The campfire stories, a.k.a. what's your story with this game ?

[H.E.C.U soldier]

PROLOGUE:
I will start, because it's interesting. In 2001 this game was released. In my country it was a time when most people did not even have a PC in that year. Of course some games were already released but they don't have as good graphics as games today as you know.
ACT I:
I did not know what Battle Realms was, by that time I was still a kid. In many newsstands in my hometown there were CD's to buy with many games on them, most demo versions unfortunately. You could buy them very cheap. And most of who read my post probably guessed already that on one of those discs was Battle Realms. It was demo version. This demo included few skirmish maps and tutorial missions. Kenji's Journey was disabled, Winter of the Wolf was yet to be released I think and you couldn't pick Wolf or Lotus clan in skirmish mode.
ACT II:
So I played the **** out of this demo as you imagine. This game got me instantly hooked. Of course I was a kid back then and did not understand many games. So, most fun in this game for me was throwing rocks from the hills on the horses :D I watched as they get smashed to those little pieces. I'm not a psycho or anything it's just I did not see anything like that before. It just proves how innovative this game was at it's time. So many details. But playing the same missions over and over was quite boring and repetitive after a while. I was dreaming of getting full version but online services did not work back then and there were no downloading softwares to "obtain" it elsewhere. You can imagine how pissed I was.
ACTIII:
And then IT HAPPENED. My grandmother often came to visit us because she live in the same city. She often brought me some presents when she visited us. Often they were those CD's with games on them. Most sucked anyway but I always tried what was in the disc. And one they by a total randomness she happened to get DAT disc. It was in one of those newsstands, she bought it for some bucks and brought home to me. You know what was on the disc :D She didn't even know what she bought me haha :D When I saw it, I was wordless. Imagine a kid gets his dream come true ! Full Battle Realms version. I was so excited, that the first thing I did was insert disc in the pc and install it. I launched Kenji's Journey immediately. I still remember it to this moment, even today, after like 15 years. Those peasants running from Shinja's man, Kenji choosing his side. It was amazing.

EPILOGUE:
That's why I love this game. It was so innovative at it's time but even today it is still very unique in it's own way. This game is part of my life, even if I want it or not. It is special to me. I hope the story was interesting for you, all of it true I swear. Battle Realms 4ever guys

[FrozenPencil]

who want to write this kind of story?

[Wheelzaplenty]

Ok, not as log as OP post but. I innitally Bought BR as a consolation gift for myself. I went to toys r us with my parents to try and find some ps2 game, but they had sold out or it wasn't in stock. Disheartened i was leaving the electronic games section and the box art cought my eye and after checking the back of the box i knew i had to get the game.

eventully the disk got so dinged up it didn't work anymore and i've waited ever since to get it on steam.

so in short, one of the best impulse buys i ever made!

[Pirate King]

I picked it up at a Big Lots in Denver in 2002 along with a game called M.A.D.: Mutually Assured Destruction. This was the better of the two, which I put hundreds of hours into rather than like 30 minutes.

[Trollcrates]

when i was yong my cousin played this game i knew nothing about it i tyed it and liked it bud i did not remebered the name and then years passed i did not even knew this game existed, one day i remembered on very fun game i played by my cousin i tryed to ask her what was the name of the game but she did not kne and one day i was scrolling through some article abouth classic RTS games and there it was, in moment i saw those dragon pesants, that hut and spearman i knew this is it i was still kid so i pirated it i was hungry for sequel but there was nothing and then when i was adult i started buying games i did not wanted to buy it via gog (bad experiences) so i stoped plkaying and than it came out on steam i bought it and now iam here

[Warhammer 40k Enjoyer]

I was born 1994 and my big brother is about 10 years older than me, he always had the reputation among his friend to learn any videogame he plays extremly fast so I always was backseat gaming him as seeing him play impressed me alot.

So he mainly played Battle Realms and Warcraft at the time
I remember him always playing the Dragon clan in online matches.

I was pretty young when I started playing my first bunch of RTS games, but there never was something similar to Battle Realms.

Most RTS are kinda like Age of Empires but there is no other game that is like Battle Realms.


And even today the animations are still so insanely fluid compared to many other games which feel so static, I guess that is just not the way videogames are made anymore.
(not a big fan of motion capturing everything)
This game aged really well for a 3D RTS.

[SuDoDmz]

Close to the TS:

It was a time, when PCs were rare, but magic me ripped one off of my father for getting good grades (I always felt like a jack of all arts). PCs were rare but so were games, cause those shiny electrical, expensive boxes were no toys! After kicking the **** out of AoE and Star Wars episode 1 THAT event happened. On that fateful day a friend of my aunts husband, who used to work at a game store of sorts, picked up a magazine, with nothing less than a full version of Battle Realms, no demo. Though I was a "kid" and he quite old, compared to me, and also us two not having that much in common, he came to me, cause I was the wonderkid with the only computer in the house. He was hyped because he wanted to try it, I was hyped because I was to get my hands on a new game. Since that day, Battle Realms is the first "software" I install on every PC or laptop I own, after the drivers. Later on I heard there would be an Add-On and my first disc did me good services, being scratched and all, so I went to the Store, when the time was right, and bought another disc + the add-on from my own money, I saved so long for that very moment. I then realized, what a lucky boy I was, because the first disc I had already contained some patches, changing the Zen Master avatars for example AND most importantly and I don't know how or why, I could get Arah and Garrin by just choosing Arah, which was never possible again on any other disc or version of the game I played and believe me: I played it a LOT. But still, there is one feature about those "disc" games I still miss: the strongly critcised AI, the almost unplayable difficulty, that literally kicked my *** and I still was able to beat as a kid (I was quite a gifted boy :))

[AOM]

When I was 7 years old experienced a few game such as Contra, Super mario bross, Virtual cop 2 stuff like that. After my uncle graduated, he came back home and played this game with his computer. It's wonderful I haven't seen anything like this before, great graphic massive fight and best soundtrack. My house had a computer but the spec is not enough for running the game. My uncle decided to buy another PC for this game.
At that time not anyone can access the internet I also even didn't know if it is existence. We played counter-strike, age of empires 2 and battle realms with lan for many years.

