There are *TWO* versions of Battle Realms! If you want the *ORIGINAL* you can support the channel by using this *GOG* referral link: af.gog.com/en/game/battle_realms_winter_of_the_wolf?as=1715648857 - To get the *NEW* Zen Edition of the game, it's on *Steam* here: store.steampowered.com/app/1025600/Battle_Realms_Zen_Edition/
Did you noticed that Vetkin does not appear in Swan's Pool despite being unlocked in previous mission? Why is that? When you unlock Arrah while on Dragon Path, she follows you to Swans Pool. Kinda feels like bug to me.
@@pioter2525 Yeah I think that's a bug. Not sure if it's been fixed yet, I'm pretty sure all heroes are supposed to follow you through for every mission.
@@GamerZakh Thanks for quick answer, bro! No it has not been fixed because I encountered it yesterday and have been looking for answears all over the internet but found nothing.
@@pioter2525 You can try ask the dev on their discord, they'll know for sure. Though fixes are slow because I think it's just one person working on this full time right now.
Hi dev, do you plan to make new campaign? Also can you maybe make the peasant to be trained instead of auto? Its not like i dont like the current one (i fall in love with this OG game) its just that its very imbalance when it comes to 1v2 or 3 with the old system
I remember we call someone in the computer shop Grayback because of how he knows all units what is weakness and which to build literally our masters that day
THIS game, Empire Earth, Age of Empire 2, Rise of Nations, Red Alert 2, Stronghold Crusaders and many many more are part of the golden era of RTS games back in the late 90's and early 2000. My little old self would spend an entire sunday sitting in front of CRT monitor burning my eyes for hours, playing with one of these games. I loved playing as Lotus Clan so much simply because their peasant unit are always suffering lmao Thanks for making this video, it really ignites my fond memories of playing classics RTS games. I might wanna grab this on steam and play it again just like old times. :D
Even the parody Rts was fun like Starwars Galactic Battle Grounds, Lord of the Rings Battle for Middle Earth, Warhammer 40k dawn of war, Age of Mythology. Miss these types of games alot
i remember choosing the Serpent side on the campaign was the better choice. First, their units are more aggressive than the Dragon Clan's, and then the enemies are more forgiving. Choosing the Serpent would make you face the Wolf Clan, which most units could be easily dealt with by massed riflemen. Moreover, you gained access to the powerful necromancer near the end of the campaign. Also, you could win any battles with Serpent Clan if you equip the Bandits with paralyzing venom upgrade. While choosing the Dragon Clan would make you face the Lotus Clan, which their units are hard counters to most of Dragon Clan units, apart from the Kabuki Warriors.
Kabuki Warriors are weak against magic attacks, so Lotus can melt them with Unclean ones. Their magic damage also does nothing to Warlocks, and Warlocks do magic damage in melee, so not sure why you'd want Kabuki against Lotus. Granted, they do resist Warlock ranged attacks very well..
@@svenmeling6053 yes, Unclean Ones are the deadliest . however other mid-tier Lotus clan units, the Infested Ones and the Diseased Ones are really mediocre
If I remember correctly, rain did exist in the original game, and (if I remember correctly) it both increases rice growth and (I think?) helps put out fires on buildings; I feel more certain about the former effect than the latter.
@@dewicahayafitri1089 I remember playing LAN games with friends and asking one with Zymeth to make it rain so we would have plenty of rice to collect.
If i Remember correctly, there was a Lotus hero capable to make it rain. But I could not remember if rain naturally occurs in game. So far I could not recall raining normally during matches. Aside from the Lotus hero having the spell capability to make it rain.
I played this game way back in my highschool days, sometime's i go cutting classes just to play it😅 and now i watch ur video it bring's me lots of Memories playing"Battle Realms"with my friends.
Hey Zakh, first time in my life watching another gamer doing a playthrough with commentary. First time in terms of Battle Realms gameplay, I enjoyed every second and how you describe each detail from "minor" to major is very much appreciated 93 minutes felt like 30 minutes. Can't believe I've watched it til the end. Good stuff, you deserve all the success my guy. To more contents
So nice to see this old gem being revamped! I noticed that the game tells you damage types and such when hovering their portrait. Great new feature that was sorely missing in the original.
I remember i got a CD with demos from game magazine and one of the demos was Battle Realms. I spend like thousands of hours playing this demo with my brother. There were playable Dragon and Serpent clan and 3 maps in skirmish. We were constantly playing just the map for 6 players tho 😄 great times
I did the same. Map for 6 people. Using cannoners to place mines in the middle of river where units couls go across or placing Arah on watchtower nearby so she could snipe units from far end. Few months later I get full game and I was hooked with other two clans and many different maps. I have huge sentiment for that game, reminds me about good old times.
I played that game a lot when I was kid. It was pirated, because back in the days, there was no real way to buy video games the place I lived. The only legit source were general computer stores, who offered only some most popular software or relatively expensive gaming magazines with CDs, where you could have one game monthly. There were no Steam, no GOG. Hell, there was even no Torrent, so even if you wanted pirated version, you still had to go by foot to local market and BUY burned version, without any cover art or manual. No to mention, that without UA-cam you couldn't check the gameplay videos. It was a blind shot. Crazy times. Years after that I redeemed myself by buying legal copy, which I often do now with games I used to play as a kiddo.
Yeah in Malaysia it was like that. Finding a store that sold originals was so hard. Even when you finally wanted to pay for an original it just wasn't available.
