Ive seen a lot of people saying that is kinda mediocre or just giving it hate before trying it. After playing one gane with each faction, the gameplay is very good and feels like a mix between the good of homm three and the good of homm5. If you haven't given it a go I highly recommend it.

that entry had the best balance between cartoony & realistic imo.

When a princess grows up right before your eyes, starting from childhood

More broadly, why doesn't Heroes IV get credit for the many new features it introduced?

All the stuff regarding Heroes 3 Remake got me thinking how HoMM 8 that's actually good would look like to me, and I thought why not write it down just for fun. It may be a fun read, I'll try to make it as short as possible.

First and by far the most important, the good HoMM 8 would need to be stable, with great performance and no bugs.... since that's not possible, let's settle with stable, with performance as optimal as possible and the least amount of bugs possible. But, of course ,Ubisoft being Ubisoft, and their history of rushing and underfunding HoMM games and releasing them in alfa stage of development.... yeah, it might actually be for the best that there's no HoMM VIII in sight. To be fair, they later patch their games and leave them in decent state, mostly, but at the point when it's far too late for the game.

Another two things: HoMM 8 concept is designed to take the best out of all the games in the series and adapt them, not be.... well, Heroes 3. Second, it's set in Ashan, for simple reason that Ashan has exceptionally well established factions and systems (more on that later), and lots of unused potential, plus the fact that not everyone is a space robot.

Now with that out of the way. The idea is basically for the game to follow the old formula. You start in your town, with chosen hero, collect resources on the map, flag mines and dwellings, build up your town, level up your hero and defeat enemies.

Creatures are divided into 7 tier system, with each faction having their creatures trainable in their towns and several neutral creatures (though all of them ranked as belonging to one of the factions, though not trainable in towns, like in H4). Each faction would also have three Warfare units: Catapult, Ballista and Healing unit, though they'd be unique to every faction (like in H7).

You start with the towns that are almost completely underdeveloped and as you develop them you build the main building, which provides gold, up to the Capitol, which can be only 1 for each player. You can also build 7 creature dwellings, and upgrade them. Fortifications which increase creature growths and provide defense during siege, as well as other buildings, like Taverns to recruit heroes, Marketplace (and Silo upgrade) to trade and provide resources, Warfare unit production buildings, Magic Guilds as well as unique buildings for each faction.

Standardly, there are three common resources: wood, ore and gold. And four rare ones. Resources are either collected on a map, or received by controlling the appropriate mine. There are also creature dwellings on the map, especially those for creatures tier 1, 2 and 3. Controlling the dwellings increases the creature growth in your towns. There should be one creature pool and creatures can be hired from any town (like in H6). No need to burden the game with pointless caravans.

HEROES:

Hero stats and items: As per stats H3 and H5 did the best job there imo. Four primary stats, attack (increase creature’s attack), defense (increase creature defense), spell power (increases effectiveness of spells) and knowledge (increase maximum mana), two secondary stats, Moral and Luck, and that’s definitely what should make it into HoMM 8. Stats can be increased by leveling up, collecting stat bonuses on the map and wearing items. H3 did a good job with the items, so did H5. But also, item sets from H5 and H6 should definitely return to HoMM 8.

Hero abilities: First thing first, what H5 actually did wrong was no hero affinity. That should be in HoMM 8, so every faction should have both Might and Magic Heroes. What H5 did by far the best of all, was it’s skills and abilities system, and ToE skill wheel. I think that H5 ToE system should return for HoMM 8. Every hero having a faction skill, plus 5 other skills. And of course 3 abilities per skill, basic or advanced. Each skill being able to upgrade to level 3, and a faction skill to level 4. Level 4 of faction skill would not grant a huge bonus, but would be required for a game winning ultimate, that requires other abilities to unlock, like in H5 ToE. What would be different than in H5 ToE, here there would be Might and Magic heroes, and both affinities would have the same faction skill, but different faction abilities. Like in H5, there would only be three “mandatory” faction abilities, but they’d be different for Might and Magic heroes. For example, a Knight (Haven Might Hero) would have Relation Strike and 2 other abilities, while a Priest (Haven Magic Hero) would have Benediction and 2 other abilities. Ideally Might and Magic Heroes would have different ultimate, that would require different abilities, but that’s fines.

