Fynn Plays Heroes of Might and Magic III Complete (HD+ Mod)!

[Fynn]

Ah, Heroes III. That names brings back so many fond memories of my childhood. Believe it or not, this game was insanely popular in Poland back in the day, and with good reason! It blends strategy game and RPG elements in a way that is compeling, deep and complex. And yet, I'm kinda too dumb for strategy games, so I never completed the campaigns...

That changes now, however.

You see, my wife has discovered this game only recently and she has already beaten all the base game campaigns. Not only has her playing the game rekindle my interest in it, I caNNOT LOSE TO YOU ANIA!!!!

So anyway, what even is Heroes III?

Developed by 3DO, Heroes of Might and Magic III is a strategy game with RPG elements that is part of the quite popular Might and Magic series. I have never played other Might and Magic games aside from the Heroes series. I'm pretty sure they're RPGs.

Anyhoo, the plot - it goeth thusly. The world of Might and Magic is actually on a distant planet, and the medieval setting is because it takes place years after humans have come here and had to battle some other races. So in a way it's a fantasy setting but with a sci-fi twist, with devils and stuff like that being actually alien invaders. How cool is that?

In Heroes I you take control of one of four factions - the Knight, the Barbarian, the Sorceress or the Sorcerer. The canon option is actually the Knight - Lord Morglin Ironfist.

This guy.

I'm saying he's the canon option because his victory leads into Heroes II. So, if I remember correctly, Ironfist is actually from Earth. He gets transported to the medieval-ish world of Enroth and takes part in a war between the factions to dominate the country. Canonically, he is victorious, and despite his name, rules the country as a pretty swell king.

Heroes II takes place right after the king kicks the bucket. Actually, the full title of the game is "Heroes of Might and Magic II: Succession Wars." Yeah, I think you know where this is going. Ironfist had two sons - Roland and Archibald. The game itself calls Roland "the good one" and Archibald "the less good one".

Oh boy, oh boy! I wonder which one is which! Who could it be!

So in Heroes II you get two storylines to chose from and Roland (surprise, surprise) is the canon route. So he defeats his brother (I think he banishes him) and becomes the new king of Enroth.

Sadly, I never beat Heroes I and II. They were certainly fun games, but not only were they impossible to play on modern computers (they just keep crashing for some reason), they have such ridiculous difficulty spikes that I just quit. Heroes III is where the series got much more balanced and grew its proverbial beard.

So now we move on to Heroes III!



Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia is the full title. What is Erathia, you ask? It's another country on this world. The central character in this game is actually Catherine Ironfist - Roland's wife, who is the daughter of the king of Erathia, Lord Nicolas Gryphonheart. The game begins with her coming back to her home country to visit her father. She has a bad feeling.

Behold the glory of late 90s CGI.

She's got noodles for hair, I swear to God.


Catherine: I beg your pardon?

Oh, uh, sorry.


Catherine: Hmph.

So, before we start the first campaign, a bit of an explanation is due, I think. Remember how I told you the original game had four factions? II had two, but each of them had three types of castles. In Heroes III there are eight (nine if you count the Armageddon's Blade expansion), and we will play all of them! They are as follows:

Castle. The might (physical battler) heroes are knights, while the magic heroes are clerics. It lets you recruit various human military units and angels. It's pretty well rounded with pretty good units all around, with Archangels being one of the most popular units in the game.

Inferno. Here we have some demonic units. It's actually probably the lamest castle, with very few useful units and no gimmicks to speak of.

Tower. This faction is focused on magic. You can build your mage guild really high and all the units are pretty strong. Golems are resistant to magic for example, and mages employ some long-range attacks. Speaking of mages, here's another glorious screenshot from the opening scene:

Rampart. This one is my personal favorite. Here you can recruit elves, unicorns - nature-y units. Elves are really great archers, and then there's gimmicky units like ents that move super slow but hit like a truck. You also get access to Gold Dragons, which are pretty dang strong!

Dungeon. This faction has strong magic and really powerful units, but there's a downside - they're all really expensive. It also has Black Dragons which is super neat.

Necropolis. If you like the Undead - this castle is for you. The units are mostly pretty cheap and may seem unremarkable, but their strength really lies in numbers. Not only does this castle produce the units most efficiently, all heroes from this castle know the Necromancy skill, allowing them to resurrect fallen enemies as skeletons for their own armies. One mission even has you collect 2500 skeletons.

Stronghold. There's very little magic here, but you get a wide array of physical fighters. There is no magi hero from this town - only the might Barbarian. There's orcs and goblins and cyclopses. Pretty fun town, IMO.