@@GamerZakh yeah the late 80's kids in KL gotta go to Ampang Park to get pirated disks (yep thats the floppy disks and later the hard lil plastic disks) but damn theyre really cheap like RM5 - 10 compared to the original which cost RM100 - 300. Even then you couldnt get that many choice. Theres a lot of titles you could only read about in the game magazines and dream about how they play... sad. Heck even the zines are reaaally rare in Malaysia that time, and even more expensive than the pirated games like around RM50-100. Crazy. Only the rich kids gets those and the info about top games and (more importantly) cheats and tips it became a status symbol ("Oh I collect 'Tips n Tricks'... you know how to get God Mode in Doom? Eh you wanna borrow them zines BOW DOWN TO ME PHEASANTS WAHAHAHA ok over dramatised but you get the idea) Lots of us gamer kids just browse the shops in Ampang Park and gamble on buying flops or top games 😅 We dont even know what we are getting until we play it. Most are swayed by the game covers (yes they have game covers... even the whole cloned game BOX) but me, I go by which have the more interesting game manuals (YES MY MAN, THEY HAVE PIRATED MANUALS WITH THEM PIRATED FLOPPY DISKS). Ah, glorious days of old PC RPG. The manual doubles as anti piracy features (heh heh), like they will ask you to enter the third phrase in the second paragraph of page 23 as password to start the game, or incorporate it as part of the game progress - screen pop up 'refer to the quest journal entry 78' when the bartender starts to relate the info you need for a quest. Then later in the 90's came the golden age of pirated CD's. Ampang Park became like the antique games center and Sungei Wang/ Bukit Bintang is the new gamer stop (for arcades too). The market was flooded bro! Guys would look at ya weird if you buy an original CD. And the titles galore... a game (or movie) would have their pirated version out a day after the official release. Internet is still in its infancy but enough for gamers to be in the loop of top games and their tips n cheats. But I miss the more elaborate game covers and manual booklets that came with the ol game disks of the 80's.
@@GamerZakhI felt so guilty now I buy the official release of old classic games I enjoyed whenever I came across them, so you know this game reviewed is one Im just waiting to get. Hey didnt know you're Malaysian. Nice to see more Malaysian gamers representing bro.
Such a glorious game! I played it a lot as a kid. I was never able to beat it though, mostly played skirmishes anyway :D Gonna make sure to change that and give this game another go.
I remember me and my brother versing 1v1 in this game. I didn't even know peasants spawn faster with more peasant huts. We always just build our biggest army, max upgrade everything, meet somewhere in the middle and fight. Never finished a game because it takes so dang long to max everything.
I do like alot of the Upgrades now as well. Like for example, Posion weapon from the serpants Sharpshoots, Effects The bandits blades, as well as there Range and also posions Rohin weapons. And also the Wolves, useless "Makes peasents better at fighting" got changed to buff Brawers instead
Thanks for your in depth video, Zakh! I've been considering buying Battle Realms on Steam for a while, but held off on the purchase due to many reviews mentioning issues with the interface and especially with multiplayer (one of my primary reasons for wanting it). I am a huge Warcraft fan (and played the 3 Warcraft games a lot). I have however never played Battle Realms, but got interested in it, as it seems similar in some ways to the Warcraft games... So I'm very happy to see & hear from you that BR has improved so much now and is ready to be taken seriously as a completed "remaster" game. BTW I'm also living in South-East Asia :)
Glad you enjoyed it! Yeah I've been watching this for over 2 years now and actually wanted to make a video on it the start of last year but it was still pretty broken.
By the way, I'm not sure if there had been changes in the AI, but I'm pretty sure that in the original game, the serpent campaign was much harder than the dragon campaign based on experience, also, the reason why you don't remember encountering the blue village in your last gameplay is because there are some differences between the dragon and serpent campaign, this is one of them, Budo can join you in the serpent campaign, but you'll never see him in the Dragon campaign. The differences won't stop here though. I hope you can make a play through of Grayback's journey, the gameplay is quite different.
Agree! I remembered when the first time I played as The Serpent, the campaign was waaay much harder than The Dragon. I thought I was the only way who felt this way.
Thanks for showing this off Zakh, I somehow totally missed one of my favourite games getting a "remaster". Instant buy and no regrets; can't wait to play Kenji's Journey(s) again.
I used to play the game years ago. Finally, bought it on Steam around 2 years ago. Excited to go back play it again. I hope Kenji is added as a hero in Dragon and Serpent. There was a mod for it that I played. Watching video now thank you man for covering this amazing game😊
still can't get over about the peasant becoming girls when training on geisha building xD, and about the rain it's on the original game and yes it affect rice growth and put out fires.. thanks for the upload, nostalgic, struggled when I was a kid, replayed and finished both campaign years after, loved the VA and soundtrack even as a kid, used to replay "fall of serpentholm" alot...
I had all these games originally from one of the first digital distribution things. They eventually got bought out by Gamefly and it totally screwed them all up. Would be fun to be able to play them again.
battle realms need a lot of recognition I just hate the generation of over-budget games not becoming original like how people made games on the early 2000s over budgeting advertising and sht and its going to be shit again i just want a time machine to go back to 2000 era again i miss the old days of gaming
I did play this game a lot back in the days. It has some interesting features like the unit Development System. And it has the most brilliant important game mechanic, ...rain!
The are so many amazing ideas and mechanics in this game. The combat is a little messy, though I guess we can't all be AOE2. I really hope to see a future game use these ideas with more modern designs. Either way I might give this one a try thanks to you! Cheers!
