Stronghold 2
| Stronghold 2 | |||
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| Studio |
 Firefly Studios
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| Publisher |
 2K Games
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| Senior Developer | Simon Bradbury | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
April 29, 2005 October 7, 2017 (Steam Edition) |
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| platform | Windows | ||
| Game engine | Dragonfly engine | ||
| genre | Real-time strategy | ||
| Game mode | Single player , multiplayer | ||
| control | Keyboard , mouse | ||
| system advantages preconditions |
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| medium | 2 CD-ROM , download ( Steam ) | ||
| language | German | ||
| Current version | 1.5 Steam (October 9, 2017) | ||
| Age rating |
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| information | Stronghold 2: Steam Edition | ||
Stronghold 2 is a medieval castle and economy simulation by the British Firefly Studios , which was released on April 29, 2005 for Windows PCs . It is the third game in the Stronghold series after Stronghold and Stronghold Crusader . A version of the game with additional content was released in the same year under the title Stronghold 2 Deluxe .
Stronghold 2 is the first title in the series with a freely rotatable 3-D view.
Gameplay
Stronghold 2 basically retains the gameplay of its predecessors, but expands it in many places. Many concepts such as the system of punishment and the church system have been supplemented and expanded. In addition, new ideas such as banquets were incorporated. There are also more goods and new dissatisfaction factors such as rats, criminals or manure in front of frequently visited buildings should make it difficult for the player to keep the popularity points constant. The biggest innovation in the area of game points is the introduction of "honor". With the help of honor points, for example, neutral provinces can be "bought", soldiers recruited or a higher rank can be achieved in the "kingmaker" mode. As in Crusader , new units are mainly available as mercenaries in the mercenary camp to recruit. For example, fighters can be hired who are equipped with bast boats and can attack over water, or highwaymen who remain invisible to enemy units at the edge of the forest and throw spears.
The player can build a total of 97 buildings.
Development history
Stronghold 2 uses the Dragonfly engine developed by Firefly itself for the 3D graphics.
Following a demo and preview mini-game Castle Attack 2 by Firefly, Stronghold 2 was officially released on April 29, 2005. At the time of publication, Stronghold 2 suffered from numerous bugs , most of which could only be fixed with subsequently published patches. Patch 1.3.1 finally fixed most of the problems and added the features of Stronghold 2 Deluxe to the game (see below). The updates ended with the patch of version 1.4.1 on December 6, 2007. In 2017, a remaster version with improved graphics was published on Steam , which also contained maps and also offers the multiplayer mode, which was no longer supported for a long time.
reception
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Despite a lot of praise for the graphics performance that was up to date for the time and the many innovations, the game is still criticized after the patches have been released because of the AI and the high level of difficulty in the business section due to the numerous new plagues. ( Metacritic : 63 out of 100). The immense depth of the game created by the high number of buildings met with divided reactions. Even the less challenging AI opponents and problems with controlling the military units are almost always criticized.
Kieron Gillen from Eurogamer praises both the graphics and the large number of additions such as new buildings and the honor game mechanics. Together with the multiplayer mode and the map editor, you get an enormous amount to play. Most of the fun, however, was the construction and management of the settlement “with war as a sideline.” A major weakness, however, is the design of the mission, which requires an unusually intensive use of fast storage and loading for RTS games . And another major mistake is “the lack of variety in the computer opponents' tactics.” Nevertheless, there are many small things, “from a hunter who collects rabbits for the saucepan to oil-soaked tree trunks that are set on fire and thrown from the walls, to crush an attacking army. ”that made the game fascinating.
Jörg Luibl from 4Players is disappointed that he has not found the "ultimate castle simulation" he had hoped for. The game had "excited him acoustically, visually satisfied, but disappointed playfully", especially the warfare. The behavior of the military units is terrible, both the "messed up pathfinding" and "strange refusals of orders and illogical actions in combat". The “ample arsenal of mean things like boiling oil, falling rocks or burning logs” was successful, but in combat there was little more to be done than “praying to the gods of finding the way and intervening wherever there is a problem and does not strike as you want ". And the AI opponents are also "stupid as barley bread" and can be overcome with virtually no tactics. All combat-based game modes are therefore quite frustrating. After all, the economy-based modes could provide a lot of motivation, since “there are many goods and production facilities”, even if the economy is relatively less complex. Overall, the author states that the warfare simply disappointed him and that even the peaceful reconstruction idyll could not really inspire him due to technical problems.
The magazine Gamestar writes that the castle operation may be exhausting, “but it's just as much fun as in the predecessor.” Because “As in the predecessor, the ingenious interlinking of structure, economy and population management confronts you with tricky decisions every minute, there is idle in Stronghold 2 a foreign word. ”The story in the campaigns is also very successful and the cutscenes are“ a huge step forward compared to the boring read-out dialogues of the predecessor. ”Both the new top view and the new siege and combat units are useful additions for castle building and conquest. However, the AI of the opponents is weak and the behavior of the military units is often strange, "Finding the way should actually mean getting lost". Nevertheless, the defenses against far superior attackers were a lot of fun because of the numerous defensive systems that could also be actively used.
