From Heroes of Might and Magic I to V!

"3 is an insult to 2,"

I've never heard that; on the contrary, I've heard that 3 is a logical continuation of 2!

4 is an insult to the entire series.

Unfortunately, many people think so... but they are wrong... the fourth installment is a revolution in the series, but perhaps it was a bit too early and too drastic...

But let's analyze all the parts (excluding 4 and WOG) and see how each part is "worse than the previous one."

It's not right to insult the fourth installment... it has the right to stand in the general row...

I, for example, see only improvement and deepening, and not an insult. After all, if nothing had changed, we would be playing a 16-color nightmare with a squeaker instead of music! What is your opinion?

I completely agree with you!

My vision of the Heroes series' development:
First - a reworking of KW
Second - a logical continuation of the first.
Third - a logical continuation of the second.
Fourth - a revolution, with many positive changes, although some are debatable...
Fifth - a step back and two half-steps forward... that is, a step back because the third installment (and not the fourth) was used as a basis.
The first half-step forward is the adoption of some of the strengths of the fourth.
The second half-step forward is a slight development of the resulting system...
In my opinion, it was necessary to build on the fourth after all...

All of the above is IMHO.

Sincerely.