5 years later, I reached the internet first time. After gathering detail of the game company information. I doubt why Battle realms didn't have sequel. And I was naive, I don't even know the version I played is illegal, so I wait to pray my sin of using pirate games. Since I know Battle Realms was at GOG store, I bought them immediately.

Then battle realms 2 was announced. I was shock waiting news waiting waiting nothing.
…

Here's I am. I want to see this game gradually become stable. Then I'm looking forward to see sequel.

[Fall King]

i get this game pirated in 2006, and i playing it maniacally (i mean, like 10 hours just for this game everyday). since this game has released once more on steam. i sold all my Dota 2's item until my wallet reached the price. then i just bought it 3 days ago and hooked my friend into this.

i write this based on honesty.

[H.E.C.U soldier]

Originally posted by Lab Rat:

i get this game pirated in 2006, and i playing it maniacally (i mean, like 10 hours just for this game everyday). since this game has released once more on steam. i sold all my Dota 2's item until my wallet reached the price. then i just bought it 3 days ago and hooked my friend into this.

i write this based on honesty.

Wise choice sir, wise choice.

[Arcanium Titan]

well,, this is one of my 1st game on PC, the graphic at that time was too beautiful to be compared.. at the time i was playing AoE and stronghold.. i love those kind RTS games.. and eventually, its really hard to find an original version of PC games or even a console game because u know. my country piracy is a common thing..

yet i choose to buy it and support the game for now!!
to be honest,
i usually try the pirated version (torrent) and then i buy the original version if i think it was worth the price..

yet this game is a gem.. treasured in my childhood memories.. after all these years.. i love BR hope there would be great improvements !!!

[Mr. L]

I first got to "observe" this game at around 2005-06, when my cousin was playing. Me being around 5 at that time, didn't really understand much about the game.

I started actually playing it in 2007, and I remember constantly losing to the AI. I would always try to mimic what the AI does (i.e. probing attacks), but I still didn't have an idea of how it all works. But finally, maybe by some stroke of luck, I managed to win against the AI in a map called Tributary sometime around 2008. I remember being so proud of myself lol.

2009-10~ Played a bit on the dying GameSpy network, only remembered playing 2 games.

Skip around to 2014, I started taking an interest in multiplayer. Saw videos of pro players like Ben and wanted to join in on the fun, so I downloaded Gameranger and started playing.

Well, I was shocked as the strategies I thought were good and I've grown accustomed to (i.e. spamming Samurais, Ronins, Warlocks or Berserkers) were shattered as I repeatedly got demolished by experienced players. I would usually just get outright taken out in the early-game by a rush. I remember a nice pro that time called [LorD] Garrin who accepted a "No rush" rule and played with me Dragon vs Wolf. I made Samurais, he made shaled Berskerkers, I got rekt. Fun times.

This was the time where I started to learn the basics of rushing. I got introduced to some basic rushes like sword, musk and staff rush. I remember trolling players that were newer than me with the staff rush. But it would always fail against experienced players and once it did, I had no idea what to do next and would just ALT+F4 and ragequit.

I eventually quit after a few months due to loss of interest and the fact that most of my fellow Filipino friends in Gameranger also quit. There were mostly only Vietnamese players who usually kicked newbies and anyone who didn't speak English.

2016 - I tried to return, but once again, kept getting kicked by Vietnamese players. Made me lose interest. But I still kept watching videos from pro players like Ben, Komikoza and learned some nice stuff.

Now fast forward to July 2019 - I returned. Reinvigorated and ready to properly learn and adapt to the competitive scene. I met a pro player named Eddie aka Master Bater and he taught me quite a lot of stuff. Ben eventually took notice and started teaching me as well, he introduced me to the usage of hotkeys, the musk+horse bug and lots of other strategies.

Ben would watch me 1v1 Master Bater and tell me my mistakes, how I could've done better etc. and would always answer any question I asked. I lost countless times, but I didn't care as I just wanted to learn and improve.

I still have a lot to learn, but I am getting better. At least I'm now at the stage where I could fight players like Master Bater and Dani and actually have a good chance of winning. Now I can actually survive to the late game and even beat them.

I'm still not on their level, but I'm getting there. :)

[Cobbler Fish]

This is the game that made me who I am today.

[Happosai]

does winter of the wolf expansion includes on the zen edition?

[Bokeye]

There are no difference between winter of the wolf and zen edition. They just rename Battle Realms.

[H.E.C.U soldier]

Originally posted by Bokeye:

There are no difference between winter of the wolf and zen edition. They just rename Battle Realms.

Wrong. This is whole new edition with multiple improvements over the original. They are not the same versions of the game, not even close. But Zen edition includes Winter of the Wolf expansion, yes.