Poll: Should I buy all the Heroes of Might and Magic games?

[Candlejack000]

I am thinking of getting into the Heroes of Might and Magic games. GOG had 1-5 and Steam has 5-6. The question is should I get all of the games, certain games from the series, or just the two newest ones?

Captcha, in the air: just like my decision.

 

[Ender910_v1legacy]

The second and the third are the best in the series in my opinion. From the fourth and on-ward they started taking the series in a weird direction, and the gameplay kind of suffered for it. And the first... feels rather incomplete, due to there only being four playable factions and no upgradable units (plus a rather silly art style).

 

[DoPo]

2 and 3 are indeed good, with 3 being my favourite, but I can also suggest 5. On its own, it's 3 with a facelift and some touch ups , so it's good. However, if you get the Tribes of the East expansion, it becomes awesome - it's very slightly behind HoMM 3 in my list, and not gameplay-wise[footnote]frankly, it's just that you can play HoMM 3 on a toaster, so it's easy to just play it on a laptop. Also, random map generation is faster. Simply means it's easier and faster to start a game, which is also good to play with friends[/footnote]. As for the rest - 4 is different. Not necessarily bad but...well, it's really more of a different game. You can still play it, I guess and try it out. And finally, we have 6. I am pleased with 6 but I am not sure where I'd class it. It's a more of a strategy game, is what I can say.

I'd say get the games from GOG. If you for some reason want one, I'd go with 5, since you're a new player, otherwise it'd still be my top recommendation. For a weird reason it's both a good entry into the series and not such a good one - on one hand, you at least get explanations what abilities do and stuff - having tooltips is really a good thing. On the other hand, it improves upon the older games and it even takes the good parts of 4, so it's slightly redundant to play older games at that point. But if you can get a Heroes bundle definitely do that. The good thing about GOG is that if you get, say Heroes 2 and 3 and suddenly the Heroes bundle is on sale, you can simply get the other 3 games for the same reduced price - you don't need to re-buy the ones you have. At any rate, I'd go with 5, probably, and you might also want to try 4 - you might like it (or not, dunno) - as I said, it's more of a different game, really. If you're not bothered about playing older games, get 2 and/or 3 as well and you can even start with them. At any rate, once you get some playtime under your belt, and form an opinion what you like and what not, you can try the Heroes 6 demo. At that point you will decide if it's for you or should you skip it.

 

[The Madman]

I have to agree with DoPo on 3 and 5 being the main ones worth getting. Whether the others are worth buying right from the start seems a bit questionable, but those two are great.

3 is bar none and without any doubt in my mind the best of the series and the one I most readily recommend to anyone interested in getting into the series. True it's definitely getting on in years, but the art style has aged gracefully enough that the transition period for getting used to it is plenty short.

5 is a mixed bag really. In some ways it's a great addition to the series and in others a step back. Overall however I'd still rate it as the second best of the franchise once the expansions are taken into account and definitely worth picking up. Visually it's aged wonderfully as well, I only played 5 for the first time last year and still found it great looking. Those city screens especially are sometimes stunning and, like 3, it has great music.

Also worth mentioning if you're into these sorts of games and haven't played it yet, the recent King's Bounty games are brilliant. There's no city management in the King's Bounty games and you can only control one character, but there are more rpg options in their place and the combat... mmm... the combat is hex based heaven. Definitely worth looking into!

 

[SonicWaffle]

I played the living shit out of HoMM2 as a kid. It was always fun to use the cheat to fill every empty slot with 5 black dragons and then roll around the map absolutely curb-stomping everyone. I played a lot of 3 too, and had a go at 4, but my interest rather tailed off at that point. Something about 4 just didn't feel right to me.

Go for the early bundle.

 

[Auron]

4 is weird(not a big fan), didn't play 5, 2 and 1 are way too old. 3 was awesome and I like 6 so I think I mostly agree with most people who posted.

1,2 and 3 are in the same world but 1 is mostly plotless if I well remember. If you want to get into that you might want to give might and magic 6,7,8 a go too.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

I'll agree with everyone and say that 3 is the best (the 2D art style ages surprisingly well), but I played the hell out of 4 when I was younger and it's not as bad as people tend to think it is. I actually much prefer having Heroes act as units on the battlefield, but it did lack a lot (no upgradeable units for one). 5 is pretty good, I've got the Gold edition and the new factions are pretty cool too. It might just be that I've never had a computer that was that great, but the graphics aren't fantastic, although the designs and art style more than make up for it. Seriously, the towns are gorgeous. If you get into the lore from the old games you might be in for a surprise though, HoMM5/6 are in an entirely different universe.

