What were your expectations for Heroes 4?

Could you please specify what you mean by the word "awkward"?

A large number of objects that are stylistically disharmonious with each other. This is especially noticeable in the third game. In my opinion, the first versions (The Restoration of Erathia, Armageddon's Blade) were still quite acceptable in this regard, but the subsequent ones, and especially Heroes of Might and Magic 3.5, are quite different... The power-up buildings and creature dwellings are completely different, as if objects from several different, although related, computer games were mixed together. There is an abundance of weak units (of course, you can create many beautiful things in the campaign, but when generating a random map, the large number of creatures with a limited role is depressing). In general, the map of the adventure looks inadequate most of the time. Snow is replaced by green grass, then by volcanic craters. The type of monster does not depend on the ground it stands on. Therefore, during the clearing of territories, you have to deal with "guests" from completely different castles. For example, fighting water elementals on volcanic soil...
In the fourth game, most of the randomly generated monsters correspond to the type of terrain, and the landscape looks harmonious.
In the fifth game, there is a cartoonish style, excessive (in my opinion) brightness, and the potential of the graphics is clearly not used to the maximum. In the fourth game, on the contrary, the maximum possible was extracted from the outdated 3D simulation and isometric view. The maximum number of landscape objects, the maximum atmosphere, the maximum fantasy. Can any of the experienced map makers from the fourth game boast that they had to use all the landscape objects present in the game? For level design and map development, the fourth game has the best tools.