Development Info Discord Times hits 1.1

[Saint_Proverbius]

Tags: Discord Times

While we normally don't quite cover games like this, since the strategy element is a little on the strong side, I figured that since the author was nice enough to mail me about it and since it's an independent game, I'd take the time to post that <A href="http://www.discordtimes.com/index.html">Discord Times</a> has released <b>version 1.1</b>. You can check out a demo <a href="http://www.discordtimes.com/demo/dtdemo_v110.exe">here</a>.
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What is it? Here's what the author says:
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<blockquote>Aterdux Entertainment Releases Discord Times 1.1
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Indie game developer takes on RPG-Strategy behemoths.
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It seems like new RPG and strategy games are released every day, with little or no interest taken by editors or gamers. So why then did an indie title from a little known game developer attracted so much media attention and got rave reviews from fantasy lovers? Here is the answer. Discord Times is a remarkably well-balanced mix of RPG, strategy and adventure with a straightforward story line.
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It may sound like an oxymoron, but this game with heavy fantasy influence is remarkable believable. The kingdom is exhausted by the long train of persistent wars with the neighbors; the resources and power of the royal authority are considerably weakened. The royal vassals, who were supposed to be the pillars of the monarchy, raid their neighbors
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and attack the monarch himself. In this turning point in the kingdom's history. One of the tree heroes - Knight, Ranger or Archmage - has to gather an army, defend the King's throne and fight with the betrayers of his fatherland and with the Devil's incarnates.
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Like most strategic games, Discord Times has buildings and structures (50 different models) that produce troops, enhance trade, levy taxes and research new spells. Many of them can be captured from the enemies. Powerful Artificial Intelligence engine guarantees that battle scenarios are never to take the same path. While, strategy and planning is an important part of the game, most of the game time is spent battling opponents.
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Game's roleplaying component is much richer and entertaining than that of an average RPG game. Discord Times has 100+ artifacts with magic properties and 80+ game characters, whose actions are governed by a non-linear development algorithm. Another popular addition to the genre is so called "global magic" with 25+ different spells that can weaken or strengthen an entire army - a very powerful tactical weapon indeed. All this makes RPG fans go wild over Discord Times.
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To submerge players into the atmosphere of the Middle Ages, the game comes with an original soundtrack that features melodic medieval tunes and ballads. All this, combined with simple interface and low learning curve, makes Discord Time a hidden jewel that is waiting to be discovered by demanding gamers.
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Discord Times is distributed electronically over the Internet; free demo version is available at <A href="http://www.discordtimes.com/">http://www.discordtimes.com/</a> for evaluation.
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The price of a single copy is <b>19.95 US</b> Dollars.</blockquote>
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This should give people who were holding their breathe for the <A href="http://www.dungeonlordsgame.com">Dungeon Lords</a> demo something to do in the meantime. At least for <b>100 minutes</b>, which is how long the demo lasts.
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[Sol Invictus]

They really need to kill that timer or extend it to at least 4 hours.

As for the game, it looks like an indy version of Heroes of Might and Magic. Personally, I'd prefer to stick to HOMM3 and Disciples 3, but that's just me.

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Yeah, that's what it seemed like to me too. It's an indie version of HoMM with more roleplaying aspects.

Personally, I think they should have ditched the card playing like combat and actually gone with an isometric tactical style combat like AoW and MoM use.

 

[Peacedog]

Well, I'm going to try this at some point. Timered demo makes me wary, though. I hate that.

Some impressions:

Is anyone besides me finding the game hard? I started the campaign, and I got through the first map. There was a completely unwinnable battle in it. The units were all "second upgrade" or better I think. So I went to a quest location and on to the next map. . .

Money. I don't have near enough. I've already activated a mine, but my income is paltry. I got a message that a "prize/reward" was waiting for me at a certain castle, 500 gold. But the time it took to get me there and back into the field meant that I only profited like 150 (I've got a full retinue, and now several upgraded units). As it stands, I'm about to run out of money again, not have enough to pay for healthy people to fight, and that fails to mention the two dead warriors (one of whoom is upgraded to warden). I'm pretty stuck (and a tad frustrated; lots of loads).

This game feels more like Ogre Battle/Disciples than HoMM to me. Which is a good thing (not to knock HoMM either). As much as I loved MoM's combat, I don't mind the abstract version here.

