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4X the hell out of the Universe!

Master of Orion Series, the landmark Sci-Fi turn-based strategy trilogy, is available 70% off today on GOG.com. That's only $4.78 for all three classic titles coming in two packs: Master of Orion 1+2 and Master of Orion 3. Alternatively, you can get them separately 60% off.

[url=http://www.gog.com/promo/master_of_orion_stacking_promo_081113][/url]It is the human ambition to reach for the stars. But what do you do, once you've reached for them? Well, you grab them. And you squeeze them. You squeeze them hard enough to drain all resources. Then, you go on and build a galactic empire, conquering and crushing all other species that came up with the same idea. The goal here is peace and prosperity, of course. Peace and prosperity for the victors, that is. All that translates brilliantly into a strategy computer game. You explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate--the simple pattern followed by many a turn-based classic. Master of Orion Series is one of the first, and best, examples of 4X gameplay. If you are a strategy fan, but don't have it in your collection yet, here's your best chance to correct that.

Prepare for countless hours of multi-layered, complex, and challenging strategic gameplay! Grab the whole Master of Orion Series on GOG.com. If you already have one of the titles in your collection, you can get the other with the larger discount rate. The offer lasts until Tuesday, November 26, at 10:59AM GMT.
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bradelli: I remember I used to really respect game reviewers as legitimate critics of games who knew what to look for in a game, in detail, until Barry Brenesal gave Master of Orion 3 a 9.2/10.

He seemed like the ultimate fanboy who could not see the flaws in the game (he even said it has the best AI). Even today IGN follow the same trend. The days of "92%" being meaningful are over. Now every game gets 90 unless it really sucks.
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deathmyrk: Actually AngryJoe made a video over the scandals of "new" game reviewers, and how it is not about games anymore but reaching some sort of quota. It was actually a very good video that unearthed the horrible side to which game review syndicates have turned. But these are different times. There are no more legit companies like Gamefan, GamePro, EGM (well it is no a lifeless carcass), or Next Generation Magazine. Okay, they weren't the best magazines around, but were sure better than Game Informer, IGN, or Gamespot. Actually, I despise everything about those three companies and what they have come and only really follow James OnVard because he normally knows what he is talking about when it comes to RPGs, as his reviews are honest, and I tend to agree with his reviews. That aside, yeah the industry is, and will probably never be, what it once had been years ago.
Do you have a link for that video?
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Garran: If you want a tutorial for MOO1, or for that matter, for MOO2...

... read the manual. I'm not kidding.

These games came out at a time when manuals were still big and full of info, including walking you through the various screens and systems and explaining how they worked.
This. I believe the manual for MOO2 (at least) presents each bit of information as if there was a person standing there walking you through each screen. It reads more like that than a "reference book" if you will.
AWWWW this game was the first game to enter my wishlist when i first came on gog.i just saw this, i wish it was on for a bit longer so i could pickup.PLEAAAASSE!!
We currently own all three games in my family. Enjoyed the first game, though the only annoying thing about it was the copy protection that made you lose after missing it about three times if you lost your book in the past. Second game was awesome and still playable to this day.

Now, I remember being really hyped for the third game months or even years before it came out. Just before it was released in the U.S. (as it was already released in some countries in Europe I believe), I thought the people who reviewed it from there were kidding when the game came out in their respective countries. However, when it was finally released in the U.S., me and my father actually tried the game.

Unfortunately, we have found the third game to be overly hyped like crazy and not that good at all. My father even bought a strategy book for the game just before the game was released. Major disappointment with the whole game.

The people who reviewed it originally were not kidding....
Post edited November 25, 2013 by Bandock
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Reever: University stuff comes first :( (and a huge backlog xD). But I'll probably try it out for a bit anyway, as soon as I can!!
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mkell_226: BEWARE!!!

Master of Orion 2 is one of the most addictive substances known to man. If you make the same mistake that I did (start dabbling in it while school is still in session,) you WILL wind up "just-one-more-turn-ing" well into the early morning, in spite of the midterm (or final) exam(s) you have in just a few hours. You WILL burn up all your study and writing time, and you WILL NOT care about the consequences of clicking that damnable End Turn button for the 200th time, despite having sworn on all that was right and good that it was just going to be a 15-minute "study break."

I didn't fail any courses as a result, but several were a close-run thing, and the worst part is that I could have flunked out of college and still had a glassy smile on my face and a twitching mouse-button finger.

Seriously, wait until the semester is over before even installing this thing!
Your warning has been noted, thanks. I just downloaded it last night and dabbled a bit in MoO1 before going to bed at 1am (oops). Maybe I should just uninstall the game and wait until February when exams are over.
Is 3 as bad as they say? Cause I have the other two.
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McDon: Is 3 as bad as they say? Cause I have the other two.
Unless you really feel the need to complete a collection I personally wouldn't bother.
3's box art is so good, it's ironic!
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deathmyrk: Speaking of 4X games... Does anyone know what the heck to do with Alpha Centauri. I have played Civilization off and on, and have gotten a rough idea on the game. Alpha Centauri seems like its more sophisticated counterpart. The game is obviously extremely deep to the point of unfathomable. I played for a good 15 minutes and have been pushing buttons. Somehow in doing so I managed to gain a technological advancement, achieve a vehicle that can be customized every way imaginable, and have landed my scout to a dead end and got him killed. Oh yea, and I almost waged war with an ambassor who was involved with something called Hive. I will get it, but I have never played a game quite like this. It is so alien... Any suggestions? This looks like the makings of an amazing game, if only I can "get" what exactly is going on.
You just described me trying to play MOM, MOO, or many other (especially Microprose) strategic games... Even games like Theme Hospital or Dungeon Keeper to a lesser extent, except that at least DK slowly introduces you to the game, step by step.

