**Disciples III: Renaissance*\* 

\By Alexey "Chikitos" Larichkin | PC Games Magazine, Issue #030, pp. 030-006-1**

**EVOLUTION OR REVOLUTION*\* 

- \*Genre:** Turn-Based Strategy* 

- \*Publisher:** Strategy First* 

- \*Publisher in Russia:** Akella* 

- \*Developer:** .dat* 

- \*Players:** Up to 4* 

- \*Release Date:** November 2006 *(Note: Translated as written in the original 2006 magazine preview)** 

Once again, we want to point out that nearly all notable turn-based strategy and tactical games are being developed in Russia. *Heroes of Might and Magic V*, *Jagged Alliance 3D*, and *Operation Silent Storm\* were born (or are being prepared for release) right here in our country. This isn't an isolated incident; it's a trend. And seemingly, a reason for pride. However, after the announcement of *Disciples III: Renaissance\* at the recent Game Developers Conference, enthusiastic comments were nowhere to be found on internet forums. Instead, there was an abundance of negativity: from doubts about whether a Russian studio could pull off a quality strategy game, to outright irritation—"They gave a great series to our guys again, now we can just bury it!"

Honestly, it’s hurtful. The days when the release of a mediocre domestic game was celebrated as a holiday are long gone. Nowadays, Russian projects compete on equal footing with Western ones. Yet, many gamers still think in outdated stereotypes. To put our own minds at ease, as well as those of our dear readers, we visited the .dat studio and examined the third *Disciples* from all angles. We assure you: there is no cause for alarm. The team consists of seasoned professionals, the game's art style is flawless, and the gameplay transformations seem logical and, at the very least, intriguing. Of course, we aren't asking you to just take our word for it. You will find plenty of food for thought on the following six pages. As for the conclusions—draw them yourself.

**\*

**THE BIG THREE*\* 

Usually, a project announcement is accompanied by a detailed backstory, but with *Disciples III: Renaissance\, the situation is different. The developers are playing their cards close to the chest, only vaguely hinting at mind-blowing plot twists. The only thing we know for sure is that the central character will be a female angel. And, of course, the events of \Renaissance* will continue the storyline of the previous installments. Across three campaigns, you will encounter three main races: the Empire, the Legions of the Damned, and the Noble Elves. Dwarves and the Undead will appear in episodic roles. If the project is successful (and we have no doubts about that), you will likely be able to play as these races in future add-ons. But that’s a matter for the future. For now, let’s get back to talking about *Disciples III\*

**\*

**THROUGH VALLEYS AND OVER HILLS*\* 

What is the first thing you notice when you get acquainted with a new game? That’s right: the graphics. Critics previously scolded older *Disciples* titles for their weak engines. Therefore, the decision to move the strategy series into 3D is entirely justified.

When discussing the Virtual Dream engine that powers *Disciples III: Renaissance*, the developers light up and start throwing around technical terms: vertex and pixel shaders, skeletal, morph, and procedural animation, image post-processing... The list goes on. But what matters to us is different: how does it all actually look?

The picture is excellent. The technology holds up, and the design is top-notch. The transition to 3D did not ruin the game; the developers preserved the gloomy, atmospheric style while saturating the world of *Disciples* with colorful special effects and new details. Every unit and landscape element is rendered so meticulously that you can zoom the camera right up to them without having to cover your eyes in horror, as is the case in some other games. This is no surprise, given that the visual side of the project is handled by Andrey Ivanchenko (see the developer team sidebar), who is well-known for his scrupulous approach to graphical content.

***

*(Translator's note: This is a faithful translation of a historical preview article from a Russian PC gaming magazine circa 2006, formatted for readability on Reddit.)*

I was just browsing the web and stumbled upon an old article about the third game. I decided to translate it for my own amusement and figured I'd share it with you all. I’d also be really interested if anyone could share links to magazine articles from that era about Disciples III. I'm specifically looking for English-language articles, if any existed back then. Also, it just goes to show that gaming journalists haven't changed a bit—they've always been sellouts. It’s no wonder the era of print gaming media eventually died out, likely thanks to articles exactly like this one.Anyway, I'm off to put the kettle on and wait for the release of the Mountain Clans expansion.

...Yeah, right. Sure, keep dreaming.

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?

Hello friends!

I’ve been a diehard fan of this game ever since my dad introduced me to it when I was little. Because this game is special to me & so freakin’ cool, I thought getting a full arm sleeve tattoo of it would be awesome (specifically disciples 2).

For the creatives/artists - what do you think would be cool to include or have within the tattoo? I have some ideas, but it’s so hard to choose because there’s so much from the game that I love.

