Majesty 2 - Hiering Heroes for Hectic Heroics

[Krankheit]

http://www.majesty2.com
Its out on steam, retail, ect
Wanted to see if there were any other playgrounders who got this so we may be able to arrange multiplayer.
but for those who don't know what I'm talking about, this game is a fantasy kingdom simulator, you run a kingdom build buildings, hire heroes, set bounties, collect taxes, ect, while having no direct control over any individual unit.

[warty goblin]

I'd be all over this game like darkness on eternal evil but for the strange and inexplicable death of my gaming PC. Damn things seems to have mostly forgotten it has an operating system...

[Comet]

Is this actually any good? How different is it from Majesty 1?

[Saithis Bladewing]

I found the demo to be really good, but haven't acquired the full version.

[Astrella]

I love the fact that they still have most of the same voices, especially for the advisor.

[Lord Herman]

I'd be all over this game like darkness on eternal evil but for the strange and inexplicable death of my gaming PC. Damn things seems to have mostly forgotten it has an operating system...

My gaming PC died too, suddenly and inexplicably! I suspect a plot by Jamaican terrorists.


Edit: Also, yay, Majesty 2! I'll buy it as soon as my PC is back from the computer hospital.

[Krankheit]

its good, and as someone who played majesty 1 i can say most veterans will pick it up quickly.
a few major differences are:
Cleric class - healer caster
Lords - heroes that can be summoned from prior adventures
research of training and items for heroes
all temples and races can be built, but the heroes from there dont agree on much
no gnomes
drastic price changes
temples can only be built on holy ground
no random map generator
new flags to defend or avoid areas

minor difference:
cant set tax colectors minimum returns
trade posts no longer sell potions

[Ethdred]

At last it's out! I may have to get this once I get back from my forthcoming hols. The first one was a great game, even if the later missions were just way too difficult for me!

[Morty]

No gnomes? Damn.
I'll definetly buy this game, but I can't do this on Steam, even if the price wasn't so steep. So I'll have to wait a bit.

[Kizara]

its good, and as someone who played majesty 1 i can say most veterans will pick it up quickly.
a few major differences are:
Cleric class - healer caster
Lords - heroes that can be summoned from prior adventures
research of training and items for heroes
all temples and races can be built, but the heroes from there dont agree on much
no gnomes
drastic price changes
temples can only be built on holy ground
no random map generator
new flags to defend or avoid areas

minor difference:
cant set tax colectors minimum returns
trade posts no longer sell potions

Thanks for the info. Overall, it is wroth picking up? Its not just Majesty 1 with better graphics and very minor tweaks? Cause, truth be told, it kinda sounds like that...

[Jahkaivah]

Thanks for the info. Overall, it is wroth picking up? Its not just Majesty 1 with better graphics and very minor tweaks? Cause, truth be told, it kinda sounds like that...

That was my impression from both the demo and the game's promotion, I realise some people wanted just that but it is a concept which could easily have been expanded upon.

[Kudaku]

I tried the demo for this bit which was interesting if at times slightly confusing - guess all those years of strategy games have indoctrinated me to micromanagement, watching my wee blokes running around on their own was at times very frustrating. I'm thinking about buying it, but my laptop isn't the strongest these days, so I'm considering some other options. For instance Steam has Majesty bundled with the expansion pack on sale for 10 euro at the moment.

Should I grab Majesty I with the expansion pack or go for the sequel?

[warty goblin]

That was my impression from both the demo and the game's promotion, I realise some people wanted just that but it is a concept which could easily have been expanded upon.

How could you expand on perfection?

[Driderman]

I bought the game and it's good. It's pretty much Majesty 1 with a few tweaks and updated graphics though, so nothing particulary original there

[Ellye]

I've never played Majesty 1, but I like Paradox games so I got curious about Majesty 2.
But all reviews and the official forums are full of complaints about the poor AI. Guess I'll wait a bit to see if this get patched.

[warty goblin]

I've never played Majesty 1, but I like Paradox games so I got curious about Majesty 2.
But all reviews and the official forums are full of complaints about the poor AI. Guess I'll wait a bit to see if this get patched.

Really? All the reviews I've read have been pretty positive. Plus the thing with a game like Majesty isn't whether the AI is good, but whether it is fun to watch.

[Ellye]

Oh, the reviews were mostly positive. But they had the complaints about the AI.
I think I'll try the demo, I haven't tried it yet.

