Overview
Welcome to my Heroes of Might and Magic 2 website. This site contains all the info you need about Heroes of Might and Magic 2: The Succession Wars. This excellent game is the second in a 4-game series of highly popular strategy games, the Heroes of Might and Magic series. The game name is abbreviated as either Heroes 2, or HoMM2. HoMM2 was released by 3DO in 1996, following the release of its predecessor in 1995.
Heroes of Might and Magic 2 combines fantasy and strategy in a war-type game, where you and 1 to 5 other warlords compete for lands and resources. To win, the player must fight and defeat enemy heroes, gain artifacts, and capture towns and castles. These must be fortified and defended, or else the enemy will capture them. Strategic planning and cunning need to be utilized in order to claim victory.
The Story
Having crushed his enemies, consolidated his power base and eliminated dissent at the end of Heroes of Might and Magic, Lord Ironfist settled down to rule the land of Enroth. After 25 years of peace, the land is again thrust into turmoil. Lord Ironfist is dead and the ensuing struggle for power between his sons, Archibald and Roland, has led to a state of civil war. Players must choose sides and gather their armies as they use all of their strategic wit and tactics to join in the battle for domination of the lands.
Features
- 66 monsters
- 9 terrain types
- Over 70 spells
- 4 primary skills
- Over 70 artifacts
- 14 secondary skills
- 74 structures to build
- 6 types of castles/heroes
- 40 campaign scenarios with unique 3D rendered sequences (movies) for each
- Up to 6 players via hot-seat (on one computer), modem, network, direct connect or internet
New in HoMM2
Primarily, there are 2 new hero types: Wizard and Necromancer. They are both spellcasters; the Wizard is good, and the Necromancer is evil. They of course come with their own castles and complements of creatures. The Wizard controls magical creatures, while the Necromancer commands undead armies.
Besides the new hero types, there are new heroes for each of the other types as well. Consequently, some from the original game have been removed. In the previous game, the only females were the Sorceresses, while the other hero types were all males. Here, however, all of the hero types have both male and female heroes. The only exception are the Sorceresses, which is still an all-female cadre. Also, the Warlock type is still all-male as well.
There are 2 new terrain types: beach and cracked wasteland
Secondary skills have been added. When a hero knows a certain secondary skill, it increases his ability to do different things. For example, Navigation gives a hero extra movement when in a boat. There are 3 levels of secondary skills: Basic, Advanced, and Expert. Each higher level gives the hero a better benefit than he would get at a lower level. There are 14 different skills available. A single hero can learn up to 8 different skills.
Many new artifacts have been added, in addition to the ones from the first game. There are also new types of artifacts.
The Neutral creatures dossier has been enlarged with the addition of Elementals and Medusas. For details on these, check the Neutral Creatures section.
A new spell system has been implemented. Instead of memorizing spells, which is limited by the hero's knowledge, the hero can cast spells based on the number of spell points he has. For every level of knowledge, the hero gets 10 spell points. Every spell has it's own casting cost, which is detracted from the hero's spell points. However, the spells are permanently inscribed into the hero's spell book. Many new spells have been added, and they are now categorized in 5 levels instead of 4 like in the previous game.
Towns and castles now have new structures available to be built. Some aid in defense, others increase creature production. Also, some creature dwellings can be upgraded, producing more powerful creatures than the regular base units.
The battlefield has been enlarged, with different user options available. Also, in battle, creatures can be affected by more than one spell at once. Another note is that some creatures are now immune to different spells.
Price of Loyalty Expansion
In 1997, in response to the popular reaction to HoMM2, Cyberlore Studios released an expansion pack for HoMM2 called The Price of Loyalty (POL). What this does is it adds extra features to the regular game (you must have the regular game first!), such as: new heroes, 4 new campaigns, many new scenarios, new artifacts, new map locations, and you can even recruit ghosts!