In my experience VCMI already feels like a proper Heroes 3 game, even if it doesn't fully support HotA mods, etc. It's certainly the easiest way to play Heroes 3 casually e.g. on an M1 Mac, and it has no wine-related crashes, and doesn't require a virtual machine with Windows's x86 emulation workarounds (like having to limit the game to a single CPU as otherwise units wouldn't do any damage in combat :))
I love homm2 and have been playing fheroes2 for a bit now. homm2 is truly a masterpiece. To me it's the peak of the heroes series. The art and music are both great and still hold up to this day. The game play is basically perfect for what it is - subsequent games in the series, to me, just are adding more and more piece types to a chess board.
Very cool project. An interesting note is that this makes HoMM III available to play on Android. That being said the game has had such a community revival surrounding the excellent Horn of the Abyss (HotA) mod that I can't really see myself playing VCMI (outside of Android) unless they fully worked together. Nevertheless, I am always stoked to see these community projects because they illustrate the pure passion people have for these games.
Very cool! I have one non-technical friend who occasionally wants to play HOMM, and she often has issues getting it working (specifically non-hd, non-hota on intel mac). This could be a remedy.
Did HoMM series ever get popular outside Eastern Europe? I am yet to meet a person born and raised in the US who have heard about it, but maybe i am just unlucky or targeting a wrong demographic.
I played Might and Magic as a child but I never knew about this series nor have I ever played it. I also don't know anyone who has either now that you mention it.
In the Wake of Gods mod (aka HoMM 3.5) had ERM scripting and it was hella exciting for a kid! You could make your own artifacts, automate things on a map, make a dynamic story that reacts to your actions.
They're still not too bright, which is kind of faithful to the original game. However at least the android client allows you to pick alternate algos and further AI mods that at least claim to make it more challenging are available for download.
I wish it worked with HotA but it is nice to play natively; though even run through emulators HIII is fast enough.
0 - https://ihhub.github.io/fheroes2
While I played and wholeheartedly commend the developers' effort in making VCMI I still prefer the original + HD/HOTA.
CGW issue 144 1996/07 small piss poor banner
CGW 146 1996/09 full page but confusing with only two tiny bad game screens and wall of text
CGW 147 1996/10 - month of release - same wall of text and one slightly better tiny screen
CGW 148 1996/11 half page ad but finally full of good screens and actual description what the game is all about
CGW 151 1997/02 they finally got a hang of this, detailed description of what to expect from teh game
CGW 152 1997/03 CGW 153 1997/04 CGW 156 1997/07 reverting to 148 style
CGW reviewed in very late in 1997/02 giving it 100%.
I cant find any ads in period correct PC Gamer. They reviewed it great, but annual PC Gamer Top 100 1996 didnt even mention it, and 1997 put it far back at 25 https://www.pixsoriginadventures.co.uk/pc-gamer-top-100-1997...
If the original game had these features, it would likely have gotten me into programming at an even earlier age!