This is why HEROES OF MIGHT AND MAGIC III is an Absolute Classic

Jeremy explains the history of Heroes of Might and Magic III and why you should play it today.
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Edited by Jeremy Jayne
0:00 - The History of Might and Magic
12:30 - Playing the Game
41:20 - Finishing Thoughts

[@abok6]

Don’t worry Jeremy, HoMM3 is not going to be forgotten. People from central and eastern Europe treasure this game like Koreans cherish StarCraft

[@silafuyang8675]

I never stopped playing it since 1999.

[@boyinpyjamas]

As a lithuanian couldnt say it any better lol

[@erensio]

As a polish guy i can fully confirm. This game is like wódka. Never gets boring.

[@sigmaballs2004]

As russian, I can say no matter how many new games there are, you always come back to HoMM3💀

[@plateo_3234]

Everybody talk about eastern Europe. I live in a western european country, and HoMM is VERY famous here too. Usually, when people talk about strategy games from the 90s , they speak about HoMM or Age of Empires. I find it very strange to say that HoMM is a "niche" game. It's one of the most well knowed PC games of the era here.

[@iscandervakhitov]

It's so weird to hear that HOMM3 is a game that not a lot of people know about. In the post Soviet countries virtually anyone has played it at least once or at the very least heard about it. ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯ It's a great classic, which should be remembered and interpreted in a new and interesting ways.

[@danielt.9611]

People still play it, and Poland has dedicated orchestra for replaying town songs, etc.

[@plushysheep]

And Songs of Conquest is a worthy reinterpretation in the making

[@lamichka]

EVERYBODY knows Heroes

[@Medytacjusz]

they're stretching the meaning of a word "niche" here. Niche in US maybe? that doesn't mean there's anything inherent to the genre that made it niche in US. It has a lot to do with the fact that in US consoles always dominated, and HoMM is pretty much a PC thing (early Might and Magic entries had some great SNES ports, but I think it was also more of a PC thing?) Plus I think in post-eastern-bloc countries we were less focused on getting ThE BEsT grAphiCS because most of us couldn't afford the PCs for that, nor consoles for that matter, so games with lower spec requirements ruled.

[@art-hx6hq]

Playing hot seat was such a blast, felt like a board game but with addictive gameplay and epic graphics. We sat and played as kids whole day going out only to buy something to eat during summer, epic memories.

[@AdriaanPretorius]

My father only played one game on a PC, he never learned how to use PCs that much, but he understood this one game. He got it when it came out, and played it until he passed away in 2021 at the age of 76! I have the fondest of memories of us sitting trying to figure out the best strategies to win the maps! It was part of my growing up.

[@RedLohebN]

My respects for your father. Yours sure has been a nice childhood

[@wavesofbabies]

I see HOMM 3, i click.

[@grodoboldo]

INSTANTLY

[@Hardcore_Remixer]

Same

[@joakimolsson6413]

F

[@brandonhayes5460]

HOMM 1-3 AND Might and Magic 1-5

[@tunder975]

Same❤😂😂😂

[@gehinkun]

Lead animator for Songs of Conquest here, got this in my feed just as I am working on the game, thanks for the mention :)

[@cladcladcladpoe]

SoC has some of the best art I've seen, you guys are so talented

[@emdeo]

not upgrading your town hall first and going super broke lmao, so so happy to see Heroes 3 on this channel! Absolutely adore this game.

[@Tyrgalon]

Yeah really confused how building at least the basic economy buildings isnt your 1-2 action lol

[@madtechnocrat9234]

@@Tyrgalon Building capitol first in heroes 3 is not really that great of a strategy. It costs 10k gold for capitol alone, and you have to build a lot of other buildings to even do this. It starts to pay after 5 days, without counting the previous buildings. The true loss here is what else could have been bought for this cash. Trough buying additional 3-4 heroes on the start and some units you can build a reasonable mixed town army for your main hero (use other town units as meat shields), and grow economically trough map exploration and exploitation. It's important to not pick up resources with your main hero, but with those scout heroes. Don't be afraid to pick gold sometimes out of exp chests, units which you can buy for it will speed up your expansion even further. Don't focus on clearing starting area 100%, you can do that later with side heroes who will gain exp in late game allowing you to have more than 1 main hero. Robbing imp banks, crypts, cementaries and dwarven banks is a great way to get cash rolling and some basic artefacts. Robbing Dragon Utopia or Sea temple will give you ridiculous amounts of gold, exp and OP artifacts. City hall start can be certainly viable, but capitol is never or almost never worth it in the beginning. Even on Tower. Tower has cash problems but they are not solved by building capitol, sound strategy on tower can be to rush high level mage guild + some basic units. 70% of time if you are playing tower go upgrade gremlins first, they will give you a strong early game powerstack.

