Might & Magic Heroes VI Previews

I guess I’m just going to have to accept that the Heroes of Might and Magic naming convention is a thing of the past. Anyway, there are two new previews of Ubisoft’s Might & Magic Heroes VI on the web today.

First up is GameSpot:

As for the gameplay, the development team has spent a lot of time refining and attempting to perfect the formula that has made Might & Magic such a fan favorite over the years. In fact, Ubisoft and Black Hole Entertainment even setup a special message board for VIP fans of the previous games to discuss what they would like to see improved or changed for Heroes VI. For example, many people complained that the 3D in Heroes V made it difficult to see items and other objects, so that has seemingly been addressed already for VI.

But one of the bigger changes we know about so far deals directly with resource management. All resources are linked to castles in Heroes VI, so if someone chooses to attack a castle and win, they automatically get all of the resources tied to it as opposed to just fighting for a single resource–over and over. Additionally, once in possession of a castle, you can decide what you want to do with it–you can convert it completely to your class (for example, if you’re a necromancer, then the castle changes accordingly), or decide things like how it can defend itself. When engaged in turn-based combat on the battle maps, you’ll see an initiative bar that shows you the attack order (units can only have one action per round). Hero characters will also have special faction capabilities and there will be alternative objectives for some battles that may require you to do things like rescue a specific character or just survive. Also, 40-percent of the creatures per faction will be entirely new and there are also two whole factions that have yet to be revealed. And finally, the last bit of gameplay info we gleaned from the demo is that there will be boss battles. We didn’t get to see one in action, but we did get to see the cinematic leading up to a confrontation with what appeared to be some kind of water dragon.

And IGN chimes in, as well:

In a battle we were shown, the Hero was a necromancer named Svetlana who went into combat with an army of vampires, wraiths and skeleton archers. Fighting against knights and griffons, the fantasy combat was nicely detailed, with flashy magic effects and smoothly animated deaths for units on the field. You’ll have abilities like magical bolts that can rip through multiple targets, archers that can fire from afar, and other special skills to heal, resurrect, and do damage. The order of which unit is slated to move next will be displayed onscreen so there won’t be any mystery about what’ll attack next, and should you persevere and win you’ll be rewarded with experience and other spoils.

As you continue to move across map and reap resources you’ll also be able to take over towns to add to your forces, which in Heroes VI includes the ability to convert towns entirely to your faction. Building up your hero, whose progression is now persistent across missions, and army will be especially important if you aim to take on some of the dangerous boss characters being included in the game. We didn’t get to see any of these encounters, but we’re told bosses will have, as one might assume, abilities, attack power, and defenses far beyond that of the normal foes.