GOG.com Heroes of Might and Magic/Adventure game promo $4/25% off

[Wolfpup]

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/heroes_of_might_and_magic

$5.99 through next Thursday (then goes to $9.99)

http://www.gog.com/en/page/adventure_promo

25% off those three games. ($4.49 each)

I don't know if any of those adventure games are any good, but I realized I don't think they've been posted, and I was going to post about the HoMM email I just got.

Heroes of Might and Magic is a good series, but I'm not sure if the first one offers much that you can't get in the second one. Still, I'd buy it if I didn't already own it.

[Springheeled Jack]

I still remember the first time I ever played this one, and was completely hooked by its charm (See: really ugly in a sort of good way), and simplicity. Every version after it kept piling more and more options in the traditional sequelitus issue, and it lost some of what I loved about the first one. Many believe Homm3 is the best because of the strategy, others like the more simplistic Homm2, but I'm still a big fan of the original (though, for some reason Homm4 still remains my favorite... I know, a travesty!). There's lots of fun to be had for six bucks if you want a simple strategy game, but if you want more challenging and deeper gameplay, head up a sequel or two, or even pick up the gorgeous Homm5. Frankly, you can't go wrong with any of them if you want some fun strategy gaming. I'd get this deal in a heartbeat if I didn't already own three copies of it because of various collector's pack deals.

[SniperREX]

I still remember the first time I ever played this one, and was completely hooked by its charm (See: really ugly in a sort of good way), and simplicity. Every version after it kept piling more and more options in the traditional sequelitus issue, and it lost some of what I loved about the first one. Many believe Homm3 is the best because of the strategy, others like the more simplistic Homm2, but I'm still a big fan of the original (though, for some reason Homm4 still remains my favorite... I know, a travesty!). There's lots of fun to be had for six bucks if you want a simple strategy game, but if you want more challenging and deeper gameplay, head up a sequel or two, or even pick up the gorgeous Homm5. Frankly, you can't go wrong with any of them if you want some fun strategy gaming. I'd get this deal in a heartbeat if I didn't already own three copies of it because of various collector's pack deals.

I liked the series from the first chapter too. I remember playing multiple times just the demo :hot:.

I think that HoMM3 is the best.

[Springheeled Jack]

Oh, and the Sam & Max deal is actually very good. Easily worth the asking price if you're into old school adventure games.

[Springheeled Jack]

I liked the series from the first chapter too. I remember playing multiple times just the demo :hot:.

I think that HoMM3 is the best.

Most people seem to agree that 3 is the best. Like I said earlier, I sort of felt like it lost its simplicity at that point. It became a much better strategy game for it, but it get a little convoluted for the casual gamers for which the series was originally intended, I think. But I definitely won't argue the point on this one, 3 is absolutely a fantastic game. They really all are, but they're surprisingly different from one another while keeping the basic mechanics in check.

I still remember playing the first one in demo form and thinking that it was the ugliest game I'd ever seen. The artwork looked like it was done by a seventh grader. Then I looked at the clock and it was three hours later, and I realized that it was actually one of the best games I'd played in years, and the ugliness of it almost became a sort of beautiful quirk of the game. :-)

[Springheeled Jack]

Oh! And keep an eye out on the new Disciples game. They've dumped the JRPG-style combat for that of HoMM's. The art style, music, and story of the originals utterly destroyed HoMM, though, even if it couldn't compete on the gameplay front. Here's a link if you want a glimpse:

http://www.disciples3.ru/

[Springheeled Jack]

Hmm... Well, that's the Russian site (it's made by Akella, a Russian software developer typically associated with swashbuckling games), but it'll give you an idea. There's a lot of information out there on it with a Google search.

[SniperREX]

Oh! And keep an eye out on the new Disciples game. They've dumped the JRPG-style combat for that of HoMM's. The art style, music, and story of the originals utterly destroyed HoMM, though, even if it couldn't compete on the gameplay front. Here's a link if you want a glimpse:

http://www.disciples3.ru/

I definitely agree with you on pretty much everything you said. I like complex turn-based strategy game like the Civilization series more than simple ones, but the first HoMM had its charm. What I liked the most was the introduction of RPG elements in the strategy gameplay.

I beat one of the Disciple games and have to start the other one. Those were too simple for my taste though.

I hope with this Disciples 3 they got everything right, not just the art side.

King's Bounty is pretty good too, even though the whole cities management gameplay is missing :( .

