[HN Gopher] The year of peak might and magic
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The year of peak might and magic
Author : cybersoyuz
Score : 116 points
Date : 2025-07-18 17:21 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.filfre.net)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.filfre.net)
| artemonster wrote:
| Astrologers proclaim a week of HOMM3 appreciation posts.
| vunderba wrote:
| What I wouldn't give for a new Heroes of Might and Magic game
| with the pixel art style of HOMM2 and the gameplay mechanics of
| HOMM3...
| tdrgabi wrote:
| Not exactly what you asked for but
| https://store.steampowered.com/app/867210/Songs_of_Conquest/
| is somewhat close.
|
| I played the campaign and it scratched the itch
| selimthegrim wrote:
| The SsethTzeentach review is something else
| vanderZwan wrote:
| Aren't there mods out there for HOMM3 to make it look like
| HOMM2?
|
| edit: found one called "The Succession Wars"
|
| https://heroes3wog.net/the-succession-wars/
| northhnbesthn wrote:
| Forget AI. Get in here this is our thread.
| jaza wrote:
| Amen!
| GeekyBear wrote:
| I keep a Windows 2000 virtual machine with no network access
| around just to occasionally play HOMM 3.
|
| There aren't many games from that era that are as infinitely
| replayable. Command and Conquer: Yuri's Revenge and Starcraft
| come to mind.
| Mars008 wrote:
| > I keep a Windows 2000 virtual machine with no network access
| around just to occasionally play HOMM 3.
|
| according to wiki there should be an easier way:
|
| Platform(s) Windows, Macintosh, Linux (PowerPC/x86), iOS,
| Android
|
| Release March 3, 1999
| 0cf8612b2e1e wrote:
| I would be quite surprised if a modern Linux could run the
| original binary without gymnastics. Windows is the only OS
| which prioritizes backwards compatibility.
| GeekyBear wrote:
| The game isn't stable under modern versions of Windows.
| morsch wrote:
| You're probably right about the native version, but the
| Windows version works fine:
| https://www.protondb.com/app/297000?device=pc
| 0cf8612b2e1e wrote:
| Heh. Which is why the only stable Linux ABI is Win32.
| bigstrat2003 wrote:
| And even then not always. For example, Rome 2 Total War
| crashes in Proton, but works just fine on actual Windows.
| GeekyBear wrote:
| That report is for the fixed version of HOMM 3 from GOG,
| not the original version of the game.
| yownie wrote:
| there's a linux version off archive.org I managed to get
| running last year. this is a perfect problem for a flatpak
| to solve however.
| GeekyBear wrote:
| The Windows version is no longer compatible with modern
| Windows versions.
|
| The Mac version (I own both) was for PowerPC Macs.
|
| I've already paid for it a third time, as part of a HOMM box
| set for Windows.
|
| Good Old Games has produced a fixed version, so I could pay
| for it a fourth time, but running it in the VM still works.
| thaumasiotes wrote:
| > Good Old Games has produced a fixed version, so I could
| pay for it a fourth time
|
| It probably wouldn't cost more than $1, given that you're
| clearly willing to wait for a sale.
|
| Advertised price right now is $5 with "lowest price in the
| last 30 days" of $2.50. The bundle of all 8 expansion
| campaigns shows the same current and recent pricing.
| ktallett wrote:
| https://vcmi.eu/
|
| There is also a great remake with a new engine, that of
| course requires the original assets.
| IG_Semmelweiss wrote:
| Try playing the HD add-on with the HotA (horn of the abyss)
| espansion! There are 2 new factions now which are well
| balanced.
|
| And, they look beautiful.
|
| Its wonderful what a dedicated community can achieve. Kudos to
| all of them!
|
| TIP: if you get the game on GOG. It will run just fine in any
| modern Windows setup (even MAC OS i believe)
| ptero wrote:
| Another vote for the Horn of the Abyss! It is a community
| pack that keeps the HOMM3 gameplay spirit but adds a lot of
| minor UI enhancements fixing various pain points.
|
| And if you like insanely complex scenarios, check out HotA
| user maps on maps4heroes.
| dfex wrote:
| Yuri's Revenge never gets old - it's just the right balance of
| RTS with a bit more of an arcadey feel. Sadly I missed the
| original Starcraft train (finished Starcraft II), but one of
| these days I'm going to sit down and work my way through it.
| ktallett wrote:
| The story still holds up really well. Plus if you can't deal
| with the classic graphics there is StarCraft remastered.
| ferguess_k wrote:
| Back then I was crazy about the story of Starcraft and I
| thought that was the best of the RTS games. I used to dip
| into the level editor too but it was kinda limited, missing
| some of the scripts Blizzard used in the expansion.
|
| By pure coincidence, both Starcraft 2's writers and /me
| believed that Kerrigan should be brought back to her human
| form in Starcraft 2 :)
| ksec wrote:
| >There aren't many games from that era that are as infinitely
| replayable.
|
| I think A lot of games from that era were infinitely
| replayable. Diablo, Sim City. It really is the case we dont
| made them like that any more. The amount of small details that
| goes into it. Not just the games itself, but also the
| packaging, manual and things surrounding.