[@TheRezro]

@@Tyrgalon My guess is that he was focusing on showing the game first. But generally yes. While it is important to build you BASIC recruitment facilities as fast as possible. It is also important to expand the town hall. After you have solid economy you upgrade units.

[@cookiesliyr2]

remember he was showing the game to another person, it was the right move so he won't take an extra tour explaining the econmy and start showing the cool units

[@madtechnocrat9234]

@@cookiesliyr2 you shouldn't build up economy anyway...

[@Aleksander7045]

Hey Jeremy, at 12:12 when You express a fear about HoMM3's excellence being lost to the ages, I have good news for You! You see, the HoMM franchise (Up to Game 3 for many, up to Game 5 for Me personally) enjoys immense cult-classic status in Poland and many other Countries. It's such a household name that even folks You'd normally not expect to play video games might be familiar with the HoMM franchise! Countless musicians (And Orchestras!) have covered the OST's, and there's still MP tournaments with cash prizes, not to mention the mods! So, at least in some parts of the World, the game remains deeply ingrained into the landscape - and it is very well remembered! :)

[@jeremybjayne]

If I saw a live orchestra play the main menu theme from HOMM3, I think I would explode. That's so cool, thank you for sharing!

[@Aleksander7045]

@@jeremybjayne Sure thing! And thank You and the Crew for the upload on HoMM 3 - it's an important, formative game (And franchise!) for a lot of people! :)

[@kuvaytcev]

Yeah, we slavs can't get enough of homm3 and, for some degree, 5

[@WoYaTzar]

Same my man, as much as I absolutely love 3, I think 5 is the peak of the series - which feels like heresy to say. And yeah, Heroes Orchestra rules, it's my go to when I want to overdose on nostalgia and be mad at how old I'm (we're?) getting. :D

[@Jimmach]

@@jeremybjayne Lucky you! HoMM III is so popular in poland, we literally have an initiative named "Heroes Orchestra". You can check it on KZbin, they have recordings of live concerts, and last one was performed few weeks ago.

[@kaptenteo]

The Steam HD edition is a travesty, but original HOMM3 with the fan update is a god-send to this day. A fantastic game, and I couldn't believe my eyes when I noticed that there's even a working online lobby, thanks to the fans' devotion!

[@Smileyassassin47c]

ikr, hota + hd mod are stellar. sad that some russian/polish fans can make exquisite updates compared to a greedy corporation edit, sad that the ubisoft is shit, but can't thank the community enough

[@schwarzertee7586]

I disagree and think this toxic way of looking at the game and its iterations is just not helpful for anyone. After playing a lot of both, HD and HD mod, trying out Horn of the Abyss.... I can only conclude that HD mod is far more fun to me. The only thing it is missing is the random map generator. But I haven't played through all the maps yet so I still got enaugh game to play. HD looks better than HD mod, fight me. But thats not really important. I don't like conflux town. It REALLY rubs me the wrong way. I don't know why, but it is what it is. To me, elementals were always factionless. And psychic elementals? stop. Also horn of the abyss... not a fan. I don't care about PvP therfor I don't care about balancing. If I need a greater challenge I just don't use OP things. Easy. I think buying either or both is not a mistake and you can enjoy conflux town and horn of the abyss, and HD mod brings some really nice quality of life improvements. But it is just not for me. Calling any version a travesty is just offputting to potential fans. Maybe someone's like me and can't stand that bullshit conflux town or the mods (besides HD) and based off your comment they would never give the (in my opinion) better version a try.

[@kaptenteo]

@@schwarzertee7586 Point taken, but remastering a game without including its expansions is not a good look. You would never be forced to play as or against Conflux if the HD edition had shipped with the expansions, anyway.

[@helmberteisenschnauzer7233]

As far as I know, the problem is that the original source code for Armageddon's Blade was lost. It doesn't exist anymore apparently. And they didn't have the means to come up with something else.

[@ravensblade]

@@helmberteisenschnauzer7233 That's poor excuse when neither creators of HD mod nor Horn of Abyss have access to source code too. Problem is that HD mod alone gives you more then HD edition, and it's free. And i don't mean about expansions. Even if you install HD mod (if possible) over base game you would get more from it. And base game can be bought easily over gog, often there are promotions for like 2-3$.