I want to try the other two heros (that was a ranger hero I had going). I wonder if there are plans to release a scenario editor.

 

[Refuse2be]

Hard?
Are you kidding?
This game is impossibly hard.

You can't spend more than 20 minutes in the game before some ungodly group of elite warriors comes and picks you off like fleas. You don't even have a chance to get your group leveled once. In my opinion, this game is a scam... not at all worth the 20 bucks.

I'm not at all new to games like this, but this is the first one I've come across that does its best to keep you from playing too long.

If I had more thumbs...they'd be down too.

 

[Refuse2be]

Not to mention that the only difference between the demo and the payed version is *One extra playing map*. That's it...

Extremely disapointed...

 

[Claw]

"Game's roleplaying component is much richer and entertaining than that of an average RPG game."
Huh.

"All this makes RPG fans go wild over Discord Times."
Hmm, hype. There never seems to be enough.

 

[Refuse2be]

Break Down

Okay, here's a break down of the game.

With the demo, you only get two campaigns. 1 Training campaign and 1 called "War in Ramen Kingdom."

War in Ramen Kingdom is nothing more than a space filler for the game.
After you've chosen to be either a Knight, Archmage, or Ranger you begin. You have two options. Ungarrison a hunter or militiamen out of your castle, risking the chance of someone coming and taking your castle over, or leave them and hire one (1) militia to join you.

Your first mission, " Meet with the Father Beor in the church."
After getting a bit more extra gold from the nearby towns, you might have a chance to hire a nun, which can heal your troops. Not that it matters because your troops are so weak at this time, that they won't last long enough to be healed anyway.

Next mission, run and talk to Alber Von whatever...
You meet up with him and he tells you about some ruins of a castle. Where is it you ask?
Who the hell knows. He says NORTH but you're already at the top of the map and can't go any further. Maybe the guy is just rambling...but if so, what the hells the mission?
You never know...I'll explain why.

Next thing you can do, if you haven't already done it, is kill these pirates that take money from the town west of your castle. If you only have two troops, (You and yourself) get ready to spend an arm and a leg on resurrecting one of them. Don't worry about it though... Besides paying your troops with the little bread you have left, you really don't have anything else to spend your money on in this campaign.

There are no shops other than in the church. Around this time you may have around 350 gp, if you know what you're doing. The good items are around 150 gp, which leaves you hardly anything to pay your troops. Don't worry about that either... they'll quit fighting soon for lack of pay, if they aren't already dead that is.

Okay, now that you've been playing this Campaign for 10 minutes, it's time to stop.
The lovely game makers have chosen this for you. Trust me, they did. Otherwise they wouldn't send the two battalions after you. A battallion of troops that you have NO Chance in Hell defeating. The first one, maybe, if you're lucky. Don't even think about the second one though...

Maybe you can escape....!!
Naaaaaaaa..... duh... they've thought of that. There's no way to escape. Your death in this campaign is completely and utterly inevitable. If not, then feel free to explain why...


Run down:
2 Castles and one ruins available for income. Not much, but better than nothing at all.
Very few brigands to kill and gain exp before the two battalions come after you for no apparent reason at all...
No Shops to buy weapons or armor. The only thing you get, or the only thing I've been able to find before...well, you know,...is a Pitch Fork and a Wooden shield.
Maybe your Militiamen can share it...

Good Stuff:
About this campaign? I can't find one single good thing about this campaign....sorry.





The Second campaign, "The Trein's Issue", is the only thing you get by paying. The ONLY Thing!

Not at all as bad as the first campaign.
This one is actually do-able.

2 places to shop for weapons and armor
Bunch of places to get new troops.
Bunch of castles to aquire more income from.
Bunch of brigands and bad guys, but beware....

I'm not going to walkthrough this game.
My only complaint in this game is, once you manage to become all powerful...where does it end??? I'm doing the same thing, over and over again... It's turned into the same routine plight as a flashgame from ebaumsworld.com. This may be my fault though, so I plan on retrying it.

If it weren't for this Campaign, this game would not be worth shareware prices...
It's really too bad that the makers of the game didn't put more effort into the game because In My Opinion, it has a Lot of potential.

The whole makeup of the game is superb. Two thumbs up on the characters and the different levels of the characters. The only thing I'd ask for is more weaponry, armor, and just a touch more of the different types of charachters.


Discord Times Makers... You guys were really on to something here. Why did you give up so damn soon??????