It's time for some critics.

[Zhuangzi]

Originally Posted by Roman

I thought even the original HOMM V was a respectable game, but they have really improved on it with Tribes of the East. I have actually played through the entire HOMM V campaign (but I have not played the HoF and TotE campaigns, so I cannot really comment on those), but the campaigns are really not the strong point of the series at all- they cannot compare to KB:L in that regard. Do not be deceived by the apparent ease of the HOMM B campaign at the beginning though - it can get pretty tough later on (of course, once you know the tricks of the game, it gets easier, just like KB:L). Not in the first campaign though for sure, but there are six campaigns and they do get progressively more difficult.

The main attractions for me, however, are the various single player scenarios, the random map generator and especially the multiplayer possibilities. I play Tribes of the East for the hot seat multiplayer. It is a family game for me - I play it with my sister and cousins when we meet up over the holidays!

It really is a good game and it is, in fact, through hanging out on some HOMM V/TotE boards that I found out about KB:L. KB:L received a very positive reception there, which is not surprising, given the fact that the games share the same ultimate roots.

It's funny because the first campaign in HOMM V is just absurdly easy, even on Hard. It's so boring; you just have to slog through it.

On the other hand, the Tribes of the East campaign is a real challenge for me right now on Medium difficulty. I just played the second mission, Last Soul Standing, and I had a LOT of fun. I won by the skin of my teeth. It's a timed mission and I reached the objective on the last possible day, and then died three times trying to defeat the castle guards (I am still learning this game ) On my fourth try I won with 2 archers and 5 zombies left. What fun I had! So I will try to forget about the HOMM V campaigns and see how far I can get with ToE.

[kennec]

HOMM V shit game played it 2 days then i unsintalled it

HOMM 4 more of the same lostthe edge and to few upgrades, to ,many spells and hero as avatar on battlefield was imba

HOMM 3 best in serie, played hotseats and local networks with 4-5 computers and had tournaments and 2v2 and 3v3s superb game , one of the best

HOMM 2 huge upgrade, several dragons sorts and stuff, played it for hours and hours and days

HOMM 1 very fun game remember installing it with several floppy discs on my computer and thought it was a huge game

KBL : fun game, was realy hooked for weaks, some things i didnt like was that random mobs to buy and unable to complete quests sometimes, classes wherent balanced.

[Metathron]

The first HoMM V campaign (haven/knight) is sort of a tutorial, that's why it's easy; the last missions (not to mention the campaigns that follow) do become more challenging though, so you shouldn't give up on it.

[Roman]

Originally Posted by Zhuangzi

It's funny because the first campaign in HOMM V is just absurdly easy, even on Hard. It's so boring; you just have to slog through it.

The original HOMM V (without the expansions) has 6 campaigns, one for each race (I assume the 2 extra races added get their own campaigns in their expansions), which are interconnected story-wise. All of the missions in the first campaign are sort of a tutorial for players who have never played the series before. You coming from the related KB:L gives you an advantage. The later campaigns do get tougher, but that said, many players have complained that the campaign itself is pretty uninspired tougher or not.

On the other hand, the Tribes of the East campaign is a real challenge for me right now on Medium difficulty. I just played the second mission, Last Soul Standing, and I had a LOT of fun. I won by the skin of my teeth. It's a timed mission and I reached the objective on the last possible day, and then died three times trying to defeat the castle guards (I am still learning this game ) On my fourth try I won with 2 archers and 5 zombies left. What fun I had! So I will try to forget about the HOMM V campaigns and see how far I can get with ToE.

Yeah! I love the battles when you just barely win against a superior army! I have not played it, but the TotE campaign, according to most players, is a huge improvement over the original campaigns. Some reviewers, however, actually marked ToTE's scores down for the game being too difficult!

In any case, the overarching difference between KB:L and HOMM (any game in the series) is that HOMM has another strategic layer, where you capture mines, cities and build up/level your cities, which then produce your units. The maximum level of units themselves is level 7, which is approximately equivalent to level 5 units in KB:L.

