Heroes of Might and Magic

Heroes of Might and Magic
developer	New World Computing Nival Interactive Black Hole Entertainment
Publisher	New World Computing 3DO Ubisoft
Designer	Jon Van Caneghem
First title	Heroes of Might and Magic I - A Strategic Conquest (1995)
Last title	Might and Magic Heroes VII (2015)
Platform (s)	various, u. a. DOS , Windows , Mac OS
Genre (s)	turn-based strategy game

Heroes of Might and Magic (often abbreviated as Heroes , HoMaM , HoMM or HOMM ) is a series of turn-based computer strategy games set in a fantasy world. The player controls one or more armies led by heroes over a map, fights against neutral creatures and opposing parties, collects resources and expands the cities he has conquered.

The background story and characters overlap with those of the role-playing game series Might and Magic , and especially the later parts of the series are also characterized by many role-playing elements.

overview

King's Bounty is considered the playful forerunner of the Heroes series. It was developed by Jon Van Caneghem and his company New World Computing and published in 1990 for the Amiga , C64 and MS-DOS computers. In 1991 an implementation for the Sega Mega Drive followed . In 2001, the game was ported to the PlayStation 2 with more contemporary graphics, but not on a larger scale, under the misleading title Heroes of Might and Magic: Quest for the Dragon Bone Staff (in the German version the subtitle is Die Macht des Drachenstabes ) .

The play figure, optionally a knight , a barbarian , a paladin or a sorceress , is the leader of an army that has to find a hidden scepter. For this purpose, you gradually explore the (partly randomly generated) game world, fight against wild monsters, visit different cities and castles and acquire magical artifacts that improve the hero's abilities. Numerous fantasy creatures, e.g. B. knights, dwarves , or dragons appear both as opponents and as possible recruits for their own army. The hero himself does not intervene personally in the battles, but can learn and use spells to aid his troops.

A major difference to later Heroes games was that the player in King's Bounty only controls a single hero, who can only add a limited number of troops to his army. Unlike in later games, there is only one single scenario that can be played on different levels of difficulty.

During the development of King's Bounty 2 , the game title was changed to "Heroes of Might and Magic" in order to benefit from the success of the Might and Magic role-playing games. The hero characters appearing in the game were therefore strongly based on characters from Might and Magic I to VI.

Heroes II was released shortly after the first part. The biggest changes compared to its predecessor were the introduction of two new factions, necromancers and sorcerers , the introduction of secondary skills for heroes and the new magic system. An add-on , The Price of Loyalty, followed shortly thereafter.

In 1999 the third part was published, which should be very successful. Again two new factions were introduced and with the expansion Armageddon's Blade the third followed. A second expansion, The Shadow of Death , was also developed. The changes to the gameplay introduced with Heroes III were numerous but, with the exception of the introduction of a "wait" button in battle mode, were rather minor. The properties of the second part have been consistently expanded by New World Computing and also further refined in the two add-ons.

The Heroes Chronicles were then brought onto the market on the same technical basis as Heroes III . The Chronicles were a series of seven stand-alone games, but each only contained a single single player campaign (two in the last part).

The fourth appeared three years after the third part. It contained several major changes compared to its predecessors. The player controlled his armies, which no longer necessarily had to be led by a hero, from an isometric instead of a vertical perspective . This perspective was also retained in the battles, in which the heroes were now directly involved. The skill and magic systems have also been fundamentally reworked. The number of factions was again reduced to six and in cities the player had to make a choice between the available buildings.

3DO , now the owner of New World Computing, was forced to release the game in an immature state. Because of the many bugs , the only nachgeliefertem with a patch online mode and the weak AI the game from the fan base has been heavily criticized. The poor AI was not significantly improved in the two expansions The Gathering Storm and Winds of War . The other innovations in the add-ons were also limited.

Eventually, during the development of Heroes V, 3DO was forced to file for bankruptcy. In an auction, Ubisoft acquired the rights to the Heroes series and commissioned Nival Interactive to develop Heroes V from scratch. The plot was set in a completely new backstory and a 3D engine was used for the entire game . The gameplay has also been largely revised and is based more on the third part than on Heroes IV.

