SandroTheMaster: You have to remember that before Heroes of Might and Magic, searching Heroes would probably bring up some greek guys. That is, if the internet was older than HoMM. But I agree, changing the Heroes who go on epic quests leading armies of the fantastic to those mostly bland "new-age" superHeroes is kind of sad. Sandro? The most kickass villain of all time. Sylar? A complete wuss with fake issues. Also, guess which of the two actually receives character development and which pretends to get one. sigh...
And there's nothing wrong with Hotseat. Even if you have the option to use the internet, to have your opponents right there at your side to mess with or give (and receive) advice, has its own rewards.
You mustn't take Heroes IV for granted. However it's shortcomings, it has the best story and narration of all Heroes, and that's saying something (save V, the biggest disappointment I have with Ubisoft is that they didn't give the story of Heroes the same care they gave to, say, their Prince of Persia comeback). Try out the campaigns of Emilia Blackraven, or Gauldoth Half-Dead (I hope I wrote those right), and you'll see what I'm talking about. Apparently they had this part all done before the rest of the game, so it is what they actually finished. (Uhh... but maybe you should steer clear of the Elven campaign. The narration is still great, but it feels too much like Titanic. That is, an tragedy of enormous proportions is cheapened to be the backdrop of a love story...)
Also, don't feel bad for 3DO. It is New World Computing that deserves our respect. 3DO are the guys who demanded NWC to make H4 on such a short notice and then launched before it was finished. NWC made the games. 3DO were the guys who milked their franchises to death (Army Men anyone?). NWC were the ones who had to put up with it.
Finally, what'd be really awesome (besides Ubisoft actually joining Ashan up with the real Might and Magic universe) would be if they (Ubisoft) bothered to make a MMX. Take the good lessons from MMIX (mostly, not releasing a game that is completely unplayable from a technical standpoint, but there are some good advances there as well) and make a Might and Magic game with today's graphics and advanced gameplay. The best games today are those where the gameplay can be as simple as you want to finish the game, or as complex as you need if you want to see all it can offer (the Total War series for instance let you completely ignore RT battle if you want, or simplify city management if you go the other way around, or have it all).
About Hotseat, I totally agree. I should have said "Hot Seat is great, a lot of fun with friends. END OF LINE. When you're young and network conf is to much a hassle =), Hotseat is really great."
I think I will definitely give Heroes IV another chance. But I haven't finish Heroes V yet so I think Heroes IV must wait another year (or two)...