Justin Stolzenberg from PC Games is very fond of castle building and defense in Stronghold 2. It is a lot of fun to combine “walls, watchtowers, pitfalls or trenches”, especially since in the break mode “there is more than enough time to work out the most impregnable bulwarks”. Especially in later campaign missions this enables “long and captivating defensive battles” There are also serious weaknesses in the behavior of the military units. For example, “your own swordsmen climb down the ladder from the wall for no apparent reason” and “Tower-mounted ballistae do not automatically shoot enemy siege guns, but attack much less dangerous infantrymen.” They are also disturbed by the inadequate collision detection, especially when “hundreds of soldiers are involved in close combat merge into a single, opaque ball ”. The scope with economic and combat campaign, multiplayer mode and a mission editor is pleasing.
IGN's Dan Adams is disappointed with the game because of “a number of bugs, missing features, and overall mediocre gameplay mechanics and production value.” The castle is fine with management, “but it's slow and not rewarding enough to make the game successful . “And the fight against the AI is a rather boring and hardly challenging affair. In addition, the behavior of the military units is often completely pointless. The only bright spot "is the simple construction of walls and defensive devices", because you can switch to a bird's eye view. The presentation is also not appealing with moderate synchronization and cutscenes that seem "clunky, slow and lifeless". The author concludes, "For every good thing there is an ugly one that overshadows it," which is why he would recommend the game to a fan of the series at best.
Craig Beers from GameSpot thinks that despite "numerous additions" and "the incorporation of some good ideas", a lot of potential for an entertaining castle building game has been wasted. There are hardly any serious problems with the game mechanics. However, it is annoying that you cannot shut down individual buildings and that the crime mechanics mean that important buildings stop working unnoticed, which sometimes leads to “a feedback loop from which you cannot recover”. The war campaign is mixed, because "the history of the war campaign is weak because of boring cutscenes and poor synchronization, but the missions are well structured." But overall, the AI is terrible, which unfortunately makes warfare "boring and all too simple". And the graphic "isn't particularly flattering" either. Especially since units tend to clump together in combat, "which makes it difficult to control individual units or even to see what is happening in a fight." Unfortunately, the actually promising multiplayer mode cannot improve the impression because there are all too often connection problems. The bottom line is: "All in all, Stronghold has too many problems to recommend it even to die-hard strategy supporters."
Stronghold 2 Deluxe
Stronghold 2 Deluxe is an extended version of Stronghold 2 . It includes, among other things, a new game mode in which you replay different sieges. In addition, some bugs have been fixed. Buyers of the standard version received the deluxe features free of charge via an extended version of the 1.3.1 patch.
Web links
- Official website for Stronghold, Stronghold 2 and Stronghold Crusader
- Stronghold 2 at MobyGames (English)
- Stronghold 2: Steam Edition at Fireflyworlds
Individual evidence
- ↑ Benjamin Jakobs: Stronghold 2: Steam Edition released. Retrieved February 21, 2020 .
- ↑ Article about Stronghold 2 on spieletipps.de Retrieved July 18, 2012.
- ↑ Information about the DragonFly engine from Stronghold 2 (English). Retrieved August 6, 2012.
- ↑ stronghold-knights.com: Castle Attack 2 ( Memento from September 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
- ↑ Patch 1.3.1 of Stronghold 2 on stronghold-2.com.Retrieved July 18, 2012.
- ↑ Patch 1.4.1 from Stronghold 2 on 4players.de.Retrieved on August 18, 2012.
- ↑ Steam Edition with Multiplayer. Accessed October 9, 2017.
- ↑ a b Kieron Gillen: Eurogamer Test by Strongholds 2. In: Eurogamer . Gamer Network , accessed February 20, 2020 .
- ↑ a b Jörg Luibl: 4Players Test by Strongholds 2. In: 4Players . Retrieved February 20, 2020 .
- ↑ GameStar rating of Strongholds 2. In: Gamestar . Retrieved February 20, 2020 .
- ^ A b Justin Stolzenberg: PC Games Test by Strongholds 2. In: Gamestar . Retrieved February 20, 2020 .
- ^ A b Dan Adams: IGN Test by Strongholds 2. In: IGN Entertainment . IGN Entertainment , accessed February 20, 2020 .
- ↑ Craig Beers: GameSpot Test by Strongholds 2. In: GameSpot . GameSpot , accessed February 20, 2020 .
- ↑ Metacritic : Average rating (English), based on 33 articles. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
- ↑ Critique of Stronghold 2 on rp-online.de.Retrieved on July 23, 2012.
- ↑ Gamestar test by Strongholds 2. In: Gamestar . Retrieved February 20, 2020 .