dmarusz's Full Review: Disciples: Sacred Lands (Gold Edition) for Windows
I actually found this game by mistake on Ebay. I was looking for Sacred, the RPG game, and I saw a bunch of these for sale. The info looked somewhat intriguing. I still almost passed it up, but then I checked a couple of sources to see how it rated. Oddly enough, even though I don't remember hearing about this one, it got very good reviews over all. So, around $4 later, I made it mine.
Unfortunately, I did not review my seller's description thoroughly enough and I ended getting just a disk. I hate that. No disk cases, no manuals, no pretty box art covers. Ah, but that is another rant for another day. What I did find was a very unusual game that was rather enjoyable to play.
As it turned out, I didn't need all of that extra stuff. It was easy to pick up, and there was a manual on the disk. What made it unusual was that it took a different view of turn based strategy that I had never played before. It wasn't revolutionary, but it separated itself from the rest of what I have played before.
The most significant difference was that you make these small groups only. You get a total of 6 people in your group max. And by max, I mean you rarely have a 6-man group. You only get those under certain occasions and by leveling your hero. So, you can end up with a group that tops at 2 or 3 people and in the near future, more.
This forces a lot of short battles where it easy to lose your group and your heroes. It also prevents you from creating a monster unit which you can barrel through anybody with. So, you have to strategize all of these short battles which can go your way or not. You measure out your opponent by how much loss he can take versus you. Instead of maybe the normal way of thinking, "I can probably take out 3 units with my monster unit," or "I've got three studly units, I can take out a bunch of enemies and capture the city, no prob." You just can't do that.
You get as many heroes as you can buy, which is interesting. Here, they don't level at any fast rate. So, these guys have strengths but are completely vulnerable. Since usually almost any 2 units can beat 1 strong unit, heroes don't need to be limited. However, they stretch the dimension of gameplay that makes it more fun.
There is a nice range of units. You start off playing one side of four possible factions. It's similar to other games in that you are undead, dwarf, human or evil. The units you get to employ are based very much on your race and they can have very unique talents. This uniqueness shows up when you fight an opposing race. Their army won't "match" yours. In another words, if you have a big brawler, a healer and an archer in your pack, you're opponent won't. Mostly due to the fact that he can't produce those same types of units at his headquarters.
Your characters/units are more theatric than realistic. This goes down to the artwork. It's stylized but fun, although sometimes errors on the side of sparse. You're not going to get to know any of the characters or get many background stories on them. They exist for a surface level of enjoyment, which in some cases can still do the job. The sound bites from your units as they get killed can be very comical.
The whole set up is diverse in race only. The rest is very simple, clean and quick. I already mentioned that I didn't rely on the manual. The game itself is somewhat centered like this. It's easy to pick up and you can just keep going with it.
The strategy can be somewhat simple, too. Not boring but maybe a slight repetitive. One neat glitch to the strategy compartment of the game is that it is almost impossible to lose. Your fortress that you start out with in every scenario is almost unconquerable. So, there is no fear in trying something different. You just get beat up for awhile and slowly start over again. This prevents the "save often" method we all know and love.
You also never mine resources. You get resources through the game but not by mining or harvesting in some way. Instead, you occupy land and those resources of that land become yours, and your influence stretches out getting new land without you actively trying to score some stuff. I found this a nice break from the tedium of many a strategy game.
The only problem with being simple is, well, being simple. The most obvious point to this is that there really is no story. They set up each battle, but the story gets lost in trying to get an objective done. In the campaigns, you really don't get to go through any journey. You keep expecting some big plot point to happen but it never materializes.
The story that is placed before you in total is very meager in length, as is. Oddly enough, it does reap one benefit, which is replay ability. Each campaign doesn't last that long so you are looking for something more at the end. In my time playing, I ended up doing three out of the four campaigns that you could complete. However, the fourth fell short because I just didn't want to keep doing the same, simple things. The repetition finally got to me.
And so ends a good game. Not with a bang, but a whimper. And with it, a mild thumbs up. Good for the turn based strategist who wants to do something slightly different. Although, I think the RPG purists would go nuts. Everyone else, give it a try, it's super cheap now and it's more fun than Reversi. And who doesn't like Reversi?
Enter the realm of the Sacred Lands, where the dawn of a New Age has set in motion the most momentous of wars. As the prophecies long foretold, four r...More at GamersGate
Disciples Sacred Lands from Strategy First/Infogrames. Rated EVERYONE - Animated Blood and Animated Violence. Enter the realm of the Sacred Lands, whe...More at eBay
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