Fortress. This one is gimmicky. The individual creatures may not be too strong but they all have special skills. It's difficult to master, so to speak.



Conflux. They added this one in the expansion. It's kinda weird. The elementals, which have so far been powerful neutral-aligned enemies, are now basic units here. So there's that

Phew! So that's it for an introduction. It's late over here, but I promise you, I have tons of content already screencapped for the game, so I'll come back to you tomorrow morning to show you how me and my main hero Christian explore the first map of the first campaign


Christian: I can hardly wait!

[Pumpkin]

OH I AM EXCITE

[Leigh]

Good luck and have fun with the game.

But seriously; these games are a Video Game Doctor's prescription for tackling lifelong chronic insomnia. You're a stronger man than I am! Albeit, that's not very hard to achieve. Haha!

[Laddy]

One of my favorites! Excitebikes.

[Pike]

Oh this is gonna be good! Looking forward to more updates!!

[Fynn]

Oh wow! More spectators! Cool

Laddy - aren't you familiar with more of the Might and Magic games? I'd love to hear more about this world and characters if anything comes to mind along the way

[Fynn]

So now it's time to begin the game proper. As I mentioned before, I suck at strategy. I guess I'm just not smart enough. But I will do my best and my wife promised to help me a bit, so I hope this time I can beat it. I will document all my successes and failures. It's gonna be okay. I have you guys, my wife, and Christian.


Christian: We shall bring justice to the land!

As I've mentioned before, Catherine comes back to Erathia because she has a bad feeling. She finds her father's forces slaughtered.

"And I put on my finest metal leotard..."

So our task is to firgure out what the heck is actually going on and fix it... for now at least. We'll take different sides in the upcoming campaigns

I'll go with the campaign that looks the least Obviously Evil^TM for now.

Each campaign consists of about 3~4 missions and our heroes will mostly be carried over to the next missions in a single campaigns. We're gonna start each campaign from scratch, though. As you'll see in the screenshot below, 4 of my heroes will progress to the next mission and they can all reach level 6 on this map.

So Lord Gryphonheart is dead and we must claim it back because all the other greedy factions have their sights set on it. Our first order of business is to locate and claim the town of Terraneus. Now here's the first inclination you get that I suck at strategy - you get to choose a starting bonus at the beginning of each mission. For this one, you either get 14 additional Pikemen, 5 units of four types of resources and a medic tent. And I have no clue which to pick. But I follow my wife's advice: "You'll want to move as fast as you can. Get the Pikemen." So I pick the Pikemen. We'll see how that helps.

We then get treated to an FMV introduction but I couldn't screencap it, so I'll just let Queen Catherine tell you what she told me.


Catherine: Our initial landing has captured a devastated outpost. Information is scarce and neighboring citizens have fled their villages. Remaining survivors tell conflicting stories. Evidence points to a Nighon invasion. Train local militias quickly. Destroy all hostile forces; assume the worst; Assume we are at war.


Catherine: ... Also, assume I'm out of biscuits. Claim all that you can find.

And so we begin! In this campaign, we're playing with Castle units and heroes, Sir Christian is a knight with a couple of low-level units. He's designated as in charge of this mission, so he gets a message from the Queen.

Christian: That's... uh, quite a lot of forces. But the Queen has faith in me! And I do not intend to fail her! Even if the odds are... not in my favor, to say the least... Oh dear.

Let's take a look at Christian's character sheet then!

He looks pretty solid. The fun thing about the heroes themselves is that there's plenty of opportunity to develop them however you want. Not only do you choose which skills to learn and advance once they level up, there's places on the map where you can increase specific stat-


Christian: Well now! That descriptions hardly seems fair!

What do you mean? You sound like a pretty swell dude from that description!


Christian: Oh really? "Always more of a frontiersman than a Knight"? This is mockery, I tell you!

Calm down. That's called an endearing character trait. Look, later on they say you're good on the battlefield, but also a dreamer. That sounds cool.


Christian: Hmm... That I am. Alright then, carry on.

We're starting in the Southeast corner of the map with a sea nearby. Christian begins surrounded by four units, but they are all actually friendly and want to join him. Lucky us, because Christian still kinda sucks... Oh, don't look at me like that. You do.


Christian: *sigh*

We also have four boats, so we're gonna send one of our heroes there as well. It might have been strategically wiser to wait a bit before recruiting all four of my heroes, but I am dumb and I want to uncover this map ASAP, so I recruit all four right away And I'm also building Town Halls and stuff like that since I want the money before I start building dwellings. That and I give Christian all the units that were put in the castle from the beginning.


