History of the Heroes of Might and Magic series

I I categorically welcome you. Not so long ago, I decided to try myself in a new field and start making stories of a particular game series. For the first, pilot issue, I decided to choose the legendary series Heroes of Might and Magic. (after all, this year she turns 25 years old). Today I will talk about heyday (1.2.3 heroes) and decline (4,5,6,7 heroes) of the series. I want to say thanks in advance to everyone who masters my video or text to the end, as well as thanks to Wikipedia and many other sites, without you all these would not be a bug. 😉
P.S In the video, the script is slightly reduced, a complete, initial version is presented here

IN The distant 1986 is a little -known New World Computing Studio, founded two years earlier than John Van Kanemem and Mark Kaldvel and the John’s role in the house, develops the role -playing game Might and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum.

The team worked on a dizzying role mixture of fantasy and science fiction, and already in those distant games the first heroes and other elements appear that subsequently migrated to the step -by -step world of heroes. By the way, Craig Hack first appeared in those bearded years. Four years and two games of the original series later, and in 1990, the actual ancestor of the step -by -step strategies – King’s Bounty is released on the stage.

The story of the abduction of the King Maximus’s rod quickly became one of the main game events of 1990. There is an opinion that King’s Bounty liked John Van Kaneghem so much that she persuaded her husband to release her husband and, as a result, succumbing to the persistent persuasion of her wife, John began work on a new game. So the same heroes appeared. Despite the fact that King’s Bounty was already much closer to the heroes familiar to us, it was still another game. Heroic seeds have ripened for five years in the minds of the developers while they continued to make games from the Might and Magic series, by the way, having managed to release three more games until 1995. The years when real magic began ..

3On August 1, 1995, New World Computing, which at that time was still an independent company, releases the first game from a series of heroes – Heroes of Might and Magic: A Strategic Quest.

The game was a real flagship of his time. Advanced graphics and thoughtful mechanics, finally crossing a step -by -step strategy and RPG, did their job. The game was warmly accepted by both players and critics. Already in the first part there were the basic principles that developed and evolved in subsequent games of the series. Cities in which the army is growth, the hero who moves on the map, the book of spells, the main characteristics of the hero, step -by -step battles on a separate tactical map, a variety of resources – all this was already in the first part.

The main differences between the first part from their followers were perhaps the lack of mana, a limited number of “use” spells and the lack of secondary skills among heroes. But even without these elements, playing the first game of the series, you can easily say that you play in those very heroes. The game included a large campaign of eight missions and several dozen scenarios. We had to choose which of the four possible characters to play. The choice was offered a knight, a sorceress, a criminal and a barbarian. At the same time, the standard of tasks was born: to destroy all enemies, get the Grail and capture a certain city, or several cities. The development of the city also generally laid the standard for further evolution of the series. Perhaps the main feature can be considered the lack of improvements in buildings.

It is worth noting that in many ways the success of the game contributed to the multi -user regime – Hotsit. At a time when the Internet was poorly common, the ability to play with friends at the same computer is difficult to overestimate. This wonderful mode will remain one of the business cards of the entire series and will be included in all subsequent games. In general, the game turned out to be bright and memorable and even today remains quite playable. Commercial success and warm welcome prompted the developers not to postpone the continuation of the continuation for a long time and a year later, in 1996, heroes 2 were released in the light.

NDespite the greatest popularity of the first part, real success to the heroes came with the way out Heroes of Might and Magic II. Wonderful graphics and improved gaming mechanics made the game a hit on the European continent, where it was a sales leader for more than a year. The plot of the second heroes is based on the victory of Lord Ironfist in the confrontation of the first part. After the death of Ironfist Enrrot, internecine wars begin to tear out between his sons – Roland and Archibald.