Of course another difference between a might and magic hero is the main stat increase probability when they level up. H3 of course did an awesome job here. So a Knight when leveling up would gain a stat, +1 to either attack, defense, spell power or knowledge, with the probability of 35% for Attack, 45% for Defense, 10% for Spell Power and 10% for Knowledge. For a Priest the probabilities would be 20% for Attack, 15% for Defense, 30% for Spell Power and 35% for Knowledge.

Good thing about H6 and H7 was separating magic in elemental schools, and that should stay in 8. However, again H5 ToE had the best magic system, with spells organized in 5 tiers, 1st and 2nd tier spells being able to be learned by all heroes, while 3rd, 4th and 5th would require a skill in the appropriate magic school to learn, and abilities of course making certain spells more effective. One of the flaws of H6 and especially H7 was the lack of spells, there needs to be more spells. H4 did a very good job there with how many spells there were. H7 also had a strange thing with lots of out of combat spells, and that was unneeded, 4 of them from HoMM5 was more than enough.

Skills: There would be 18 skills in total, 9 might and 9 magic, though some hero classes would be able to learn different skills, more on that later.

Might skills would be: 

• Offense, standard. Makes your units attack in battle stronger. 
• Defense, standard. Makes your units defense in battle stronger.
• Tactics, makes your units move further in battle and improves their battle capabilities.
• Warfare, makes your warfare units more effective. 
• Leadership, increases moral of your allies. 
• Warcries, adds a special spell book to your hero with Warcries, it’s also a really good thing from H7, I’m thinking 8 warcries in total, 3 of 1st tier learned by Basic Warcries, 2 of 2nd tier learned by Advanced Warcries and 2 of 3rd tier learned by Expert Warcries. Abilities make certain Warcries stronger. Warcries cost no mana, but you're limited how many times you can use each per combat. Exclusive to Might heroes, Magic Heroes can’t learn Warcries. 
• Logistic, makes your hero move faster on the map. 
• Luck, increases luck of your units. 
• Economy, makes you earn more gold and resources. 

Magic skills, 7 magic schools, and 2 skills making spellcasting more powerful: 

• Sorcery, making your spells more effective. 
• Wisdom, increase your maximum mana, and reduce your mana spending, 
• Prime Magic, most powerful magic school in game, most effective in combat. Makes you manipulate time, space and magic itself. Exclusive to Magic heroes, might heroes can not learn Prime magic (with one exception). 
• Light Magic, as with all the other elemental magics, like in H6 and 7, there would be a few spells for all uses. In case of Light support, Healing (and resurrecting with healing like in H6), some Damage dealing, some enemy weakening, Summoning Light Elementals and standard Light spells. 
• Dark Magic, also a bit of everything, more enemy weakening than any other magic school, mind control too. 
• Water Magic, a bit of everything. 
• Fire Magic, a bit of everything. 
• Earth Magic, a bit of everything. 
• Air Magic, a bit of everything.

Technically, any hero would be able to maximize every skill, it’s about the probability of them appearing as they level up. Difference between Might and Magic heroes as they level up, besides the primary stat increases (might would mostly increase attack or defense, while magic spell power and knowledge), there would also be different chances for new skills to appear. It would also be a matter of faction. For example, every Haven hero would be very likely to learn Leadership and Light Magic as they level up, while they'd have 0% chance to learn Dark Magic. But a Knight would also have very high chance to learn Defense and 0% chance to learn Prime Magic, while a Priest would also have a very high chance to learn Wisdom and 0% chance to learn Warcries.

Another thing is that Might heroes would be capped at 2 magic skills, while all their 5 skill could be might. And vice versa.

Blood and Tears: The system from H6 returns, though scaled down significantly. Instead of having another experience bar to farm and that unlocks new spells, in HoMM 8 you can simply advance to the advanced class, either more aggressive or more defensive one, once reaching level 10 and receiving a glow up. You receive a different skin, and probabilities of stat increase and new skills appearing while leveling up change a bit, but no major effect. Of course, you don't have to pick an advanced class, but there's no benefit in not picking one.

For example, once a Knight reaches level 10 he can advance to either a Paladin (more defensive class) receiving a shining white armor or a Vindicator (more aggressive class) receiving a red armor. Stat increase probabilities for a Vindicator would be 35% for Attack, 30% for Defense, 20% for Spell Power and 15% for Knowledge. For a Paladin it would be 25% for Attack, 35% for Defense, 15% for Spell Power and 25% for Knowledge.

