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[Woopah]

This is the game that got me through lockdown. Me and my flatmate played it endlessly (archangels are my favourite)

 

[Davevil]

I'd prefer the DS version

 

[MarkMe2525]

There is an awesome port to Android. Not perfect but really worth your time if you want to play this game.

Edit: I'm sorry as it's the second game that's on android.

 

[MarkMe2525]

I know it's a double posts but I could not edit and add an image on mobile.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

whats wrong with the steam version (besides not having the DLC) I bough it last year on steam but havent played it yet.

I dont think there's anything wrong with it. It's just that it's doesn't have the DLC, which the Complete Edition has. The key extra features are two DLC campaigns, random map generator and a bonus faction (elemental monsters and town).

 

[Coney]

I have many fond memories playing hotseat multiplayer with my friend group. Not many PC games had that feature, and still don't to my knowledge.

 

[BadBurger]

One of the greats.

Sad to report: despite having played it many, many times ever since I was a kid, I have never won a scenario. Eventually some enemy captain always comes along with an absurdly large army and crushes me. But, I came damn close one with an army of angels.

 

[xpresstuning]

Insane bump.

Minsc recapped the game well.

The combat portion isn't very deep. You got a slew of factions and each one has their 7-8 monsters. Your heroes have a magic book and you level it up in terms of # of spells and spell power.

Once you play the game enough, you have an idea how predictable the AI is and overall, it's not that smart. You can goad it into doing stupid things over and over again winning certain battle situations which you would never win against a good AI or human opponent.

It is what it is. It's a 20+ year old game. Part of the coolness about the game is simply the detailed sprite work and animations. HOMM4 went to polygons which I avoided.

If you take the plunge, just get it off a GOG deal. HOMM Complete Edition which is all DLC (including random map maker which is the best part). Technically, the random map deature is baked into one of the two DLC they released. I forget which one. But Complete Edition has everything. On deal, the game is like $4. If you just get the standard game, it's solely campaign scenarios. When I got the game, I got it when the Complete Edition was out and I played it a ton. I only played random maps too. I never touched the story campaign once. I find it more fun doing random skirmish matches than being funneled through canned handcrafted levels with little replayability.

The fact that it is so approachable is a good thing; It's not that deep, the AI is not that smart. But it is quite enough. Let me also fap about that UI, which is God damn miraculous how good it is despite its age. And whatever video game people play will be digested enough to be predictable after some amount of time, man. I've said quite enough in my original OP, you know the game's awesome.

I gotta do a hotseat this weekend. Imagine a few friends and a big screen TV, and one wireless mouse. I've had that a few times.

I dont think there's anything wrong with it. It's just that it's doesn't have the DLC, which the Complete Edition has. The key extra features are two DLC campaigns, random map generator and a bonus faction (elemental monsters and town).

You mean almost everything that makes the game awesome. Man is the Steam version shit.

 

[supernova8]

(edit: I'm only here because of the other dude's bump)

Wow this brings back memories. I think I only ever played the original game (HoMM 1)

Played it when I was about 7 or 8 (thus 1997 or 1998). I know the sequel(s) were out by then but I recall my older brother originally got HoMM1 at launch for his birthday and then he moved onto other games (namely C&C Red Alert in 1996 and then Commandos Behind Enemy Lines in 1998).

I was the younger brother with not enough pocket money to buy PC/DOS games, so I just ended up playing whatever my brothers had as leftovers.

Weird I just sat through 10 minutes of HoMM1, 2, and 3 to jog my memory and the much more close-up battle screen on the first game (plus the more primitive music) seems closer to what I remember so I'm going with that.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane it was nice!

By the way... did anyone else ever play Republic: The Revolution?

 

[Come On Tars]

Amazing game, however i find myself playing more HoM&M II than III (i play it even on my phone) . That said i think these two games in particolar will never age somehow.

Possible on IOS?

 

[Lux R7]

Possible on IOS?

i use android and i have hom&m II on it, i know that III exists but only for tablets, i may be wrong

 

[Ar¢tos]

Crap, now I want to play it again... Is there anything remotely similar available and playable on ps5?

 

[Come On Tars]

I may grant III improved a lot of things, but II has special nostalgia for me. I really like the sprite design. Nothing like the feeling of getting 10 black dragons in your squad. I sucked butt at that game tho, could never figure it out.

 

[Come On Tars]

i use android and i have hom&m II on it, i know that III exists but only for tablets, i may be wrong

found I can play through a browser. Good enough to goof around in

Heroes Of Might And Magic II | DOS games in browser

Heroes Of Might And Magic II is a famous and most played DOS game that now is available to play in browser. With virtual mobile controls you also can play in Heroes Of Might And Magic II on mobile. On DOS.Zone Heroes Of Might And Magic II available to play for free without registration.

dos.zone

 

[Come On Tars]

anyone try Songs of Conquest?