[Wolfpup]

Just FYI they've got Disciples 1 and 2 Gold up on GOG also.

I played one of them on Gametap once, but then took a week break, and couldn't remember what I was doing. I couldn't quite "get" what was going on conceptionaly, though the game seemed like it might be quite fun (and looked/sounded great, as I recall).

[Springheeled Jack]

Just FYI they've got Disciples 1 and 2 Gold up on GOG also.

I played one of them on Gametap once, but then took a week break, and couldn't remember what I was doing. I couldn't quite "get" what was going on conceptionaly, though the game seemed like it might be quite fun (and looked/sounded great, as I recall).

Disciples 1 & 2 are almost a standard of Target sales. They're pretty fun, but I think HoMM has the gameplay down a lot better. I really enjoy the tactical layout of the combat. Age of Wonders is another one that gets it right, and is probably even MORE strategically demanding. It doesn't quite have the charm down, but if you can dig it up it's a great cheap purchase!

If you can get your hands on the demo for the original Heroes, give it a whirl. You might find the more simplified mechanics a little more fun like I did.

[Springheeled Jack]

I definitely agree with you on pretty much everything you said. I like complex turn-based strategy game like the Civilization series more than simple ones, but the first HoMM had its charm. What I liked the most was the introduction of RPG elements in the strategy gameplay.

I beat one of the Disciple games and have to start the other one. Those were too simple for my taste though.

I hope with this Disciples 3 they got everything right, not just the art side.

King's Bounty is pretty good too, even though the whole cities management gameplay is missing :( .

I agree! Disciples 3 has that tactical combat that I love with the Heroes games, so I've got my fingers crossed.

With King's Bounty, are you talking about the original one? Or the recent remake? The remake got rave reviews, and I've been keeping my eyes on it, but if it doesn't have city management I'll probably have to give it a pass. :-\

[Wolfpup]

Disciples 1 & 2 are almost a standard of Target sales. They're pretty fun, but I think HoMM has the gameplay down a lot better. I really enjoy the tactical layout of the combat. Age of Wonders is another one that gets it right, and is probably even MORE strategically demanding. It doesn't quite have the charm down, but if you can dig it up it's a great cheap purchase!

I kind of remember that...I get some of these series all mixed up I think!

I've got Heroes 1, but never EVER have any luck getting anything from Target :( (Except by some miracle, I found Sins of the Solar Empire for $20)
I agree! Disciples 3 has that tactical combat that I love with the Heroes games, so I've got my fingers crossed.

With King's Bounty, are you talking about the original one? Or the recent remake? The remake got rave reviews, and I've been keeping my eyes on it, but if it doesn't have city management I'll probably have to give it a pass. :-\

Was there a remake on PC? I thought the game that got released as Heroes of Might and Magic on the Playstation 2 was really a remake of King's Bounty, that was an earlier, simpler game?

[vherub]

The HOMM games grew out of the original King's Bounty game.
The new King's Bounty game is a spiritual successor, and is fantastic in it's own right.
At first it's dissimilarities to HOMM are jarring. Such as the city-management. But the constant flow of the world instead of turns quickly becomes a more elegant playing device.

I still have all the boxes, manuals and creature map for HOMM 1-3 lying around and the memories of hotseat multiplayer gaming with my friends is burned into my mind.

[Wolfpup]

Oh WEIRD. I just Googled it as I had no idea there was another King's Bounty game...but it was really Battle Lord, that got renamed? I think I actually saw reviews for Battle Lord, and never saw it as King's Bounty.

[SniperREX]

The HOMM games grew out of the original King's Bounty game.
The new King's Bounty game is a spiritual successor, and is fantastic in it's own right.
At first it's dissimilarities to HOMM are jarring. Such as the city-management. But the constant flow of the world instead of turns quickly becomes a more elegant playing device.

I still have all the boxes, manuals and creature map for HOMM 1-3 lying around and the memories of hotseat multiplayer gaming with my friends is burned into my mind.

I put the new King's Bounty on hold, because of my huge backlog. I guess I'll re-install it sooner or later.

I agree the hotseat was awesome :hot:. I spent many hours playing it with my brother and sister.

[cheapo72]

I think that HoMM3 is the best.
+1

Of course, it's the only one I've played :cry:(though I have all 5). I think I'll grab this just so I don't have to open my sealed HOMM.

Hmm... Well, that's the Russian site
Just click the little "EN" is the upper right and you're good-to-go.

