Heroes of Newerth:
(That's an older youtube vid I found. I'm not allowed to publish new material from the beta.)
A beta-leak video review of HoN (German). Shows you much of the lobby interface and other features.
League of Legends:
An official trailer for LoL.
A video review of LoL (english). Not sure if leaked or sanctioned.
DotA (Defense of the Ancients)
Some DotA video. I honestly couldn't find ANY good gameplay video for Dota. Most vids are simply my-dick-is-BIG demonstrations accompanied by some shitty trash metal soundtrack or something bombastic (like, US-marine corp recruitment orchestrals or Carmina Burana). Sorry. If you can recommend a good DotA video I'll put it up.
Demigod:
Demigod showcase video featuring Lord Erebus.
Demigod showcase video featuring Queen of Thorns. Probably not office safe.
For those that don't know what HoN or LoL are: Both are DotA clones. If you don't know what DotA is then google it.
First HoN impressions:
Bottom line: Graphically it's definetly a step down when compared to Demigod. But noticably better than DotA. It's really really running smooooooothly. If you consider the small DG roster Demigod's biggest drawback, then HoN might seem attractive. The complexity and detail of each hero is lower than that of any one Demigod. It's also extremely beginner unfriendly. And even though Demigod didn't have any kind of tutorial either, you grasp the gist of DG way faster than that of HoN. HoN is clearly aimed at DotA players. It looks so similar to DotA that fanboys might as well stay there.
It's still in beta so many things will change. The strongest point of HoN is it's large hero rooster. Apart from that I don't think the Demigod has much to fear.
But since it's an early test phase, I'll certainly give it another try. I can endure the "F*CKING _NOOB" for a time, hehehehe.
There's also a DENYing mechanic to kill your own creep and prevent the opposing team from gaining XP and Gold.
If anyone could spare a key to test HoN, I'd appreciate it.
In some sense, we all should thank Gas Powered Games for publishing Demigod, it shows the gaming industry that there is a market for these type of games as proof of concept. Hence, we may possibly be seeing more of these types of game coming out. I spoke to my friends and their criticism of Demigod is that you can't camp and gang on others on any of the Demigod map. Hence it is poor design. And a lot of dota players that he knows won't migrate to demigod because there are just other similar variety of maps out there running on the warcraft 3 engine. As for league of legends, the game looks too silly and childish, more like Dota for kids.
Just as ayamanraa, I would also love to test out HoN, for what it's worth.I don't know what I can do to justify why I should get one, other than my humble thanks and cookies.
Not only did Stardock publish Demigod, they are also the only party involved that I still respect. Which each passing day I get the feeling that the more energy Stardock puts in this game, the less we'll see of GPG..
You know off course that SD Fu*** the conection in the first place heh? I have a lot of respect for their support but it's not like they didn't do things wrong. GPG needs to communifcate more, thats all.
Hind sight is 20/20 vision. Hopefully you'll never make mistakes in your life.
What? Sounds very reasonable, but whats your point?
Ok, so I got my Beta invite at last.Played two games, and my conclusion; Demigod is superiour.
Maybe it's just me that sucks at DotA (well, HoN is DotA, just new engine), but I found it lacking in quite many aspects, not only the complete lack of originality.
Nah, Demigod ftw.
GPG on the other hand promised us a lot, but as of yet I haven't seen much of it. It could be that behind the scenes they already finished 90% of it, in which case there is no problem, but up till now we hear absolutely nothing from their side, which makes me believe they are not working very hard on this game anymore. If they have fixed most outstanding bugs, almost finished the demigods, etc why wouldn't they tell us? They don't even have to directly, because frogboy could easily put that in one of his posts. But no, absolute radio silence from GPG so far.
Have 3 Beta invites in stock.Drop me a line though PM if you want one. First come, first served basis.
I just finished up my first couple of rounds of HoN, and boy are my old DotA skills rusty. I forgot how fast the game is after playing Demigod for so long!
Overall, the OP nailed it.To me, HoN and Demigod are two different styles of this Sub-genre, much like Counter-Strike and Quake 3 are two different styles of FPS Multiplayer. Both games share a lot in common, however they appeal to different crowds and I think this is what we're going to see. I can see HoN already capturing the masses, because DotA already did. However, a new player walking in with no DotA experience would be so overwhelmed, and by extension hated by the community, that the game itself may be self defeating. There is so little difference between the two I can't honestly see the point in buying HoN if you already play DotA besides the fresh coat of paint.
