Heroes of Might and Magic(filfre.net)
filfre.net
Heroes of Might and Magic
https://www.filfre.net/2021/12/heroes-of-might-and-magic/
132 comments
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://h3hota.com/ (the site is geared towards seasoned players, but be sure to check out https://h3hota.com/en/gallery for some visuals)
https://www.hota.acidcave.net/about_the_project.html
https://h3hota.com/ (the site is geared towards seasoned players, but be sure to check out https://h3hota.com/en/gallery for some visuals)
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.
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.
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
The real problem is that there are too many useless fights with trash mobs.
Removing most of them and keeping only the challenging and memorable ones would be a better thing.
Another option is an option to switch between real-time with pause and turn-based at will. The Pathfinder games do that.
Another option is an option to switch between real-time with pause and turn-based at will. The Pathfinder games do that.
I have never played BG3. Plan to make a purchase when it's done. I kinda dislike the early access model.
BG2 system was also turn based, it just remembered previous command you issued and repeated it, and didn’t pause automatically after every turn.
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.
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.
The lack of turn-based game play is why I avoid most other games.
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.
'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.
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.
Give Divinity Original Sin 2 a try! I think you might love it.
Amazingly the source code for the Heroes of Might and Magic 3 expansions was lost for years, so they've not often been included in the HD ports. Someone has (apparently) dug it up on an old hard drive [1] though a few screenshots isn't a true proof.
Knowing that a huge organization has lost such a treasured codebase has insured that I backup almost every piece of code I ever write... after 10 years of development I dip back in every now and then and look at what younger me was working on, always brings a smile to my face.
1. https://twitter.com/diskblitz/status/920801845349466113
Knowing that a huge organization has lost such a treasured codebase has insured that I backup almost every piece of code I ever write... after 10 years of development I dip back in every now and then and look at what younger me was working on, always brings a smile to my face.
1. https://twitter.com/diskblitz/status/920801845349466113
Heck, even Starcraft's source code was lost by Blizzard. It was then recovered thanks to a random guy finding a golden master source code disk in a "blizzard stuff box" he bought through ebay https://mashable.com/article/starcraft-source-disc
While it's common in general, I wonder how much the toxic fan reaction to the expansions could have driven "just forget it" approach to storing it.
For reference, HoMM3 expansions were to reintroduce the wider aspects of Might & Magic world back to HoMM (as the series before essentially dealt with small skirmishes little related to the main storyline). Thing is, despite the name, Might & Magic is ... science-fiction more than normal epic fantasy. And a lot of HoMM fans were unaware of the fact, and there was a bit of toxic reaction when the high-tech aspects were shown in previews.
For reference, HoMM3 expansions were to reintroduce the wider aspects of Might & Magic world back to HoMM (as the series before essentially dealt with small skirmishes little related to the main storyline). Thing is, despite the name, Might & Magic is ... science-fiction more than normal epic fantasy. And a lot of HoMM fans were unaware of the fact, and there was a bit of toxic reaction when the high-tech aspects were shown in previews.
Unfortunately this is very common. The source to most classics is lost forever.
Yup. For Kingdom Hearts 1.5 they recreated the whole game from assets off the PS2 disc because they lost it all which is nuts.
In 100 hours, the complete binaries to any classic game, an OS emulator and this software: https://ghidra-sre.org/releaseNotes_10.0beta.html a skilled person could probably give you source code that compiles and runs the game.
Diskblitz is reputable, for what it’s worth.
And that's precisely why it should be illegal to release software without the source code, just like it's illegal for supermarkets to sell foods without a list of ingredients.
(I'm not suggesting passing around a binary should always be illegal, eg. between friends on a USB key, but commercial publication should include source)
(I'm not suggesting passing around a binary should always be illegal, eg. between friends on a USB key, but commercial publication should include source)
I yearn for the days of turn-based strategy games.
I played HoMM2 and (even moreso) 3 a ton. I loved the tactical combat and that resource management didn't get out of hand. I played a ton of user-made maps. Loved it.
The other two games of this genre I played a ton were Civ1 and Civ4.
I can literally recall waking up at noon, starting up Civ1 and then looking out and it was dark. I didn't really play Civ2 and Civ3 as much. They just added isometric view and even more micro-management (IMHO).
But that all changed with Civ4. It still had the stack of doom problem but the solution added in Civ5 (one unit per hex and hexes were also new) I found to be just annoying as it forced a dance to get units placed. Plus once you got ranged/siege units to range 3 I felt like it was game over.
Anyway, the big thing that kept me on Civ4 wasn't the base game it was a player mod called Fall From heaven 2 [1]. The depth was amazing. I'd really hoped they'd make a standalone game or a new version but I believe the creator now works at another game company.
So I never liked RTSs. To me it was a different kind of game that focused on APS (actions per second). It's just not my scene.
But turn-based games like HoMM and Civ are so rare these days it makes me sad.
[1]: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/mod-fall-from-heaven-...
I played HoMM2 and (even moreso) 3 a ton. I loved the tactical combat and that resource management didn't get out of hand. I played a ton of user-made maps. Loved it.
The other two games of this genre I played a ton were Civ1 and Civ4.
I can literally recall waking up at noon, starting up Civ1 and then looking out and it was dark. I didn't really play Civ2 and Civ3 as much. They just added isometric view and even more micro-management (IMHO).
But that all changed with Civ4. It still had the stack of doom problem but the solution added in Civ5 (one unit per hex and hexes were also new) I found to be just annoying as it forced a dance to get units placed. Plus once you got ranged/siege units to range 3 I felt like it was game over.
Anyway, the big thing that kept me on Civ4 wasn't the base game it was a player mod called Fall From heaven 2 [1]. The depth was amazing. I'd really hoped they'd make a standalone game or a new version but I believe the creator now works at another game company.
So I never liked RTSs. To me it was a different kind of game that focused on APS (actions per second). It's just not my scene.
But turn-based games like HoMM and Civ are so rare these days it makes me sad.
[1]: https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/mod-fall-from-heaven-...
