Heroes of Might and Magic III: Armageddon's Blade

So... who are these people?

Dear god, this expansion is hard. I mean really hard. I started the Gelu campaign and god, it's brutal. Limited resources and an relentless AI just keeps attacking. Like 3-4 weeks and it's game over... again and again. And Gelu is one of the overpowered heroes that in Shadow of Darkness dominated every battle. Here he needs his skill just to fight of a low ranked villain. Never enough gold or resources. At least it forced me to actually use tactics and learn what I need to win the campaign, but after 10 losses I just gave up, "nwctrinity" it was and an army of angels to bash the kreegans back to hell. That strategy worked until I played the Dragon slayer campaign when suddenly there is over 3000 Naga Queens in front of every tent or block your path. So it was F that and "nwcredpill" to run through all the stages. I know I suck at games, but who could manage those insane levels without spending months to learn the stages and do these, often within limited amount of time? I have no patience for that and the computer sounds like it can't take much more with the configurations to just get it running. Damn, I mean, even cheating is a chore. Almost every enemy goes to combat screen even when I'm having 700 Archangels. It's like the campaigns are designed to be tedious.

As the dragon slayer contemplated the emptiness he felt and wonder if it was really worth it, I wonder... was this an anti-cheating campaign?

There isn't any universal story, instead it follows different heroes after the restoration war (in most cases). You have Queen Catherine and King Roland together with the Ranger Captain Gelu trying to stop the half-demon Xerxon from completing the titular Armageddon's Blade and give it to Lucifer Kreegan so he can burn the world. The Erathians are aided by the Conflux, this games new town which are more magic and elementals. Supposedly they were gonna be aliens to tie in with the RPG's that had this advanced alien computer running the worlds, but fan backlash made them change that. Can't say if it's good or bad. Then we have Dragon slayer Dracon proving his worth to defeat the Azure dragon, if he did it without cheating then he truly is the greatest dragon slayer. You follow the barbarian Kilgor ascending the throne of the barbarians. A fire witch chasing after the resurrected Lord Haart to put his corpse back in the grave and then a Nighon overlords struggle to get the dragon fathers blood and turn herself into a dragon. All interesting... but I have no connection to these people and I can't even play them on normal playthroughs, mostly because they are overpowered, but as stated they need to be in order to survive the campaigns. There is one exception and that is the tale of Sir Christian, an aspiring fragrence alchemist  that gets stranded on an island near Enroth and must get his way back home, but ends up leading Queen Catherines invasion force in the restoration war. Yes, this is a prequel campaign for the original game.

Finally, a face to remember... a pity they gave him another portrait in the expansion

The last campaign doesn't take itself seriously where he complains for every fork in the road and the first orcs he meet sounds like the Munchkins from "Wizard of Oz". It was enjoyable and not as damn hard as the other campaigns. And it actually have a character I knew about and will look differently at when replaying Restoration of Erathia in the future. I'm glad I played this expansion last.  Best is to play them in chronological order (with exception of Christians campaign) since it give more personification to certain heroes as well is slow enough in difficulty (only problem is the differences between versions, like combining artefacts). Then again, some of the fun comes from that you know he lead the restoration army. Personally I would have a hard time replaying this expansion, damn fairy dragons.