I think technically you are some unnamed general, but the canon ending for HoMM1 is Lord Ironfist, the eventual father of Roland and Archibald, coming out on top in the war to unite the land.

---

Hobbun, be advised that MM1 and MM2 play very similarly. MM3-5 all play very similarly. MM6-8 all play very similarly.

HoMM1 was a first draft. HoMM2 did a lot of shake up and refinement. HoMM3 plays fairly similar to HoMM2, providing polish and refinement more than new concepts. HoMM4 did a lot of concept shake ups. HoMM5 mostly went back to the general feel of HoMM3.

What I plan to do now is just play them all now, starting with MM1. I’ll keep yours and dtgreene’s suggestion in finishing MM4 first before moving onto MM5. If I run into any pyramids, should I just not click/pick them up at all? Don’t want to activate them accidently.

It’s funny your bring up HoMM 2, as I was just looking at the earlier HoMM games and thinking I should try those, as well. I’ve played HoMM III and have loved it (even though I have never beaten it), so was thinking I should give the earlier HoMM games a shot.

Now, going back to my original question on play order for story, is it recommended to play HoMM 1 & 2 before MM6? I’m thinking so, because I believe Roland has taken the throne by MM6 and aren’t him and Archibald duking it out for the throne in the earlier HoMM games?

Also, are there are any patches I should download for, well, all of these games? Including unofficial ones (similar to Grayface or MOK)? I’m assuming GOG has kept the games updated with any official patches.

Regarding mapping MM1. I didn't have the patience to do my own mapping, so I used a website that offers unannotated maps for areas. Sadly it's gone now, but you can still catch it on web archive.
[url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151029012011/http://home.online.no/~rolfsr/mm/mm1/maps.htm]https://web.archive.org/web/20151029012011/http://home.online.no/~rolfsr/mm/mm1/maps.htm[/url]

I'm pretty (though not 100%) sure the name Ironfist is mentioned... It's been very long since I played it though.


You get a "do you want to go" question when you click one. Even if you do say "yes" you can just go back immediately. No danger there.

I found the AB campaigns too easy, even on Impossible, and most could be blitzed since the AI starts fairly weak. Even the last one could be blitzed. In theory you can win it on day 1.
But I suspect the AI gets stronger if you dally too long.
Anyway, the less in-game time you use, the better your score, so that's an incentive to me at least. All that tedious mopping up just to make an already fairly easy game even easier is definitely counter-productive to me.

Personally I've mostly followed this chronology, written by someone at the RPGCodex:
"Might and Magic I: Secret of the Inner Sanctum
Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World
Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra
Might and Magic IV-V: World of Xeen (finish Cloudside before Darkside)
(Descendants campaign from Price of Loyalty)
Heroes Chronicles: Warlord of the Wasteland
Heroes Chronicles: Conquest of the Underworld
Heroes Chronicles: Revolt of the Beastmasters
Heroes Chronicles: Master of the Elements
Heroes Chronicles: The World Tree
Heroes Chronicles: The Fiery Moon
Heroes of Might and Magic I
Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars
Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Price of Loyalty (Descendants starts much earlier, but ends around the same time the other campaigns take place)
(Dragon's Blood campaign from Armageddon's Blade)
Heroes Chronicles: Clash of the Dragons
Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Shadow of Death
Might and Magic VI: The Mandate of Heaven
(Foolhardy Waywardness campaign from Armageddon's Blade)
Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia
Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor
Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's Blade (except 2 of the campaigns, see above)
Might and Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer
Heroes Chronicles: The Sword of Frost
Heroes of Might and Magic IV
Might and Magic IX: Writ of Fate

I still have problems fitting HOMM2 POL expansion into the timeline, but then it wasn't developed by NWC. I don't think there's anything in it that references any characters, events or places from any of the other games, including HOMM2 itself. Also, I've no idea if the HOMM4 expansions fit, and if they do, if they should occur after the base game campaigns, or before the Reckoning. The AB campaigns are largely independent but they all seem to occur after the main AB campaign, with 2 exceptions: Foolhardy Waywardness, which definitely occurs where I've placed it per its ending, and Dragon's Blood, which is giving me some trouble because of Clash of the Dragons. Clash of the Dragons, which definitely takes place after Dragon's Blood, mentions a King of Erathia, but there is no King of Erathia at any time after RoE. And finally, I lumped MM1-5 together at the beginning because it's simpler to do it this way than to try and figure out where they occur in the Enroth/Erathia timeline, to which they are almost completely unrelated anyway."

I wouldn't recommend playing Foolhardy Waywardness before RoE, though, since it's much harder than the extremely easy first campaign maps of RoE. The dissonance would probably be too weird.

This is really not a good idea to play chronologically instead of release order. It's like watching the Godfather flashback scenes before the main movie just because they took place chronologically first.

True the MM universe doesn't have some epic story lore, but you'll still get some spoilers by playing "prequels" first.

Ironfist is definitely the name of the human lord. I just can't remember whether you, the player, are said to be playing as him, or as a general serving under him.

