Seven Kingdoms 2 - The Fryhtan Wars

by Ubisoft

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00002EPGX
• Item Weight: 4 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: October 15, 1999
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #24,795 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Whether you play a king or a deadly Fryhtan monster, Seven Kingdoms 2: The Fryhtan Wars sets the task of building an empire from the humblest of beginnings--a single stronghold. Surrounded by hostile forces eager to expand into your territory, this stronghold must establish control over neighboring towns in order to acquire recruits and tribute for its armies. There is a constant risk of being overwhelmed by your enemies, and to fend off rivals, you must use diplomacy and war judiciously.

Fans of the original Seven Kingdoms game will enjoy this sequel, which revives the core concepts of its predecessor while updating and expanding on its themes. Internal and external politics of your growing kingdom figure strongly--keeping the peasants fed is as important as fending off hostiles--but your control of the population is absolute, and there is a lot of flexibility in how you achieve those goals. However, the game interface is nonintuitive, and the command configuration for the mouse is unwieldy. This makes troop control and battles harder to manage than they should be, especially compared to the elegance of other, similar games.

That said, the actual battles pose interesting tactical problems, and conducting warfare is enjoyable. For addicts of fantasy strategy games, Seven Kingdoms 2: The Fryhtan Wars offers significant challenges and hours of gaming fun. --Alyx Dellamonica

Pros:

• You play as the monstrous Fryhtans
• Rich mix of combat, strategy, economics, and building
• Distinctive units and special characters

Con:

• Clunky interface

Product Description

Product InformationWelcome to the world of Seven Kingdoms II a world of intrigue and diplomacy of trade and industry of betrayal espionage and conquest...... Seven Kingdoms II is the highly anticipated sequel to Trevor Chan's debut game of empire-building and diplomatic intrigue where the monstrous Fryhtans are back with a vengeance.Now your enemies are smarter stronger and more savage than ever. Forge an empire complete with villages towns and a thriving economy under which your constituents will prosper and grow. Govern legislate collect taxes and build a military force. More role-playing elements increase the complexity of your strategies as you slay enemies and unite rivals under the singular banner of your kingdom.Take control of any of twelve emerging Human civilizations: Egyptian Indian Persian Chinese Japanese Mongol Greek Roman Carthaginian Norman Viking or Celt. Or you may choose to play as one of seven Fryhtan races and experience a completely different type of gameplay.  A style of play where fair dealing and mercy count for little. Seven Kingdoms II gives you heroes 3D rolling terrain a Random Campaign Generator an incredible number of fighting units and weapons more beautiful and detailed buildings than you will know what to do with expanded espionage and research capabilities and numerous other new features. Now featuring new exquisite graphics and a revolutionary Random Campaign Generator Seven Kingdoms II brings players deeper into the gaming experience and assures that no two games will ever be the same.Product FeaturesBesides campaigns there are standalone single-player and multiplayer games. As in the original Seven Kingdoms there is an extensive list of customizable options for a standalone game. It is the designer’s intention to make the elements in a game fully adjustable so as to suit the preferences of different players.A player who chooses to play as a Fryhtan will experience

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Trevor Chan masters and expands the RTS genre in one swoop!, November 11, 1999

By 

Blake Watson "===Blake===" (Winnetka, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Seven Kingdoms 2 - The Fryhtan Wars (CD-ROM)

So rarely does a sequel manage to deliver a game that doesn't rely heavily on warm-fuzzy-feelings of the previous iteration but stands on its own as a game worthy of emulation and sequel. Trevor Chan managed to expand the RTS genre with "Seven Kingdoms" (and its free add-on, "Ancient Adversaries") and he does it here again with "Seven Kingdoms II: The Fryhtan Wars".

The original 7K was an artistically successful look at how far an RTS wargame (like Command & Conquer) could be cross-pollinated with a sophisticated turn-based civilization builder, like Sid Meier's Civilization. As a result, 7K and 7K2 have things you don't normally see in combat-oriented RTSes, like mines, factories for peaceful production, markets and trading caravans. 7K2 simplifies and streamlines much of 7K's original "peacetime" model--and as with the original, how well you fare in peace may determine how well you're prepared for war.

