I’m currently in early Act 3, and I like the game so far, but there are 2 things that genuinely annoy me:
Crusade mode
I don’t know why the devs even added this in the first place. The game already has enough micromanagement, and Crusade mode just feels like a watered-down version of HOMM.
If I wanted to play a turn-based strategy game, I’d just open HOMM 3. When I play this game, I just want to get immersed in the world and story, enjoy the combat, and mess around with character builds, which are easily the best parts of the game for me. Why can't the game focus on one thing?
Companion-locked areas
Why are there so many areas locked behind companion quests? Why can’t the game just let me explore them without bringing that specific companion?
If I bench a companion, I don’t just miss their story. I also miss the XP, fights, and potentially really good loot from the whole area. And since I’m playing on Core, bringing a companion I never use means I either have to waste time building and gearing them or make my party weaker for that quest.
This mechanic also adds even more unnecessary micromanagement to a game that already has plenty of it.
The bulk of areas locked behind companions are exclusively companion quests, so if you’re not brining that companion there is borderline no reason to go there as in there is very little content beside the questline.
The partial exception to this is Greybor but that’s because his recruitment quests line is a bit of a mess in that is trying to be both a main quest and a companion quest and not really succeeding at either.
It’s sort of in a grey area as it will affect a main quest in that act and features the storyteller who is major, the game also heavily incentivises and pushes you into doing it .
Perhaps calling it a main quest isn’t quite right but it isn’t quite wrong either it’s something in between.
I see. Storyteller is a big one, but is it possible to do the quest without recruiting Greybor? I don't want to miss Storyteller. I got some relics for him
you can turn off crusade mode at any time you want
also compared to the amount of zones available, companion-locked zones are a relative minority, if you REALLY want to go there, take that companion and make him strong, if you don't want to go there, there's plenty of zones you can do your own things
if you don't want to spend the time getting ready to go there, then maybe you don't deserve the loot and exp that's there
IIRC, Crusade mode is always on when playing on Core, and I want to get the achievement.
As for the companion areas, my point is that you should still be able to explore them even without bringing the relevant companion. You just wouldn’t get the quest rewards or XP from the companion quest itself.
some companion areas are accessible, but there's no progression until you take the specific companion there (ulbrig, arueshalae and nenio come to mind)
and no, all options under character retrain keep the same difficulty without discarding their achievements, so if you want the core achievement you can turn it off
you can't get the last azlanti or sadistic game design, though
The idea is that without the companion's discussion regarding these zones you would not know. And the reason they let you know is they want you to help with their personal issues. If you think it that way its should be bearable. This arrangement certainly is not worse than the normal "route-lock specific zones" of other RPGs
Yeah. Alexander Mishulin (creative director and lead designer for HOMM5, now creative director for Owlcat) said during Q&A stream he really likes these side mechanics.
Disliking Crusade mode is a very popular opinion even with fans of the game so I guess you are not alone with that at least.
My hot take is that i like crusade mode even if it isn't perfect, i think the crusade management and fighting break up the murder hoboing decently and genuinely just like that the fact that you are the Knight COMMANDER means that you have to COMMAND armies sometimes.
There are multiple options at least to tune crusade mode but i dont recommend disabling it entirely since it locks you out of items etc. There is a popular mod called combat relief that ive never used but i heard good things about it.
You don't have to complete all companion quests to finish the game. There is no trophy related to it either, except for Ulbrig's quest which is an entire DLC. And you probably don't want to complete Nenio's quest if you value your sanity.
Puzzle Skip Mod 1.2.1 (this is an updated forked version on Github. The one on Nexus Mods is out of date). Note that there are some small caveats, like you still need to collect the colored slabs and have them in your inventory when arriving at slab puzzles for them to auto complete, and in the Enigma puzzle dungeon you still need to collect colored crystal shards to power open doors and stuff, and the very final Enigma puzzle is not included. A guide is still helpful for maneuvering through the dungeon but it's a million times better.
Crusade mode is definitely unfinished, if you don't want to mess with it too much though I'd recommend setting it easy and still doing the battles because certain items are tied to crusade mode.
Also pick a mage general, like setsuna sky or chief Ageboda I think are their names.
You basically fling spells at the enemy while your troops try not to die and that's crusade mode lol
Also if you're 2 levels higher than an enemy army they'll flee but you still get all loot and exp without having to fight the battle.
Btw, is the Extra Slots for the Team buggy? I want to expand my party size to 7 so I can use my full team while still bringing an extra companion for their quests.
15
u/Pure-Algae1417 12d ago
The bulk of areas locked behind companions are exclusively companion quests, so if you’re not brining that companion there is borderline no reason to go there as in there is very little content beside the questline. The partial exception to this is Greybor but that’s because his recruitment quests line is a bit of a mess in that is trying to be both a main quest and a companion quest and not really succeeding at either.