AoE2 is shit by itself with HOURS spent to build an army and wooden pathfinding. I played it and never understood how anyone could like it. The only cool thing are building sprites. Pre-built cities look really authentic. Real competitor to Battle Realms was always Warcraft 3, but BR was much much more better. Better graphics, music, animations, mechanics, even cut-scenes.
@@nastykhan7746 hours??? What game are you playing? The average AOE2 game takes an hour in total. I too love WC3, but damn, maybe there is a reason AOE2 is still going strong 20+ years later and BR isnt?
I play games actively from 24 years and Battle Realms has the first place :) Unmatched RTS even to this day, which is kinda wild, if you think about it...
I assume if this project is successful they would make the Lotus campaign as a DLC. But as you can see the campaign balance is all over the place because of the new AI and balancing, so probably should sort out the mechanics rework first before making new content.
9:30 This isn't new. It's actually very old. I played the demo at Gencon many years ago (I presume it was 2001 but I honestly can't recall). And I remember hearing that tutorial sequence after I killed the peasants. For some reason it must have been re-added back into the game for the remaster. I only recall this over two decades later because I played the demo my kid self simply killed the bandits when asked because I presumed the guy before me must've picked the evil campaign so I assumed that was the objective. The guy after me however decided to attack the bandits and got a new sequence of events. And my kid mind was just blown by the idea of making choices within the game and it responding. So, that event became one of my key gaming memories and that's how I remember this over 20 years later.
@@HerrHoppenstedt Indeed, I have no idea why it was cut between Gencon and the original release and put in now. But it was nice to see a small part of my misspent youth again.
There was a separate tutorial available from the main menu in my version, but it was limited to the dragon clan (The NPC teaching you was a geisha instead of bandit), and it contained no recorded dialogue. Maybe Liquid did not want players have to go through the tutorial again on repeated playthroughs
Usually in the first mission, I choose the second map first. That way your units will be spawned at the bottom. Also, I like it better when I fight Shinja after destroying the keep, rather than him waiting on top of the watchtower. Makes it a little bit more immersive. PS: You can actually briefly control Shinja after defeating him before it goes to a cutscene.
This has been simplified so much that i accept the little quirks because i know they will be fixed in a near future. Before Battle Realms reminded me of my previous job as it was a bit tricky to figure it out without a solid explanation and most of the time i was lost.
..i played this back in highschool, i remember the last campaign in this video was just as hard back then.. if you managed to bring geshia to budo he will join you and will be available in future campaigns..
Though I love this game I do kinda wish the models could be more refined, hopefully we can get dialogue and overall animated portraits in the future so we can get a better grasp to what they look like
first thing i noticed when i log in to the game is the native 16:9 aspect ratio plus support for 4k resolution. it definitely looks better than the gog version. crazy how time fly by so quickly, i remember playing this with crt monitor and maybe a pentium 3 or 4 and an unknown gpu. now playing it with current high end rig plus premium tv instead of monitor. from 14 inches crt monitor to 42 inches oled tv, the difference is mind blowing but still appreciate both.
I always vizualized Kenji on the Serpent route fighting dirty where he hides behind his men pushing them as a body shield then strikes with ferocity against his opponent
I still remember that i used to farm yin points cause more points make heroes or zen masters attack stronger. You even can one shot building or any troops.
Real-time strategy games made before WC3 are the best because devs didn't "know" what an RTS should be like, so they weren't afraid of going experimental.
19:25 oh no, the wolfs are there from the first version More south in the small forest its a archer ambush that its also in the first versión Ps: Shinja have Dragón units, because at that point the dragon still just members of the serpet
At the 5th mission it seems like you didn't maximize the benefits of having Fan Geisha in the battlefield as your healer. I think that was why you got defeated twice. Nevertheless, great game play tho. I have so much memories from this game!
I think it's pretty much about how successful Zen Edition is. I don't think the developer has any other source of funding, so if this makes more money then they can do more.
some version of the serpent campaign, only serpent, got tutortial in the beginning of the story. however it was not with bandits voice but with Kenji's voice.
At 1:07:40, it might be possible that your troops were at the edge of the enemy watchtowers' vision. Looking at the area your watchtower was revealing and estimating it for the enemy's, I don't think it's out of the question that the AI found you in a legitimate way.
Speaking to some more parts where it came up: The part where you attacked the rice fields is slightly suspect, yes. I wouldn't say one instance proves anything. I know you saw that as one of many, but I think the others are reasonably explained away such that we're only left with that one. You had the attacks outside the watchtowers, which I think are explained by my previous comment. You have that one which is suspect. You have the part where you retreated from the rice fields, not really leaving the area so much, with a couple of units limping. I probably would have done the same as they did and sent a force in that same direction to see if they're still there. Obviously my explanations don't disprove it either, but to me it all seemed explainable or reasonable. I don't think the bit about them focusing on your heroes over your base is necessarily true either. The first instances would be explained by my watchtower sight theory. When the enemy army bypassed your base, you thought that's because they were locked onto your heroes, but they just posted up in the forest instead of attacking your heroes.
I'm more used to the original, I'm more used to cool and fast movements, especially in fighting, but I really wanna see what the remastered units look liked. I hope they keep the original things in Battle Realms...
Itd be cool if there was an experience factor to the units. Like the more they fight the better they get individually. And now that computers are better what if they upped the population too 🤷🏻♂️
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaah !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You rock Zakh !!!!!!!!! The new UI is so beautiful ! It's a world of difference with the old one and the UI was the only thing which was preventing me from playing because it was too big and ugly. Units running by default is such a bad idea... Especially when battle gears are even more important now, yeah, deplete stamina by running before combat so you cannot use your gear anymore... I don't understand that option !