The skill system in HOMM V is the best in the series (much better even than in HOMM 3 - which was the 'classic' HOMM game for many, myself included) and is truly great.

There are 4 primary ability scores. Attack and Defense functions similarly to the same stats in KB:L. Spellpower is similar to Intellect in KB:L and Knowledge determines the amount of Mana the hero gets.

There are 12 basic universal skills that a hero can learn and each has three levels. Orcs in TotE, however, add sort of 4 more pseudo-skills, as they cannot learn the magic skills, but instead have 4 equivalent anti-magic skills. Your hero only has slots for 5 basic skills, however, so you have to chose carefully what skills you want to learn depending on the type of hero you are building. The probability of what skills get offered to you at level-up depends on the class of your hero (each faction's heroes belong to a different class), but in theory all heroes (except Orcs) can learn any 5 of the basic universal skills.

On top of the basic universal skills, all factions's heroes also get one racial skill (also at three levels of expertise [plus one extra {4th} level with special artifacts]). This is unique to the race in question.

The basic skills and the racial skills open up 'perks'. The perks offered depend on the combination of skills and other perks you select. There are a large number of them and not all factions' heroes can access all of them. Each hero has 3 slots for perks for each skill.

The right combination of skills and perks can open up access to an 'ultimate' ability that is really powerful and differs by race, but the hero has to be high level to get that.

On top of the above, each hero also has a unique specialty ability of his own.

The skill system can get very deep! It is really good once you get the hang of it!

[Smash]

One thing i miss in homm5 there is no more to choose heroes of might and magic, now is magic or might depend castle/side you pick up. I would really want to play necropolis as Death Knight once again .

[Ish]

Originally Posted by Zhuangzi

It's funny because the first campaign in HOMM V is just absurdly easy, even on Hard. It's so boring; you just have to slog through it.

On the other hand, the Tribes of the East campaign is a real challenge for me right now on Medium difficulty. I just played the second mission, Last Soul Standing, and I had a LOT of fun. I won by the skin of my teeth. It's a timed mission and I reached the objective on the last possible day, and then died three times trying to defeat the castle guards (I am still learning this game ) On my fourth try I won with 2 archers and 5 zombies left. What fun I had! So I will try to forget about the HOMM V campaigns and see how far I can get with ToE.

I only played the campaigns to prepare me for online play. If you can complete all the camgaigns on the hardest difficulty then you will be an above average player online, although it partly requires a different skillset as online play is about rapid expansion and striking first, where as in the campaigns.. even on the hardest difficulty often you can sit back and grow somewhat passively.

An aggresive style of play is better against humans however.

[Smash]

Hmm... I still remember mission from campaign in Shadow of Death when you starting with randomized hero (yog?) and one castle (Stronghold - aka the weakest) against computer with something like 5-6 necropolis (aka the strongest) on highest possible difficulty. Man when i met his army his only vampire stack could beat my whole army easy oO. That all what i can say about passive play next game i rush him and start taking his castles while running away from his main hero (cat and mice play), it was very tiring, long and stressful, i won and go back to scenarios (aka skirmishes) for more enjoyable play .

[MajorS]

Originally Posted by Smash

it was very tiring, long and stressful, i won and go back to scenarios (aka skirmishes) for more enjoyable play .

Thats why i like KB so much, its pace is so much faster than any HoMM. The older i got the more impatient i became Dont have time to grind/waste anymore. I just installed HoMM V again just to give it a try but im not even having half as much fun as KB. I dont care much about AI, strategy etc anymore. I just play for fun

[Ish]

Originally Posted by MajorS

Thats why i like KB so much, its pace is so much faster than any HoMM. The older i got the more impatient i became Dont have time to grind/waste anymore. I just installed HoMM V again just to give it a try but im not even having half as much fun as KB. I dont care much about AI, strategy etc anymore. I just play for fun

For sure if you are playing single player KB is more fun than HOMM5, partly due to the rediculous story in heroes 5

Try an online game vs someone from TOH (which is a group that holds tournaments etc) or other experienced player, and it will be lots of fun.