Posts from Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era - Обсуждение

I realized what I don't like about the hero portraits (not all of them): the faces are realistic, compared to the faces/muzzles of the creatures. It shouldn't be like that. It really creates a dissonance, as if they're from a different game.

this hunched-over dog doesn't look very good, to be honest.

I wish I had the energy to create an account with a screenshot of this unit as my avatar and write to Arandor: "What's up, dog? You're pretty fast, huh?!" But overall, I can only join in the complaining that the games aren't what they used to be.

There are mages in OE. Officially. Or, well, a mage... it seems to be the soul of Ister, a hero from the Temple, who, according to the description, also split into a soul and a body. Only there, it's the body, and here it's the soul. And... a mage + Ister is exactly a Magister, with a slight adjustment for the Russian language! Throw tomatoes at me for this joke! You can find Ister earlier. He was a reaver of the Temple.

Throw tomatoes at me for this joke!

Draw portraits that don't resemble each other in appearance, but rather reflect their specialties, give them interesting names, and subtly weave clues into their biographies so that they can be pieced together from fragments of text scattered here and there: the campaign plot, the city's bio, and the tavern (rumors). No, creating interesting things isn't the point of Olden Era. Everything is straightforward. And the bland hero bios are further proof of that. They are sterile in terms of character. Something about Nadir's character was hinted at, but only superficially. These aren't heroes who know how they achieve victory on the battlefield, thanks to their unique abilities, mindset, etc., but rather a bunch of traumatized whiners who are constantly being poked and prodded.

Well, in the series, most of the heroes have rather unremarkable backstories, and in some cases, even five different heroes share a slightly modified portrait. Yes, I'm talking about the third game. And the third game also loved to have abilities that didn't match the hero's biography at all. Here, Alfina made it clear from the start that the focus would be on a large number of different heroes. But these are still skirmish heroes. Deep lore is more for campaign heroes. I'll personally throw a tomato if they turn out to be mediocre.

It's actually quite interesting. Will this "Mega" unit have a useful special ability? Something like Alaron's in XRTA, which enhances light spells. We'll see, but we're not holding our breath.

Well, in the series, most of the heroes have pretty sad backstories, and in some cases, even five different heroes share a slightly modified portrait. Yes, I'm talking about the third game. And the third game also loved to have abilities that didn't match the hero's biography at all. Here, Alfina made it clear from the start that the focus would be on a large number of different heroes. But these are still skirmish heroes. Deep lore is more for campaign heroes. I'll personally throw a tomato if they turn out to be mediocre.

Whether they're "bums" or not, the writing needs to be interesting. But here, we have dull stories with sad faces. One is sadder than the other, it's like a soap opera from women's novels, thanks, Alfina. They decided to overwhelm us with quantity to distract us. If the "deep lore" is in the same writing style, then that's a disaster. And I'll repeat once more: there's no need to drag everything from the past when it reaches the point of absurdity, like with the "mirror image" ability.

Within the framework of fantasy logic, and even within the framework of ordinary logic, the story of the Archmage sounds... forced. Why didn't the body become a zombie? Or is it a philosophical zombie? ) Or did the soul not leave the body, but split in two?

I can't say that I haven't encountered something like this before, although the concept is popular. And the fact that they decided to implement it deserves praise.

But it would have been better to look at the Strugatsky brothers and create U Janus and A Janus – such a split personality would be 10 times bolder and more powerful Both from a lore-fantasy point of view, and because this trope isn't particularly used (I don't know of any examples, except for the original source). But what can you do.

Regarding the strength of specialists, even specialists in individual spells are traditionally often quite good. Well, in 50% of cases, at least, remembering the same trio. A specialist in an entire school, like our hero, simply has to be powerful.

The biographies in the third game were quite amusing. Half of the heroes seemed to be performing in a circus, even though they were supposedly stronger than lions and tigers. But both in the third and fourth games, I remember a lot of references to the lore. In the fourth game, half of the heroes had lines like, "In the old world, I was this and that, but in the new world, I had to become something else." And even though the biographies are short, just a couple of lines...
For me, a hero's biography has always seemed like a not-so-important element, just for atmosphere. In 95% of cases, the choice is based on the portrait or special ability. I'm even surprised that they decided to make the biographies such a big deal.

I just watched one of my favorite YouTubers... Yes, the biographies in the third game are hilarious 🤣🤣🤣

In my opinion, the biographies in Olden Era are generally too verbose; they could be cut down by about half. The Tier 3 biographies are, of course, too short, and it's difficult to understand anything from them, but they do provide a brief historical overview... Tier 5 biographies don't provide any historical context, but they do reveal the core personality traits and how these traits lead to a specific specialization. It would be ideal to combine the Tier 5 and Tier 3 approaches and make the biographies shorter than those in the Olden Era, but with one and a half meaningful paragraphs... Here's an example. A Tier 3 biography:

Once upon a time, the hero was somewhere.
Now, this hero is engaged in something.

Examples:

During the War of the Throne, Alamar served Archibald Ironfist, and after his master's fall, he had to make great efforts to escape from Enroth. Since then, he has lived in Nighon and serves the Underlords in a secret capacity.