That option is just to switch what the default it, you can still press a key to make them walk. It's good to have options because it's not forcing any particular playstyle and people have different muscle memory from other games.
@@GamerZakh The double click still makes them run. Running has always been a last resort "ability", you or your ally is attacked, my army is far away, quick, run to the position (and even then, it's not the best thing to do when right now, without battle gears, you get annihilated... Before the rework, having units without gears could still be good but now, a big army is quickly erased from the surface of the earth if gears are not used properly) This new version is so different from the original game.
@@GamerZakh Yeah, I can understand but I was really surprised by the change (not counting how nerfed were the healers). I'd be interested to see if you can succeed a skirmish game without any gear XD
Depends of the clan (dragon or serpent) and depend of the province you choose in order You can get seecret héroes In the swapm whit the serpet you can get utara, a really broken hero that will make the final levels a little more easy
Happy New Year And Belated Merry Christmas to you Gamer Zakh! I watch your channel sometimes because you feature simulation games, strategy and most of all my favorite REAL TIME STRATEGY GAMES! Did you asked them a release date for this?
Happy New year and Merry Christmas! They don't have a release date right now but it's very much playable now, so it's okay to try it. I expect them to take a few more years at least because the team is very small.
@@GamerZakh Do you think the Battle Realms: Lair Of The Lotus announced back in 2014 will be released after this? Did you asked them this sequel that was planned but was canned?
@@awakenedsoul2638 I would assume if this project makes enough money they'll go and make new content, but it'll take a long time. This has been in the works for years already and it's only just about becoming playable.
One of the best games ever made. Every character has their strengths and weaknesses, it nullifies 1 unit from being too OP, besides GrayBack. It was a head of its time.
At this point they made heroes damage buildings a lot more because they buffed buildings, but buildings were still OP here as you'll see. It was almost impossible to destroy a village haha. Since this video buildings have been rebalanced again to be better.
Can you remap the hotkeys? Not having "A" as the attack move is pretty big since most games use that... In Age of Empires 2 HD using TAB as attack move was annoying as hell but in AOE2 Definitive Edition they luckily allowed us to remap the hotkeys to our liking.
There are *TWO* versions of Battle Realms! If you want the *ORIGINAL* you can support the channel by using this *GOG* referral link: af.gog.com/en/game/battle_realms_winter_of_the_wolf?as=1715648857 - To get the *NEW* Zen Edition of the game, it's on *Steam* here: store.steampowered.com/app/1025600/Battle_Realms_Zen_Edition/
kenji u can choose dragon version or serpent ^^ serpent he will badass
Did you noticed that Vetkin does not appear in Swan's Pool despite being unlocked in previous mission? Why is that? When you unlock Arrah while on Dragon Path, she follows you to Swans Pool. Kinda feels like bug to me.
@@pioter2525 Yeah I think that's a bug. Not sure if it's been fixed yet, I'm pretty sure all heroes are supposed to follow you through for every mission.
@@GamerZakh Thanks for quick answer, bro! No it has not been fixed because I encountered it yesterday and have been looking for answears all over the internet but found nothing.
@@pioter2525 You can try ask the dev on their discord, they'll know for sure. Though fixes are slow because I think it's just one person working on this full time right now.
"I am Kenji of the Serpent Clan, and my ancestor broke the world..."; suddenly it was the early 2000s once more, good times, good times XD
I play it from 2013 and its wild.
The wolf remembers
"For centuries my people hid, praying for the dragon's protection."
Still as epic as it was when I heard it the first time.
Swallow a 🐓
Maybe they can transfer it on mobile 😢
Huge thanks for covering this, Zakh! 💪
Indeed, there is still a lot of work to be done all around, but we are getting there. :)
You guys made me a gamer. Thank you for everything
I still have the original pink CD of this game :)
Thanks for this wonderful game guys, I hope someday it will be available in mobile thanks.
Hi dev, do you plan to make new campaign?
Also can you maybe make the peasant to be trained instead of auto? Its not like i dont like the current one (i fall in love with this OG game) its just that its very imbalance when it comes to 1v2 or 3 with the old system
Would love a new story mode, Maybe for the Lotus this time?
I remember we call someone in the computer shop Grayback because of how he knows all units what is weakness and which to build literally our masters that day
haha that is dope!
THIS game, Empire Earth, Age of Empire 2, Rise of Nations, Red Alert 2, Stronghold Crusaders and many many more are part of the golden era of RTS games back in the late 90's and early 2000. My little old self would spend an entire sunday sitting in front of CRT monitor burning my eyes for hours, playing with one of these games. I loved playing as Lotus Clan so much simply because their peasant unit are always suffering lmao
Thanks for making this video, it really ignites my fond memories of playing classics RTS games. I might wanna grab this on steam and play it again just like old times. :D
Even the parody Rts was fun like Starwars Galactic Battle Grounds, Lord of the Rings Battle for Middle Earth, Warhammer 40k dawn of war, Age of Mythology. Miss these types of games alot
"My Lord we need more water" that bandit voice always chuckle me
i remember choosing the Serpent side on the campaign was the better choice. First, their units are more aggressive than the Dragon Clan's, and then the enemies are more forgiving.
Choosing the Serpent would make you face the Wolf Clan, which most units could be easily dealt with by massed riflemen. Moreover, you gained access to the powerful necromancer near the end of the campaign. Also, you could win any battles with Serpent Clan if you equip the Bandits with paralyzing venom upgrade.
