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"How can you connect the fifth installment with the previous games?"
In no way!
Are you talking about the fifth part as a full-fledged game? Because it's a spin-off from a spin-off, if anyone is still unaware. The inscription under the heroes, "of Might and Magic," probably doesn't mean anything to you as a fan of the fifth installment.
The events of the Chronicles, as well as the second and third games (+ all expansions), took place almost simultaneously with the events of the original, specifically from M&M VI to M&M VIII.
The original heroes and M&M have a unique storyline – in the hero campaigns, we are shown the story from one side, and in the original, the same story, but from a different angle. A prime example is in The Restoration, where the plot reveals that demons appeared not from the depths of dungeons but descended from the heavens. And in M&M, we are directly told that the Krigans came from space. And there are many such moments.
As for the connection, Enroth is destroyed in the fourth game – what connection can there be with the fifth and subsequent games? And yes, I know that Enroth is not the only one, but I still don't understand how you can connect the original with the empty fifth installment. After all, the original has a rather serious subtext; even when launching For Blood and Honor, the opening NWC cinematic has more meaning than all the subsequent games from third-party developers.
I'll say even more, those who didn't just hang out on random maps but thoughtfully played through the campaigns in both, they will simply laugh in your face about the connection with the fifth.
The fifth installment, not only is it not visually perceived as part of Might and Magic, but the plot is also very weak – it's simple and predictable. Plus, our wonderful localization added a huge minus – I didn't enjoy the game; I forced myself to play, listening to boring and meaningless dialogues and watching a plot written on the fly. Everything possible has been simplified in the fifth installment. Even the hexes were changed to squares; I remember laughing about it for a long time – all for a new generation and a spit in the face of old fans.
I feel a little sorry for the new fans – they don't know who Sheltem is, they haven't encountered the mysterious blue box, they haven't soared through the skies with blasters, incinerating everything in their path, they haven't seen the Armageddon from a first-person perspective, and they probably don't even realize that the original is based on science fiction, not some fantasy with dragons and ashas.