Disciples II: Rise of the Elves
Introduction
Disciples II:Rise of the Elves is my favorite game but I will try to give it a fair review with pros and cons. I have spent about 400 hours on the game on GoG and started to play on Steam a bit. I will be referring Disciples as D to shorten it. Also, I will try to give as much details as I can about the game.
Review
Gameplay
D:II is a medieval dark fantasy game with 5 playable fractions.
| Faction Name | Simplified |
– Real player with 109.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Turn-Based Strategy Classic Games.
TL; DR Disciples 2: Rise of the Elves is a really good game and a fun turn-based strategy-RPG that will last many hours if or when you get into it. This version adds further variety to the base game both in terms of playstyle, balance changes, and in neutral enemies. I highly recommend it; however, the game did not work without a fix so be aware of that.
Note that Disciples 2: Rise of the Elves is an expansion that takes place after the events of Gallean’s Return. Not all campaigns are included in Rise of the Elves therefore Gallean’s Return should be played first unless you just want gameplay and the custom maps.
– Real player with 63.9 hrs in game
Heroes® of Might & Magic® III - HD Edition
Just get the original and the free 3rd party patch that ups it to HD. Then you can have all the maps, all the expansions and all the 3rd party mods. If you get back into this great game you’ll regret wasting the money on this version. It wouldn’t be so bad if they came out with the expansions already but my understanding this was a slighty rebrushing of the original w/o the expacs available. You can get all the expac maps converted to this edition but many of them also have bugs (i’m guessing when an expac item or monster you run into causes a total crash, which you can go in and delete but then you got to start the map over, not great for multiplayer).
– Real player with 341.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Turn-Based Strategy Classic Games.
Not worth paying for it.
The achievement list is kind of cool, but who really wants to play 10 maps on every difficulty.
When you can buy H3 Complete on GoG and get the HD Mod instead, why bother just playing Restoration of Erathia.
I wish I never paid for this.
– Real player with 111.1 hrs in game
Age of Wonders
=== Age of Wonders - Game Review, Turn-based Strategy - 10/10 ===
If you like turn-based strategy, whether it’s in a table top game or a video game, Age of Wonders is at the top of the list.
Age of Wonders was released back in 1999, so we’re getting pretty close to the grand 20-year mark in age. For such an old game, you might think it would look pretty aged and unable to hold up to present-day gaming. In my opinion, this game is a classic that is still plenty of fun to play and has a great art-style that still looks great even to this day. If you go back to the original pictures of this game before it was released, the art is so simple and would easily have gotten old pretty quick. Thankfully they decided to go in a bit of a different direction which I think looks like someone painted it by hand; this sort of painted-looking art-style is definitely my favourite. Of course the visuals are important when deciding whether or not to play a game, but there’s so much more to talk about.
– Real player with 385.4 hrs in game
Read More: Best Turn-Based Strategy RPG Games.
Age of Wonders is a fairly old game, but I still very much enjoy its simple yet complex gameplay. While its sequels improved vastly on some aspects of the game, I still feel that combat was the most entertaining in the original.
The story is fairly straightforward, and unlike the later titles, allows you to play as the “Good” faction or the “Evil” faction for the story. At several segments, you’ll be presented with a decision to make, but only the second and third decisions will influence the Campaign any. These two decisions will also alter the ending sequence.
– Real player with 336.0 hrs in game
Disciples II: Gallean’s Return
!!!!! ON WINDOWS 7/10: !!!!!
Run with Direct3D turned on, stretch to fullscreen, and 800x600 res. Trust me btw, the 800x600 res looks INCREDIBLE b/c of the awesome textures in this game.
70 hours in at the time of this review, I just finished the 2nd campaign (there are 4, and this isn’t even the expansion set) on Average (normal) difficulty. This is a game that will challenge you, but also reward you. Whether you build massive armies or put all of your time and energy into one unit, you will be surprised how difficult it is to stop moving those little bastards around. Buy this game if you have the opportunity.
– Real player with 213.3 hrs in game
One of the all times favourites games : Diablo2, Age of Empires 1&2, Disciples 1&2. Special mention for Civilizations 3 Heroes of might and magic 3. There was nothing like them at that time, and there still isn’t.
For fans of the genre and disciples 2 in special, i recommend checking Atlantica Online (cashgrabber and if you are not in an active strong guild there is no way to have the top mercs and craft top equipment, but the game itself is so much like Disciples 2, only mmorpg)
Disciples 2 had lots of room for improvement, but is a fantastic game, simply amazing. Disciples 3 unfortunately turned away from the style of the game, moving units in battle ruined the tactical pre-battle arrangement of troops.