Ah, I see. I'm not sure. Possibly general under him. Just like in HoMM2 where you're not playing Roland/Archibald but a general.

I partially agree with you.
I'd play most of the Chronicles as early as possible since they are so obviously aimed at newbies, though.

Yeah, I wasn’t sure what the best order to play them in. I just know in playing HoMM III and MM6 the stories are linked and that Enroth/Erathia has a rich world. I just wanted to make sure I was playing them in the best order possible. It sounds like release order is the best way (which I guess usually is for games).

So this is what I am thinking of the order in playing:

MM1-5
HoMM
HoMM II
MM6
HoMM III (should I play both expansions at this time, as well?)
MM7
MM8

And beyond that, not sure if I will play anything else. I tried MM IX when it first came out and didn’t like it at all. And not sure if I will go on with HoMM4 & 5 or not.

Also, how are Heroes Chronicles? Are those good? And when is it recommended I go with those (if not chronologically)?

Finally, my question from my earlier post, but are there any unofficial patches I should download for any of these games (besides for MM6, already have those)? I assume GOG has the games updated with the official patches (if any).

The Chronicles games are basically more campaigns for HoMM3. That said, their difficulty is absurdly low. You can run them as an intro for how to play HoMM3, or use them as a follow up if you enjoy the game play.

They follow the adventures of Tarnum, spanning a time from before Erathia existed until sometime around the story of Armageddon's Blade (I think; I'm not sure exactly when the last Chroncles story ends in comparison to AB).

I've used just the base GOG version when playing any of these games, and they run fine. Some people recommend certain mods, like Greyface for MM6, but the GOG base version is fine.

The first HoMM 3 expansion - Armageddon's Blade - occurs right after MM7. (It was supposed to have a stronger tie, but vocal fans ruined it, when they learnt it was going to mix fantasy and SF.)

Chronicles' lack of difficulty was an insult to existing fans, but for a newbie they will be a good introduction to HoMM 3, and you may want to play the early, as the first six or so also take place early chronologically. Once you master HoMM 3, they will probably be less fun to play.

No. Play them after 7. Armageddon's Blade expansion has many references you won't get if you don't play 7 first.


Way too easy.

Play them after you finish everything (before HoMM4 if you want to go there). Unfortunately you won't find it too challenging.

In general, the best way to enjoy the story in games (and books and movies...) is by release order. Because when a prequel is released, the author already knows the events in the previous work, even if chronologically it takes place later.

Take for example a book/game where we don't know much about a protagonist. He seems to hide a secret. Towards the end, much to everyone's surprise we find out he's actually a werewolf.
The author after that decides to make a prequel about his childhood which shows how he became a werewolf (and obviosly takes place chronologically first). If someone decides to read the books (play the games) in chronological order with the prequel first, they won't find any surprise in the reveal once they read the original book.
But not only that, there will be more references in the prequel to some stuff in the original book, that the reader won't notice if they hadn't read the original first.

Now HoMM doesn't have any such huge spoilers or epic stories, but it does have many references that I feel will be missed if you play Chronicles before the main games. The references to Bracada/um and Gryphonheart nations are more fun if you already played the original games and came across them.

But even story aside, Chronicles is a bad entry point unless someone is extremely extremely bad with video games and find even the easy games too difficult. They're so easy, they'll feel boring to a semi-competent player, and if you play them first then by the time you're done with them you're likely to be fed up with HoMM3. The entry into HoMM3 won't be as enjoyable if you played Chronicles first.

It was a mistake all round the way it was done.

HD mod for HoMM 3.
https://sites.google.com/site/heroes3hd/
Adds proper widescreen support and some quality of life improvements, plus some bugfixes without affecting balance.

There are also some wrappers for Heroes 1-4 if you have graphical problems on new machines (note that the widescreen mod above already has this fixed).

Yeah, they dropped the ball there. I honestly can't recommend Chronicles for anyone.

Not for veternas, because they're way too easy.
Not for newbies, because they're bad/easy/simplified. By the time you're done with them them you might not enjoy the main game that much because, well, you could be a bit fed up.

The only thing there is there is the story: it's not a good story, but it explains what happened at the beginning of HoMM4 and it introduces some characters who'll appear in that game. Because they're easy, they're also rather short.

So play the original game in the order above. Then if you want more HoMM3, try the single player maps or as PetrusOctavianus said, user made maps, or random maps if that's what you prefer. Only play Chronicles if you feel you must complete every game or want to experience the story first hand. They're easy after all...

Ok, will do so.

To be honest, I don't think I will be playing Heroes Chronicles. Not from what everyone is saying. Besides, I think I will have my fill already with what I am planning on playing.
I had seen that HoMM 3 HD Mod already mentioned in another thread. But what makes me hesitant about it is at the bottom of the description by the "Compatibility" It says "HoMM3 HD is not compatible with The Restoration of Erathia, Armageddon's Blade, Heroes Chronicles!" So it is only compatible with the Shadows of Death expansion? I have HoMM 3: Complete, will it cause issues with my game if I try to apply this mod to it (due to not being compatible)?

Yeah, I think I am going to skip the Chronicles altogether.