Review:
Majesty 2
Majesty 2, sequel to 2000’s unique RTS, tells the story of the land of Ardania, and your ascension to becoming King. Ardania has had many Kings before you and they all strove to unite the kingdom and cleanse the land of all evil. In fact, they did such a great job that the most recent King, Leonard, had no enemies to battle. While this assured that peace would reign over the land, it also meant that King Leonard would not have any great conflict in which to leave as his legacy. With the fear of being nothing but a footnote in history, King Leonard employed the help of some wizards and summoned a powerful demon into the land for the express purpose of quickly defeating it. Of course, things didn’t go according to plan and Leonard was slain by the demon, leaving the world of Ardania in chaos.
This is where you come in, taking control of the last royal descendant, trying to once again unite the kingdoms and defeat the terrible demon that Leonard unleashed on the land. This task sounds easy upon first inspection, but Majesty 2 isn’t like other real-time strategy games. Unlike other RTSs, Majesty 2 doesn’t allow you to have direct control over your hero units. You may want to read that last line again, just so you can fully process it. In the game you have control over what buildings you make and where you place them, but the Rangers, Warriors, Clerics and Rogues that are hired have a complete mind of their own.
So how do you operate if you can’t control your heroes? By offering them rewards of course! Any task in the game, including exploring new areas on the map, defending caravans and attacking enemy encampments, can be achieved if you offer a compelling reward that entices the heroes to complete these quests. For example, if there is a den of wolves nearby that keep attacking your town, offering a 200 gold reward for its destruction may make a Ranger go out into the wilds to take a look. You have to be careful with how much you offer though, because once you place a quest / exploration flag, that money you offer will be immediately taken from your treasury. It is also important to budget your quest rewards appropriately. A quest that is close to the town can get heroes to come with only a small investment. If you want to attack that evil sorcerer that is on the other side of the map, you’ll have to dig deep and offer at least 500 gold.
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Clerics in Majesty 2 are game-changers in a major way. From a Single Player standpoint, clerics will essentially put many of your groups on autopilot as they will 95% of the time save any of your Heroes from the fear of death.
When you also factor in the fact that when you build and upgrade the Cleric's guild, you get the ability to spend some gold and heal units yourself, the game quickly takes on a whole new sort of strategy. At higher levels of multiplayer, it can turn into as you say, a grinding battle of attrition.
For me though, the fact that multiplayer matches can at least be competitive rather than the first game where you couldn't even make it to the other player's town, is enough for me to give it a thumbs up. Yes the clerics prolong the action, but they don't automatically win a match for you.