The set of heroes in the first game of the series expanded, and to the knight, Barbara, wizard and warlock already known to us, a magician and necromancer were added, each with his castle and a set of unique units. Accordingly, Roland personifies the “good” forces of knights, sorceresses and magicians, and Archibald – the “evil” forces of barbarians, warlocks and necromancers.
The role component in the second part has undergone significant changes and, in addition to the four main and two additional characteristics, the heroes get the opportunity to learn secondary skills. Each hero can master eight out of fourteen possible secondary skills:
Intelligence – increases the radius of the hero of the hero
Shooting – increases the damage caused by long -range troops
Diplomacy – helps in the accession of neutral troops, and also reduces the cost of surrender in defeat
Ballistics – increases the accuracy of shooting from the catapult
Wisdom – helps in studying spells of a certain level
Eagle’s eye – provides an opportunity to study the spells used by the enemy during the battle
Necromancy – resurrects defeated enemies in the form of skeletons
Treasurer – allows the hero to bring income
Navigation – increases the speed of the hero on the water
Mysticism – increases mana recovery speeds
Leadership – Raises the level of morality of the troops
Luck – Increases the luck of the troops
Logistics – increases the speed of movement of the hero by land
Sunnyness – increases the speed of the hero when moving around the crossed area
Secondary skills themselves can be pumped according to the standard scheme: basic – advanced – expert.
Also in the second part, the magical component of the game was significantly redesigned. So, in the first heroes, the amount of use of spells was linearly depended on the knowledge parameter. For example, if this parameter was equal to three, then this gave the hero the opportunity to use each of its spell no more than three times.
Now the studied spell forever remained at the disposal of the hero, but for its use it is necessary to spend a certain amount of mana. Changes also affected armies and battles. In the second part, almost all units can be improved. The tactical battlefield was increased and began to accommodate more units, and the heroes got out of the tents and took their usual place at the head of the army.

In general, Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars became a kind of work on already small errors, and on the wave of success it was decided to release an addition. As a result, a year later, the additions of stores arrive – Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Price of Loyalty.

The addition was a set of new campaign, single scenarios, new artifacts and structures. The card editor also improved.
The game community agreed that the addition came out very successful and it pleased the players for at least another two years, up to the release of the third part of the series. Summarizing the information on the second part, we can safely say that with its exit, the heroic series finally formed and took its deserved, honorable place in the history of the game industry.

GErodi Sword and Magic 3 – this is largely the result of close cooperation of the teams from the New World Computing and bought it in 1996 3DO, to which the rights to the series passed. Moreover, this is one of the examples when the publisher sets the harsh terms, intervenes in the development process, appoints leading managers and, as a result … it turns out a masterpiece.

An interesting fact: The project managed by the project https://frenzinocasino.uk/ manager instructed the developers’ team so much that he was included in the game in the form of a hero with a bust of morality.
Before describing the game itself, let’s talk a little about The 3Do Company. The company was founded in 1991 Trip Hawkins – founder of Electronic Arts. It is Hokokins who consider the father of the transition from small garage studios to large -scale, large projects.

In 1999, the clouds have not yet thickened over 3DO and New World Computing and John Van Kanegem under the strict leadership of Trip Hawkins releases his most famous game – Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia. A game that many still consider the best part of the series.
And this opinion is quite justified. Stunning work of the team of artists, magnificent music and a modified gameplay of a successful second part – this is the recipe by which the most successful heroic game was baked.
It is on this part that a large number of tournaments are still taking place, cards are drawn and mods are created.

The main motto of the development was: “Not a revolution, but evolution”. That is, the team decided not to spoil what worked so well. Instead, they developed, deepened and polished the trusted mechanics of the second part. After many years, we see how successful such a decision was and how harmful the direction “Revolution” turned out to be for the fourth part. But I will return to this.

The events are placed in the period after the events of the fourth part and begin with the death of King Nicholas Grifonhart, the ruler of Erafia. His daughter Katerina, who became Queen Enrot, went to her homeland to participate in her father’s funeral. However, upon arrival, Katerina finds out that without her king, Erafia fell, unable to withstand the onslaught of hostile forces from the dungeons of the island of Nigon and demonic land Eofol. Now the homeland of Katerina is in a full -scale war, ruined by enemies and foreign looters.

History is revealed in seven campaigns and tells about Katerina’s victory over enemies and the new flourishing of Erafia’s power. Consider some gameplay changes:
The factions were significantly processed and the number of available castles in the third heroes was increased to eight:
Castle (Castle) – Classic Knights City
Rampart (rampart) – Forest city with elves and their allies
Tower (tower) – Magic city
Inferno (Inferno) – Infernal city
Necropolis (Necropolis) – The city of undead
Dungeon (Dungeon) – City of Warlocks and Black Dragons
STRONGHOLD – The city of barbarians
Fortress (Fortress) – Swamp city
In Armageddon’s Blade, another faction is added:
Conflux – A spontaneous city

This time the castles were divided into three worldviews: “positive”, “negative” and “neutral”. In general, the processing of balance was beneficial for the game and castles could well compete with each other on the battlefield. However, not everyone had it to taste. A large number of players, who today call heroes the vertex of the series, believe that in the third part the castles made each other too similar, while removing the individuality. In addition to the balance, the changes affected the role component. So, in the third part, the set of secondary skills of the hero expanded significantly. There were already twenty -eight. The playing field and the number of units in the city and in the army increased. A huge number of spells and artifacts, objects in the city and on a global map were added. And all this is high -quality handmade.

In fairness, and this coin has two sides. A huge number of objects in one way or another can lead to repetitions and even some secondary. The approach to the schedule has changed. The game has lost the bright fantasy of the first parts and gained pastel realism. I would like to mention the musical design separately. The music from the third part fell into TV shows, advertising, other games, and even in great sport and even in my video. Two full -fledged additions were released in the wake of success – Armageddon’s Blade and The Shadow of Death, as well as a series of additional campaigns called Heroes Chronicles. Of the innovations, I would like to note the teams of artifacts and the new city. Moreover, several new artifacts and the city itself were excluded from most of the ongoing tournaments, due to a strongly distorted balance. But in general, the additions were favorably adopted by the game community and only secured the status of a cult.

But while the players could not tear themselves away from the computers and revel in the third heroes, large financial problems were spectacular behind the scenes of 3do. A failure network shooter Legends of Might and Magic, The significant finances pulled over, John Van Kanegem took the working time.

In addition, several unpopular decisions were made in additions to the third heroes, which also financially hit the company. All this led to the fact that the development of the fourth game of the series began in very difficult conditions. The team was scattered on other projects, the chief designer left the company, and John Van Kanegem, without working on the game, gave “valuable instructions”, which directly contradicted the successful concept “Not a revolution, but evolution”. As a result, in 2002 the fourth, most ambiguous game of the series was released.

TOAK I have already said, unlike the smooth transitions of the first three parts, where, while preserving the key elements of the mechanics, systematic polishing and improvement went, working on the fourth heroes, the team of developers decided to radically change the game. This is considered the main reason for the failure of both the fourth heroes and the company as a whole. The base of fans who joyfully wandered from one game of the series to another was divided into two camps. And despite the fact that some of the players accepted the heroes 4, most of the game community appreciated the game as “disappointment” and even “failure”. Let’s try to understand the reasons. The new game designer GUS SMEDSTAD was not a newcomer in the company. For many years, he was engaged in the development of artificial intelligence for the games of the series, but, due to the current situation, the HUS was seriously limited in finances and, like many others, had to combine different functions.

Given the above, it is not surprising that the development was carried out in a tense atmosphere.
But finances and atmosphere are internal factors, but gameplay changes, which were a record number – directly influenced the fate of the project. The changes affected everything, ranging from the game engine to the mechanics of moving heroes on a global map. One of the major innovations is the possibility of units to move without a hero (like a hero without units). They can independently enter the battle, but cannot capture cities and buildings. There may be several heroes in the army, each of which occupies one of the seven slots for creatures. During the battle, the hero participates in the battle along with the rest, receives damage and may die. For the first time, a war fog appeared in the series for the first time, previously used mainly in real -time strategies. This means that if there is no union hero, unit or building in the already investigated sections of the map, then the enemy movements are not visible on these lands. Changes affected logistics on a global map.

The need to constantly return the heroes to castles for new troops disappeared. Instead, they began to deliver special caravans to the hero. The battle changed. A contraud can be considered a fundamental difference from the previous parts. In the fourth heroes, the detachment attacked in close combat brings a response at the same time as an enemy attack, and not after it, as it was in previous games of the series. Moreover, the arrows also counterattack with a shot in response to a shot of the enemy.
In the fourth part, we are offered a choice of six castles: the abode, the academy, necropolis, the haven, the reserve and the fortress. The first five of them have their own school of magic, as well as the standard division of heroes into two types – warrior and magician. The castle has a fortress of a school of magic or a magical hero. Thus, in the game eleven basic classes of heroes, two for the first five castles and one for the last. Having pumped two skills, the hero moves to one of thirty -six expanded classes, each of which has its own characteristics. If the hero has three or more skills, then the class is determined by the two most pumped. There is also a separate magic, thirty -seventh grade – archmage. To obtain it, you need to have at least three magic skills.

Spells in the game are divided into five schools of magic: life, order, death, chaos, nature. The development scheme is very complicated and for studying skills it is necessary to have the corresponding skill of a certain level, and for the skill of high levels – certain skills. But this is all a dry description of the game mechanics. In fact, we can say easier: the game has changed a lot. Many years after the release of the game in a wide variety of discussions, many players admit that the game is not bad and even in many ways underestimated, but at that time the fan base required the continuation of the traditional series, but instead received … what she received. Despite the strict criticism of fans, the game was not a financial failure and, taking into account two additions, brought the company albeit insignificant, but income. John van Kanegem, a displeased result was going to personally lead the development of the fifth part, but, alas, there was no time left for this. The general financial condition of 3DO by 2003 becomes hopeless.

Previously taken loans had to be paid, but it turned out that there was nothing. Until that time, the company was drawn by the previously mentioned trip Hawkins, but this time he decided not to give the company another chance – 3Do declares himself bankrupt and sells his assets. The French company Ubisoft, which was already trying to get a popular franchise, is happy to enjoy the current situation, redeems the rights to the entire Might & Magic series for $ 1.3 million and sets a fat point in the New World Computing era ..

INHaving bought the rights to the series, Ubisoft begins to look for a developer and finds it in the person of the Russian company Nival Interactive. To the joy of many fans, the game is trying in every possible way to repeat the classic gameplay of the third part, but already in the completely three -dimensional world, while the system of skills and skills was nevertheless borrowed from the fourth heroes.

The “Fast Game” option was added to the multi -user regime, with which you can set a limit on the number of moves that allows you to speed up the gameplay. Another interesting option is “Simultaneous moves”, which appeared in the addition of the “Lord of the North”, which allows players (suddenly!) perform moves simultaneously and at the end of the course to transfer the game to the standby mode (while other players also end in their moves). The possibility of such simultaneous moves is available only until the players cross. Computer players still go after people. Subsequently, such modes can be found in other games. I also want to note new duel modes in which the player is invited to choose one (or three) of 24 pre -created heroes, each of which has unique abilities, a set of units and artifacts, and then meet in a battle with another hero (or heroes).

As for the plot, the action of the game was transferred to a completely new world – Askhan or Auchan … it does not matter. For me personally, an unpleasant surprise was the absence of heroes beloved in the game in the previous parts. In general, Heroes of Might and Magic V can be called a successful project and a partial return of the heroic franchise to “Game”. But the further fate of the heroes was again not easy. The sixth part began to make, Nival Interactive was removed from work and the development of the new part was entrusted with the Hungarian company Black Hole Entertainment.

EClorus briefly, then my opinion about the sixth part of the heroic series can be described by one common phrase: stepped on the same rake. Apparently those who say that they do not learn from other people’s mistakes. Jubisoft did not want to study on 3DO mistakes and instructed the new developer again to shove everything. Began to shovel with the name. Familiar to many since childhood, Heroes of Might and Magic has turned into Might & Magic Heroes. This happened against the background of the general rebranding of the Might and Magic series. I also note right away that Black Hole Entertainment went bankrupt shortly after the game, so the German Limbic Entertainment studio was already made to the new part, and the only full -fledged addition is the Chinese company Virtuos. The developer himself considers the cause of the failure and subsequent bankruptcy of tenants from Ubisoft, claiming that they did not allow working normally, constantly interfering in the project, adding and removing the factions, and generally interfering with all possible ways.

The strategic global map has undergone changes in the direction of simplification – of the seven resources there are only four left: gold, wood, ore and crystals. In addition, control over the sources of resources was tied to the possession of the region in which they are located. Having captured the castle, the player automatically gains access to all valuable buildings in the district.

Old resources are present in the game in the form reference. For example, astrologers can declare a week of sulfur, and the description will say that the inhabitants of Auchan, unfortunately, have not yet learned how to use this resource. The number of locks has changed again. Now there are five of them in the main game. Changed the number of basic classes of heroes. Now there are six of them for each fraction. Another innovation was the scale of “reputation”. Depending on the style of the game and the decisions made, the player received either “tears” or “blood”, which reflected the character’s tendency to good or to evil. Only decisions made directly in the game were taken into account. The plot decisions on the reputation did not affect. The development of a particular branch made it possible to improve the basic class: for example, a “good” necromancer, no matter how strange it sounds, could become a balmer, and an evil – a reap. Unit was divided into basic, elite and champions and, as always, redistributed to different castles.

The plot of the sixth heroes is considered almost the strongest side of the project. A pleasant surprise was the return to the new universe of old heroes. But there is a small nuance, although we meet in the game Sandro and Craig Hack, they are officially considered “alternative” versions of old heroes. Whatever it means. And I will complete the story of the sixth heroes with a short description of another innovation – the dynasty system. This system is attached to the player’s account, implies the presence of the Internet and gives access to special “dynastic” artifacts that can be equipped with the main character in each mission. These artifacts give noticeable advantages and at the same time they cannot be lost at the death of the hero.

Summing up, I want to say that the sixth heroes are largely similar to me in the fourth. No, not visually and not gameplay, but an attempt to redo the established traditions and followed by this failure. There are many interesting ideas that could well become the key features of some other game. But having tried to introduce them into, as it turned out, the conservative series of heroes of the sword and magic, one company ruined, and the other did not receive the expected profit.

PThe seventh -part of the same German company Limbic Entertainment, which was responsible for the release of patches and corrections for the last game. For the first time in the history of the series, a third -party engine was used – Unreal 4. The expectation was emotional and to some extent dramatic. And what did we get? Bugs, bugs, patches, new bugs, negative comments, fixes and again bugs. That is how the seventh game of the legendary series began its life path. In all heroes, starting from the first, there were bugs at the start, there were problems with artificial intelligence, departures, and so on. But in the seventh part there was too much.

The technical condition of the game was catastrophic. It was especially disappointing to wade through this against the background of ongoing assurances from the anniversary, that this time they certainly listened to the players and did everything as it should. In fact, they really did a lot. The global strategic map turned out to be especially impressive. But the card is by and large, secondary. Let’s get back to the basics. The long story of the series rather unequivocally showed us what players want from the heroes of the sword and magic. Players want classic heroes, with classic gameplay, but in the new wrapper. All. Any global changes were perceived by fans of hostility, and not to see and not be aware of this Limbic Entertainment and Jubisoft simply could not. And they realized. Despite the fact that some elements nevertheless migrated from the controversial sixth, in many ways the game “rolled” to the origins.

The cities cannot be rebuilt. The resources are seven again. You can’t buy everyone in one place. Simplified the interference of the skills and abilities of the units, returned to the Monster shelter map. True, at the same time, caravans were returned, they gave the wheel of skills, added a permanent garrison in locks, gave the heroes the opportunity to travel without an army, introduced flank attacks and variability of building buildings in the city.In principle, everything is not bad again.

So what is wrong? Why the game in fact turned out to be a failure? And if only because the technical problems with which I started the story about the seventh part – either they were cleaned godlessly for a long time, or never removed. And we are talking about bugs just breaking the game. Departures and rasinhron, who is dying periodically intelligence, bugs in spells and skills that can lead any battle to a completely unpredictable result. To be honest, after the players fell through the next network party, their hands just dropped down. But bugs, unfortunately, were not the only problem. Unfortunately, the series did not occur and rehabilitation of the series and released in 2016 the addition of Trit by Fire, Limbic Entertainment fell off the project. Left without a developer and with a “pack of angry letters” in her hands, the anniversary decided to stop the support of the seventh heroes and completely freeze the franchise ..

AND Here, I am sitting, I add the script, I look at the figure from the seventh part of the collector and I understand that as soon as I add, I will launch the old good third heroes and, most likely, I will sit in them until the morning. Most likely, we will never see a new game of the series.
One person in the comments on the thematic Vicki said that it would be better for Ubisoft to let the franchise die with honor, but the series suffered the same fate as Disciples, only agony lasted much longer ..
In any case, thanks again to everyone who watched the video to the end or read this article until the end. Live for a long time and remember: Your thoughts create your future..