I remember the first time I jumped into what promised to be an epic online PH game battle. The trailer showed massive armies clashing, magical spells lighting up the screen, and what appeared to be deep strategic gameplay. I gathered three friends, we all logged in simultaneously, and found ourselves commanding what looked like hundreds of digital soldiers across a beautiful battlefield grid. The initial excitement lasted exactly seven minutes before reality set in. Instead of feeling like brilliant military commanders, we became spectators to a painfully slow digital chess match where our input seemed to matter very little. The armies we carefully positioned would slowly march toward each other, engage in automated combat sequences, and we'd just watch health bars decrease while hoping our side would come out ahead. It reminded me of watching paint dry, except the paint occasionally showed flashy combat animations that did nothing to hide the fundamental lack of player agency.
What makes this particularly disappointing is how this contrasts with genuinely engaging strategy games I've enjoyed. I've probably sunk around 400 hours into games like Fire Emblem and XCOM over the years, where every movement feels deliberate and consequential. In those games, when I move a unit behind cover, I can practically feel the tactical advantage being created. When my archer takes position on high ground, I know the damage calculation will change meaningfully. But in these poorly implemented PH game army battles, positioning feels almost decorative. I recently timed one particular engagement - it took 42 seconds from when I gave the move command to when the actual combat animation completed. During that time, I couldn't interrupt, couldn't adjust tactics, couldn't do anything but watch my digital soldiers slowly traverse the grid and then perform their predetermined combat routine.
The worst part is how these sections completely disconnect you from the characters you've invested in. I remember playing one PH game where I'd spent hours customizing my party members' skills and equipment, only to have them become generic commanders in these large-scale battles. My carefully built rogue, specialized in critical hits and stealth attacks, became just another commander with identical movement points and attack values as everyone else. The personality I'd built through regular gameplay evaporated, replaced by generic strategic assets that differed only in their visual representation. It felt like the game developers had two different games - the engaging RPG and this tacked-on strategy element - and never bothered to make them speak to each other meaningfully.
I've noticed this pattern across approximately 60% of PH games that attempt large-scale battles. They seem to think that "bigger" automatically means "better," without considering whether the gameplay actually remains fun at scale. The most frustrating example I encountered was in a game called "Chronicles of Eldoria," where these army battles could last up to 25 minutes each, with the player's active participation required for maybe three minutes total. The rest was watching automated combat play out. I actually started keeping my phone nearby to scroll through social media during these sections, which pretty much defeats the purpose of playing a game in the first place.
What's particularly baffling is how simple fixes could dramatically improve these experiences. If the games borrowed even basic mechanics from dedicated strategy RPGs - like interrupt actions, meaningful terrain bonuses, or special commander abilities that actually reflected character builds - the entire experience would feel more engaging. Instead, we get this watered-down version that satisfies neither RPG fans nor strategy enthusiasts. I'd estimate that proper implementation would require about 40% more development time, but would result in 200% more player satisfaction based on my experience with games that get it right.
The silver lining is that when you do eventually return to the core gameplay - the character-driven adventures, the dungeon crawling, the story moments - the relief is palpable. It's like coming home after being stuck in traffic for hours. Suddenly, your actions matter again. When you press the attack button, your character attacks immediately. When you use a special ability, you see the direct results of your choices. This contrast makes me wonder why developers include these large-scale battles at all if they're not willing to dedicate the resources to make them properly engaging. I'd rather have five more hours of well-designed core gameplay than twenty hours of these strategic afterthoughts.
After playing through seven different PH games with similar issues, I've developed a rule of thumb: if a game promises "epic large-scale battles," I now check reviews specifically focusing on those sections. If more than 30% of reviewers mention passive gameplay or lack of control, I'll either skip the game entirely or plan to use cheat modes to get through those sections quickly. Life's too short to spend hours watching digital armies slowly chip away at each other's health bars when I could be actually playing a game that respects my time and engagement.
