majesty 1 (pc)
i’ve always liked majesty. i played it a lot when it originally came out in 2000. i recall finishing the game back then with the use of cheats. i remember having trouble on 4 or so levels. i’m playing it again now since the HD version was recently released on GOG.
i wish there were more games with this type of game play. it reminds me of a game named stronghold that was put out by SSI years ago (i do not mean stronghold by firefly studios). the game’s difficulty is based on how quickly enemies attack you. in some levels you have to prepare extremely quickly for an onslaught. i always try to get a marketplace with healing potions, two guardhouses, and a warriors guild up as soon as possible. my preference is to use healers and paladins so i pretty much always choose the temples of dauros and agrela. the krytpa priestesses are a must when dealing with lots of dragons (need like 8 of them).
i used to have trouble on the gaining gold in a certain amount of time levels. that’s because i thought i had to earn the gold naturally and i never tried using the gambling house. it’s very easy to get tons of gold at the gambling house. the hero AI at times can be frustrating. sometimes a high level hero will take on nearly impossible odds and either run out of healing potions or choose not to use them. the hero then decides not to run away when their health is low and you end up losing a powerful hero (unless you have resurrection capabilities).
this time around i only cheated on the final level in the southern lands – the day of reckoning. i only used the free gold cheat “fill this bag”. after playing this level 3 times without cheating i felt that it was impossible. but now that i know the flow of the level i can say it’s probably beatable. it’s really important to get wizard towers and guard houses up to handle the spider hordes. after that your success relies completely on how much gold you have and keeping the temple of krolm safe. using the rage of krolm several times during this level is a must.