Totally agreed. HOMMIII is still my favourite iteration of the HOMM series. IV, while not bad on its own with the new skill system, was very different (you could easily annihilate enemy armies with just your own hero and no army, you couldn't cast a spell anytime you wanted but had to wait your turn).
I immensely dislike HOMMV. Not just for the WOW/Warhammer-mimicking art style that was such a big change from the bright colorfull style of II-III-IV, but for one reason:
-Initiative.
They really messed that one up, unlike KB where there is still an initiative system but you can easily tell when your units will act. There are no real rounds as such in HOMMV, some creatures can act twice before another even gets a shot off. To make matters worse, your hero is limited by initiative too, which for spellcasters severely limits the clever use of spells at your choice of the moment.
The skill system was nice, and the unit abilities are nice too, but compared to KB's unit roster, not so innovative. Another big minus was, for me, the change from Hexagonal to square, and the "big units". In hexagonal system, big units were 2 hexes, and that wasn't a big problem on the battlefield. In the square system, they are 2x2 squares big, and the battlefield is usually very small, making movement very very hard for non-flying large units.
I upgraded my computer just to play with HOMMV, 2 years ago, and as of yet I have not gone further then the Warlock campaign... I just lost interest. The skill system, while usefull, was a lottery - you would try getting some of the nice combo skills, but you had no guarantee you will get the chance to pick up the pre-requisites. I would now rather play with the normal HOMMIII (not WOG, that mod is a mess and too over-complicated sadly...) then V.
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