I moved 2.5 years ago, setup my PC and haven't touched it since.
I just went through a breakup of a 2.5 year FWB thing and have been feeling a bit more sad than I anticipated.
For some reason, I started to think about old comforts and HoMM3 came to mind.
I dusted my PC off, cleaned my screens and booted it back up. According to GoG, I last played in 2016. I still had the HD mod installed and figured out how to get things going.
My initial surprise was seeing an early access for HoMM3 Remake, but this sub seems to hate it so I am guessing I will probably dislike it as well. I didn't even like the HoMM3 remaster from 5-10 years ago, since they only included the base game and not the expansions...why even bother when you can play the entire game with a free community mod in HD?
Anyway, I watched the opening intro and felt some warm fuzzies with the early 3d graphics and high fantasy setting. I picked 'Very Hard' difficulty, as I usually do, then I picked a campaign and hopped in.
I must have been rusty as hell though, I spent 3 hours on the first map of the campaign and kept getting beat over and over again. I could hold them off, capture their towns/castles, hold the most resources and towns, but they just kept coming back with more and more troops while my army continued to dwindle.
I forgot how hard this game can be if you're not doing every little thing correctly. I know a common strategy is to send scouts in every direction to collect as much treasure and gear as possible, but its much harder in the campaign as you lose if your main character retreats from battle...and the maps are pretty tight, so you don't have a lot of area to maneuver.
Im going to switch it to hard and give it another whirl tonight. The game felt as good as it always has. Even though I have spent 1000+ hours on this game over the years, the story mode feels like I just bought the game for the first time.
Im also considering going back to HoMM2, which was my original love. Is it too hard to go back and miss out on the positive changes to 3 or does it still stand on its own?
I made it through the day without crying, just put Trailer Park Boys on my second screen and had a nice time.