A question: HOMM II had a Redbook audio soundtrack. Anyone know about this one? The GOG forum has no answer. If so, I hope they didn't leave it off like Quake/Heretic on Steam.

Also: Hmm...HOMM, AoW, Disciples, King's Bounty...is there any great fantasy turn-based strategy not mentioned in this thread (maybe Warlords)?

[Wolfpup]

Crud, I hope not! The soundtrack on these is fantastic. That would totally alter it without it.

Didn't know they tore out the soundtrack on Quake. That's Trent Reznor, and he's not my favorite musician ever, but it's still more interesting than normal. And Heroes of Might and Magic the music's an even bigger deal IMO.

[Marker]

Well, I just bought it. Haven't installed it yet, but the file size is only 61MB so I doubt the music is on there :(

[Springheeled Jack]

+1

Of course, it's the only one I've played :cry:(though I have all 5). I think I'll grab this just so I don't have to open my sealed HOMM.


Just click the little "EN" is the upper right and you're good-to-go.

A question: HOMM II had a Redbook audio soundtrack. Anyone know about this one? The GOG forum has no answer. If so, I hope they didn't leave it off like Quake/Heretic on Steam.

Also: Hmm...HOMM, AoW, Disciples, King's Bounty...is there any great fantasy turn-based strategy not mentioned in this thread (maybe Warlords)?

There were TWO versions of HoMM1, one for DOS and one for Windows. Only the Windows one had the option for Redbook audio (and a slightly different opening sequence for some reason). I suppose it depends on which version they decide to use, but judging by the size I'm guessing it's not included.

[Springheeled Jack]

Crud, I hope not! The soundtrack on these is fantastic. That would totally alter it without it.

Didn't know they tore out the soundtrack on Quake. That's Trent Reznor, and he's not my favorite musician ever, but it's still more interesting than normal. And Heroes of Might and Magic the music's an even bigger deal IMO.

Is the first game the one that started off the opera singing? Or was that the next one? I can't remember. I remember being floored the first time I heard that... It's definitely up there with some of the great soundtracks, though I'll probably always give the nod for greatest to Tropico. Even if you hated the game, you'd probably play just to listen to the music...

[Springheeled Jack]

Oh WEIRD. I just Googled it as I had no idea there was another King's Bounty game...but it was really Battle Lord, that got renamed? I think I actually saw reviews for Battle Lord, and never saw it as King's Bounty.

I think that might be a region thing. I know that over here it's called King's Bounty: The Legend. EB has it for $30. Here's the GS review if you're interested. They gave it an 8.0, which seems to be the average according to Metacritic.

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/kingsbountythelegend/review.html?om_act=convert&om_clk=gssummary&tag=summary;read-review

I'm waiting for a quick price drop on it, but there's no doubt I'm going to pick it up. The storyline is supposed to be pretty stellar.

[Springheeled Jack]

Also: Hmm...HOMM, AoW, Disciples, King's Bounty...is there any great fantasy turn-based strategy not mentioned in this thread (maybe Warlords)?

Not that I can think of. There really aren't a lot of games out there that fall into the category. I think these games sort of set a high bar for the genre, and anything else would like just feel more like a poor ripoff.

I do have to admit that I like these games mainly for their hotset play. I spent a lot of time with a buddy of mine playing them, and I typically found myself getting bored of the storyline. The only one I really do want to go back and finish is the final HoMM5 for the crossover between Dark Messiah's story. Even though most people hated Dark Messiah, it's way high up on my favorites list, and I'd like to see what they do with the different angle in strategy form. Hmmm... I might have to crack that out today.

[Wolfpup]

There were TWO versions of HoMM1, one for DOS and one for Windows. Only the Windows one had the option for Redbook audio (and a slightly different opening sequence for some reason). I suppose it depends on which version they decide to use, but judging by the size I'm guessing it's not included.

Oh cool, I didn't realize there were different versions. I've got the Windows one (that came in a compilation with the second one). I remember Heroes of Might and Magic being one of the early Windows 95 games. I guess that was when I was first getting in to PC gaming again!

Is the first game the one that started off the opera singing? Or was that the next one? I can't remember. I remember being floored the first time I heard that... It's definitely up there with some of the great soundtracks, though I'll probably always give the nod for greatest to Tropico. Even if you hated the game, you'd probably play just to listen to the music...

