This game makes me sad. I loved Disciples II, and I really wanted to like the third version, but the longer I played the game the more I kept asking myself "why?" The story is drivel. You have to fully watch the 20 second animation for every spell you cast. The user interface is a completely overwraught, tangled mess. Worse there's no gameplay to speak of. See, all the difficulty is frontloaded. The first ~20 turns are just unreasonably hard, even to a veteran of the series on normal difficulty. Worse, after you level up basically once, you are just coasting on easy mode with an unstoppable army. Why bother playing?

After playing previous games in the series, and finishing all the Heroes games but still wanting a fix of this sort of game, I ended up getting this on a bundle sale.
Started disappointing due to the clunky dialog and lacklustre gameplay, but I continued on if only to keep me visually stimulated whilst listening to audiobooks (the background musics alright, but not for over 50 hours of play).
Midway the bugs started kicking in, including (but not limited to) units stacking inside each other, inventory screens and city screens remaining visible on the overworld, level ups not registering... but usually restarting the game would fix these and I figured I'd got halfway through so may as well finish.
Then I reached the elf campaign. I pride myself on not resorting to easy modes as a general rule, but this game makes it nigh-on impossible to get past the first couple of enemies on any higher difficulty. After that point I was disappointed to find I couldn't raise the difficulty, meaning the rest of the game I was auto-battling every fight including bosses with little to no casualties. The only input I had as a player was clicking from fight to fight, following a relatively linear path until completing the map. But still, near the end of the game... I may as well see how the (bland and generic) story plays out.
Final map. I'm tired of this game now and just want it to be finished. I level up my party to their highest ranks but then I ignore all treasure in favour of getting to the end. I reach the final gate, get a cutscene preparing for the final boss, and...? That's it. A script error causes a new objective to come up to destroy the city you just destroyed. Some say they fixed it by downloading a revised script, but no luck for me. 161 hours of gameplay (half of which was actual playing as I'm afk a lot), only to reach a brick wall at the very end.
Nevertheless I'll be playing the expansion, as I paid for it as part of the bundle, but seriously- don't bother starting the same journey as me.

OK, let's say "recommended" because the dark fantasy universe is really nice and because that makes a good-looking tactical RPG catchy enough to stay stucked on it a few hours.

For the rest, I would say that this game is far too easy if you are patient enough to do some levelling (to be started again at EACH of the game level from the beginning) thus making it awfully repeatitive, with too few tactical possibilities. At the end, I was just leaving the computer resolving automatically the fights... well, that's not really what you expect from a game.

So recommended for a short time and as a starter if you cannot bear teddy-bears high-fantasy worlds, but unfortunately quite fast boring.

I was among those people who waited release of this game with excitement! However, as many other fans of Disciples II, I was disappointed.

I completed the story with the Empire (Humans) and started to play with the Legions (Demons), hoping that I will find something that will get me going, however I didn't. Although the story is quite interesting and I wanted to find out what will happen next, the battles are so repetitive, that I just caught myself thinking: why do I even play this game?

I guess it's faster to just watch the intro in Disciples 3: Resurrection - it gives a pretty good summary of what happened in Disciples 3: Renaissance.
I feel too much influence from Heroes of Might and Magic V in this game, which, in my opinion, is not a good example of turn-based strategy. I think the developers should have sticked to their own principles as seen in Disciples II.

This game is not all bad, there are also some good things and improvements, so to be fair I'll list both pros and cons.

Pros:

- Great graphics, although sometimes there are so many details, that it is hard to distinguish objects.
- Zoom in/zoom out - missed that one in Disciples II.
- The player has very specific choices about how one can develop his character. I particularly liked that you can develop your leadership up to 7 (and even 8 with specific items). Also transform, revive and other additional leader skills come quite handy.
- It's much easier to conquer enemy capitals. In Disciples II you had to use whole arsenal of potions, artefacts and spells to atleast have a chance against defenders of the capital (and not always it was enough).
- Node guardians is a good idea. They are strong and most of the time they are able to defend themselves, so you don't need to worry about loosing your resources and burdensome rod-planting character management as in Disciples II.
- Achievements. Atleast for me they provide a bit of extra motivation.
- Thief is a fully-functional leader with initial leadership of 3. In Disciples II, Thief had no leadership.
- You can carry all you items to the next act. In Disciples II, you could only take five items with you.

