13га
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I somehow made it to the end of the map (the original version, with the "hero"). An epic tale: "A Journey There and Back," then again there, and then again back. An intensive course of treatment for the hero's sclerosis. The scenario is a solid 5+. There are many intricacies in the map, but everything works decently. The map is carefully calculated. The drawbacks are a logical continuation of the advantages. Everything is regulated: the army, spells, and movement paths. For the player, this is like moving in a tube: no turning left or right, jumping is a provocation. Spells are given when capturing certain objects, and it's unclear what will happen if, at the end, you change, say, "chaos" to "light" on the mentor – what spells will be in the book? In this map, everything is done "quickly." Only after finishing the map can you say that something should have been done differently. But, looking back, how many times would I have to replay it... oh well, it's good enough as it is. The map is designed for those who like to carve up dinosaurs with a pocketknife. The action is divided into two storylines: Karlam and Greta. In Karlam's story, I really didn't like the lack of the ability to split up troops. I left some in the garrison of the mine, but that's not the best option. Then I just stopped taking genies. I didn't understand if, under the conditions of eternal night, it's possible to honestly dig up the Grail. No matter how much I ran around, I couldn't get a handicap of 2 days' travel. If the gap became too large, Baal was teleported to the nearest respawn point to Karlam.
The main disappointment was Greta's storyline. The absurd special ability of the elf harmonizes very well with the female name of the muscle-bound male. Any standard elf would look better in her place: Vinrael (battle-hardened), Anwen, Vingaël. Regeneration is not applied to the summoned dragon, and very large armies attack, so it dies quickly. The reward is small, the losses are huge. The structure of the battles at the castle is essentially anti-elf – drawn-out, with an emphasis on defense. They are even boring to watch in replay. Greta's upgrade goes into all sorts of minor skills for an elf, like mechanics and enchantment. In these battles, high-initiative elven troops are mainly forced to stand, only the hero moves. In most cases, there is no point in deploying the entire army. The culmination of such battles was Gilva. Horror and mockery of the player at the same time. The phantoms created by the AI stacks come to life. A stack crammed into one place, after being resurrected and moved, rises from the dead in several places by the AI. I put the game aside for a long time after this siege. Achilles cannot catch the tortoise. The battle with the healer was the only one in which I used the elf's special ability. I think Orris was the most successful in the series of sieges. As a suggestion, it would be good to display information about which elven outpost increases the growth of which creature. It's one thing to spend resources on increasing dragons, and quite another on trees.
I don't want to replay the map at all. Maybe someday, when I've forgotten all this mess.
P.S. It was a waste to take away Karlam's mentoring ability. At least some variety was expected.
The main disappointment was Greta's storyline. The absurd special ability of the elf harmonizes very well with the female name of the muscle-bound male. Any standard elf would look better in her place: Vinrael (battle-hardened), Anwen, Vingaël. Regeneration is not applied to the summoned dragon, and very large armies attack, so it dies quickly. The reward is small, the losses are huge. The structure of the battles at the castle is essentially anti-elf – drawn-out, with an emphasis on defense. They are even boring to watch in replay. Greta's upgrade goes into all sorts of minor skills for an elf, like mechanics and enchantment. In these battles, high-initiative elven troops are mainly forced to stand, only the hero moves. In most cases, there is no point in deploying the entire army. The culmination of such battles was Gilva. Horror and mockery of the player at the same time. The phantoms created by the AI stacks come to life. A stack crammed into one place, after being resurrected and moved, rises from the dead in several places by the AI. I put the game aside for a long time after this siege. Achilles cannot catch the tortoise. The battle with the healer was the only one in which I used the elf's special ability. I think Orris was the most successful in the series of sieges. As a suggestion, it would be good to display information about which elven outpost increases the growth of which creature. It's one thing to spend resources on increasing dragons, and quite another on trees.
I don't want to replay the map at all. Maybe someday, when I've forgotten all this mess.
P.S. It was a waste to take away Karlam's mentoring ability. At least some variety was expected.