When it comes to RTSes, I’m not a noob. When I review a game, I start on “normal difficulty” to see how things work for the average gamer, but often bump it up to “hard” before long. I only pull back to “easy” when I need to see how a campaign story plays out and I’m in a bit of a hurry.
Majesty 2 Kingmaker, the expansion to last year’s pretty good RTS, starts with Advanced difficulty missions in the campaign. Sure, they give you 10000 gold to start spending, but it takes a while to figure out precisely how to spend that money wisely. The first mission surrounds you with wolf dens and then you have rampaging goblins. And of course those stupid sewers. Your heroes will level up fast, and then still die.
I am yet to finish this mission. And you cannot, as far as I can see, reduce the difficulty of the campaign missions. Sink or swim.
As a continuation of the Majesty 2
campaign, I suppose this makes sense. You could finish that story – why not begin this one? But in the advanced missions in the core game you could at least build a Hall of Heroes to get a superstar out early to clear nearby lairs. You can’t do that until you’ve made a hero in the expansion campaign.
But even though I am not a noob, I’m also no pro. I expect that many of the people that completed the Majesty 2 campaign will be more than ready for what it dishes out.
As a reviewer, I can apply a patch to unlock the entire campaign, but then I miss the sense of progression that players will experience when they play. So I will keep plugging away at this until I figure out the “trick”. Do I rush for the goblin stronghold first? Do I clear the bears to the East? Do I quit?
I’ll accept any advice at this point.
I think if you are having issues for _that_ long, cheating unlock more of the game seems acceptable. Maybe even a fast-build code could help get past the hump.
And the difficulty needs to be mentioned in your article…
Maybe see if Tom Chick can do it? The Tom vs. Bruce series, not to mention various things said here and on the Qt3 shows, seems to suggest that Tom really is quite good at RTS. If he can’t do it, then maybe its something wrong with the game itself, rather than a blind spot in your game style.
Troy, keep plugging away. If you want to give us advice, you need to have the same experience as us, warts and all.
Hehe, those Majesty missions are quite strict and specific aren’t they. Looking forward to trying the expansion
Ken, Troy is not in any case getting the same experience as us consumers. When we get the game there will be walkthroughs to immediately turn to when our forehead sweat starts to leave wet marks on the wall. Troy might already be seeing rivulets of blood with no recourse.
I found the first mission pretty easy after the last ones in majesty 2 and completed it on first try. You simply need to be aggressive, at the start only 1 tower max, all four hero buildings ( ranger first ), market and blacksmith, immediately begin killing dens by putting 100-200 flags on it. If I remember correctly there are two trade posts nearby one in the NE and one in the SW, build them right away and a tower on the right side of the NE one, since from there the goblins arrive. explore only to the E of your camp and kill the bear dens if possible, while expanding your base. I think I built wizard tower ( no wizards they die to easily, I only use them in parties with a healer ), potions shop for the income ( I do not research potions, because I find them useless ) another ranger and cleric then dwarf + dwarfen tower on the place the goblins arrive then elfs. Go to the hunter as soon as you fulfill the requirements, make parties and clear out the dens away from the goblins ( especially the werewolf one in the N ) level your heroes and kill the goblins. I did so on day 60 I think, but it should be possible sooner.
Regards
GB
Who actually *likes* puzzle RTS missions? This alone is why I have not bought into Majesty 2. It clearly sounds like the frustration is greater than the reward.
Majesty 2 Kingmaker Update // Apr 21, 2010 at 3:12 pm
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