Warlords IV anyone?

[Kareem]

Did anyone here play Warlords IV: Heroes of Etheria? I just got it with a bunch of other games that a friend of mine was giving away, and I was wondering if it was worth spending time on.

[Lum]

I was pretty disappointed with it; it seemed to be a step backwards from earlier games in the series. Too simplistic and took some elements from the (excellent in their own right) Warlords Battlecry series that didn't really fit.

[Raife]

I agree with Lum. I've been a big fan of the series since the first one, and it has always gotten better with the new versions and expansions. Warlords IV was a strange sort of hybrid that didn't really work, and I'd easily recommend Warlords III: DLR or Battlecry over it.

You could try it, but I wouldn't expect much.

[Jasper]

Warlords 3: Darklords Rising is easily better. More interesting faction variety, plays faster, better scenarios, no tacked on Battlecry style main heroes, bigger view area and better interface, etc.

I don't think I've ever seen anyone claim to like Warlords 4 better.

[Krease Jones]

They should have just used the graphics engine from Warlords 4 to revamp an otherwise perfect Dark Lords Rising. Warlords 4 has some nice ideas but it just doesn't play as well. Its kind of the same effect I experienced when going from Civ 2 to Civ 3. Warlords 4 is definitely not a bad game though.

[Miramon]

Warlords IV looked good at first glance, but it soon became clear its AI was worse even than HoMM IV, and HoMM IV at least had other fun HoMM-ish elements, whereas the Warlords heroes, artifacts, powers, etc. just seem kind of lame and generic after a while.

I'd almost go back to HoMM II and III at this point. Some of the player-designed maps were brilliant, especially the RPG-ish ones.

[gnmarsh]

I picked it up for cheap and had a good time with it. I had never played any of the previous ones though.

[Kareem]

Thanks everyone. I guess I won't be bothering with it then.