Disciples to death (yes, including Reincarnation, which is not too bad actually). I just hope Ubi stops making these already, they're just beating a horse that's been long dead.

 

[Zeriel]

You have to understand that on release it was irreparably broken. Maybe the patches fixed that (sounds like it did enough for you to enjoy it), but people had already given up on it by then.

 

[CptMace]

Man, it feels good to read stuff like this from time to time and be like maybe i'm not that crazy. I too think that the level design in the campaigns is very good, and maps are fairly different from one another. I especially liked the one from the necropolis campaign, when they'd throw you in a barren desert against 4 or 5 established factions set in rich areas.

I'll try to adress why the game got shit tough :
1) Probably the worst launch of the history of Ubi-M&M. And that's quite a feat after HoMM6. The game was incredibly broken, the low budget static briefing screen was even more static etc etc.
2) I think Uplay is still necessary to play the game, big deal breaker as well.
3) The heroes community is one of the worst I've ever read the forums from. I followed the development of H7, it was unbelievable how systematically negative the feedback was, even for some seriously benign shit like the color of a model etc. So even them didn't support the game (also it was arguably tailored fo them, I guess ?).

Now, the game is still p.bland imo. But I agree that it's way better than H6 and has enjoyable campaigns (also, for people who only play homm multiplayer, that's not a selling argument).