Decline HoMM single player campaigns?

[Zboj Lamignat]

Apparently I've now gotten old enough to lose all my multi and hot seat HoMM III playing partners.

I started playing single scenarios versus AI, which admittedly can offer decent enough challenge and fun, depending on the circumstances (like the South of Hell scenario on the impossible difficulty level). What I realized however, is that I never, ever finished a single campaign in any of the games. I tried a little bit here and there, but always dropped them in favour of playing with bros.

So, are they any good? Which one would you recommend? I'm talking Heroes I-III btw (I guess that includes the recent HotA add-on, assuming it doesn't give off this distinct "herp derp modders at work" vibe), I don't deem any of the later ones good enough to devote any significant time to playing their sp campaigns.

 

[octavius]

I wouldn't recommend HoMM 1; it's just too primitive.

For regular HoMM 2, if you want a challenge, skip the maps that give you the Dwarven Alliance if playing Roland or Ogre Alliance if playing Archibald. Or switch sides when the time comes. Also, if siding with Archibald, skip the Dragon King map to make the final map harder. The Dragon King map itself is the hardest one in the entire Archibald campaign, though, if you don't have Ogre Alliance.

But the most challenging campaign is probably The Wizard's Isle campaign from Price of Loyalty.

I never completed any of the HoMM 3 campaigns, but the Armageddon's Blade campaign is considered the best and most challenging one IIRC.

 

[Malakal]

HoMM3 vanilla campaigns are rather easy and the difficulty increases with each expansion finally peaking at Shadow of Death ones.

 

[Emily]

I found Armageddon blade to be hardest one for me

 

[Darth Roxor]

HoMM3 vanilla campaigns are rather easy and the difficulty increases with each expansion finally peaking at Shadow of Death ones.

Later vanilla campaigns can get pretty rough, but on the whole they are easy, yes.

Armageddon's Blade can get rough as hell and most maps require serious blitzkriegs.

The difficulty does NOT peak at Shadow of Death, only the annoyance does. Shadow of Death campaigns are actually pretty fucking terrible because they introduce the retarded gimmick that would later transfer to homm4, aka "here's an enemy one-way teleport straight into your base" or "here's an enemy base right next to yours, but it's behind a border guard, HAHA HAVE FUN"

 

[visions]

Related, what's a good difficulty for Shadow of Death? Is the hardest option too much of a chore/excercise in masochism?

 

[Abelian]

The Dragon Slayer campaign from Armageddon's Blade is often considered the hardest HoMM3 campaign, but it featured a lot of gimmicks, such as fighting against overwhelming creature groups by using the right spells. You needed to get good spells in order to succeed and the time limits are also annoying.

Edit: corrected expansion name

 

[Darth Roxor]

The Dragon Slayer campaign from SoD

That's Armageddon's Blade, not SOD.

 

[Malakal]

The Dragon Slayer campaign from SoD

That's Armageddon's Blade, not SOD.

Thats AB? Ok I stand corrected, that was super hard.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

I remember playing the campaigns from AB a bit, I know what I disliked about them: hero transfer. It is cool in theory, but the maps and HoMM mechanics weren't balanced for it, so your best hero soon had all stats in 30-40 and all the best spells so gameplay turned into a rapetrain, where you could roll over stuff even with a substandard army.

Am I right in thinking that HoMM II campaigns don't have hero transfer? II is more difficult in general, because the economy is kinda demanding, especially on higher difficulty levels.

 

[octavius]

Am I right in thinking that HoMM II campaigns don't have hero transfer? II is more difficult in general, because the economy is kinda demanding, especially on higher difficulty levels.

No hero transfers in HoMM II, and you can't set difficulty setting. IIRC only the last map is "Impossible", but you start with developed castles and there's lots of gold to grab.

 

[Wulfstand]

Oh man, the memories this game brings me. After so many years, its soundtrack still gets to me.

