Disciples: Sacred Lands

"Not an AOE, but a very cool game"

This is a very cool strategy game, but is a mess that not much people know about it.

Graphics : Perfect

The graphics in the game are perfect, from the small sprites in the map, to the monsters you can summon to attack your enemies,they're just great. The artwork of the unit's portraits are very cool too, and maybe some people will remember the anime series ''Record Of Loddos War''

Music : Good

I haven't ear all the music themes already, but i think there are 2 or 3 world map themes, plus a battle theme. The music isn't nothing outstanding, but it gives you the needed mood.

Game Play : Perfect

Now this is the coolest part.
Playing Disciples is kinda like playing a chess game, people who have played any of the shining force games will be familiarized with the gameplay.
Basically, you start in a portion of a big map, with some money, mana, etc. Then, with that small money, you can hire soldiers to create a small army. To make an army, you must first chose a lord for that army, then you hire the soldier to put on it, each army lord and soldier have special attacks and abilities.
Once you have made 1 or 2 armies, then you're ready to explore the map, depending on your army's lord, you can just move certain distance.
In the map, there are enemies, treasures, shops, occupied cities,etc. The enemies don't move, actually, you had to move to them. Once you touch an enemy,a RPG like battle starts on a separated screen.
Once you can't move any more, you can end your turn, then your enemy will move his troops also (altough,you can't see it), and then,it will be your turn again.
You can also build many structures on your castle that have different purposes, such like upgrading your soldiers, allowing you to research magic or heal your party.
Basically, during the game's mission, your main objectives will be to recover a city or such, still, exploring the maps will take you some time

Re-Play Value : Great

The game has 4 different races, also, there are lots of different soldiers and army lords and each one has different abilities or attacks, plus, there are lots of items, scrolls and magic spells, so this game will keep you busy for a while and also, strategy games are always cool to play, aint they?
Oh yeah, the game has Online Multiplayer support,but,since looks like it isnt very popular, i doubt it will be easy to find someone to play with.

In Conclusion...

Disciples is a great fantasy Strategy game, by fantasy i mean that there are all those things we see in RPGs and animes, like magic for example,also, it mixes very well the RPG and Strategy genres.
By now, it maybe kinda old, but if you can get it, i won't doubt to buy it.
You don't had to worry about the system requirements, they're very low, but be warned, this game is kinda crashy, if you want to buy the game, you may want to download the demo first from strategy first's web site, then check how it runs on your computer, then, if there's a crash, ask on a forum how to solve it, and then when you have solved it, you may buy the game.
Oh, by the way, i have eared a Disciples 2 is coming, so if you like the demo, you may want to wait for Disicples 2 also

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/16/01, Updated 08/16/01