Cons:

- Battle system is the worst aspect of this game. The battles are long and repetitive. After few level ups, when it's not possible to lose anymore, I think everyone finds himself pressing the Quick resolve button. Also I found the obstacles annoying. They needlessly limit the movement of units. Also I'd rather prefer the static battles without tactical map movement as in Disciples II. Thus the initiative actually had some meaning.
- No shortcuts, except for Space (End turn)
- Camera rotation and zoom level in battles also are far from perfect. It's not possible to rotate the battlefield 360 degrees and zoom level is not sufficient - all units look small. The lower corners are almost out of reach. If an enemy is hiding in the right lower corner, you have to turn camera to that corner on every attack to actually perform it. And that is annoying.
- Sometimes it's hard to find the way, because there are trees or building covering the field of view.
- Not only spells are limited to once per turn (twice for Archmage), but this limitation apply to whole of the spellbook. In Disciples II, this limitation applied only to a particular spell. So, spells are not actually that important for victory and it's not worth to research them all. Most of the time I used only healing and damage spells.
- I never had a need to use a thief. I don't actually know what is his special trait. So Guild as a building is useless. Atleast for me.
- Due to spell limitations and lack of Thief actions, it does not make that much of a difference which gameplay style you choose (Warlord, Archmage or Guildmaster).
- Also the interface is not very intuitive. It took me about 45 minutes to understand how this game works.

My overall rating is 5/10.

I think I will return to this game just to enjoy the story and graphics, when I will have nothing better to play. And perhaps my opinion will change. But for now, I can't recommend this game to anyone.

p.s. Disciples 3: Reincarnation is out, which is sort of a remake of Renaissance and Resurrection. Perhaps it is better. So if you are considering to try Disciples 3 afterall, perhaps you should buy Reincarnaction.

DO NOT BUY THIS VERSION.

Buy "Disciples III: Reincarnation" instead.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/10270/Disciples_III_Reincarnation/

If you can get over that it's not like disciples 2, then you'll probably see that this game is nice.

+Atmoshere (can say that's the best thing about the game)
+Music
+Battle (yes i liked it)
+Solid gameplay

-Voice acting. Seriously it's the worst voice acting i've ever heard. ever.
-Gets repetitve after a while.
-Not very good use of map design. Looks great, but gamplay-wise feels kinda empty.

I've played worse and even more boring turn based strategy games than this. I wouldn't rate it a 10 that's for sure, but i think the ratings it received were a bit harsh. A solid 7.5/10 from me.

Disciples III - Renaissance Steam Special Edition is a fantasy turn-around strategy game developed by Akella, dat.


Brief info: Disciples means trailer and that's exactly what the third part of the fantasy saga is about. The genre-typical story
Every hero tells his story in which he achieves great things. The hero of the damned must of course free his lord and master. The people who believe in a higher being; the elves who worship nature; the wicked who have succumbed to a murderous cult. In the middle of this tense world, a meteorite falls from which a heavenly messenger rises. It's a bit like The Fifth Element, but in a world of myths and legends. For the quarreling people, the young woman is the hope of redemption, while the Legion of the Damned, with the help of the angel, want to free their satanic leader, who has long sought revenge in the dungeon.

So each group sends their hero to get to the angel or to prevent the other from it. This is the starting point of the three campaigns, which all take place in different locations, even though they have a similar goal. The angel gives the whole thing an almost philosophical touch that lets you experience the same story from a different perspective. Only the not-so-nice elf alliance sits a bit between the chairs, which is why the campaign in their autumn brown lands is not so stringent. There is also a free mode in which you do not have to do any quests. There is also the option of playing in pairs on one computer, which has always been a tradition in turn-based tactical role-playing games. However, one looks in vain for online multiplayer.


+ atmospheric gloomy scenario
+ well-timed AI
+ good scope
+ tactical battles
+ well-known but interesting savior story
+ Achievements


- Not suitable for beginners, as it can quickly become frustrating
- tough quests


Disciples III - Renaissance Steam Special Edition offers you old-fashioned, but motivating round strategy. But I would wait for a sale to buy the game.



Disciples III - Renaissance Steam Special Edition ist ein Fantasy-Rundenstrategiespiel, welches von Akella, dat entwickelt wurde.


Kurze Info: Disciples heißt übersetzt Anhänger und genau um die geht's im dritten Teil der Fantasy-Saga. Die genretypische Story
Jeder Held erzählt seine Geschichte, in der er Großes vollbringt. Der Held der Verdammten muss natürlich seinen Herrn und Meister befreien. Die Menschen, die an ein höheres Wesen glauben; die Elfen, die die Natur verehren; die Bösen, die einem mörderischen Kult verfallen sind. Mitten in diese spannungsgeladene Welt fällt ein Meteorit, dem ein Himmelsbote entsteigt. Das ist ein wenig wie bei Das fünfte Element, allerdings in einer Welt der Mythen und Legenden. Für die zerstrittenen Menschen ist die junge Frau die Hoffnung auf Erlösung, während die Legion der Verdammten mit Hilfe des Engels ihren satanischen Anführer befreien wollen, der schon lange im Verlies auf Rache sinnt.

