Yes, the second part is a boring wanderer without Castles, featuring two strong heroes and weak neutrals. But in its defense, I want to say that the first part (until passing the dwarf outpost) is very interesting and replayable. It has everything you need: economic tension, the danger of attack, and twists on the adventure map and in battles.
I also remember this map because it was here that I first saw an unscripted AI (demon) use the "Regeneration" spell in battle.
There was a crash, either during the demon's turn or when capturing the Castle. It was fixed by replaying (albeit inefficiently) the last few turns. I don't remember the exact details; it seems you cannot capture an empty Castle, but must force the demon to settle in there.
I also recall an interesting scenario The Tale of Igor's Campaign playing as orcs (the one with the funny boss "Tsar-Ballista" in the middle of the game). There too, crashes start from a certain point when the AI thinks; sometimes "dancing with a tambourine" helps. Nevertheless, I occasionally replay it.
I still can't find a certain map, maybe someone remembers the name: the starting Castle is in the bottom right corner, we play against demons, there are archer mannequins standing in the mountains, and while passing through the mountain paths, an animation of archers shooting at you triggers right on the adventure map.
We're unlikely to see fixes for old maps. Unless, after the release of Heroes 8 (in a year?), all single-player players are disappointed in them and return to reminisce over 5. We'll see. For me, the determining factor is the strength of the AI on the map and in battles. I played all parts from 1 to 7 (favorites are 2 and 5, but each has its own perks). Still, 5 is unmatched in terms of AI strength.
Go ahead and feel nostalgic (artifact images are taken from Heroes 2, but they were the same in 1).
. I simply played all the scenarios here and elsewhere starting from Warrior difficulty, and unfortunately, I didn't leave "marks" of which ones I completed; now I am replaying them again after years at G. And yes... "There is a feeling that the scenario is unfinished," this is slightly different... I love finished work, and the risk of hitting a bug in the final battle and losing all conquests is not worth my time. That's how it is.
I recently played the scenario The Tale of Igor's Campaign as orcs (the giga-ballista); it played out normally without any issues.
"I still can't find a certain map" — I played it recently (there are three or four archer ambushes standing on mountains on both sides of the paths). Unfortunately, I didn't remember the name, but since I played it very recently, it means it can be found somewhere on the first page of the forum (since I now leave comments for completed scenarios).
