I'm feeling little love for Might and Magic in this column. Certainly it strays from the standard Might and Magic first person format, but it's quite close to the Heroes series when you analyze it.
First - a top down look at a map with enemies and resources laid out on it. Including structures where you can purchase new units. This is very Heroes relative.
Second - while the puzzle game format may be new to the series, I believe the overall point is still there in essence. (That being, build armies, attack enemy with stronger army than he has, win fight.)
Finally - The lore in this game is more than relevant to call it a Might and Magic game. The factions are those that one would find in a Heroes game. The units are those that one would find for those specific factions in a Heroes game. In fact some units even share the same abilities as those of their Heroes counterparts (Vampires transfer health, dragons breath in rows of damage, genies can freeze enemies). While they have been shrunk and details removed they remain true to the style of Heroes, even if their use or activation varies.
I'm more than satisfied in calling this game Might and Magic, as it takes me once again into battle against the demons of Sheogh.
(Admittedly, I miss my 3 stacks of titans and 2 stacks of black dragons wrecking face, but with no sign of a Heroes VI on the horizon I'll take what I can get you know?)
My biggest problem by far is the lack of scenario play.
Either I am stupid or there are only the campaign and single battle (no map, just a battle where you decide opponent and your own character, not too exciting). I'll allow its like that in most prpg games and I shouldn't compare this to homm but that's what they get for associating with that franchise.
Another thing that is annoying is the lack of info on the troops, many times when I met opponents I didn't know which was the biggest, baddest and who was the little brother. Only that the strong ones have an activation cost of 4 cannon fodders and the middle troops need 2 dito to activate.
But, enough whining, it's together with Puzzle Quest, the definitive prpg in my world. I can't vouche for the longevity of this but at 15 hours I barely feel like I've begun, still at the second scenario.
I'm not even sure why they bothered with the Might and Magic license as... well, there isn't anything remotely related to the series in this, but that's a totally neutral point. Absolutely loved the first chapter, and now I find myself on Godric and I feel like I've hit a brick wall. People say you've got to level grind with him but there doesn't seem to be any opportunity to do this what with a limited number of encounters all at a much higher level than myself. I was all gung-ho about recommending this game to people, but now I feel a bit more cautious with these balancing issues.
I haven't beaten it yet, but I love this game.
I've played alot of the might and magic games (my favorite being heroes of might and magic 3 +4) I'd definitely say it's more like a jap console rpg than the rest of the M&M games, it's through and through a strategy/puzzle game.
it definitely has balancing issues... which are most easily recognizable when you play multiplayer. which means.. you really have to take into account who you're playing against when you pick your hero.
all in all, my husband and I are addicted to it at the moment.
We had played puzzlequest when it came out. He broke the system and OWNED that game.. Me? well I can't see 20 moves ahead of me to know if I'm getting the most out of each jewel movement. Clash of heroes is not frustrating in that way.
This is a pretty fun game, but I agree on the balance problems with Godric. His Empire elite units have some handy abilities, but I pretty much never used his defensive wall, I just grinded (ground? doesn't sound right..) until my units alone could deal with most attacks.
Another major issue is the lack of levels on the quests, areas, or enemies. You can access level 5 enemies on the map despite being level 2 (which is a pretty huge disadvantage), and not having to retreat and reload the game every time I meet a new side-quest enemy would be handy.
The final problem would be the luck of the draw. Having your huge four-square units land on top (well...technically the "bottom," since your units fall up) of a stack makes for all kinds of headaches, and makes you liable to lose them and unable to do anything about it, wasting valuable turns just to line up everything.
If these aren't too big a deal to you, I'd definitely recommend this game. Watching your units decimate the enemy lines or figuring out the trick to each puzzle fight is very satisfying.
I was so sad when i found out that This was the new might and magic game. Oh well ,the might and magic series died for me right around heroes of might and magic 3. IMO that was the best might and magic game. some people like four and i can see why, but 3 is my fave.
Man, 30-minute battles always put me off in theory, though I usually spend more time with that when I actually play.
Hence why I didn't touch Generation of Chaos after the initial bubble of interest burst, because I realized I spent hours upon hours on maximizing my army during each battle.
Heroes of M&M and Dark Messiah are the only two good spin-off of the saga, why the hell ubisoft needs to milk everything they own? It's a fantasy themes manga styled puzzle game! They could use another name and nothing would change.
