4 ms·

Heroes of Might and Magic 2. I remember the first time I encountered the game in some obscure Italian magazine that had a disc and on the disc a demo of HoMM 2.

Heroes of Might and Magic 2. I remember the first time I encountered the game in some obscure Italian magazine that had a disc and on the disc a demo of HoMM 2. I played the demo, and I was blown away. Then 1999, I got ahold of Heroes 3, then the expansions - Armageddon's Blade, Shadow of Death - so much fun and unforgettable memories. Then in university, I discovered Wake of Gods [1]. This was a fan-made extension of the game that fixed some stuff ( like Eagle Eye being useful, fishing for artifacts in mana well's, having commanders ala heroes 4, having a bank from which you can loan money, etc.). I play heroes 3 complete edition with HD Mod [2] to this day, a pretty awesome game, and still has an excellent, thriving community. Honorable mentions besides Heroes of Might and Magic 3 - Heroes of Might and Magic 4 (with all expansions) and Heroes of Might and Magic 5 (all expansions - Tribes of the east). Heroes 5 is the closest to Heroes 3 as mechanics and gameplay, and I enjoyed it a lot. To this day I play roughly 4-5 games: Dota 2, Civilization 5, Baldur's Gate 1&2 EE and Heroes 3. [1] - http://heroes3wog.net/ http://heroes3wog.net/ [2] - https://sites.google.com/site/heroes3hd/ https://sites.google.com/site/heroes3hd/

hnthrowaway0315 5y ago
Ah I still play a lot of BGEE/BG2EE (judging from the time spent on Steam it's well into 200+ hours for each game) nowadays. I'm also picking up NWNEE as there are a lot of high quality modules.
- SantiagoElf 5y ago
  Back in the day - I used to mod the non-EE versions, but now I just play the EE ones. 'Go for the eyes, Boo, go for the eyes!' NWNEE looks good, I played also Tides of Numenara, which is a 'spiritual successor' of Planescape Torment.
  - throwaway675309 5y ago
    I always felt like Minsc's character was absolutely insufferable, in the same way that people who endlessly quote Monty Python and the Holy Grail think that "your father smelt of elderberry" is the pinnacle of humor.
    - Talanes 5y ago
      Yeah, both examples where the people quoting it miss that the out-of-place context of the thing they're quoting is what made it funny, not the words alone.
    - davidgay 5y ago
      They are wrong. "He's fallen in the water" is the pinnacle of humor :)
- thedailymail 5y ago
  The release of Baldur's Gate 3 caused some controversy due in part to its turn-based combat system (distict from the real-time system in BG 1 & 2). TBF, it felt like this was more about purists disagreeing with an aethetic choice within a much-loved franchise than about fundamental hostility to turn-based games in general.
  - hnthrowaway0315 5y ago
    I have never played BG3. Plan to make a purchase when it's done. I kinda dislike the early access model.
  - xyzzyz 5y ago
    BG2 system was also turn based, it just remembered previous command you issued and repeated it, and didn’t pause automatically after every turn.
    - Jensson 5y ago
      You could dodge spells in BG2 as they have travel time, you can't dodge spells in a normal turn based system. Also spells have different casting times, some cast instantly others were so slow that people could walk up and hit you before the cast got done. There are many such differences, BG2 is in no way a turn based game. Its real time combat did simulate turns for spell and attack cooldowns etc, but even those weren't properly aligned to turns, a spell cast time could take a fraction of a turn, and travel time for spells were also fractions of turns etc. So wasn't turn based no matter how you view it.
  - bradknowles 5y ago
    BG 1 and 2 were both turn-based. It didn’t automatically stop at the end of a turn unless you configured it to. But that’s the configuration I have, because that’s what I’ve always played with and prefer, from the day the first version of BG was released. The lack of turn-based game play is why I avoid most other games.
  - cheeseomlit 5y ago
    My problem with it is that combat slows to an absolute crawl and becomes a slog with that system. In BG a fight with a few rats takes 2 seconds. In Divinity OS and BG3 it's more like a few minutes for even the simplest battle, and much longer for larger ones. Multiply that by the length of the game and combat becomes a dreaded chore, at least for the impatient like myself
5- 5y ago
to this i'll add horn of the abyss (hota) -- a rather active (and fully playable, including competitively) community expansion to heroes3 -- bringing a new town, new creatures etc. etc. -- generally considered to be at least on par quality- and scope-wise with the official add-ons. https://www.hota.acidcave.net/about_the_project.html https://www.hota.acidcave.net/about_the_project.html https://h3hota.com/ https://h3hota.com/ (the site is geared towards seasoned players, but be sure to check out https://h3hota.com/en/gallery https://h3hota.com/en/gallery for some visuals)
puppymaster 5y ago
Give Divinity Original Sin 2 a try! I think you might love it.

