My favourite strategy game. I know it has flaws, but it nails the atmosphere like nothing else.
Se NECESITA PIEDRA
Well, its less good that age of empire...
Less pretty
Less cheatcode
Less gamemode
Less content and variety of troups
A creative mods...kind of weird
And the story mod is as good as age of empire...its ok
But its still a solid game with a different pacing and with his own tweak like the multiples character that you can fight, who all have their way to attack, defend and react
But if you cant stand age of empire, avoid this game
Less pretty
Less cheatcode
Less gamemode
Less content and variety of troups
A creative mods...kind of weird
And the story mod is as good as age of empire...its ok
But its still a solid game with a different pacing and with his own tweak like the multiples character that you can fight, who all have their way to attack, defend and react
But if you cant stand age of empire, avoid this game
Really good for it's time, i remember spending hours playing it when i was a kid. Give it a try if you don't mind older games. Only bumping from 4 stars to 5 stars because i've met one of my best friends playing online and we've been friends ever since.
a message from the lionheart
i love this game
One of my first strategy games, I remember the first time I played it at my brother's house in 2015 over the summer. In any case, to this day I still know how to turn it on and play a few rounds. An interesting strategy game for the year it was made
the game was so good, u only needed the demo for skirmishes, i'm not kidding
I prefer the lush green lands of the first game and i miss its campaign, but the addition of a skirmish mode and so many maps makes up for it. Mercenaries are a funny addition, horse archers are great.
Oh, and if you have enough religion and booze you can starve the peasants and extort ridiculous taxes from them, which i feel can be seen as a social commentary of sorts.
Oh, and if you have enough religion and booze you can starve the peasants and extort ridiculous taxes from them, which i feel can be seen as a social commentary of sorts.
The greatest RTS known to mankind.
Se necesita piEEdra.
Stone needed
It could be better but, according to the year of release, I think it was good.
With the Persian dub, it was nice. «سرباز کماندار عرب»
With the Persian dub, it was nice. «سرباز کماندار عرب»
certified tunngle moment
I've spent hundreds of hours, but still unable to fully complete this game.
I have a soft spot for this game, because I played it at ripe age of 10. Very funny polish dubbing, popularity mechanic, economy, sieges. It aged well and is seemingly far superior to lets say Age of Empires. But there is something. Usually, becoming good at the game adds more satisfaction. But with Stronghold you'll discover how unbalanced and buggy it is. However, it's absolute blast for noobs! Especially versus friends.
A good game, I didn't pay this game at the golden age of this series and played recently however still can be played againist it's pretty old visuals.
I finished it once as a child and haven't touched it since. I thought it was cool that, compared to the first part, there were mercenaries with whom you could destroy and burn everything relatively early on :D I also thought the dialogue with the 3D faces was very cute.
The primary reasons this game, despite all the flaws, magically works are twofold:
1. The absurd brokenness works in its favour.
Ale makes any food production obsolete (you can run the entire game with a self-sustaining ale system without having to ever produce a singe piece of food for your population), bread far exceeds any other food production, catapults destroy castles in seconds, shields are insane, etc. - all of this actually works in its favour. Because it's so broken, it FORCES you to engage with its mechanics on a deeper level if you wish to get any enjoyment out of it. You have to utilize everything and anything if you're actually trying to have fun with the game and refuse to abuse the broken stuff. Due to that, it holds up with games that are FAR more complex.
2. The childlike wonder.
The game SHINES with personality. Each lord is extremely memorable and unique in their own way. Every villager has a name and something to say about you. All the units have different, entertaining dialogue. All the while, the game never tells you everything. For example, Emir mentions his mother only once in his dialogue, leading you to fill in the blanks yourself, imaging how his life with his mother might have been. It thrives in this sense of a bigger world that you can never fully know - it's perfect for a childlike sense of wonder that lets you be really curious about the world around you and imagine how things might work at large. This is why Wolf is one of the most memorable characters in ANY game I have played, despite the fact that he has only a bit of dialogue in both the original and Crusader. It leaves you to fill in the blanks, letting you find a far more interesting character than it initially seems within your mind.
So, yeah. Play this game if you haven't abandoned your childlike wonder. It's such a beautifully crafted thing if you're just ready to engage with it.
1. The absurd brokenness works in its favour.
Ale makes any food production obsolete (you can run the entire game with a self-sustaining ale system without having to ever produce a singe piece of food for your population), bread far exceeds any other food production, catapults destroy castles in seconds, shields are insane, etc. - all of this actually works in its favour. Because it's so broken, it FORCES you to engage with its mechanics on a deeper level if you wish to get any enjoyment out of it. You have to utilize everything and anything if you're actually trying to have fun with the game and refuse to abuse the broken stuff. Due to that, it holds up with games that are FAR more complex.
2. The childlike wonder.
The game SHINES with personality. Each lord is extremely memorable and unique in their own way. Every villager has a name and something to say about you. All the units have different, entertaining dialogue. All the while, the game never tells you everything. For example, Emir mentions his mother only once in his dialogue, leading you to fill in the blanks yourself, imaging how his life with his mother might have been. It thrives in this sense of a bigger world that you can never fully know - it's perfect for a childlike sense of wonder that lets you be really curious about the world around you and imagine how things might work at large. This is why Wolf is one of the most memorable characters in ANY game I have played, despite the fact that he has only a bit of dialogue in both the original and Crusader. It leaves you to fill in the blanks, letting you find a far more interesting character than it initially seems within your mind.
So, yeah. Play this game if you haven't abandoned your childlike wonder. It's such a beautifully crafted thing if you're just ready to engage with it.