Those days never left. There's been a ton of TBS games released throughout the years, some of them very very good. It's my most played genre by far.
Endless legend, XCom 2, Fallen Enchantress, Age of Wonders 3, Age of Wonders: Planetfall, battletech, some tbs rpgs like divinity original sin 2, the total war series is a hybrid RTS/TBS genre, card games, tower defense games, and auto battlers.
Endless legend, XCom 2, Fallen Enchantress, Age of Wonders 3, Age of Wonders: Planetfall, battletech, some tbs rpgs like divinity original sin 2, the total war series is a hybrid RTS/TBS genre, card games, tower defense games, and auto battlers.
Let me add
M.A.X. - Mechanized assault and exploration.
Best TB strategy game and AI. Sadly there source of this is lost as well.
M.A.X. - Mechanized assault and exploration.
Best TB strategy game and AI. Sadly there source of this is lost as well.
Endless Legend / Space2 / Humankind too.
These games never stopped and are arguably better than ever. Just of the game designers you mentioned:
The Lead Designer of Civ 4 just released Old World. It's designed around reducing end game slowdown by limiting the number of orders you can place each turn, mechanically you play a series of leaders who can only give out so many orders and have to manage their dynasty, Crusader Kings style. An excellent game. https://mohawkgames.com/oldworld/
The designer of Fall From Heaven made Fallen Enchantress and I think a modern Star Control remake. Can't speak to their quality personally.
The designer of the original XCOM recently released Phoenix Point. Haven't tried this one yet but it's on my list.
Turn based tactics games in general are extremely popular. Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous has a HoMM2 style army battles built into the RPG campaign (though it's reportedly quite buggy and unbalanced...) The game overall is fantastic, and the party-level combat is also turn based if you like. Baldur's Gate 3 is turn based. Some personal favorites are all the Long War variants. XCOM 1 Long War, XCOM 2 Long War, and now XCOM 2 Long War of the Chosen.
Edit: If you're looking for something specifically like Fall From Heaven, I'd say give Endless Legend a try. It has a similar feel in the way it combines theme and mechanics. It came out in 2014 but it's still getting updates and content to this day.
The Lead Designer of Civ 4 just released Old World. It's designed around reducing end game slowdown by limiting the number of orders you can place each turn, mechanically you play a series of leaders who can only give out so many orders and have to manage their dynasty, Crusader Kings style. An excellent game. https://mohawkgames.com/oldworld/
The designer of Fall From Heaven made Fallen Enchantress and I think a modern Star Control remake. Can't speak to their quality personally.
The designer of the original XCOM recently released Phoenix Point. Haven't tried this one yet but it's on my list.
Turn based tactics games in general are extremely popular. Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous has a HoMM2 style army battles built into the RPG campaign (though it's reportedly quite buggy and unbalanced...) The game overall is fantastic, and the party-level combat is also turn based if you like. Baldur's Gate 3 is turn based. Some personal favorites are all the Long War variants. XCOM 1 Long War, XCOM 2 Long War, and now XCOM 2 Long War of the Chosen.
Edit: If you're looking for something specifically like Fall From Heaven, I'd say give Endless Legend a try. It has a similar feel in the way it combines theme and mechanics. It came out in 2014 but it's still getting updates and content to this day.
> The Lead Designer of Civ 4 just released Old World.
Looks like an Epic exclusive to me. I don't want to condone that so I'll sadly have to avoid it.
Looks like an Epic exclusive to me. I don't want to condone that so I'll sadly have to avoid it.
Endless Legend is amazing as well as all the other games from Amplitude. They just released Humankind which is a Civ style game but instead of playing a single civilization the whole game your empire evolves with traits from societies of each era as you play through history.
Polytopia is my current solitaire (casual game).
I've long been looking for a game like Final Fantasy Tactics with "native" controls. Meaning not a recreation (port) of the gamepad controls.
Basically a prettier Wesnoth. Wesnoth is great. I just prefer the isometric grid.
The Final Fantasy WotL for iOS also has too much fussing with unit's gear.
Said another way, the UX of Polytopia with the campaigning of FF WotL.
I've long been looking for a game like Final Fantasy Tactics with "native" controls. Meaning not a recreation (port) of the gamepad controls.
Basically a prettier Wesnoth. Wesnoth is great. I just prefer the isometric grid.
The Final Fantasy WotL for iOS also has too much fussing with unit's gear.
Said another way, the UX of Polytopia with the campaigning of FF WotL.
The Battle for Wesnoth
https://www.wesnoth.org/
> The Battle for Wesnoth is an open source, turn-based strategy game with a high fantasy theme. It features both singleplayer and online/hotseat multiplayer combat.
> Explore the world of Wesnoth and take part in its many adventures! Embark on a desperate quest to reclaim your rightful throne... Flee the Lich Lords to a new home across the sea... Delve into the darkest depths of the earth to craft a jewel of fire itself... Defend your kingdom against the ravaging hordes of a foul necromancer... Or lead a straggly band of survivors across the blazing sands to confront an unseen evil.
> The choice is up to you...
https://www.wesnoth.org/
> The Battle for Wesnoth is an open source, turn-based strategy game with a high fantasy theme. It features both singleplayer and online/hotseat multiplayer combat.
> Explore the world of Wesnoth and take part in its many adventures! Embark on a desperate quest to reclaim your rightful throne... Flee the Lich Lords to a new home across the sea... Delve into the darkest depths of the earth to craft a jewel of fire itself... Defend your kingdom against the ravaging hordes of a foul necromancer... Or lead a straggly band of survivors across the blazing sands to confront an unseen evil.
> The choice is up to you...
Wesnoth is too heavily based on RNG for me (and apparently a lot of others who have tried it). Different terrain tiles changing your chance of getting hit is a cool idea in theory, but in practice it makes strategy less important and lucky dice rolls more important, especially when some tiles can give you a 70% or 80% chance to dodge. Increasing defense based on the tile you're on (and maybe a small dodge chance boost like +5% or +10%) would make it much more about strategy.
