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I spent about 40 hours of real time on this scenario over 3 days :D.
It was incredibly addictive... I just can't find the words.
I started with a Warlock (in the name of chaos and evil!!), and I slowly explored everything, made a lot of mistakes, and only unlocked the Binomial on month 28. And then I started getting ambushed by enemy squads (which I guess is how they "extend the game," although it wasn't really extended, honestly :()... squads of 4 archers. It would have been easy if I had played as the Dark faction... but that's for the weak! I'm a Warlock, right? I'll just throw fireballs at everyone!!! That's what I thought... but it didn't work :D. I had to do a shameful and sad restart, but this time as a Knight with archer stacks. I wouldn't say it's 100 times easier than playing as a Warlock, because a stack of Furies and Initiative Assassins at the start deals just as much damage as bolts and forest archers, but being "more experienced" and knowing what to expect made it easier. I noticed a bug with the dialogue at the banker. If you ask what they're doing in the wilderness after being robbed, the option to pawn off money will reappear (even if it's for 0%).
Furthermore, what personally bothered me was the lack of decent growth for T7 units towards the end of the game, as well as its ridiculously high price compared to its effectiveness.
I played with a full-range army: red ballista, forest archers, combat mages - as the core - and, in addition to them, variable fire elementals and druids. Using artifacts for initiative (Drake's Ring for archers and a +20% speed ring, as well as a staff that reduces enemy initiative by -20%), I cleared the entire map from the middle onwards using auto-combat (I don't know how anyone can get through melee units without losses :D, I think it's just a huge waste of time).
Also, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't find the warrior's grave under the sulfur mine at the Orcs' location. I looked at everything I could, but I couldn't find it...
Also, the quest with the mines doesn't complete, even if you repair them. And I don't understand why you have to repair them for 7 (or 8) thousand, if the price only increases by 5 when you turn them in...
I didn't appreciate the Dragon Set, which everyone praises so much.
Reducing enemy defense and initiative, in my opinion, is much better, but to each their own.
Alchemy is too strong. Really. I didn't use it much (the interface for managing it is very inconvenient, but it's clear that the Heroes' mechanics are like that), but after buffing up before the main boss, I defeated him without any losses.
There's a real lack of hints about the game, such as:
- The gnome princess is famous for feeding her gnomes protein and anabolic steroids. (By the way, it's funny that the battle can be easily won by a hero in solo mode, because he doesn't deal x damage with his sword, but a percentage of the squad's health, and he can easily one-shot a 2k dragon at a normal level, etc.)
- Stolen dragon victims will be rewarded with something special.
- We're not just threatening the dragon, but for a specific device.
I was very surprised by the portal after the labyrinth that leads directly to the Binomial (T4 location). Because my army was, let's just say, battered and clearly not ready for such a contrast, and it was like going from the frying pan into the fire. At that point, I hadn't even reached the T3 Orcs. That is, the player can simply clear the labyrinth on their last legs, find the clues, and just "hello," without leaving the area.
I absolutely don't understand the motivation of the gnome who betrayed us with the ship. Why does he attack us? And, as far as I understand, it happens no matter what (I tried with mercenaries and with the Lion Clan). It's very strange. The same goes for the Orc with the wyverns. At least have some dialogue. The same goes for the princess, the overlord - all the enemy heroes. This scenario is "immersive." But where are the dialogues with the main villains? They just say "aaargh" and "Hey-ho" <- the latter is what the MAIN BOSS says to me!!! What is that... Where are the dialogues with choices? Astral hinted that we can choose to be a coward/hero/villain. And we end up after an EPIC BATTLE... in the menu screen. No farewell, no greeting. I was very disappointed, considering how much effort was put into it! :D The bank went bankrupt, and I have a million left, which disappeared very quickly. All resources and all artifacts, including Sar-Issa and the dragon artifacts, were sold. Everything for the war effort!
And in response... Hey-ho and nothing. I think this is the main flaw!
Next. List of questions:
1) Is it possible to persuade the demon-elementalist to join the guild without knowledge of summoning magic and other special skills to learn spells? I only managed to get 8 spells, and I can't get the 9th!
2) I know that if you give everything to the empire (mines/ashas), they will unlock angels for you. Does this also work with elves?
3) Can you use a catapult to reach the Easter eggs?
4) What and why did the thieves steal from the elves? What does it lead to? What benefits does handing the thieves over to the mayor give you? I received the same amount of money, but I lost the thieves' den, what's the advantage? :(
5) What do the titans/mages give you that appear on the map with dialogues? The druid and the demon gave me something, but here I get nothing, or do the answers influence something?
Summary: The map is very cool, thank you very much to the author for his WORK!
I think the difficulty is sufficient, especially if you don't know the "architecture" of the map at least until the middle and what to do and where to go. There's enough money... and not enough. On the one hand, I managed to get some good gear for the main boss - 7 cool full stacks, but the bank was bankrupt and I had no resources left, and I sold my last pants... It's a strange feeling :D.
Overall, the somewhat lackluster ending slightly spoiled the impression, so 9/10! :)