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| Thread: Better Late Than Never | |
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Gidoza
Famous Hero
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posted September 05, 2014 09:25 PM |
bonus applied by Elvin on 30 Aug 2015. |
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Better Late Than Never
Hello, everyone!
I'm a Heroes Community member that has poked around these forums off and on over the years, mostly in the Heroes III forums, but am nevertheless acquainted with the forums, the community, and certainly the games.
In any case, over the last while I have finally gotten into Heroes V and acquired a decent sense of it, and after doing so, what I realize is that the things I'm pleased with about the game and the things that irk me actually have to come out...I actually need some sort of discussion on them, affirmation, criticism, or it will bother me. I'm just like that. So I'm sorta gonna comment on this as though Heroes V was currently some sort of Alpha or Beta and what my observations would be of the game itself, and comparing it to the previous games in the series as well. If you're not up for reading this, I'm not the least bit insulted - I'm mainly posting this for me. However, I recognize that there's also a modding community around, so maybe what I say here might be of some kind of significance. At the end of the day, I just hope that the experience of writing will be a good one. 
Just as a short intro, I'll mention that I play Heroes V on a Mac, and so while I've read up on the Expansions, I haven't actually played them - I may one of these days get Boot Camp going on my computer so I can, though. With that mentioned, here we go.
SKILLS
I'm opting to start with a general commentary on Skills in Heroes V, because this strikes me as one of the major pinnacles of the game - most of the game is a remake of Heroes III for the most part (as we all know - and also with snipits from II and IV here and there), but how the skills work really differentiate Heroes V in particular. What I'll do here is comment on the 6 Hero Specialties (and some of their offspring), as well as taking a broad look at the skills.
One thing I'll note about Heroes V skills that I LOVE (quite unlike Heroes III) is that every skill would appear to have a purpose, to be useful, and (in some sense - but more comments to follow) balanced. Heroes III, of course, had a bunch of skills whose existence was certainly questionable, though I think most of the questionable ones COULD have been modified to be balanced if some decent work and thought was put into it. I think that that work and thought ended up in Heroes V...sort of.
A second thing that I do love about the Heroes V skills is that there's a broad spectrum of choices available due to the side skills. This is both fun and interesting, and can indeed yield many interesting strategies...
...with two exceptions. Sadly, while the Heroes V skills are broad and interesting, the focus on usually one skill in each set narrows focus alot. Sometimes justifiably, because one might get too powerful with certain combos. However, my more specific point is that the requirements for requirements for requirements for a skill can at times do specifically the opposite of what is intended by this vast skill set - namely - eliminating the strategy of skill-selection. I'll give an example.
For Warlock, for instance, the racial skill Elemental Vision is probably the main skill in Irrisistible Magic that tends to be put to use. The drawback of it is precisely that in order to put this skill to a half-decent use, the Warlock needs to invest in Destructive Magic. The fact of the matter is that real strategy should not force a player into a particular strand of skills - so I consider this very skill and its use to be a drawback. Using other skills and even no Destructive Magic at all should be as much a reasonable choice for a Warlock using Elemental Vision as anything else would be. Of course, I DO expect some skills to combine to make interesting things - my point is that if you can't combine each and every skill to make something unique and interesting, then the skill path becomes dull and unstrategic, and that is exactly what we have here. All the skills are in theory balanced, but in reality certain skills end up trumping one another because of Hero specialties, and I would not hesitate to call this bad design.
Apart from the Hero's unique ability is some of the abilities themselves, that only permit the "more special" abilities if you get a specific one of the three...again, an unfortunate way to design something, since some of the "more special" abilities are definitely worth it, and thus, other abilities end up being picked for me to get to them. In this case, the strategy remains, but it is tightened and narrow, and the player has very little liberty in Hero design. About the only choices I ever need to worry about is when to snatch a particular skill or when to upgrade one...long-term or short-term seem to offer the same advantages. Dull.
So, a brief commentary on the unique hero skills...