If you know exactly, in advance, with certainty, how a battle between two units is going to end up, that means your strategy is much shallower. You are much less likely to need backup plans for anything.
But it's even more than that. Some units cause the same amount of _mean_ damage, but one may do so in fewer shots. And on the defense side, two units may take the same mean damage on a hex, but one unit has a higher dodge percentage, while the other has damage resistance.
That makes for a much richer variety of units: Reliable hitters vs opportunistic shot-takers; tanks which will are sure to survive an attack, and pestering nuisances which, once swatted, will go away for good. You can't have that without the randomness.
But it's even more than that. Some units cause the same amount of _mean_ damage, but one may do so in fewer shots. And on the defense side, two units may take the same mean damage on a hex, but one unit has a higher dodge percentage, while the other has damage resistance.
That makes for a much richer variety of units: Reliable hitters vs opportunistic shot-takers; tanks which will are sure to survive an attack, and pestering nuisances which, once swatted, will go away for good. You can't have that without the randomness.
Wesnoth is great and nicely balanced.
Complaining about Wesnoth RNG is for losers. Wesnoth gives you an estimate of how much damage did you do against the expected. In long games, luck always evens out. In short games, it evens out across other games. Just accept it as a stroke of fate, and to your best with what you get.
Complaining about Wesnoth RNG is for losers. Wesnoth gives you an estimate of how much damage did you do against the expected. In long games, luck always evens out. In short games, it evens out across other games. Just accept it as a stroke of fate, and to your best with what you get.
That hasn't been my experience. From what I've dealt with, a run of bad luck early will leave your army perpetually behind the curve. Since units need to survive battles to level up you can be totally destroyed by some bad luck. Sure, your dice rolls will even out over the long run but the effects of early bad luck will compound throughout the game.
Long-time Wesnoth player here.
I noticed you and Andrew seem to be talking past each other here. Andrew is talking about Wesnoth in player vs player mode. You seem to be talking about the scenarios. From a balance perspective these are two completely different games.
For anyone reading here who hasn't tried both modes, the PvP mode is a fairly good and balanced standard wargame. You can play against the AI, which is decent but not great, or against other players online.
The scenarios on the other hand... what everyone is complaining about is true. But this is a problem with the scenarios, not with the game. In order to make them "interesting", pretty much every scenario has a bunch of gotchas in it, like if the objective is to get your general to the other side of the board in 25 turns, on turn 10 some event will happen like a dam breaking and blocking off the main path or a new enemy appearing on your flank. On a first time play through, it is very hard to anticipate what gotcha will appear and how to mitigate it. To make it worse, most scenarios are ten or more battles long, and you need enough survivors and gold from the early battles to win the later ones. So, if you barely win an early battle you've basically lost the scenario, but you won't find that out until later.
To sum up, when people are loving on Wesnoth, they are talking about the game, and mostly play it in PvP. When people are hating on Wesnoth, they are talking about the scenarios, which are truly unbalanced. Tell people to try the PvP first.
I noticed you and Andrew seem to be talking past each other here. Andrew is talking about Wesnoth in player vs player mode. You seem to be talking about the scenarios. From a balance perspective these are two completely different games.
For anyone reading here who hasn't tried both modes, the PvP mode is a fairly good and balanced standard wargame. You can play against the AI, which is decent but not great, or against other players online.
The scenarios on the other hand... what everyone is complaining about is true. But this is a problem with the scenarios, not with the game. In order to make them "interesting", pretty much every scenario has a bunch of gotchas in it, like if the objective is to get your general to the other side of the board in 25 turns, on turn 10 some event will happen like a dam breaking and blocking off the main path or a new enemy appearing on your flank. On a first time play through, it is very hard to anticipate what gotcha will appear and how to mitigate it. To make it worse, most scenarios are ten or more battles long, and you need enough survivors and gold from the early battles to win the later ones. So, if you barely win an early battle you've basically lost the scenario, but you won't find that out until later.
To sum up, when people are loving on Wesnoth, they are talking about the game, and mostly play it in PvP. When people are hating on Wesnoth, they are talking about the scenarios, which are truly unbalanced. Tell people to try the PvP first.
Thank you for your comment.
Of course I was talking about p2p! You can always savescum in campaign, so why complain at all? :-D
Damn. Now I need to install Wesnoth and play some games... .
Of course I was talking about p2p! You can always savescum in campaign, so why complain at all? :-D
Damn. Now I need to install Wesnoth and play some games... .
One game you are unlucky, another one you are lucky. I've played hundereds of BW 2p matches, and lost/won only due to extreme run of good or bad luck maybe in 3% of games. Just move on and play the next game. Or play chess.
That’s called metagaming. In NetHack you would see people drinking from fountains all the time in the early game. Occasionally you’d get a wish which you could spend on some powerful artifact or silver dragon scale mail (SDSM) and win the game. Most of the time you’d unleash a bunch of water moccasins or a water demon and die immediately.
Needless to say you could win games of NetHack by doing the metagaming strategy. The problem is that it wasn’t going to help you win the current game in front of you, the one you’re playing right now. And that’s where some players (like myself) part ways with metagaming. We are interested in winning the current game. That is, taking every game as a unique puzzle to solve and attempting to win. So a game that randomly decides “haha you lose” is unsatisfying.
Needless to say you could win games of NetHack by doing the metagaming strategy. The problem is that it wasn’t going to help you win the current game in front of you, the one you’re playing right now. And that’s where some players (like myself) part ways with metagaming. We are interested in winning the current game. That is, taking every game as a unique puzzle to solve and attempting to win. So a game that randomly decides “haha you lose” is unsatisfying.
Well, it's battle for you. Your knight clad in iron is almost invincible on the field, unless some lucky arrow strikes him in the visor, killing him instantly. Real life is full of accidents, and BoW more or less honestly imitates that.
(I mostly used save-scumming in the campaign, due to overwhelming odds anyway, so I'm speaking about luck in multiplayer games)
(I mostly used save-scumming in the campaign, due to overwhelming odds anyway, so I'm speaking about luck in multiplayer games)
I think we’re speaking at cross purposes then because I was mostly speaking about the campaign. If Wesnoth was designed only for one-off battles and units were meant to be sacrificed like chess pieces in singular pursuit of a victory then a campaign is wholly inappropriate.