I can't remember if it had the opera or not. I think maybe 2 and 3 did for sure, but not 4? Or...I may have this all screwed up. I know 2 had really good music though, and I think 1's music was maybe not as good but still good?

I miss redbook audio. Seems like games from the early/mid '90's on CD would have really good soundtracks, and now half the time they don't sound like anything special at all, enough though theoretically they should be able to sound as good.

[Springheeled Jack]

Yeah, soundtracks aren't what they used to be. The C&C games have fantastic soundtracks thanks to Klepacki, and Ubisoft always seems to manage to have a pretty decent soundtrack. But in all honesty, other than the C&C series, I can't think of the last time that I really wanted to listen to a soundtrack outside of the game. Though, that Plants Vs. Zombies theme song is pretty catchy. :-)

[xycury]

HOMM 2 had the Opera, fantastic music, and HOMM 4 has some more, and they actually created a Soundtrack CD too.

I am digging all Soundtracks too, the latest from Atlus, and Age of Mythologies is another good one.

I have enjoyed all the Guild Wars soundtracks, and even have the Castlevania 20 yr anniversary one which is fantastic too.

Supreme Commander composer is famous for alot of games, Jeremy Soule, including Guild wars.
Under spoiler for full list:
Armies of Exigo
Amen: The Awakening (Fully Orchestral & Recorded Score / Cancelled Game)
Azurik: Rise of Perathia (Xbox Launch Title / Recorded in Prague)
Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance
Company of Heroes
Dungeon Siege
Dungeon Siege II
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (Winner of 2006 MTV VMA, British Academy Nominated for "Best Score")
Giants: Citizen Kabuto
Guild Wars Prophecies
Guild Wars Factions
Guild Wars Nightfall
Guild Wars Eye of the North
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Video Game)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Video Game / Recorded at Phoenix Studios / Winner of 2003 BAFTA)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Video Game / Recorded at Air Lyndhurst)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Video Game / Recorded at Air Lyndhurst)
Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup (Video Game / Recorded at Air Lyndhurst)
Icewind Dale
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
Rugrats in Paris: The Movie
Natural Selection (Half-Life modification)
Neverwinter Nights (Soule's themes from this game were later remixed and used in Neverwinter Nights 2. The reason for this is not known, though it is possible that Soule was unable to compose new music at the time because he was at work with Bethesda Softworks on The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Soule is not credited in the NWN2 manual or credits.)
Prey
Secret of Evermore (SquareSoft's only title to use an American composer)
SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Soule's themes from this game were also used in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords)
Star Wars: Bounty Hunter
Sovereign (Fully Orchestral & Recorded Score / Cancelled Game)
Supreme Commander
Total Annihilation (Recorded in Seattle, WA)
Total Annihilation: Core Contingency
Total Annihilation: Kingdoms
Unreal II
Warhammer: Mark of Chaos
Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War
zOMG!

[Wolfpup]

Wow, that's a big resume! A ton of great games in that list.

[SniperREX]

+1

Of course, it's the only one I've played :cry:(though I have all 5). I think I'll grab this just so I don't have to open my sealed HOMM.


Just click the little "EN" is the upper right and you're good-to-go.

A question: HOMM II had a Redbook audio soundtrack. Anyone know about this one? The GOG forum has no answer. If so, I hope they didn't leave it off like Quake/Heretic on Steam.

Also: Hmm...HOMM, AoW, Disciples, King's Bounty...is there any great fantasy turn-based strategy not mentioned in this thread (maybe Warlords)?

Master of Magic of course! It's kinda like a fantasy civilization, but with a little RPG twist. Too bad the AI was not up to par.
I hope they are gonna make a new episode sooner or later.

The already mentioned Age of Wonders is also good.

There were also a few others, but I forgot the titles. I guess they were not good enough to remember.

A pretty good freeware is Battle for Wesnoth.

[crowbb]

Have any of the old game sites got Hammer of the Gods yet? It's another pre-HOMM game that had a big influence on the creation of HOMM and I'd love to play it again.

[Springheeled Jack]

Just wanted to FYI the new King's Bounty game. I found out there was a demo for it, so I downloaded it yesterday to give it a whirl. Wow! With the brief time I had with it, I was REALLY impressed. It looks pretty, has a much more RPG vibe, and has some pretty amazing combat to boot. I'm not sure that the combat holds up to HoMM, yet, but the more I play the game, the more impressed I am. I'm going to keep playing through for a while, and we'll see if I can hold out until a price drop. I'll keep you posted!