Auto-translated
Well...
To avoid unnecessary questions, let's assume that I was playing at a friend's place, who paid for participation in the beta test.
What can I say... I didn't like it.
It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but still - I didn't like it!
Without further ado, I'll start with what's immediately obvious: the graphics.
The graphics are a solid four out of five, but the impression from the fifth game at the time was much better than it is now with the sixth. That is, the fifth part, at the time, looked much better than the sixth looks now. By the way, the design is very similar to Kings Bounty: The Legend. However, I don't even know which looks better.
By the way, as I got acquainted with the beta, I constantly had the feeling that the game lacks atmosphere. I don't know how to express it in words, but there was no feeling of immersion in the game. There was nothing to catch the eye. The design of many objects seemed strange and unfamiliar to me. On top of that, everything seems a bit small.
I played, by the way, on a map in multiplayer.
As for the game's design, I didn't like the game windows and various menus. Again, everything seems cold and uninteresting.
For example, remember the same spellbook in the 3rd or 5th parts. There, it was designed as a book. For the Orcs in "Lords of the Realm," it was in the form of a scroll, with clickable talismans hanging on the sides, through which you could switch between different spells. There is nothing like that in the sixth part.
I won't even talk about the castle window. Even compared to the third part, it's a mess and a shoddy job. I'm not even comparing it to the fifth part. By the way, I suddenly had serious concerns that this window might remain as it is, although I hope that this is just a version for the beta.
I would also like to say something about the various icons.
The icons for spells and abilities don't cause any particular complaints, but the portraits of heroes (especially) and some units are very disappointing.
The hero portraits are made without the slightest hint of creativity or diversity. All the heroes are the same. Looking at the portraits, you don't see any individuality; there is no hero that you would immediately like, based on the icon. There is nothing for the eye to catch.
Again, comparing with previous parts, the fifth part wins significantly in this regard. There, the portraits, in my opinion, were drawn much better. The heroes felt like they had some individuality and character. Although, compared to the third part, the sixth part is more or less on the same level in this regard.
The units are made and drawn to a solid five out of five. There are no complaints in this regard. Attention to detail is evident.
The drawing and design of the arenas have hardly changed compared to the fifth part. By the way, you can no longer rotate the camera in the arena - it is static. The drawing of the arenas is good.
The drawing of the general map, as it seemed to me, is done worse. Once again, everything seems a bit small and blurry. There are few different decorative objects, and if they are there, they don't really catch the eye.
People who liked to add decorations in the fifth part's editor - forget about the logs by the side of the road, under which you could plant mushrooms and ferns; there is clearly not such a level of detail in this regard.
Perhaps that's why the atmosphere is not fully felt.
In general, if I summarize everything that concerns the visual appearance of the game, I can say that the developers did not guess the style. It seems that everything was somehow simplified, as a result of which the atmosphere of the game suffered significantly.
As for the game itself.
What can I say...
I played literally a few times, and it's obviously too early to judge the combat mechanics and gameplay.
The first thing that caught my eye was the large number of various skills and abilities that heroes have, which are immediately visible. There is no more random lottery. I don't know how many skills and perks there are in this part, more than in the previous ones, or it just seems that way because they are all visible at once, but I think there are more.
All units also have 2-3 perks. Active and passive. In this regard, the game has not undergone any simplifications, but rather seems to have gone in the opposite direction, which I welcome.
There seem to be fewer buildings in the castle now.
For Heaven, which you can play in multiplayer, I didn't find a forge, a tower of mages, a stable, training halls, an additional building to increase the growth of peasants, or anything like that. There was also no shipyard, although the city was not located near water.
Instead, I saw one of the new, unique buildings (of which there were supposed to be 4 for each faction), available for construction. It was called something like "Temple of Choirs" or something like that. In the original, it seems to be "Tower of Chorus" or "Chapel of Chorus." I don't know what it gives; I didn't have enough resources for it.
It seems that there was a second unique building in the list, but I didn't pay attention to it, and I can't say what it was called.
By the way, about resources. As a result of the abolition of three of them at once, stone and wood have become much more important resources than before, respectively. Their shortage was strongly felt. Moreover, now the amount of free resources on the map has been greatly reduced. In a pile of stone or wood, there are often only +1, +2 units. The times when you could find +7 units in a pile of stones seem to be gone.
From my observations, I also really didn't like the fact that now almost all units cross more than half of the arena in one turn. That is, in two turns, most units can easily get from one end of the arena to the other. Everyone has a greatly increased movement range, with the exception of various casters, such as the Sisters of Heaven.
It seems that they completely abandoned the initiative scale, which, in my opinion, is a pity, but we'll see. Now the battles are strictly divided into turns, about which we are informed by a message on the screen, for example, Turn 1, Turn 2.
I somehow couldn't hit anyone with a hero. Only units participated in the battle. I think that I didn't understand something in this regard. However, I was able to cast the racial ability of Heaven, which is called "Guardian Angel." As I understand it, this is a buff that is applied to a friendly unit and protects it from enemy attacks for one turn. The ability gradually accumulates/recharges, as evidenced by the accumulation scale around its icon.
That's all. These are my first impressions of the game.
Their value lies in the fact that these are precisely the first impressions, a quick opinion, so to speak.
Of course, you need to wait for the full version of the game, preferably in Russian, in order to be able to easily understand all the nuances, because it is very unusual to play.
By the way, I forgot to say that the hero can now run around without an army at all.
Added 3 minutes ago
Yes, I forgot to say that the game will probably be good, but it will definitely not be the best in the series, and it is unlikely that it will bring something really new and interesting to the genre and the series. I am sure that this is a passable part. Compared to how the fifth part developed the idea of the third, the sixth is far behind.
That's why I didn't like it.
