Does anyone think Heroes of Might and Magic 2 is better than Heroes 3?

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I recently reinstalled Heroes of Might and Magic 2 again, and I found it a lot more addictive than Heroes 3 (which initially was appealing, but then lost me). It's just a lot simpler and direct especially with towns, structures and hero types. The music is superior as well. What does everyone else think?

 

The original (HoMM1) was perfect. The only thing it didn't have was lots of choices, but that's changed in 3. I got all three at the same time, so I was able to take them in order, and I found 2 to be pretty good, but when I go back to a game in that series, it's almost always 3. 2 certainly had its charms, but IMO 1 is the best environment-wise, and 3 is the best play-wise. So I guess my preferences go: 3, 1, 2.

Don't get me wrong, though, I've got a soft spot for all the HoMM games. In 2, the differences between town types reminded me pleasantly of Starcraft, and having only some units upgradable makes a lot more sense than how they do it in 3. I loved how they did the wizard town (especially those cute little halflings), and I've got some fond memories of a couple of 'wizard quest' scenarios that make me revisit the game every once in a blue moon. But when compared to the others, it just doesn't hold up.

 

Yeah the capability to upgrade certain units only was a good feature. I also preferred some of the creatures in HOMM2 to HOMM3, like the Paladin and Ogre Lord.

On a difficulty scale, I found HOMM3 much more difficult than HOMM2.

 

I like the undead and the music better in '2', but overall I like 3 best.

 

On my old computer, I was able to run Heroes I and III but not II. I wonder, why doesn't anyone mention Heroes IV when talking about the series?

 

i like number 2 a bit better than 3

 

Strange Chev, Heroes 2 would not work on Service Pack 2, so I uninstalled it (SP2 not the game).

As for Heroes 4, well I found that game incredibely tacky - (quest "having to endure months of grass burgers.. blah blah blah"), and the magic system was annoying.

 

The expansions are even more tacky, from what I've heard. I did like the storyline and some aspects of gameplay, though III was better. I don't remember what system I had when I tried to run II, but it was before XP SP2, that's for sure.

 

I've only ever played the 3rd one (which is good) and the 4th one (which is ****). I'll have to see if I can see the 2nd one knocking around in the shops anywhere. It's getting a bit old now...

 

Maybe it's a nostalgia thing. 3 definitely has a lot of nifty features, and the combat/spells area has improved a lot.

 

No, 2 was good but limited. I liked the opera style music - get the 2 expansions for heroes 3 and its a classic.
The randomn map generator really increases the longevity of the game. Think I might install it on my new machine this weekend.
Avoid the Wrath of Gods mod on the net - did'nt like that one bit.

 

Homm3's the most addictive for me. It's the one I always return to when I want to play a single map for the fun of it. Homm2 has fantastic music though, the opera-style idea was sheer brilliance, not to mention rather daring at the time.

As for Homm4... didn't like the game much, but again the music's good.

Never played Homm1, and it's become impossible to find now unfortunately. Should have bought the Homm Platinum Edition right before 3DO went bankrupt.

 

I think the first one was the best simply because it was the first one I played. I liked the less serious style of drawing in it and of course it gave the most original feeling. HoMM2 and 3 were good but they just did not give the same original expirience as the first game of the series.

 

Hmm... now that you say that, yeah. That's also the reason I liked Warcraft II so much when it came out, much more than Warcraft III when it did. Or the ever underrenowned Black Moon Chronicles from Cryo (which you must get if you haven't yet and I take full responsibility for recommending).

 

What's this talk about a second expansion for HoMM3? I have Armaggedons Blade, but I never knew there was another....


On topic: having played all 4 games, I like 3 the best. 1 was the first one I played, and that was also great, but the third one simply has the nicest feel to it. The only good thing about 4 were the fact that heroes weren't parked on the sideline, but otherwise, it didn't look and feel very good, and it was quite easy to build an überhero who could obliterate armies all by himself if you played through the campaigns. In the nature campaign, I ended up not even using armies anymore - they just slowed my here down x_x.

I didn't like II as much - maybe because I got it well after III, but it didn't look good, and I just generally didn't get into it. *shrug*

 

Shadow of Death it was. I don't remember if this one introduced random maps or Armageddon's Blade already did.

 

Nope, random map generator was already there in AB. But SoD introduced combination artifacts, which was quite a nifty idea. And IMO the campaigns in SoD are a lot of fun, much better than the ones in AB.

Strictly speaking SoD isn't an "expansion" in the classical sense because you can install it by itself without either RoE or AB. I think for the best Homm3 experience though you'd have to install all three of them. Then again I'm partial to the Conflux, which is one the reasons I like Homm3 so much.

 

Heroes II is where it began for me, thus it is my absolute favourite. While Heroes III offers more choices and is an upgrade to almost everything that Homm II offered it does not have that special feeling.

And as many already noticed the music and especially the sound effects are brilliant. I hope Homm V can live up to what Homm I, II, III, and IV have achieved.

 

HOMM V looks superb. I think Nival are responsible for the engine, which is based on the one from the Silent Storm games (which I absolutely love), so the results should be nothing short of stunning. Can't wait!

 

Rumour has it that you can get the beta version of the game, via bit torrent sites.
I will be buying the original when it arrives.