Similar to the fourth part, the game was a bit buggy at the beginning and some features requested by the fans were only added afterwards; Overall, however, it sold successfully, as did the add-ons Hammers of Fate and Tribes of the East .

The sixth part appeared in 2011 under the title Might & Magic: Heroes VI .

The seventh part was released in September 2015 under the title Might & Magic: Heroes VII .

Heroes of Might & Magic

→ Main article : Heroes of Might & Magic: A Strategic Quest

Heroes of Might & Magic: A Strategic Quest was published in 1995 by New World Computing for MS-DOS and is playfully based on King's Bounty , but with various innovations. The German version comes from Softgold . A version for Windows 95 followed later with a map editor that allowed the creation of self-created or randomly generated scenarios, as well as implementations for Mac OS and the Game Boy Color .

Morglin Eisenfaust, the rightful ruler of an unknown land, must flee from a usurper. Through a dimensional portal he and his servants reach the continent of Enroth, where three other warlords are already fighting for supremacy. The player now takes on the role of one of the four parties and must gradually defeat all opponents in order to unite Enroth under his rule. Although any of the four parties can be led to victory, in the later games that make reference to this storyline, it is assumed that Morglin Eisenfaust wins the battle for Enroth and crowns himself king.

Heroes of Might & Magic 2

Heroes of Might & Magic 2: The Succession Wars was released back in 1996 . Graphics and game mechanics were taken over with just a few changes. Some new creatures and traits have also been added, but the main change here is the upgradeability of many creature classes.

The game supports both MS-DOS and Windows 95 . New World Computing had meanwhile been bought up by 3DO , whereby the German publisher also changed. This time the game was translated by Ubisoft . This time the game was ported again to the Apple Macintosh ; the version for the Game Boy Color is actually a mix of Heroes 2 and 3 .

The opera soundtrack for the game is special: The background music for almost all groups consists of themes with singing, for example Strauss 'Also sprach Zarathustra and Brahms' German Requiem . Not least because of this, Heroes 2 has a high nostalgic status in fan circles. However, since the soundtrack was available on audio tracks on a mixed-mode CD , many newer releases - especially in bundles such as the Complete Edition (see section Editions ) - only have the soundtrack as a MIDI version without vocals.

action

After Morglin Eisenfaust has united Enroth in the first part of the series, his two sons quarrel about the succession to the throne after his death. Actually, the royal seer should determine his successor, but Archibald has him and his successors murdered and accuses his brother Roland of the act, who then has to flee. Archibald then crowns himself king. Roland and his followers are now starting a civil war to overthrow him.

As in the first part, the player has to decide whether he will lead Roland or Archibald to victory in the campaign; For the further course of the plot in the following games, however, Roland's victory is always assumed.

Changes compared to the first part

All hero classes and creatures from the first part have been taken over with just a few changes. The necromancer and sorcerer hero classes have been added, each with their own city types and creatures: while a necromancer leads various undead such as zombies and vampires , a sorcerer commands magicians and giants, for example . However, some city types allow the creatures and the buildings that produce them to be upgraded. For example, a sorcerer can upgrade magicians to become archmages.

Furthermore, with increasing experience, all heroes can learn up to eight different secondary skills in three levels in addition to their primary skills. Logistics, for example, enable a hero to travel on the map per train.

The two campaigns, in which you can either lead Roland or Archibald to victory, are generally more varied than in the previous one; Sometimes the player has to choose between two different missions and then receives a different reward. Individual scenarios also included in the delivery sometimes have different victory conditions. Instead of just four, up to six players are now possible per card, which in some scenarios can now be allied with each other. A map editor was also included with the game.

The Price of Loyalty

An add-on to Heroes 2 was released in 1997 under the title The Price of Loyalty . This includes two longer and two short campaigns and new scenarios. The stories presented in the campaigns have no connection whatsoever to the plot of the other games. The expansion also offers some new artifacts and buildings. The players criticized the fact that overpowering spirits could now be recruited for the armies in the new buildings, which destroyed the game balance in the scenarios concerned. In addition, the background music for each type of city was changed, and in some cases new vocal pieces were even used.