– Real player with 135.3 hrs in game
Persona 4 Golden
Definately the Definitive version of this game. Don’t expect it to be as grand as Persona 5 or as slick. BUT. The story is a classic and all the elements are there. It looks great and runs well. There are few games that were as loved as this one and it’s not aged too badly. If you don’t mind graphics that are a little old and you like social sims or dungeon crawling or RPGs in general, it’s honestly worth trying. If you want to experience all of the game to its fullest then try out all aspects of the game and hang out with classmates and do the other activities. The game rewards you greatly!
– Real player with 143.8 hrs in game
The truth of this story…
Persona 4 is one of those games that will stay forever in your hears, not because of the mechanics, since this is applied a very old implementation of the Turn-Based RPG, but because of its story and characters.
The Story of persona 4 is amazing, a very cool mystery game with a mystic aura around the concept of the Truth Self and the TV World, the first 4 episodes were made to introduce the characters and mechanics in different ways, giving all the dungeons an special feeling, meanwhile around the end of
! Naoto’s dungeon the story spikes and a lot of plot twists happen around the mystery.
– Real player with 124.6 hrs in game
Age of Wonders II: The Wizard’s Throne
Had trouble getting this to work on Windows 10 at first, but that was fixed by running it in Compatibility mode and going to my Nvidia graphics card settings and using “Add program” to add the Age of wonders II exe from the Steam folder.
This is an old game and the graphics and interface and general game design are clunky and difficult to use till you learn how. Once you do though the campaign is pretty fun, if hard at first.
Unlike in Age of Wonders III , where heroes can become strong but never wildly overpowered, Age of Wonders II heroes can get to level 30 even in the first mission, and along with items from quests, become killing machines.
– Real player with 193.3 hrs in game
There are lots of improvement to its predecessor, but there are some things which were actually done better in the first game.
The graphics, city building and combat are improved. However, the campaign is a far cry from the one in the first game. The original AoW had 2 branching campaigns, each with 3 different endings. Player’s character was fully customizable, leveled-up and learned new skills as you progressed through the campaign. You could transfer research, artifacts, heroes and units between campaign maps. Not only is the AoW2’s campaign completely linear, but you lose all your research, heroes and artifacts after 2 or 3 maps (depending on wether you play the optional maps or not). And player’s character is always Merlin, who can’t be customized, can’t level-up/improve and (usually) can’t fight at all. Leaders are little more than mobile defense objectives that are supposed to sit in a heavily fortified city (preferably one with a Wizard Tower, so they can actually support your heroes in the field).
– Real player with 98.2 hrs in game
Wargroove
To be completely forward and honest, I may be biased because I was a beta tester for Wargroove and I am a big fan of games like Advance Wars and Battle for Wesnoth. However, this is my honest opinion on the game.
This is the game I’ve been waiting for and has exceeded my expectations. Now at first glance this game looks very similar to Advance Wars, and you’d be right. However, this is much more than “just an Advance Wars” clone and greatly improves the Advance Wars formula and adds its own elements to it, making it much less of a slow-paced meatgrinder and much more aggressive and focused on good positioning. Games go by quickly and are very skill-based with minimal luck.
– Real player with 1304.7 hrs in game
Lovely game and a Spiritual successor to Advance wars. Would recommend
Having played the Base game, DLC and explored the game in near entirety, (As well as all previous AV games) id like to talk of its strong points as well as address the ever present, ever stuck-up comparison people like to make to Advance wars.
A quick TLDR:
Game is amazing spiritual successor to Advance Wars, and a true labor of love. Graphics and music are gorgeous and improved, few mechanics are changed taking its own spin on the genre without making it weaker, it has PLENTY of base content, secrets and things to do, as well as community content once you are done with base game. I would recommend the game to both veterans of AV who want to try something similar and refreshing as well as those new to this genre of games.
– Real player with 189.8 hrs in game
Age of Wonders Shadow Magic
Age of Wonders Shadow Magic is a relatively unknown gem of a game. The entire game is turn-based, with the action happening at the strategic and tactical levels. As was normal for games of years past, this is a game where you will spend the vast majority of time poring over the hex-based maps; this holds true at the “world” level as well as the “battle” level.
A few things make it stand out of the pack. At it’s core the Strategic level plays out VERY similar to a “civilization-lite” style game; establish cities, build and upgrade various structures, research “tech” (in this case various spells), and expand your empire across the map. On top of that, your faction leader can direclty influence gameplay through the casting of spells; some of these are “global”, affecting the entirety of the map (or targetable upon an opponent), others are “permanent” (enchantments upon units), and yet others are direct-combat use (more on this later). Adding to this is a (VERY LIGHT) diplomacy and alignment component that can affect your race’s interaction with other races; some races will ally with, some will tolerate, and others will outright rebel. The resoureces are limited to two; gold and mana. Both are generated through your settlements as well as from capturable nodes.
