Posts from Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes

Clash of Heroes – a game set in the Might and Magic universe, which is being prepared for release on the Nintendo DS handheld console.

Of course, there probably won't be many people who can play it, but I still wanted to discuss the fact that such a game is being released. I'm not entirely sure about the genre; whether it will be a simple turn-based strategy optimized for this console or something not quite like the Heroes games, I can't say. Wikipedia says: Genre(s): Puzzle, strategy. The video reminded me a bit of Final Fantasy, one of the early installments.

The game is designed in an anime style. It's a debatable choice, but the target audience is different. If PC games are mainly played in Europe (including Russia) and North America, the DS is extremely popular among Japanese people, so it seems that the game is aimed specifically at the Land of the Rising Sun.

The events in the game take place several decades (I don't remember exactly) before the events of the 5th installment (Godric is among the playable characters, and he is still young. You can see him in the picture; he has a sword).

You can find the video in higher resolution at this link.

You can check out the developer's diary in the news. I wouldn't really call it a diary, though. They will be speaking in English.

Hmm... it seems to be aimed at a rather young audience, and besides, despite my love for anime, it doesn't quite fit with the world of Might and Magic...

In the trailer, that devil looks quite appealing, and Godric and Anwen are simply awesome; it seems like the first one aged significantly in the past 10 years, though.
Overall, I would definitely play it :o

Hmm... it seems to be aimed at a not-so-mature audience.

Well, why not? The design is quite typical for games on this console. I don't know how the gameplay is, but it seems to me that it's playable not only for children.

Besides, despite all my love for anime, it doesn't really fit with the Might and Magic world...

Yeah, but DS owners will probably appreciate it. Although, this is a side project; the games that will be released on PC are unlikely to be made in the anime style, so there's not much to worry about. :)
[QUOTE=HoM[M]ie]In the trailer, that devil is quite cute, and Godric and Anwen are generally awesome, although the first one seems to have aged a lot in 10 years. In general, I would play it.[/QUOTE]
Actually, it's been more than 10 years. Anyway, I liked Fiona (the necromancer) the most. :)

I would also play it, at least to get acquainted with it, but I don't have the opportunity right now.

I would play it too; it seems to be a kind of prequel to Heroes of Might and Magic V, and it's generally interesting.

I don't consider such "Tetris" games to be a full-fledged gaming station, unless... you want to play it in a place far from your computer. Although, I don't deny that it might be interesting.
But I have doubts.
And the anime style would be amusing...

Haha, they won't just rip off Heroes 5 from the PC and put it on this console; of course, everything is compatible with the capabilities of this device... I personally didn't like the video... and I don't think the game will be very good here.

Some kind of Pokémon-esque anime style. Seriously.

It does resemble FF quite a bit, yes.

Wow, the comments! Just so you know, this "Tetris" has more power than the computers that the first/second Heroes games were originally written for. It's a great portable console, and many excellent strategy games have been released for it. I checked out Clash of Heroes. The style, strangely enough, reminds me of the fifth Heroes game at the beginning. Even the sound design is from there. The gameplay itself – from moving the hero around the map to the tactics in battles – is quite original for the Might and Magic universe. Although, in general, the genre can still be defined as the same – a hero-based TBS/RPG. The game is worth checking out; the gameplay is very fresh and engaging. I thought they were making some "anime-style nonsense," but it turned out to be something truly original, interesting, and still in keeping with the spirit of the series. By the way, after the first few hours of playing, I can't say anything good about the plot (nor anything particularly bad – but it's not very impressive so far). P.S. It's strange that they haven't ported the second or third Heroes games to the DS yet – the platform is perfect for them.

Yes, gentlemen, I recommend the following to all skeptics and other "Tetris haters":

http://www.emu-land.net/portable/nds/emuls/windows
Download the no$gba DS emulator from here (they say it's quite good), find the game (and, most importantly, its image, even though it's piracy – you know and decide for yourselves), and try playing it.

