I've noticed that quite a few people are playing Heroes VI, based on the comments in the news threads. I couldn't find any discussion threads related to it, however, so I decided to make one.
Let's try to keep it primarily spoiler free. Use spoiler tags for story related stuff.
Personally, I feel it's a good game, worth about 7 or 8 out of 10 (as mentioned in some news thread). I have currently played through the following campaigns:
- Tutorial
- Necromancer
- Haven
- Sanctuary
I've just started Inferno. From my experience, the campaigns take quite a while to complete - certain huge maps simply take many hours to get through.
Instead of going on for too long, I'll just list some pros and cons to get started:
Pros
- I like how they've expanded the special abilities for regular units. It really adds an extra element to combat. In previous HoMMs such abilities were reserved certain special units (like Archangel and Fairy Dragon).
- Somewhat interesting storyline. This is not a huge plus or anything, as the story is hardly amazing compared to most RPGs, but it's quite a bit better than your average strategy game. It's good enough to keep me interested.
- The difficulty: Just like older HoMMs, it can get quite hard from time to time.
- Tying tagged mines to cities or forts. Yes, yes, I know, it basically means that aspect has been simplified. The truth is, I never liked playing the "resource game" with my enemy, constantly re-tagging old mines all over the place.
- The Blood and Tears system. It doesn't really add a lot, but it's a nice touch. Definitely something they can expand upon.
- The new town, Sanctuary, is very interesting. It's a solid addition to the HoMM universe. The units are quite well balanced and with several interesting abilities. The Pearl Priestess might be a bit overpowered for such a low level unit, but that's just nitpicking.
- Choices with consequences during the campaigns. Among other things, it sometimes determines which secondary hero you get.
Cons
- The number one con is the DRM system. The idea of linking everything in a Dynasty is actually a decent idea. Unfortunately, the implementation is filled with bugs, especially related to the online syncing, which means you might experience losing certain Dynasty weapons all of a sudden, or losing the experience you've gained with them. I've lost several weapons myself, which is quite frustrating. Luckily, I've found a workaround for this issue, so just let me know if you're having problems and I'll write a short description.
- Also related to DRM: My game crashes whenever I lose connection to Conflux.
- The balance between Might and Magic is still greatly in favor of Magic. This is something of an old issue in both HoMM and MM, so it's not really a big issue, but it is a bit annoying. Basically, it's far easier to keep the army alive through a series of battles by picking Magic. Just like previous HoMM titles, the balance shifts a bit once you get a big enough army - good Might/Defense stats means incredible damage and damage reduction boosts if the army is large enough.
- I find that the towns are not as well balanced as they used to be. This might change as I get more experienced in playing the various towns, but for now Haven, Sanctuary and Stronghold seem to trump Inferno and Necromancer quite easily. Especially Stronghold, as they get access to an Elite unit at Core level, which pretty much makes them the winners by default early in the game. Then again, the swamp town in HoMM3 was complete rubbish compared to the others, so I suppose this issue is not unheard of.
- Morale seems to have no negative effects. I have never seen a unit skip a turn due to low morale. Is it still in the game? In previous HoMMs, undead units were balanced in terms of morale because living units could get either good or bad morale. In Heroes VI, it seems living units either get one or two turns. Zero is no longer an option from what I can see, in which case the undead are at a clear disadvantage. This might be a bug though.
- The special attack of the Imperial Griffin does not work. Annoying bug.
That's all I can think of for now. Will probably update later on.
PS. It ended up longer than I had intended, sorry about that.
Let's try to keep it primarily spoiler free. Use spoiler tags for story related stuff.
Personally, I feel it's a good game, worth about 7 or 8 out of 10 (as mentioned in some news thread). I have currently played through the following campaigns:
- Tutorial
- Necromancer
- Haven
- Sanctuary
I've just started Inferno. From my experience, the campaigns take quite a while to complete - certain huge maps simply take many hours to get through.
Instead of going on for too long, I'll just list some pros and cons to get started:
Pros
- I like how they've expanded the special abilities for regular units. It really adds an extra element to combat. In previous HoMMs such abilities were reserved certain special units (like Archangel and Fairy Dragon).
- Somewhat interesting storyline. This is not a huge plus or anything, as the story is hardly amazing compared to most RPGs, but it's quite a bit better than your average strategy game. It's good enough to keep me interested.
- The difficulty: Just like older HoMMs, it can get quite hard from time to time.
- Tying tagged mines to cities or forts. Yes, yes, I know, it basically means that aspect has been simplified. The truth is, I never liked playing the "resource game" with my enemy, constantly re-tagging old mines all over the place.
- The Blood and Tears system. It doesn't really add a lot, but it's a nice touch. Definitely something they can expand upon.
- The new town, Sanctuary, is very interesting. It's a solid addition to the HoMM universe. The units are quite well balanced and with several interesting abilities. The Pearl Priestess might be a bit overpowered for such a low level unit, but that's just nitpicking.
- Choices with consequences during the campaigns. Among other things, it sometimes determines which secondary hero you get.
Cons
- The number one con is the DRM system. The idea of linking everything in a Dynasty is actually a decent idea. Unfortunately, the implementation is filled with bugs, especially related to the online syncing, which means you might experience losing certain Dynasty weapons all of a sudden, or losing the experience you've gained with them. I've lost several weapons myself, which is quite frustrating. Luckily, I've found a workaround for this issue, so just let me know if you're having problems and I'll write a short description.
- Also related to DRM: My game crashes whenever I lose connection to Conflux.
- The balance between Might and Magic is still greatly in favor of Magic. This is something of an old issue in both HoMM and MM, so it's not really a big issue, but it is a bit annoying. Basically, it's far easier to keep the army alive through a series of battles by picking Magic. Just like previous HoMM titles, the balance shifts a bit once you get a big enough army - good Might/Defense stats means incredible damage and damage reduction boosts if the army is large enough.
- I find that the towns are not as well balanced as they used to be. This might change as I get more experienced in playing the various towns, but for now Haven, Sanctuary and Stronghold seem to trump Inferno and Necromancer quite easily. Especially Stronghold, as they get access to an Elite unit at Core level, which pretty much makes them the winners by default early in the game. Then again, the swamp town in HoMM3 was complete rubbish compared to the others, so I suppose this issue is not unheard of.
- Morale seems to have no negative effects. I have never seen a unit skip a turn due to low morale. Is it still in the game? In previous HoMMs, undead units were balanced in terms of morale because living units could get either good or bad morale. In Heroes VI, it seems living units either get one or two turns. Zero is no longer an option from what I can see, in which case the undead are at a clear disadvantage. This might be a bug though.
- The special attack of the Imperial Griffin does not work. Annoying bug.
That's all I can think of for now. Will probably update later on.
PS. It ended up longer than I had intended, sorry about that.