The Price of Loyalty was not developed by New World Computing, but by Cyberlore Studios . The later released Heroes of Might & Magic 2 Gold bundles the main game with the expansion and some additional, fan-created scenarios.

Heroes of Might & Magic 3

→ Main article : Heroes of Might & Magic 3

The third and most successful part of the series, Heroes of Might & Magic 3: The Restoration of Erathia , was released in 1999. The gameplay didn’t offer any major differences, but the game had not only new render graphics with higher color depth, but also numerous smaller improvements and a very large scope. The original version of the game only ran on Windows 95 and newer versions; but it was also ported to the Mac OS, Linux and Sega Dreamcast . In the course of the following months, the add-on Armageddon's Blade , an expanded version of the main program called The Shadow of Death and finally a bundle Heroes of Might & Magic 3 Complete were released .

The story takes place on the continent of Antagarich and is only loosely linked to its predecessors. In fact, the story of Roland and Archibald had already been continued in the role-playing game Might & Magic 5 ; in Might & Magic 6 both narrative strands were then brought together again. The King of Erathia, Nicholas Griffinheart, has been murdered. When his daughter Catherine, who is now married to Roland Eisenfaust, returns, the armies from Nighon and Kreegan have already invaded Erathia. The war worsens when the dead king is resurrected as a Lich by necromancers and also starts an invasion of his homeland. Catherine now declares herself the new queen and must now drive away all attackers and find her father's murderer in order to restore peace.

Heroes of Might & Magic 3 offers eight city types and 56 different creatures, almost all of which can be upgraded to a slightly more powerful version. Most of the city types are more or less based on those of their predecessors, but many creatures have been changed or replaced. Each city type is now assigned two hero classes, one of which has more power - and the other has more powerful magic abilities. The number of secondary skills, spells and landscape objects has also been increased significantly, and scenarios with up to eight players are now possible. The game is generally more varied and now also allows the integration of quests that the players can or must complete. The total of 128 heroes have different starting talents and special abilities that set them apart from other characters of the same class. Furthermore, each hero has an individual biography, and you generally get a deeper insight into the game world.

New World Computing released two add-ons with Armageddon's Blade and The Shadow of Death .

In December 2014, Ubisoft announced an HD remake for PC, Android and iOS, which was released on January 29, 2015.

Heroes Chronicles

Various individual campaigns were published as Heroes Chronicles in 2000 and 2001, which in terms of game technology were identical to Heroes of Might & Magic 3 , but without requiring the main program. Due to the poor price-performance ratio (most episodes contain just eight scenarios, a level editor or multiplayer mode are not available), the series was not a great success. However, the design of the scenarios and the detailed development of the characters and the background story that connects Heroes 3 and 4 were praised .

Warlords of the Wasteland

The first campaign describes the prehistory of the hero Tarnum, who, as a young barbarian, sets out to free his people from the oppression of sorcerers. In the course of his campaign, however, Tarnum himself developed more and more into a cruel tyrant, which is why he has to atone for his sins as an immortal hero after his death.

Conquest of the Underworld

Erathia's queen sees in a dream how the ghost of her deceased father is kidnapped from paradise. Tarnum is now given the task of penetrating the underworld and freeing him again - the very man who had killed him in battle a few years earlier.

Masters of the Elements

The masters of the elements are preparing for a great war and want to abuse the colony as a battlefield. On behalf of the wizard king Gavin Magnus, Tarnum travels to the elemental planes to prevent them. His barbaric habits and his old hatred of magic, however, cause conflicts with his own troops.

Clash of the Dragons

The dragon queen Mutare has conquered all of Nighon and is now attacking the mainland. As a ranger, Tarnum must bring the dragons back on his side to fend off the invasion.

The World Tree

In an underground cave system, Tarnum must prevent necromancers from destroying the source of all life. He also meets a competing barbarian tribe who worship the insane god Vorr, because they consider him the legendary barbarian tyrant (i.e. Tarnum himself).