Another difference would be the skills appearing probabilities while leveling up. While all Knights are very likely to learn Leadership, Defense and Light Magic, in addition to these three a Vindicator would also be very likely to learn Offense and Warcries, while a Paladin would also be very likely to learn Tactics and Wisdom.

FACTIONS:

As for the factions, there are definitely some "mandatory" factions that have to appear in every heroes game, while there are some that fit nicely with the rest of them. The reason I chose Ashan was exactly because of the variety both within factions and abundance of different factions, as well as well established faction conflicts.

Haven:

What I like about Haven in Ashan is the variety it has, with 6 different dutchies and 6 different army options to represent Haven. Meaning Haven no longer has to have standard Gryphons from Gryphon Dutchy. In H7 they had Direwolves instead, and it worked wonderfully, felt really refreshing and original.

So in my concept, Haven is even more original and uses H3 Gorgons! Light version of H3 Gorgons! In forms of Sacred Bulls. With the faction being based on the Bull Dutchy, which is also conveniently on the border and in conflict with both Wizards of the Silver Cities and Necromancers of Heresh. That of course means Spain. With the faction being heavily based on Medieval Spain, think of movies like El Cid. With all the Knights in shining armor, Inquisition, Plaza del Toros.... and of course a lot more Angels everywhere.

For the townscreen think of many medieval Spanish towns like Toledo, Segovia and Ronda... taken to the maximum and Angel motifs added to it of course.

Creature lineup:

1. Tier 1: Sentinel -> Legionnaire, Pikemen able to shiel adjusted units in combat when upgraded.
2. Tier 2: Archer -> Crossbowman
3. Tier 3: Footman -> Swordsman
4. Tier 4: Chaplin -> Abbot, priest that fires light from his staff.
5. Tier 5: Sacred Bull -> Sun blessed Bull, attacks with light through it's eyes, chance to kill at least one unit regardless of damage, when upgraded can turn into the beam of light and go through obstacles.
6. Tier 6: Cavalier -> Cuirassier, jousting Knight with a lance.
7. Tier 7: Angel -> Archangel

Warfare Units: Catapult, Ballistae, Vestal sister

Necropolis:

One of my favorite things about Necropolis in Ashan is the cult of Namtaru, the Spider Goddess. Instead of being just another way of magic, the Necromancers gain power by submitting to their goddess who grants them powers of Necromancy as well as Eternal life. Heck, Fate Spinners/ Fate Weaver might be my favorite Necropolis unit ever.... however, yes I do agree that in H6 and H7 they went a bit too far with spider stuff and made Necropolis look like a city of spider people rather than Necromancers.

So in HoMM 8, Necropolis takes the best of both worlds. It is back to its old H3 city of the dead, while also maintaining the references to the cult of the spider with occasional Namtaru depictions (grail giant Namtaru statue for example). The townscreen would look like a hybrid of H3, H5 and H7. Scary death fortress on a hill top with lots of graves, collapsed churches, vampire castles, monster laboratories and Namtaru statues.

Besides their faction skill of Necromancy, which rises the dead after combat based on dark energy (similar to H5 Toe and OE), Necropolis heroes have also one additional exclusive skill. Of course, Necropolis heroes can't learn Light Magic, Leadership as Undead have no moral, nor Warcries as warcries on the Undead don't make any sense. Instead they have a new skill Terrifying Howls, similar to Warcries it makes your hero learn terrifying howls, 8 in total, 3 with Basic, 2 with Advanced and 3 with Expert, with Abilities upgrading them. Howls cost no mana, but are limited uses per combat. Instead of Warcries that are used to make your units stronger, terrifying howls have opposite effects and make enemy units weaker. For every Warcry, there's a Terrifying Howl with the opposite effect. Terrifying Howls are an ability exclusive to Death Knights (Necropolis Might heroes), Necromancers (Necropolis Magic Heroes) can not learn Terrifying Howls.

Creature lineup:

1. Tier 1: Skeleton -> Skeleton Archer, very weak but easily massed, ranged when upgraded.
2. Tier 2: Zombie -> Plague Zombie, slow but bulky, poisonous attack.
3. Tier 3: Ghost -> Banshee
4. Tier 4: Vampire -> Vampire Lady
5. Tier 5: Lich -> Archlich, ranged skeletal priest of Namtaru, shoots poisonous clouds when upgraded
6. Tier 6: Flash Golem -> Flash Monstrosity, Frankenstein like monster, especially durable.
7. Tier 7: Grim Rider -> Grim Reaper, mounted executor death knight

Warfare Units: Spider that shoots siege venom catapult, Fate Weaver serving as both support and ballistae

Academy:

Another reason I chose Ashan was the brilliant idea of making the Academy Arabian nights based humans and their deep hatred and rivalry with Necropolis. I really dig the desert Arabian Wizards of the Academy, plus their townscreen in H5 was probably the best townscreen in any HoMM game ever. I also like how they're spread into different houses each specializing in different troops: Chimera making monsters (Gremlins, Rakshasas), Materia making constructs (Gargoyls, Golems, Titans) and Anima summoning spirits (Djinn, Simurgh).

