I played the third one but just could not spend hours on it, you know. I liked the idea of skills building for the heroes but the gameplay and graphics are most surely outdated now given the plethora of 3d rpgs out there.
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I spent hours upon hours on 3, helping with some of the game testing. Of course, I was into the series before I started working at New World...
Also, I was a Level Designer, wrote stories (which were significantly cut out of the final version) and created maps for 4. I had a blast working on HOMM 4.
But Heroes of Might and Magic is a strategy game. You might be referring to the Might and Magic series?
"Repetitive to the point of tedium"