|
| It is somewhat strange that group of people grow up and start
| producing in the 90s still have the attention to detail mind
| set. This is mostly gone in modern Gen Z generation.
| jajko wrote:
| The market has evolved, thats true but you have whole indie
| scene which is close to those values. Ie for management
| strategies there is Factorio.
| asboans wrote:
| I keep seeing might and magic related content, despite never
| having played it, or even having heard of it until recently! But
| in the last few months I have been getting the odd YouTube
| recommendation, or see the occasional Reddit (and now HN) thread.
|
| Why?
| egypturnash wrote:
| Possibly it is the Baader-Meinhof Effect.
|
| Possibly this is a game you will love playing and should check
| it out. Whether by emulating an ancient DOS machine or by
| picking up one of the eleven games in the series available on
| Steam. (https://store.steampowered.com/sale/might-magic/)
|
| If it is the latter case then I am sure some enthusiastic fans
| of this series will reply to this comment or yours with
| detailed opinions on which option is the best :)
| shadowpho wrote:
| They've been increasing in popularity on twitch recently
| ferguess_k wrote:
| As a side (but arguably related) topic:
|
| Is there any webpage or book or any media that analyzes the
| technical aspects of a game? Take HOMM3 as an example -- what are
| the most difficult technical problems and how did the developers
| solve them? What are the algorithms that run aspects of the game
| (e.g. how is path-finding implemented? How is AI implemented?)?
| What is the architecture of the engine? Does it have a scripting
| engine and if so how is it implemented?
|
| I like post-mortems but mostly are given by designers, directors,
| not programmers -- and even by programmers they did not go very
| deep like "John Carmack" type deep. The "Black books" by Fabien
| came into mind but these are few and far between.
| nottorp wrote:
| I don't think anything in the Might and Magic series was ever a
| serious technological advancement on par with id software's
| early work.
|
| They're some of the greatest games ever made, but it's the
| design, not the code.
|
| Come to think of it, same thing goes for most games that make
| the greatest game lists.
| pennomi wrote:
| That being said there are a couple technological marvels out
| there (maybe just not on greatest game lists). Teardown, for
| instance, has an unfathomable number of voxels that make
| everything in the world simulated.
| ferguess_k wrote:
| I don't disagree, but usually there are some interesting
| technical problems, e.g. for Starcraft:
| https://www.codeofhonor.com/blog/tough-times-on-the-road-
| to-...
| hcs wrote:
| Warren Robinett wrote an interesting one on Atari VCS Adventure
| http://www.warrenrobinett.com/inventing_adventure/
|
| It doesn't go super deep, he had a more technical book in the
| works but I haven't heard any updates about it for a while:
| http://www.warrenrobinett.com/ecv/annotated_adventure_toc/in...
| ferguess_k wrote:
| Thanks! This looks really interesting from retro-programming
| perspective.
| ruricolist wrote:
| Tim Cain on YouTube has been posting some technical details of
| the original Fallout implementation.
| saithound wrote:
| You're probably looking for something more detailed and
| implementation-focused, but Ars Technica had a series of 10
| minute videos where they interviewed developers about technical
| challenges. E.g. they had one on pathfinding and CD video in
| second generation Westwood RTS games [1]
|
| [1] https://youtube.com/watch?v=S-VAL7Epn3o
| ethan_smith wrote:
| Check out "Game Programming Patterns" by Robert Nystrom and the
| GDC Vault for technical deep-dives. For HOMM specifically, the
| VCMI project (open-source HOMM3 engine) has source code that
| reveals implementation details like their A* pathfinding and
| combat AI systems.
| ferguess_k wrote:
| Thanks. I recalled a series of books called "Game Programming
| Gems", guess those are good too.
|
| BTW absolutely love VCMI although I never managed to run it
| without error :/
| rikthevik wrote:
| Love to see some Might and Magic articles.
|
| Earlier this year I found a boxed copy of Might and Magic IV:
| Clouds of Xeen on Marketplace. Everything is in the box and it's
| all pristine. It goes very nicely with my boxed copy of Might and
| Magic III that I bought (used!) to play on my first computer, my
| 386.
|
| I think I'm going to get these maps framed.
| incanus77 wrote:
| I played the shit out of HOMM3. I bought it, though, only after
| sneaking plays in between customers while working at Radio Shack.
| We had some ~300MHz Compaq machines that Radio Shack had recently
| partnered with to sell and on slow days, it was a good way to
| pass the time.
| wtf242 wrote:
| One of my favorite games of all time. It's so simple yet can be
| so complex. You can legit spend 8+ hours playing the first couple
| levels easily.
| dekhn wrote:
| I remember, as a kid, seeing the first ad for M&M in a computer
| journal I read. At the time I was happy playing Ultima and it
| looked like it was going to be a better ultima, and ordered it.
| Waiting for the floppy disk to arrive seemed like an eternity and
| at some point I literally dreamed I was playing the game. The
| game itself, I barely remember- it wasn't that great, kind of
| like ultima and wizardry but didn't really improve on either of
| them significantly.
