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Majesty 2 demo out/Impressions by Mischief Maker 09/15/2009, 8:43pm PDT
Link.

It's worth noting that I fucking love Majesty 1. It's one of my favorite strategy games of all time. (Cue FABIO rolling his eyes, sipping his espresso with the pinky extended, then saying "build a marketplace, then some trade posts, build as many heroes as you can and flag the main monster layer. Ho-hum.) I have been cautiously pessimistic over this really long overdue sequel. My impression is a handful of good ideas brought down by a fundamental flaw in the design.

At first glance the game's great. It's like Majesty 1 but more. Every guild is upgradeable by several times and each time you upgrade, you can add extra skills to your heroes. This includes unlocking all the spells for your wizards, as I could see no sign of a library in this game. Dead heroes are automatically deposited in a free graveyard where they can be resurrected at any time, gold permitting. Though the demo doesn't let you do it, it appears you can upgrade high level heroes to new classes, like a basic warrior can be upgraded to a paladin or a blademaster. While the graphics aren't mind-blowing or anything, the animations are nice.

Then there are the niggling details. Your peasants now abandon work on important stuff to go build (and repair) those randomly placed income houses. Guard towers are much cheaper, but they fucking suck (even more) now. Instead of the circular building sites that made tax collectors so vulnerable unless you have top-notch building placement, they're now placed in a tight safe grid formation, sucking a lot of the strategy out of the game. The heroes are so tiny I sometimes get them mixed up with skeletons and zombies.

But my biggest beef with the demo:

My heroes aren't doing a goddamn thing! Correction, they are protecting the city, and thank god for that because of the guardhouses sucking shit, but that's it. I've got a full ranger's guild and no one's exploring. The game comes with several new flags, including explore and attack, but also defend and avoid. Unfortunately, while it seems like a good idea to add these things, the designers must have counted on them when making the AI because the heroes don't DO anything besides hang around town unless you drop a flag for them. No raiding lairs on their own, no snatching up the random treasure chests that are RIGHT FUCKING THERE, just fighting invading monsters.

It's all symptomatic of a bigger problem with this game. It's much MUCH more heavy on the micromanagement. I'm not talking following one promising wizard around to make sure he survives long enough to become a powerhouse, I mean every single hero type. Go upgrade the ranger's guild to make their arrows more accurate, go teach the rogues how to poison their weapons, go unlock this skill, go upgrade that. Whatever happened to the game about making a kingdom perfectly designed to support and cater to fantasy heroes, then sitting back and watching those heroes use the resources you give them to kick the bad guy's ass? It's like using the Thief engine to make a game with unavoidable fights. There is no way in hell you can kick back with a can of Blatz in each hand playing this new game.
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Majesty 2 demo out/Impressions by Mischief Maker 09/15/2009, 8:43pm PDT NEW
    Re: Majesty 2 demo out/Impressions by FABIO 09/15/2009, 9:59pm PDT NEW
        FABIO is constantly searching the forum for threads about FABIO NT by Fortinbras 09/15/2009, 10:59pm PDT NEW
        You actually thought I was serious when I linked that game? NT by Mischief Maker 09/16/2009, 6:17am PDT NEW
    re: Majesty 2 demo out/Impressions by Tricknology 09/16/2009, 12:31am PDT NEW
    I was hoping the website's trailers would inform me as to what kind of game this by Weyoun Voidbringer 09/16/2009, 1:32am PDT NEW
        Jesus fuck quit posting NT by - 09/16/2009, 7:32pm PDT NEW
            Hahaha. NT by Creexuls, a monster >:3 09/17/2009, 1:25am PDT NEW
                youre fine! but please suffocate your brother NT by in the womb 09/17/2009, 6:55am PDT NEW
                    Jso is the ultimate acid test. NT by Creexuls, a monster >:3 09/17/2009, 6:59am PDT NEW
            I'd hate to see his reaction if he really WAS obsessed with me NT by Weyoun Voidbringer 09/20/2009, 4:36pm PDT NEW
    I like Majesty Gold but it crashes a lot on Vista, any ideas why? NT by Fortinbras 09/20/2009, 1:55pm PDT NEW
        You're running it on Vista. by Mischief Maker 09/20/2009, 9:36pm PDT NEW
            If I go into the directory and set the compatibility mode Steam tells me to NT by turn it off 09/20/2009, 9:56pm PDT NEW
                Steam sucks. I got my copy off gamersgate. No DRM. NT by Mischief Maker 09/21/2009, 6:59am PDT NEW
                    Man you're so fucking underground you haven't even heard of yourself NT by Fortinbras 09/21/2009, 7:50am PDT NEW
                        Honestly... by Mischief Maker 09/21/2009, 9:07am PDT NEW
                            The first one. by Fullofkittens 09/21/2009, 9:13am PDT NEW
                                You can get them DRM-free from Gamersgate and GOG NT by Mischief Maker 09/21/2009, 9:30am PDT NEW
                                    Correction by Mischief Maker 09/21/2009, 9:33am PDT NEW
                                        What kind of Michael Moore-inspired universe do you live in where you flip your by Fortinbras 09/21/2009, 12:14pm PDT NEW
                                    ... by Fullofkittens 09/21/2009, 9:35am PDT NEW
                                        The hell? They were advertising FF vs. 3rd Reich for $6 on Friday. NT by Mischief Maker 09/21/2009, 9:38am PDT NEW
                            Re: Honestly... by Ice Cream Jonsey 09/30/2009, 11:23pm PDT NEW
                                Meanwhile I have reinstalled Civ IV: Beyond the Sword and am addicted again by Fortinbras 10/01/2009, 6:00pm PDT NEW
                    nothing wrong with vista, blame steam NT by Weyoun Voidbringer 09/21/2009, 6:39pm PDT NEW
        I was being a dick, here's the real answer if interest remains. by Mischief Maker 06/24/2017, 1:11pm PDT NEW
    So did anyone get the full game? by E. L. Koba 10/03/2009, 12:25pm PDT NEW
        Yes. *sigh* by Mischief Maker 10/24/2014, 4:32pm PDT NEW
    Redemption! by Mischief Maker 06/24/2017, 1:07pm PDT NEW
 
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