Generally - For the most part, I'm not a fan of unique hero skills because they are too faction-specific. Part of the fun of Heroes III was precisely that you could combine different factions together into an army that could work well together. Now, there are severe morale penalties for combining certain kinds of armies (good + evil), which is a drag for interesting gameplay, and also simply imbalanced if one player's expansion is "appropriate" and the other player's expansion is of the wrong alignment, and furthermore, most hero skills don't even work with other factions. Again, this tightens the game's strategy too much and makes the game less interesting. Quite frankly, while I think the idea of unique hero skills is COOL, in reality the way it has been implemented isn't helpful to the game.
Knight's Training - In theory it can be useful, but in practicality I don't see much benefit to it, because it grates right up against one of the most valuable tactical options in Heroes, namely that of keeping your Hero out and attacking at all times. It just isn't worth returning all the way home every week to upgrade troops when I could be invading other castles, and it also isn't worth upgrading a second hero to do it, because my main hero needs the troops and the experience. Quite frankly, most of the time I would prefer not to have this ability in my skill set at all, so I can trade it off for something more useful. Also, as I have read on the forums - Retaliation Strike is pretty terrible, and would still be terrible even if it worked on retaliations and all ranged attacks. Oh, well. Finally, Training doesn't blend with other factions, which is bad.
Wizard's Artificer - Much the same commentary as Knight's Training - if I have to go home to use this, it isn't worth it. I'll get home whenever I do, but preferably never because the game will have ended by then. Also, I should mention that the ultimate in this skill - while certainly powerful - is the kind of ability I should never want to see in a game. People banned Conflux and Grails in Heroes III for a reason, and this seems like a good one, too. Finally, doesn't blend with other factions, which is bad.
Ranger's Avenger - Useful in a 1vs1 game...but more questionable in bigger games. Again, if I need to be home to activate it properly, it isn't worth it. In bigger games it might make sense to be able to pick so many creatures PER FACTION for each level of the Avenger ability. Side skills are fun, but again far too specific - Imbue Arrow basically necessitates the use of Destructive Magic or Dark Magic to be useful (and forcing a player into this is not a positive way to go), and I can't help but notice that Imbue Ballista actually depletes the Ranger's initiative every turn, sometimes preventing my hero from moving at all. I have to assume that this is a bug, but if it isn't, it's tremendously silly and actually a liability more than a skill. However, other factions can actually benefit from this skill, which is a plus.
Necromancer's Necromancy - Generally appropriate and good, and you don't have to go home to use it. What I don't like about it is that (as mentioned above) it doesn't blend with other factions in an especially serious way - in Heroes III — while Necromancy was admittedly overpowered — I would enjoy sometimes using a Necromancer with a non-Necropolis army to use Skeletons as either cannon fodder or extra strength, and just suck up the morale penalty or use an item to counter it. Can't even do this in Heroes V, because the troops received from Necromancy are inconsistent. Unfortunate.
Warlock's Irrisistible Magic - As already mentioned, the skills required to make this useful are far too specific, detracting from the game's strategy, so I don't care for this much. However, it's neat that it can be used with any faction.
Inferno's Gating - Not a huge surprise that it can't be used with any faction, and I wouldn't want to change that...but that's still bad. Can be used anywhere though which is good, and it's quite a fun ability.
And just a few skills that caught my attention...
Offense's Battle Frenzy I originally misread and thought it increased max damage by 1 and decreased minimum damage by 1, making me think that it would benefit units with minimum damage 1 and not much else, and permitting Divine Strength to help such units more. Once I realized what this skill ACTUALLY did, I was surprised. The power of this skill alone justifies the use of Offense on any hero regardless of strategy, which is again, bad. Might be more reasonable if it only raised max or minimum damage by 1, but certainly not both.
Navigation - Since this never shows up as a prerequisite for any other skill, and the bonus is paltry compared to the Navigation bonus in Heroes III, it is difficult to justify the use of this skill even on a map that is mostly water. Silly!
Recruitment - This bonus is just so low that it isn't worth hiring a hero to get the benefit of it - it doesn't even measure up to the worst of the Legion items in Heroes III, whose bonus was reasonable, I thought...neither too strong, nor too weak. Since we're talking about this, the bonus units spawned from Legion buildings in castles for low-level creatures in Heroes V gives so few extra units that it's practically not worth building the structure, if it's even a structure that generates units worth purchasing in the first place.
