Flame_Haze
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Greetings, I started playing this campaign and want to share my opinion. I'll likely split it into several posts, since this isn't just one map but a campaign, and in this post I'll try to cover the first two missions
Mission 1 - The Prisoner
- The story says Varens is captured somewhere, and we need to free him. He fell into the hands of pirates (orcs), because Archbishop Dominic needs Varens and his knowledge of the Book of Changes to destroy demons as a class...
Let's call this the introductory mission. In this mission, our main character is Andrias (with Victor's specialty), we have a level cap of 12, and since he's an Artificer, we'll be leveling Artificer...
Before the battle for the castle, I ran around a bit, tried what I could to go into the castle slightly leveled up)
A few battles from this stage for your viewing
VS Daughters of the Sky (don't know why I saved it)
Andrias VS Stefan (castle guard)
Overall, it wasn't a problem. The main challenge is to rescue him within 2 months, level up to the development cap, and not miss a guy named Vladimir, who is Stefan's teacher and reaches the castle in a couple of days (most likely), and we can't give up the castle. In the open field, of course, I'm no match for him because I missed the timing a bit, unloaded a bit earlier, and when I returned to the castle, I met him there.
Andrias VS Vladimir
After repelling the attack, the second month began, and I thought it was time to look for those pirates. After sailing around a bit and being confused, I found the entrance to the blue player's lands and beat him without much trouble. By the end of the first mission, my main character turned out like this
And we meet a familiar hero from the "Ambassador" scenario
Moving on to the second mission, a short and concise beginning, seems all fine, we move to the second mission and here we go
Mission 2 - In Search of Changes...
To say you can have a blast here is an understatement. In short, it's just AWESOME. I really liked it. Let me try to go through it in order
The start gradually introduces you to the situation and tells you about new troops "stronger, more obedient." In this mission, we play as both Andrias and Varens
And here the interest gets even more fueled. I won't attach screenshots of all troops, I'll just go over what stood out to me. First of all, you can't just hire them — you need to retrain them. Fortunately, the cost isn't that high. The only downside is you need a free stack and any tier, but say you have 7 upgraded stacks — you won't upgrade them all in one go; you'll need to do it twice. Not that it's critical, but still. Fortunately, this action doesn't cost a turn — you just need to stand at the castle and use the retraining ability in the spellbook. Another downside: these green guys are "NOT creatures of the Order of Order." Why am I saying this? Because if, for example, you upgraded the weekly growth (conditionally) and forgot to train the troops, the castle won't let you train that new army. Seems like a small thing, but it can be counted as a downside...
Let's briefly go through them in order:
1. Recruits — slightly better stats, the main plus is Assault + Stunning Blow. Under different circumstances, you can stun twice, and that's cool...
2. Imperial Marksmen (almost imba, especially under Varens and with the volley that silences) — lack direct shot and precise shot but have double shot, retaliate against shooters, shoot volley, and sometimes shoot volley twice. Try countering that))
3. Squires (also almost imba) — have everything Squires and even Zealots have, only better — Infinite Retaliation, double attack, stunning blow. Same as with Recruits, you can stun twice, which is also nice
4. Scout Griffins (didn't use them much, but still) — a mix of Battle and Royal Griffins + bear paw strike — all the best, namely Strike from the Skies, Royal's initiative, Battle Frenzy from the red ones, plus the bear paw strike. Also interesting characters.
5. Priests — well, these are outright imba. Shooting without penalty and spells: Haste/Blessing/Regeneration/Cleansing. What else can I add? And at Expert level
6. Cavaliers — also cool guys, but here's a different philosophy: Knight's Charge and Charging Strike (more damage + defense mode) + heal. If only they had some kind of piercing strike like Isabel's Knights, it would be totally awesome, though they're good as is
7. Elrath's Angels — also imba. The only ones who can compete are Fallen Angels (since I didn't remove the mod from the previous map). 2 resurrections in the spellbook — one standard for 0 mana, another a spell — plus if you take Secrets of Light, you can resurrect twice with them, and if the Might and Magic week falls, then 4+1 = 5 times total. Not bad. On top of that, Child of Light deals decent 60 damage. Fallen Angels (only because of the mod and Drain) are the competition
A great idea, well implemented. The only thing to nitpick is Cavaliers and Squires — their icons look too similar and I sometimes confuse them. But these are all minor things. So, done with troops, moving on to the game itself.
