Prerelease:Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia/Renders

This is a sub-page of Prerelease:Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia.

To do: Descriptions

Renders

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  Dragon Scale Armor model used also in HoMM4.

Cut Creatures

Will-o-the-Wisp

As you call it, the Demilich was supposed to be a Will-o-the-Wisp, for the Fortress. It was inspired by the Lost Soul monster from Doom, and was cut because we couldn’t get it to ‘glow’ properly.

Lobstrosity

While I never saw the modeled Lobstrosity, and never knew it was in the game as a ‘secret’ Troop, I do recall seeing the concept art.  As it is now commonly called, the Lobstrosity was George Almond’s first attempt at the Behemoth (the concept art file is appropriately named).

After Phelan showed the sketch to me, I told her, “No.”

She then shrugged and asked, “Well?  What’s it supposed to look like?”

I told her, “Something like the Rancor from Return of the Jedi.”

With this new information, she departed and spun up the game’s final result.  As for the Lobstrosity, I had no idea the creature had been modeled and I never saw the final result.  This would explain why I didn’t remember it.

Aristocratic Elf

Cancelled Grand Elf variant by April Lee:

Here is the upgrade of the Wood Elf, both of which I modeled and textured.

I believe the Aristocratic Elf was an early draft version of the Grand Elf.

Vanilla Vreatures

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  "Nurbs for tentacles. Animated using Bone Pro. I modeled it and Ken T. animated it." By Steve Wasaff

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  "Crimsone Manticore" by April Lee.

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Q: As you said in the earlier interviews, Angels are highly advanced technological (biotechnological?) constructs.  What about Monks and Zealots?  Are they human or maybe something else?  One of the tavern rumor states: “Have you heard?  Zealots are beings of pure energy.”
A: Monks are human, and Zealots are ‘ascended’ Monks; essentially higher-level Monks able to control and project energy.  I wouldn’t say they are beings of pure energy, but they are luminous.

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  Early Cavalier render.

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  Pitiful Gnoll animation before amendments.

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  Gnoll by April Lee. "This is the upgrade for the Gnoll, both of which I modeled and textured and animated. I had a fun time digging up hyena textures to put on him. Of course, in the game, these guys are pretty tiny and most detail disappears."

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Greg Fulton on Giants and Titans nature

XEL: Giants and titans are made of some rock-like material (which is especially evident in the titan’s HoMM2 and MM 6-7 death animation), but appear to be something more than just a golem. Also a notable thing is that both angels and some giants and titans are allied with Bracada. Did you have any ideas about titan lore?

In terms of game mechanics, what Jon and I wanted to avoid, was having yet another group of troops immune to Mind Spells. To this end, I considered Naga, Giants, and Titans to be conceptually similar to Dendroids, but there was never any specific lore explanation crafted to elaborate on this idea.

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Question: In Heroes of Might and Magic III Ogre magi possess an ability of casting Bloodlust, although in D&D they have no such or any comparable magic ability among their special abilities. At the same time in Warcraft II ogre-magi have an identically named ability, which makes this coincidence peculiar. Were both cases based on some common source? Where did the ability to cast Bloodlust come from if it is not in D&D?

In Heroes 3, I gave the Ogre Magi the ability to cast Bloodlust, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I was a big fan of Warcraft 2 (WC2), and this was a clear acknowledgement of my admiration for the game. Secondly, because Warcraft 2 was extremely popular, it was redefining various fantasy stereotypes. As I believed embracing popular fantasy stereotypes was an important aspect of Heroes 3, in this case, I designated the Heroes 3 Ogres could be magi, and Ogre Magi could cast Bloodlust… just like Warcraft 2. – Greg Fulton

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Towns

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  Rampart Wagon - resource silo

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Cinematics Renders

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  Render of King Gryphonheart; model was used in HoMM3 outro.

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  Tavern big cinematic.

Box Art and Advertisement

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  Cover Art in a big resolution.

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  Interesting frontal renders of Queen Catherine, Hydra and Archangel as shown on Ubi Soft advertisement.

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Promo figurines

Below are raw renders for promo purposes of XToys figurines that are not presnt in the game - it doesn't contain sprites facing player. They were promised to be forged into flash, but as we know, it never happened. Two others are shown here in higher resolution renders of an Archangel and an Elf, the third is Medusa in the back from Might and Magic VII promo mash-up.

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  Promo screenshot with models from HoMM3 shown in MM7 environment.

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Promo Art by Tracy Iwata

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  Black Dragon's breath.