[Jahkaivah]

How could you expand on perfection?

How could you leave it bottled up with unlocked potential? :smalltongue:

New elements, bring the dynamics between the heroes to life more, for example if the player gets too powerful introduce inter city issues, such as civil war between the two most powerful Guilds that the player must calm, the rogue's guild might try to put a price on your head and so you have to take it out... or the wizards start experimenting with potentially world ending spells and have to be stopped.

[warty goblin]

How could you leave it bottled up with unlocked potential? :smalltongue:

New elements, bring the dynamics between the heroes to life more, for example if the player gets too powerful introduce inter city issues, such as civil war between the two most powerful Guilds that the player must calm, the rogue's guild might try to put a price on your head and so you have to take it out... or the wizards start experimenting with potentially world ending spells and have to be stopped.

I really don't see how that would add to the game at all. I've not played the sequel yet, but these sorts of things in the original would have ruined the flavor of the experience for me. But then, I've always liked games where I get to sit back and watch them chug away, with only very basic high level interference from me- the ideal scenario in a game like Majesty is that it reaches the point where I'm no longer neccessary. The original let me do this, adding feuding guilds would completely upset that wonderful, utopic ending.

Plus it'd be brutal to balance.

[Morty]

Playing the demo was fun, good old Majesty in new clothing, but I was a bit disappointed at the seeming lack of Krolm, Dauros and, especially, Fervus. I liked the diversity in gods in Majesty 1, and besides it's just not the same without Warriors of Discord. :smallfrown: Are they gone from the final game?

[Kizara]

Playing the demo was fun, good old Majesty in new clothing, but I was a bit disappointed at the seeming lack of Krolm, Dauros and, especially, Fervus. I liked the diversity in gods in Majesty 1, and besides it's just not the same without Warriors of Discord. :smallfrown: Are they gone from the final game?

Better question is, are Paladins? Which, imo, where hands-down better then WoD. For 100 gp more and a more expensive temple, they are the toughest heros you can muster, do good melee dps and in general are the only things I've seen stand up to most of the more powerful monsters.

[warty goblin]

Better question is, are Paladins? Which, imo, where hands-down better then WoD. For 100 gp more and a more expensive temple, they are the toughest heros you can muster, do good melee dps and in general are the only things I've seen stand up to most of the more powerful monsters.

Oh paladins are better. Also an estimated 95% less awesome. Plus in the Northern Expansion Warriors of Discord are fairly seriously buffed IIRC, and even at reasonably low levels can one-shot a lot of weaker enemies, which saves a lot of time.

Also I think the Fervos/Krypta temple build is a bit stronger than the Dauros/Healer Godd(ess) one, since the chaos build nabs you both a strong melee combatent (WoD), and the ability to actually have numerical superiority in most fights due to skeletons and controlled animals. The 'order' build gets you a couple heroes who are more or less indestructable, and in undead heavy missions the Healers are absolutely ace, but in general I prefer the Krypta route. It's also pretty much required on any of the dragon levels, since dragon's breath counts as a ranged attack, to which summoned skeletons are nearly immune. It's quite something to see two or three dragons stalled out by a couple skeletons...

[Kizara]

Oh paladins are better. Also an estimated 95% less awesome. Plus in the Northern Expansion Warriors of Discord are fairly seriously buffed IIRC, and even at reasonably low levels can one-shot a lot of weaker enemies, which saves a lot of time.

Also I think the Fervos/Krypta temple build is a bit stronger than the Dauros/Healer Godd(ess) one, since the chaos build nabs you both a strong melee combatent (WoD), and the ability to actually have numerical superiority in most fights due to skeletons and controlled animals. The 'order' build gets you a couple heroes who are more or less indestructable, and in undead heavy missions the Healers are absolutely ace, but in general I prefer the Krypta route. It's also pretty much required on any of the dragon levels, since dragon's breath counts as a ranged attack, to which summoned skeletons are nearly immune. It's quite something to see two or three dragons stalled out by a couple skeletons...

Dragon levels notwithstanding, I found that Krypta clutters my town really fast, and the priestesses are about as unreliable as wizards for standing for a fight they are really needed for if the monster isn't on their doorstep. Also, Monks are good tanks and have good courage. Also, healers help with the ratman plague and can be useful sometimes, but are not often major factors.

I also found that the nature druid dudes are pretty useless, by and large, especially since their higher-level shapeshift trick can be duplicated by any hero if you have a lvl 3 bazzar.