 

[Abelian]

Am I right in thinking that HoMM II campaigns don't have hero transfer? II is more difficult in general, because the economy is kinda demanding, especially on higher difficulty levels.

No hero transfers in HoMM II, and you can't set difficulty setting. IIRC only the last map is "Impossible", but you start with developed castles and there's lots of gold to grab.

It's been a long time since I played it, but I know that in the Price of Loyalty campaign Voyage Home the same hero starred in all three scenarios. I forgot if his experience and skills were reset between scenarios, though.

 

[octavius]

Am I right in thinking that HoMM II campaigns don't have hero transfer? II is more difficult in general, because the economy is kinda demanding, especially on higher difficulty levels.

No hero transfers in HoMM II, and you can't set difficulty setting. IIRC only the last map is "Impossible", but you start with developed castles and there's lots of gold to grab.

It's been a long time since I played it, but I know that in the Price of Loyalty campaign Voyage Home the same hero starred in all three scenarios. I forgot if his experience and skills were reset between scenarios, though.

Yeah, the expansion did introduce some new things (like the infamous recruitable Ghosts), so it's possible that experience carried over.

 

[TigerKnee]

For HoMM3 fan campaigns, I've heard that "Eternal Love" is good.

 

[Markman]

Isnt this one what you're looking for? Wierd that nonone mentioned it.
http://af.gog.com/game/heroes_chronicles_all_chapters?as=1649904300
Made with HoMM3 engine, singleplayer only.

 

[Emily]

I agree that hero transfer is kinda stupid to be honest
Sounds good in theory, terrible in practice, i really wonder why did they stick with it .

 

[Malakal]

I agree that hero transfer is kinda stupid to be honest
Sounds good in theory, terrible in practice, i really wonder why did they stick with it .

If you aren't assburger enough to move every hero everywhere before completing a mission its fine. You play one map then play the next with what you got without tryhard shit. Otherwise it gets really tedious and boring to max out heroes before proceeding.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

There was nothing assburger about making Gelu a demigod in AB campaign, I even rushed the fuck out of his initial missions because sharpshooters are so op.

 

[Emily]

I agree that hero transfer is kinda stupid to be honest
Sounds good in theory, terrible in practice, i really wonder why did they stick with it .

If you aren't assburger enough to move every hero everywhere before completing a mission its fine. You play one map then play the next with what you got without tryhard shit. Otherwise it gets really tedious and boring to max out heroes before proceeding.

I played it exactly how you described(no try hard, focus on only one hero), but it was still somewhat dumb of an system, especially since it means that the other missions are made to carter said demigods, rather then provide an unique challange.
basically it means everything about campaign must be catered to demigod Hero

There was nothing assburger about making Gelu a demigod in AB campaign, I even rushed the fuck out of his initial missions because sharpshooters are so op.

AB is very very hard so naturally if you play it logically you are encouraged to min-max
It is kinda stupid IMO

 

[octavius]

Isnt this one what you're looking for? Wierd that nonone mentioned it.
http://af.gog.com/game/heroes_chronicles_all_chapters?as=1649904300
Made with HoMM3 engine, singleplayer only.

I wouldn't recommend them for experienced players. Even on Impossible most of the maps are too easy since every second square have free stuff to pick up. I only found two or three maps of the first 6 of the 8 Chronicles I've played so far to be any challenge.
Also, these games are more story driven than the other HoMM games, and a competent player will finish most maps long before the story events have finished.
So they are definitely aimed at casual players and newbies (and of course milking obsessive collectors and fanbois).

 

[Abelian]

Isnt this one what you're looking for? Wierd that nonone mentioned it.
http://af.gog.com/game/heroes_chronicles_all_chapters?as=1649904300
Made with HoMM3 engine, singleplayer only.

I think the original subject of discussion was just the HoMM 1-3 campaigns. I only played the first few scenarios of Master of the Elements and Clash of Dragons and my main complaint is the walls of text that appear in every mission. In general, my main complaint regarding the HoMM campaigns is that you only play against one opponent or all AI players are allied against you.