The package of the gold edition simply combines Spellforce 2 and its first expansion pack, Dragon Storm. These two are the main parts that you definitely should have played if you are interested in the Spellforce series.
The gold edition contains the main game and the first expansion Dragon Storm which is big enough to be rated as its own game. The Spellforce games are a mixture of real time strategy (RTS) and role playing game (RPG). It was the unique concept of the Spellforce franchise and I think it works really well. To give you a better explanation I will describe both parts. RPG part: Your created main character and party level up and learn abilities like in an RPG. There are some branches for abilities and you should plan ahead as you cant learn all abilities. Level cap is 30 as you cant get enough experience to reach level 31 (by far!). Your party members are always a bit behind your level. There are tons of weapons and equipment to find or buy from merchants. Most have restrictions to learned abilities and / or level. For example you cant use plate armor or longbows without the corresponding ability. There are lot of side quest for bonus experience or useful items. RTS part: You are in control of a faction, harvest resources, building structures and recruiting / producing units. There are 3 resources with stone, silver and lenya that are limited per map. Your workers are used to harvest them and build buildings. There are multiple fractions which play / are a bit different. I say fractions as these consist of multiple groups like your first alliance is made out of humans, elves and dwarfs for example. However you have not access to all of them immediately as the alliance has fractured and you must recruit the support for the others first. This gives you access to more buildings and new troops when you build the upgrades in your headquarter (and a higher unit limit that you should not underestimate). Each unit has his / her own stats and some have unique abilities. Better ones require more space as the strongest unit the titans require 5 spaces and to have build all available upgrades for the groups in your headquarter. As you level up your units too but not to the same level (Will be at an overall lower level than your main character and party). So far for this. While your party is stronger than the other units they are not overpowered and will fall to groups of enemies or use of poor strategies. The expansion which is a separate game (new characters no import of old once) add some things: Now exists a Shaikan faction with unique units you play most of the game with. What makes them special is that unlike other factions you can develop or upgrade your units in two ways (mutual exclusive). For example archers can use fire arrows with higher range or fire 3 arrows with one shot. Also a lot of new abilities including a Shaikan branch of abilities that allow you to summon helpers are included together with some set items (Additional bonuses the more parts you equipped). Story wise it is solid fantasy. Your character is a Shaikan who are a special kind of humans which are blessed and cursed by their bloodline. They have something I will describe as dragonblood that makes them stronger, faster and more durable. They can even resurrect the dead with their blood if it they died not too long ago (Only party members with a shown timer. Also not necromancy as corpses and skeletons would be impossible to revive this way) and summon / teleport their kind to themselves (Main character only). The story starts when your main character is warned by the halfblood female darkelf Nightsong about a coup in their kingdom and a coming attack on the Shaikan. As their leader sensed a greater danger you are send out to get help. In the expansion you start with something you already encountered during the main game. The magic portals that connect the islands are stopping to work. This is a catastrophe as see travel is to dangerous to be reliable and resources getting scare. An all out war seems unavoidable while a new fraction appears that promis to fix this in exchange for power or better said total leadership of the kingdoms. Presentation wise it had good graphics and soundtrack for its time and it is the kind that is still O.K. There is a critical bug I must warn you about: In the penultimate map of the main game there is a puzzle. From there on the camera strikes when you try to solve it. You can reach the final map but going anywhere else before freezes the camera in a position that prevents you from continuing (This can end a playtrough). Overall for me the mixture of RPG and RTS is excellent. It was an enjoyable ride and I recommend it especially if you like both genres. It has a few weaknesses but nothing enough to lower my rating further. For its money it is a great value.
I tried. I gave this game a fair trial of 40 hours of my life. Sadly, it gave little back.
It is a good blend of RTS and RPG. The problem is that it is unbalanced, and very very buggy. Here are examples of both:
- No balance - you might be running around a city for hours and hours of gameplay until an RTS sequence finally kicks in. Even when it does, many missions can be done by completely ignoring the RTS element and just butchering the level with your overpowered heroes (slow, but sure way to victory).
- Bugs, bugs, bugs. Many a time the camera gets stuck, forcing you to quit. Hopefuly, you have made a save. Some times the quest will not initiate because of this. But the most frustrating one is when you get assigned a fellow hero which you cannot control - the dummy keeps running into hordes of spiders and dies. Needless to say, in order to complete the missions, his dumb ass needs to stay a live. FAIL!
I really tried. The game does have many good things about it (voice-overs are not among them), but the bad just overwhelms, and the constant frustration is just not worth it.
This game is riddled with bugs. Zero polish, zero depth. Even the characters have no depth and the voice acting is horrific. It's bad enough some side-quests are impossible to complete but you cannot even finish the MAIN quest. Light years away from the level of a Warcraft game. All it has is decent graphics. The RPG elements incorporated are mediocre and unbalanced. Two-handed weapons are useless, duel daggers are clearly superior to duel blades...healing makes the game easy... Most maps are incredibly easy as you can simply sit back and amass a winning army. The AI is abysmal, okay, it's an old game but why when a unit is on the move command, does it sometimes stop and attack. Hold position is broken as the units will just run off and fight whatever they see anyway. The minimap is incredibly basic. There are no location/building hotkeys. The pacing in maps is horrible.
SummaryMysterious powers arise from darkness and shadow. They are threatening Eo, the world of SpellForce, already devastated by wars and sundered by intrigues. A hero, born of the legendary Shaikan and linked by a life bond with an ancient dragon now holds the fate of the world in his hands! Unite powerful heroes and armies under your banners,...