The original point of comparison here is Heroes of Might and Magic which does not have this problem since the game is designed as a campaign with many battles and the leveling up aspect only applies to heroes which are essentially generals that do not directly participate in battle.
The original point of comparison here is Heroes of Might and Magic which does not have this problem since the game is designed as a campaign with many battles and the leveling up aspect only applies to heroes which are essentially generals that do not directly participate in battle.
Yes, I was speaking about p2p. Campaigns in Wesnoth can be tough, but I always used save scumming to beat them. I think they are an afterthought and clearly main developers' focus is multiplayer, and all factions are balanced with it in mind.
That said, that Double Suns campaign with desert elves is quite great and I enjoyed it, even if it uses rather different settings from the base game.
That said, that Double Suns campaign with desert elves is quite great and I enjoyed it, even if it uses rather different settings from the base game.
Yeah, it makes it so you have to play extremely conservatively or just keep save files to roll back to. At least, that's my memory of playing the campaigns as a kid
How would you improve Wesnoth?
It’s hard to say. The combat variance is pretty fundamental to the game design. If you took it away the battles would be pretty routine.
Other games manage to incorporate a lot of randomness while keeping the basic interactions (combat etc) deterministic and predictable. For an example of this, see Slay the Spire. In that game the cards all have completely predictable effects. The randomness comes from the cards you’re dealt. Furthermore, you can control the randomness of card draw in numerous ways, potentially making your deck very reliable, possibly at the expense of full potential.
Other games manage to incorporate a lot of randomness while keeping the basic interactions (combat etc) deterministic and predictable. For an example of this, see Slay the Spire. In that game the cards all have completely predictable effects. The randomness comes from the cards you’re dealt. Furthermore, you can control the randomness of card draw in numerous ways, potentially making your deck very reliable, possibly at the expense of full potential.
Both exist; see this for more details: https://wiki.wesnoth.org/Defense_and_resistance
The town tiles growing over time mechanic of Civ 4 was amazing, and made war costly even if you didn't lose cities or units.
> once you got ranged/siege units to range 3 I felt like it was game over
It wasn’t game over, but it made military strategy exceptionally one-dimensional. Early game was all about getting a set of range 3 archers as quickly as possible, mid game was all about getting a set of range 3 catapults as quickly as possible.
It wasn’t game over, but it made military strategy exceptionally one-dimensional. Early game was all about getting a set of range 3 archers as quickly as possible, mid game was all about getting a set of range 3 catapults as quickly as possible.
Master of Magic, Master of Orion II? XCOM?
I wanted to like 4X space games but I honestly never found one I particularly liked. Too quickly they descended into tedium. That includes MOO/MOO2. YMMV.
I did play Master of Magic and really enjoyed it. Adamantium halfling slingers anyone?
I also played the original XCOM and enjoyed it although it became simple once you had the right tech (blaster bombs?). They allowed you to breach spaceships at any point you want, which was way easier.
I did play Master of Magic and really enjoyed it. Adamantium halfling slingers anyone?
I also played the original XCOM and enjoyed it although it became simple once you had the right tech (blaster bombs?). They allowed you to breach spaceships at any point you want, which was way easier.
Chooch to Create Artifact as fast as possible while building Skill Points as much as possible and hope to god you last early game because if you can get CA with high SP you are about to win.
> Adamantium halfling slingers anyone?
With Alchemist guide, of course, otherwise you would lose the benefit. Yes, best unit ever. And Life spells.
With Alchemist guide, of course, otherwise you would lose the benefit. Yes, best unit ever. And Life spells.
Orion 2 might still be the GOAT.
You might try Great Big War Game on mobile. It's simple, but fun.
Also, did you ever get into Tank War style games? I used to love Worms.
Also, did you ever get into Tank War style games? I used to love Worms.
Heroes of Might and Magic is such a great long form gaming experience, whether you played solo or with some friends. GOG does provide access to new copies if you'd like it, but I have to highly recommend if you want to play on modern hardware to grab the open source VCMI Project engine for Heroes 3. Heroes 3 is often touted as the best of the series, and the cross platform engine allows you to play on modern Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android.
https://vcmi.eu/
https://vcmi.eu/
Sadly it looks like the macOS effort hasn't seen any updates since August 2021
That is a really short amount of time to declare something as not being updated
Fanstratics is a spiritual successor to Heroes of Might and Magic III, it is being developed by the lead game designer of HoMM3. There are some interesting newsletters being published about the game.
https://www.fanstratics.com/fstnewsletter01
https://www.fanstratics.com/fstnewsletter01
This seems like a great thread to ask for game recommendations.