Christian: Sweet!

Now I know he isn't a cleric, but it's always better to have a spell book on hand than not have one, so there. Christian can now cast 1st level spells from our local mage guild.

So once we get Christian out of the castle, I hire a new guy. This one's a Cleric, and a pretty dubious-looking one, at that.

Cuthbert: I am not dubious. I serve the Queen without question. I would never imagine doing anything evil. Just because I know dark magic doesn't mean I'm actually plotting world domination as we speak.


Christian: I like this man already! Such honesty! Welcome to our merry troupe, Brother Cuthbert!


Cuthbert: The pleasure is mine, Sir Christian. I will follow your lead. As long as I can test my newest curse on the leftovers from our battles.


Christian: What?


Cuthbert: What?


Christian: ...


Cuthbert: God save the Queen!


Christian: YES! GOD SAVE THE QUEEN! GOD SAVE THE Q-

So anyway, since Christian has the stronger army, he's going to act as our ram - he's gonna be clearing the area of any monsters and fending off any enemy heroes. Cuthbert, on the other hand, will now focus on exploring and flagging any unguarded dwellings and mines.

Cuthbert's the one in the hood. If you look closely, that sprite is definitely female. That's because Heroes III kinda simplifies a lot of things, so all Might heroes, like Knights, have male sprites, while all Magic heroes, like Clerics, have female ones.


Cuthbert: Not the first time someone's taken me for a lady. Though that story's best forgotten...

Cuthbert opens a treasure chest! In this game, with most treasure chests you get to chose whether to keep the gold or give it to the peasants which nets you experience. Since I only get to reach level 6 anyway and I always need the money, for now I'm gonna go with money for every treasure chest.

Alright, so Cuthbert and Christian have run out of move for this turn, so I hire another hero so I can explore a bit more this turn and cover more ground in general. Give it up for Adela!

Christian: Ah! A fair maiden in our midst! It is good to have you on our side, Sister Adela!


Adela:Flattery shall get you nowhere, Sir Christian. I should expect you put that mouth to better use than try and charm nuns. Rallying some proper troops would be a good start. That "army" of yours looks like it could hardly pull a wagon.


Cuthbert: AHAHAHAHA!


Christian: I- uh, I know that! Jeez!


Adela:Let us move on then, shall we? You're the commander, aren't you? What are you waiting for?


Christian: Okay, fine!

I swear to God, she looks like Emily Deschanel.

Alright, no time to waste. I hired the fourth hero so that I can send them sailing. Normally, if I wanted to try super hard, I would pick a hero with Navigation as their specialty. But since this is an easy map, I go by favorites. So I hire another Knight, just to balance things out a bit.

Christian: Well met, Dame Sorsha!


Sorsha: Sir Christian. My Queen has commanded that I join your ranks.


Christian: Well, yes, I suppose so.


Sorsha: Then you have my sword. I will do anything the Queen wishes. Even should it bring me death.


Christian: Well now, let's not get rash. That's hardly necessary, I think.


Cuthbert: This is war, Sir Christian.


Christian: B-but of course! Do you have me for a fool?


Sorsha: Am I to take that you'd not risk your life to liberate my Queen's homeland?


Adela:Careful now.


Christian: Gladly. My life is in the Queen's hands.


Sorsha: That is good to hear.


Cuthbert: I think she bought it.


Christian: Shush.

So anyway, a couple of things are going on. Adela reaches a location that uncovers a larger part of the map.

And Christian encounters some monsters.

Christian: But of course they'd fear my might! I cannot let such foul creatures escape, however!

Christian: Effortless!

But lo, short-lived are the victory fanfares, as the next day, dire news arrives.

Christian: That is dire news.


Cuthbert: Dire indeed.


Adela:I guess there's one thing to do.


Sorsha: We liberate them! For the Queen!


Christian: Yes. For the Queen.

And that's it for the first proper entry. I won't go quite so into detail next time - I wanted to ease in the people who haven't played the game into it first. Expect the next entry soon, but not very soon, since I'll probably beat the mission first and then give a more general presentation of the highlights.

Also, if anyone is interested in playing this game, I'd advise against buying the official HD remaster, since it's pretty sloppy and doesn't contain the expansions, which are awesome. What you can do, though, is buy the complete version on Good Old Games and then use the fan-made HD patch that makes the game run really well on modern computers. Plus, the complete edition costs half the price of the HD remaster. So it's a no-brainer, really.

[Laddy]

Christian does not seem like a bright one, unfortunately.

