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I've been playing for a couple of weeks now, and I want to express my great respect to the developers, at least for the fact that they weren't afraid to create something truly new, instead of just taking some specific part and sprucing it up. And most importantly, even from the leaked version, it feels like there's good replayability (unlike 6 and 7) and a good foundation for the long-term development of the game.
Almost everything in the individual components is great:
- Interesting setting, even the excessive cartoonishness isn't annoying.
- Good selection of heroes with unique specializations.
- Interesting and quite flexible hero leveling system, which allows you to make even weak heroes useful. The new ultimate ability feature (red/blue skills) is a nice addition and adds variety.
- Complete overhaul of magic, the observatory system, spell levels, everything looks very interesting and, at first glance, perfectly balances warrior and mage heroes.
- The feature with a special multifunctional resource – Dust – seemed strange at first, but after understanding how it works, it became very appealing, adding variability and interest to the planning.
- What initially caused the most concern was the new economy system and the small size of the battlefield. But over time, these concerns disappeared; the battlefields are sufficient for interesting maneuvers, and the economy system seems to have been reworked to favor greater dynamism.
- The concentration point system is quite interesting, but everything happens so quickly. You come to the conclusion that unit upgrades should be chosen not based on the "bonuses" for concentration points, but with a clear understanding of who and what should be used in battle and when, based on the build.
- Campaign magic is perhaps the most diverse and balanced of all the series.
In general, there seem to be many, many builds, possible plans B, C... interesting outcomes. There is a certain approach to eliminating the great effect of randomness, while not completely removing it, which will make the game very dynamic. As an example, playing on the same Jc for several times with different factions and different heroes, achieving a comfortable outcome within the same timeframe doesn't seem like a problem. Overall, it seems that the developers' words and actions are aligned; they approached the nuances carefully and with an understanding of what and why they are doing.
In general, I am very impressed and eagerly await the release.
PS: A separate thank you for creating units like "Kotorozhki" and the combat against them, as well as for the new take on peasants
Mооnst@r
