Home

 › 

Articles

 › 

Disciples III: Renaissance Review for PC

Disciples III: Renaissance Review for PC

You’ll Need Discipline to Complete Disciples III

You’ll spend a lot of time in this game, mostly wondering what you’re doing spending a lot of time in it. An amalgam of role-playing and turn-based strategy, Disciples III: Renaissance is truly a renaissance game in that it’s a departure from the previous versions. But rather than usher in a new age of heavenly gaming delights, this new direction has taken it off course and landed it in a realm of games that overshadow it in every conceivable way. If you’re going to go head-to-head with Heroes of Might and Magic, you had better bring your A-game. Instead, this game got it’s “A” kicked.

Disciples III: Renaissance screenshot

If you are a diehard fan of the Disciples series, then you may enjoy the new additions the franchise has taken. However, there are some issues that you can’t possibly enjoy regardless of how blindly brand-loyal you are. Graphically, the game is rendered in real-time 3D, including the environments and units. It’s a good-looking game with plenty of imagination and detail. But this isn’t a vignette, it’s a game, and its biggest problem is the A.I., which does not seem like it’s playing the same game I am. There are also some glitches that cause the game to crash and force you to manually save changes.

This is a magical, tactical world. It’s comprised of three factions: humans, demons, and the noble elves. You’ll get to play as all three, and although you can choose any of them, it’s recommended to play them in a specified order to maintain the continuity of the storyline. And of all things, it’s the storyline that will entice you to play further, as long as you’re interested in the history and evolution of the characters and their situations. In this episode, a star descends in Nevendaar. A mysterious woman emerges, one who is attributed with incredible powers. Each faction attempts to fight for her favor in hopes of ruling Nevendaar and conquering the other factions through the resurrection of their respective gods.

Disciples III: Renaissance screenshot

Renaissance has the right idea, but the new combat system needs to be refined, as it seriously hampers the speed of the gameplay. The grid has been expanded to allow for more tactical maneuvers and tons of spells. However, due to relative lack of intelligence on the part of the enemy, it’s not necessary to implement much more than a handful of basic attacks. Just keep the enemy from regenerating health by attacking the healer and then pick off the units.

There are lots of resources in this game so you’ll hardly want for anything. There is always something to do whether it’s a battle with the enemy, a puzzle to solve, or a dungeon crawl. Almost every activity will result in some kind of reward. Stones and gold are used to build your empire. This includes your capital city that will, in turn, produce and level-up your units. Mana is used for magic, of which there are three components: fire, water, and earth. Along with the ability to cast spells and summon demons, other combat skills include ranged and melee attacks. The expansive grid matrix offers power-ups for your attacks and provides cover for your army.

Disciples III: Renaissance screenshot

It’s unfortunate you don’t need to take advantage of all these features. The A.I. does some crazy things and rarely does anything to defend itself. It doesn’t take advantage of cover or power-boosting regions and will even attack you when it knows full well you can overpower it.

Disciples III: Renaissance screenshot

The A.I. never seems to be able to keep its units together and as a result, you’ll encounter many pockets of smaller, weaker units throughout the world map. It’s a great way to earn more resources, but it’s like shooting fish in a barrel. It’s too easy, and the victories don’t feel as though you’ve earned them. The battles become so inane and redundant, you’ll end up avoiding them so you can try to pick up the pace and get through more of the game. What will keep you plodding along is the storyline, if anything.

While the story is expertly crafted, the presentation is anything but, and is certainly not worthy of having the word “expert” attached to it in any form. The dialogue is amateurish. It’s so overblown and corny in places, you’ll think it was translated by a five-year old. Maybe Stan Lee’s five-year old, but a five-year old nonetheless. The narration is stiff, flat, and wooden. One of those words may have sufficed, but it’s so bad all three needed to be applied to this description. For such a long game, there just isn’t enough music. It’s stretched to the point of distraction, and is so repetitive it’s best left off. The same goes for the sound effects, with every spell triggering the same sound. Not that amazing audio would’ve help the game at this point.

If you’re absolutely incensed at the lack of challenge offered by the A.I., there is hope, but it is offered begrudgingly. The multi-player component allows you to play against other humans, taking turns of course, but not online and not through LAN but by using the same computer. It’s called hot seat multi-player, because you have to give up your seat in front of the PC to accommodate the other players. It works, albeit painfully slowly, and may be the only thing that saves this game. I wonder why the developers gave this feature so little consideration. I guess it’s in keeping with the rest of the game.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 4.8 Graphics
The game has excellent 3D graphics with real-time environment rendering. 3.3 Control
Commands are easy to execute, but the inventory is difficult to access. 1.3 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
Save your sanity and turn the sound off. 2.8 Play Value
Predictable and repetitive, the A.I. is too easy to beat. 2.6 Overall Rating – Average
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • Three playable races – The Empire, the Legions of the Damned, and the Elven Alliance. Each race has its own unique units and city design.
  • Cities, locations, units, and other game assets are now represented in full 3D.
  • Advances in the gameplay allow increased fluidity in multiplayer games and less downtime when playing alone.
  • A new upgrade system allows the player to assign attributes to their leaders. This RPG system employs inventories and new stats and abilities.
  • Includes visual representations of character’s equipped armor, weapons, and artifacts.

  • To top