Battle Realms is *THE* RTS for people tired of learning build orders to spam the same 2-3 units to inevitably win. This RTS is about strategy, knowledge of the game units and micro-management during battles. And beautiful medieval japan mountainous sceneries. It is worth playing just: - for its unique medieval Japan ambient and environment (and music)(and units, at least as good/fun as the Starcraft 1 ones) - for its 3 SP campaigns - for the very different playstyle of each clan, against one of the many different AIs (if you're not into online or LAN games) Its most unique feature is the formation system: all units first spawn as simple peasants, then they train in one, two or three buildings (one being melee, one being long range, one being explosives/specialized), to become a new unit. You can pick any one-formation or two-formation unit and complete his formation (going through one or two more formation), to become a two-formation/three-formation unit. Note that three-formation units are indeed costly and longer to train, and often a little bit more stronger in their specialization, but will get slaughtered if attacked by the right unit (even a one-formation unit): there is no "super" unit to mass produce and automatically win. One exception to the multi-formation system: geishas/fan geisha/channeler/druidess, the peasant is replacing her at the temple/bath house, they can't be follow a new formation. ... 1) A complete offline experience: As said above, for people not interested in multiplayer RTS, there is many different AIs (with more than 10 parameters defining their personalities and playstyle - some of them really like to synchronize their attacks and defenses with their allies) to play in "skirmish" mode (nb: you can give regroup-troops/look-at orders to allies, it works wonderfully), while the game has a SP campaign for the Dragon, Serpent, and Wolf clans. 2) A large diversity of gameplay-relevant elements, while still keeping a good accesibility: For me, it's the best overall RTS, as anyone can play it and still do well with it - people who never played a RTS and pro-players will both enjoy it, this is really amazing. And don't worry, the skill "ceiling" is really high (thanks to all the unique abilities, maps and "races"). There is 4 races, in each race there is 7 to 8 (beside healers) very different units, each units has two different acquirable abilities (along with its innate ability), and 5 to 7 unique Zen Master (heroes bought with Yin/Yang earned in combat). That's nearly 70 different units-abilities: there is everything you'll need, and more. Examples of these "innate abilities" specific to each unit: - the Sumo cannon is throwing purifying salt in front of him when idling, it reduce the next damages taken by 50% for nearby allies and himself. - The Kabuki warrior, when idling, is juggling with orbs of energy, encouraging peasants to work faster (not to be confused with the slave master, Budo, and his whip ability). - the Dragon Warrior, even if rather fragile, is an inspiration for nearby allies for his courage, and will give them a small damage bonus when he's attacking. - Bandits (one of the best units in the game, in terms of character and fun to play) can loot corpse, giving you some of the resources spent for it. - several units will "curse" their enemies (through various effects) when dying, hurting their enemies and/or boosting their allies. - Zymeth, if the weather is currently stormy, will call lighting on his targets. - the Necromancer will spawn zombies out of fresh corpses near him - etc... 3) Attention to many details: The voice acting is top notch (even in the french version !), same with the music (really good OST) and environment sounds, all these things really adds to the immersion. Also, the amount of details is incredible: the terrain type, slope angle (height) and unique innate ability (active when attacking, or defending, or idling, unique for each units) are influencing the combats. Meanwhile, the environment has its own complete vegetation (including various trees that you can burn to damage enemies and get better line of sight), frogs, rabbits, birds and such. Also, running instead of walking while in the forest will often send birds flying away, telling out your enemies of your movements: you can make a diversion, using a fast unit - or risk being detected and ambushed by rushing to your objective. You'll also learn to cherish (and damn) rain: it makes the rice grow much faster (helping out low pop players trying to build a new army/base a LOT) and extinguish fires on trees and buildings. If you made a small squad of Raiders (incendiary units), and Zymeth is in the place (he has the power to cause rain), you might want to turn them into Ronins (even if they're pretty vulnerable to Magic attacks) 4) A balanced game: Everything in this game is balanced, thanks to an excellent initial design and several balances patches (who drastically changed many gameplay elements, in the right way): - if you're low on population (after a bloody battle), you gain new pop faster than your enemy who has his army ready. It means that to win (or be defeated), the attack has to be swift and brought to the enemy base. (!) However don't be fooled, winning a battle in the middle of nowhere will grant you some Yin/Yang points, used to spawn heroes and acquire upgrades. You rarely go for the kill immediately, first the Yin/Yang through battles/skirmishes, then the final battle(s). - if you're lacking one of the two main resources, you can always use one to help the gathering of the other resource: water can be used to water the rice fields, rice can be used to build a well next to a hut. There is no limited resource, only limited population. - if you've got less buildings, resources and time than your incoming opponents, you can always pick the right "weak" (one-formation only) units that are stronger against the type of units your enemy is using, use their unique abilities to strike your opponent's army and prevent them from winning just because they've got a bigger army. A smart player can make the difference. - if you're suddenly invaded by enemies, you can always relocate your base elsewhere and effectively survive, thanks to a faster pop regain rate (when on low pop). It means you have to scout ahead and supervise the battlefield if you don't want a peasant to escape when crushing an enemy. ... 5) Customisation of your MP (against AI or humans) games: You can choose how much horses are available (horse can be used by troops to move faster / gain height / attack, or by peasants to carry rice/water), the speed of the game, the rice growth rate, the population cap, the starting army, the Yin/Yang gain rate, when creating a game. Personally, I prefer a low population of horses (AIs are too good at rushing for them :P and I hate losing a poor horse in combat), medium game speed, medium rice growth and Yin/Yang gain rates, no starting army and low or medium population cap. ... 6) Conclusion: I've never been that good at RTS (I can barely handle myself at Starcraft MP, with european beginners), and always hated the RTS games where all you had to do, was applying the same tactic to produce more units than your opponent. Battle Realms is the only RTS I would play at anytime, with anyone. It's a RTS, without the usual flaws plaguing these games. I really recommend it, even -especially- to non-RTS addicts. If you want more informations on the games and the units, you can go there: http://www.battlerealms.cc/content/units/