[@Ovetupp]

What I love about the Might and Magic series is how bright and colorful they are. They are silly but play it straight, it seems like every fantasy trope conjured in daydreams has a place in M&M. The Heroes series are great and the RPGs are mostly misses, but they're just full to the brim with charm.

[@teroril]

most of the RPGs are absolutely worth playing. 2-7 are all fantastic.

[@nakenmil]

I think this is where the Ubisoft sequels have failed. The original games are all steeped in this bright, fantastic "storybook" aesthetic, like the 70s or 80s art of DnD, like the Brothers Hildebrandt or something. The Ubisoft games took a hard turn into becoming more like Warhammer or even anime-inspired. Which in itself is fine, I love Warhammer and I like plenty of anime, but it removes some of the bright, fairytale-charm of the world.

[@matrix3509]

This can't be overstated enough. I can't even begin to go into how much I utterly despise the cynical treatment of fantasy tropes in so much media these days. It makes me want to hate the entire genre.

[@DudeWatIsThis]

@@teroril 8 and X are great as well. 9 was the crappy one that killed the saga.

[@stylesheetra9411]

Bro just went in and said that m&m are mostly misses😂😂😂

[@Ithro-Ithrozovich]

I hope that some day I'll be able to tell Jon Van Caneghem just how much his games have meant for me since I first played HoMM back in 95-96 as a kid. The amount of joy I still get from Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven is crazy. The combination of pure fun mixed with the amazing music provided by Paul Anthony Romero is a gift that keeps on giving.

[@ULTRAOutdoorsman]

I'm hoping to run into Jonathan P. Gwyn or Romero myself. Like you said the music was as good as anything we'll probably ever see in games and then Gwyn's art was a huuuuuuuge boon to the main series and went far in making it look unique.

[@Kyrrial]

HoMM3 really is one of the best games of all time. I *ADORED* HoMM2. HoMM3 came out just before my 12th birthday, and that's what I wanted. So on my birthday, my mom took me to the nearest Fred Meyer's, which was a department store at the time and had a computer section. I got the game, took it home, and immediately installed it (obviously). Well.....my computer didn't have a graphics card, so it didn't have the capability to run in a resolution higher than 640 x 480, and HoMM3 REQUIRED 800 x 600. That was EASILY my worse birthday ever, and I bawled my eyes out for the rest of the day. I was utterly devastated: I've STILL never been as excited for anything as I was to play this game. Well, my dad saved up some money for a few months and bought a video card for my computer so I could run the game, and I was elated. This game was utterly magical, and I've NEVER been good at it haha. I do alright, but I only ever build up one massive powerhouse of a hero, and never recruit more than the one (I prefer Necropolis and prefer Vokial for the boost to Vampires). The music is amazing, the monsters are dope, and just an all around fun game to just vibe with. IMO, other than the Stronghold and Fortress, every faction is awesome in their own way. When I saw the Complete version on GOG, I immediately bought it; it was my first purchase from them. God, just a truly great game that I can't gush about enough. Oh, and M&M 8 was awesome because it used all the same monsters and models, I think all the same classes, and was just fun.

[@hemangchauhan2864]

The aesthetic is prefect time capsule just after DOS era and before early 2000s XP era of graphics.

[@AndreikVlogs]

this was THE game that was played in all PC cafe around Romania back when I was super young. I remember looking at the screen and not understanding one thing that was going on but I was mesmerized. This and Delta Force and CounterStrike were the go to games of my easter europe country back in the 2000 era

[@boyinpyjamas]

Same in lithuania internet caffess either cs 1.6 or homm3 or cossacks rts lol

[@panwu6602]

Same. Everyone in Poland played this game. Some of my childhood's fondest memories are from this masterpiece.

[@mr.478]

I'm 30 yrs old and just came across this video on a whim after seeing HoMM3 on GOG. Might be my new favorite game. Incredible...

[@TigheSean]

When my dad bought this game, my brother and I skipped school so the three of us could play hot seat multiplayer all day. What a game.

[@boyinpyjamas]

haha for this game i skipped scool to play it in internet caffess. Also cousin had pc with it so i literally lived in his house every weekend, we played it nonstop.

[@Squardles]

Still play a session of this game every other weekend with my dad.

[@GAG091186]

There's a game in early development called Fanstratics, which is a spiritual successor to Heroes of Might and Magic 3 spearheaded by the lead designer of Heroes of Might and Magic 3. Fanstratics is going for the same 2D look/perspective as this game, even though the game has 3D assets & uses the Unity engine. It is being described to look like Heroes 3 visually to the untrained eye, but as noted the game is still in early development. When development has progressed long enough, there would most likely be a kickstarter to help fund the project.