These are my favorite turn-based games of all time:
HOMM 1, 2 & 3
Advance Wars series (including DS and DOR)
Uniwar (a surprisingly excellent mobile game inspired by Advance Wars and Starcraft 1)
Civilization 5 + Vox Populi / Community Patch (my favorite overall, but I'm getting bored of it because end game takes too long, even on quick. at least it's still actively developed, which is nice when I get the urge)
Into the Breach (least amount of playtime on my list, but it's still very solid. Playing it actually makes me feel kind of sad, because it seems like the skeleton for a great successor to Advance Wars, but there's no Steam Workshop for it, and no built-in versus mode or multiplayer)
Battle of Polytopia (second-least played amount, but also very solid. Imagine if someone made a game out of the first ~30 turns of a Quick-paced Civ5 game)
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup (when I imagine my perfect turn-based game that I would design if I had the money to hire a full team of people, it's a mix of HOMM, Advance Wars, Civ5, and DCSS. It's the only roguelike I've enjoyed enough to play more than once, and I've played it a LOT)
Games that I already tried and didn't like enough to continue playing
Total War series
Rest of the HOMM series (HOMM 4+), including mods
Civ 6
Wargroove
Endless Legend
Humankind (sad to not have liked this one, I was so hyped for it)
King's Bounty series
Age of Wonders series (including Planetfall)
Warhammer 40k: Gladius (it's almost worth playing, but falls short)
These are my favorite turn-based games of all time:
HOMM 1, 2 & 3
Advance Wars series (including DS and DOR)
Uniwar (a surprisingly excellent mobile game inspired by Advance Wars and Starcraft 1)
Civilization 5 + Vox Populi / Community Patch (my favorite overall, but I'm getting bored of it because end game takes too long, even on quick. at least it's still actively developed, which is nice when I get the urge)
Into the Breach (least amount of playtime on my list, but it's still very solid. Playing it actually makes me feel kind of sad, because it seems like the skeleton for a great successor to Advance Wars, but there's no Steam Workshop for it, and no built-in versus mode or multiplayer)
Battle of Polytopia (second-least played amount, but also very solid. Imagine if someone made a game out of the first ~30 turns of a Quick-paced Civ5 game)
Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup (when I imagine my perfect turn-based game that I would design if I had the money to hire a full team of people, it's a mix of HOMM, Advance Wars, Civ5, and DCSS. It's the only roguelike I've enjoyed enough to play more than once, and I've played it a LOT)
Games that I already tried and didn't like enough to continue playing
Total War series
Rest of the HOMM series (HOMM 4+), including mods
Civ 6
Wargroove
Endless Legend
Humankind (sad to not have liked this one, I was so hyped for it)
King's Bounty series
Age of Wonders series (including Planetfall)
Warhammer 40k: Gladius (it's almost worth playing, but falls short)
I suppose the most obvious games to recommend would be Master of Orion and X-COM: UFO Defense.
“The moment QA is arguing over which strategy is best to win, you’re ready to ship.” — Jon Van Caneghem, creator of Heroes of Might and Magic
:) as quoted in the article
:) as quoted in the article
HoMM2 is one of my all time favorite games. I’ve spent countless hours exploring all the corners of every single map in the game. Sometimes, I would deliberately not defeat the last enemy, just so I can reveal all the places, monsters and castles on the map.
With its amazing soundtrack, there never was another game for me that would immerse me so deeply in a world of fantasy. HoMM3 was great, but the artwork was not quite to my taste.
With its amazing soundtrack, there never was another game for me that would immerse me so deeply in a world of fantasy. HoMM3 was great, but the artwork was not quite to my taste.
I still do the exploring the entire map to remove fog of war, just did it while completing Metroid Prime and Shin Megami Tensei V.
I agree. I had HOMM1 upon release, and followed the series all the way through. For me, HOMM1 was the pinnacle. It was simple, and had clean art that was charming. HOMM2 got just as many hours out of me. HOMM3 was yet another extension of the original HOMM, but the art started to really go downhill.
Played a TON of HOMM3 back in university with some friends. We played coop on the same box that is we take turns to play the game. It was so much fun. That said, I never completed the campaigns (the expansion packs are considerably more difficult). I still have a copy of HOMM3 from GOG so might click it open tonight!
The game is actually still going strong - there’s a mod that adds a modern multiplayer lobby, with ranked competitive games, lots of new random map generators, and there are some big Twitch streamers for it; Lexiav is the biggest for English language I think, he streams full-time and gets close to 1K viewers most of the time. HOMM3 is in an amazing place right now, definitely click it open and have fun again!
Heh, when I saw it on twitch it was very popular in russia and every stream was in russian :)
[deleted]
What's the mod called? It sounds great!
HOTA (horn of the abyss). Adds a new town as well. Look it up. The HOTA mod plus the HD mod both combine to give you a modern experience for bigger resolutions (lots of UI improvements and stuff, without affecting gameplay).
Ahh, thank you, I did install HotA but I must have missed all the multi-player stuff you mention. Thanks, it really is great!
HOMM3 had some pretty extensive custom maps and mods available - lots of time playing those.
Never really got into the sequels as much, HOMM3 always felt like a local maximum.
Fun fact: one of the modded scripts for HOMM3 was written by the developer of Dominion: https://opinionatedgamers.com/2012/05/11/the-art-of-design-i... and https://youtu.be/i6Uc1-AR4rM
Never really got into the sequels as much, HOMM3 always felt like a local maximum.
Fun fact: one of the modded scripts for HOMM3 was written by the developer of Dominion: https://opinionatedgamers.com/2012/05/11/the-art-of-design-i... and https://youtu.be/i6Uc1-AR4rM
Shameless plug: if you're still into H3 there is almost complete open source implementation with mods support written from scratch in C++. Also there is built-in mods support.
Unfortunately I'm no longer actively participate, but project is still going strong.
https://github.com/vcmi/vcmi
https://vcmi.eu/
Unfortunately I'm no longer actively participate, but project is still going strong.
https://github.com/vcmi/vcmi
https://vcmi.eu/
Thanks! Surprised to see this. Looks like a good chance to read some 2D game source code :)
To be honest it's mixed bunch because project started more than 10 years ago and there is both: some decent code as well as terrible one.
Good sides: it's fully client-server, AI implemented via pluggable libraries while all saving / networking implemented using serialization based off Boost.Serialization.
Good sides: it's fully client-server, AI implemented via pluggable libraries while all saving / networking implemented using serialization based off Boost.Serialization.
I love HoMM3. Someone has even ported to Android -- in case you ever feel nostalgic. I replay it every now and then. Despite the outdated graphics, the game itself has aged really well. I still enjoy it immensely.
Yep, the graphics, the writings, everything is perfect. With the HD mod it's very up to today's standard.
HoMM3 was also my main experience with the series. I tend to pick it up once every few years with the last time in early 2020. My problem with the game is that I know the AI exploits so it's never THAT much of a challenge.
If you're picking it up again, the HD plus mod lets you play on higher resolution screens and adds keyboard shortcuts for things like splitting a creature stack in half. Highly recommended.
If you're picking it up again, the HD plus mod lets you play on higher resolution screens and adds keyboard shortcuts for things like splitting a creature stack in half. Highly recommended.