hnthrowaway0315 5y ago

Ah I still play a lot of BGEE/BG2EE (judging from the time spent on Steam it's well into 200+ hours for each game) nowadays. I'm also picking up NWNEE as there are a lot of high quality modules.

SantiagoElf 5y ago
Back in the day - I used to mod the non-EE versions, but now I just play the EE ones. 'Go for the eyes, Boo, go for the eyes!' NWNEE looks good, I played also Tides of Numenara, which is a 'spiritual successor' of Planescape Torment.
- throwaway675309 5y ago
  I always felt like Minsc's character was absolutely insufferable, in the same way that people who endlessly quote Monty Python and the Holy Grail think that "your father smelt of elderberry" is the pinnacle of humor.
  - Talanes 5y ago
    Yeah, both examples where the people quoting it miss that the out-of-place context of the thing they're quoting is what made it funny, not the words alone.
  - davidgay 5y ago
    They are wrong. "He's fallen in the water" is the pinnacle of humor :)
thedailymail 5y ago
The release of Baldur's Gate 3 caused some controversy due in part to its turn-based combat system (distict from the real-time system in BG 1 & 2). TBF, it felt like this was more about purists disagreeing with an aethetic choice within a much-loved franchise than about fundamental hostility to turn-based games in general.
- hnthrowaway0315 5y ago
  I have never played BG3. Plan to make a purchase when it's done. I kinda dislike the early access model.
- xyzzyz 5y ago
  BG2 system was also turn based, it just remembered previous command you issued and repeated it, and didn’t pause automatically after every turn.
  - Jensson 5y ago
    You could dodge spells in BG2 as they have travel time, you can't dodge spells in a normal turn based system. Also spells have different casting times, some cast instantly others were so slow that people could walk up and hit you before the cast got done. There are many such differences, BG2 is in no way a turn based game. Its real time combat did simulate turns for spell and attack cooldowns etc, but even those weren't properly aligned to turns, a spell cast time could take a fraction of a turn, and travel time for spells were also fractions of turns etc. So wasn't turn based no matter how you view it.
- bradknowles 5y ago
  BG 1 and 2 were both turn-based. It didn’t automatically stop at the end of a turn unless you configured it to. But that’s the configuration I have, because that’s what I’ve always played with and prefer, from the day the first version of BG was released. The lack of turn-based game play is why I avoid most other games.
- cheeseomlit 5y ago
  My problem with it is that combat slows to an absolute crawl and becomes a slog with that system. In BG a fight with a few rats takes 2 seconds. In Divinity OS and BG3 it's more like a few minutes for even the simplest battle, and much longer for larger ones. Multiply that by the length of the game and combat becomes a dreaded chore, at least for the impatient like myself

5- 5y ago

to this i'll add horn of the abyss (hota) -- a rather active (and fully playable, including competitively) community expansion to heroes3 -- bringing a new town, new creatures etc. etc. -- generally considered to be at least on par quality- and scope-wise with the official add-ons. https://www.hota.acidcave.net/about_the_project.html https://www.hota.acidcave.net/about_the_project.html https://h3hota.com/ https://h3hota.com/ (the site is geared towards seasoned players, but be sure to check out https://h3hota.com/en/gallery https://h3hota.com/en/gallery for some visuals)

puppymaster 5y ago

Give Divinity Original Sin 2 a try! I think you might love it.