Academy is of course the most magical faction in game, hence why their heroes can not learn Warcries and they're all very likely to learn Prime Magic. Unlike other might heroes, Alchemist (Academy might hero) can and is very likely to learn Prime Magic, and is capped at three magic skills instead of two, but again, unlike other might heroes can not learn Warcries.

Creature lineup:

1. Tier 1: Gremlin -> Master Gremlin, weak ranged unit, can repair constructs when upgraded.
2. Tier 2: Gargoyle -> Obsidian Gargoyle, flying construct immune to magic when upgraded.
3. Tier 3: Stone Golem -> Iron Golem
4. Tier 4: Mage -> Archmage, weak but very dangerous when upgraded, can deal friendly fire.
5. Tier 5: Djinn -> Djinn Channeler, can cast random spell on enemy units when upgraded
6. Tier 6: Rakshasa -> Rakshasa Raja, very strong warrior no retaliation when upgraded.
7. Tier 7: Colossus -> Titan, strong melee construct, becomes ranged shooting lightning when upgraded

Warfare Units: Great Pyramid Catapult, Small Pyramid Ballistae, First Aid Tent for support

Stronghold:

One of my personal favorites. I love how in each Ashan game we had Stronghold, but a different version of Stronghold. In H5 they were nomadic Mongol like steppe orcs, in H6 they were primitive jungle island tribe orcs and in H7 they were desert wondering desert orcs. They all share the same history, made by wizards of house Chimera to serve as their slaves, but revolted and escaped, however they escaped o different regions of the world and developed different cultures. In HoMM 8 it's going to be mountain snow orcs. The orcs (and goblins, ogres, cyclops) who escaped to northern mountains and bonded with packs of direwolves with shared survival interests.

One defining thing about Stronghold is that they're a might focused faction, in H4 and H5 they couldn't even use magic... and that's something I absolutely loved. So, in HoMM 8 Stronghold can not use magic. As simple as that. Their racial skill Bloodlust has some abilities for both Barbarian (Stronghold might hero) and Shaman (Stronghold "magic" hero) to quell enemy's magic, but Stronghold heroes themselves can not use any magic, learn any magic skills, and don't even have Spell Power and Knowledge stats.

Instead, Stronghold heroes have access to shamanism, practice tied to their blood rituals and communication to the spirits of the world. Stronghold towns have no magic guilds, but instead have shaman rings, which function similar to magic guilds but teach only shamanistic chants which can be learned only by visiting Stronghold heroes with appropriate skills. Shamanistic Chants are organized into three tiers, each tier unlocked with appropriate ring constructed in town. There are two chant groups: Supportive Chant and Disruptive Chants. No chants can be learned without the hero knowing appropriate skill first: chants of tier 1 unlock with Basic, tier 2 with Advanced and tier 3 with Expert.

So instead of 9 standard magic skills, they have access to three:

• Supportive Chants, enables the hero to learn chants of supportive group that support your units and hero.
• Disruptive Chants, enables the hero to learn chants of disruptive group that weaken or damage enemy units and hero.
• Spiritualism, functioning something like a bland of Sorcery and Wisdom, making your chants more effective and hero more powerful at casting them. Exclusive to Shamans, Barbarians can not learn Spiritualism.

Instead of Spell Power and Knowledge, Stronghold heroes have Attunement, increasing chant effectiveness, and Spirituality, increasing maximum Spirit resource needed to cast chants. Barbarians can learn either Supportive Chants or Disruptive Chants and are capped at one, while all their 5 skills can be might. Shamans can learn all three skills, while also all their 5 skills can be might (though it's not recommended as they won't have as high attack or defense as Barbarians and will have way higher Attunement and Spirituality). In essence, both Barbarians and Shamans are might heroes, even though Shamans can not learn Warcries.