While choosing the Dragon Clan would make you face the Lotus Clan, which their units are hard counters to most of Dragon Clan units, apart from the Kabuki Warriors.
Kabuki Warriors are weak against magic attacks, so Lotus can melt them with Unclean ones.
Their magic damage also does nothing to Warlocks, and Warlocks do magic damage in melee, so not sure why you'd want Kabuki against Lotus.
Granted, they do resist Warlock ranged attacks very well..
Don't use Kabuki Warriors and Samurais to fight the Lotus. Use Dragon Warriors on horses with full upgraded techniques on both instead.
@@hisdarksecret i just knew Dragon Warriors are good against Lotus clan units. thanks
@@svenmeling6053 yes, Unclean Ones are the deadliest . however other mid-tier Lotus clan units, the Infested Ones and the Diseased Ones are really mediocre
Bruh used wolf clan to counter Lotus. Werewolves berserkers and heroes to tank them all. Dragon units are sensitive to magic.
If I remember correctly, rain did exist in the original game, and (if I remember correctly) it both increases rice growth and (I think?) helps put out fires on buildings; I feel more certain about the former effect than the latter.
Maybe he did playing battle realms on very old version i think
@@profoxygd7980 I'm talking about the original game, which is the oldest you can get.
Yes. Rain did exist in the original game. If you play the skirmish mode as Lotus clan, then you summon Zymeth, he can bring rain to the battlefield!
@@dewicahayafitri1089 I remember playing LAN games with friends and asking one with Zymeth to make it rain so we would have plenty of rice to collect.
If i Remember correctly, there was a Lotus hero capable to make it rain. But I could not remember if rain naturally occurs in game. So far I could not recall raining normally during matches. Aside from the Lotus hero having the spell capability to make it rain.
This is a dream that becomes true. I played original game in 2002.
I played this game way back in my highschool days, sometime's i go cutting classes just to play it😅 and now i watch ur video it bring's me lots of Memories playing"Battle Realms"with my friends.
Glad you enjoyed it! I've skipped things for games too now and then haha
This is still the best game I played since I was a kid
6:32 Yea I agree. Too many modern games have 1 singular story path and no real branching paths, even RPGs are guilty of this nowadays.
Really glad that this game is still alive! Thanks for playing this game!
Hey Zakh, first time in my life watching another gamer doing a playthrough with commentary. First time in terms of Battle Realms gameplay, I enjoyed every second and how you describe each detail from "minor" to major is very much appreciated 93 minutes felt like 30 minutes. Can't believe I've watched it til the end. Good stuff, you deserve all the success my guy. To more contents
I'm glad you enjoyed it! I tried some new stuff here and put a lot of work into it.
So nice to see this old gem being revamped!
I noticed that the game tells you damage types and such when hovering their portrait. Great new feature that was sorely missing in the original.
i played this alot as a kid
I remember i got a CD with demos from game magazine and one of the demos was Battle Realms. I spend like thousands of hours playing this demo with my brother. There were playable Dragon and Serpent clan and 3 maps in skirmish. We were constantly playing just the map for 6 players tho 😄 great times
I did the same. Map for 6 people. Using cannoners to place mines in the middle of river where units couls go across or placing Arah on watchtower nearby so she could snipe units from far end. Few months later I get full game and I was hooked with other two clans and many different maps. I have huge sentiment for that game, reminds me about good old times.
The best RTS ever! Thanks for the video.
Glad you enjoyed it!
I played that game a lot when I was kid.
It was pirated, because back in the days, there was no real way to buy video games the place I lived. The only legit source were general computer stores, who offered only some most popular software or relatively expensive gaming magazines with CDs, where you could have one game monthly.
There were no Steam, no GOG. Hell, there was even no Torrent, so even if you wanted pirated version, you still had to go by foot to local market and BUY burned version, without any cover art or manual. No to mention, that without UA-cam you couldn't check the gameplay videos. It was a blind shot. Crazy times.
Years after that I redeemed myself by buying legal copy, which I often do now with games I used to play as a kiddo.
Yeah in Malaysia it was like that. Finding a store that sold originals was so hard. Even when you finally wanted to pay for an original it just wasn't available.
@@GamerZakh yeah the late 80's kids in KL gotta go to Ampang Park to get pirated disks (yep thats the floppy disks and later the hard lil plastic disks) but damn theyre really cheap like RM5 - 10 compared to the original which cost RM100 - 300. Even then you couldnt get that many choice. Theres a lot of titles you could only read about in the game magazines and dream about how they play... sad. Heck even the zines are reaaally rare in Malaysia that time, and even more expensive than the pirated games like around RM50-100. Crazy. Only the rich kids gets those and the info about top games and (more importantly) cheats and tips it became a status symbol ("Oh I collect 'Tips n Tricks'... you know how to get God Mode in Doom? Eh you wanna borrow them zines BOW DOWN TO ME PHEASANTS WAHAHAHA ok over dramatised but you get the idea) Lots of us gamer kids just browse the shops in Ampang Park and gamble on buying flops or top games 😅 We dont even know what we are getting until we play it. Most are swayed by the game covers (yes they have game covers... even the whole cloned game BOX) but me, I go by which have the more interesting game manuals (YES MY MAN, THEY HAVE PIRATED MANUALS WITH THEM PIRATED FLOPPY DISKS). Ah, glorious days of old PC RPG. The manual doubles as anti piracy features (heh heh), like they will ask you to enter the third phrase in the second paragraph of page 23 as password to start the game, or incorporate it as part of the game progress - screen pop up 'refer to the quest journal entry 78' when the bartender starts to relate the info you need for a quest.
