I haven’t played a turn-based strategy game in a while, and looking at Disciples III made me think of Shining Force, Final Fantasy Tactics, King’s Bounty and Warcraft. While this is my first contact with the Disciples franchise (lots of back story in the game manual), I found that it was fairly easy to jump right in.
To start, the tutorial will teach you the basics. However, you won’t learn everything that is to know from this short “campaign”. In fact, I was a bit confused by the help menu that popped up with videos that seem completely irrelevant to what the game had just presented me with. With patience, I went through the help topics and videos at my own pace until I felt comfortable to move on.
In the tutorial campaign you learn about movement, turns, resources, combat, building, managing your units, and spells. A bit like exploring in Warcraft, your unit will roam the area uncovering the world map and conquering land/buildings/resources by activating control nodes. Once I finished the tutorial, I definitely wanted more, so I moved on to the campaigns.
You can play three campaigns: Empire (humans), Elven Alliance, and Legions of the Damned. You can pick a difficulty level, and you can also choose between three class bonuses: Warlord (units regenerate 15% more health per turn), Guild Master (gain 30% more resources per turn) and Mage (able to cast spells on the world map twice per turn).
The gameplay is distinctively divided into world exploration and arena combat, the arenas being the battlefields which offer unique bonuses and obstacles. You can find yourself fighting on flat grounds, rocky areas or cracked floors. The movement is defined by the hexagonal tiles, allowing you to attack (and be attacked) in different directions. Some of the tiles will have bonuses for certain classes, such as melee, ranged or magic users, offering a tactical advantage to you – or your enemies, if they get there first. Oddly enough, while obstacles will restrict your movement, they won’t prevent a spell from going right through them.
Combat is definitely interesting and in the early stages, you will find yourself having to use those recovery potions or special items that you thought you could save for later. But it’s ok, since as you level, you will rely on these items less and less. Your party members also have the ability to defend other allies who are under attack, sort of shielding them and absorbing damage that would have otherwise be done to them. This is especially useful to defend your weak magic users. Strategy for each of the campaigns is also very different, as some of the factions don’t have healers at all.
The levelling process is interesting, and spending skill points in the “skill tree” board always offers choices in terms of how you want your character to grow. You can gain new skills or increase your attributes, depending on the “path” you choose in the board.
To promote your units or to access other classes available for each, you must build the respective buildings for that unit in your city. One you build a mage tower, you can begin to research spells and will be allowed to cast them. Some spells can be cast on the world map, including attack spells, which means you can damage an opposing party before entering the arena battle. Quite handy!
Obviously, all this will cost you resources: Gold, Stone and Mana. Keep on exploring and claiming control nodes to see the portions of surrounding landscape transform into whatever landscape suits your faction.
There is much to be said about Disciples III, but this review would soon turn into a guide if I were to explain every little bit of the game. I enjoyed the exploration and the “surprise” items that would give me extra movement points. I enjoyed the character animations (I was very amused by the Titan obliterating smaller foes) and spell effects during arena battles. I really enjoyed smiting enemies on the world map, or rushing to defend a node the enemy is trying to get ahold of. And I truly enjoyed seeing my buildings magically appear or evolve into something wonderful.
Disciples III looks and sounds lovely, even if the music repeats quite a bit. Yes, a few things could have been ironed out here and there, but in the end, we are left with lengthy campaigns and enjoyable gameplay throughout.
Special thanks to Ted Brockwood and Kalypso Media for providing a copy of this title.
For more videos of Disciples III, check out our playlsit below: