When Disciples II: Dark Prophecy was released, however, it became my son's first videogame that he enjoyed, played, and eventually mastered. You take on the role of one of four fantasy races following the destiny their gods have laid before them.
The Empire is a race of humans seeking a just and right path. It's a good role to start in playing this game. Your paladins, archers, wizards, and titans seem ill-equipped to take on their adversaries, especially the demons. My favorite leader in this race is the ranger, as his bow attack becomes quite powerful and his movement allowance is very high.
The Legions of the Damned are led by a vicious demon overlord. This is my son's favorite race to play. They travel swiftly over the land and seem to have a distinct advantage over the other races. As the other races go up in levels, however, the anti-paladins, cultists, and devils don't seem to be the schoolyard bullies they were at the beginning.
The Mountain Clans are the dwarves and my personal favorites. They aren't as nice as the Empire, but they still fight the battle on the side of good. The giants in their employ deliver awesome damage and the tenderfoots rise through the levels to magically increase the damage of fellow party members. The dwarves are the underdog of the game but extremely powerful at higher levels.
The Undead Hordes use necromancers and death magic alongside level-draining wights and werewolves. You are able to summon skeletons to attack on your behalf, and use paralyzing mind magic to immobilize your enemy. A very dark race to choose, I hope you have a nightlight to keep you company when you go to bed after playing.
Once you have decided your race, you must choose the type of king (or queen) that leads you. First, the simplest and most straightforward is the Warrior Lord. The Warrior Lord has the advantage of accelerated healing. He mustn't rely on temple healing or magical spells to recover from injuries. Second, the Mage Lord is the most powerful in my opinion. He can research new spells at an extremely reduced cost and cast twice as many spells. This means devastation for the guy playing against you. Third, the Guildmaster is a thief type who gets a reduced cost when building cities to larger sizes. Also, the thieves gain more options when used against the enemy. Not only can they spy on unseen areas and poison an enemy's party, they can also give false orders so as to change the formation of a war party, leaving vulnerable components exposed on the front lines of battle. Also, when playing a saga, you will be given the choice of your leaders you want to take into the next chapter - the warrior, the mage, the explorer, or the rod-planting mystic. Go with the explorer. You'll thank me later.
You can choose to play the long six-chapter saga, or just go at it in a quest that can last only a few hours. My son and I have played all four sagas all the way through, eventually playing at the hardest setting as we mastered the strategy of the game. We played in hot seat mode against each as well as teaming up against the bad guy with great results. Unfortunately, we've never had the chance to play online.
Balancing the costs of healing, building new structures, capturing mana assets for spell casting, and hiring mercenaries is important. If you spend too much training your men to go up a level, you may have to sit in your castle healing while the enemy moves in on your territory, but if you don't build structures for your soldiers to go up a level, they will never become strong enough to defeat the enemy. Also, it is vital to research a variety of offensive and defensive spells.
There are only minor problems with this game. It seems the chance to hit in battle is askew. My characters will miss repeatedly for no reason, frustrating me in strategic situations I thought sure to win. Fortunately, this problem also plagues the guys you are fighting from time to time. Another unsightly feature is that when transferring into the next chapter of a saga, you can only take one of your heroes and five items, losing all researched spells, high-level soldiers, and your money.
The graphics are elegant and deep. The music is very moving, to say the least. With a large monitor and surround speakers with some serious bass, you should dim the lights and get the feel of really being there. My son and I give this game two strong thumbs up and look forward to the release of Disciples III.
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