Product Details
 | Dawn of Discovery |
| List Price: | $29.99 |
| Price: | $4.98 |
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Product Description
Dawn of Discovery PCProduct Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #1371 in Video Games
- Brand: UBI Soft
- Model: 68449
- Released on: 2009-06-23
- ESRB Rating: Teen
- Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows XP
- Format: DVD-ROM
- Dimensions: .20 pounds
Features
- Explore the beautifully detailed world and discover new places to create your civilization
- Set up trade posts in the spice mines of the Orient and explore new trade routes to keep your nation growing
- Learn from other nearby cultures to expand your horizons and master the challenges of establishing a society
- Seamless user interface delivers multiple game play modes and faster player rewards for both long or short play sessions
- Exclusive multiplayer modes across platforms
Customer Reviews
Even Better Than AD 1701 (and as of patch 1.1, DRM free!)
I bought this game because I
really enjoyed AD 1701 (aka Anno 1701). Outside of North America, this
game is known as AD 1404 or Anno 1404 which makes it obvious that it is
another entry in that series. Coming from AD 1701, I was not
disappointed at all. This review is more for people who enjoyed AD 1701
and want to know what's new. People who don't know the Anno series
should know that it is a city builder/resource management game. You
build cities--like in SimCity--but in a fictional/historical context.
And you need to use mines, farms, and ships to create and move those
resources.
The game mechanics are very similar to AD 1701. The
artwork, music, and voice work is similar. Now for the
differences--which, fortunately, are mostly improvements.
In this
game, you get two sets of populations, the Orient and Occident, with
different needs but with some resource needs going across the
populations--e.g. the Orient needs wood and tools from the Occident and
the Occident needs spice, indigo, and quartz from the Orient. The person
you play is from the Occident--you can't choose to play as a Occidental
player yourself. As you play, you need to gain prestige with the
computer player from the Orient to unlock building types for your cities
in the Orient.
The higher socio-economic classes now have their
basic needs fulfilled by multiple items, so there is less rioting
because you fail to meet a need for a single item. That makes the
population more stable. I had a few riots, but they were short lived and
not too damaging. There are also ascension rights that create fixed
ratios of the socio-economic classes. This fixes the problem of AD 1701
where ended up with snobby aristocrats and nobody else to be snobby to.
Beggars are also added. You need to build them a shelter and they make
requests. You can also kick them out, but I haven't tried that--they
apparently become aggressive.
You can set prices on items to buy
and sell are your port, but I haven't really used that. It will probably
more useful in the future if they add the multi-player option. Perhaps,
this replaces the option in 1701 where if you need a resource you could
request a direct shipment that was expensive but guaranteed.
There
are a lot of resources to manage with a fair amount of overlapping
inputs (e.g. charcoal is needed both to make salt and smelt iron). You
set up the fields for farms for more layout options. When mines run out,
you can pay to dig some more and get more resources from the mine. Some
of the factories have water wheels and have to go on a river site.
The
guild house and school/university research system is replaced by a new
system. You can get access to special items to purchase from the
computer players. These let you add features to warehouses to increase
space, add carts, make islands more fertile, levy tariffs, speed up
manufacturers, etc. Even better, you can add features to ships such as
special crew members, better sails, better arms, diplomatic letters,
even a powder keg for damaging fleets. You can also get these through
questing.
You can make Occidental ships and Oriental ships to
take advantage of the different ships types--they differ by speed, cargo
capacity, armaments, and the number of extra sails/special crew/etc you
can add.
There are monuments requiring large amounts of
resources to try to build--like a big gothic cathedral. The harbor
system is really nice and lets you make quays with repair cranes, piers,
defense towers and store houses.
I haven't done any fighting
except what there was in the campaign mode. But the fighting is done
with encampments rather than by micromanaging individual troops. There
are even trebuchets to try to knock down the buildable city walls with
towers and gates. There is some sort of provisioning system as well, but
I haven't used that, either.
What's missing? I play single
player, but people who liked the multi-player aspect will miss that
since there is no multi-player support. I wish there was an intermediate
cloth stage between the hemp and clothing and that the cloth would be
necessary for sails. There seems to be a missing Orient socio-economic
class. There are only two right now (compared to four for the Occident).
Silk is only used for carpets and not for clothing. I'd like to see
more use of more of these resources. I want to make indigo dyed silk
robes--gosh darnit! Hopefully future expansions will add some of this.
So,
I am enjoying Dawn of Discovery. I think it's enjoyable for anyone who
likes this type of economic simulation where the emphasis is more on
building and less on fighting.
One
of the best games I have played
Before I begin, I would just
like to say that the ridiculous DRM copy protection has been REMOVED
with patch 1.1. Thats right, its gone!!! So I think that everyone that
rated the game down should change their review or something, because now
people are going to look at this game and see 2/5 stars and assume the
game is horrible.
Anyway, I just discovered 1701 A.D. a few
months ago, and after playing that and getting hooked on it, I
discovered Anno 1404 (known as Dawn of Discovery in America), and it is
AMAZING.
The graphics are top notch. Every little detail is
shown...it is so relaxing to just watch the hustle and bustle of the
city as the citizens go about their activities. But that doesn't mean
this game isn't easy...in fact, it might just be one of the hardest
games I've ever played. It requires actual resource management, trading
strategy, combat, EVERYTHING. I love the depth. But it never feels
overwhelming, thanks to an excellent control scheme.
Really, I
don't think words can do this game justice, so I advocate that you
download the demo for the game, mostly to see if you enjoy the game, but
also to see if your computer can run it (it should be able to...I can
run it on medium and my computer is average).
Please check this
game out! I can guarantee that if you like Age of Empires or SimCity,
you will LOVE this game. I can't stop playing!
3 install limit removed
This is a great game as far
as gameplay goes. The graphics are great, the game itself is extremely
complex and open ended. The main reason for the low review score is that
there used to be a 3 install limit which has been removed. In fact,
once I got the latest patch, I didn't even need to keep the DVD in the
machine to play. I gave the overall rating only 4 stars because, while
the game itself is incredible, official support in English is virtually
non-existent. Without the help of user run forums, I'd have been lost.
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