Jede Gruppe schickt also ihren Helden los, um an den Engel zu kommen bzw. die andere davon abzuhalten. Das ist der Ausgangspunkt der drei Kampagnen, die alle an unterschiedlichen Orten spielen, obwohl sie ein ähnliches Ziel haben. Durch den Engel bekommt das Ganze einen fast philosophischen Touch, der einen dieselbe Geschichte auch aus einer anderen Perspektive erleben lässt. Einzig die gar nicht so nette Elfenallianz sitzt etwas zwischen den Stühlen, weshalb die Kampagne in ihren herbstbraunen Landen nicht so stringent verläuft. Hinzu kommt noch ein freier Modus, bei dem man keine Quests erledigen muss. Zudem gibt es die Möglichkeit, zu zweit an einem Rechner zu spielen, was bei rundenbasierten Taktik-Rollenspielen seit jeher Tradition hat. Einen Online-Multiplayer sucht man allerdings vergebens.


+ stimmungsvolles düsteres Szenario
+ gut taktierende KI
+ guter Umfang
+ taktische Schlachten
+ bekannte, aber interessante Erlöserstory
+ Errungenschaften


- für Anfänger eher nicht geeignet, da schnell frustrierend
- zähe Quests


Disciples III - Renaissance Steam Special Edition bietet dir Altbackene, aber motivierende Rundenstrategie. Ich würde aber aber auf ein Sale warten, um das Spiel zu kaufen.

70 hours in and all campaigns complete except Elven final. After first being disapointed when comparing to the classic D2 this game rocks and still brings on the table what made original Disciples II + expansions such classic games. 'Good ol' Disciples!' is what a scarred veteran would say.

If you are experienced with the series you will dislike the tactical map and some bugs/balance issues as the game was rushed to production. Game contains some 'press button to win' -type of strategies but cranking up the difficutly and maybe using some iron man rules will ensure that the AI will beat you so hard your (unborn) kids will get bruises. As is normal to the series. Not kidding here: this game series is known to be unfair. ganking AI, tough fights, extremely hard boss fights is what made D2 a classic. D3 is on the same track but more accessible and easier - if user so wants so no more going through all missions and then getting stuck on the last boss. A very good thing actualy as this part was usualy the last straw before a rage quit in D2.

What game newbies should play is harder to say. This game series is incredibly tough on newbies as this is not HOMM. D2 has no bugs and is extremely streamlined and hard as hell. D3 is easier but with bugs/exploits and easier on the eyes.

Nevertheless newbies should expect nothing but hard missions and a very, very unhappy ending once you finaly reach the end of a campaign. This is no happy-happy joy HOMM frolicking around collecting resources -game.

Disciples III is a hackne, dumbed down, lackluster version of its predecessors. Galleans return was the triumph of the disciples series, and this game comes nowhere close in terms of immersion, tact, or story. The graphics are better (obviously) but that really REALLY doesn't make up for the multiple shortcomings found within this title. DO NOT BUY

Okay, I've played the game for some time now and I feel comfortable enough to point out the good and the bad.
Frankly, the game -could- have been great, but I dunno whether Kalypso works hard so devs can't deliver a quality product or if the devs they find always skip Quality Assurance. It really feels like they made the game solely for the campaign, anything else was an afterthought.

Good
- Nice graphics and style.
- Big Heroes of Might and Magic feel, upgrading cities, interacting with some stuff on the map and so forth.
- You upgrade your heroes much like you'd do in a typical RPG game, distributing attribute points and skills.
- Units needing to gain experience before they evolve is an interesting concept.
- You can revive nearly every unit, which makes it easier to deal with losses. Just make sure to retreat if things start to go down, if all units die, your party is wiped.

Bad (TL;DR=Terrible interface)
- No hotkeys, save for spacebar to skip unit turn/finish turn. This alone is my biggest gripe with the game. Want to open any menu? Find the button and click it. Want to set your units on defensive stance? Click the button. Use an item in battle? Click the button to open the inventory, click the item and then the unit.
- No autoresolve. Every battle has to happen in the battle screen and "Quick Battle", the closest to autoresolve, makes your units dumb as rocks.
- No camera speed options. The first second of camera movement is ALWAYS too damn slow.
- No key binding option. Move camera with WASD, rotate with arrow keys. Don't like it? Too bad, sucker!
- If the map you're on doesn't have a Trainer building, the only way to get exp for your heroes/troops is fighting, which can be a problem when you only have lvl 1s and the lowest enemy around is 4 level 12 troops.
- Only the capital matters. Some maps have extra cities, but not having them wouldn't be much of a difference.
- It's hard to tell where you can or can't go in a map. In one map in particular, Islands (Hot Seat), a lot of interactive stuff in the map cannot be interacted with because your hero simply has no path to it. Oh, and that map also has a node that it's impossible to take by moving a hero there, you have to summon a unit, like a golem, to fight the creeps there.
- Most heroes move way too slow on the overworld map.
- Map selection outside the campaign is simply terrible. But then again, you probably won't want to play the skirmish.
- Can't select a difficulty for the CPU while playing in hot seat.
- No sense of empire building or even of territory expansion. Capturing nodes really doesn't feel like much.
- The game really feels like you're dealing with a small party of unique persons rather than a small army of units.
- Campaign lacks a difficulty curve, instead relying on a wall of sorts for each level. Once you get past the wall (by getting sufficient troops at the max level), the rest of the level is a smooth sailing.