Heroes of Might and Magic V Demo

[Slaughter]

Some time ago Nival released the Heroes 5 beta, and it received mixed reactions. After a few more months of polishing, the demo is here. Reactions so far are very good, as Nival has obviously taken the fan feedback seriously.

 

Another piece of good news is the fact that Ubisoft has decided to drop the StarForce protection for a less intrusive SecureRom.

 

Find a mirror to try out 3 playable missions (2 campaign missions, 1 custom game) - 2 playable races - 6 presets for Duel game (play on Ubi.com) in our files section.

 

Thanks for the heads up Thorondor!

[Gimli]

Just to warn everybody. SecuRom is not very good either, some people have been having quite a bit of problems with it. SecuRom is either made by Sony or a company that is part of Sony (can't remember which), and if you remember, there was a recent scandal with the Sony rootkit. Anyway, I've heard that there some lawyers were collecting data for a lawsuit against the company who made SecuRom.

 

Personally though, I haven't had any problems with SecuRom.

 

I'm looking forward to playing this demo, too bad I have a download limit, I'll have to find another way to get it. How big is it anyway? Edit: Nevermind, I found out from Fileshack, it's 668 MBs.

 

Edit 2: I also forgot to ask, is the demo free of Starforce, too?

Edited April 15, 2006 by Gimli

[Praetoris]

Starforce isn't turning very popular eh?

 

Gimli:

As far as I can tell there's no Starforce in it.

[Matri]

Dropping StarForce? For real? Finally!

 

SecuROM and Safedisc may have problems, but I have a whole lot more respect for them than I do for StarForce. At the very least they're honest about their protection, and it doesn't do anything permanent to your system.

[Neorapsta]

My only gripe against starforce is compatiblity.

 

The Sony lawsuite was for XCP I think it was called

[Slaughter]

No StarForce in the demo. Did anyone try it yet?

[Slaughter]

Okay, I've played around with the demo a little. Lovely graphics, though sort of iffy with the 3d in some situations. Easier to miss the mark than with 2d, though that is probably just something you have to get used to.

 

The new combat system with initiative is nice, and the battles look amazing! The AI seems a lot smarter this time around as well, though it's a bit early to say.

 

The first mission where you have to save the queen and take a town in the same go seems sort of foolish, but I guess it would be better when not taken out of it's setting.

 

Anyway, this is just the first impression after playing a short while. I'll offer some more thought later.

[Praetoris]

I joined the Beta team on Heroes 5 for some time and there's been alot of good stuff put into the game these last months.

 

I still don't really approve on the cartoon-like graphics at all times, but overall it looks good to me. Controls can be a bit stiff too due to the 3d as slaughter mentioned, for instance making a unit attack from a certain direction (i.e. adjacent square) can be a bit troublesome, but it isn't really worth to get hung up on.

 

I'll be looking forward to it and I'm sure the full version will be a great experience.

[Gimli]

Well, I checked it out briefly, so far I'm very impressed. The engine is gorgeous, the music is very atmospheric, and the gameplay has the same feeling of Heroes 3, probably improved though, but it'll take time notice all the things. Can anybody explain me the deal with the initiative?

 

One thing that bothered me about the first mission is that it is unusually difficult, even on Normal. I just can't survive, though I think I know where the problem lies. And of course, I'm not a very good player. Any tips? it seems to me that I'm required to free Isabel as late in the first week as possible, and in the meantime try to gather resources/armies.

 

I'll make a conclusion when I finish the demo, but right now I would say, if you liked Heroes 3, definitely give it a shot, you'll be surprised how good it is.

[Slaughter]

It is bloody hard indeed! I've spent quite a few hours on it, and enjoy it so far. The new combat system is quite lovely, with the creatures being allowed to attack more or less often based on their initiative. A better way of doing it than the traditional turn-based system for this game.

 

Other changes seems few so far however. I'm a little disappointed about the spells, as they seem quite useless to be honest (and few). I find myself attacking with the hero more often than anything else. Even a 20th level hero do very little damage with spells (might be better if not playing Haven though).

 

In general I think these are good tips Gimli: Keep the girl in the city at the end of the week, as that will give you more creatures. Build the City Hall quickly, to get some money. Let the enemy hero come to you in the beginning, while you recruit all you can. Take money instead of XP (as much as it hurts) from chests. Try and build as many basic creature buildings as possible in the beginning, as getting lots of creatures fast is life or death. I've played the first mission for a long time, and still struggle beating it...so maybe someone else should advice you

[Sophocles]

Loved the demo

 

The game retains all of the series great ellements and adds even more.

 

The combat system has been upgraded

 

The graphics are from another planet although their factionality in the map has slighlty decreased. Meaning that you can easily ignore spots that are hidden by trees. You now have to rotate the camera often to get the full picture. But that is only a minor anoiance compared to the gorgeous Graphics you get (started drulling all over again time to take a break).

 

If you loved heroes III then i believe from the little the demo shows so far that you should pick this game of the series.

[Gimli]

Well, after finishing both missions (on Normal of course, I'm not a masochist ), I've enjoyed it thoroughly. The only minor annyoance I've had was with the first mission.

 

**SPOILER**

 

When I was supposed to send Godric to Nicolai, I first cleared the path with Isabel, because she was much stronger than Godric, and then I sent him through. When he reached the exit, Isabel was nearby, so when Nicolai arrived and Agrael rushed out to meet him, I attacked him with Isabel and crushed him to pieces of course, and went to meet Nicolai. Since no cut-scene or victory message appeared, I clicked on end turn, and Nicolai went a little further (to the place where Agrael was when I attacked him), and then a cut-scene initialized with Agrael killing Nicolai. That was kind of stupid, but it's also minor compared to the fun I've had, so I'll look over it.

 

I only regret I don't have a better system, those effects look beautiful, and the sound is crackling a bit (when you use righteous might for example).

[Praetoris]

I don't see how people can have problems with the graphics in this game. = /

 

My computer is pretty mediocre overall with an x800 for the graphics, yet I can play it at full graphics, 1280x1024, without any choppiness or problems at all.

[Gimli]

Eh, I'm on a Radeon 9600 Pro. It's good for me as long as it can still run games on Low settings. Once it can't I'll get a new one and enjoy the games in all their beauty... for the next 3 months when they become "obsolete".

[Azrael Strife]

I have a FX5200 and can run it very nicely.

[Slaughter]

I have an ATI Radeon 9700 Mobile 128 MB, and run it fine in 1400*1050.

[The Veteran]

Right, downloaded it, played it, enjoyed it, won't buy it till its cheaper... Apart from the fact it ran like kak on this computer it was a good game (my games internet isn't online at the mo so this is my older one!) Graphics were as good as expected and top be honest its not quite too 3D which I thought it might be. It uses a 3D graphics engine sure but its mostly possible to retain the views and playing methods from the older 2d games. I like that fact. Only major gripe is the crappy multi levelled units that I thought were only used in HOMM3 before being scrapped for 4. Unless I'm mistaken and they were in 4 as well, why have they brought them back? They're awful, they ruin the best planned armies and make conquering new castles more of a chore than a strategy. I hate hate hate with a capital 8 these things! Like Iron golems and steel golems... Why bother? Why not just have golems full stop? You just end up with a five slot army and twelve different mini armies to fit in it! Though I do appreciate that the armies now have more free slots, that's a bonus... And thats me!