 

[nkarafo]

Ultimately it's about manipulating your army in to a series of fights where you suffer little to no loses by taking advantage of ranged/melee correctly and positioning them so the enemies can't hit them while fighting for control of the resources on the map to continue to build your army faster than the CPU/opponent. There's more strategy in the planning of playing the level than the actual combat, where the combat itself generally has an ideal/perfect solution while fighting for control of the map is much more chaotic and random, demanding you to make decisions of A/B, etc.

I never got this series tbh. I played a lot of turn based strategy games but this one i always gave up, not because it's hard, the opposite. It's because it lets you cheese it very easily. I remember how i could breeze through the game by stacking unlimited peasants with pitchforks in a single slot. That thing would stomp any enemy CPU army with ease. I never actually finished any of the games, i just beat the first half missions or something until i got bored doing that.

Not sure if i did something wrong or my game was bugged. But i did try two games in the series (don't remember which exactly, i think one of them was 5) and they did let you stack unlimited units in a single slot. Where's the strategy in that? Every other turn based strategy game i ever played don't let you do that and enjoyed them more because of it.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I never got this series tbh. I played a lot of turn based strategy games but this one i always gave up, not because it's hard, the opposite. It's because it lets you cheese it very easily. I remember how i could breeze through the game by stacking unlimited peasants with pitchforks in a single slot. That thing would stomp any enemy CPU army with ease. I never actually finished any of the games, i just beat the first half missions or something until i got bored doing that.

Not sure if i did something wrong or my game was bugged. But i did try two games in the series (don't remember which exactly, i think one of them was 5) and they did let you stack unlimited units in a single slot. Where's the strategy in that? Every other turn based strategy game i ever played don't let you do that and enjoyed them more because of it.

I played HOMM #1 a lot, #2 not that much, #3 a ton. What skill did you play? There is no way stacks of peasants can blow through the game.

 

[nkarafo]

I played HOMM #1 a lot, #2 not that much, #3 a ton. What skill did you play? There is no way stacks of peasants can blow through the game.

I always play all games on normal/medium.

Dunno, i remember having a couple of peasant stacks that destroyed everything in my path. I would just endlessly add a ton of units in it and the enemy stacks could only destroy a small portion of it before they got stomped. The CPU would not try stacking too many units.

You are probably right in that this probably wouldn't allow me to finish the whole game but i did beat enough maps this way to not want to find out.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I always play all games on normal/medium.

Dunno, i remember having a couple of peasant stacks that destroyed everything in my path. I would just endlessly add a ton of units in it and the enemy stacks could only destroy a small portion of it before they got stomped. The CPU would not try stacking too many units.

You are probably right in that this probably wouldn't allow me to finish the whole game but i did beat enough maps this way to not want to find out.

Could be true. Sounds like you did campaign maps. Maybe those were handcrafted to be easy if taking the knight faction. I only played random maps against 4-5 AI opponents on med or large maps at Hard skill. Even though the CPU was easy at its core when you know how it works, the matches would come down to whomever had the most/best high level monster stacks. All the lower level monster tiers were pointless except for some missile monsters and using the low tier monsters as cheesers and fodder.

 

[Midnight Bliss]

Heroes of might and magic 2 was superior also had better music and it was pixel art

 

[nkarafo]

Could be true. Sounds like you did campaign maps. Maybe those were handcrafted to be easy if taking the knight faction. I only played random maps against 4-5 AI opponents on med or large maps at Hard skill. Even though the CPU was easy at its core when you know how it works, the matches would come down to whomever had the most/best high level monster stacks. All the lower level monster tiers were pointless except for some missile monsters and using the low tier monsters as cheesers and fodder.

Yeah, your description makes it look like a game i would not enjoy either way. I prefer more tight rules in strategy games. Not a fan of being able to just use high numbers vs low numbers. Something like The Disciples 2 was a much better game for me because you can only have a limited amount of units, which means it's more about decision making and maxing out the potential of your small group instead of just making sure you add as many units as possible to brute force through everything. It's still not a hard game, i now need to play it on the highest difficulty level to enjoy some challenge but it's tight gameplay made me want to finish it and replay it a few times with all factions.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Yeah, your description makes it look like a game i would not enjoy either way. I prefer more tight rules in strategy games. Not a fan of being able to just use high numbers vs low numbers. Something like The Disciples 2 was a much better game for me because you can only have a limited amount of units, which means it's more about decision making and maxing out the potential of your small group instead of just making sure you add as many units as possible to brute force through everything. It's still not a hard game, i now need to play it on the highest difficulty level to enjoy some challenge but it's tight gameplay made me want to finish it and replay it a few times with all factions.

Yup, that's HOMM at it's core.

- Heroes roam around and get as much resources and gold as possible
- Build up towns and structures
- Build up monster stacks
- Kill enemies, find gear, level up. Leveling up gets you more perks and as you grind away more spells and spell power
- Stack on enough high tier monsters + using low level monsters as fodder = plow through the map like a game of Risk

 

[Hemingwayoffbase]

This may be too specific, but did anyone here play Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous?

If so, how close is HOMM3 to the army building/combat side game in Pathfinder WOTR?

 

[L*][*N*K]

It truly is an amazing experience, One of the reasons why I am excited for Songs of Conquest because the makers of that game are diehard HMM3 fans

 

[Knightime_X]

I have this on steam.
Haven't gotten around to playing it

 

[SeraphJan]

Heroes of might and magic 2 was superior also had better music and it was pixel art

In terms of music, I think HoMM IV was the best even the game itself was controversial

 

[Icymanipulator]

It truly is an amazing game. I’ll never forget my friend stopped playing against me because I would always beeline to get Angels asap and they were basically unstoppable.

 

[Lord Panda]

This thread has rekindled that HoMM fire in me. Any chance there's a way of playing it on iPadOS natively or there's an iPadOS game that's similar?

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Will the new Macbook game magic allow this to be played on the Mac?

 

[Cyberpunkd]

It truly is an amazing game. I’ll never forget my friend stopped playing against me because I would always beeline to get Angels asap and they were basically unstoppable.

Let me introduce you to my 5000 skeletons over here...

 

[Minsc]

I never got this series tbh. I played a lot of turn based strategy games but this one i always gave up, not because it's hard, the opposite. It's because it lets you cheese it very easily. I remember how i could breeze through the game by stacking unlimited peasants with pitchforks in a single slot. That thing would stomp any enemy CPU army with ease. I never actually finished any of the games, i just beat the first half missions or something until i got bored doing that.

Not sure if i did something wrong or my game was bugged. But i did try two games in the series (don't remember which exactly, i think one of them was 5) and they did let you stack unlimited units in a single slot. Where's the strategy in that? Every other turn based strategy game i ever played don't let you do that and enjoyed them more because of it.

Play the campaigns and stick with them (all HoMM games 2,3 and 5 have really fun campaigns for strategy fans). The game does get very hard at times. You do need to go to higher difficulties, and it's definitely a bit strategic because you don't always have the luxury to sit back and build up 4000 peasants and even if you did the AI will just zap them away with better units or another player would cast slow on them and they'd basically be eliminated due to their inability to move anywhere.

 

[Evil Calvin]

The HOMM3 HD remaster is on Steam (and plays well on the Steam Deck)

 

[GladiusFrog]

Everyone, Don't sleep on the fan-made expansion pack: Horns of the Abyss.

It's expertly crafted and adds working online multiplayer. It also won't interfere with vanilla Heroes 3 complete.

https://www.hota.acidcave.net/download.html

 

[Hestar69]

I dont think there's anything wrong with it. It's just that it's doesn't have the DLC, which the Complete Edition has. The key extra features are two DLC campaigns, random map generator and a bonus faction (elemental monsters and town).

ah ok that sucks about the dlc stuff. I thought maybe it was unplayable..I guess if i ever play it and like it ill get teh gog version.

 

[Alx]

I always play all games on normal/medium.

Dunno, i remember having a couple of peasant stacks that destroyed everything in my path. I would just endlessly add a ton of units in it and the enemy stacks could only destroy a small portion of it before they got stomped. The CPU would not try stacking too many units.

You are probably right in that this probably wouldn't allow me to finish the whole game but i did beat enough maps this way to not want to find out.

Stacking hordes of weak characters did in fact work… until you fight undead characters that will heal themselves by killing your grunts, or even worse turn them against you as ghosts or skeletons.
Peasants were not my go-to grunts since they advanced slowly and had to go melee to deal damage. While halflings or elves could attack from afar, and sprites were very fast (but weak)

 

[Hudo]

This, together with Age of Empires 2 and Tiberian Sun are my "holy trifecta".

 

[Mr Branding]

This game is my freaking childhood! It's also the first game that got my wife hooked on gaming. Superb strategy game, such a shame Ubisoft pretty much butchered the franchise.

 

[Catphish]

This just came out of Early Access yesterday.

Looks legit.

 

[Come On Tars]

This just came out of Early Access yesterday.

Looks legit.

Sweet I been keeping an eye on it. Looks like a true successor

 

[ReyBrujo]

Slightly in topic, slighting off-topic, Ashens covered a Complete Edition of HoMM today, guess it can fit here. 11:30 onwards. HoMM3 is my favorite PC turn-based strategy game. One of the few games that was almost perfect from release.

 

[Hemingwayoffbase]

Songs of Conquest looks amazing. Just as a PSA: it’s coming to consoles in the fall.

 

[Touch fuzZy. get BizZay]

Thanks for the heads up, will do some research on Songs of Conquest

 

[sachos]

HoMM III is one of the best and most addictive games i've ever played. So glad i had the chance to play it growing up.

 

[ThatStupidLion]

Reallly wanted to like HotA, but at this stage in my life i just cant be bothered learning all the new stuff and changes to vanilla homm3 that are ingrained in me. It cool dicking around and surely well made, but it messed with my head and instincts too much. A younger me would be all over it though.