Then later in the 90's came the golden age of pirated CD's. Ampang Park became like the antique games center and Sungei Wang/ Bukit Bintang is the new gamer stop (for arcades too). The market was flooded bro! Guys would look at ya weird if you buy an original CD. And the titles galore... a game (or movie) would have their pirated version out a day after the official release. Internet is still in its infancy but enough for gamers to be in the loop of top games and their tips n cheats. But I miss the more elaborate game covers and manual booklets that came with the ol game disks of the 80's.
@@GamerZakhI felt so guilty now I buy the official release of old classic games I enjoyed whenever I came across them, so you know this game reviewed is one Im just waiting to get. Hey didnt know you're Malaysian. Nice to see more Malaysian gamers representing bro.
Such a glorious game! I played it a lot as a kid. I was never able to beat it though, mostly played skirmishes anyway :D
Gonna make sure to change that and give this game another go.
I remember me and my brother versing 1v1 in this game. I didn't even know peasants spawn faster with more peasant huts. We always just build our biggest army, max upgrade everything, meet somewhere in the middle and fight. Never finished a game because it takes so dang long to max everything.
I do like alot of the Upgrades now as well. Like for example, Posion weapon from the serpants Sharpshoots, Effects The bandits blades, as well as there Range and also posions Rohin weapons. And also the Wolves, useless "Makes peasents better at fighting" got changed to buff Brawers instead
As a fan of the original game, I must purchase this.
I bought it in steam. I love the game. It is worth every penny. 🥰
What? REMASTERED?
It is time to plant rice
Just note the new AI is way better, so I recommend lower difficulty for the campaign.
@@GamerZakh ouch, the campaign already hard, its getting harder? nice
Thanks for your in depth video, Zakh! I've been considering buying Battle Realms on Steam for a while, but held off on the purchase due to many reviews mentioning issues with the interface and especially with multiplayer (one of my primary reasons for wanting it). I am a huge Warcraft fan (and played the 3 Warcraft games a lot). I have however never played Battle Realms, but got interested in it, as it seems similar in some ways to the Warcraft games... So I'm very happy to see & hear from you that BR has improved so much now and is ready to be taken seriously as a completed "remaster" game. BTW I'm also living in South-East Asia :)
Glad you enjoyed it! Yeah I've been watching this for over 2 years now and actually wanted to make a video on it the start of last year but it was still pretty broken.
By the way, I'm not sure if there had been changes in the AI, but I'm pretty sure that in the original game, the serpent campaign was much harder than the dragon campaign based on experience, also, the reason why you don't remember encountering the blue village in your last gameplay is because there are some differences between the dragon and serpent campaign, this is one of them, Budo can join you in the serpent campaign, but you'll never see him in the Dragon campaign. The differences won't stop here though.
I hope you can make a play through of Grayback's journey, the gameplay is quite different.
Agree! I remembered when the first time I played as The Serpent, the campaign was waaay much harder than The Dragon. I thought I was the only way who felt this way.
Thanks for showing this off Zakh, I somehow totally missed one of my favourite games getting a "remaster". Instant buy and no regrets; can't wait to play Kenji's Journey(s) again.
I was 15 when this game came it and it blew my mind how good its was. It always was under the radar but man this game rocks!
just glad people are still playing battle realms, i thought i was the only one left
i felt the same way after coming across this video! i've found my people lmao
miss old school games like this ^^
I used to play the game years ago. Finally, bought it on Steam around 2 years ago. Excited to go back play it again. I hope Kenji is added as a hero in Dragon and Serpent. There was a mod for it that I played. Watching video now thank you man for covering this amazing game😊
Was thinking the same thing myself about kenji in skirmish mode
still can't get over about the peasant becoming girls when training on geisha building xD,
and about the rain it's on the original game and yes it affect rice growth and put out fires..
thanks for the upload, nostalgic, struggled when I was a kid, replayed and finished both campaign years after,
loved the VA and soundtrack even as a kid, used to replay "fall of serpentholm" alot...
I had all these games originally from one of the first digital distribution things. They eventually got bought out by Gamefly and it totally screwed them all up. Would be fun to be able to play them again.
Continue the gameplay please. I love it
I have a full playthrough on the channel already, I might come back to this after more updates.
battle realms need a lot of recognition I just hate the generation of over-budget games not becoming original like how people made games on the early 2000s over budgeting advertising and sht and its going to be shit again i just want a time machine to go back to 2000 era again i miss the old days of gaming
I did play this game a lot back in the days. It has some interesting features like the unit Development System.
And it has the most brilliant important game mechanic, ...rain!
The different combinations between training structures were unique back then. They were ahead of time.
I played this YEARS ago, just came across this video finding out theres an actual remaster, holy fooo..!!!
You are playing all of my fav games, I guess we were growing up in same era.
I was gaming most heavily between 1994 to 2006. Glad you're enjoying it!
The are so many amazing ideas and mechanics in this game. The combat is a little messy, though I guess we can't all be AOE2. I really hope to see a future game use these ideas with more modern designs. Either way I might give this one a try thanks to you! Cheers!
AoE2 is shit by itself with HOURS spent to build an army and wooden pathfinding. I played it and never understood how anyone could like it. The only cool thing are building sprites. Pre-built cities look really authentic.
Real competitor to Battle Realms was always Warcraft 3, but BR was much much more better. Better graphics, music, animations, mechanics, even cut-scenes.
