16th March 2010, 4:26 PM
(This post was last modified: 16th March 2010, 5:02 PM by A Black Falcon.)
I got the first Castles on floppy disk, packed with its expansion pack The Northern Campaign, at some point in the early '90s. Castles 1 and 2 are on GOG.com now, but not The Northern Campaign... which is really, really too bad, because Castles: The Northern Campaign adds a whole bunch of awesome stuff to Castles 1, the game's far better with the addon.
Unfortunately, the addon cannot be played with the original campaign, and overwrites the Castles folder, so you need two separate installs, and then install the addon over one of them. It's too bad because it means you can't play the original campaign with the enhancements of the addon.
It was a pretty hard game, at least when I was younger. The point of the game is, as I said, to build a castle. Once your current castle is complete, you move on to the next castle. The original game had a five or six castle campaign set in a fictionalized Wales, the expansion eight castles set in fictionalized Scotland. The game is set in the 1200s, when the English were working on conquering Wales and Scotland (historically, they succeeded at the first, but not so much the second). You play as the King or Queen of Albion, aka fantasy England. In the original game you can choose your gender, supposedly, but appear as male regardless; in The Northern Campaign, there's actually a female monarch in the throne room scenes.
Obviously, castles take a long time to complete, as they should. You place castle elements -- walls of various heights, various kinds of towers and gates, moats, etc. to build your castle out of. Then you hire workers and place them on the things you are building. Each castle element builds separately and needs its own people working on it. Segments take quite a while to build.
In addition to building, you also have to hire soldiers because occasionally local rebels or warlords will attack you. Your castle isn't finished of course, so you'll need to remember which parts of your castle are actually built and plan your defense accordingly. There are just two types really, soldiers and archers, though I think the expansion adds a little more variety. In the original game you place your troops and then kind of just watch. In The Northern Campaign you have much better control of the battle in progress, and are able to give good movement orders to your troops defending the castle, etc.
The game also has an economic model, in The Northern Campaign especially. In the addon you can buy and sell various things such as land (you play as the king/queen after all, and nobles owned land), wheat, sheep, etc. You also need food for your workers.
Finally, there are also those throne room scenes I mentioned. Every so often there will be an "event" and you will be asked to make some kind of decision. You may get something as a result (or not) depending on your choice.
Here's a comprehensive list of the things The Northern Campaign adds to the game:
-Actual female playable character -- If you play as the Queen instead of the King, your character is actually female in the throne room scenes now, instead of just using the King's art regardless.
-New campaign to the north of Albion, against the Picts (read: it's set in Scotland now, as opposed to Wales like the original game), and it's longer and harder than the original campaign. If I remember right it has eight castles this time, compared to five in Castles.
-Troop training option for your troops to make them stronger. There are five ratings for troop quality, from Poor (1) to Excellent (5). All troops in the original game are considered Good (4) by this scale.
-Goods menu added -- You can now buy and sell Grain, Wool, Wine, and Land, and loan and borrow Money. That is, the economic model is much more complex now. Grain replaces Food from Castles, and the amount available varies depending on season (more in the fall, etc). Wool for clothing helps attract workers, Wine to make you more popular. Land makes you money. You can buy, sell, and confiscate it.
-New kinds of troops -- enemy archers, Vikings
-New combat options -- Cauldrons can be placed on diagonal walls, troops can be recalled and placed in new positions during battle, enemies now have archers and will attack in waves, and it is easier to direct your troops (larger area to click on to select the unit). Also gold boxes appear around your units when you select them, and red boxes around enemies when you tell them to attack them. Your Infantry will now not move until you tell them to, instead of just automatically moving towards the enemy. In total, it means that you can actually control battles in progress now, unlike before.
-The amount of money you have and how much land you own affects your score -- being going broke and/or selling off lots of land are not looked on positively.
Also I'm pretty sure it adds some more throne room scenes.
Anyway, I found it hard and definitely didn't beat it, but also thought it was really interesting and cool -- I always loved medieval stuff, ever since I was little, and this fit that perfectly.
The only other games I can think of even comparable to the first Castles is Stronghold. That one takes a much more RTS take on things, but is also almost entirely about castle building and defense, like Castles and almost nothing else. Castles is a great classic game. Complicated, archaic in interface, yes, but so interesting and unique that it's still a pretty good game really...
I haven't played it much in quite some time though. Maybe I should try it seriously again. :)
Unfortunately, the addon cannot be played with the original campaign, and overwrites the Castles folder, so you need two separate installs, and then install the addon over one of them. It's too bad because it means you can't play the original campaign with the enhancements of the addon.
It was a pretty hard game, at least when I was younger. The point of the game is, as I said, to build a castle. Once your current castle is complete, you move on to the next castle. The original game had a five or six castle campaign set in a fictionalized Wales, the expansion eight castles set in fictionalized Scotland. The game is set in the 1200s, when the English were working on conquering Wales and Scotland (historically, they succeeded at the first, but not so much the second). You play as the King or Queen of Albion, aka fantasy England. In the original game you can choose your gender, supposedly, but appear as male regardless; in The Northern Campaign, there's actually a female monarch in the throne room scenes.
Obviously, castles take a long time to complete, as they should. You place castle elements -- walls of various heights, various kinds of towers and gates, moats, etc. to build your castle out of. Then you hire workers and place them on the things you are building. Each castle element builds separately and needs its own people working on it. Segments take quite a while to build.
In addition to building, you also have to hire soldiers because occasionally local rebels or warlords will attack you. Your castle isn't finished of course, so you'll need to remember which parts of your castle are actually built and plan your defense accordingly. There are just two types really, soldiers and archers, though I think the expansion adds a little more variety. In the original game you place your troops and then kind of just watch. In The Northern Campaign you have much better control of the battle in progress, and are able to give good movement orders to your troops defending the castle, etc.
The game also has an economic model, in The Northern Campaign especially. In the addon you can buy and sell various things such as land (you play as the king/queen after all, and nobles owned land), wheat, sheep, etc. You also need food for your workers.
Finally, there are also those throne room scenes I mentioned. Every so often there will be an "event" and you will be asked to make some kind of decision. You may get something as a result (or not) depending on your choice.
Here's a comprehensive list of the things The Northern Campaign adds to the game:
-Actual female playable character -- If you play as the Queen instead of the King, your character is actually female in the throne room scenes now, instead of just using the King's art regardless.
-New campaign to the north of Albion, against the Picts (read: it's set in Scotland now, as opposed to Wales like the original game), and it's longer and harder than the original campaign. If I remember right it has eight castles this time, compared to five in Castles.
-Troop training option for your troops to make them stronger. There are five ratings for troop quality, from Poor (1) to Excellent (5). All troops in the original game are considered Good (4) by this scale.
-Goods menu added -- You can now buy and sell Grain, Wool, Wine, and Land, and loan and borrow Money. That is, the economic model is much more complex now. Grain replaces Food from Castles, and the amount available varies depending on season (more in the fall, etc). Wool for clothing helps attract workers, Wine to make you more popular. Land makes you money. You can buy, sell, and confiscate it.
-New kinds of troops -- enemy archers, Vikings
-New combat options -- Cauldrons can be placed on diagonal walls, troops can be recalled and placed in new positions during battle, enemies now have archers and will attack in waves, and it is easier to direct your troops (larger area to click on to select the unit). Also gold boxes appear around your units when you select them, and red boxes around enemies when you tell them to attack them. Your Infantry will now not move until you tell them to, instead of just automatically moving towards the enemy. In total, it means that you can actually control battles in progress now, unlike before.
-The amount of money you have and how much land you own affects your score -- being going broke and/or selling off lots of land are not looked on positively.
Also I'm pretty sure it adds some more throne room scenes.
Anyway, I found it hard and definitely didn't beat it, but also thought it was really interesting and cool -- I always loved medieval stuff, ever since I was little, and this fit that perfectly.
The only other games I can think of even comparable to the first Castles is Stronghold. That one takes a much more RTS take on things, but is also almost entirely about castle building and defense, like Castles and almost nothing else. Castles is a great classic game. Complicated, archaic in interface, yes, but so interesting and unique that it's still a pretty good game really...
I haven't played it much in quite some time though. Maybe I should try it seriously again. :)