[Edi]

I realize this post is drastically off topic, but since I was asked:

I like HoMM5 very much, it is very similar to HoMM3, which I also liked, though the skill system has been changed rather drastically and everything is 3D. Heroes 4 was crap out of the box, but the Heroes 4 Complete version (included both expansion packs and all patches) was a good game, though played very differently from its predecessors since heroes were on the battlefield like units and a lot of the concepts were stolen from AoW.

I don't think the story in the HoMM5 campaigns is a bad one at all. But if you don't like campaign play, I recommend buying the Tribes of the East expansion straight out. It's standalone, you don't need basic HoMM5 or the Hammers of Fate expansion and everything that was wrong with the heroes and skill system in the base game and HoF has been fixed in ToE. ToE also has the combo artifacts that were introduced to HoMM3 in the Shadow of Death expansion.