Naturally, since Andrias is slightly leveled, we play as him, and we'll level Varens later. The level cap is 28, though it could easily be 30 given there are plenty of fights...
According to the scenario, we need the Book of Changes, but we're in a diplomatic alliance of elves-dwarves-humans. To pass through their lands, we use the pretext that there's no news from our city (everything is detailed in the quests), but the bluff didn't work, and we have to fight the elves. Despite being an Artificer, the fights are quite tough at the start, and I had to cheat in places. The first to meet us at the border is Wyngaal
Andrias VS Wyngaal
All would be fine, but the next day Dirael arrives with 500+ fairies, and we're like "good evening, and what does this mean..."
Andrias VS Dirael
And she resurrects — more precisely, they buy her back from the tavern almost every day. After running around a bit and building up troops, we capture the first castle. More precisely, we take out the hero, then we're told we can't destroy it — it stays with Irolan and just becomes a neutral town, and no one comes from there anymore. And Dominic, seeing our success in finding the books, sends reinforcements of new troops + resources for each castle, of which there are 4 (though I didn't capture the last one, because an evil fleet arrives there and we're told it's better not to fight it to get a bonus, and there's no point anyway since both heroes are leveled by the end)
And honestly, for the first while the elves are a nuisance until we build up mass, because they already have mass)
Andrias VS Vinrael
One of the hard battles that was tough was against Anwen, because it shows High danger level and we don't have enough troops. Well, I cheated here and met her at the garrison. In the open field, she rolled me into a salad, but with walls I almost got out unscathed
Andrias VS Anwen
Then, after leveling up a bit and gathering an army, we just run around grinding Andrias. Along the way, we see Lake Island, the one we need to capture per the quest, but I'm in no rush to get there — I need to explore everything and collect everything)
And then, as they say, it's smooth sailing. A couple more replays with elves, level Andrias to 28, take Mentor, teach Varens, give him the army, and level him)
Andrias VS Gilraen
Andrias VS Ossir
After leveling, Andrias turned out like this
What to say about Varens — a cool specialty that hasn't changed from the "Ambassador" map. He got his level from Mentor and went to fight mostly Dwarves, because to get to the Book of Changes, we need Rune Stones (keys) which are obtained by breaking through Dwarf castles and visiting a building (you can't just visit it because we're directly told that to get the stone, you need to defeat the castle). Here the situation differs from the Elf castles — we're given the opportunity to capture and keep the castle under our control, and that's good)
At this stage, I stopped taking screenshots and just saved replays, so all of Varens' battles are for your viewing...
Varens VS Ingvar
Varens VS Tariel
Varens VS Wyngaal
Varens VS Galib
- Here I should explain: there's a neutral mage guarding the spell library, quite strong and should be taken out quickly because his stats are very high. I gave Clone to Elrath's Archangels, then he hit with Divine Vengeance and resurrected with double resurrection. After defeating him, they give the Sar-Issa set, and I think besides the library itself, that's a pretty good bonus
Varens VS Helmar (3rd castle)
And the final castle is the battle against Svea. Then a day later, the brown player's fleet appears. Here we could have left Andrias near the place where the key is given, but even without that, we easily make it there in time to get the Book of Changes and see the final cutscene. But before that, let me show what Varens turned out like
Varens VS Svea
And the finale where we reach the location of the Book of Changes and Varens successfully masters it. Only here our heroes' opinions diverge. During the dialogue, Andrias says it's time to take the book to Dominic to destroy all demons. But Andrias knows it won't help, because it will only destroy the prison and release all demons into the wild. And Varens decides to run away to find Arantir, so that he in turn would destroy the book's power... The next mission — The Chase — I'll cover in future posts)
Let's sum up: If the first mission is relatively short, an introduction, more or less chill and relaxed, then the second is already a big map, cool underground, new troops, plenty to do on the map until you're exhausted. In short, I really like the campaign. Different arenas (I'll even attach one + a couple of bonus battles with strong stacks, in my opinion). And hopefully the fact that I left the Log to Andrias won't play a cruel joke on me, because in the third mission (judging by the description) we need to run away from him, but we'll see when we actually play the mission)
VS League stack
VS 865 dragons
Mission 1 - The Prisoner
- The story says Varens is captured somewhere, and we need to free him. He fell into the hands of pirates (orcs), because Archbishop Dominic needs Varens and his knowledge of the Book of Changes to destroy demons as a class...
