What to play? Answer: Disciples II Mod by Norvezskaya Semga
2023 is slowly coming to its end. I was sitting and thinking about what game I would like to recommend today. Looking through recent releases, I found out one interesting fact: I can't find even one good strategy game. Damn, I think this genre is dying. My first game was Heroes III of Might and Magic. Back in 1998, I sat with my dad for the first time, watching him play this legendary game. But in my heart, there were several strategy games that I would like to recommend to you, and today I would like to speak about Disciples II and of the biggest modification "Mod by Norvezskaya Semga."
On January 2002, the developer company Strategy First released their best strategy game, Disciples II. It was some kind of an answer to the Heroes franchise. Conceptually, the games were quite similar. You have a hometown, heroes, armies. The game used a turn-based method. Every player/computer makes their movements, battles, and building and then passes the turn to their opponent. At this point, similarities ended. In Heroes games, you develop your Hero, increasing his stats and learning new skills. Every turn, you can build one building in each city, and the number of battles in one turn is limited by the hero's speed limit. We always create huge armies with thousands of different units, casting deadly spells during battle, and putting on different artifacts on the main hero. Disciples was the game with a different but even more interesting gameplay.
Human capital
Like in Heroes, you could build only one building on every turn. But unlike Heroes, you have one main city, the capital. Every capital has its powerful defender, and it was quite hard to defeat him. Only veterans of this game know all the tricks, how to capture the opponent's capital. After the capital is captured, your game is over. The main resource for building is gold. No wood, iron, or stones. Only yellow metal. When you play Heroes, you have seven unit grades from the weakest to the strongest. Strategy First invented another concept. Instead of hiring new units every week, you form your party instantly by hiring some 1-level warrior. Every fight looks like a clash of our squad and the enemy squad, where every unit has its cell on the battlefield. Units never move among battlefields, but they can attack the nearest targets; others can shoot or create magic spells from the backside. Supports can heal or buff party members or control enemies. If you win after the battle, your units gain experience. If sufficient XP is accumulated by a unit, it gets upgraded and gains the next level. What upgrade you get depends on what structure you build in the capital. For example, a level 1 dwarf could become a stronger warrior or start shooting the whole battlefield with magic. Usually, every unit has 1-5 grades. The last grades cost tons of gold, but it was worth it.
Battlefield in Disciples II
Moreover, you could use different potions, scrolls, magic, buffs on your party, and deadly spells and debuffs on the enemy. Preparation for a final battle always takes maximum game knowledge, patience, and attentiveness. Every unit has several important parameters: HP, armor, resistances and immunities, initiative, and, in my opinion, the most important stat: accuracy. Yeah, in this game, your warrior could miss, and one miss may cause you the whole battle. A lot of fights were full of adrenaline, and sometimes only luck could win the game for you. The strategy was received very warmly. Even now, it has a high rank on Metacritic, 84/100. Fans were waiting for future updates and DLCs. Two were made, adding a new playable race - Elves, several new campaigns. Time passed, but a new part didn't come out. And only in 2009 did the world see Disciples 3. Sadly, it was a totally different game. Old unique mechanics were cut out, and the new chapter made a step closer to a hero-like game. Also, on release, players simply couldn't play because of critical bugs. Nowadays, the game has only 56/100. A sad end for a legendary strategy.
But amidst the darkness, there is always a bright light. And this light is called Modding. Yeah, loyal fans don't give up on their favorite game. Right now, the biggest fan community is taking place in the CIS region. I've been trying to find some information about Eastern Disciples communities, but they are too small and cannot compete with their Eastern opponents. Currently, there are about five global mods for Disciples 2, which add new mechanics, magic, items, hundreds of units, expanded vanilla city buildings, and a lot of other content. My personal favorite is Norvezskaya Semga. I will leave a link to a website where you can download the game, and there are instructions on how to install it. Everyone has Google Translate, so I am sure you will have zero problems understanding. The mod has English localization. If you really like strategy games and you're almost as old as me, still remembering the good old times, support the Disciples II community. Let's make this game great again, together.
New items and portraits
New units
Thank you for your attention, play only nice games, and see you next time :)
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