Maybe old school gaming isn't that great after all

[Don]

I was looking at HOMM3 HD edition and found that it had a lower metacritic review than pretty much any HOMM game that had a metacritic score:

http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/heroe ... hd-edition

Now, HOMM3 is widely thought of as the best game in the HOMM franchise (HOMM3 was around before Metacritic, so no score for that). The HD edition is $15 and contains only the base game. There was a problem with most anti virus flagging it as a virus that made it unplayable, though I don't think any of the review talked about that (and if they had that problem they wouldn't be able to play the game to review it). Otherwise, it's exactly the same game as it was 10 years ago. Maybe you can argue $15 was a lot to pay for it when you can get the original version with its expansions for about the same, though honestly Armageddon's Blade wasn't really that good (the campaign are just so ridiculously powerful that you end up abusing game mechanics to trivially beat them because you sure aren't beating some of those guys straight up, ever) and I didn't even bother getting the one after (Shadow of Death, I think). I'm actually pretty puzzled by the review. I mean, it says it's a HD version, and it doesn't pretend that it contains the expansion either (which weren't all that good to begin with). Are people expecting this game to be better than what it was 10 years ago? The graphics actually age pretty well IMO, and of course everything else is still exactly the same as it was before. The only thing I can think of is that I can't play until 3am like I used to and like Civ, this was one of those games where you ended up playing and didn't notice the sun was up. Unlike Civ, it's one of those game you either finish in one go or not at all. For some reason it's just a very hard game to get back into once you walk away from it, and at any rate that shouldn't be a factor on the reviewer who are supposed to be professionals.

I think it's pretty funny that you always see these praise for games with dirt-cheap graphics that looks like something came out of the stone age with minimal content, but when they bring one of the classic with the classic graphics that are reasonably remastered for HD, people basically complain about its old age even though it sure is still better than any cheap strategy indie game out there unless you count Age of Wonders as indie (I think it's classified as one, but the development staff sure seems quite extensive and there's plenty of professional experience on the staff).

[Eric]

Aren't most of the re-release's critiques more focused on the package and price they were selling as opposed to the game itself? Most of the low scores are a result of that. It'd be like Nintendo reselling Super Mario Bros for $15.

If you played this game, and you liked it, 15 years ago when it first came out, you might get a bit of nostalgia from this version. But without the expansions bundled in and practically no changes, there exist better alternatives on the market for you to spend your money on.

The most important problem with this reissue is that all we get is a core game, without changes compared to Heroes III sixteen years ago. Only for the most devoted fans.

Heroes of Might and Magic III HD Edition was supposed to be a way to celebrate 15th anniversary of the game and 20th anniversary of the series. Unfortunately Ubisoft failed. The freshened up version of HoMM III is not a product worth a relatively high price - especially it you find out how much the fans have improved the original. The biggest flaw of the HD Edition is an absurd price to quality ratio - this package simply doesn't contain all the things it needed to.

I love turn-based tacts, I love classics and I like Fantasy. But while other games of that era aged well, HoMM feels outdated. If you really want to play it, get the original with mods.

It is, in no uncertain terms, a waste of money.

[Don]

Yeah, and they're all complaining about features that didn't matter. You have some UI convenience from Armageddon's Blade that's probably the most glaring issue. There is no campaign editor but it's not like you should ever buy a game just for fan-based stuff. Sure there's some surprisingly good stuff people make but then Big Game Hunter was considered a good mod for Starcraft too. I can bet you nobody complaining about the game can name an alternative that's better unless they're talking about getting the original HOMM3 for $5 in a bargain bin somewhere and I'd think people understand that part of the price tag is that you get it on something that's on a legit platform in a relatively easy to find spot. HOMM3 has its problem (it's more of a RPG than a strategy game) but that's also why there isn't quite anything like it. Some combination of abilities/town/heroes are hopelessly broken but then game was never really about strategy but rather piling up as much stats as possible on your hero and then cast Implosion for 999999 damage and watch everything die. For that matter Dimensional Door to grab the Armageddon's Blade before the AI has a chance to move and then use it to instantly kill your opponent is pretty fun too, even though that's not remotely what's intended (you're supposed to fight the boss for the Armageddon's Blade, not grab it first and kill him with it on turn 1). Okay so fan content would usually eliminate you from being able to cast Fly, Dimensional Door, or Town Portal and that might make sense for balance, but then why stop there? Why not ban Implosion, Chain Lightning, Meteor Storm, Armageddon, and Resurrection?

[Eric]

http://store.steampowered.com/sale/ubisoft_weekend/

Semi-relivent, all the Might & Magic games are between $3-$7 atm. :o

[Don]

http://store.steampowered.com/sale/ubisoft_weekend/

Semi-relivent, all the Might & Magic games are between $3-$7 atm. :o

Well, most Might & Magic games just aren't that good, but you can't just start selling it for $5 because then people are going to be like 'this game must suck because it's so cheap'. The best game of the series deserves to have a $15 starting price tag. I don't care if they later heavily discounted it if it didn't sell. The $15 price tag certainly didn't stop people from buying it (if it did people wouldn't review and complain about the price), and yet you know exactly what you're getting in the game! I don't see how anyone can possibly mistaken that this remake was supposed to have Armageddon's Blade and Shadow of Death.

If anything I'd say the best reason to review it negatively was how it was flagged as a virus by most anti-virus programs (probably because it's ridiculously old so no virus scanner is aware of its existence) so you can't play it the first two weeks. That really does suck.