So I've been expanding my classic games collection and some might know me as an avid Sierra games enthusiast. Though lately I have been think about also getting the old Heroes of Might and Magic games. The thing is I have only played one of them and it was number II.


So I'm stuck between HMM and Quest for Glory bundle. If I go HMM, I'm probably only going to go for a couple...but even then I'm not sure and I'm wondering if anybody could give suggestions on that particular series or should I just get the one know most...

Are you collecting, or playing? Because those are two very different things.

HMM3 is my favorite of that series. A bit more "advanced" than HMM2, but still simple enough that you don't have animation distracting from the gameplay.

There's a mod available that allows it to run widescreen on a modern monitor.

Seconded HMM3, and also there are two major Overhaul mods: Horn of the Abyss and Wake of the Gods. I personally prefer HotA myself(the two do not go together due to conflicting add-ons), but I have heard good things about Wake of the Gods as well.

IV is also one of my favorites, but I will say right now that I am in the tiniest of minorities, most people despise IV because it went so off the beaten path compared to every other HOMM game(including it's successors, V, VI & VII). It's those very differences that make it so fun for me, it was a refreshing change of pace while still retaining most of the core elements of the HOMM series.

If you want to go newer, V is going to be your choice. VI completely removed the most major aspect of all HoMM games, the resource gathering, in favor of a more simplistic approach of just collecting Wood/Ore and Blue Gems. It's also riddled with bugs, I've tried to play it a dozen times and even fully updated the game just crashes on me all the time. VII went back to the standard resources, but from what I've heard it's even more buggier then VI(though I haven't looked in on it in a while, there is a possibility that some of the more persistent bugs have been fixed by now). V was the point where the series went full on 3d. It changed up the skill system a bit, but imo, a very fun way. Despite the graphical changes and the skill system, it retains the majority of the classic HoMM gameplay elements, making it pretty much the go-to amongst HoMM enthusiasts that prefer better graphics.

Another vote for HOMMIII here. That is, in my opinion, the best game in the series. Following games just made too many changes in gameplay, and how some skills worked...... for me to enjoy them, after having played III.

I Still have three installed on my current machine, and play fairly regularly. I LOVE the XXL maps, with many opponents, and LOTS to explore. Great Fun!! (I downloaded a map pack, but, am still looking for more, if anyone has any good links, I'd appreciate it. )

To me, they are the same (I collect games, so I can play them...I don't keep my toys in the packaging)

Thanks for your imput, much appreciated. I'm sold HoMM III then, I can put off the QG series for another day. Now I will eventually look into getting V and beyond, but I do enjoy playing games in series...since I already played II (and I've watched a LP of I on Youtube), III is my choice for now. The question is to skip IV or not.


So followup question, mostly to Starwulf and HeyYou - how did IV differ from III? Imo, resource collection in II was pretty simplistic (capture mine/building - 1 resource/turn per capture etc) so I'm assuming III worked very similarly. What about the battles and army building? I also notice from screen shots that IV went into the angled-view of the map rather than straight on (forgive me, I forget the actual names of those two).

Another vote for HoMM. 3 was also my favorite, liking that new Elf hero a lot

GOG many times has the series in bundles, so keep an eye out for that. I think I may have gotten all(5?) of them at one time in a bundle

PS: Thank glargg for that widescreen tip!

Yes, I see gog does have a bundle right now, but I'm not exactly interested in playing I or II. Because I collect-to-play, if I'm not going to play it, I'm not going to want to spend money on collecting it. I know it's only like $10...but I'm a cheapskate thrifty. When it comes to certain series that I've already played (like QGseries for example, I've played I-IV, and could certainly do them all over again...I'm just that fond of Sierra adventure games).

Thank you for your imput as well! As of now HoMM III is added to my cart.

Resource Collection: Yep, there are mines/ponds/whathaveyou scattered across the maps. The number of them varies dramatically from map to map. On some, resources are plentiful, on others.... not so much, and you have to resort to buying/trading resources in your marketplace to make sure you have what you need. (especially for resource intensive buildings like the Mages Guilds.....)

Each hero has 7 "slots" for 'soldiers'. Types vary DRAMATICALLY between towns. Some are far more effective than others.... (even of the same level of troops.) Army building works pretty much the same way as in previous games, build the structure, and then X number of troops become available per week. There are structures in the wild you can capture, that will increase your towns spawn rate for any given creature as well. (as well as recruiting some from there per week) But, those are base-level creatures, and then you need to take them back to town to upgrade them.

Strategy, build order, and a host of other factors become VERY important on smaller maps. Otherwise, you can find yourself wiped out very early in the game. It's a lot of fun, and no two playthrus (even on the same map) are the same. You'll love it.

Thanks for the great insight. Really appreciate the info and now I'm dieing to play this tonight.



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Alright, so now I found an issue with what I wanted to do...because I wanted to buy this with a giftcard on Gog, but the giftcard is for U.S. purchases only



So would anybody want to do a ~$10 gog/steam gift exchange with me? I'll gift you a $10 on steam, you do the same for me on gog (for HoMM III). Or if it's $20 on steam, I'll pick something else on gog too, whatever to make it work.

I know you've probably already decided, but I throw another vote in for HM&M3.. gameplay wise, its the best of the series (on the TBS side of the franchise anyways), although I like 2s story a bit better..


2's still great as well, although it doesn't allow quite as much customization as 3..


1 is really really dated, not purely terrible but not where i would suggest getting into it..