Quite often with these games I am just staring at the screen with many buttons, ok behind that button there are lots of numbers whose importance is completely alien to me, so there's the "next turn" button, should I still do something before I hit it, what if I hit "next turn" repeatedly without doing anything in between, etc.

I want to like these games, but the start seems to be the hardest part, and it feels a bit like I'm at work trying to study and understand some Excel report or specification that someone just handed to me (I do that every day at work). Then again, I had to do quite a bit studying as well when I created my party in Icewind Dale (which race to choose for which class, which are the important abilities for each class etc.), so...

One day I will get it, I admit I haven't maybe given them a fair chance, but somehow starting to play e.g. a RTS game which slowly introduces me to the ins and outs of the gameplay through tutorial missions feels just so much easier.


Now I promise myself to play a bit more Master of Magic and Master of Orion this weekend, trying to learn more about them. Don't fear those buttons and spreadsheet pages...
Post edited November 26, 2013 by timppu
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deathmyrk: Speaking of 4X games... Does anyone know what the heck to do with Alpha Centauri. I have played Civilization off and on, and have gotten a rough idea on the game. Alpha Centauri seems like its more sophisticated counterpart. The game is obviously extremely deep to the point of unfathomable. I played for a good 15 minutes and have been pushing buttons. Somehow in doing so I managed to gain a technological advancement, achieve a vehicle that can be customized every way imaginable, and have landed my scout to a dead end and got him killed. Oh yea, and I almost waged war with an ambassor who was involved with something called Hive. I will get it, but I have never played a game quite like this. It is so alien... Any suggestions? This looks like the makings of an amazing game, if only I can "get" what exactly is going on.
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timppu: You just described me trying to play MOM, MOO, or many other (especially Microprose) strategic games... Even games like Theme Hospital or Dungeon Keeper to a lesser extent, except that at least DK slowly introduces you to the game, step by step.

Quite often with these games I am just staring at the screen with many buttons, ok behind that button there are lots of numbers whose importance is completely alien to me, so there's the "next turn" button, should I still do something before I hit it, what if I hit "next turn" repeatedly without doing anything in between, etc.

I want to like these games, but the start seems to be the hardest part, and it feels a bit like I'm at work trying to study and understand some Excel report or specification that someone just handed to me (I do that every day at work). Then again, I had to do quite a bit studying as well when I created my party in Icewind Dale (which race to choose for which class, which are the important abilities for each class etc.), so...

One day I will get it, I admit I haven't maybe given them a fair chance, but somehow starting to play e.g. a RTS game which slowly introduces me to the ins and outs of the gameplay through tutorial missions feels just so much easier.

Now I promise myself to play a bit more Master of Magic and Master of Orion this weekend, trying to learn more about them. Don't fear those buttons and spreadsheet pages...
You should try a Paradox game, that'll throw you into the deep end :P
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timppu: You just described me trying to play MOM, MOO, or many other (especially Microprose) strategic games... Even games like Theme Hospital or Dungeon Keeper to a lesser extent, except that at least DK slowly introduces you to the game, step by step.

Quite often with these games I am just staring at the screen with many buttons, ok behind that button there are lots of numbers whose importance is completely alien to me, so there's the "next turn" button, should I still do something before I hit it, what if I hit "next turn" repeatedly without doing anything in between, etc.

I want to like these games, but the start seems to be the hardest part, and it feels a bit like I'm at work trying to study and understand some Excel report or specification that someone just handed to me (I do that every day at work). Then again, I had to do quite a bit studying as well when I created my party in Icewind Dale (which race to choose for which class, which are the important abilities for each class etc.), so...

One day I will get it, I admit I haven't maybe given them a fair chance, but somehow starting to play e.g. a RTS game which slowly introduces me to the ins and outs of the gameplay through tutorial missions feels just so much easier.

Now I promise myself to play a bit more Master of Magic and Master of Orion this weekend, trying to learn more about them. Don't fear those buttons and spreadsheet pages...
Yeah, I'll probably have a hard time relating on this one. I was playing Populous at 9 and MOO at 13.

The wonderful thing about starting with it as a kid is that you have all the time in the world and an almost infinite amount of patience doing stuff that would make an adult want to pound the computer with a baseball bat.

It's probably the best time in your life to get past the learning curve of something, but trust me when I say that if you can get past it, there is a wonderful TBS world waiting for you that is more addictive than crack and that will test your marriage in ways it has yet to be tested.

The amount of man hours I spend on MOO and MOO 2 as a teenager can best be described in months. Perhaps even a year.

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IwubCheeze: Your warning has been noted, thanks. I just downloaded it last night and dabbled a bit in MoO1 before going to bed at 1am (oops). Maybe I should just uninstall the game and wait until February when exams are over.
Been a while since I played the first one, but if you have specific questions, feel free to PM me.
Post edited November 26, 2013 by Magnitus