Heroes 6 - Discussion

Were the heroes required to have the most advanced graphics among strategy games at the time of release?

You seem to have lost the thread.
I wrote that graphics aren't important for Heroes, but a lot of time was spent on it, although it's not very noticeable in the 5th installment, i.e., they worked on it, but the result wasn't great, even for that time. Do you understand? I'm not saying that the graphics SHOULD be excellent, or that I WANT great graphics. The implication was that a lot of time was wasted (on the graphics), when it could have been spent on the world, and the result might have been much better.

It's sometimes difficult to deviate from the established canons and stereotypes. Would gamers accept a game where elves, for example, had normal ears instead of long ones, and were the embodiment of evil? Yes, everyone would complain that "these aren't elves." That's why continuity exists in strategy games.

So, it's better to discard the old, original world and replace it with one that has been used repeatedly in games? To change the established Heroes canons to something more pop-fantasy.

Added 2 minutes ago

There is some kind of plot, and there is also a universe.

Exactly.

And in general, what is the essence of any game? To play and defeat the opponent, and the more developed the ways to do this, the better the game will be, in my opinion, especially a strategy game.

There are games that are aimed at single-player playthroughs, and the main thing in them is not destroying the opponent, so you rushed to conclusions about the essence of all games.

Added 2 minutes ago

It's not a fairy tale game, but a visual style.

A cartoonish style doesn't make a game a fairy tale.