Let's call this the introductory mission. In this mission, our main character is Andrias (with Victor's specialty), we have a level cap of 12, and since he's an Artificer, we'll be leveling Artificer...
Before the battle for the castle, I ran around a bit, tried what I could to go into the castle slightly leveled up)
A few battles from this stage for your viewing
VS Daughters of the Sky (don't know why I saved it)
Andrias VS Stefan (castle guard)
Overall, it wasn't a problem. The main challenge is to rescue him within 2 months, level up to the development cap, and not miss a guy named Vladimir, who is Stefan's teacher and reaches the castle in a couple of days (most likely), and we can't give up the castle. In the open field, of course, I'm no match for him because I missed the timing a bit, unloaded a bit earlier, and when I returned to the castle, I met him there.
Andrias VS Vladimir
After repelling the attack, the second month began, and I thought it was time to look for those pirates. After sailing around a bit and being confused, I found the entrance to the blue player's lands and beat him without much trouble. By the end of the first mission, my main character turned out like this
And we meet a familiar hero from the "Ambassador" scenario
Moving on to the second mission, a short and concise beginning, seems all fine, we move to the second mission and here we go
Mission 2 - In Search of Changes...
To say you can have a blast here is an understatement. In short, it's just AWESOME. I really liked it. Let me try to go through it in order
The start gradually introduces you to the situation and tells you about new troops "stronger, more obedient." In this mission, we play as both Andrias and Varens
And here the interest gets even more fueled. I won't attach screenshots of all troops, I'll just go over what stood out to me. First of all, you can't just hire them — you need to retrain them. Fortunately, the cost isn't that high. The only downside is you need a free stack and any tier, but say you have 7 upgraded stacks — you won't upgrade them all in one go; you'll need to do it twice. Not that it's critical, but still. Fortunately, this action doesn't cost a turn — you just need to stand at the castle and use the retraining ability in the spellbook. Another downside: these green guys are "NOT creatures of the Order of Order." Why am I saying this? Because if, for example, you upgraded the weekly growth (conditionally) and forgot to train the troops, the castle won't let you train that new army. Seems like a small thing, but it can be counted as a downside...
Let's briefly go through them in order:
1. Recruits — slightly better stats, the main plus is Assault + Stunning Blow. Under different circumstances, you can stun twice, and that's cool...
2. Imperial Marksmen (almost imba, especially under Varens and with the volley that silences) — lack direct shot and precise shot but have double shot, retaliate against shooters, shoot volley, and sometimes shoot volley twice. Try countering that))
3. Squires (also almost imba) — have everything Squires and even Zealots have, only better — Infinite Retaliation, double attack, stunning blow. Same as with Recruits, you can stun twice, which is also nice
4. Scout Griffins (didn't use them much, but still) — a mix of Battle and Royal Griffins + bear paw strike — all the best, namely Strike from the Skies, Royal's initiative, Battle Frenzy from the red ones, plus the bear paw strike. Also interesting characters.
5. Priests — well, these are outright imba. Shooting without penalty and spells: Haste/Blessing/Regeneration/Cleansing. What else can I add? And at Expert level
6. Cavaliers — also cool guys, but here's a different philosophy: Knight's Charge and Charging Strike (more damage + defense mode) + heal. If only they had some kind of piercing strike like Isabel's Knights, it would be totally awesome, though they're good as is
7. Elrath's Angels — also imba. The only ones who can compete are Fallen Angels (since I didn't remove the mod from the previous map). 2 resurrections in the spellbook — one standard for 0 mana, another a spell — plus if you take Secrets of Light, you can resurrect twice with them, and if the Might and Magic week falls, then 4+1 = 5 times total. Not bad. On top of that, Child of Light deals decent 60 damage. Fallen Angels (only because of the mod and Drain) are the competition
A great idea, well implemented. The only thing to nitpick is Cavaliers and Squires — their icons look too similar and I sometimes confuse them. But these are all minor things. So, done with troops, moving on to the game itself.