[@h2_]

That's such a dogshit name though :( Fanstratics??

[@LRazo7]

Wow, thanks for this! I didn't know about this. I remember the guys from song of conquest also said their game is the spiritual successor of homm3. I'm not mad, the more the better. Can't wait for this!

[@geno755]

Cool - good to know! Thanks!

[@4CCR37]

HoMM3 seems to be extremely popular and cultish in eastern bloc countries, and very niche in the west. If you're looking to check out similar games, Disciples 2, King's Bounty remakes, and Etherlords 1. These are by no means the same as HoMM3, but they always invoke the same joy in me like HoMM3 did and still does.

[@idr121]

I have noticed the same, although I'd like to add that in my experience it's pretty well known in Nordic countries too.

[@wraldan]

@@idr121 was about to say, literally everyone I know in my age group (born early 90's) knows of HOMM3 here in the Nordics, so him saying it was a cult classic and not a mainstream classic was weird to me.

[@jakab174]

Also the Gothic series and Cossacks (great RTS)

[@777malkavian]

@@jakab174 Seadogs, too.

[@burpbot7555]

As someone from E EU, can confirm. Heroes 3 was a game everyone played and loved.

[@one_bored_dude1798]

HOMM3 was my introduction to games and I played so much of it with my dad and even my sister and cousins joined sometimes. Some of the best memories of my life. So sad that Ubisoft only published broken games for the last installments, I actually played every one hoping it would go back to former glory

[@JoViljarHaugstulen]

Yeah Ubisoft games did not start off great with Heroes 5 though I think it was fine with Hammers of Fate expansion or the stand alone Tribes of East however Heroes 6 was pretty bad (the broken online stuff certainly didn't help) and Heroes 7 I didn't even play but it seemed like it was a buggy and rushed mess (Maybe they have patched it to be better now?). So I have about 0 faith in Ubisoft releasing an actually good Heroes of Might and Magic game though I would love for Ubisoft to prove me wrong but I doubt that's going to happen.

[@one_bored_dude1798]

@@JoViljarHaugstulen Yes, 5 was still alright and I actually kinda enjoyed 6. But 7 was unplayable. Completely unplayable. I had so many game breaking bugs. One corrupted my save file, another one kept me from proceeding with the campaign and so on. Especially the campaign one was awful because it always happened at the same time when an enemy crossed a river and it was not physically possible to get there in time to stop him. No matter which order you play the campaign, or on which machine, it always happened :( And online also barely worked. I don't really think they will even develop another one after they ruined the franchise like that. Hope someone else picks it up.

[@plzletmebefrank]

Have you done much with the mods for HoMM 3?

[@StevenSeagull123]

Heroes 3 has probably been installed on every single PC I have owned!

[@leannbrazeal2417]

Played the original Might & Magic with my friend on her C64 on the late 80s and was hooked on the OG series. Then I found the HoMM series and really enjoyed it - different, but addictive! By then I was a teacher and I shared it with my students. So much fun! Thanks for this trip down memory lane!

[@JOEWAGH]

Jeremy was so real for this. His voice overs continue to be chefs kiss

[@Contractor815]

HoMM 3 is one of my top ten games of all time. Thank you so much for doing this retrospective.

[@blzspti909]

in Central-Eastern Europe basically everyone knows and plays Heroes 3. Even at age 37 we still do a 4-player hot seat match once every few months while drinking a ton of beer. We need to start early in the morning so that the 4 of us can finish an XL sized random map in WoG (in the Wake of Gods), which is a fan made mod that adds tons of stuff and options to customize the base Heroes3 game.

[@carrrrrrrlos3306]

This was incredible. Heroes 3 was special for my friends and i growing up. We would play it all day and night. The music, the factions, the gameplay. It truly is one of the greatest games of all time.

[@Ampex063]

I've just been waiting for somebody to say that this is one of the best games of all time. I was too scared that I was the only one.

[@TomebyTomeASMR]

I remember being 13 and playing the first Heroes of Might and Magic on my aunt's computer. 29 years later and Heroes III and M&M VII are constant playthroughs. Currently playing M&M VIII haha! Thanks for the video! :)

[@neuroflare]

Master of Magic and HoMM were so much of my childhood. You should definitely play Master of Magic, Jeremy, there is was even an expansion released for it (relatively) recently.

[@SonofPlonky]

ITS SOUNDTRACK SLAPS, also any lovers of this amazing series should check out Palm Kingdoms II, its an homage to heroes II and III, with some truly cool extra features. I think the team is based in Bulgaria and there is clearly so much love for games that inspired it.