@@nastykhan7746 hours??? What game are you playing? The average AOE2 game takes an hour in total. I too love WC3, but damn, maybe there is a reason AOE2 is still going strong 20+ years later and BR isnt?
I play games actively from 24 years and Battle Realms has the first place :) Unmatched RTS even to this day, which is kinda wild, if you think about it...
"STRIKE NOW AND LET THE PEOPLE KNOW THE SERPENT HAS RETURNED!."
UWOOGHHHH I MISS THIS DIAOLUGE 😭😭😭
This game taught me much about morals as a kid. It was awesome.
It would be nice if they added the rumoured Lotus campaign
I assume if this project is successful they would make the Lotus campaign as a DLC. But as you can see the campaign balance is all over the place because of the new AI and balancing, so probably should sort out the mechanics rework first before making new content.
i'm a south east asia and i couldn't agree with you more that this game is really something here 🥰🥰🥰
"Missing content that will not be experienced [in one playthrough]"
You hear that Bethesda?
Damn, this was my very first video game when I was just 5 years old.
OMG FINALLY, I'VE BEEN TRYING TO FIND THIS GAME BUT NOW I FOUND IT AFTER SO MANY YEARS!!!!
Glad you found it! I know the struggle of trying to find an old game you can't remember the name.
"there's no more rice"
Im just happy this games back. I loved this game back when It first came out years ago!
I love how they made Kenji a dictator in Serpent's campaign but in Dragon's campaign he is a forgiving and compassionate Kenji
I didn't know that Zakh is a Malaysian, doesn't feel like it at all. Nice to see a Malaysian channel
9:30 This isn't new. It's actually very old. I played the demo at Gencon many years ago (I presume it was 2001 but I honestly can't recall). And I remember hearing that tutorial sequence after I killed the peasants. For some reason it must have been re-added back into the game for the remaster. I only recall this over two decades later because I played the demo my kid self simply killed the bandits when asked because I presumed the guy before me must've picked the evil campaign so I assumed that was the objective. The guy after me however decided to attack the bandits and got a new sequence of events. And my kid mind was just blown by the idea of making choices within the game and it responding. So, that event became one of my key gaming memories and that's how I remember this over 20 years later.
Well it is not in the "regular" old / gog version.
@@HerrHoppenstedt Indeed, I have no idea why it was cut between Gencon and the original release and put in now. But it was nice to see a small part of my misspent youth again.
There was a separate tutorial available from the main menu in my version, but it was limited to the dragon clan (The NPC teaching you was a geisha instead of bandit), and it contained no recorded dialogue. Maybe Liquid did not want players have to go through the tutorial again on repeated playthroughs
i still remember playing as Serpent and getting Koril and Tao to make things easy, Dragon? Arah and Tao :D
Battle realms is one of the most underrated RTS in history
The amount of hidden mechanics and details in the game is insane
it's getting there.. WOHOOOO!
New Update also has been dropped
Fancy editing is fancy 💖
Usually in the first mission, I choose the second map first. That way your units will be spawned at the bottom. Also, I like it better when I fight Shinja after destroying the keep, rather than him waiting on top of the watchtower. Makes it a little bit more immersive.
PS: You can actually briefly control Shinja after defeating him before it goes to a cutscene.
This has been simplified so much that i accept the little quirks because i know they will be fixed in a near future.
Before Battle Realms reminded me of my previous job as it was a bit tricky to figure it out without a solid explanation and most of the time i was lost.
9:29 Can't believe Vegeta is teaching us how to build our empire.
When your rice stocks are over 9000.
@@GamerZakh 😂🤣
I always liked to overwhelme the enemy with numbers
..i played this back in highschool, i remember the last campaign in this video was just as hard back then.. if you managed to bring geshia to budo he will join you and will be available in future campaigns..
Though I love this game I do kinda wish the models could be more refined, hopefully we can get dialogue and overall animated portraits in the future so we can get a better grasp to what they look like
first thing i noticed when i log in to the game is the native 16:9 aspect ratio plus support for 4k resolution. it definitely looks better than the gog version.
crazy how time fly by so quickly, i remember playing this with crt monitor and maybe a pentium 3 or 4 and an unknown gpu. now playing it with current
high end rig plus premium tv instead of monitor. from 14 inches crt monitor to 42 inches oled tv, the difference is mind blowing but still appreciate both.
I always vizualized Kenji on the Serpent route fighting dirty where he hides behind his men pushing them as a body shield then strikes with ferocity against his opponent
They also timed the dialogs better. If I recalled correctly, Serpent Kenji would let Otomo finish speaking during their first interactions.
Battle realms has bloody good soundtracks
I still remember that i used to farm yin points cause more points make heroes or zen masters attack stronger. You even can one shot building or any troops.
the change i like is in the dragon clan now use 4 dragon warrior not 4 samurai for dragon monument, damn that is good
Whatttt 🤯 man been waiting this game
This game is my childhood, I really wanna play this game again on mobile because i don't have a laptop or pc.
Real-time strategy games made before WC3 are the best because devs didn't "know" what an RTS should be like, so they weren't afraid of going experimental.
19:25 oh no, the wolfs are there from the first version
More south in the small forest its a archer ambush that its also in the first versión
Ps: Shinja have Dragón units, because at that point the dragon still just members of the serpet
At the 5th mission it seems like you didn't maximize the benefits of having Fan Geisha in the battlefield as your healer. I think that was why you got defeated twice. Nevertheless, great game play tho. I have so much memories from this game!