First Aid - Haven't actually used this yet, but if it doesn't resurrect units or get rid of negative effects, then it's not good enough to use anyways.
Logistics - In my opinion, this skill should be removed from the game. The benefits of a speed bonus are so obvious that it is only on rare occasion that I use a hero without this. It would be better for the game to just give +30% speed to all heros right from the beginning and to replace this with a completely different skill. Scouting, Pathfinding, and Navigation can all stay, though.
SPELLS
I'm not a huge fan of departing from the Earth/Air/Fire/Water theme, but I guess this works and I'm happy with it. What's more important to me is that Wisdom was replaced with a system that only permits the player to learn spells in their particular area of knowledge, and THAT'S a good idea. What I also like is how certain Mass spells have been left to the use of skills and require more mana to cast (I would have charged more mana, but this beside the point) - this is a far better system than what Heroes III offered, where the only two spells in the game were Slow and Bless. Hooray for well-deserved changes!
Some commentary on each spell set...
Destructive Magic - Kinda boring just because it's only damage spells. Also, the spells are sadly weak in damage compared to Heroes III, and I only bring that up because Artifacts (which I'll get to soon) are generally weaker in Heroes V and it's hard to get high in spell power, so even some of my strongest Warlocks with Empowered spellcasting and other bonuses end up doing what I'd call rather pathetic damage with Destructive Magic when compared to Heroes III, when in Heroes III often Bless and Slow were already the superior options anyways. Seems like a downgrade, but it's still better than nothing.
Dark Magic - I really like how Slow works now. In effect, it slows units down as much as they would be in Heroes III, BUT their range is retained, so potentially you won't be able to run away without getting hit. That's a decent setup. Decay suffers from the same problem as Destructive Magic, and Heroes III's Hypnotize has gone from completely useless to far too powerful. Brilliant. Furthermore, while Berzerk from Heroes III was much too strong in Expert mode and would have been sufficient targetting 1 unit for 1 round with limitations on what level unit it can be cast based on the level of magic, now it has been renamed Frenzy for some reason (which is a poor choice), it lasts for two rounds (unreasonable), and can't be cleansed (even more unreasonable). Nothing like enjoying overpowered spells to destroy the enemy. Finally, Curse of the Netherworld's damage is pretty terrible for a level 5...sigh.
A little intermission here...renaming Dispel, Curse, and Bless (which have been in the Heroes series since the beginning of time) is a horrible idea. Confusing and unnecessary.
Light Magic - Word of Light sucks. As for Resurrection, I will stand by myself and continuously say that this spell should never exist in the game except on Archangels (same with Raise Dead). Sorry, but the game is better when you need to suffer and accept losses at each battle...rather than just getting away scot free after a number of assaults on castles and neutrals.
Summoning Magic - Raise Dead same comment as Resurrection...get rid of it. My Undead are overwhelmingly powerful without it, and I don't deserve to be getting them back after I lose them. What's the deal with Wasp Swarm? Only Expert level makes it useful...the summoning spells are really neat and reliable, though - quite fun!
I might just mention that at only two spells per level, it feels like there's not much variety in spells and that there was more in Heroes III, even though those spells weren't ever used much. Also, because of only have 6 skills, it's pretty rare that more than 1 magic type is picked on a hero in my experience, making the experience of casting spells in combat pretty robotic and dull. Once again, not the most interesting experience. I'll admit that Heroes IV was wild and terrible in many ways, but at least it had interesting spells.
Finally, the Adventure Spells...
Summon Boat (just call it what it is) - Sadly, limiting this spell to only nearby ships really dampens the game. There was a Heroes III map I wanted to remake, but it depended almost entirely on the Summon Boat spell for its functionality, so the map is no longer feasiable in Heroes V. Otherwise, this is a reasonable adventure map spell to have around.
