Overview of the Collector's Editions of Disciples III + report from the premiere
Traditionally, the report on the premiere is under spoiler, the review of the collector's edition – without a spoiler.
**Disciples 3** had a premiere with a “midnight sales start” and gifts for the first ten buyers. The oddity of the premiere is that there were only two stores within the city limits of Moscow (for comparison, there were sixteen in Nizhny Novgorod!), and both were closed at midnight. You might ask how I publish a report from a premiere that took place just a few minutes ago? The premiere for me took place at 22:30 at the **“Republic of Games”** store in **Mega Belaya Dacha Mall**. Exclusively for me, yes, with my ID. Sometimes it’s useful to have a quarrel with the store management! But I truly feel sorry for those who come there by midnight – at that time, everything will be closed, and sales will start in the morning. But things didn’t go smoothly for me either. **“Republic of Games”** is not accustomed to premieres, so the purchase went like this:
\- Hello, I’m here about **Disciples 3**
- Got it!
\takes the jewel cases D3 and D2 Gold, puts them on the counter**
- No, I want the collector's edition!
\digs through the drawer, pulls out the DVD-box, places it on the table**
- This is not the collector's edition either.
- There are no other editions, only two!
- I called, they said the collector's edition is available!
- Okay, let me check.
\calls management**
- Did you bring the collector's editions of Disciples? To the right? Ah, I see!
\hangs up, pulls the collector's editions from under the counter**
- Here are the collector’s editions, but no gifts are included with them!
\silently dumbfounded, but realize that I can complain to Akella if needed**
- How much does it cost?
- One second… Ah, you also get a disc as a gift with it!.. And it costs 1699.
- Great, I’ll take it. Where’s the amulet?
- What amulet?
- Well, an amulet should come with it too.
- No, no amulets for sure.
- Please double-check.
\calls management**
- Amulets? In the bag with the posters? Ah, right, they’re not visible at the bottom!
\hands over the game and the gifts**
- Thank you for your purchase! How nice it is that you are so knowledgeable!
\on the receipt, he still wrote "Disciples 2 collector's edition". But I didn’t correct him...**
At 22:30 the coveted box was in my hands, but I will talk about it later. Now – the gifts. This is the jewel case of Disciples 2 Gold (4cd), an amulet from Sacred 2...
..And a poster. Big, beautiful, just as premiere posters should be.
No more premieres are expected this year, so see you in 2010! Let’s get to the review of the collector's edition.
Last year Akella released a huge number of expensive collector's editions at a rapid pace – Alone in the Dark, Assassins Creed, Left4Dead and several more magnificent boxes. This year, the pace has slowed down – Left 4 Dead 2, Disciples 3 and… That’s all?! Yes, but not quite – Disciples 3 collector's edition is available in three versions – “Elven Union,” “Legions of the Cursed,” and “Empire,” which differ from each other by cover, figurine, and t-shirt. I purchased the elven edition that caught my eye. Photos of the contents of the other collector's editions can be found under the spoiler at the end of the review! Here is the cover of my box:
First, let’s look at the details common to all collector's editions. They are all folded in a DVD-box. Here’s how it looks externally:
And here’s the manual (16 pages, but in color!), two discs, and the inner packaging:
And the map. With artistically torn edges, large and beautiful. But it’s paper.
Bonus disc and its shameful autorun:
Contains, among the demos and other junk, music from the game, art, and sketches. For example, the sketches are like these:
Now for the differences, figurine, and t-shirt. The t-shirt is of good quality, size 52:
And the figurine is 4 cm tall, quite heavy.
Now this elven girl guards my monitor! And here’s how the contents look all together:
The two other versions of the collector's edition - “Legions of the Cursed” and “Empire.” Pictures of their contents (from external sources, ag.ru and ozon.ru):
Congratulations to everyone on the release!
AQuaRity, specially for GAMER.ru