[Eximius Sus]

I couldn't even get past the first 5 missions in HOMM 5. All that fiddling around moving my view and trees blocking the terrain? I hated it. So the result was a change of basic art and style for the sake of flash destroyed the game for me. And the cut scenes were bloody awful.

I loved HOMM4. Very much my favourite although I know that's a very rare feeling. Probably why I liked HOMM4 so much was the brilliant maps made by folks like Sarvi. Still it's predecessors were all fine games without great flavour. Like Disciples 2 a game can be great without a pile of flash. HOMM 3 had that brilliant map Sander's Folly. Just loved that.

But your last sentence totally sums up my feelings on this matter. The big studios do a brilliant job of making beautiful games with crap content and zero replayability. Let the indies do what they do best. Produce games full of content and long life.