Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Treasures Untold

So in preperation for my move into my new house, I've obviously been packing up all my stuff. I had no idea I owned all this junk, but I do and I've got to pack it all up. While packing, though, I discovered a box in my garage with lots of old software and manuals, including Heroes of Might and Magic I, II, and III along with some of their paperwork, like the quick-guides and such. Heroes of Might and Magic was the first series that I became truly obsessed with, starting with Heroes I and every installment since then (that was Mac compatible, of course). These turn-based strategy games were my first serious foray into computer gaming and I'd stay up for hours late at night playing, trying to beat the computer.

Now, the old disks obviously don't play on any new Mac, ever since they switched over to OS X. But, because I'm a crazy Mac lover, along with my parents, I still have my ancient iMac. You remember those? The ones that were all bubble-shaped and colorful? Well, mine wasn't exactly colorful since it's "graphite" or grey, but, hey, it's old and it still works. I dusted it off and plugged it in and heard that glorious startup sound. Ah, memories. :D

I'm pretty sure the internal battery is shot, though, because it thought it was December 30, 1969 and the hard drive was named some strange string of numbers and symbols or something, but I fixed it all up, popped in the disk and fired up the game. Ah, to hear the midi music and see the crappy animations and sprites gave me a little bubble of joy! For a game from 1995 (I can't believe it's over 10 years old now!), it's addicting. I decided to run the campaign and started as the Knight, since they have the cheapest units. "Lord Ironfist" built up his castle and took the central town on the map, earning victory! /cheer

I started the second map of the campaign, but since it was getting late, I saved and shut down. While it's certainly no WoW, it is tons of fun. I have Heroes II and Heroes III as well, and I think I still have Heroes IV on my shelf in my room. Freeverse semi-recently released Heroes V for Mac, but it's plagued a bit by bugs in the software, which is a real shame. I bought it anyway, of course, as a download on my laptop. :D

I think as a side thing, especially until I get internet installed in my place, I'll be running through the campaigns of the games, especially Heroes III. I personally think that III was the absolute best of the entire series, the most polished. Pity I don't have the expansions for it (and checking amazon.com, the mac version of Heroes III complete is about $150!!! Geeze!!). Well, probably a good thing, otherwise I'd probably hardly ever play WoW again. lol

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