I've always been interested in Eefol but, unlike Nighon, you never actually visit it in the main Might & Magic series. You have to go through a really complicated tunnel system to reach Nighon. I've always not been very good with the Castle faction, preferring the Rampart or Tower factions.

The music in this game is excellent, too.

[Fynn]

Christian does not seem like a bright one, unfortunately.

What he lacks in wits, he makes up for in his optimism. Bless his heart.

I've always been interested in Eefol but, unlike Nighon, you never actually visit it in the main Might & Magic series. You have to go through a really complicated tunnel system to reach Nighon. I've always not been very good with the Castle faction, preferring the Rampart or Tower factions.

Rampart is love But I always thought Castle was pretty well-balanced and really hard to mess up.

The music in this game is excellent, too.

Oh Lord, how could I forget!



Though I think I prefer the Heroes IV soundtrack by a margin.

[Pumpkin]

Deems exciting! I like the talking character bits

[Fynn]

When we last left out heroes, the town of Mirham was taken over by the Nighon and Eeofol.


Christian: Now, my dear companions, there is no need to panic. We shall regain control of our settlements and claim the enemy base in Terraneus!


Adela: You make it all sound so effortless. How foolish.


Christian: There is nothing foolish in hope! We must simply-

Christian: Fiddlesticks!


Adela: Enough of this nonsense. Time to move.

Adela has the diplomacy skill, which is pretty snazzy in the game overall, if a bit useless at the beginning. Nevertheless, if you have too much money and too small an army, it's always a good idea to let them buy themselves a place in your ranks.

Cuthbert, meanwhile, heads West and gathers up some treasure chests. In this game, unless they contain artifacts, treasure chests give you a choice between taking the gold and giving it to some poor people which will net you experience.

Of course, picking gold has everything to do with us needing money more than experience at this point, and nothing with the fact that Cuthbert is shady as smurf.


Cuthbert: You and I both know they'd do something useless with it anyway. Like buy bread or something. I mean, why would you spend gold on such a commodity as bread? Ridiculous!

While Christian is busy winning many more glorious fights, Sorsha begins her exploration of the open seas.

Spoilers: there's really nothing there. Just some gold and wood. Kinda wish I hadn't sent her there, but oh well.

Christian: Damnation! How does this keep happening!


Adela: This wouldn't be a problem if you did your job right.


Christian: What the hell is your problem!

So, anyway, to cut a long story short, our valiant heroes explore the region to the best of their ability, gathering resources, artifacts, and slaying monsters on their way. Then, Adela and Christian reach a snowy plain...

And there it is! The city of Mirham!


Adela: Here's how it's done.


Christian: No, wait! You have no army to speak of!


Adela: I have enough!

Christian: Well, color me impressed!


Adela: About time someone did something about this mess.


Christian: Looks like we might have another mess on our hands. Look who's out to pay us a visit.

Adela: I cannot believe my eyes... Is that Lord Haart?


Christian: Lord Haart? That's impossible! He's a hero of Enroth! He helped us defeat Archibald! He couldn't possibly join the enemy against us!


Adela: And yet he's coming right at us with Nighon forces. We are done for. My army is severely weakened. He'll take Mirham back...


Christian: Wait. I think I have a plan.


Adela: We're doomed.


Christian: Wait! Hear me out, at least!

In the meantime, Sorsha returns from her sea voyage and recruits all the units she can from our starting castle.

Sorsha: This should do.


Cuthbert: Ah! Sorsha. Well met.


Sorsha: Cuthbert. Good to see you well. What brings you here?


Cuthbert: I've just gathered some treasure and I'm in need of more troops. I could also use some rest and guard the castle a bit. And perform some tests as well...


Sorsha: That is most gracious of you, Cuthbert. The best of luck to ye!

Christian: Alright. If you go through the mountains now, you should be safe. I should be able to fend him off without much trouble.


Adela: I hate to say this, but this might just work. My prayers are with you, Sir Christian.

Adela: You've done it! You've saved Mirham!


Christian: I did, though with no small effort. Lord Haart put up a good fight. I am glad you are safe, Sister Adela.


Adela: Likewise. I feel that I may have misjudged you.


Christian: Oh? Was that a compliment? My my, could it be that you are ready to admit that you are in fact quite smitten with me?


Adela: I have indeed misjudged you. You're a much bigger fool than I could have expected.

Tune in next time for the thrilling conclusion of the Homecoming mission! Will the occupied towns be reclaimed? Is Terraneus far off? Who will murder Christian in his sleep first - the Nighon forces, or Adela? Find out next time on Fynn Playes Heroes III!

[Pumpkin]

Good update!