Games like Heroes of Might & Magic that aren't, actually, Heroes of Might & Magic

Yay!5

I think I still have my Disciple 2 Disc… But no way to play them.

I don’t know. Looks more than fine to me:

https://twitter.com/songsofconquest/status/1405562227621572612/photo/1

https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5cd3e3917046805e4d6700e3/1623336731444-MRRL9UG1GWBG3Z78JV26/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kNvT88LknE-K9M4pGNO0Iqd7gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z5QPOohDIaIeljMHgDF5CVlOqpeNLcJ80NK65_fV7S1UbeDbaZv1s3QfpIA4TYnL5Qao8BosUKjCVjCf8TKewJIH3bqxw7fF48mhrq5Ulr0Hg/SongsOfConquest5LothTown.png?format=2500w

This is exactly what I was thinking.

Oh travel games. It’s how I got hooked on Warlords Battlecry. We got WBC 2 right before we travelled to the US, so my brothers and I took turns playing it in the Airport.

Browsing this thread again, I just remembered I actually dreamed of this last night, after reading your post: I was mouse hovering over some interface and it was showing which HOMM2 class were implemented or not. I should mention I haven’t anything HOMM installed right now, so uh. Games have made their way into my subconscious.

I was really really over the pixel art fad, but the recent move to utilize modern post processing effects and the like in pixel art games has me back in again.

Being such a huge fan and reflecting after reading through this thread, it’s weird how little I remember of the franchise I recall following the renaming of the series in V, I think it was. I guess I’m not as a big a fan as I built up in my head. II, II and IV, I played tons of. V I played a bit, but my recollection of VI and VII is practically nonexistent.

I’m trying to stay away from Early Access and work on my backlog, but I’ve got to admit if Songs of Conquest was on EA, I’d buy it yesterday.

Just play the Horn of the Abyss mod, it’s the best by far, with the most active community and online MP support.

Maybe put this here, too?

It’s been on my radar for a year, but I’m a bit annoyed to find out the release date is the Early Access drop date. So probably another year or so of waiting, I assume.

Early access might mean all kinds of things these days. I was pleasantly surprised by how great Against the Storm is, despite being early access.

If it’s under 20 dollars on Epic, and we get more 10 dollar off coupons, I will definitely buy it.

Same!

Just read responses by the developer saying he understands people’s dislike of EA, but I think they changed from a full release as they are trying to make sure they make the nostalgic rebirth that players want by getting as much input as possible. I do with it was full release, too, but I’m deferring to the developers that they are working hard and changing course based on what’s best for the final produce.

For me, I am happy to try it in EA and let it sit or refund it (the developers said they were happy with either of those options as well). I’ll have to wait and see exactly how well cooked it is.

I think they have been doing some closed Beta. So it may be Against the Storm-esque. I agree with @legowarrior that there are examples of games from which you can get lot of play in their EA state and play throughout development or see that you like it, play a couple weeks and then set it aside until full release.

Speaking of the developers, they are pretty responsive on the Steam discussion page. I sure like the sound of this bit (It’s from a 2021 post so this is probably fleshed out somewhere else. I was just browsing):

To answer quickly, but shortly, the combats are different in many ways. The stack sizes are limited, so no doom stacks. The high ground adds another element of tactics and the magic system is very different from HOMM. We also have abilities for certain troops that can both actively and passively interact with the combat. If you want to find out even more, we will release more info about combat further on!

Here’s this:

That’s good to hear. I thought maybe I was mis-remembering, because I’ve been following this for ages and I only recently discovered the upcoming release date was for EA and that really felt like a slap of cold water. If this is indeed the game they were initially planning to release, but with the Early Access tag so they can get feedback from the fans, that’s maybe something else entirely. I get wanting to do it right the first time, after all.

I see the random map generator is coming sometime after release, presumably after the full release, and that’s a shame but not a deal breaker. But if I find out it’s just like 3 of the 8 planned factions or something, I’m going to bow out until closer to actual launch.

Just to flesh out the differences from HoMM if it hasn’t been posted in the thread…from the SoC FAQ:

How does this game differ from HOMM?

  • Troops have a maximum stack size
  • As towns and settlements grow, they expand with building sites on the adventure map. You’ll have to make choices with your build sites, you can build as many buildings of the same type as you want but there are a limited number of build sites.
  • The magic system is very different, where troops bring “Essence” which fuels spells, so picking troops is both about their stats but also about what Essence they bring
  • The campaign is fairly ambitious with cut scenes and a specific song for each campaign
  • In combat, ranged units can move and shoot, but at a penalty
  • Battlefield has terrain like highground which boost stats of occupying units
  • Units in battle can’t wait but instead have different abilities depending on the unit. Of which one is actually “wait”.

I’m really liking that list.

In particular, it doesn’t list there being no opera music as one of the difference, so Opera music confirmed! My favorite part of HoMM games!

Yeah, I think they are really making an effort to change the things that many fans did not like about HoMM. Hopefully, an early access period with receptive developers and tons of feedback will refine all of it.

I could have sword HOMM had this. It even had a changing icon based on full ranged damage versus the penalty if you moved first? I dunno, I’m probably misremembering it.

You are - it’s move OR attack with ranged. The half damage is if your target is more than halfway across the battlefield, maybe your thinking of?