You yourself didn't accept saves from games played on the English version.
I liked the Tournaments on the "Other Side" map, but I didn't quite understand what to do with the prisons. Usually, heroes with powerful creatures, artifacts, and stats that can really help in battles are imprisoned, but here there wasn't much point. Maybe the fascination with Heroes 3, due to its interesting starting saves, made you more demanding of saves in Heroes 2. And regarding the hotseat, it seems that nothing better than Good versus Evil has been devised.

Орден Феникса – харизматический :) лидер