– Real player with 378.8 hrs in game
A Civilization type game with Tolkeinesque races, such as Elves, Dwarves, Undead etc. Despite being ten years old, I still find it to be the best of its type.
Very similar to most other turn based strategy games, although the difficulty can be a barrier for new players. You control a race, build\control cities, produce armies and buildings and spend time either allying or destroying other races.
You control a Wizard on the map who acts as the races leader. Should the Wizard die without any means to revive, your race is defeated.
– Real player with 216.2 hrs in game
ENDLESS™ Legend
Good game, but I will give more preference to endless space 2 with more mechanics and more elaborate gameplay.
– Real player with 364.9 hrs in game
Pros:
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Great strategy experience
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Interesting fantasy theme
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Enjoyable equipment mechanics
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Heroes add an interesting strategy layer
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Tweaking a faction to your play style is awesome
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Complicated subsystems that make the game always interesting to optimize
Cons:
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No in game encyclopedia to learn game terms and mechanics (tooltips aren’t enough)
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Game speeds other than standard are imbalanced
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Subsystems need better explanation
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Too much and too costly DLC
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DLC should not radically change the way the game is played (here it feels like what should be an update is DLC)
– Real player with 228.6 hrs in game
Rome: Total War™ - Collection
RTW has an epic feel.
As of today, this game is nearly eleven years old. So, the battle graphics are not as crisp as newer titles, the historicity of some units is sketchy (or just made up), and it seems that multiplayer is not smooth in Steam. Fortunately, none of these mean a thing to me. The heart of the game is in the grand strategy and the personal narrative.
With over a hundred regions in which to play, the strategic game is where RTW shines. You need to plan where you will expand and where you will defend… and then be ready to adapt when the AI does not do what you expect. You may be the pawn of the Senate and serve at their beck and call. You might try to expand against the weak. You can follow the trade routes to gain riches through conquest. You will find yourself occupying regions merely to stymie your enemies (and your allies). Or you might work your way towards all seven Wonders to reap their benefits.
– Real player with 1982.0 hrs in game
Classic game, it uses a realistic battle engine which simulates battles down to minute details, in a way no longer found in newer engines which depend apon flashy graphics to generate interest. The sheer effort put into this game really tells you its creators cared about it they were not just throwing something flashy out there to get as much money as possible. The game makes up for its old and ancient graphics with interesting game mechanics that you just DONT get in the newer RTS games with intricate tactical aspects in addition to intriacate strategic ones. since so much attention has been given to FPS games in recent years. The game is well made and it shows. In modern total wars and other RTS games, troops getting into 1v1 cinimatic fights where thy slide around on the map rather than recreating actual formation dynamics and combat in a believeable way as Rome 1 does. In Rome 1 TW you don’t just have static groups of people fighting in one spot like other games, your troop formations collide and dudes go flying, people get knocked down. The larger force slowly pushes the smaller one back while its formation fluxuates, troops arrange sheilds to defend against attackers leaving weakspots open to well positioned archers. Every part of the strategic map is mapped out into battle maps that mirror that place on the stratiegic map. I am not talking you get a different set of cookie cutter template battle maps depending on your region NO!!! I mean the battle map is an EXACT copy of the terrain on the stategic map. You see a hill on the over all map and move your army to it so the enemy will attack you on ground you choose that hill is on the battle map valleys mountain you name it the battle is in that spot not a faximally of that spot THAT SPOT. The same goes for citys, each is unique and grows in unique ways and this shows on the siege map. Build something in a city and its on the battle map, if a saboteur destroys something it is destroyed on the battle map, Your family members/ generals grow as a result of the situations you put them in becoming complex individuals, put them in a big city with librarys and academys and they may become a soft person but a good organizer, or maybe if the city is a religious center he may become pious or slowly go insane, or become blood thirsty if you constantly send him into battle and he gets kills in said battles (yes even what he does in the battles matters). Another really cool mechanic is that when you recruit units the men are taken from the local populus and when disbanded the men generally resettle in that region! and city level is determined by population so recruit to many from a populas and the city will grow slowly while inversely you can move your populus around to level up citys. Another difference from newer games is the factions, they are few in number compared to the scores of factions in newer games but each faction in very unique, with some factions sharing cultures and others with similar but different cultures. Each culture has a unique city style ect.
– Real player with 1183.0 hrs in game