I haven't personally tried this, as I have a DS, but you probably won't encounter any problems with the emulation (a patched game image might be desirable). I'm sure that if the emulation doesn't have too many glitches, you'll get a lot of enjoyment.

Regarding the genre, I'll correct myself; I was a bit hasty in my wording:
It is an RPG, but turn-based tactics hardly allow us to call the game a full-fledged TBS, as the structure of the world map and the actions on it are quite specific. You'll see for yourselves.

Overall, I'm happy with it; even though I had to replay it from the beginning once, I've already played for more than six hours and am playing through the second campaign as the knights. It's a very challenging game, with deep combat and a wide range of interesting tactical solutions

I finally managed to launch the game on Windows, even though it took quite a bit of effort. But I don't regret it at all: the game is quite interesting, although very unusual for a Heroes player. I would highlight the following features:
1) An interesting plot, written based on the plot structure in Heroes V.
2) The graphics are primitive, but I can't bring myself to call it a drawback. It pleases the eye, and that's enough for me.
3) Gameplay. On the adventure map, the player moves along special points, forming a kind of path. The paths can branch, but this movement still looks very linear, which I didn't like. The combat is completely different from Heroes, but it is somewhat similar to the combat in Heroes VI. I want to outline the essence separately, noting the similarities:
- the battlefield is conventionally divided into columns and rows; creatures do not move freely on it, as in Heroes, but they take certain positions on it. At the beginning of the battle, they are scattered randomly on it; then, some creatures can be removed if they spoil the positions, and others can be moved from the end of one column to the end of another.
- creatures are divided into core, elite, and champion (here is the first similarity).
- the number of core creatures is, in general, unlimited. They are summoned to the battlefield at the beginning in a certain number; then, depending on the player's actions on the battlefield, it is possible to summon them as reinforcements.
- the situation with elite and champion creatures is similar, but their number is limited: how many you hire before the battle, that's the maximum number you can summon, no more.
- creatures have three colors. Each type of core creature (assuming their set is complete) has its own color. For example, archers are green, bears are orange, and fairies are blue. Elite creatures (and, it seems, champions too) can be of any random color.
- core creatures can take an attacking or defensive position. To take an attacking position, creatures of the same color must stand in one column in a row of three. Then they form a combat formation and, after a certain number of turns (depending on the specific units), they will attack. If they stand not in a column, but in a line, they will form a wall that will take on some of the damage from enemy attacks.
- elite creatures cannot attack on their own; for this, two core units of the same color must be placed behind the elite creature; then they will form a combat formation with special bonus abilities that will attack after a certain number of turns. The same applies to champion creatures, but there you need five core creatures.
- the attack can hit enemy units (if they are in the same column as the attacking formation) or the hero (otherwise, as well as if the killed enemy units could not fully absorb the blow). The battle is lost when the hero has no health left (health depends on the level).
- factions have certain abilities that accumulate during the battle (again, Heroes VI). For the elves, this is a powerful shot that deals a lot of damage to creatures and the hero in the selected column.
4) The game has resources (used to hire champions and elites), artifacts, and all this can be found on the global map; it's almost like in Heroes.
5) The game has a wonderful atmosphere; this point was criticized in the Heroes VI beta, and I agree with those who criticized it, but I have no complaints here.
Conclusion: a very unconventional game for Heroes fans, but in my humble opinion, it deserves much more attention than Heroes VI (at least in its beta version), even though it was unfairly overlooked against the backdrop of the new project being prepared by Ubisoft.

The game itself is decent, but if you consider it as part of the series, it's just awful. Why mix the anime style with Might and Magic games? Ubisoft has plenty of money; they could have easily funded the production of a full-fledged anime series based on their Ashan universe. Or even better – based on the old universe (with the old screenwriters as consultants).

As part of which series? It's not Heroes and it's not a typical Might and Magic game; it's a different game, and quite a simple one, without any frills. And that's where it struck me as simply amazing.

XEL says that the game itself is good, but they shouldn't have included the word "Heroes" in the title.