A sequel to Ascension to the Throne game that takes place during the events of the first game. While first game gives us perspective of Alexander, this game allows us to experience the story from the perspective of Eneya, the prophesized "Valkyrie" and human that grew up among Orcs. This game reuses the engine and much of the locations and assets from the previous game, so I'll review it assuming someone is diving in after first game. Just in case, the tl;dr of that review and this - Ascension to the Throne is a flawed in many regards (graphics, balance, amount of content) King's Bounty-like that I feel is endearing enough of an experience, at least at a discount.
As mentioned, large chunk of locations and good number of enemy and ally units are reused from the previous game. Game balance, however, was changed up quite a bit. While first game has some difficulty spikes, it was overall a relatively simple to cheese experience, especially by specializing in magic. Compared to that, sequel is made fair bit tougher in many regards and does actually take a degree of effort, if not too much, to succeed.
Main character no longer can learn more destructive offensive spells like triple fireball, meteor shower and so on. Some units do still have access to them, but more on that later. Scapegoat, an incredibly potent taunt spell/ability that was accessible relatively early in the original game, is moved into far later portion of the game. Rings of speed (read Initiative) are moved into very late portion of the game. You get access to high Speed characters (and especially ranged units) in a very limited capacity until, you guessed it - later into the game. All in all - main character is still very potent unit, but a good chunk of more broken stuff is either inaccessible now or moved to much later.
Friendly units available are in general of worse quality (until late into the game) and more limited in numbers in quite a few sections. In few instances, units that could be hired at the same locations as original game are no longer available. Coupled with more constrained magic, this makes battles a fair bit tougher ordeal to manage. Considering limited replacement units available as well. It is easier to get soft-locked by wasting too many units in battles, rendering future battles nearly impossible.
Enemy units, on the other hand, are in general more threatening. More abundant use of high Speed variants, which player will struggle preventing from taking a turn (in original game largely early game issue with Werewolves). That pairs with more limited access to high Speed units on player's end I mentioned. A lot more caster units, of high quality at that. Those that cast threatening AoE spells. Unlike ranged attacks, spells have infinite range. And higher end AoE spells are fairly likely to destroy entire squads on your end.
Does all of this make the game harder and better balanced? Yes and kinda no. Once you hit lategame and grab Scapegoat - you can push through all battles without a single loss. Except for maybe last battle (which is last anyway). The road up to that point is quite a lot harder though. And while magic was nerfed a good deal by rearranging the spell acquisition progression, the increased difficulty pushes player even more so to lean on the magic tools. Speed buff, armor buff, heal. Scapegoat later. Fireball is still just a better option than physical attack - both target one enemy, but magic has unlimited range and magic power also enhances buffs. While damage stat is just damage stat.
Using this opportunity, I'll give a few advices for would be players in case I manage to goad someone into buying. In this sequel those are quite relevant.
1) Spend first few levels increasing health and nothing else. As mentioned, you will face a lot of high Speed enemies you won't have the ability to prevent from moving and attacking just yet. They will often target your main character, especially if her health is low. Her dying means defeat, so - before anything else, you should always ensure you have enough health to survive whatever comes your way. When uncertain, try to keep a few levels stockpiled unspent. In case you need to boost health more for one of the many 1v1 duels.
2) Second priority - Magic Power. It's possible to play as physical fighter, but in sequel magic is even more so too important to ignore. Initially this might seem daunting, as Fireball spell is acquired a fair bit later than in original game. But you can get by with some equipment and rings to boost your physical damage until then. With Fireball, you'll just do better damage than physical build anyway.
3) Save chests and altars unused as long as possible. Rewards scale from level, the later you grab them - the bigger returns. Biggest priority - Authority, stat that limits your army size. Might sound counterintuitive if you don't have a lot of troops to hire. But hitting enemy harder with bigger packs is how you minimize your losses. Gold from the chests is unnecessary, you will get plenty from battles. Armor, Magic Resistance, Magic Power - according to your taste, but don't sacrifice too much Authority opportunities for those. Intellect is your mana pool, you'll get plenty from levels. Big chests that hang on chains, on the other hand, feel free to open as you see them. After a quick save. A lot of the times, they contain gear or even free strong units. The sooner you grab them - the better.
4) When facing AoE blasting shamans and such - consider splitting your most valuable stacks so they don't kill too many units in one cast.
5) When returning back to the first continent - make sure to pursue story until the point where you're told to rehire the army. If you hire certain units before that - you can hardlock yourself. Due to story requiring to disband the army (bar Eneya + Fenrir) and then later you're required to have certain troops in the army to progress.
6) Abuse Scapegoat once you acquire it in the lategame. Putting Eneya in the top front row position will generally ensure she takes turn before enemies at that stage, even if there are 15 Speed units. The go to target is Fenrir, put in the backlines, but feel free to experiment. At this stage you're regularly facing hard hitting fast moving enemies, often sporting high end AoE spells. This can easily cause you to bleed units if you're not careful.
