Master of Magic remake

[Undercovergeek]

It was going to be you or BC!!

[Martok]

Apart from a brief dabble with aow2 I haven’t played either - are the 2 similar enough that 4 will fill in where mom failed

I played very little AoW2: The Wizards Throne, and Shadow Magic not at all (even though I own it ), so I can't really say how well the games compare to each other.  However, I do recall enjoying the original Age of Wonders game back in the day, and I liked AoW3 well enough, even if it was more focused on war & combat than I generally care for. 

I'll doubtless get flamed to a crisp for saying this, but my personal take is that as a whole, the AoW series has represented the fantasy 4x sub-genre better than Master of Magic has.  MoM might have been the first game to do it *well*, but the remake suffers from not innovating or evolving (setting aside a few obvious things like the transition from tiles to hexes). 

So there’s hope aow4 will scratch the mom itch?

Until Age of Wonders 4 actually comes out, we obviously can't know for certain.  But from everything I've seen thus far, I'll be pretty surprised if it doesn't surpass Master of Magic in most (if not all) respects. 

[bob48]

I'm with you on that, although I still plan to wait and get some feedback before buying.

[bob48]

Another big list of game mods and fixes - not sure if they have addressed any of the issues that I thought were a problem I may have to give it another try.

[bob48]

I started playing it again tonight (after watching episode 7, Carnival Row S2!) to see if there are any significant changes / improvements. certainly there are some new characters you can pick, but really, I'm not far enough in yet to notice anything. However, it does seem as if the diplomacy aspect is still as ineffective as it was before.

[bob48]

.................and, uninstalled it again. There are some serious issues with the game and, despite the impressive list of 'fixes' and so on, they really have not addressed some of the very fundamental short-comings of the game.

[Undercovergeek]

Nerd rage

Hopefully aow 4 can fill the space Bob

[bob48]

Not really rage, certainly disappointment as the game has definitely got potential, so yes, very much hope that AoW IV hits the spot.

[Martok]

I'm with you on that, although I still plan to wait and get some feedback before buying.

Oh, absolutely.  For as promising as Age of Wonders 4 looks, I'm still not planning to pick it up right away. 

.................and, uninstalled it again. There are some serious issues with the game and, despite the impressive list of 'fixes' and so on, they really have not addressed some of the very fundamental short-comings of the game.

Yeah.  Just looking over the patch notes, it doesn't appear that they address any of the major issues I have with the game (and very few of the minor ones). 

But then, I wasn't expecting any radical changes/improvements at this point.  If they happen at all -- and I imagine that will largely depend on what Slitherine allows Muha to implement -- then it probably won't be until when they release DLC for the game. 

[Martok]

Muha Games and Slitherine have finally put out an extended roadmap: 


https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1623070/view/3695810094451295799




There are numerous features & improvements coming to the main game, either currently in development or planned for later this year.  A lot of them address performance in some way, or are important QoL improvements you would expect to see in a modern fantasy 4x. 


However, the big news is that no less than 3 DLC's are in the pipeline, with the 1st one, Rise of the Soultrapped, already in development.  No word on a release date yet, or what it's about, but fingers crossed it does more than just add that new content.   

[Undercovergeek]

Without ever playing ye olde original what is it that everyone says is missing from the new one - is it fixable or is it a soul thing?

[bob48]

It has its good points, but there are still some aspects that just seem 'off' - see my comments earlier in this thread. However, an improvement to the very poor diplomacy aspect would be a good thing (possibly).

[BanzaiCat]

It could be a nostalgia hole that just can't be filled.

I spent SO many hours playing the original MoM back in the day. I've tried a few times to play the original over the last few years (having become available on GOG and Steam both), but it just doesn't speak to me any more.

The new version just...well, I'd agree, it feels soulless. Maybe that's my nostalgia for the original getting in the way, though.

[Martok]

Without ever playing ye olde original what is it that everyone says is missing from the new one - is it fixable or is it a soul thing?

It lacks the features & amenities of modern 4x/grand-strategy games that players have come to expect.  At the same time, I suspect it's not truly recaptured the all-important nostalgia factor for fans of the original game, as BanzaiCat alludes to. 

Remaking a classic is always a dicey proposition.  It *can* be done well, but navigating that path is incredibly difficult. 

[Martok]

Beta-testing is open for Rise of the Soultrapped: 


https://www.slitherine.com/beta/master-of-magic-rise-of-the-soultrapped