Thanks! I probably can still have a lot of fun because I don't really remember any of the exploits! I know I should split the soldiers into N piles of 1 soldier and 1 pile of larger group but other than that I know nothing! Probably the reason I couldn't beat the campaign back then.
I played it a bit, but got turned off a bit by the random events. In particular there was an event where huge numbers of one type of critter would appear randomly on the map. If you could talk those critters into joining your armies you were guaranteed a win. If not you lose. The entire game at that point became a race to collect as many of those critters as possible and form a giant doomstack that nothing could hope to stop and crush the opposing castle.
Yeah that's the week of X event. I only play the campaign so it's kinda OK for me. What I really hate is the week of plague...
From the article:
>And Heroes by no means resolves what has long been the biggest conundrum in wide-angle strategy-game design: that of the anticlimactic mopping up that follows that tipping point when you know you’re going to win.
Chess has a solution to this problem: Resignation. A turned based strategy game like Heroes of Might and Magic III should have the AI evaluate the game, and if things look hopeless, it should offer to resign. This will be a game-wide resignation; the AI will, when offering to resign, have all AI opponents resign at once and end the game then and there.
A resignation from the AI would be one which can be refused by the human; indeed, I wish the HOMM games had Civilization’s “Just one more turn” option to continue playing a game after it has been won: Useful in Civ for, say, after getting a domination victory, finishing up that one enemy you’re still at war with.
In terms of Heroes of Might and Magic, the general consensus is that it hit its peak with Heroes of Might and Magic 3 (HOMM3). HOMM5 deliberately copied a lot of HOMM3’s gameplay (albeit with 3d graphics), and HOMM3 to this day is being updated with fan-made mods. Horn of the Abyss is as good as anything New World Computing ever made for HOMM3, is a free download at https://h3hota.com and adds a new town type, more terrain types, user-selectable random map templates, a GUI random map template editor (much easier than editing the old tab-delimited text file which we were doing back in 2011), and support for giant 254x254 maps.
>And Heroes by no means resolves what has long been the biggest conundrum in wide-angle strategy-game design: that of the anticlimactic mopping up that follows that tipping point when you know you’re going to win.
Chess has a solution to this problem: Resignation. A turned based strategy game like Heroes of Might and Magic III should have the AI evaluate the game, and if things look hopeless, it should offer to resign. This will be a game-wide resignation; the AI will, when offering to resign, have all AI opponents resign at once and end the game then and there.
A resignation from the AI would be one which can be refused by the human; indeed, I wish the HOMM games had Civilization’s “Just one more turn” option to continue playing a game after it has been won: Useful in Civ for, say, after getting a domination victory, finishing up that one enemy you’re still at war with.
In terms of Heroes of Might and Magic, the general consensus is that it hit its peak with Heroes of Might and Magic 3 (HOMM3). HOMM5 deliberately copied a lot of HOMM3’s gameplay (albeit with 3d graphics), and HOMM3 to this day is being updated with fan-made mods. Horn of the Abyss is as good as anything New World Computing ever made for HOMM3, is a free download at https://h3hota.com and adds a new town type, more terrain types, user-selectable random map templates, a GUI random map template editor (much easier than editing the old tab-delimited text file which we were doing back in 2011), and support for giant 254x254 maps.
I think this project is worth being mentioned here: https://github.com/ihhub/fheroes2
I kid you not, I was just setting up HOMM 3 to play with my kids now. It used to be a New Years Eve tradition in my family and I think my kids are just about old enough to enjoy it with me.
Songs of Conquest looks like a very promising spiritual successor and modern take on HoMM, really nails the nostalgia for me.
https://www.songsofconquest.com/
There's another indie game called Hero's Hour that's heavily inspired by HoMM. It has pixel art and the fights are real-time instead of turn-based.
Windows only. There's a free demo with a limited number of playable factions.
https://thingonitsown.itch.io/heros-hour
Windows only. There's a free demo with a limited number of playable factions.
https://thingonitsown.itch.io/heros-hour
Thanks for that! Looks like an instant buy from me when it comes out.
I played HOMM3 for 5 hours straight when I first encountered it. I know that sounds like nothing, but unbeknownst to me, installing it had reset my graphics drivers to set my monitor's refresh to 50Hz.
50Hz is one of those things you can see if you look at it in your peripheral vision, but not so much straight on.
After 5 hours I was screaming in pain my eyes hurt so bad. I couldn't figure out why they hurt and I couldn't stop playing either.
50Hz is one of those things you can see if you look at it in your peripheral vision, but not so much straight on.
After 5 hours I was screaming in pain my eyes hurt so bad. I couldn't figure out why they hurt and I couldn't stop playing either.
Lots of good memories playing HoMM2, both single player and hotseat multiplayer in college. I was a fanatic enough at one point that I had almost completed a conversion of the NES Zelda game to a map (sadly lost to the bits of time now). At least from my perspective, it was a unique blend that scratched the itches in my brain.
When I was about 7 years old I played HoMM 1 and later HoMM 2 with my dad. I didn't have a computer at my mother's house (parents are separated) so I started drawing the different game screens on large A3 and A2 sheets of paper to show it to my schoolmates.
We made character sheets, spell books, skill sheets and an ever expanding world map consisting of over a hundred A4 sheets. We basically invented a DnD-like role play where I was the game master, and it all started with me trying to emulate HoMM.
This epic campaign went on for over six years and had over 30 players, and several other kids made campaigns of their own that became popular as well (there was a "car-world" inspired by Need for Speed, a "Harry Potter-world" that was a strange mix between fantasy and high-tech, and several others).
We made character sheets, spell books, skill sheets and an ever expanding world map consisting of over a hundred A4 sheets. We basically invented a DnD-like role play where I was the game master, and it all started with me trying to emulate HoMM.
This epic campaign went on for over six years and had over 30 players, and several other kids made campaigns of their own that became popular as well (there was a "car-world" inspired by Need for Speed, a "Harry Potter-world" that was a strange mix between fantasy and high-tech, and several others).