 

[sXeth]

1's alright, but a fairly basic bones version of the game.
2 has some striking balance issues between factions, and a very uneven implementation of the upgrade system.
3 was probably the pinnacle, though a lot of the expansion stuff doesn't really work well. Conflux town is almost a booby trap in the random city choices for being kind of weak.
4 attempted some different things, most didn't like it, but I wouldn't say it was as terrible as its made out to be.
5 is basically 3 with shiny graphics and new setting. The expansion towns can be a bit overpowered though. The AI is blindingly stupid though, and only puts up any fight because of cheating.
6 takes 5's bad points and kind of sharpens them. The AI is cheating even more, and tends to just bull rush you with its non-legit armies. Its certainly challenging, but it really deadens the exploration aspect of the series, minimizing it to boring duels against stacked armies.

Hypothetically, there's MP in the games, but finding a partner to play such an extended game session is pretty rare.

 

[almightyweeble]

I would personally only go for No. 3. The Heroes chronicles that are basically the same as three are good for some interesting campaignstoo. 5 isn't too bad either but id just go for the 1-5 on GOG.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

Heroes of Might and Magic 3 + it's expansions are the only ones worth playing.

After that point they started to slowly deteriorate in terms of quality over time.

 

[Yossarian1507]

Go with 3 and 5.

HoMM 3 was a peak of the formula, with most castles, interesting units and most content (and even if you play through all of the campaigns, and most recognizable mods, the random map generator still works perfectly well for a good round of a hot seat game).

HoMM 5 on the other hand was a bit simplified, but otherwise well done transplant of the series into the modern era. There's a bit of a balance issue (Dark Elves and Barbarians are OP, while Inferno is borderline unplayable IMO), but my friends and I still spent a lot of good times with this one.

Captcha: lunatic fridge.

Ok, now I'm scared to sleep at night, because I just realized my fridge is make some unusual noises during the night. Thank you captcha.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

As others have said, three is generally considered the high point of the series. Any more than ONE Heroes of Might and Magic game is likely one too many...they're huge games, and there's only so much HOMM one person can take. If you finish up three and still have a hankering, play King's Bounty. Same basic concept, just swap out strategy with a cheatin' AI for lightweight RPG.

 

[SonicWaffle]

If you get into the lore from the old games you might be in for a surprise though, HoMM5/6 are in an entirely different universe.

Didn't that happen earlier in the series too, around about the 2/3 mark? I seem to remember there being something about an apocalyptic war and the destruction of somewhere-or-other (began with an E, had a lot of Griffins, I want to say Eternia but I'm pretty sure that was He-Man) that caused the survivors to head through a portal to another universe.

Of course, if you're into the lore aspects, you could always play the actual Might & Magic series. Veeeeery different, but AFAIK set within the same canon. Fun too, though I don't think I've played anything past M&M6.

 

[Worgen]

I loved heroes of might and magic V, it was fantastic. I enjoyed heroes 6 but the uplay on it kinda killed my wanting to keep playing it.

 

[LucidGizmo]

Most certainly get HOMM3 Complete, I love that game. I am surprised nobody else mentioned it yet, but the Wake of the Gods mod enhances HOMM3 in amazing ways. Also the VCMI project is recreating WOG for the modern era with high resolution and easier modding capabilities.
If you like the HOMM series I encourage you to go check those out. WOG isn't being worked on anymore, but VCMI development is ongoing, and is open-source, so if you are comfy with C++ coding you can help

 

[Taldeer]

And by "The Good Ones" I mean HoMM 2 and 6. HoMM 3 is not only good. It went through good, great, unmatched, and came out the other side, to a sort of gaming Valhalla.

 

[Exterminas]

They all have their pros and cons and depending on your personal tastes you will find your favourite.

I would advise against buying all of them in bulk since they are fairly similar gameplaywise and each offers a lot of potential gameplay. You will probably be burned out on HOMM if you try to binge-game through all of them.

Three and Five are my suggestions to start, though six is not without it's merits and it has the shiniest graphics.

 

[Camelot MiddleEarth]

The obvious choice is Heroes III + expansions, also I'd suggest the Heroes III HD mod, which adds support for modern resolutions and it has a very simple installation process.

There are some people who might say Heroes V was good, sincerely I was very put off by it, but that's just my perspective.

 

[SonofaJohannes]

I'd say get one and see if you actually like it before buying the rest of them.

 

[Collegeboy21]

3 is the best, but 2 is the classic. 3 wouldn't have been as good without 2 to build from. 5 was okay, but like everyone else has said, 3 is where it's at.