That's a good one.
It really depends upon what you are seeking in your gameplay.
HOMM (TOG) {The Original Game} has a drastically different gameplay to the later versions.
You only have a limited number of uses of a spell before you have to stop off at a castle which has a Mage Library which teaches it; one of your attributes determine how many times that is, but it's been ~25 years since I last played it so I don't remember just which one that is. All the later versions, once you add a spell to your spellbook, it's yours forever, it's just that you need enough spell points to cast it.
Also, you can't split stacks of the same type of troop; all of xx type troop are in one troop stack, period, full stop. That the AI does so with it's troops was itrritating...
There were only two instantaneous distance travel spells: 1) Dimension Door, which allows you to travel as far as you can see in one bound across the map, and Town Gate, which returns you to the closest town/castle under your control. If that town happens to be occcupied by another of your heroes, tough.
HOMM2 brought in the new treatment of spells. And that you could split troops of the same type into different stacks. And... the Town Portal spell, which allows you to travel to any unoccupied town/castle under your control, anywhere on the board, in one fell swoop.
The HOMM2 expansion pack brought in the lusted after and reviled Battle Garb of Andurin... an artifact created by combining the three Andurin artifacts which provides you with all the bonuses of those artifacts plus max morale plus Town Portal... in other words, if you find that and also have dimension door you can hop all over the board as fast as you please with as diverse an army as you desire. It really destroyed the balance of the game.
Both HOMM and HOMM2 have gates blocking off sections of the map which require passwords to pass; no, they really _do_ require the p[asswords, and the program does keep track of whether you have visited the shrine where you obtain said password, so you can't take any shortcuts in obtaining them. And you have to write them down and keep track of them and enter them just so when asked for them. You go through a ton of paperr over the years doing this. And need good handwriting... I don't want to think about how many times I looked at my written down password and realized i couldn't read my handwriting... and had to go visit the shrine again to get the password again and write it down _very_ carefully.
HOMM3 allows you to each spells between your heroes, provided one of them has the proper secondary skill... secondary skills were new with HOMM3. You don't have to remember passwords any longer, the system, which already kept track of if you had visited the proper shrine to learn it, now automatically presumes you've recorded itand entered it properly. The other change with teh gates is that they don't go away the first time someone goes through them, which they did previously; now, that another side was cleared and wenr through does you no good, you have to be approved yourself prior to passing through them. No more Battle Garb. various other changes as well, such as an underworld you can travel through, including under the ocean to anothe land mass... There are also places you can build boats away from cities in your control, and you can cast destroy boat as well as summon boat; since ther are a finite number of boats available that's of use, as well as to prevent another heroe from boarding the ship you just disembarked from. Another new thign was that Heroes can stay in a Castle as Captain of it's Guard and no longer coiunt as being there if another of your Heroes wants to stop off there; they might no longer count against you max number of Heroes, but it's been a long time since I played it so I may be in error. And... you have to equip artifacts, and they can only be equiped to a specific part of your body, only one item per body section, and non-equipped artifacts have no positive or negative effects.
I don't believe I ever played HOMM4. I know I've never played HOMM5. I play HOMM2 exclusively. HOMM3 does have alot of nice things going for it, it's just that I never got good at it.
Post edited April 23, 2019 by johnbobmead