[@raidermaxx2324]

slaps what?

[@SonofPlonky]

HOPEFULLY YOU@@raidermaxx2324

[@YT-zy7wd]

Best game ever. It really tells you how ingrained it is if it's bugging me beyond belief that you didn't upgrade the Town Hall. By day 3 I already knew you're gonna have a resource problem.

[@TradozPrime]

Rofl 100% this

[@jeremybjayne]

Heyo, just revisiting this video months later and wanted to say that the sole purpose of this play session was to show Danny what the game looks like and just mess around a bit. Wasn't concerned about resources and just wanted to rush to get a diverse set of units and explain the basic gameplay loop/feel of HOMM3.

[@showlectro]

Amazing game, one of my all-time favorites. I just played it again a couple months ago. Found this in high school all the way back in 2000/1 and haven't stopped playing it (off and on at least) since.

[@P0LYBiUS7]

I noticed you spent movement points moving out and back in to the subterranean gate. I used to do that too as a kid. As an adult I learned that I can just press space instead of wasting movement :D Thank you for a great video. I started playing again after a 20 year break a few months ago. And I love the game even more now, at 39, than I did at 14-15 back in 1999.

[@Azr4el]

Hidden gem? every respectable gamer knows of this masterpiece of at least has heard of it, that is why it is a classic.

[@riddledtomcat1360]

I was so young when this came out. I remember renting this from the library but being too young to understand the mechanics. Yet, the distinct art style is still burned into my brain along with its title.

[@kylegraywolf]

I spent countless hours playing HoMM2 with a close friend in high school. I miss that dude, RIP Joe. Really enjoyed this ❤

[@tehdreamer]

This game was a huge part of my cildhood in Russia in the 90s and 00s. Pretty much everyone played this. Even now I have a few friends who regularly play it.

[@nox4000]

My first touch to the might and magic universe was with HoMM 3 demo which came with some PC magazine CD. Fell in love instantly. It's definitely best in the series. The soundtrack, graphics, game loop are all sublime.

[@Novastar.SaberCombat]

Also, Might & Magic IV & V ("Clouds of Xeen" and "Darkside of Xeen") were absolute treasures. The music alone was exemplary, which came as no surprise.

[@VanjaPejovic]

I spent so many hours playing hot seat multiplayer of this game. In some ways, it's a perfect game to play while hanging out with friends, since only one of you at a time has to be focused.

[@antayat123]

Played sooo many online games back in the day. Mostly on microsofts now defunct gaming service 'the zone.' I woukd paint my Warhammer figs while waiting for my turn.

[@DMC4EVERUCCI]

This just unlocked so many childhood memories in me, realizing that one of my most played games when I was a kid was "Heroes Chronicles: Masters of the Elements" (I still have the cd!!) which turns out is something of a standalone expansion of HOMM 3 and damn I never realized that. Thank you so much Jeremy for spotlighting this

[@bump_versino]

its an amazing game, so many memories of playing with 4 or 5 people in a dorm room, 3 games going on 3 pcs in hot seat mode, finish your turn on one and rotate out to the other. complicated ranking and scoring system for all of our friends that left us owing each other prizes like a large pizza or a jar of pickles. thx for stirring up the memories

[@saintsyche]

NOW I understand where Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous got its crusade system from. Ive never played a HOMM game but its so interesting to see the history of these types of RPGs especially since Ive been getting into more and more complex cRPGs lately.

[@vulgoalias4050]

I love how these guys explore the game that made my childhood. The enthusiasm and the joy of exploring is truly marvelous.

[@NRJenzenJones]

HoMM was a firm favourite of mine growing up. Thanks for this excellent retrospective.

[@AlyssaMercantesStinkySnatch]

So many good memories playing this game with my neighborhood friend on his home PC when I was about 8-9 years old. The graphics were so pleasant and colorful; the gameplay was addicting and rewarding.

[@dragonlord4194]

I just found your video today, and man you bring me back. Heroes IV was one of my first games as a child and I loved it. Heroes III came later and it was alright. Being used to the fourth game made this one rather strange for me and I never really grew one me in my childhood. By now i really like it though and the respect you give this game is heart warming. Though one thing I would change from that history bit is Ubisoft's first shot at the Heroex games. Heroes of Might and Magic V is my absolute favorite of this series. Good thought out factions, some really good designs and a really interesting hero system with extra abilities unique to every faction with one "Super" ability if you put the right skills together. Heroes V for me was the top when it comes to this series, even if it comes of as a mix between Warcraft 3 and Heroes

[@R0nn]

Finally a video about one of my favorite games of all time! It's such a niche cult classic! I replayed it a few years ago and it's still as addicting as ever. Are you familiar with the Age of Wonder series btw? That's another series in a similar vein as this and very good also.