Dimension Door (call it what it is) - Nothing on heaven or on earth can justify this spell's existence in the game. This is especially true when Keymaster's tents are involved...don't want to fight that hard fight? Then just jump over the Keymaster! Sure, it's less powerful than its previous incarnation, but it's still too powerful. The only balanced Dimension Door is a Dimension Door that doesn't exist. What makes Heroes fun is planning and plotting the routes of your heroes...this spell completely annihilates the game's tactics and replaces it with laziness.
Town Portal - Another spell that should not exist. Yes, it is weaker again and only brings you to the nearest town, but jokers like this ought not be present to rescue me from my bad planning.
Summon Creatures - And this is the third spell that should not exist. Same reasons as before. Suffice it to say, in any Heroes III map I played seriously, I would trash spells like these as well as Resurrection and Animate Dead, and it made for far more interesting and satisfying games.
ARTIFACTS
I really only have two comments to make on artifacts.
The first is that I don't really get why the "person" picture for artifacts was changed from Heroes 3, when the concept is exactly the same. I still haven't figured out what slot is what, but the Heroes 3 design made it really easy to know.
My second commentary is that I'm disappointed that powerful items no longer exist in Heroes V as they did in Heroes III. Yes, I know that "imbalances" existed from items in Heroes III, but alot of that has to do much more with poor planning than it has to do with the items themselves. For reasons listed above, I would of course remove items like Wings of Flying, Tome of Air, etc. from the game without question, because these detract from the game more than contribute to it. However, for things like the Helmet of Heavenly Enlightenment and the like, any "imbalance" that might have occurred in Heroes III is I think a result of people's reliance on the Random Map Generator. I will never understand how anyone can think that using the Random Map Generator for tournament play can be a good idea...if you want a map that isn't balanced, that's the way to get it done. Rather, a properly-designed map could easily have powerful artifacts for each side to access within reason, and I have even seen maps in Heroes III that made effective use of powerful items for some players and powerful troops for others, with an awesome balance. What Heroes V has is a list of items that are actually quite boring, but of course useful. Oh, well.
As an aside, renaming the Grail (as you can tell, I dislike when things are renamed just for the sake of renaming them - if the developers are going to do a remake of Heroes III, then make it genuine) is just odd, but considering how using the Grail in tournament play in Heroes III was frowned upon anyways, I would have thought that making it the Ultimate Artifact as in Heroes II would have been a better choice. This, and also calling it the Tear of Asha doesn't fit with the game's theme - the first thing I see when the game is loading is the mural in a church in a church scene: I don't know how we humans managed to evangelize some other universe, but you'd think that the developers would keep the Judeo-Christian theme consistent with the naming of the digging item, thus Grail would have made more sense. Again, oh, well...
THE AI
Slight diversion to the AI here. I don't know if this happens to anyone else in the PC version, but the Mac version of the AI is pretty stupid. It sits around for long periods of time doing nothing in its castles, it NEVER retreats (meaning I steal all its items), and its use of spells and troops is quite terrible. I saw that there was a community-modded AI for the PC and I downloaded it, so I hope that this is an actual challenge (Herioc with all its cheating isn't even enough for a fair fight). The current AI also leaves things like treasures lying around for a lackey hero to pick them up...and then the lackey never comes. Free items for me!
BUILDINGS
I absolutely LOVE how castle construction is set up in Heroes V. The requirement of a Castle in Heroes III in order to get a Capitol made construction extremely dull and linear, whereas in Heroes V there are much more options available: I can make cheap stuff to go for money faster, or I can aim for creatures, or some of both - all are good options for different reasons.
A second thing I like (but I think good have been exaggerated even further) is that some of the creature UPGRADE buildings are significantly more expensive than the original buildings. I've always been a fan of having the extended use of unupgraded creatures, and the only real way to do that is to make the upgrade buildings damn expensive. With that present, there's some meaningful strategy in deciding whether to get more regular units, or to get upgraded ones. Heroes III's upgrade buildings were far too cheap and easy to access (most of the time), especially ones that made massive differences, like Archer -> Marksman or Wood Elf -> Grand Elf. Heroes V does a much better job here.