I dare say, this blog is as dangerous as tvtropes.
I keep going down the memory lane with Master of Orion, Master of Magic, etc. and I couldn’t stop!
I keep going down the memory lane with Master of Orion, Master of Magic, etc. and I couldn’t stop!
HoMM3 is a magical game.
And the music, especially in HoMM4. It's one of my favorite soundtracks ever.
I can instantly go back 20 years and feel the warmth in my heart, playing this game countless hours as a teenager.
HoMM3 was soo interesting to me when I first saw it, I thought it was like chess (dumbed down) and a boardgame. The mythology was also like a reference to me. I played it for so many hours when I was a teenager.
I played HoMM4 and HoMM5 also. HoMM4 felt like an incomplete game but very nice to play.
HoMM4 has an amazing soundtrack, I occasionally still play it while working.
I think recently there was an imitation of the game on mobile, and we all know how bad that would probably be given the horrible game mechanics of mobile gaming (ads, play to win, waiting to build)
I think recently there was an imitation of the game on mobile, and we all know how bad that would probably be given the horrible game mechanics of mobile gaming (ads, play to win, waiting to build)
HoMM2/3 are still two of my favorite games, I play them often. 3 especially has withstood the passage of time.
I like the HOMM series a lot, but my favorite game of this genre was Lords of Magic from Sierra. It played a lot like HOMM, but it had real time combat that you could pause. Amazing graphics for the time, and I love the soundtrack! This is a game I really wish had a sequel.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lords_of_Magic
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lords_of_Magic
Check out Master of Orion if you haven't already.
I think it came out before LOM, but very similar, made by the same team etc. The difference it is sci-fi themed, but otherwise they are closely related.
I think it came out before LOM, but very similar, made by the same team etc. The difference it is sci-fi themed, but otherwise they are closely related.
There's a pretty good looking modern remake of the original MoO called "Remnants of the Precursors". Appears to be basically a 1-person effort. I tried it out recently and was _very_ impressed. Really seems like it's duplicated the original's gameplay, but with better graphics and some useful UI improvements.
The https://www.reddit.com/r/rotp/ subreddit looks like it's the home of discussion.
Oh hey, and now that I look over there again, looks like it just hit 1.0 on Christmas! I'll have to download the new version and try it out again.
The https://www.reddit.com/r/rotp/ subreddit looks like it's the home of discussion.
Oh hey, and now that I look over there again, looks like it just hit 1.0 on Christmas! I'll have to download the new version and try it out again.
Yes! Master of Orion was one of my favorite games as well!
MOO was made by Simtex, and has no connections to Lords of Magic as far as I know. You're probably confusing it with Master of Magic.
I played countless hours of HOMM in “hot seat” mode with my brother. The castle songs for each civilization are still fresh in my mind.
For some reason, HOMM* games never had any appeal to it, but I've sunk hours in an obscure trading/exploration game Merchant Prince and similarly obscure Hammer of the Gods.
Only recently I've learned, that these games were direct predecessors of HoMM made by the same studio, bridging the gap between earlier King's Bounty (which I also played quite a lot).
Only recently I've learned, that these games were direct predecessors of HoMM made by the same studio, bridging the gap between earlier King's Bounty (which I also played quite a lot).
I remember when Hammer of the Gods came out, at the time it wasn't obscure, but it's definitely forgotten today as it didn't spawn a franchise. I didn't buy the game, but it was a nice addition to King's Bounty. HOMM1 was where I bought into New World Computing's masterpieces. I'm shocked to see a discussion, anywhere, on the web today on these games. They've all remained special to me all these years later, and I'm shocked at seeing a mention of a title like Hammer of the Gods.
HotG and the Merchant Prince had one thing in common that was really going for me: the shroud on an undiscovered map was done perfectly, giving you some very vague ideas about far away lands, resembling all those medieval maps.
Of these two, I preferred Merchant Prince, because HotG had glaring balance issues, which gave Troll faction great advantage with those regenerating trolls, and the Pope/Doge elections mechanics was really fun.
Of these two, I preferred Merchant Prince, because HotG had glaring balance issues, which gave Troll faction great advantage with those regenerating trolls, and the Pope/Doge elections mechanics was really fun.
As an aside on the topic of board games, I have been trying to find interesting board games that I can play with my daughter. She has no interest in computers and the local toy store only has the ordinary staples like Monopoly. Based on what I have observed, she will not be interested in anything involved or too complicated (though she loves Lego and is obsessed with dragons so there is still a glimmer of hope). Any recommendations for two-person board games? I can live with ordering online as long as the game is good.
Definitely pick up Carcassonne if you haven’t played it. It’s quick to learn, simple to play, and is fun. Play without farms for the first few games at least. Heck, if she’s very young you can play without scoring as a tile laying game.
Shaharazad is a relatively straightforward small box co-op game that isn’t too hard but might be fun to try co-op gaming without much setup or complexity.
Speaking of co-op, Codenames is a great game for 4+ players. Codenames Duets is a co-op version. You’ll probably want to skim the cards to make sure she knows all the words depending on her age, but it is a great vocabulary building game that I’ve heard about foreign language teachers using. Plus it’s fun. My in-laws probably requested we bring it every time we came over for a year or two before they bought their own copy.
If she’s into tactics, or grid based games at all, onitama is quick to learn and pretty straightforward.
If you’re looking for something different, I really enjoy crokinole. Though since a board is expensive, there are some other agility games on the market if flicking disks sounds like fun.
If you’re looking for something more strategic, I’ve not played it but I’ve heard great things about My Little Scythe. My board game group has not met physically in two years, and we’ve moved to RPGs digitally, but this is on my to play list. Scythe is an awesome game, but I’ve heard My Little Scythe simplifies the game while still keeping it fun with good strategic depth.
Hope that helps! If you have any other things you can add that you think your daughter would like, or themes that would appeal to her, or her age, those are very useful to give a better recommendation. Also, if more than two players are possible, that opens the door a bit to other games.
Shaharazad is a relatively straightforward small box co-op game that isn’t too hard but might be fun to try co-op gaming without much setup or complexity.
