Disciples II Rise of the Elves

Will Ferrell Need Not Apply
Disciples II: Rise of the Elves: Gold Edition

When the pastoral mixes with the aggressively supernatural such that wild bestial lusts struggle for balance with the contemplative balance of nature; when the phantasmagorical forces of undead evil and demonic invasion threaten the natural cycle of life and death; and where it is no longer easy to decipher the boundaries between rival gods and goddesses, raw power and life force, this is the essence of high fantasy. Disciples II: Rise of the Elves: Gold Edition is truly high fantasy. To be sure, it is “merely” an expansion pack to the product we have covered elsewhere on this site, but it is also the finest hour of the series.

Expand or Die (Just an Expansion?)

“Ho, hum!” say some of the more jaded readers of my chronicles from this series. So, they’ve added elves. What brings on this hyperbole? Even worse, some of the more cynical readers will look to the “Buy” links on this site and say that this is propaganda, sales text, not criticism. Well, I must confess that I occasionally become far more enthusiastic about certain games than the general public does or even some of my colleagues may become. Disciples II is a case in point. I found the original Disciples: Sacred Lands to be as addictive as the more popular and successful Heroes of Might and Magic series, but there was something about the dark fantasy art and iconic nature of the races that held me to the game until I finished it. I even adapted some of its ideas for Dragon magazine, that archetype of all role-playing magazines. So, it is no accident that I place my bias meter heavily on 10. I really enjoyed the other games in the series. I spent far too many hours playing the scenarios in different ways.

Disciples II Rise of the Elves Screenshot 8: ELVEN SURPRISE Just as the elves think matters are well in hand, “The Betrayal” encircles them with a ring of enemies (the encircled parties) to be blocked, stalled, and defeated.

Since many of my friends prefer the Heroes series to the Disciples series, I’ve had to perform some reflection in order to figure out why my opinion is so out of kilter with the rest. I think I have it. It’s the story and the scenario design that adds the spice to Disciples for me. I like the fact that, though you usually begin each scenario with the constant of managing one heroic party, you don’t always. I like the way that, even though you always have to explore new maps for each scenario by peeling back the dark layers of cloud, fog of war, or simulated ignorance, the maps feature unexpected ambushes, traps, road blocks, mini-missions within the scenarios (escort missions, intercept missions, and the like) and character encounters that advance the plot (however slender the thread). One scenario even has a mechanism for wave attacks where powerful forces keep spawning behind your own lines and force you to keep a relatively strong “stay-at-home” force.

In Disciples II: Rise of the Elves (Gold Edition), you “command” a tenuous union between the civilized and wild elves. Both sides have their innate prejudices and hatreds. Both sides expect treachery and, at times, become the culmination of their own self-fulfilling prophecies of betrayal. Indeed, one scenario is entitled, “The Betrayal,” and it reflects a Byzantine path of misdirection and misunderstanding that leads to a position surrounded by three hostile factions. Surviving this is difficult enough, but the piece de resistance is the fact that you have to keep other units alive in order to win. In another episode called “The Trader’s War,” you need to take out the objectives almost simultaneously in order to be able to hold onto them. Truthfully, the dynamics of this saga are significantly deeper and richer than any of the others in the series (and those of you who have read my other articles will know that I very much enjoyed the others). More than in any of the others, I felt the constraints of time, resources, and opposition.

Disciples II: Rise of the Elves (Gold Edition) initiates you into a hopeless, out-of-control situation. Your commanders are given orders they don’t understand, commands they find repugnant. It is clear that the commanders you control are confused by the “divine” (or perhaps, more like “demonic”) instructions they have received. Everything is clearly upside-down from the normal order of this fantasy cosmos and it was intriguing to me to speculate on all the reasons that might be. Yet, at each point that I thought I had crested the highest point of its rollercoaster-like progression, it would light the figurative rocket jets of intrigue and betrayal to subject me further to the phantasmagoric G-forces of the plot’s clever machinations.

I enjoyed the dilemma of trying to decide with which of two irreconcilable groups of wild elves I should align (in “The Dividing Line”). I found myself torn between the three paths to take in attempting to wend my way toward the showdown at the Empire’s stronghold known as Temperance. This game is huge, requiring plenty of decision-making beyond the standard methodology of wiping out everything in sight.

Disciples II Rise of the Elves Screenshot 9: JABBERWICCAN The oracle's use of this dialect precipitated a crisis that threatened the result of this scenario.