Naturally, since Andrias is slightly leveled, we play as him, and we'll level Varens later. The level cap is 28, though it could easily be 30 given there are plenty of fights...
According to the scenario, we need the Book of Changes, but we're in a diplomatic alliance of elves-dwarves-humans. To pass through their lands, we use the pretext that there's no news from our city (everything is detailed in the quests), but the bluff didn't work, and we have to fight the elves. Despite being an Artificer, the fights are quite tough at the start, and I had to cheat in places. The first to meet us at the border is Wyngaal
Andrias VS Wyngaal
All would be fine, but the next day Dirael arrives with 500+ fairies, and we're like "good evening, and what does this mean..."
Andrias VS Dirael
And she resurrects — more precisely, they buy her back from the tavern almost every day. After running around a bit and building up troops, we capture the first castle. More precisely, we take out the hero, then we're told we can't destroy it — it stays with Irolan and just becomes a neutral town, and no one comes from there anymore. And Dominic, seeing our success in finding the books, sends reinforcements of new troops + resources for each castle, of which there are 4 (though I didn't capture the last one, because an evil fleet arrives there and we're told it's better not to fight it to get a bonus, and there's no point anyway since both heroes are leveled by the end)
And honestly, for the first while the elves are a nuisance until we build up mass, because they already have mass)
Andrias VS Vinrael
One of the hard battles that was tough was against Anwen, because it shows High danger level and we don't have enough troops. Well, I cheated here and met her at the garrison. In the open field, she rolled me into a salad, but with walls I almost got out unscathed
Andrias VS Anwen
Then, after leveling up a bit and gathering an army, we just run around grinding Andrias. Along the way, we see Lake Island, the one we need to capture per the quest, but I'm in no rush to get there — I need to explore everything and collect everything)
And then, as they say, it's smooth sailing. A couple more replays with elves, level Andrias to 28, take Mentor, teach Varens, give him the army, and level him)
Andrias VS Gilraen
Andrias VS Ossir
After leveling, Andrias turned out like this
What to say about Varens — a cool specialty that hasn't changed from the "Ambassador" map. He got his level from Mentor and went to fight mostly Dwarves, because to get to the Book of Changes, we need Rune Stones (keys) which are obtained by breaking through Dwarf castles and visiting a building (you can't just visit it because we're directly told that to get the stone, you need to defeat the castle). Here the situation differs from the Elf castles — we're given the opportunity to capture and keep the castle under our control, and that's good)
At this stage, I stopped taking screenshots and just saved replays, so all of Varens' battles are for your viewing...
Varens VS Ingvar
Varens VS Tariel
Varens VS Wyngaal
Varens VS Galib
- Here I should explain: there's a neutral mage guarding the spell library, quite strong and should be taken out quickly because his stats are very high. I gave Clone to Elrath's Archangels, then he hit with Divine Vengeance and resurrected with double resurrection. After defeating him, they give the Sar-Issa set, and I think besides the library itself, that's a pretty good bonus
Varens VS Helmar (3rd castle)
And the final castle is the battle against Svea. Then a day later, the brown player's fleet appears. Here we could have left Andrias near the place where the key is given, but even without that, we easily make it there in time to get the Book of Changes and see the final cutscene. But before that, let me show what Varens turned out like
Varens VS Svea
And the finale where we reach the location of the Book of Changes and Varens successfully masters it. Only here our heroes' opinions diverge. During the dialogue, Andrias says it's time to take the book to Dominic to destroy all demons. But Andrias knows it won't help, because it will only destroy the prison and release all demons into the wild. And Varens decides to run away to find Arantir, so that he in turn would destroy the book's power... The next mission — The Chase — I'll cover in future posts)
Let's sum up: If the first mission is relatively short, an introduction, more or less chill and relaxed, then the second is already a big map, cool underground, new troops, plenty to do on the map until you're exhausted. In short, I really like the campaign. Different arenas (I'll even attach one + a couple of bonus battles with strong stacks, in my opinion). And hopefully the fact that I left the Log to Andrias won't play a cruel joke on me, because in the third mission (judging by the description) we need to run away from him, but we'll see when we actually play the mission)
VS League stack
VS 865 dragons