14 DAY TRIAL // I always get through the tutorial mode when I begin a new game, no matter if I have played something similar before or if I know the franchise very well. It may teach me a command I don't remember or it may reveal a small portion of the title's story that I may be interested in. Either way, I find it quite a nice distraction that keeps me excited about what I'm about to play a bit longer after I install whatever I am about to play.
I did this with Disciples III, hoping to quickly see the new features introduced without spending too much time learning the hard way from lost battles. A strategy game's tutorial is very important as it should ease in new players in the mechanics of the title, while serving as a reminder for veterans. It is quite sad then that my start with the latest installment in the Disciples series turned out so bad.
The prologue mission that is supposed to give some insight on how to play the title effectively and serve as beginning for the main story. While one engages in the mission, a video will start playing from time to time showcasing some of the basic gameplay mechanics. Unfortunately, the clips are extremely obtuse and quite useless in explaining what one needs to do to achieve a certain task. I was left wondering what new players could do.
A newcomer would see a map, a hero, and many buttons to be pressed and decisions to be made that are not even touched on by the small clips that are supposed to show the player in the right direction. He or she would be quite entitled to think that, “If this is the tutorial, than how will the real game be?”. This is a shame, given the fact the Disciples III looks really nice and brings quite a few new and interesting elements to the mix, at least as a first impression.
I have quite an extensive experience in this genre of turn based strategy, but I am left to wonder what the developers were thinking when they included this tutorial in the game. It does introduce Disciples III to new audiences, but only serves to scare them away. No one asks the developers to streamline or dumb down the gameplay, but rather give players that are not used to this type of strategy an easier way to delve into what it has to offer.