Hands-on: Disciples II

Strategy First stopped by GameSpot's offices today and brought an early alpha build of its upcoming turn-based strategy sequel, Disciples II: Dark Prophecy. Dark Prophecy will be the sequel to Disciples: Sacred Lands, GameSpot's Best Game No One Played in 1999. The sequel will continue the story of the conflicts between the original game's four warring factions--the empire, the mountain clans, the legion of the damned, and the undead--with new scenarios, magic spells, items, and more.

The build we were shown looks significantly better than earlier versions we've seen previously. Disciples II: Dark Prophecy will support graphics at an 800x600 resolution (over the original game's 640x480); the higher resolution makes even this early build look significantly better than the original game. Dark Prophecy's character portraits and interface graphics are once again being provided by Strategy First artist Patrick Lambert, whose expertly hand-painted art looks even better at the higher resolution. In addition, the game will feature all-new art for overland maps and town screens, as well as 3D-rendered units for its battles. Disciples' combat system is also being completely overhauled in the sequel: The game's battles will be fought by huge rendered units displayed at a much closer perspective, and players can quickly check an enemy's statistics, their own party's statistics, and their characters' inventories by mousing over character portraits and clicking on a few simple menus.

Dark Prophecy will have a number of new gameplay features, several of which have already been implemented. As mentioned above, Dark Prophecy will let you access your characters' inventory and actually use items (such as scrolls and potions) during combat. In addition, Dark Prophecy will feature wandering monsters on the overland map; these may be "triggered" into action when players complete quests or perform other actions. Once triggered, wandering monsters may chase down and attack your party or agree to serve you. Interestingly, monsters that join your party will be able to interact with other monsters peacefully. For instance, a wandering goblin that joins your cause will be able to pass by other groups of goblins--which would've been hostile to normal player characters--unhindered, and it may be able to explore the map and capture important items that players would otherwise have had to fight to get to.

Though Disciples II: Dark Prophecy is still in its alpha stage, it's clearly come a long way, and it's still on track for its scheduled release this May. For more information, take a look at our previous coverage of the game and watch the six new movies linked below.