Where did people learn to play Heroes?

I started with the second game in the series. It was around 1997-98. It was one of my favorite games. I loved the graphics. A year or two later, my brother got Heroes 3. After the colorful, cartoonish graphics of the second game, the graphical drabness of the continuation of the series was initially perceived negatively. But after starting to play, I realized that the tactics and possibilities were wider than in the second game, and the graphics weren't as bad as they initially seemed, and... it just took off)) I played it for about 5 years with breaks.
My classmates refused to play the fourth game. They said it was terrible. So, I lost interest. In 2006, there was the fifth game... But I didn't play it for long because I quickly got bored of it.