Oh yeah, i forgot the profits of using a well-known name, even if the game is totally unrelated.
"Oh yeah, i forgot the profits of using a well-known name, even if the game is totally unrelated."
I appreciate your stream-of-consciousness post. Very Faulkner. However, once the self-realization point in your narrative is reached, it behooves you to not hit "submit."
12/15/09
First - a top down look at a map with enemies and resources laid out on it. Including structures where you can purchase new units. This is very Heroes relative.
Second - while the puzzle game format may be new to the series, I believe the overall point is still there in essence. (That being, build armies, attack enemy with stronger army than he has, win fight.)
Finally - The lore in this game is more than relevant to call it a Might and Magic game. The factions are those that one would find in a Heroes game. The units are those that one would find for those specific factions in a Heroes game. In fact some units even share the same abilities as those of their Heroes counterparts (Vampires transfer health, dragons breath in rows of damage, genies can freeze enemies). While they have been shrunk and details removed they remain true to the style of Heroes, even if their use or activation varies.
I'm more than satisfied in calling this game Might and Magic, as it takes me once again into battle against the demons of Sheogh.
(Admittedly, I miss my 3 stacks of titans and 2 stacks of black dragons wrecking face, but with no sign of a Heroes VI on the horizon I'll take what I can get you know?)
12/15/09
My biggest problem by far is the lack of scenario play.
Either I am stupid or there are only the campaign and single battle (no map, just a battle where you decide opponent and your own character, not too exciting). I'll allow its like that in most prpg games and I shouldn't compare this to homm but that's what they get for associating with that franchise.
Another thing that is annoying is the lack of info on the troops, many times when I met opponents I didn't know which was the biggest, baddest and who was the little brother. Only that the strong ones have an activation cost of 4 cannon fodders and the middle troops need 2 dito to activate.
But, enough whining, it's together with Puzzle Quest, the definitive prpg in my world. I can't vouche for the longevity of this but at 15 hours I barely feel like I've begun, still at the second scenario.
Get it if you're a fan of the genre!
12/15/09
12/15/09
I've played alot of the might and magic games (my favorite being heroes of might and magic 3 +4) I'd definitely say it's more like a jap console rpg than the rest of the M&M games, it's through and through a strategy/puzzle game.
it definitely has balancing issues... which are most easily recognizable when you play multiplayer. which means.. you really have to take into account who you're playing against when you pick your hero.
all in all, my husband and I are addicted to it at the moment.
We had played puzzlequest when it came out. He broke the system and OWNED that game.. Me? well I can't see 20 moves ahead of me to know if I'm getting the most out of each jewel movement. Clash of heroes is not frustrating in that way.
12/15/09
Another major issue is the lack of levels on the quests, areas, or enemies. You can access level 5 enemies on the map despite being level 2 (which is a pretty huge disadvantage), and not having to retreat and reload the game every time I meet a new side-quest enemy would be handy.
The final problem would be the luck of the draw. Having your huge four-square units land on top (well...technically the "bottom," since your units fall up) of a stack makes for all kinds of headaches, and makes you liable to lose them and unable to do anything about it, wasting valuable turns just to line up everything.
If these aren't too big a deal to you, I'd definitely recommend this game. Watching your units decimate the enemy lines or figuring out the trick to each puzzle fight is very satisfying.
12/15/09
07/13/09
07/13/09
It's nice to have a woman's review of games, and she seems to review a wider variety of genres than the boys do.
(Like the Rabbids shirt; the thong, not so much)
07/07/09
07/07/09
Hence why I didn't touch Generation of Chaos after the initial bubble of interest burst, because I realized I spent hours upon hours on maximizing my army during each battle.
07/07/09
07/07/09
07/07/09
07/07/09
07/07/09
07/07/09
05/13/09
Puzzle RPG?
WTF?
05/13/09
05/13/09
Oh yeah, i forgot the profits of using a well-known name, even if the game is totally unrelated.
05/13/09
"Oh yeah, i forgot the profits of using a well-known name, even if the game is totally unrelated."
I appreciate your stream-of-consciousness post. Very Faulkner. However, once the self-realization point in your narrative is reached, it behooves you to not hit "submit."