The basic structure of the game?

[Metamagician]

In all these discussions I never gleaned the very basic information on how the game will be set up which will be crucial to ascertain the level of enjoyment of it...

How will the campaign start, will you be able to choose your race and character and then conquer the world as you see fit with many quests in between or will the campaign consist of very linear path and linear exchange of heroes in this path like in HOMM5 which would be absolutely horrible?

Will you be able to choose the gender and class of your hero or will this be forced on you? that would also be horrible.

Pretty much any linearity or hero forcing(its gender/class) would ruin the game for me.

I can't believe I forgot about such basic stuff, if this is not done right I won't even bother buying it.

[Thunion]

Well partly will be linear,you wont be able to choce gender/look in the companing and i dont think its that horribble,its not open world rpg is strategy.
However game wont be so much Linear first of all you will be able to chose any companing you want and when you pass others you unluck final(s) companing(s) well if you played HoMM 3 companings you know what i mean.
Next it will highliy depend do you chose Tears or Blood path in the copmaning,the final mission will be diffrent depending on your choice.
However in Multiplayer games as far as i remeber you will be able to choice gender and appearance.

Pretty much any linearity or hero forcing(its gender/class) would ruin the game for me.

Why? I mean in rpgs i to dont like when i am forced to play direct Gender and especially class.However this is strategy and i plot of strategy games is much better revolving around characters developers made to this world.Becouse in RPG the one around who everything evolves is your Character and it should be customized.While in strategy it more depends on politics,and some epic story in which every charcter have his role.

[Rei-V]

I expect the campaign will be set characters in a set order, and I for one am looking forward to that. As Thunion said, this isnt an RPG... I think a set story for the campaign will make it more immersive.

[Cap292]

If you want to choose your own hero gender/look (at least to a certain extent) then play scenarios or multiplayer.

[dchalfont]

They already said the characters in the campaign would be fixed, QQ much?

It's a story, it had to be directed. What are they going to do, pay 50 different people to voice the campaign so you can choose your chacaters voice too?

Don't be ridiculous. Campaign= fixed, RMG etc = choice.

Since when have you ever been able to choose your character in a heroes campaign?

[Kartabon]

I don't understand why having to play with specific heroes would ruin the campaign experience xD It's been always like that and for me it's nice because it adds more background to the game.

[Metamagician]

This is seriously disappointing.

I hope at least that you can customize your forced hero then in terms of abilities and general class, if even that is forced than there is really no point to it.

[Thunion]

This is seriously disappointing.
How then you played HoMM before?,it must be that whole series for you were disappointing :O.And well i belive the base Hero stats and skills will be set,however from there you can customize it as far as you want.

[Dreamwright]

Campaigns won't be linear, but this isn't The Sims 3 for God's sake. http://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_razz.gif You get certain protagonists and follow their individual stories, as in every previous HoMM game.

That isn't to say you're stuck with one hero in each campaign, or that you can't be whoever and whatever you like in non-campaign modes.

[Metamagician]

Originally posted by Thunion:
How then you played HoMM before?

Actually I stopped playing HOMM5 in mid game because I simply couldn't stand anymore the horrible design decision of random skill selection upon leveling.
Just that single thing made the game unplayable for me.

Of course I didn't have to play any HOMM before, King's Bounty: The Legend, Armored Princess and Crossworld far surpassed HOMM series in every way imaginable.

[WaterPoloLaw]

Metamagician,

You need to check out the news thread under the hero reputaion system. HOMM VI is going to be VERY non-linear with respect to hero development. The are no longer random skills and/or spells. Every faction has two classes totally unique to that faction (one might hero class and one magic hero class). Each faction and each class have certain unique faction and class abilities.

Depending on the various in-game decisions you make for your hero, your hero gains reputation either along the path of dragon blood or the path of dragon tears. Once you earn a certain level of reputation for your hero, you can be promotedto an advanced hero class and learn a new hero class ability.

I can understand your frustration, if there was one element that always bugged me about Heroes games, it was the random skill selector and the random spells via the mage guilds. These are now both removed and have been replaced with a comprehensive hero customization system where you earn ability points as you gain levels and can choose to spend these points anyway you want.

No, you cannot choose the look, name, storyline of your hero (which is a good thing), but you can choose faction, class, gender, how you spend you ability points in a variety of might, magic, or hero abilities and which reputation path you will choose to become one of the advanced hero classes.

That said, I would not be concerned if I were you. Heroes VI is going to be awesome and is going to be completely customizable.

[Metamagician]

Originally posted by WaterPoloLaw:

These are now both removed and have been replaced with a comprehensive hero customization system where you earn ability points as you gain levels and can choose to spend these points anyway you want.

Thanks, just this part is a huge relief.

[GoranXII]

Originally posted by WaterPoloLaw:
I can understand your frustration, if there was one element that always bugged me about Heroes games, it was the random skill selector and the random spells via the mage guilds. These are now both removed and have been replaced with a comprehensive hero customization system where you earn ability points as you gain levels and can choose to spend these points anyway you want. Yes, complete customisation, very good, but since we have two different hero classes per faction, wouldn't that mean that those two classes get different skills? If that's so, I'm not real happy, I rather liked the way in H3 you could get a balanced hero with Sorcery, Air Magic, Armourer and Offence.

[WaterPoloLaw]

Yes, complete customisation, very good, but since we have two different hero classes per faction, wouldn't that mean that those two classes get different skills? If that's so, I'm not real happy, I rather liked the way in H3 you could get a balanced hero with Sorcery, Air Magic, Armourer and Offence.

To each his own, but I like the variety approach and, no, I did not like H3 nearly as much as H5. On that note, there are sure to be certain skills that most all classes will have available, such as basic offence, logistics, etc. While it sounds like certain skills and spells will be available to certain classes, I am sure there will be certain skills and spells available to all classes.

[Thunion]

Of course I didn't have to play any HOMM before, King's Bounty: The Legend, Armored Princess and Crossworld far surpassed HOMM series in every way imaginable.
Its 2 diffrent games.. And Kings Bounty Vs Homm isint point of this topic(I would be for HoMM http://forums.ubi.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif) i wont discuss it here.But Kings Bounty is very diffrent From HoMM.Kings bounty is alot more RPGish,and we have free world roaming there,while HoMM is based on diffrent maps,not on one player experience.Also Kings Bounty got only companing nothing more.

[Metamagician]

Originally posted by Thunion:
I mean in rpgs i to dont like when i am forced to play direct Gender and especially class.

King's Bounty spoiled me, for a good reason of course, it showed that RPG and strategy can co-exist in perfect harmony and complement each other, there is no going back after that.

It would simply be substandard. The only thing HOMMVI can do to make it better than King's Bounty is to increase the strategy part while retaining KB's vast RPG aspect.

[Thunion]

King's Bounty spoiled me, for a good reason of course, it showed that RPG and strategy can co-exist in perfect harmony and complement each other, there is no going back after that.
Well our opinions are pretty diffrent here.. Meybe it tryed to make RPG and strategy co-exist together...And even meybe just meybe they got perfect harmony...But for me both aspects werent on top of it,Tryng to make Perfect balance between strategy and RPG will turn game to ultimately new genre,and i dont like that genre.I like strategies,i just love RPGS however for me Kings bounty hadnt enought of either.Just a bit of strategy,a bit of RPG even a bit of adventure(Aspect when you can outmanuver enemies and pass by them without fighting) jack of all trades and master of none..I want Strategy game with some Rpg elements,however it should remain strategy game thats what i liked in H5 and thats why i really waiting for H6.
And one more time if you really want to discuss HoMM Vs Kings Bounty just come back to your original thread.