[@StefanLopuszanski]

4:48 : You really need to play modern designer board games then. Lots of them are really great and on par with things like HoMM. Maybe not as complex due to the lack of computing power, but still great.

[@MFKitten]

I played this so much! The fact that there's no linear progression or anything, and it's fresh everytime, and you can play it a ton of times and still see new things. I had so much fun with this!

[@weazman5463]

Me and my middle school friends played this and HoMM 2 for thousands of hours. Then when 4 came out it was the saddest day we played it one time.

[@screwball69]

Fuckin same

[@jeremybjayne]

Tragically relatable.

[@Ocodo]

Yup. After trying homm4 I just went back to playing 3.

[@gfraserewu]

Thank you. Sometimes you play a game when you're younger and just know it's kind of special. Most of the kids at school don't know what you're talking about. If you tried to explain it they'd scratch their heads. But you just knew it was special.

[@lucidcharade12]

I got this absolute gem of a game in 4th grade back in '99. I'd gotten HoMM1 and 2 complete from a school book fair of all places in 2nd grade. I quickly fell in love. HoMM 1 was... pretty basic and easy to break, but 2 was an absolute blast. I used to play hotseat multiplayer with family a lot too. W'd have the person come in and take their turn as everyone else (that wasn't allied) left the room except for the last player before NPC movement so we could all watch that happen. Then, when I was at a store I spotted HoMM3 complete and begged my mom to let me pick that out. I was not disappointed at all and neither were the people who I'd been playing 2 with. There's still nostalgia attached to both of these games, 2 and 3, and I love coming back to one and/or the other from time to time, as well as M&M7 (the only one I had).

[@elsewhere6388]

Thank you so much for shining a light on the history that made my early adulthood awesome!

[@mohdluqman4681]

Me personally,if given the chance to meet JVC himself,will give the man the biggest hug for creating the most nostalgic experience through HOMM3..man,this game can never be replaced..a S LEVEL top tier game in history..

[@ThropDead]

Thank you for this! I played Songs of Conquest a while ago but didn't really get into it, I think not knowing much about Heroes of Might and Magic at all perhaps hindered my enjoyment of the game. But now having more context to both the series and genre, I'm definitely going to have to go back and try it again, might have to try the original HoMaM games too.

[@desotodesun3449]

Hey hey people...

[@lukeluck13]

Man, I love these games. Introducing them to someone is always a blast.

[@JPdrrraws]

The art style of HoMM3 is unforgettable and still holds to this day. Still love and play this game a few time in year..

[@matthieucneude5761]

You should install Horn of the Abyss (fan made mod which extends HoMM3 but... it looks like an official expansion, the quality is insane, and balance the game even more) and the HD mod to have the choice of the resolution. It's very easy to install. It also gives you a lobby for multiplayer matching.

[@Graham2777]

I was all over this when it released, playing Hot Seat with school friends. Nowadays, I'm still all over this, playing Hot Seat with my kids and the HD+ launcher.

[@jlpower]

Jeremy Jayne is to No Clip what Christoph Waltz is to Inglorious Bastards. Great video my friend!

[@MarkAndersonAudio]

I happened to buy this game (the HD remaster) a few weeks ago, having never played any games in the series. I already have 30+ hours sank into it. A great game even by modern standards, no nostalgia required!

[@Ocodo]

I believe that. But the HD version is missing the expansions, new factions, new enemies, artifacts.

[@Paulo51297]

The HD remaster is a total garbage comparing to the original Heroes. But I'm glad you enjoyed this.

[@Soundole]

Good on you spreading the gospel about what is inarguably one of the best games of all time! One thing that wasn't mentioned in this video is how ahead of its time it was when it came to tool-tips and educating the player - you can right-click on ANYTHING to see what it is or what it does. The interface feels rock-solid, more than two decades on!

[@theghosty99]

There was a period in my teen life in the 90s when all I did was wake up, eat, play HOMM3, eat, play HOMM3 more, sleep, and repeat. In 35 years of gaming no game before or since has addicted me like HOMM3. Also I loved watching how you play and seeing that we both developed the exact same strategies for building towns and fighting battles. Incredible.

[@enilenis]

In the 90's, when I was the only one of all my friends with a computer, I used to get many people over, and it was most fun to pick games, where everyone could take turns playing. Because of that games like Heroes were very popular with us. Worms as well. In X-Com we named characters after ourselves, and took turns controlling them. Games that weren't multiplayer we had to adapt to a group environment, where everyone wanted to experience this unseen miracle of interactivity.