[warty goblin]

Dragon levels notwithstanding, I found that Krypta clutters my town really fast, and the priestesses are about as unreliable as wizards for standing for a fight they are really needed for if the monster isn't on their doorstep. Also, Monks are good tanks and have good courage. Also, healers help with the ratman plague and can be useful sometimes, but are not often major factors.

The joy of the summon heavy temple strategy is that you don't have to worry about the courage of your individual heroes. All the suicidal minions do just fine, which leaves a person less vulnerable to loosing high level and vitally important heroes.



I also found that the nature druid dudes are pretty useless, by and large, especially since their higher-level shapeshift trick can be duplicated by any hero if you have a lvl 3 bazzar.
Oh yeah, the cultists are worthless. On the other hand they level up disgustingly fast, are dirt cheap, and net you hordes and hordes of monsters. That is the key, since it raises the density of things that attack enemies through the roof, which means that things like trolls and ratmen are much more likely to be distracted from the squishy tax collectors.

[MrPig]

Better question is, are Paladins? Which, imo, where hands-down better then WoD. For 100 gp more and a more expensive temple, they are the toughest heros you can muster, do good melee dps and in general are the only things I've seen stand up to most of the more powerful monsters.


Paladins are in Majesty 2 and they sound like Iron Man and hit like trucks. According to the tool tip and from what I've seen, they're the toughest mothers in the game. No WoD, but there are blade masters whom I've had limited exposure to since Paladins kick so much ass.

[Cubey]

Paladins in Majesty 2 are also almost utterly fearless. As soon as you recruit one, he (they're male in this game, just like rogues are female) will go off to find the nearest group of enemies, attack them cleanse evil, and repeat the process until the map is cleared or he dies. And Pallies are really tough to kill.

I see this game updated its cliches from the first Majesty's time. It even sprinkled the fantasy cliches with MMO ones. You can form groups of adventurers, for example. Of course you have to pay them for it. Heroes won't even take a dump go to the bathroom unless someone shoves a purse of coins into their hands, apparently.

[jet082]

I tried the demo on Friday and liked it enough to pick it up on Saturday (I never played Majesty 1). It's a lot of fun, although the learning curve seems to be a bit high for a new player. I'm sure I'll get used to it as time goes on.

[Morty]

I know Warriors of Discord and Cultists weren't as useful as their counterparts in the other set of temples, but I liked them for flavor and personalities.
Oh, well. You can't have everything.

[Astrella]

I'll probably just buy the first one seeing it's now easily available, seeing as I'm not really a fan of 3D strategy or turn based games.

[Poil]

Don't forget the great gimmick of this game: Bosses. Way too many missions end with a boss who has hit points in the tens of thousands, immunities to any ability or attack rather than plain old damage and of course area attacks. Why does it feel like I'm trying to do a WoW raid through a rts interface without any actual control? The lack of random maps is quite painful after you get bored of the campaign missions and scenarios.

I am disappointed. :smallfrown:

Anyway. if you are having trouble in a mission, get dwarves. They kicks serious butt, their towers are overpowered and you get a spell that repairs/constructs buildings.

[warty goblin]

I'll probably just buy the first one seeing it's now easily available, seeing as I'm not really a fan of 3D strategy or turn based games.

Since when is Majesty turn based? Did I miss a memo somewhere?

[Astrella]

Didn't say it was.
Just said I prefer sprite based rts/tbs games.

[Kizara]

Didn't say it was.
Just said I prefer sprite based rts/tbs games.

Its pretty dang far from a conventional RTS, its more of an ulta-lite city simulator.

[Astrella]

I prefer sprite based games. There. :smalltongue:

[Driderman]

So, anyone up for planning a multiplayer game?
I remember playing playing Majesty 1 multiplayer and it was great fun, except a for weird little thing that came up more than once:

Player 1: I'm kicking your ass so bad!
Player 2 : What? No, I'm kicking your ass!
Player 1: Am not, just took out your trading post and Dauros Temple
Player 2: What? No you didn't. I just destroyed your Elven Bungalows!

And it would be around this time we realised that somehow we had lost connection and that game had replaced the timeouted player with an AI opponent, without mentioning and so we were playing two different games where we both were winning

[MrPig]

Don't forget the great gimmick of this game: Bosses. Way too many missions end with a boss who has hit points in the tens of thousands, immunities to any ability or attack rather than plain old damage and of course area attacks. Why does it feel like I'm trying to do a WoW raid through a rts interface without any actual control? The lack of random maps is quite painful after you get bored of the campaign missions and scenarios.


