I started playing Majesty 2 with the expectation that there would be something new to the game. Instead, what I found was essentially a remake: A very pretty remake, to tell the truth, but a remake nonetheless. I didn’t want to like this game. I didn’t want to play it for hours on end. I have a life. Majesty took me for a ride once before, and while I really enjoyed myself, I couldn’t walk for weeks after. This time, I was determined to keep lube nearby.
The Basics
Majesty 2 is structured around your relationship with heroes. Sure, there are peasants, tax collectors, bunnies and chickens in the game, but for the most part they’re nonessential. Peasants build your houses for you, and the tax collectors make you money. Unlike the bunnies and the chickens, they can be killed, which means that there’s a little time lag before the castle or house automatically generates this non-combatant at no expense to you.
Your heroes belong to guilds. Each guild has a particular building associated with it. Each building has a set limit (typically 3) of heroes that it can support. Your heroes, when first spawned, start out at level 1 but then, naturally, progress through the levels as they gain experience fighting crap.
But that doesn’t mean you micromanage their decisions. No, you have to give them suggestions (in the form of cash rewards) to explore the map and beat up on bad guys. At first, this mechanic really ticked me off. Heroes would ignore compatriots in peril, or ignore the fact that the building to which they’re running for shelter is on fire, and people are throwing unnecessary children from the second floor windows.
But, you soon learn to live with this. I’ve learned to live with a mouse that scientists grew out of my ear, so I can learn to live with this. Now, if only he wasn’t such a jerk.
There are other things in the game, but you don’t need to know about them.
Things That Increased the Review Score
An unintended bit of hilarity in this game came about due to the fact that I originally received a preview build, and not the eventual review build. The preview build had only Russian voiceover acting throughout the game. So, whenever something eventful happened in the game, or some mechanism was trying to warn me about bad things, a forceful voice in Russian would start yelling at me. After a while I turned it off, but until that point, I was very motivated to do whatever it was he wanted me to do…if I could only tell what that was.
Additionally, all of the text in the game is a sometimes-rough translation from Russian to English. In general, the ideas that the developers are trying to communicate are simple, so the text still manages to achieve its purpose. However, there are moments where even a subtle culture dissonance shows up. Like, for example, when the narrator makes an allusion toward the duties of the citizenry. I almost expected my heroes to stand in line for bread, and then get all excited when I offered them Levi’s jeans and McDonalds.
Every time a hero would get into trouble, and have to run away from a conflict, the animation had me in stitches. Arms akimbo, the healer would be running across the landscape, with about 20 rats biting at her heels.
This was yet another example of how visually appealing this game is. All the way through, I was interested in the overall progress of my little city, and who was and wasn’t dying at that very moment, but occasionally, I’d find myself just watching the little people move around, go about their daily activities, and then get thrown across the map by an angry dragon.
Things That Decreased the Review Score
About 5 or 6 episodes into the campaign, the developers have thrown in a whopper of a roadblock. That particular episode had me reloading the game, questioning my abilities as a RTS gamer, and cursing the fact that I may not have enough material to make it through the review. It wasn’t just difficult: It was nigh impossible. Everyone I’ve spoken to has said the same thing, and many of the people gave up on the campaign at that point.
The game uses Gamespy as their online multiplayer server host. I’ve never had a good experience with that service. I can’t say it bodes well for this game, as each game I hosted or to which I was connected was dropped within a few minutes.
The game was sketchy on my Vista 64 machine in full-screen mode at max resolution, like most games of its type. If you’re a chronic alt-tabber like me, I’d suggest the same resolution in windowed mode.
The tougher monsters in the game have a great deal of hit points, but the health bar doesn’t seem to represent this accurately. The health bar is well suited toward showing off a guy that has 300 hit points, but try displaying 65,000 hit points, and while it shows the first 300 lost to fighting just fine, the other 64,700 hit points can only be monitored by clicking on the monster directly.
Some Minor Strategies
If you’re going to pick up this game, heed my words, young padawan:
1) Your heroes need levels. As soon as you finish making a guild, spawn 3 heroes, and target them on a nearby monster hideout. Sure, you may have to resurrect a few level 1 chumps, but it shouldn’t stop you from throwing them at another monster hideout.
2) Explore. You won’t be able to target hideouts you can’t see.
3) Find a spot for a trade route good and early. Build on that spot, and protect it. Trade routes net you a good deal of cash, and if you follow the roads on your map, you may find one right next to your starting location.
4) Big baddies need parties. Before you set off to win the scenario or the campaign, you need to get well-organized parties together and have them show up as a group. Otherwise, you’ve got the rogue showing up before everyone else, and leaving a lovely leather-clad corpse for the rest of your heroes to find.
Conclusions
If you’re one of those people that like to take old games you haven’t played in years, install them, update drivers, live with awful resolutions and failed expectations, then Majesty 2 is the game for you — except without all that trouble. Plus, it’s prettier. I like shiney.
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