[@sigurdtheblue]

These old PC classic games are something that somehow feels inaccessible, yet something I respect greatly. The pixel art looks so impressive.

[@Ocodo]

Nah... this one is super easy, or rather easy to play, hard to master, but my grandmother plays it without any problems.

[@sigurdtheblue]

@@Ocodo I am not talking about difficulty. Otherwise, I would not have said "somehow".

[@NoctugasArts]

What a fantastic era HoMM3 was. I remember it incredibly fondly playing it for hours with my friends around a single computer. Thanks for mentioning Songs of Conquest though, as that is panning out to be an amazing modern take on the genre.

[@theodorepengelley8569]

Love this video. And love the humour Jeremy puts into the intro

[@CaptainPerfect]

I've played countless hours of heroes games, love them to bits. Next thing to experience is the HOMM3 boardgame which should come out soon.

[@frederickdavidson270]

Randomly got homm3 in a game store when i was 9. I asked my mum to get it alongside an Italian Job driving game in a 2for1 pc game deal. Honestly still mesmerised by this game. The music alone is god tier stuff

[@OpiatesAndTits]

20:43 one aspect that’s really important is that HoMM3 is a a hot seat game. Another is the rogue-like nature. Randomized systems like the mage tower or your hero skills offer different challenges every game. You can’t just “min-max” everything. It helps keep the game fresh and forces you to try things you otherwise might pass up. I think todays competitive multiplayer gaming focus tends to frown on these systems but back then with friendly hot seat games or single play it mattered less. Frankly I think more randomization in our games would help keep them fresh.

[@VieneLea]

Ahh yes, the magical world where monday is the best day of the week As other pointed out this game is obviously a classic (it's funny that you say like it's some unkown, obscure secret - if you asked a random person in the street in Poland about it it would be pretty likely they'd know it; it was so popular that when the fourth one came out there was a cross-promotion with a potato chip brand that had TV ads), and it's far from the only one in the genre - the Disciples series is another hero-based turn-based series from the era. (Just like how in HoMM series the third on is the best and by far better than all others, in Disciples the second one is by far the best one).

[@77garga]

you could save/load heros in multiplayer games in Desciples

[@eobet]

3:15 many of those monsters were drawn by Bonita Long-Hemsath who unfortunately passed away a few years ago without doing a single interview…

[@zatty232]

The soundtrack gives me goosebumps, i love the heroes series. I used to play it as a kid

[@biseinerheult78]

Concerning the original HOMM not being fun to play until three weeks before shipping: that`s actually a lot more common than people think it is. While this is definitely an extreme case, most games I have worked on only really came together in the last two months or so before release. Games usually are bad during development until suddenly they`re not and that`s when you pack them up and sell them. Well, in a best case scenario. A lot of games ship before that.

[@rolithesecond]

Hey Jeremy, consider using a mic with pop filter or doing a low-cut on the voice track, my subwoofer loves to kick like a mule on every plosive. I use an eq plugin for chrome in these cases but it's worth maybe looking into maybe changing the setup a little. As always, thank you for the fantastic content!

[@mawit4543]

Homm 3 is one of the best computer games of all time because it is so well balanced. Even though everything is kept simple there is a staggering amount of things to do and perfect in every term. Tons of detail and very tiny adjustments for strategies. I played this as a kid and my friend and I still play it up to this date on hot seat, still figuring out new details and small exploits and still giggling about the hilarious yet strangely deep background stories of the individual heroes and castle names. It's a classic for a reason.

[@mawit4543]

also absolut legendary music and sound design (!)

[@TomebyTomeASMR]

how many times have we all said "just one more turn" for a hundred turns on a game we never wanted to end

[@Fooshiiii]

We NEED a full Noclip doc on HOMM3! I bet Paul Romero (one of the composers) would be up for an interview.

[@brightnight8831]

Played this all the time with my friends in 5th grade. Being able to play against each other on the same PC was a great feature. Also loved Might and Magic VI - shout to to 3DO.

[@AnatomyHero]

Loved the beginning with the history but literally screamed on week two day 6 when you bought the sculptors wings and said you wanted more gargoyles for day 1...when you hadnt even bought a town hall! And going for XP on early chests is madness. Take the money so you can buy your builldings and your troops and slay your way to XP!