Speaking of co-op, Codenames is a great game for 4+ players. Codenames Duets is a co-op version. You’ll probably want to skim the cards to make sure she knows all the words depending on her age, but it is a great vocabulary building game that I’ve heard about foreign language teachers using. Plus it’s fun. My in-laws probably requested we bring it every time we came over for a year or two before they bought their own copy.
If she’s into tactics, or grid based games at all, onitama is quick to learn and pretty straightforward.
If you’re looking for something different, I really enjoy crokinole. Though since a board is expensive, there are some other agility games on the market if flicking disks sounds like fun.
If you’re looking for something more strategic, I’ve not played it but I’ve heard great things about My Little Scythe. My board game group has not met physically in two years, and we’ve moved to RPGs digitally, but this is on my to play list. Scythe is an awesome game, but I’ve heard My Little Scythe simplifies the game while still keeping it fun with good strategic depth.
Hope that helps! If you have any other things you can add that you think your daughter would like, or themes that would appeal to her, or her age, those are very useful to give a better recommendation. Also, if more than two players are possible, that opens the door a bit to other games.
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I still play HoMM 2 over the holidays every year with DOSBox. I like its artwork the most out of all the other same-gen titles, it feels like I'm in a colorful story book the entire time. The mechanics are just enough strategy to still be relaxing and fun.
Every now and then I also revisit the Sega Genesis version of King's Bounty, the precursor to HoMM. The over world on that particular port is real time action, you have to avoid enemies as you explore the map.
Every now and then I also revisit the Sega Genesis version of King's Bounty, the precursor to HoMM. The over world on that particular port is real time action, you have to avoid enemies as you explore the map.
I was scrolling through to see if Kings Bounty got a shoutout in these comments. Glad I wasn't disappointed.
I've actually never played the HoMM games, but I played Kings Bounty a bunch as a kid and loved it. Totally underrated game!
I've actually never played the HoMM games, but I played Kings Bounty a bunch as a kid and loved it. Totally underrated game!
So many great recollections playing this on MS DOS. The thrill I would feel finding obsidian items!
Makes me wonder whether a world in which those items can be carried from one meta world to another, through web3/MetaMask type wallets, is desirable. Should my hard-earned obsidian items retain some sort of secondary-market value, much like vintage Magic cards? I did work hard as heck to find them back in the day :)
Makes me wonder whether a world in which those items can be carried from one meta world to another, through web3/MetaMask type wallets, is desirable. Should my hard-earned obsidian items retain some sort of secondary-market value, much like vintage Magic cards? I did work hard as heck to find them back in the day :)
Like many other people here, I have played a ton of HoMM 3 in particular. One under-appreciated aspect was the scenario editor- as a kid, being able to make my own maps, challenges, and hidden secrets was a feeling of immense power.
I still play HoMM 3 several times a year- play a few maps, use my normal terrible strategy of one super-powerful hero and a few heroes to ferry troops around, and enjoy the nostalgia.
I still play HoMM 3 several times a year- play a few maps, use my normal terrible strategy of one super-powerful hero and a few heroes to ferry troops around, and enjoy the nostalgia.
Cool, HoMM3 is by far my most favourite game for >20years now and we keep playing with my wife from time to time. It's like chess with some RNG, thus strategical and tactical depths are unlimited. Art and soundtrack is also charming in some strange way, as it feels more like tabletop than PC game (highlighted in the article as well).
In games like these it was cool to diff save states after spending resources, and then increase those bytes for fun and profit.
> whereupon they had managed to acquire a license for one of the biggest science-fiction properties in the world by employing a circuitous — not to say dubious — stratagem
Am I crazy or should there be an article about this and Star Fleet Battles??? This sounds like an impossible situation in todays protect the IP above all world.
Am I crazy or should there be an article about this and Star Fleet Battles??? This sounds like an impossible situation in todays protect the IP above all world.
It‘s not a traditional Might & Magic game (maybe it just carries the name for brand recognition) but I love „Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes“ it‘s very simple the extremely fun. I would love the have a browser version with online multiplayer for that. The mainline titles were always too tedious for me.
There are few HoMM projects on GitHUB.
For example: https://github.com/ihhub/fheroes2
There is an iPad version of HoMM3 in the App Store that works wonderfully - until it crashes midgame every single time… don‘t know if this is a memory leak or something like that :-(
My favorite was HOMM3, which higher higher resolution art, and was the last before they threw out the nice art and switch to functionally lower resolution 3d models :-/
There's an open source engine for Heroes 3, with high res and mod support: https://vcmi.eu/
Surprised not to see a mention of Bauldur's Gate, the dnd-under-the-covers formula was and is extremely enjoyable and I think it leads to very deep gameplay.
Looking forward to the article on HOMM2 and then 3!
Is there a way to play this game on an iphone ?
Probably you'll find a DOS emulator in App store. Install it inside and enjoy
Love that game. Might play it again today after years and years. Glad I saw this post.
You've found a secret area!!
The best, most addictive spiritual successor I've found to date is Eador:Genesis. Although it has a bunch of other inspirations such as Master of Magic.
https://eador-masters-of-the-broken-world.fandom.com/wiki/Ea...
It mostly has very bad AI for which it compensates with insane material advantages, but tactical layer is stellar and strategic layer has some VERY interesting ideas as well. Your actions have far reaching consequences, such as you choose only 3 tier II units from about ten or so, and they have very different niches and work to a varying degree with each of the 4 basic classes.
The best, most addictive spiritual successor I've found to date is Eador:Genesis. Although it has a bunch of other inspirations such as Master of Magic.
https://eador-masters-of-the-broken-world.fandom.com/wiki/Ea...
It mostly has very bad AI for which it compensates with insane material advantages, but tactical layer is stellar and strategic layer has some VERY interesting ideas as well. Your actions have far reaching consequences, such as you choose only 3 tier II units from about ten or so, and they have very different niches and work to a varying degree with each of the 4 basic classes.
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/
[2] - https://sites.google.com/site/heroes3hd/