Heroes of Might and Magic is the first in a series of famous turn-based strategy games. It is actually not the first one I played – that would be Heroes of Might and Magic 3, which will be reviewed later.
Category: Strategy
Heroes of Might and Magic II, Part One – Guest Review
The second game in the series. Unfortunately, it seems like the canonical victor of the four-way war in the first game was Boring McBoringson I mean Morglin Ironfist. It turns out that not only did he ravage the new land he found himself in for his own personal glory, he also left it with a succession crisis when he finally had the decency to die of boringness.
Heroes of Might and Magic II, Part Two – Guest Review
Last time I talked about the story, but of course that’s just window dressing. Let’s get to the actual meat of the game.
Heroes of Might & Magic III, Part One – Guest review
As I stated previously, Heroes of Might and Magic 3 was actually the first one I played – my sister played the older ones when I was younger, but I didn’t play them myself until I decided to do this review series. Unlike the previous games, I was actually able to play it (mostly) to completion, including both expansion packs. It probably colored some of my expectations for the series; when I revisited the others, I couldn’t help but compare them to what I saw in this game. So then, how does it actually hold up?
Heroes of Might & Magic III, Part Two – Guest review
Now, gameplay. Unlike Heroes 2, which was more of a tune-up and straight upgrade, Heroes 3 is a major overhaul that radically alters game balance, adds another two new factions, and adds a few new features for good measure. (more…)
Heroes of Might and Magic III, Part Three – Guest review
Now, for the prequel expansion pack. I actually ended up playing the Shadow of Death campaigns first, since I thought, “Oh, it’s a prequel, I should play the games in chronological order!” (more…)
Heroes of Might & Magic IV, Part 1 (Guest Review)
I have heard many mixed opinions on this game. It seems to be very much a “love it or hate it” affair. I said Heroes 3 was a major revamp of the system, but it has nothing on this. Virtually everything has been radically altered in this installment – it has a bit of a “see what sticks” feel to it. Like most people, it seems, I am personally rather divided. I like some of the new additions and changes, but others I feel were poor decisions. Some of the concepts introduced here were refined into a more palatable form in Heroes 5, but more on that later.
Like Heroes 3, it also has some rather complicated and confusing chronology, though at the very least it does not have an unholy sequel/interquel hybrid Might & Magic tie-in game like Heroes 3 did.
Let’s delve into this beast. (more…)
Heroes of Might & Magic IV, Part 2 (Guest Review)
So when we last left off, everybody died from their own stupidity, hooray! This leaves the game kind of directionless in terms of plot, however. The campaign selection style is reminiscent of Armageddon’s Blade – instead of all the campaigns revolving around a central narrative, they each tell individual, self-contained stories. There are six, each one revolving around one of the six factions. I figure I should talk about them first. (more…)
Heroes of Might & Magic IV, Part 3 (Guest Review)
Last time, I gave my thoughts on the new gameplay elements of Heroes 4. Now that you’re familiar with the factions, let’s discuss the campaign stories. (more…)
Heroes of Might & Magic IV, Part 4 (Guest Review)
You know I was going to talk about the expansion packs but I gave up. This is more of a rant at this point. The game is just terrible. (more…)
Games for Racial Justice and Equality (Part 2)
Continuing where we left off. A much weaker showing this time, with a lot of games I couldn’t even finish.
Fire Emblem (Series Overview)
Hey, it’s been a while. The reason for my absence is that I’ve been working my way through the Fire Emblem series, which is quite a timesink.
I’ve been interested in strategy RPGs for a while, but they’ve rarely clicked with me, usually due to an overreliance on RNG that rather defeats the purpose of the “strategy” part. I knew that Fire Emblem was both extremely random (even stat gains are up to chance) and extremely punishing of failure, so I avoided it for a long time. However, the hype over Three Houses (the sixteenth game in the series) convinced me to try it and I quite liked what I found, so I decided to give the whole franchise a shot.
Unfortunately, as with Shin Megami Tensei, I started with the best entry in the series and experienced only disappointment thereafter. I do think there are some notable things to discuss, however.
Fire Emblem (Archanea Saga)
Last time, I gave an overview of my thoughts on Fire Emblem‘s core gameplay mechanics. Now, I’ll begin giving my thoughts on individual entries in the series. This will be more focused on writing and aesthetics, though I will also discuss unique gameplay elements when they come up.
I began at the beginning, of course, though where applicable I played the remakes, because I don’t hate myself.
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
Shadows of Valentia is a 3DS title and a remake of the second game in the series, Fire Emblem Gaiden. It’s a true remake this time, not merely retelling the same story but adding tons of new content. It has a lot of good and a lot of bad.
Fire Emblem (GBA Games)
I’m skipping FE4 (Genealogy of the Holy War) & 5 (Thracia 776) because the fan translations are incomplete and dodgy, so I’m waiting for the inevitable remake for those.
After FE5, the original creator of Fire Emblem left the company to make his own games, which were Fire Emblem in all but name. I’m playing them currently and will report if I have any thoughts. In the meantime, I have thoughts on the GBA games, where the series tried to reinvent itself after the creator’s departure.