I hope this game have the sequel or a remake, this rts game is deserved it better, my favorite childhood rts game
I think it's pretty much about how successful Zen Edition is. I don't think the developer has any other source of funding, so if this makes more money then they can do more.
some version of the serpent campaign, only serpent, got tutortial in the beginning of the story. however it was not with bandits voice but with Kenji's voice.
At 1:07:40, it might be possible that your troops were at the edge of the enemy watchtowers' vision. Looking at the area your watchtower was revealing and estimating it for the enemy's, I don't think it's out of the question that the AI found you in a legitimate way.
Speaking to some more parts where it came up: The part where you attacked the rice fields is slightly suspect, yes. I wouldn't say one instance proves anything. I know you saw that as one of many, but I think the others are reasonably explained away such that we're only left with that one. You had the attacks outside the watchtowers, which I think are explained by my previous comment. You have that one which is suspect. You have the part where you retreated from the rice fields, not really leaving the area so much, with a couple of units limping. I probably would have done the same as they did and sent a force in that same direction to see if they're still there. Obviously my explanations don't disprove it either, but to me it all seemed explainable or reasonable. I don't think the bit about them focusing on your heroes over your base is necessarily true either. The first instances would be explained by my watchtower sight theory. When the enemy army bypassed your base, you thought that's because they were locked onto your heroes, but they just posted up in the forest instead of attacking your heroes.
I'm more used to the original, I'm more used to cool and fast movements, especially in fighting, but I really wanna see what the remastered units look liked.
I hope they keep the original things in Battle Realms...
OMG i remember playing this game when i was still 5
Itd be cool if there was an experience factor to the units. Like the more they fight the better they get individually. And now that computers are better what if they upped the population too 🤷🏻♂️
Yeaaaaaaaaaaaah !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You rock Zakh !!!!!!!!! The new UI is so beautiful ! It's a world of difference with the old one and the UI was the only thing which was preventing me from playing because it was too big and ugly. Units running by default is such a bad idea... Especially when battle gears are even more important now, yeah, deplete stamina by running before combat so you cannot use your gear anymore... I don't understand that option !
That option is just to switch what the default it, you can still press a key to make them walk. It's good to have options because it's not forcing any particular playstyle and people have different muscle memory from other games.
@@GamerZakh The double click still makes them run. Running has always been a last resort "ability", you or your ally is attacked, my army is far away, quick, run to the position (and even then, it's not the best thing to do when right now, without battle gears, you get annihilated... Before the rework, having units without gears could still be good but now, a big army is quickly erased from the surface of the earth if gears are not used properly)
This new version is so different from the original game.
@@mesarthim640 Yeah, just saying some people can't double click, or only have 1 hand, so it's good to have these options for accessibility.
@@GamerZakh Yeah, I can understand but I was really surprised by the change (not counting how nerfed were the healers). I'd be interested to see if you can succeed a skirmish game without any gear XD
nice already completed multiple times the mission Dragon, Serpent and Wolf..Good Games
idk, if it was still there the first intro of wolf i kind of played it accidentally when i skip cutscene wolf mission in first battle realms.
Depends of the clan (dragon or serpent) and depend of the province you choose in order
You can get seecret héroes
In the swapm whit the serpet you can get utara, a really broken hero that will make the final levels a little more easy
Tech trees are in the game from what I remember in the OG.
21:08 those units are originally there in those position.
Yeah didn't say the positioning was different. All units have been rebalanced, so it all feels different now.
Those kabuki warriors with their ranged attacks.
I played this game 15-16 years ago, before mobile games became mainstream
That leaves them to finally revamp the unit models. The only effective way to make Battle Realms popular again.
Happy New Year And Belated Merry Christmas to you Gamer Zakh! I watch your channel sometimes because you feature simulation games, strategy and most of all my favorite REAL TIME STRATEGY GAMES!
Did you asked them a release date for this?
Happy New year and Merry Christmas! They don't have a release date right now but it's very much playable now, so it's okay to try it. I expect them to take a few more years at least because the team is very small.
@@GamerZakh
Do you think the Battle Realms: Lair Of The Lotus announced back in 2014 will be released after this? Did you asked them this sequel that was planned but was canned?
@@awakenedsoul2638 I would assume if this project makes enough money they'll go and make new content, but it'll take a long time. This has been in the works for years already and it's only just about becoming playable.
One of the best games ever made. Every character has their strengths and weaknesses, it nullifies 1 unit from being too OP, besides GrayBack. It was a head of its time.
loved the game in... 2002? Still love it
This nostalgic feeling
i love this game so much
Haha some nice comedic timing on those screen effects Zakh. How much longer did this take you, editing the video like that?
This was basically 2 days work to edit this video. Basically if I make videos like this every time, I can only upload once a week.
@@GamerZakh Damn man, I appreciate the effort but your videos are already great so def don't feel bad for just going "natural" as it were
I always liked that this game would let you turn your civs into military.
i noticed Kenji is attacking buildings like he's a siege unit now, lol that's new
At this point they made heroes damage buildings a lot more because they buffed buildings, but buildings were still OP here as you'll see. It was almost impossible to destroy a village haha. Since this video buildings have been rebalanced again to be better.
Can you remap the hotkeys? Not having "A" as the attack move is pretty big since most games use that... In Age of Empires 2 HD using TAB as attack move was annoying as hell but in AOE2 Definitive Edition they luckily allowed us to remap the hotkeys to our liking.
You can rotate buildings, I forgot the hotkeys but you can.
bro it"s been decade i'm searching for this game!
Glad I could help you find it!
I never play campaign but im addicted to skirmish playing with my friend 2v2 or 1v all good old days