This bonus episode, comprising five scenarios, was only offered as a download by 3DO. The campaign is free, but requires that at least two of the four regular episodes are already installed. Officially, only the US versions of the regular episodes were accepted as the basis; however, there is a simple trick around this limitation.

The Fiery Moon

Like The World Tree, a free download consisting of a campaign with five scenarios. At least three of the four original campaigns are required; again these pre-installed versions had to be officially US-American. The plot continues that of The World Tree : Tarnum must free the other gods of the barbarian held captive.

The Final Chapters

A package with two campaigns with eight scenarios each. As it was feared that the sales figures would be too bad, these episodes were initially published exclusively in Europe; It was not until 2002 that American players could also order The Final Chapters in 3DO's online shop.

In Revolt of the Beastmasters , the first of the two episodes, Tarnum aims to free the swamp dwellers whom he had subjugated during his reign and who now serve as slaves to the people of Erathia. The mad King Gryphon would rather see the rebels dead than release them to freedom.

The Sword of Frost is the final episode of the Chronicles series and at the same time the prelude to Heroes 4 . The sword of frost rests on Vori, the island of the snow elves, and according to an ancient prophecy, one day it will destroy the world. Gelu sets out to destroy it, but does not understand that it is in doing so that he is putting the world in danger. Since Erathia and Avlee refuse to fight their hero, Tarnum must travel to Nighon and assemble an army from the dungeon creatures that can stop Gelu. But Kilgor also sent one of his wives to Vori to find the sword for him.

Heroes of Might & Magic 4

→ Main article : Heroes of Might & Magic 4

Heroes of Might & Magic 4 , released in 2002 for Windows and Mac OS, was the last game developed by New World Computing and was rewritten from scratch. It follows on from the events of Heroes Chronicles: The Sword of Frost , but takes place in the new game world Axeoth. While the gameplay was still very similar to that of its predecessors, there were also some major innovations. The range of functions has been reduced a little and the heroes fight for the first time on the battlefield. For financial reasons, 3DO could not afford to delay the release of the game any further, so that the retail version contained various bugs and no network mode, which was updated a few months later . Two add-ons, The Gathering Storm and Winds of War , have been released.

After 3DO's final bankruptcy in 2003, Ubisoft auctioned the rights to the Might & Magic series for $ 1.3 million and later also released a Heroes of Might & Magic 4 Complete , which is the main program with its two add-ons bundled.

Heroes of Might & Magic 5

→ Main article : Heroes of Might & Magic 5

Work on Heroes of Might & Magic 5 began at New World Computing shortly after the release of the fourth part. However, due to the bankruptcy of the parent company 3DO in the summer of 2003, the product was never completed. The rights to the Might & Magic series were auctioned and acquired by Ubisoft .

From 2005, Ubisoft entrusted Nival Interactive with the development of the fifth part . The unfinished work of New World Computing was not taken into account. Instead, they turned to the fans and took their suggestions on board. As a result, Heroes of Might & Magic 5 is based more on the third part preferred by many fans and many changes to the fourth part have been discarded.

The release was originally planned for March 2006. After massive criticism of the version of the game that was presented in a beta phase , the release was postponed to the second quarter of 2006. The final release date was May 18, 2006.

Two add-ons, Hammers of Fate and Tribes of the East , have been released.

Might & Magic: Heroes 6

The sixth part of the series was released on 13 October 2011 and entitled Might & Magic: Heroes 6 , as Ubisoft to chose, all the tracks in Might - & - Magic universe only after the scheme Might & Magic + suffix to designate .

DLCs ​​and add-ons

So far, two DLCs ​​have been released , Pirates of the Savage Sea and Danse Macabre , each of which contained a new campaign. In addition, the add-on Shades of Darkness was released in May 2013 , which includes two new campaigns and a new faction, the Dark Elves.

Might & Magic: Heroes 7

The seventh part of the series was released on September 29, 2015 and was produced by the German company Limbic Entertainment , which had previously produced the computer role-playing game Might & Magic X: Legacy for Ubisoft. The reviews were mixed. Metacritic scored 12 positive, 24 mixed and 3 negative reviews. GameStar criticized the fight sound and the lack of a tutorial and gave 88 points. PC Games criticized the fact that many campaign missions could not be ended because of bugs and that there were only a few real innovations compared to their predecessors. In addition, saved games were no longer usable after an update. The fun was rated at 70%.