Something I'll toss in that is unnecessary but worth mentioning is that one of the things I found cool in Heroes IV was the tech branching that could be done in a castle. It made for neat strategy (when each level was balanced...) and was a nifty idea, though Heroes V works fine the way it is. 
One thing that Heroes V resurrected that is related to my first comment but that could have been done better would be to pull something from Heroes II - a mod of the Citadel and Castle. The fact of the matter is that the Citadel and Castle do far too much each for a single building and for their cost. The cost of each of these justifies the upgrade in creature growth alone. I'd rather have seen 2 or even 3 creature growth upgrades, a main turret, left, right, a moat, walls, and fortified walls. Making defense should be a conscious effort...not just a by-product of increased creature growth.
VIEW
Sadly in this department, I have nothing good to say whatsoever. In every aspect possible, the camera angle and some of the graphics are the worst part of this game. I can't see properly, and even the selection "Classic HOMM3 View" is in NO WAY the view of Classic HOMM3. It's nice to be able to see clearly where things are, what angle to hit from, what square I'm on, and so on. Heroes III did this well, and Heroes V does not. Nothing much more to add.
INTERFACE
Once again, I think Heroes III's interface wins hands down. Responsiveness of clicks was really good, whereas Heroes V's is naturally and adds unnecessary sounds. Furthermore, Heroes III's was very nice and organized - definitely my preference on this one.
FACTIONS
Yup, I have to say it - the fact that Stronghold (the REAL Stronghold) was not introduced to Heroes 5 as a standard faction is just plain insulting, seeing as it has existed all the way since Heroes 1. Furthermore, calling what the expansion has as "Fortress" is also a huge insult - Fortress may have been weak in Heroes 3, but it was many peoples' baby, and worth reviving. Replacing the real Fortress with a faction where most of the units look exactly the same as one another is just irritating.
MOON WEEKS
Fun and hilarious! Love this! Some of them are super brutal, of course. My only objection is that I have very little fondness for weeks when some players get a bonus/deficit and others don't. Imbalance is not cool, whether for or against me.
COMBAT
I like the initiative system: it's well-thought out and solves some problems from previous Heroes incarnations. Some balancing would be appropriate for some units (particularly the terrible ones), but otherwise this is GREAT and really interesting!
I prefer the old Hex system of Heroes III, but seeing as some units are 2x2, the square field makes sense and that works for me. I find it unfortunate however than only a max of 5 big units can fit on the field for one player, though. Also not a terribly huge fan of the small field or that there aren't any units that can fly right across the map anymore.
Also find it silly that the Teleportation ability on Devils has gone back to its Heroes III incarnation where the book said it could move anywhere, but it actually couldn't. Meh @ Devils.
On a more serious note, though, I real issue I have with combat is the Hero's attack. I DO like the Hero's attack and think it is a welcome addition to the game, which particularly deals with certain tie situations or abuses (not really abuses, just cheesy behavior). Where I think there is a major faux-pas is that the hero deals higher damage to higher-level units: this is TOTALLY unnecessary. Even if the hero dealt equal damage across the board to all units, it would still be better for the hero to hit high-level units, because it would be doing more damage for the defense value. In my opinion, this really cheapens the value of high-level units (particularly level 7's), and also the value of SPELLS as well, since the hero's attack is often higher than some good spells! This is silly! Level 7 units SHOULD be difficult to kill, and you should need to WORK for it - a free attack is NOT working for it! What a drag!
EXPANSION
While I haven't played the expansions (as I said before), I took a look at the new units for one of the expansions and was rather curious about it. At first, I thought there was a third level of unit (which I think would have been REALLY neat), but I realize that it's just a choice between two units. Hopefully someone can either affirm or counter this analysis: it seems to me that some of these new units could work alongside the original upgrades simultaneously in some cases; some units could be useful against certain factions, and against other factions the second unit; in some cases, it seems to me that the new unit renders obsolete the old upgrade; and in some cases, it seems like the old upgrade is better in every situation than the new one. That's just initial thoughts, but I'd have to actually play the game outright to be sure.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I admit fully that Heroes III (which seems to be the game upon which Heroes V was based, and to which I refer often) was a game with problems, balance issues, and so on. But it was a good game. Heroes V has built upon it, and overall, I think the project has been a success.