Some of the boss fights are genuinly fun and force you to adjust from the cookie cutter 1 warrior, 1 cleric and 1 ranger guild at start up strategy (that is generally fail proof to start the game). However, the Ancient Lich fight made me rage quit the game several times. Mostly due to his insane AoE attack that would 2 shot my level 15 wizards. I basically had to sit on my ass until my treasure held some 100,000 gold so that I could spam heal on all of my heroes fighting him. And even then I lost about 3 or 4 high level wizards, warriors and clerics.

Regardless, the lack of a random map generator will hurt this game abit. I'm hoping for it to be included in a future patch. As well as an improved AI that doesn't require a statue to not suck.

[warty goblin]

I prefer sprite based games. There. :smalltongue:

That's just weird... I've got nothing against sprites, but full 3D is simply capable of doing gameplay sprites can't do very well.

[Astrella]

Well, when trying the Majesty 2 demo, which I enjoyed, I just felt more detached from the game then in the first one. And I preferred the more darker look of the one as well.

[SandroTheMaster]

I'll need to wait for some kind of promo, money is running short right now. Besides, I'll also need to save for Dragon Age.

[BooNL]

Picked the game up this week. It's pretty fun. I remember playing Majesty once a long time ago, but I didn't really get into it. I think I was trying to control all the heroes and got frustrated at the apparent "bug" where I couldn't select them. Yeah... :smallannoyed:

Anyway, I'm doing in the Ogre Attack campaign now and so far I've had a lot of fun. I think the bad AI actually adds to the charm of the game. It feels like I'm the uberquest-giver of some random MMO. The fact that the heroes run around like idiots every time they see a quest is just too awesome.

Rogues and clerics are my favourite heroes so far. The dwarves (from Dark Tower mission) were very strong, but for some reason they didn't respond to quests all that well (look at the gold you crummy dwarves!) and they didn't level up all that fast.
I had some trouble with the Dark Tower mission though, I couldn't get near the tower. That was, until advanced the time x5 for 10 minutes and put in a 10k bounty so every hero came running at the exact same time.

[Smight]

Love the Douglas Adams references,
Magrathea defence system and advisor doing Slarty Bartfast.

[TheEmerged]

No... no gnomes? :smallredface:

Who am I kidding, I'm going to buy this as soon as the funds are in the gaming budget. But I will miss hearing "At last, some adventure!" :smalleek:

[warty goblin]

After the fortuitous resurection of my gaming PC, I picked this up the other day. My first impressions were not mindblowingly positive. It was definately Majesty, but it seemed to be lacking a lot of the flavor that made the first game such a gem.

After having beaten a couple of the advanced scenarios though, I'm revising my opinion. Like the first game, a lot of the flavor is hidden away in things like the descriptions, or only become apparent through watching it a lot. There's still some stuff I don't like as well-the trading post mechanic doesn't convince me and warriors seem awefully weak. In the last mission I had two level 20 warriors, neither of whom held a candle to my level 12 dwarves.

I haven't gotten to the temples yet, but the upgrading existing heroes mechanic strikes me as quite solid. Is the cost porportional to their level, or a flat fee? I also like the Lord system, although they seem prohibitively expensive. I'm also not sold on being able to resurrect any hero who's died.

But all in all, it's a very good game, and definitely in the spirit of the original, which is all I could really ask. Sure the AI is a bit dodgy, but weirdly enough I think that actually adds to the game to some degree. After all it's supposed to be a simulation, not a game of watching perfectly rational robots run around.

Also werewolves are now the font of all suffering.

[Jahkaivah]

So, anyone up for planning a multiplayer game?
I remember playing playing Majesty 1 multiplayer and it was great fun, except a for weird little thing that came up more than once:

Player 1: I'm kicking your ass so bad!
Player 2 : What? No, I'm kicking your ass!
Player 1: Am not, just took out your trading post and Dauros Temple
Player 2: What? No you didn't. I just destroyed your Elven Bungalows!

And it would be around this time we realised that somehow we had lost connection and that game had replaced the timeouted player with an AI opponent, without mentioning and so we were playing two different games where we both were winning

That's hilarious :smallbiggrin: