Game News Disciples: Liberation gets a gameplay trailer, now available for preorder

[KeighnMcDeath]

Eight minutes of gameplay and dev commentary:



Don't ask me if it's interesting. No idea, I have yet to watch it.

I just have and lo and behold, it's not Baldur's Gate Disciples.

I gotta say, though, I'm genuinely impressed with the license holder's ability to run this property into the ground. They released Disciples 3 a whooping three times, Renaissance, Resurrection and Reincarnation, and they never got anything more than some begrudging resignation from longtime fans. Now they're making a new one and rather than backtrack towards the hit everyone still remembers after two decades, Disciples 2, they're moving even farther from it. I know everyone's chasing the RPG bucks these days, but D2 was already a perfectly suitable platform to develop a hybrid on.

And those releases had me confused as hell on which to get. There was a steam sale so I think I picked them all up (would gave preferred GOG).

 

[ERYFKRAD]

such talent would be hard to find?

Pretty much

 

[Blaine]

such talent would be hard to find?

Pretty much

Too bad it's not only the artistic talent that's so hard to find nowadays.

 

[The_Mask]

For some reason this reminds me a lot of Etherlords. It's like they're trying to combine Etherlords 1 and 2. They're not even giving a flying fuck about Disciples.

This is depressing to look at. It's like these people have no soul.

 

[Seethe]

Was there ever any reason to play Disciples, other than the art?

I actually quite liked the story and the way it evolved from 1 to 2. The way each race's campaign intertwined and formed a part of a whole narrative.
Also the godlike music:

This game's atmosphere and art were amazing. It's what strongly drew me into liking fantasy. OST is simply timeless.

 

[Gargaune]

And those releases had me confused as hell on which to get. There was a steam sale so I think I picked them all up (would gave preferred GOG).

I wasn't even aware they're still selling any of the older versions but you're right, Steam has a "Renaissance Steam Special Edition" listing in addition to the standard Reincarnation edition. Odd. Anyway, Reincarnation is the mainline final edition.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Why couldn't they revive it with the Disciples 2 looks? That was the pinnacle of the series. Beautiful to behold, Awe-inspiring to listen to, and fun to play.

Because it's quicker and cheaper to hire a bunch of random low paid artists and order them to do a stock art than to hire a bunch of people with more specialized skills and make them create something more original and coherent. Corporate management practices are behind a lot of problems in entertainment.

 

[Lord Kane]

Looks pretty awful, skill trees and unit passives and abilities resemble some weird turn based MOBA shit. I remember reading about Disciples 3 and was worried about devs trying to copy HoMM battlefield (game sucked but not for this reason, apart from really janky animations) element but this is just another level of disappointment. Are they ashamed of original games? What's the point of calling this Disciples?

 

[MrBuzzKill]

Why couldn't they revive it with the Disciples 2 looks? That was the pinnacle of the series. Beautiful to behold, Awe-inspiring to listen to, and fun to play.

Because it's quicker and cheaper to hire a bunch of random low paid artists and order them to do a stock art than to hire a bunch of people with more specialized skills and make them create something more original and coherent. Corporate management practices are behind a lot of problems in entertainment.

The art/3D graphics in the game is actually quite competent, in my opinion. The art DIRECTION however, is not consistent with the first 2 games. Why? It could be anyone's guess, but their marketing (if not political) agenda probably played a role in it.

 

[MrBuzzKill]

At least they're not calling it DISCIPLES IV

 

[Zeriel]

Why couldn't they revive it with the Disciples 2 looks? That was the pinnacle of the series. Beautiful to behold, Awe-inspiring to listen to, and fun to play.

Because it's quicker and cheaper to hire a bunch of random low paid artists and order them to do a stock art than to hire a bunch of people with more specialized skills and make them create something more original and coherent. Corporate management practices are behind a lot of problems in entertainment.

The art/3D graphics in the game is actually quite competent, in my opinion. The art DIRECTION however, is not consistent with the first 2 games. Why? It could be anyone's guess, but their marketing (if not political) agenda probably played a role in it.

I can give them a pass on the art direction. But the fact that literally everything ignores the franchise, even the Disciples 3 version of the franchise, is what makes it look like such a blatant attempt to give a dozen extra sales to a project that was never conceived to be Disciples. I mean at least Disciples 3's announcement and website had the original factions and story directly referenced, here it might as well be called anything else.

 

[Jedi Master Radek]

Why couldn't they revive it with the Disciples 2 looks? That was the pinnacle of the series. Beautiful to behold, Awe-inspiring to listen to, and fun to play.

Because it's quicker and cheaper to hire a bunch of random low paid artists and order them to do a stock art than to hire a bunch of people with more specialized skills and make them create something more original and coherent. Corporate management practices are behind a lot of problems in entertainment.

The art/3D graphics in the game is actually quite competent, in my opinion. The art DIRECTION however, is not consistent with the first 2 games. Why? It could be anyone's guess, but their marketing (if not political) agenda probably played a role in it.

Getting stock game art look competent is cheaper and easier than doing the same with a non-stock game art. All artist are already trained in stock art.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Welp, this ain't looking much. At least we got something on HoMM clones front. (i hope...)

 

[vazha]

Fucking pixel art again?!

 

[cvv]

Aesthetically, this is to Disciples 2 what I'm to Brad Pitt.

 

[Cyberarmy]

Fucking pixel art again?!

Spoiler

 

[Archibald]

So does it even have unit upgrades?

 

[MrBuzzKill]

Fucking pixel art again?!

Pixel art is good. Big "pixels" are not.