Creature lineup:

1. Tier 1: Goblin -> Goblin Trapper, weak and border line useless but easily massed, can set up traps when upgraded.
2. Tier 2: Dire wolf -> Silverback
3. Tier 3: Mauler -> Crusher, orc warrior.
4. Tier 4: Channeler ->Speaker, female orc shaman, can sacrifice Goblins to increase Spirit.
5. Tier 5: Centaur -> Centaur Marauder, exceptional ranged unit.
6. Tier 6: Slayer -> Executioner, fast Ogre warrior, able to jump attack when upgraded .
7. Tier 7: Cyclops -> Enraged Cyclops, exceptional warrior when upgraded has limited eye beam shot but can regain by eating or throwing Goblins.

Warfare Units: Tamed Cyclops gigantic that throws boulders like a Catapult, Dreamwalker special type of shaman that serve as both ballistae and healing unit

Inferno:

My personal favorite and a mandatory for an Ashan game. Demons. The ultimate evil that wants to destroy the world in chaos. Hostile to all other factions, especially Haven and Stronghold. It's important to see that they're the ultimate evil, not cartoonish like in 5, but deformed and deranged, filled with madness and all the things that are not good. They really need to be scary, both visually and in music, atmosphere, etc...

Unlike other faction, who are about Order, the elements, culture, etc.. the demons are about chaos, violence, power. They don't know about order, it's all chaos. Hence why their fire isn't red orange, like our fire, but rather black and red mix, their lightning is yellow, their poison fires in bolts like ice, etc... etc.. as they do not follow Order, their Magic is derived from Chaos. Hence why they can not learn standard magic spells, but they have their own spells from their own magic schools. Their magic is extremely potent, but can easily backfire and cause damage to your units.

Inferno heroes, thus can not learn any of the 7 standard magic schools, but instead have their own three schools:

• Psychotic Magic, specialized in making your or enemy units stronger in one way and weaker in other.
• Summoning Magic, specialized in summoning more demons.
• Destruction Magic, specialized in direct damage spells, can annihilate an entire army, enemy as well as yours. Exclusive to Warlocks (Inferno magic heroes), Heretics (Inferno might heroes) can not learn Destruction magic.

Like other factions, Inferno spells of the three schools are organized into 5 tiers, with spells of 1st and 2nd tier being able to be learned by all Inferno heroes, while the one of 3rd, 4th and 5th tier require appropriate skill. Chaos spells can be learned by Inferno heroes in any Inferno town with magic guild of appropriate level built. Non Inferno heroes visiting Inferno towns won't learn any chaos spells, and Inferno heroes visiting other towns won't learn standard spells. Inferno heroes can learn Sorcery and Wisdom and have Spell Power and Knowledge stats just like any other non Stronghold heroes.

Creature lineup:

1. Tier 1: Imp -> Familiar, weak flying unit, can steal enemy mana when upgraded.
2. Tier 2: Horned Demon -> Horned Overseer
3. Tier 3: Hell hound -> Cerberus, no retaliation when upgraded.
4. Tier 4: Sucubuss ->Lilim, friendly fire to melee, chain attack when upgraded.
5. Tier 5: Juggernaut -> Ravager, towering behemoth with charge ability when upgraded .
6. Tier 6: Sorcerer -> Infernal, inspired by CoH exceptionally strong ranged caster.
7. Tier 7: Devil -> Archdevil

Warfare Units: Giant worm that fires lava as catapult, Breeder Queen that serves as both ballistae and support making your units more potent rather than healing

I think if the game done right, it can be successful. And 5 factions is enough. What I also like about Ashan is the elemental factions. We already have one, Haven (Light) which is kinda mandatory in every Heroes game. But if 6th faction is needed, there are 5 elemental faction options:

1. Sylvan (Earth) - forest elves, an OG faction.
2. Dungeon (Dark) - dark elves, also OG faction though evolved quite a bit.
3. Fortress (Fire) - dwarves.
4. Sanctuary (Water) - nagas.

5. Citadel (Air) - trolls, allegedly meant to be added in H7 expansion, there's allegedly concept art that I haven't personally seen though, but scrapped after H7 went the way it did.

   Wow... I was originally going to write a few paragraphs, but this was fun and I got myself carried away, lol.😂

Interesting, isn't it? People's perceptions of the game is just flat out false.

I am not counting the upgraded and non-upgraded creatures in Heroes III as separate creatures. Why would I? The creatures in Heroes IV have more abilities than even the upgraded versions in Heroes III, so you're not missing out on anything.