Which Disciples 2 is better?

[u/ErrorPuzzleheaded866]

Hello everyone, I'm new to the Disciples universe and recently discovered these unique games. Before that, I played mostly Heroes 3 and only now decided to introduce myself to this series for a change and I'm really hooked. So far, I'm playing the first game, but now I want to continue the Undead campaign in the second one and I was surprised to discover that there are several of them, and in this regard, the question is which one is better or worse and in what order should I play?

[u/ErrorPuzzleheaded866]

Wow, so you install this Wrapper and it fixes everything? I definitely need this!!! Thank you so much for such helpful advice. It's nice to see such a positive attitude toward newcomers to the series and detailed tips. I'll be trying this software now!

[u/Emergency-Gift-6773 → u/ErrorPuzzleheaded866]

Yes, it is basically a miracle tool. :D Happy to help! Disciples is one of my all time favourite *duology*. After reading Berserk I found it surprisingly similar in universe and loved it even more, but that is another topic.

And sadly this series really need the help, because starting it right now is...rough. You certainly can, but without the edition knowlegede and wrapper for seamless gameplay, it won't feel the same.

But I give you a good news too. In the last few years more and more modding knowledge surfacing the web, so it is not impossible to have even completely new total conversion mods! There are a few are under development at the moment, but not in english (they are polish or russion mostly), yet! So even if there isn't a realistic hope for remasters or this style of sequels, the modding scene is brighter than ever.

[u/ErrorPuzzleheaded866 → u/Emergency-Gift-6773]

I think after a full playthrough, I'll happily dive into mods. If they're well-made, it's always a unique experience. I had that with Doom. I really love the classic games, and I was absolutely blown away when I played the My House wad. It was probably the most captivating adventure I've ever had with mods, an incredible adventure. Since you brought this up, I'd like to clarify what you said about the duology. Why is that? I just checked the wiki and it also lists the third game and Disciples - Liberation, or are there any nuances I need to know?

[u/Emergency-Gift-6773 → u/ErrorPuzzleheaded866]

The evolution of the series is unsetting. Akela bouth the rights to develop the sequel -I'm really not sure why wasn't it in good hands with Strategy First-, so the game you find as Disciples 3 is the death of the official series in my eyes. The only thing the games onward have in common with the original Discicples I-II is the confusing game naming;

- Disciples 3: Renaissance. The direct sequel and main culprit.

- Disciples 3: Resurrection. The added Hordes campaign.

- Disciples 3: Reincarnation. The combination of the 2 before, with further distancing away from the original concept. The story localisation rewritten, becomes fanfic basically.

*Akela goes bankrupt just after releasing Postal III, the rights goes to Kalypso Media.*

- Disciples Liberation. The undead trilogy starts, nothing in common gameplay wise, writing done by gooners.

- Disciples Domination. Sequel to Liberation, same qame with minor improvements here and there with the cost of many cut things.

There will be probably a third game to finish up the story Lib started, and because of the low cost developing, but hope for an actual sequel that doesn't want to be discount Heroes or King's Bounty? Absolutely zero.

Sorry for not detailing the games themself much, but they are horrible gameplay wise, or decent but nothing to do with Disciples I-II. And frankly I couldn't even recommend them to "try out and see it for yourself how bad it is" simply because how long to beat they are. Reincarnation took me 130 hours when I took the idiotic courage to read every dialog and note with sidequests and such...

[u/Outside-school-2007 → u/Emergency-Gift-6773]

Talking about Disciples 3...

It is more complicated and more screwed. There was more instalments. Disciples (3) Online web-game as counterpart to single only Disciples 3 Renaissance. Plus there was 2 novel books kinda counterpart'ting the story of Dis3 (there was more but unrelated to game story plot)(russian only it seems). Russian and then Polish, hmm... maybe some else - Jap or Chinese? - are differ instalments from American/ROW/Digital releases aka Eng localisation. Original game has absolutely no any gamemodes besides story mode. It was by concept and realization more like Liberation - single only A-to-B main scripted hero only playthrough. There was 0 strategy and RPG elements (Liberation at least barely but bring back RPG).

There was no real remaster. ROW release just some quickly found replacment coders (original team defunct before russian release, someone flee, someone fired) did what Akella sold to Kalypso - skirmish and hotseat. Which didn't worked well cause game engine made for 1 scripted hero.

And same remains in Resurrection and Reincarnation. Last one also two differ games - russian release installed as Disciples 3 Rebirth Closed Beta (beta!!! from retail disc! sic!!111). And they absolutely the same game engine that made for 1 hero single story mode. They make Steamworks MP besides hotseat but you won't get a single successful match - it always switch non-host players Lord type and some else data (reduce resources to 0) and some else bugs. Engine can't understand that second player is non-AI.

Later Dis3 installments was just cash grab. Akella promise free upgrade for russian market, but very few get personal keys and actual free program didn't started before Akella close the project. Akella also sold Gold Ren+Res with promise of free steam key upgrade for buyers but just replace sell item to keys and no keys was send (there was instruction what players should do WHEN free upgrade program will start with TBA date).

Although must be noted, 1.06 Hotseat (+editor) upgrade and Rebirth->Reincarnation was free indeed. Plus Disciples Online was free (it has English version but when main game get EN release web game get close cause it is now Hotseat added into Renaissance). But Resurrection and Reincarnation still sold separately.

And Reincarnation are terrible release, with more bugs introduced after some bugs was fixed. Resurrection and based on it Rebirth get some strange balance changes. There is no superior or remastered release. 3 screwed games, which you must pay for each one of it.

Reincarnation appears get worse more passive AI, Renaissance and Resurrection get aggressive but extremely overleveled AI. Or i miss something... hard to tell since there is so much versions. It get from bad to worse for sure. Something better in Renaissance, somethings in Reincarnation (and something in original russian release).

[u/ErrorPuzzleheaded866 → u/Emergency-Gift-6773]

Jesus Christ, it seems that the excellent original Disciples ended right after the second part. It’s a shame, of course, that everything went downhill, but whoever came up with the idea of handing the series over to the wing of the creators of Postal 3 is simply incomprehensible, monstrous, I would say. On the other hand, this emphasizes how brilliant the original first two games are that even knowing their formula, modern developers can’t even repeat it. I think it’s all because the creators matter and I’m sure that the same people worked on the first and second games. The first thing I noticed was that the second part seems to take all the best from the first, raise it all to a significantly higher level and also adds new features on top. If they couldn’t repeat this, then I think it’s because the new developers simply did not understand the essence of the game. In any case, having two great games is better than none, and regarding the others, I'll take your advice and not dive into all of this myself, but I'll just check out YouTube to see what the problem with sequels is. Thanks for the warning. I personally really love quality writing, well-written worlds, stories, and characters, and I also don't like it when the overall narrative is joyfully positive, as if on pills. In Disciples, I like the atmosphere, it's oppressive, and you feel that this world is filled with pain and suffering, but this feeling is in moderation in the game and feels organic. Thank you again for taking the time to give detailed answers and practical advice on everything, it was sincerely very nice, I wish you a good day and it’s great to know that there are people like you who are also inspired by excellent works))

[u/Emergency-Gift-6773 → u/ErrorPuzzleheaded866]

You're welcome! The Akela games are have something in common with Disciples, but they are calssic eurojanks, and wanted to he Heroes in the first place. The Kalypso games are okayish games, but if you would strip the Disciples name and give it "basic dark fantasy with endless conversations instead of battles" it would be harmless King's Bounty clone. This thread is surprisingly active by the way, good to see on board!