Breaking news: HOMM V will suck!

Ratty Sr.

Ratty Sr.

Ratty, except old
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The outraged Heroes of Might and Magic fan community has formed a united front against Ubisoft with the purpose of pressuring the French <strike>lying sacks of wasted flesh</strike> publisher into postponing the release of the latest installment of the HOMM series. The effort is spearheaded by major HOMM community sites such as Age of Heroes and Celestial Heavens and began as a reaction to the recent beta test which revealed numerous severe bugs and incomplete features in the new Heroes game. It is the opinion of the community (and just about anyone with an ounce of common sense) that there is *no way* Nival Interactive (you know, the Russian team which made a bunch of "niche" strategy games that were supposedly better than the commercial crap that passes for "strategy" nowadays, yet somehow consistently fell short of not sucking) can finish the game properly by March 2006, when it is scheduled for release.

Features that are poorly implemented or missing, but could be fixed in a few extra months of development time include:

- A.I.
- map editor
- single-player campaign
- multiplayer

Features that could be fixed if the game was cancelled and the license passed to publishers who aren't inbred morons:

- spectacularly ugly visuals which look like a timid 1998 ideal of 3D graphics (you know, flashy colors, washed out textures, blocky objects and overuse of lightning) that got run through the generic anime crap filter.

Read more here: http://www.saveheroes.org/
 
So, you missed out on the fact that HOMMIV sucked as well?

When was the last time a game series stopped sucking after one title in the series was not up to snuff, thereby dooming the series to a downward journey?
 
I was sure it will suck when I saw the first anime-like artwork which was explained by the developers as a way to breath fresh air into the series.

I don't want to hear more.
 
'Ubisoft's Fear-Gut': "Look out! Insane Heroes fans!"

Yet it's no wonder they get upset when fed this shit.

Unkillable Cat said:
So, you missed out on the fact that HOMMIV sucked as well?
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I'll agree on the stale predictability and the ease or impossibility in which some maps can be played, but at least they kept it close to the same complex board game feel. Oh, except for the no multiplayer modes worth speaking about. The balance, again, was screwed, as was the feel to the towns, and the art style was going to hell, although adding the actual Heroes into combat was a good thing depending upon whom you ask.

Unfortunately, with these issues around HoMMV, it does make me worry that they are going to eventually turn the combat into some retarded amalgam of the PSX MtG game and the "innovative" RT+P shitfest combat. That is Ubisoft's mentality in many ways, unfortunately, leading to many of their games sucking or just being a momentary flare like Beyond Good and Evil. The graphics change, and then the attempt to try and say it's styled after HomM III is just too funny.

GameSpot Article said:
As de Butler explains, even though the most useful view of the adventure map will be a zoomed-out perspective that lets you see as much of the area (and treasures and resource mills you can capture) as possible, you'll still want to zoom in your view occasionally to discover hidden treasure caches that might be concealed under trees or other objects that will block out your view from afar.
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Yay, from board game, to stupid hunt-the-pixel games.

Yet the development team has also added one new feature--color-coded "trails" that individual hero characters will leave in their wake. These trails will not only indicate at a glance what sort of hero left them (heroes of different factions will leave different trails), but they'll also grow larger and more distinct when left by more-powerful heroes. In the game, you'll be able to use these trails as a good indicator for which enemy faction has been claiming your territory, and whether or not you stand a chance of defeating the interlopers.
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Oh, so much for the fog of war and LOS, MORONS.

For starters, Heroes V will have an entirely new story with all-new characters, and it will take place in an entirely new world. The teams apparently came to this decision after looking back at the series' history, which was tied both to previous Heroes games and to the previous Might & Magic role-playing games. Though these classic series did offer a great deal of history and interesting characters, the teams apparently felt that the games jumped around too much between different worlds and characters. Heroes V will be the first game that takes place in this new world, followed by the Source-engine-powered action game, Dark Messiah of Might & Magic, which will take place some 20 years after the events in Heroes V.
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Heroes of Some Other Land, more like, instead of Might and Magic. You just have to love the mentality that they are sticking to what made III good, but then just chuck out the storyline without care. In fact, that was one of the major gripes about VI, at least they could have tried to write something in, rather than go for the "alternate universe" device that is as tired and worn as BioWare's amnesia plots.

You know the game industry has gone to shit when the fans have to tell the publishers and developers how to develop a game. Well, that has been what we've been through for quite some time, so it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who reads this here. I just think it's both quite vindicating and relieving that more gaming fans around the industry are willing to stand up against the cheap whore-outs publishers are trying to shovel out at full price.
 
Roshambo said:
I'll agree on the stale predictability and the ease or impossibility in which some maps can be played, but at least they kept it close to the same complex board game feel. The balance, again, was screwed, as was the feel to the towns. Unfortunately, with these issues around HoMMV, it does make me worry that they are going to eventually turn the combat into some retarded amalgam of the PSX MtG game and the "innovative" RT+P shitfest combat. That is Ubisoft's mentality in many ways, unfortunately, leading to many of their games sucking or just being a momentary flare like Beyond Good and Evil.

You know the game industry has gone to shit when the fans have to tell the publishers and developers how to develop a game. Well, that has been what we've been through for quite some time, so it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who reads this here. I just think it's both quite vindicating and relieving that more gaming fans around the industry are willing to stand up against the cheap whore-outs publishers are trying to shovel out at full price.
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The situation with Heroes is actually a bit different. With Heroes IV 3DO fucked with the mechanics of Heroes III, removing elements that fans of the series loved (such as unit upgrades or great variety of cities and units) and implementing new "features" that didn't always work out well (such as introduction of "alignments" or branching city development - an idea that isn't inherently bad, but in case of HOMM IV it also meant a reduction in the number of available units). On top of that, many aspects of Heroes IV indicated that 3DO was already on its death throes, from poor balancing to lack of new content.

With HOMM V Nival had the right idea, at least in terms of mechanics - they decided to take the series back to its roots and make the game more like Heroes III. Sadly, that's just about the only good thing I can say about this UbiSoft/Nival endeavor. HOMM V is going to be a rush job - moreso than HOMM IV - and an ugly rush job at that. Had they gone with a 2D engine, maybe the game would have retained the aesthetic quality of its predecessors (much of which was diluted when 3DO went with prerendered graphics in HOMM IV), while bugs and broken features would be fixed eventually, by the fanbase if not by developers. As it stands, though, nobody will bother.
 
Ratty said:
Features that are poorly implemented or missing, but could be fixed in a few extra months of development time include:

- single-player campaign
- multiplayer
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So uhh.... single player... bad... multiplayer... bad.... uhhh... does this seem a problem to anyone else?

As for heroes of might and magic 4, I personally enjoyed it a lot (though I bought it for 3 dollars from best buy so maybe i'd be mad if i spent more on it). While the lack of unit upgrades and the branching cities limited your unit choices, it was still an interesting possibilty and with a second try at it, I think it could be just as good as what was in the old Heroes. Likewise, by making the heroes an active part of battles, I felt a greater use for them and they were a more significant part of the game overall. Again, with more work on them, I think it could be a really neat feature.

So sure, HOMMIV wasn't the best in the series. But at least they were willing to try something new with the game.

This scares me with the bad news about the next offering. Likewise, it will suck, they will blame it on low interest in the series and it will get abandoned forever and ever.

Sigh, I'll still keep my fingers crossed.
 
Lonely Vazdru said:
See here :
http://forums.ubi.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/1851065692/m/9911088504
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Wonderful. Wait, no, this is fucking tragic. What kind of *idiots* does UbiSoft have for executives? First they decide to release an unfinished game, then, when a group of fans points out the obvious fact that it would be a moronic move and a deathblow to the series, they *delay the release*? Is *this* the modus operandi of game publishers nowadays? Make stupid blunders in hope the fans won't notice, and if they do, quickly change your minds like the bunch of incompetent imbecilles you are? Aren't these people supposed to be industry professionals? Where the hell is this world going when *communities* - more often than not intellectually challenged themselves - must stop developers and executives from making retarded choices, lest they should kill off the series with their incompetence, irresponsibility and mental incapacity? How the *hell* did *fans* become responsible for success and prosperity of a game series instead of people who own the series and make their living off it? *This isn't normal!* This dilution of responsibility shouldn't occur in capitalism, god-dammit! I understand why it happens in communism, where nobody really *owns* a company and therefore doesn't care about how the company fares as long as they get paid. But fucking hell, in capitalism the company is privately owned, meaning *someone* should give a shit about what happens with it and force the executives to act responsibly. Yet the corporate weasels answer to no-one but the shareholders, most of whom are so stupid and clueless that they deserve to lose every penny for being a bunch of ignorant twats.

God, I hate corporate capitalism.
 
I'm exceedingly impressed they even listened to the fans let alone did anything about it. Though its still sad in light of what Ratty said.

Great link Lonely Vazdru you were very helpful.

Sincerely,
The Vault Dweller
 
Well, at least the idiot executives at UbiSoft don't get lonely. They have quite a bit of company in the other large game-publishing companies.

Then you have all the idiot developers, not to mention the hordes of idiot gamers. The industry could really do better than this.
 
I found a link to download and thinking "Gee, the day of >650 MB game demo is finally here :roll: ). 4 hours later (I had shitty connection at that time). 10 minutes installed and guess what?

I need to get a serial-number from StarForce. 15 minutes struggle and finally removed the thing. Before I uninstalled it, I checked its readme and found that it's not a demo, it's a 'work-in-progress-playable code'...


At that moment I declare I will NEVER spend a penny on this shit... :shock: I mean, WHAT IS UBIsoft THINKING!? :evil:
 
zioburosky13 said:
I need to get a serial-number from StarForce. 15 minutes struggle and finally removed the thing. Before I uninstalled it, I checked its readme and found that it's not a demo, it's a 'work-in-progress-playable code'...


At that moment I declare I will NEVER spend a penny on this shit... :shock: I mean, WHAT IS UBIsoft THINKING!? :evil:
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It's a fucking beta. What did you expect, that it would jump into your Program Files folder and shout "Play me! Play me!"?
 
Ratty said:
It's a fucking beta. What did you expect, that it would jump into your Program Files folder and shout "Play me! Play me!"?
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I know this is more than a little offtopic, but...

I would love to make that my new siggy.
 
Not to rain on everyone's parade but after reading gamespot's article... it sounds like the delay had been decided before the beta had been released and simply hadn't reached ubisoft yet. According to people in the closed beta, the development cycle has been behind for a while. Is it true? Who knows. Does it change the fact that this was pretty pitiful? Nope.
 
IgnatzKrebs said:
I would love to make that my new siggy.
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*shrug* Sure, go ahead.

Not to rain on everyone's parade but after reading gamespot's article... it sounds like the delay had been decided before the beta had been released and simply hadn't reached ubisoft yet. According to people in the closed beta, the development cycle has been behind for a while.
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While Nival may have been inclined to delay the game even prior to the beta, Ubi would have probably had no qualms about releasing a semi-finished game. I'm pretty sure the fan outcry has to do with executives growing a brain cell or two.
 
Seriously, what's the use of more development time in this case? So they have time to add more of their innovative features?

Give me a break. They should go make Tetris games, it will suit them better probably.
 
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