You're right, I have complained about numerous things in Heroes V - I would say it this way: Heroes V didn't change overly many things from Heroes III, but some of the stuff it changed, it should have just left alone, and much of what it left alone, it ought to have changed. Essentially, I feel that in playing Heroes V, I am playing a game of Heroes III where about half of the problems have been fixed, and have then been replaced with a pile of new problems because the developers felt the need to innovate. The first rule for editing something: do not innovate; fix all the problems first - ALL of them - and then add new things a little bit at a time. Otherwise, the end product cannot be expected to be complete and reasonable, because balance was never reached at any point in the process.
Overall, while I like Heroes V and would be thrilled to play it multi-player, at the end of the day, the changes wrought in this game with respect previous Heroes incarnations do not justify its existence, and time would have been better spent simply working on the Heroes III engine to bring it up to specs, balance it, and get rid of the bugs. I'd have happily paid the cost for Heroes III a second time for a Heroes III that was "truly" complete.
If I was to give Heroes V a rating, I suppose it would get a 6/10. Most points lost are because of the strategic dullness of the game coming from poor incorporation of VERY good ideas. All of the Heroes V concepts are good...and all of them need to be adjusted. The rest of the points lost are because the game attempted to mimic Heroes III without actually keeping the elements that mattered.
For a third time...oh, well.
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Campaigner
Hired Hero
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posted September 05, 2014 11:10 PM |
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Looks like my introductionposts when I go to new boards. 4 A4 pages of text
Not much to say about opinions, but in the last parts you mention things they should have kept from Heroes III. What parts are those?
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Sun goes up, sun goes down, I always win. Logical things in a logical world.
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Gidoza
Famous Hero
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posted September 06, 2014 06:57 AM |
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Edited by Gidoza at 06:57, 06 Sep 2014.
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I think the main things I mentioned that were missing (though I didn't bring in some) were...
-no Fortress (the real one from Heroes III) reintroduction
-different factions do not blend well and easily (too high morale penalty)
-didn't mention this one, but no two heros per faction (made for nice diversity: having only one hero per faction is quite dull)
-also, while I LOVE the fact that luck ACTUALLY does double damage now (but morale works a tad weaker, sort of making it function like the old luck), luck comes FAR too often now; it was nicer when lucky rolls were truly rare and gave a modest bonus: right now in Heroes V, the bonus is common enough and huge enough that it can be decisive, and I just don't believe in using "luck" as a strategy - it should simply be a bonus
-Heroes III's interface was much more organized and clean, and also faster
-camera view in Heroes III was far superior
-Heroes III's AI was superior
-and good, strong artifacts from Heroes III never made it to Heroes V, and I suspect for poor reasons
I think that's about it. Oh, and thanks for the reply!
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Dredknight
Honorable
Supreme Hero
disrupting the moding industry
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posted August 22, 2015 05:22 PM |
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jadw8888
Hired Hero
Avenger Ultimate
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posted August 28, 2015 11:35 AM |
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Interesting thoughts about Heroes V. Haven't played Heroes III enough to know what was better or worse, but to answer some of your points about Heroes V.
The first aid tent ressurects and removes curses if you get the skill War Machines -> First Aid. However, it only heals limited HP (and ressurects creatures when they go above their max HP) and can only heal/dispel 3 times in a battle.
Ressurection heals creatures with 90% of their HP whereas Raise Dead heals with 80% HP. However, repeated ressurect/raise dead reduces the hit points by 10%/20% further each time. e.g. Raise Dead cast on skeletons 3 times will finally bring them back with just 40% of their HP (I think this is how it works).
I agree with you about fortifications - it would have been good if there were separate structures for turrets and moat, but currently you build citadel and castle for extra troops rather than defending your base (unless you're about to be attacked and you still don't have a fort built). Undead have to build castle in order to build their Tier 7 dwelling and their ore costs are worse than Sylvan's wood cost.