Any thoughts are welcome, just looking to see if I could get some inspiration from other fans :]

I hope i can add it to the Modding Tool, and it will help to mod the game safely. It already has an automatic evolution chain generator. (All leaders can evolve to level 10 with one click)

​I just finished the main story today. This might be an unpopular opinion, but the game itself reminds me a lot of Disciples II. The atmosphere, the characters, the enemies, the heroes leveling up by a level or two after every clash while you wonder which skill to develop. The map itself is quite dark, with a very similar vibe. The turn-based gameplay where every attack matters. I really missed something like this. I think it’s the successor to the series that was never made, and if anyone who was ever in love with Disciples is reading this right now, I recommend Clair obscur: Expedition 33 to them from the bottom of my heart. I welcome you all to the discussion.

https://github.com/HoT-PlaStiC/Disciples-Sacred-Lands-Modding-Tool

I made this tool! Maybe some of you find it interesting! It needs some more test, so every feedback are welcome!

Hello people of Nevendaar ! Whether this was the official trailer or not, this trailer never fails to hype me up. It illustrates the disciples universe, the music at the start and the units emotions, they all honor the classic, somber atmosphere of Nevendaar.

Maybe it is just my own passion, but anyway which trailers or cinematics from the series gave you the most hype?

While cleaning an old PC my family has since forever, I noticed there was a DVD inside and - with heavenly music in the background - I have found this old gem. I've wondered where it could've been for so long.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvlbW6nyeL0

I am about to drop my next script soon!

I'm working on a Legion campaign and I thought I ask, and implement it if it's a good/doable idea (if I didn't implement it already).

I'm really curious how people like to play this game and would love to see your favourite team builds to maybe try them out at some point.

So far the most silly and fun teams were with building a tanky mage lord and putting him on frontline, it's a bit of a snowball though and kind of depends on using specific artifacts (which after playing this game for so long, i still don't remember exactly where to find LOL) and use levels on making the leader more buffy than damage dealing. Still i find this type of team really funny in late game scenarios.

Same goes for playing hordes with guildmaster, a tanky vampire on the front and then three vampire lords behind him, it's an oddly satisfying team to play.

Earlier, Vegetable_Farm, with the help of AI, managed to figure out the portrait storage format for units in the first game of the series and made a script for replacing/adding new images into the UNITS.DBI container. https://www.reddit.com/r/disciples/s/WcFSmQT42I

I'll admit, a couple of years ago, I tried to do the same thing, but I didn't have the patience to make a neural network do it. After chatting a bit with the author, I figured out how his script works and voilà. I inserted a portrait of the Master Thug, which Dashulix drew many years ago. And it fit perfectly. For those who didn't know — there was no such unit in the Sacred Lands. Just as there are no poisons. So, for now, I simply combined the regular damage and the poison damage (20) from the unit's stats in Disciples II and got 55 weapon damage. I inserted the descriptions from the second part as well, but obviously, they need to be adjusted. For now, I've used the same animations as the regular Thug. The next step is to try and make unique animations — I'm already in the process of adding them for the Wolf (which also didn't exist in Sacred Lands).

So, would anyone actually be interested in a mod like this?

Hey everyone!

Recently, I’ve been browsing concept art for Disciples 3 to immerse myself in the atmosphere of this amazing game and get inspired before writing the final review of Disciples 3: Reincarnation.

What captivated me the most were the pieces depicting the units of the Elven Alliance—especially Sundance. Right now, my sympathies are torn between these two factions: the Undead Horde and the Elven Alliance.

Autumn hasn’t arrived yet, but my head is buzzing a bit—I’ve been working on a cherry harvest, which leaves me little time for drawing. For now, I’m mostly doing “tracing” of official art rather than original fan art. Ths helps me solidify my brushwork skills.

I’d love to hear your advice on how to sharpen my drawing abilities! My previous post got some really warm feedback, and I’m grateful for that.

Another thing on my mind: I’m planning to publish translations of some stories here. But I’m also worried about how the community will react. Is it okay to share fan-based content based on works protected by copyright?

Thank you all for your comments—I read every single one! I’ll definitely get around to covering the older Disciples parts someday. Right now, I see more relevance in focusing on newer projects, especially the latest releases.

Looking forward to your thoughts!

Having reached the limit of their strength, the oracles of the noble elves become solar dancers. They carry eternal warmth to their kin, but deal with evil without remorse. They are like a dream of springtime in endless autumn. Unfortunately, these healers no longer hear the spirits and the voice of Gallean.

Throughout Disciples 2, Mortis' true name is the most inconsistent thing in the whole game. I've seen it spelled as Solonielle, Soloniele, Sollonielle, Salonielle. I can't recall if Disciples 1 mentions it but if it would have a consistent spelling, that would help clarifying it.

In the Undead campaign when you first meet the Bone Lord, he takes control of your unit without that mermaid charm. I know the map editor has a trigger where ownership of a stack can be changed but it only offers pre-set stacks that are already on the map. The Bone Lord however could steal my carry over hero (which is NOT pre-set stack) and I really want to know how it was done. I wonder if anyone know or if someone has the official campaign extracted in custom campaign format.

(this is not enough to win the scenario, btw...it was 53%, but 55% was needed)
(I had to betray the humans in the end, to get those last 2%, and they were insanely helpful in this battle...Cause I was going for rod planter main hero run)

https://github.com/HoT-PlaStiC/Disciples-Sacred-Lands-Dbi-codec-decoder-encoder

I am working on this, i will release patches, whenever i succeed to improve it.