4 is, well really different, I like what they were trying to do with skills being more intertwined, and your heroes actually taking part in battle, but it was poorly executed (the siege battles were terrible.. they mucked them up so bad), and maybe if they hadn't been going through such financial issues during the late days of the companies life they could have made it work, but it does feel sort of unfinished..


as for 5 onward, I really can't give you an opinion.. NWC had gone under by that point and Ubiosft bought the IP, and I was not a fan of what Ubisoft did with it.. under NWC, they had spent 13 games in the setting making a truly fascinating and mysterious world, with such interesting and intriguing lore it makes TES lore look like a baloney sandwich.. but when Ubisoft took over, they threw all the out the window going "nope, never happened, doesn't exist" and just created a very cliche fantasy setting of their own and stuck the "might and magic" name on it to get sales..




if you do go with HoMM3 on gog though, i suggest after you finish a few of the campaigns to get a handle on it (the game has several) you should give "Horn of the Abyss" a try.. its a fan made expansion for it with 2 brand new campaigns, dozens of scenarios (including new map sizes), new spells and artifacts, balance changes, new units and a new faction known as "The Cove".. the cove is sort of pirate themed.. represents the Regnan empire, a nation known for their powerful Navy that you always heard quite a bit about in the lore but rarely ever saw.. (each of the games factions is meant to represent a different kingdom.. or two kingdoms in castle's case)..

HoMM3 still has a decent multiplayer community as well, if thats your thing..


I am playing the Horn of the Abyss fan-expansion at the moment and I like pretty much everything they've done with it..

Heroes IV differs from all others in the fact that you can have a party of JUST heroes(and these are actually the most efficient by a significant margin, but can only really occur in long campaigns where you have the chance to level multiple heroes to 20+), or an army of just creatures roaming the map. Terrain plays more of a part in battles, and there are potions(something that doesn't exist in other HoMM games) that can give your heroes(can't recall if they affect units, It's been a while since I last played) various special effects, such as raising up after dying back to full health, restoring their health, increasing their resistance to various types of damage, giving them haste, etc. Most of these can even be applied on the overworld map, so if you think you're about to enter into a rough combat you can pre-apply a bunch of potions without having to waste time in the actual battle.

As has also been mentioned, combat is not side to side, but at a top down diagonal view, which is what I think increases the terrain navigational difficulties. The leveling system is significantly different from I-III, and is the basis for V and on(though IV is still significantly different in this area), you basically pick the skills you want your hero to have(which affect both your heroes and your creatures performance) and depending upon the skills you pick, your class itself changes, giving you specific extra bonuses to what the game thinks your doing(If you go with 3 or more types of magic mastery, you become an archmage and gain a 20% damage boost to all spells).

Another different thing is roaming creatures. In other HoMM games, guardians of treasure or mines are static, they don't budge. In IV they will wander around the area they are guarding, giving you a chance to sneak in and grab the treasure without having to fight them if you think they are to strong for you. They also have aggro ranges, so if you get within a specific distance of them and remain within that distance when your turn ends, they'll come after you. One of the classes, the Thief, has the stealth ability which improves as you level, giving you the ability to just walk right up beside anything, take the treasure, end your turn next to the monster, and still not get aggro, which is pretty cool. Another class has the ability to sway creatures from any neutral stack to join your cause, but even creatures from opposing armies if you significantly overwhelm them in terms of power.

Another significant change is caravans. In I-III if you want to recruit monsters from dwellings outside the castle, you have to manually visit them and recruit. IV is the first game to change this by introducing caravans, which allow you to recruit from those dwellings and have them make their way to your castle, though opposing armies can ambush them on the way, as can neutral stacks of monsters if they end up within their aggro range. IV actually takes this a step further then V-VII in the fact that you can caravan troops from one castle to another as well, including heroes. Now, this may not sound that useful, but it is actually quite a time saver if you don't feel like manually bringing a hero from one castle to another ^^.

The final change is creature recruitment itself. In other HoMM games there are 6 to 7 creatures that can be recruited in a castle, and you can upgrade each of those creatures to a 2nd(and sometimes even 3rd), superior form. In IV you can only have a total of 5 creatures in your army: Both Tier 1 creatures of the castle, and then after that(and this is something I both liked and disliked) you have to choose between which Tier 2, 3 & 4 creature you want to recruit. It adds a significant amount of strategy to the game and how you want to play it, due to you having to choose usually between something with ranged, or a melee creature, or for example, the necropolis has you choosing between the Devil which can summon Ice Demons to your cause in battle, or Bone Dragons who have the ability to cause fear in the target they hit, causing them to flee.

Edit: ProTip: Take over nature castles as soon as you can when playing against the computer. The AI prevents them from utilizing it's special feature, which is an additional creature recruitment center. I've snagged nature castle midway through a map and found dozens of level 4 creatures(fairy dragons) or 100+ level 3 creatures(waspworts, ranged with special effect of lowering enemies attack) just sitting in the creature portal(that's the actual name of the building iirc. It basically gives you the option of recruiting dozens of special tier 1 creatures, a dozen tier 2, a couple tier 3, or 1 tier 4 a week).

Ooooohh, that reminds me, creatures don't come in once every week like all other HoMM games, they come in gradually throughout the week depending upon how many the creature dwelling can generate in a week. It's again both good and bad. Good because you're never entirely defenseless if you lose your primary hero, bad because you can't get your entire weeks worth in one go at the start of the week.

Have you given Wake of the Gods a try? I ended up going the Horn of the Abyss route myself as well, but I've heard a lot of positive(and negative, which is what swayed me towards HotA, which is almost all positive) stuff about Wake of the Gods. I've heard it basically turns HoMM III into an entirely different game, changes a lot of gameplay aspects over-all.