Navigation is useless... there are always better alternatives in Logistics. But Logistics is great because it forces players to make the choice whether to sacrifice movement speed on the map for an extra battle skill. On the map 'Subterranean Treasures', I got Logistics, Pathfinding, Warpath, then Snatch as Stronghold and won purely because I could get on boats without losing my movement points whereas the other players didn't take Logistics so they were much slower than me.
As for putting mixed racial troops in your army, I've never heard of that in tournament play. I guess Ubisoft wanted to encourage people not to pick and choose the best troops and mix them together in the same army. The faction-specific skills and the 2%/8%/15% probability for certain skills (e.g. logistics, light magic, dark magic, etc) showing up means different factions have different strategies.
Though, if you play with undead troops, they always have 0 morale so you could use a haven hero with undead troops, but then again your army would be weak and you wouldn't have decent raise dead abilities to keep them alive.
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Elvin
Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Endless Revival
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posted August 30, 2015 01:32 AM |
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I can't believe I missed this thread! Better late than never?
I have to agree, H5 had the tendency to narrow down your options here and there. Not a terrible issue but still.. One of the worse ways it manifests is in the racial skills that do not support mixing up different armies. But I think you underestimate training, avenger and artificer
First aid resurrects and it is totally awesome for early creeping 
Destructive spells have improved in a lot of ways since H3. Their secondary effects differentiate each damaging spell and also work in combination with your army. The damage is pretty alright if you take into account game balance, where destructive factions have to attack their opponents by week 3-4 or so. They not only have the incentive but also the means, even in large maps. Then you also have 50% elemental boosters, warlock's luck and mark of the wizard. But wait too long and you'll be in great disadvantage, mostly because there are a lot of might stackable skills.
AI really is stupid.
Alternative upgrades were a mixed case. Some made old ones obsolete, some were better in most situations, others worse in most situations. They could do with some balancing.
I mostly agree with your other points except H5 totally justifies its existence. But to properly appreciate its depth you have to try it out in multiplayer. You will never see the AI being creative but it is incredible what a smart human opponent can pull off.
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H5 is still alive and kicking, join us in the Duel Map discord server!
Map also hosted on Moddb
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zmudziak22
Supreme Hero
Heroes 3 Fan
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posted August 30, 2015 10:32 AM |
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Yeah AI is dumb. On higher difficulties, he flees before I could act. Even if he has similar army power, he prefer flee, losing all power he had.
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dredknight
Honorable
Supreme Hero
disrupting the moding industry
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posted August 30, 2015 12:50 PM |
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Elvin said:
I mostly agree with your other points except H5 totally justifies its existence. But to properly appreciate its depth you have to try it out in multiplayer. You will never see the AI being creative but it is incredible what a smart human opponent can pull off.
Couldn't say this better. We play h5 in multiplayer all the time and there were some amazing battles  .
I will create a thread for Quality replays the following weeks .
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Join our official discord channel | NCF Utility Beta
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zaio-baio
Promising
Famous Hero
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posted August 31, 2015 01:57 PM |
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dredknight said:
Elvin said:
I will create a thread for Quality replays the following weeks .
Ive a lot of replays, some are very good
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jadw8888
Hired Hero
Avenger Ultimate
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posted August 31, 2015 04:33 PM |
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Elvin said:
I mostly agree with your other points except H5 totally justifies its existence. But to properly appreciate its depth you have to try it out in multiplayer. You will never see the AI being creative but it is incredible what a smart human opponent can pull off.
This is definitely true. Played against a guy when I was haven (Lazzlo) and he was orcs (Haggash). We played Former Friends and though he had some nice artifacts, I got to the middle first and took two haven outposts. I had a bigger army than him when we battled but he kept casting Fear My Roar so my Archangels couldn't reach him and the goblin trappers stopped my Squires from reaching too. After he killed the archers and paladins, I just had to watch my army die, even though it was stronger than his.
He kept his troops back, using Sky Daughters to sacrifice goblins then cast Chain Lightning. His centaurs died in the first turn but his cyclops and ballista with flaming arrows were the main attackers for the whole battle.
The AI would never offer you a challenge like that, sadly to say.
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