So if you guys have been following my posts you know 2 things:
I just had surgery, and I discovered some really shitty music because I really can't do much.
Well my tax return came in and so, excuse me for wanting to treat myself, but with an expensive surgery that has put me out of work, I really haven't gotten to indulge much. Feeling a little nostalgic after hearing a video game journalist utilize some of the music from the great turn based strategy game, Heroes of Might and Magic III (a spin off of the long running Might and Magic series that was greatly inspired by Magic: The Gathering) making me want to return to it as when I was younger I grew up mostly playing Heroes of Might and Magic III (and of course Starcraft, but that is unrelated), which is funny, because I originally found out about the series from Heroes of Might and Magic IV from a friend at the time.
So I started looking into where the series went since IV was the last one I played a long time ago, and 3DO - the Publisher - and New World Computing - the developer - both had since gone under (may they rest in peace) and found that Ubisoft had since purchased both the Might and Magic and Heroes of Might and Magic franchise, while Might and Magic seems to have gotten continued releases regularly (just recently Might and Magic 12 was released) while a couple of years ago they released Heroes of Might and Magic 6.
After reading that Ubisoft and the developer carefully crafted a more streamlined game with modern graphics but still faithful to the "golden age" of Heroes which was considered to be Heroes I through III - utilizing the same battlefield, newly arranged pieces of old sound tracks and even little easter eggs giving reference to the old games, it was still marred with bugs and late last year Ubisoft officially announced the discontinued support of the games development, meaning all remaining bugs were there to stay.
That, coupled with the still fairly hefty price tag for me ($40 for the complete version) I decided I best turn to good ol' games to see what they had.
They had the "golden era" of Heroes as well as the rushed, but still very good, Heroes IV with all their expansions.
It was tough choosing between III and IV - although both fairly cheap, I really only needed to buy one. While III is the one I grew up with and many of the fans claim as the best, I fondly remember the atmosphere and streamlined gameplay coupled with the much prettier fully 3d graphics being more pleasing of an experience in IV - though I had good times with both.
Many people were upset with IV, but it's hard to blame them, as the production was rushed as funds began to dwindle as 3DO was quickly going bankrupt. During this time they crafted a whole new 3D engine, streamlined the combat, the way resources are delivered, a revamped movement system (that prevented near-infinite movement of troops by trading them between characters) and a bunch of other smaller things that - as I have said in multiple times of this long winded thread - streamlined the gameplay.
While it had bugs, and some of the changes made the heavily-tactical minded have more trouble at perfecting their combat tactics thanks to the loss of the large octagonal tiles being replaced with small square tiles for unit placement, one thing seemed certain and the general consensus was: Out of any Heroes game, it's soundtrack, composed by Paul Romero (who later aided in the compositions of the later Ubisoft Published Heroes titles) was by far a standout experience - and I feel was a major part in creating it's lush and vibrant atmosphere as you play the "good" aligned factions, and the foreboding and dark atmosphere when playing as the "evil" aligned factions - and when exploring the overworld, playfield, whatever you want to call it, the soundtrack was there to give you such an incredible sense of adventure and journey, something I feel many games haven't captured. The only other game that has vast worlds with lots to give and an atmosphere that makes you way more interested in continuing exploring it rather than popping another painkiller is "The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker"
So needless to say, this has been the game I have been enjoying most recently, and I invite you to pick up one of the "golden age" Heroes titles - or number IV, which I think should have the merits of being included in the golden age of the Heroes titles. If at the very least listen to the soundtrack, here are a few of my favorite selection (the one posted at the top is by far my favorite)
Asylum Faction (evil aligned) - Chaos Magic
Stronghold Faction (Neautral "Might" aligned) - No magic.
Preserve Faction (Good aligned) - Natural magic
I hope you guys enjoyed it
If you couldn't tell I put a lot of work into this thread (and some research too). Why would I put so much into a thread I am certain most will just skim over? Because I'm that bored in my bed. Look, I'm human, I can only game for so long before wanting to do something else, and since I am bedridden, my options are read, sleep, watch TV or play something that can be played from my bed - and when you have NOTHING else to do in the day, like...NOTHING, not a job, or company to distract you, you realize...wow, 24 hours is actually plenty of hours in a day.(MORE BELOW)