Online games

Heroes of Might & Magic Mini

Shortly before the release of Heroes 5 , the browser game Heroes of Might & Magic Mini was published in April 2006 . It allowed the player to assemble armies for a fee and lead them into battle against other players. The units were assigned to the same factions as in Heroes 5 and divided into the five types of infantry, ranged combatants, cavalry, magical units and flight units. Each type was particularly effective against two others and particularly sensitive to two other types. A balanced game balance should be achieved according to the rock-paper-scissors principle .

Heroes Mini has now been discontinued.

Heroes of Might & Magic Online

In May 2008, Heroes of Might & Magic Online, originally planned for the end of 2005 , was published exclusively for the Chinese market. It was a turn-based MMORPG mixed with strategy elements . The plot had been moved back to the Heroes 3 locations.

From June 11, 2010, there was also an English version of Heroes Online; however, it was only accessible to players with an Asian IP address .

On July 23, 2012, Heroes of Might & Magic Online was discontinued.

On February 5th, 2014 Ubisoft gave an insight into the new closed beta of Heroes of Might & Magic Online .

Might & Magic: Heroes Kingdoms

Might & Magic Heroes Kingdoms is a free and, in contrast to normal browser games, graphically very complex online browser game based on the game principle of the Heroes series. The game was originally announced under the title Heroes of Might & Magic Kingdoms , but Ubisoft rebranded the Might & Magic series during the beta test of Kingdoms and will in future only play Might & Magic games according to the “Might & Magic ” scheme. Name Magic + Suffix “.

According to Ubisoft, time management should be a special feature, which, compared to other browser games, should bring a greater balance between players who only want to spend a few minutes a day playing the game and power gamers who are actively involved in the game for several hours a day.

The release took place on November 3rd, 2009, but initially only for players from France. On August 12, 2010 the game was also released for players from Germany and Austria.

Might & Magic Heroes Kingdoms was discontinued on September 1, 2014 and the server was taken offline.

Variants for the Game Boy Color

In 2000, the first part of the Heroes series (without the multiplayer mode) was ported by KnowWonder to the Game Boy Color and published under the title Heroes of Might & Magic . In the same year, the Game Boy Color title Heroes of Might & Magic 2 followed in North America , which, however, was not a 1: 1 port of the PC version, but a mixture of Heroes , Heroes 2 and Heroes 3 . In Europe, this title was only released on March 16, 2001.

Web links

• Official website of the Ubisoft Might and Magic franchise
• Official website for the English version of Heroes Online
• Heroes of Might and Magic at MobyGames (English)
• Drachenwald - largest German-language fan page and community for the HoMM series
• MightandMagicWorld.de - extensive German-speaking fansite with a large community

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Heroes of Might & Magic 3 - HD Edition announced
2. ↑ Rob Fahey: Namco, Ubisoft and MS carve up 3DO assets ( English ) In: Gamesindustry.biz . Gamer Network . August 18, 2003. Retrieved March 30, 2014.
3. ↑ metacritic.com - Might & Magic Heroes VII PC.Retrieved February 16, 2016
4. ↑ gamestar.de - Might & Magic: Heroes 7 - PC accessed on February 16, 2016
5. ↑ http: www.pcgames.de/Might-und-Magic-Heroes-7-Spiel-54751/Tests/im-Test-Bugs-sorgen-fuer-Frust-1174153/ accessed on February 16, 2016
6. ↑ Server Shutdown Announcement ( memento of the original from July 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed July 23, 2012  
7. ↑ Ubisoft provides an insight into the Might and Magic Heroes Online Closed Beta. (No longer available online.) Free-4-play.de, archived from the original on February 22, 2014 ; accessed on February 6, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ↑ Report at PCadept  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
9. ↑ Report at browsergames.de ( Memento of the original from November 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
10. ↑ www.gamestar.de
11. ↑ Might & Magic Heroes Kingdoms is discontinued PC world. Retrieved August 12, 2018.