The other is, as mentioned already, is the community. I can this game community replacing DotA as the worst online community of all time. Each time a person died in both of the games I played, someone activated a vote for them to be kicked. The ganking nature of DotA is also very much alive, and Stun Locking your opponents down as opposed to clever use of your skills is a type of gameplay I don't enjoy.
In terms of what HoN does better than Demigod, I can't honestly name a thing, mostly because despite drawing inspiration from the same source they do things very differently. The lobby system is certainly better, however in terms of the actual game, I think Demigod 1-UPs it in all areas. They do have pretty water though
For me, the better game is Demigod. It's slower, more tactical nature appeals to me more than the fast nature of HoN. If you liked DotA but find Demigod not the game for you, than I believe HoN is what you've been waiting for.
And it leads to amusing dances in the lobby with demigod choices flopping about
Oh I have trouble with that demi as this one but this other I tear that demi up...back and forth ..kinda amusing
Regarding the zoom feature of HoN: You CAN zoom farther out by the use of console commands. But zoom out too far (that would by about standard height for Rook players) and the play zone gets overlaid with black patches ... either an engine limitation or another option I don't know about yet.
Anyway, if anyone suggests in a thread at the HoN forums to implement a zoom feature akin to Demigod then you get usually involved in a one sided scream contest against DotA fundamentalists:
You get the idea.
Kinda reminds me of Space Quest IV, the first VGA 256 color game in the series, where Roger Wilco travels back in time to Space Quest I and get's beaten up by the Monochrome Boys ("What? Two colors not enough for you?").
I have a couple beta keys if anyone wants 1.
Just PM.
I also got a pair of keys left, so don't be afraid to PM.Also, if anyone happens to have a LoL beta and wanna trade, you got yourself a deal.
Hopefully when he makes them, it won't effect thousands of gamers. Nothing like a gamer's scorn, amirite?
The vibe I'm getting is "it's like comparing apples to oranges... but yeah oranges are better and here's why...". I understand while there may be some differences, the games have the same goals and approach them in very similar ways. Destory the enemy base while defending your own. Kill the enemy teams for profits along the way and help your troops get past towers. I don't think its like comparing Counter stike and Quake 3. If anything its more like comparing Unreal Tournament to Quake 3. These two games are very easily comparable.
There is one point that I agree with hands down, HoN community is "teh t0xic". I've advised all of my friends to avoid playing with strangers and joining "noob only" matches.I think there is plenty to love about HoN but most of the things that bugged me (too close camera, game speed), I have grown accustomed to. I think that spending alot of on Demigod will jar most folks when they 1st hop into HoN (I cannot stress enough, that playing private matches to learn the ropes is the way to go). Once you get past the learning curve, the game is a blast. A few of you on here seem friendly enough, you should consider hooking up with each other.
For the record, Batman HAS kicked Superman's butt
Seriously folks, nothing wrong with enjoying both. I will never understand fanboi'ism.
I played a bit more with HoN and even submitted some bugs ... and then I found out that they were features ..........
You know Demigod or any other RTS game, ok? Soon after release some balance changes happen, often leaving the cool parts nerfed.
Not HoN!
HoN is nerfed from the start!!
For example:
You have to destroy the enemy buildings, right? So it makes perfect sense to ... make buildings immune to hero spells. Got a fireball? Forget it, buildings can't be attacked with spells.
You got cool combat area effect spells? That's nice, but they don't work against certain units like ... catapults? Fire immune wooden catapults?
You managed to sneak into the enemy base and want to take out their critical buildings? Hah, silly you. Those buildings are invulnerable! At least until something happens (I suspect it must be hit by a normal critter beforehand).
Ok, there may be perfectly sensible reasons they had to make buildings and siege units magic immune (or whatever), but this just doesn't feel right.
Instead of coming up with a battle system that makes sense (in a I-hit---you-hurt kinda sense), it starts with a bag full of compromises.
Oh I agree, however DotA and by extension HoN just don't appeal to me. Demigod does. People who may not like one might like the other, and people who like one might like both. There is no general rule. I was merely offering an opinion, which what I believe this thread was created for.
I liked DOTA. When I started playing DG I liked DG a lot more. When I play DOTA now I hate it.
Fair enough. I was merely pointing out that both you and Aroddo suggested that both shouldn't be compared, followed by your comparisons. It's no biggie, just found it chuckle worthy.
I didn't read everything, just some quick browsing, but I didn't see either of them say that the games shouldn't be compared, simply that there are significant differences. A lot of what I saw was more a review of the various games rather than conclusions drawn from direct one-to-one comparisons.
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