[@LuLzezRoflcopter]

Hero’s is for sure a game style/genre I’d love to see brought back to a modern version. Such fun couch co-op turn based strategy games

[@gowensbach2998]

HoMM3 was the first fantasy game I gave a try, because I was a wargamer, and didnt think I would like a fantasy game. Well, I loved it...truly a classic game. It opened my mind to fantasy games as being just as good as a non fantasy wargame.

[@chelseaheckabad]

Just played HoMM3 for the first time this year! So, this video is a joy to watch. Such a neat game.

[@xyehstream]

When HOMM3 arrived i was studying coding and i had 2 hours for lunch between classes, me and my classmates grouped up to play it everyday, after hours and hours of playing we moved into Magic The Gathering but i will always have HOMM3 as one of the best computer games i ever played (still have the original).

[@LazorzPewPew]

What a great video. Nice trip down memory lane. Thanks dude.

[@VsevolodTokmakov93]

16:00 20 years later I can still relate to how sexy the jewels look in this game

[@plzletmebefrank]

I was always curious about the behind the scenes and history of the development of the games. Usually people don't go much into it.

[@neutraljump]

this is one of those games everyone in Finland played as a kid. And even still I know guys who never stopped playing. They have charts and wine bottles for prizes and a league.

[@brainfreeze10]

I love these essay / history lesson videos

[@user-by6rb8xk9g]

I remember a time ago, we used the plug of a church to have power and we played a 3 player multiplayer (hot seat) at the afternoon . Good times. Definitely in the top 10. nowdays I play Might & Heroes VII, 5 and it is definitely an upgrade.

[@KunjaBihariKrishna]

Back when there was no internet, I had a demo cd from some french magazine. I didn't even really speak french, but had HOMM2 on it. And that was the first time I spent 3 hours straight on the computer. I always remember that day because now, 3 hours is nothing lol

[@peopleperson2069]

Learned to play it a couple of months ago, did 3 skirmishes. Delightful.

[@tjcookmusic]

Never played HoMM3, but I LOVED HoMM2. So many hours building scenarios in the map editor. Thank you for this excellent video.

[@Tom_Van_Zandt]

That guy was 100% correct when he said "you don't see art like this anymore". Sprite art, unfortunately, went the way of practical effects and classic animation with the advent of polygons. It's too bad because if you look at Final Fantasy 3 (6), Super Mario World and Super Castlevania 4, or Warcraft 2, Diablo 1 and Starcraft, all those games have graphics that are 25-30 years old, but they still look great. Warcraft 2 looks absolutely incredible to this day. Then came polygons and 3D gaming, and the early years on the PS1 and N64 had some growing pains that are hard to look at today. There are some indie developers who are still working with sprite art, and I love it. What I don't love, however, is when a developer tries to make a game look 16-bit but it ends up looking like a Flash game. Streets of Rage IV, although a fun game, could have been an amazing game if they had used sprite animation. A game like TMNT Shredder's Revenge and the upcoming beat-em-up Toxic Avenger game both look and feel like they could've been made 25 years ago. Go back and look at the Marvel vs. Capcom games and Street Fighter 3 on Dreamcast - they'll blow your tits off. Then look at MvC3 and SFIV - they just don't compare in my opinion.

[@Parasmunt]

It was a beautiful, lovingly crafted masterwork of a game made in an era of great games.

[@tgsoon2002]

Man. The background music bring such a great nostalgia.

[@wotwot6868]

We have a local mythological creature similar to the Knoll. Half horse , half human, but upper part of the body is the horse part. In our version, this creature lives in trees and smokes a big cigar. It's been portrayed in old horror movies. Funny to think that these Knolls probably got the wrong deal when they wanted to become centaurs.

[@undyingprisoner]

I have played 2000+ games since the release. Best game ever.

[@TheLetsRead]

on a more serious note, i’d be curious to see noclip cover majesty the fantasy kingdom sim (since it was teased among the underrated titles at the beginning), or the early age of wonders titles? i appreciated how age of wonders 1, 2, and the shadow spin-off felt like somewhat of a bridge between the heroes games and civilization, or at least lateral-step alternatives to the kind of gameplay loop which the respective heroes’ teams worked out in their developments. blablabla, thanks for covering content that’s strong for nostalgia’s sake, and in my biased opinion, on their own strengths as strategy games. i grew up playing 4 as a younger millennial, so it’d be fun if you give it and its troubled development a nod after the co-hosts mess around in-game in 3, but i also totally understand the derision it gets from fans who came up with the first three games as an upward trend in quality. 4 just has a fun campy feeling which i appreciated when first playing, but which probably would not be worth revisiting vs the campaigns in 3 😵‍💫