HOMM5 demo out

[econ21]

I finished the Haven campaign mission and share froggy's positive assessment.

I don't think it gave me much insight into the AI, as it all seemed pretty much scripted - the AI seemed pre-programed to assault your castle at given points. For this, I will forgive it making hopeless attacks towards the end, when it could not expect to win. (One of the strengths of the Homm3 strategic AI was how it took great pains to evade battle if it was outgunned - it would stay more than a turn away from a powerful army; hence the power of the "hero chain" that could get such an army into contact against the AIs anticipation).

I hope the maps - at least the scenarios - that come with the game are not so scripted. (Apparently the Devil campaign map with the demo is even more restrictive - you are pursued by two powerul armies and must evade battle.) I much prefer open-ended maps where you can play the way you want, rather than "puzzle-style" maps where you have to do exactly what the game designers intended you to.

But the exploring, levelling up and combat was great fun, as always. Although when you zoom into battle mode, however, it did remind me awfully of that video mocking Japanese RPGs.

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=63269

[Meneldil]

Boring scripted maps aren't news, I remember some HOMM3 scenarios in which you had to find a given hero/item while the AI launched hopeless attacks on your main castle, or to find something before the AI army reach a castle, and so on...

It seems pretty normal for a demo to let you play only such maps. The game isn't finished, and it looks like it was quite rushed in the later stages (they've redone many units, probably because they looked like exact copy of Warhammer table top game figures, and feared legal issue with Game Workshop). They don't want to reveal everything (skills, units, castles), which is quite understandable.

[econ21]

...they've redone many units, probably because they looked like exact copy of Warhammer table top game figures, and feared legal issue with Game Workshop)...

Even so, the similarities are striking. The shields of the knight heroes seem clones of the Chaos warrior shields in Warhammer, while the "inquisitors" also seem rip-offs of those in 40K and Dawn of War. The entire Chaos town line-up seems stolen from the Warhammer Dark Elf army. It's all pretty shameless and if I were a GW boss, I'd be livid. As someone who rather likes GW fluff, though, I'm quite happy.