| ModernMech wrote:
| "By the seventh go-round, this was no longer quite the shock it
| once was, but series tradition must be served."
|
| To be fair, MM7 was the first time for some of us, and it was
| quite a shock. What do you mean all the points I put into might
| and magic are now moot, as the only endgame weapons worth using
| are blasters?!
| TrackerFF wrote:
| Me and my friends had really been playing M&M 6&7 in 98/99, such
| fond memories. We had really high hopes for Ultima 9 - which came
| out in 99, as it looked so much more modern than the M&M
| games...nope, a total turd. Think I still have the box somewhere
| in the attic though, that was probably the most impressive thing
| about the game.
|
| M&M8 which came out the year after, was good enough though.
| That's around the time I stopped playing the M&M series.
| pavlov wrote:
| Ultima IX was so bad that I stopped playing computer games
| entirely. 3D worlds just never worked for me. All the story
| immersion and imagination that I'd loved in the games of my
| childhood seemed to be gone. (I never cared for Doom either,
| and then all games somehow became Doom.)
|
| The next time I bought a high-end 3D game was over 15 years
| later. That was Fallout 4. I played 30 minutes and then never
| returned to it. Uncanny valley graphics and boring first person
| action -- nothing like the original Fallouts 1 and 2 of my
| memories.
|
| I guess I'll have to try another AAA PC game in 2030 just to
| stick to the schedule.
| electroglyph wrote:
| when you try again in 2030, make sure to get Baldur's Gate 3
| autoexec wrote:
| One thing I loved about HOMM 3 was that even with just one
| computer you could take turns and get a game going with friends.
| Not many games offered that unless they were based on board games
| mrgordon wrote:
| Hotseat was more common back then I think with turn-based games
| inasio wrote:
| HOMM3 is a perfect game. I've gotten people hooked on it in the
| 2020's. I still have an original CD of the linux port, a lot of
| nostalgia there
| DarkNova6 wrote:
| Always happy to share MM nostalgia. The RPG titles had a big
| impact on me but they seemed too niche without people to share it
| with.
| wyldfire wrote:
| This title would be clearer if the case were reflected in the
| title. And significantly clearer still if the name of the game
| was shown with quotes. What's HN's beef with quotes in the title
| about? Is it so prone to misuse that we have to lose out on
| legitimate uses?
| ranprieur wrote:
| I agree with the author: Heroes II is my favorite of the series,
| just for the innocent vibe. Also, Heroes IV is underrated. It got
| bad reviews because it came out buggy, but the bugs were fixed in
| updates, and of all the HOMM games, it has the best soundtrack.
| hakunin wrote:
| 100% agree, esp. on the soundtrack. I thought I was going crazy
| when in Witcher 3's Skellige island it started playing the
| soundtrack from HOMM4. (See Track 14 here:
| https://youtu.be/F9sG0r_9f4M?t=4400).
| nurettin wrote:
| > the best soundtrack.
|
| Really hard to say, homm3 soundtrack was a true masterpiece.
| IG_Semmelweiss wrote:
| I don't know. HoMM2 has some incredible tracks too. And
| that's despite taking some risks with opera music.
| nurettin wrote:
| And I fully agree with that! I still listen to HOMM2,3,4
| for mood altering. Oh and AOE1,2 and SC1,2
| randomNumber7 wrote:
| Heroes IV has a bad design. Your hero can be attacked, so you
| are forced to pick the warrior class to not get oneshot. You
| can only have 2 classes and one slot is kinda fixed.
| aulisius wrote:
| I remember coming across HoMM around 2008, but the published game
| was nowhere available near where I lived, so I ended up playing a
| web based clone[0].
|
| Been playing it for around 17 years, and it is still quite fun.
|
| [0] https://www.lordswm.com/
| lr4444lr wrote:
| World of Xeen was an enchanting experience. The interlocking
| quests in an open exploration world with a party of characters
| you could custom select with different attribute strengths, the
| large spells and weapons compendium, and the music just all came
| together in a way that no other RPG before or since engrossed me.
| nine_k wrote:
| I don't even play the game. But I value very highly the artwork,
| the music, the sounds, the whole atmosphere. The endless autumn
| forests, the castles, the fairy dragons--they all rightfully
| belong to a museum of baroque art. A game can be a work of art in
| itself; HoMM III definitely is.
| yurimo wrote:
| I believe there is new one coming out closer to HOMM3, called
| Olden Era. https://unfrozen.studio/games/olden-era/
|
| I did try Songs of Conquest, it was decent
| pjmlp wrote:
| I played many of those games, lots of amusing hours around them.
| mrgordon wrote:
| My favorite game of all time. I still have the CD-ROM even though
| I don't have any CD-ROM drives :)
| ramses0 wrote:
| Just gotta throw some shine to "Battle for Wesnoth" -
| https://www.wesnoth.org/
|
| Not exactly the same, but a well-deserving open source cousin.
|
| Turn based, strategy, lightweight RPG (a-la X-Com with unit
| leveling, unit permadeath, campaigns, multiplayer, etc)
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