Sandro studied necromancy under the guidance of a sorcerer, and later a lich, named Ethric. Sandro has visited almost all the lands of Enroth and Erathia and now serves Finneas Vilmar, the leader of the necromancers of Deyja.

A Tier 5 biography:

The hero, who was engaged in an *incredibly epic* activity, became so skilled that he is now known as an *incredibly epic specialist*.

Examples:

Before the call to arms led Rutger into the ranks of the Wolf Duchy of the Griffin Empire, most people knew him as a wanderer and traveler. Using the knowledge he gained in his more carefree years, Rutger leads his troops along familiar paths to increase their speed of movement. For the sooner he ends the war, the sooner he can return to the roads that seem to call to him.

Miv is a ruler devoted to her people, working tirelessly to prevent her doomed empire from falling into the abyss. In an attempt to save the future of the crumbling Falcon Empire, during the defense against the infernal invasion, Miv had no one to rely on but her own loyalty to the ideals of chivalry and unwavering faith in the Dragon of Light.

In the fourth installment, I like the biographies. They are short, sometimes funny, sometimes with an interesting story. I read through them, and mostly picked out the funniest examples, but it's not like anything is bad. There are also references to the past, and biographies that have been completely reworked (Kirr has even become a man, lol). It's a shame that there are no unique hero abilities. But in the fourth game, there are over two hundred heroes, and each one has something unique in their biography, even if much of it is generic. Ideally, the number of heroes should be reduced by two or three times, and each one should have a unique skill, of course. But we have what we have.

Tamara is respectful and kind, thoughtful in everything she does. She might have sought an academic life if she hadn't been dragged into military service by her twin sister, Thera. As long as her sister is out there risking her life, Tamara will remain nearby to protect her only family.

Thera is wild, brash and outgoing, an opposite to her twin, Tamara. Ever since she was a child, she would fight just about anyone, especially if she had a chance to stick up for someone who couldn't defend themselves. Today, she still has a soft spot for the underdog.

Lemmar might be too attractive to be a priest, but he has more female followers than any other priest. Still, he believes strongly in duty and discipline, and is unwavering on issues of morality. He doesn't even notice the doe-eyed parishioners that attend his sermons.

Dogwoggle is a hapless hero who has a way of getting into trouble. He often brags about his abilities (which are questionable) and exhibits unflagging confidence no matter how often he fails. However, with his mindless persistence, he always manages to stumble out of trouble and come out on top.

Hedegraus was chosen as treasurer for a dwarven vault since she was above reproach. No one could bribe her because she was already filthy rich, and there was no threat of embezzlement because Hedegraus always follows every rule by the book.

🤣

Some say a mischievous creature lives inside Astral's turban, enhancing the old man's magical powers. Even Astral is unwilling to confirm or deny the rumor, but then some also say that this tricky elder probably started the rumor just to shake things up.

Silent, calm Rahjuu is known as the master of the hidden weapon. She is never unarmed, even if she is naked. Many have died when they let their guard down because they thought Rahjuu was harmless. The smart ones know she is never harmless.

Long ago, Norticus ruled a grand kingdom with his wife, Baenefa, but as they grew older his beloved begged him to do something. Using all the wealth of his kingdom, Norticus transformed them both into liches. They lost their thrones, and each other, as a result. Baenefa has been a lich for so long that she is unable to remember her life as a human, except that when she was alive she was married to Norticus. Now, she feels nothing for him and only desires a kingdom of her own.

Runagark is motivated entirely by his stomach. If he were a wealthy orc, he would be too fat to walk. As it is, he is forced to steal whatever gold he needs to buy his meals because he's not about to waste his time with a real job.

Yorpix became a sorcerer because no orc male would have such an independent female as a mate. Besides, she didn’t want one of those weaklings anyway. Few people can put up with Yorpix's abuse, and now that she has magic at her command many fear her unpredictable temper.

Enathrae's parents hoped their daughter would marry some day and become a proper lady, but she had other plans. She was drawn to the elven forests by stories from her childhood and fell in love with her adventurous life in the wilderness.

Melodia's emotions can be as flighty as a sprite's. In fact, she falls in and out of love so quickly that she has left dozens of heartbroken men behind pining for her attention. She doesn't mean to hurt them though. She would continue to love them if she could, but she just wasn't born that way.

Alamar is an important character in the lore, if that wasn't clear. He's supposed to be incredibly powerful. And Sandro is too.

Also, the biographies in Olden Era will be shortened to fit within the game's description, as has already been discussed.

Alamar is an important character in the lore, if anything. He's like, super cool. And Sandro too.

And Miv too But even from her bio, it's not clear that she was an empress; you have to guess which ruler they're talking about. This is one of the downsides of the fifth installment, as mentioned.

The fourth installment is similar to the fifth, it seems. Pompous, but with too few lore facts.

And yet, only the humans were so lucky to have some kind of global lore for the skirmish heroes. Miv and Dugal in the original game. Laslo in the first expansion pack.

Quaternary ones are similar to quintuple ones, it seems. Pompous, but there are not enough lore facts.

There are lore-based ones too, it's just that when I was picking examples, I got carried away with interesting and funny ones, and I didn't want to include every other bio 😅