Yes, it seems to be related with the region, waiting until they fix it.

EDIT: It's fixed!!!!

Just installed the patch (which appeared in the library) - game is now working fine (by some reason, it still shows me that error, but after a while it disappeares and game works correctly.

I'd followed development for months (and tried to get into the testing but did not), and this was one of very few games I had anticipated buying at launch.

That said, I was pretty surprised the release price point was as high as it was, and only two (partial?) campaigns ready to go.

Re: Zeffyr's comments above I'm not at all surprised the first few hours are impressive, but for $30 on a very tight entertainment budget I really want to see reviews of people who've put in 20+ hours.

Not sure where the problem is considering its most likely 320 (someone confirm this?).? (a ton of dev's seem to prefer selling .Flac versions elsewhere)

seems like the "next big hit" for GOG, based on # of reviews thus far and how positive they are

Looks good but it's the very rare game that I don't wait for a 50-75% sale, even if it takes a while. I know it helps development and all that but saving money is necessary.

I'll be getting it for sure! Full price, for an incomplete game, I'm pretty sure I'm already supporting the developers by taking this risk.

I see alot of people talking about how good the campaigns are, and that they spent over 4 hours(with learning the game), and they still haven't finished the first campaign. I'm interested in single player and that's what I expect for the future development of this game. If my understanding is correct, two more campaigns will be added by the devs, over the course of finishing the game.

Also there are currently a dozen skirmish maps. The random map generator...does technically generate maps, but it has a long way to go before it's useful. User content is built into the game, hosted on mod.io rather than Steam workshop, so it's available to everybody. Right now there are at least a couple dozen more maps, some of which seem like they might be good, but it will be a long time before I really look into that aspect of things.

Finished the first campaign and about halfway through the second. Pretty good games, a mix of of HOMM and King's Bounty. Story went in one ear and out the other, but I'm enjoying the gameplay. There's room for improvement, but the core aspect feeling fun to play is there. It's also different enough from HOMM that you're not constantly wondering why you shouldn't be playing HOMM instead.

The base building works better than expected and adds some clear visual variety between the smaller and bigger towns. The unit limit also wasn't a smuch of an hindrance as expected, as in combination with the essence system it adds its own kind of tactical challenges.

More factions, maps and campaigns are definitely what I'd want from the release version, Additionally, high requirement spells, skills and artefacts to spice up the late game with and give you a goal to work towards. Right now, skills especially are more incremental, with possibly the exception of the essence skills as they unlock higher level versions of spells. It adds build diversity, but can get in the way feeling like your army is improving.

Neutral units would also be a welcome addition to add more faction variety, especially in longer games, as enemy bases get converted to your own upon capture.

One other thing worth noting is that the mod support is platform neutral by being done through mod.io, which is super appreciated.

I can't fathom that anyone would play these kinds of games for their narratives.

It's not the main draw, but if it's fun it does contribute. The HOMM storylines have their charm, with Heroes Chronicles as probably the best one, and King's Bounty focuses more on humour. Songs of Conquest at this point is not strong in this department, though tastes may vary.

Hm, that's more Disciples than HoMM (bar 6) or KB, a major element in these latter ones being the balance between making the best use of different factions' units and caring for and maintaining supply of your preferred ones.

Exactly this. Gameplay is of course the most important, but a good story campaign is a huge plus. The lore of Disciples is tasty to dive into. And the fully voiced campaigns in Heroes V are a joy to play through.

Let's just say that if those games did not have single player story campaigns, I wouldn't hold them in such a high regard. Playing random games on random maps is good and all, but I wouldn't have nearly as much play time in those games as I do by now.

I appreciate at least a hint of a story/lore in any game. Even something like Unreal/Unreal Tournament universe. The little background lore there is, still adds a lot of flavor to the universe.

I wasn't saying that their stories were worthless. They do usually provide a good framework and setting, but they're usually far from the main draw. The 1C King's Bounty games do tend to be pretty enjoyable for their more silliness. As for Heroes 5, weeeell, I guess I can see the appeal of story-telling trying to be so serious they become ultimate cheese. ;)

There's definitely a mixture of inspiration from different games. HOMM and King's Bounty are just most clearly present out of them. It does help make the game feel more distinct as its own thing, instead of going head to head with the classics.

Just to be clear, there's plenty of story in the campaigns but I skipped past it as it didn't appeal to me. Others may like it more than me; I didn't like the HOMM V story either, for example.