14 DAY TRIAL // The biggest problems I have encountered until now with Disciples III: Renaissance are not gameplay related. There may be an odd design choice here and there, but those are always open for discussion. The graphics are quite nice and I really like some of the creatures and vistas Akella's artistic department has created. What I really do not like about this game is how incredibly poor it is in terms of quality assurance.
I've been playing the game without any big problems until yesterday, when I started the Elf Campaign and had the unpleasant surprise of my game not being saved anymore. Other oddities I encountered during my current playthrough were being unable to browse between the various cities I owned or the agility potion boosting my dexterity for reasons unknown.
All of this got me thinking that sometimes developers forget that their games are also pieces of software. We may talk about them as artistic products or even as simple entertainment, but we must always remember that the code behind them is very important as well. Games must meet certain quality standards required by all types of computer programs. Perhaps unfairly, programmers must make their audience not realize that they are simply using a software when engaged with their title.
If I am to enjoy your great story or your great idea about how a turn based strategy should play out, you need to provide me with a stable program that does not crash, that does what I expect it to do when I press a button or give a command and that should basically make me forget I am playing with a piece of programming.
Sometimes Disciples III does not save a game or, as some American players have had the displeasure of noticing, will not even start because its buggy digital rights management software will not recognize the DVD you bought and not pirated. This just turns the game into a frustrating experience and leaves a bad taste in the mouth of the customers. This is a pure shame because there a pretty good game hidden underneath the plethora of bugs that plague this release. Hopefully a patch will be out soon to fix these many issues, though I must say the developers haven't really been up to speed with supporting Disciples III.