Mechanics of Metaphysics (Game Play)

Except for changes in scenario design and the addition of new units for the elven culture, Disciples II: Rise of the Elves (Gold Edition) plays exactly like Disciples II: Dark Prophecy and the other expansion sets. I particularly enjoy the fact that the Sages (the units authorized to plant rods and claim mana for spellcasting) have the ability to summon minor ents to assist in fighting battles. This makes them more powerful than the rod planters of other cultures (races). This allows you to be slightly more aggressive with them than you can be with other rod planters (with the possible exception being those of the Mountain Clans).

The tactical combat is still handled the same way in Disciples II: Rise of the Elves (Gold Edition) and this is where some of my colleagues and friends prefer Heroes of Might & Magic. In HOMM, your characters move according to their speed ratings during the tactical combat. In DII: ROE and others, you have a static formation and the speed ratings only affect your initiative. Frankly, both systems require the use of combined arms. If you don’t knock out the enemy ranged units early on (in either game), your back rows of auxilia are liable to be turned to ash, stone, smoke, or dust before you have a chance to use them. I also like the tactical decision of whether to have to take out the healing units or the “boosting” units (which give extra attacks or damage to other units) early. My personal tactical doctrine is to take out ranged units first because they can hit my weaker back row units easily. Then, I prioritize enemy units that use poison and healing units. Unless I am dealing with a “boosting” unit that is feeding a giant, ogre champion, dragon or huge monster, I usually leave them until late in the tactical combat.

Yet, as good as the plot-driven scenario design of Disciples II: Rise of the Elves (Gold Edition) may be, there are some “game” aspects that are still painful. First, though some may call me “whiney,” I still think that if a commanding officer is sending military units toward an objective, they have some sense of the general area where that objective might be found. Maps might be out of date. Descriptions may be colored by legend and lore. Troop deployments may be masked by noise and disinformation, but the “fog of war” is rarely as total as it is in Disciples II: Rise of the Elves (Gold Edition). As a result, I don’t think it would be cheating to use the maps for each scenario provided by Manifesto Games on this site.

Second, the plot-driven nature of some of the scenarios means that the designer does not want you to take on the “ultimate bad guys” too early. Unfortunately, you don’t always know what too early is. On two occasions, I used a huge surplus of mana to whittle down an opposing force, only to be told by the ex machina of a conversational pop-up that “This group is too strong for us, we can’t defeat them.” Yet, I had just put more than a thousand points of mana into weakening them. Short of returning to an earlier saved game position, there was no way to get back the mana I had expended in trying to reduce a force the designers had declared irreducible. Also, since the program seems to use a “circle of effect” to delineate these irreducible forces, it is also possible for a mere thief to sit on the edge of this invisible circle and be invincible as long as he/she rests there.

If I had only encountered these cases in one situation, I could live with them. As it actually happens, I feel it weakens the player’s freedom and reduces the game from its generally superior level to one where it is excellent, but… Frankly, this was the only bad taste in my mouth from playing this game.

Third, I really hated the wave attacks in “The Trader’s War.” Once the fleet tender (one of the objectives) was destroyed and the resource base of the Empire reduced, it made no sense for the Empire to keep sending powerful forces at you. Fortunately, it was possible to clear every neutral group and resource off the board before the wave attacks began, as long as one did not attack any of the neutral ports or the fleet tender until all of these were defeated. Once you trigger the wave attacks, you’ll be on the defensive until you win. The last diversion in “Galleon’s Promise” offered cool graphics, but it was a real pain to solve.

Disciples II Rise of the Elves Screenshot 11: STEAMROLLER Actually, more of a steam and rubble thrower, this machine must be defeated to defeat the Empire in "Galleon's Promise."

The Unholy Grail (Conclusions)

Disciples II: Rise of the Elves (Gold Edition) is definitely the masterpiece of the series. Whether you have always felt like this series had something missing or whether, like me, you felt it was a masterwork that combined storytelling, strategy, and elements of role-playing into one satisfying quest, this one deserves your attention. Disciples II is not only worth playing in all of its incarnations, but it has constantly improved in terms of game play rather than feature creep.

Reviewer’s Snapshot: 9 (on scale of 10)

Story/Creativity 9 (unsettling)
Conversations/NPCs 8 (more interesting than before)
Artificial Opponents 8 (slight step back)
Replayability 9 (terrific scenario design)
Graphics 8 (at times, too dark, but still impressive)
Price/Performance 9 (fabulous value)

Reviewer’s Bias: 9 (obviously a fan)