7K also featured espionage as an important part of the game, and 7K2 elaborates on that even further. And while the techonlogy tree of 7K was limited to war machines and ships, 7K2 features military formations, advanced and specialist units for each race and advancements in peacetime activities like farming.

On top of all that, in 7K2, you can get down-and-dirty playing a "fryhtan" race, the mythical monsters that terrorized 7K players. If you're not in the mood for production, research and keeping your citizens happy, you can just raise monsters and subjugate humans.

This game is an essential part of the RTS canon and, unfortunately, won't get the press or reception it deserves. But that doesn't mean =you= have to miss out on it!

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Superb Gameplay (but only gets 4 of 5 stars because...), December 7, 1999

By 

Athol Kay (Bristol, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Seven Kingdoms 2 - The Fryhtan Wars (CD-ROM)

First off this really is a superb game. I'm a pretty hard core gamer, and this is the first game in a long time to make me have any kind of a learning curve. Such a nice blend of Real Time and Turn Based gaming is not to be missed by anyone tired of Civilization clones, or C&C/Starcraft clones. About 3-4 times the game play of Age of Kings at best guess which is the game it is most like currently out there.

Units have enough individualization to almost approach role playing status (like individual names even) but remain quick and easy to control. Spies come as civilians or miltary units and can change color to other players coloring and go into deep cover (while the other player controls them thinking the spy is his own unit!) for the best espionage aspect in any game yet. Generals and King system is well done too. Just wait until "your" favorite general assassinates your king, and then reveals his true colors and takes 70% of your best troops with him. Ecomonic issues are thorny and require fairly close watch, but don't suffer from needing a peon system of weak defensive units that you need to build up for the first 10 minutes of every game you play before starting the game proper. Overall the AI seems fairly good as well, and solid diplomacy system too.

However...

It's not going to work straight from the box like Age of Kings. Already has two patches out. One 6MB and the other 1.2MB. Game manual that shipped with the box is also outdated according to the websites, and the updated manual is also 1MB, and requires Adobe Reader to open it (5-6MB download if you don't have it) Online Multiplayer server is still having problems as of early December 1999 and I haven't managed to log on yet, though I believe a patch is also out for that somewhere as well. (You can play via ICQ okay though - you just need to find the other players yourself through message boards etc)

Also requres a higher end system than advertised as well I think. I have 333Mhz 60MBRam and it still gets a little boggy for large scale combats of 30+ units. Graphics are reasonably good but not as beautiful as Age of Kings

All that being said, I'm planning on sticking with the game, and playing more and more of it and waiting for the online multi-player aspect to sort itself out over time. The random campain generator is a ton of fun as it is, and I'm a ways off mastering the game just yet. Oh and you can transfer a small number of units from one campain scenario to another.

Wimps can go buy Age of Kings

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Game -- Much Better than Age of Empires II, November 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Seven Kingdoms 2 - The Fryhtan Wars (CD-ROM)

Seven Kingdoms has out done AOE again.

7KII is not just a sequel to its predecessor, it's a new game play, richer, deeper, and more intrigue. You can not only be victorious by, like the old 7K, playing one of the 12 great civilizations through commerce, diplomacy, military and espionage, but also, unlike many other games, conquer the world by being vicious and mean -- breeding monsters, collecting tributes and terrorizing human beings. Unlike AOEII, 7KII plays and feels very differently from, in most case better than, its predecessor. Its game play is dramatically different, control and interface are greatly improved, and AI gets more intelligent... All in all, everything is well thought out and improved upon. It's addictive and has great re-playability. It's one of those games that will ruin you social life and re-arrange your schedules for months to come.

However, personally, I would prefer that it has not tilted toward a war game. Although it is still one of the most "hard-core" strategic games, certainly much more so than AOE, it has also become a little more combat intensive than I like. But since the game is flexible enough to allow me, if I so choose, to win with minimum fighting (through espionage and bribery, for example), I still give this game the highest rating.