Posted May 07, 2012
I've actually asked myself what made MoM so amazingly fun more than once over the years. A lot of it, I'm sure, is art - that combination of aesthetics and game play which differentiates a good game designer from one who is merely mediocre. Still, there are tons of good, and even great games out there which don't scratch my itch for a successor to MoM.
In my mind, a good MoM successor needs to have several traits.
1. Player created settlements. None of this stuff where the map is drawn and cities are placed where the designer wants them. If I can find a way to plop down a bunch of my folks and build a town there, I should be allowed to do so.
2. Races (and the towns they live in) should be varied. I liked having the choice of several varieties of humans, elves, dwarves, and other fantasy staples, along with slightly more unique races like the Klackons.
3. The character of a town should reflect the town's inhabitants, not just its current ruler. The Total War games have been awful in this regard, although I tend to like them otherwise. Every city you rule is just like every other city you rule, you raise the same units from them and build the same buildings, based on your empire rather than who actually lives there. Did Spain just conquer Norway? Then look at those Norwegians supply you with Jinettes and Conquistadors.
4. Tactical combat is a must. It doesn't need to clone what MoM had, I currently like the idea of a Total War style pausable real-time battlefield, modified to support giant units like dragons and such. Probably with unit size set to something really small, to make combat feel like a few groups of heroic individuals instead of massive faceless armies. Still, that's far from mandatory in detail. Having *SOME* sort of tactical combat is needed.
5. A system by which "you," that is, the being you are supposedly controlling in the game, can customize your starting stats and improve yourself over time, just as you had picks when creating a custom wizard in MoM and gained power as you researched new spells and occasionally gained new abilities from dungeons.
6. Dungeons on the overworld map. Exploring the overworld and conquering nodes and towers and ruins was in many ways more enjoyable that subjugating your wizard opponents.
7. Multiple worlds. Arcanus and Myrror (or an equivalent, surface and underworld would work fine) are a minimum, but I'd love to see even more done with the concept of travel to alternate worlds.
Those are the traits that, if I saw them in a game that was done well and fun to play, would make me think the game was a worthy successor to Master of Magic. I'd love to hear what other people think a worthy MoM successor would need.
In my mind, a good MoM successor needs to have several traits.
1. Player created settlements. None of this stuff where the map is drawn and cities are placed where the designer wants them. If I can find a way to plop down a bunch of my folks and build a town there, I should be allowed to do so.
2. Races (and the towns they live in) should be varied. I liked having the choice of several varieties of humans, elves, dwarves, and other fantasy staples, along with slightly more unique races like the Klackons.
3. The character of a town should reflect the town's inhabitants, not just its current ruler. The Total War games have been awful in this regard, although I tend to like them otherwise. Every city you rule is just like every other city you rule, you raise the same units from them and build the same buildings, based on your empire rather than who actually lives there. Did Spain just conquer Norway? Then look at those Norwegians supply you with Jinettes and Conquistadors.
4. Tactical combat is a must. It doesn't need to clone what MoM had, I currently like the idea of a Total War style pausable real-time battlefield, modified to support giant units like dragons and such. Probably with unit size set to something really small, to make combat feel like a few groups of heroic individuals instead of massive faceless armies. Still, that's far from mandatory in detail. Having *SOME* sort of tactical combat is needed.
5. A system by which "you," that is, the being you are supposedly controlling in the game, can customize your starting stats and improve yourself over time, just as you had picks when creating a custom wizard in MoM and gained power as you researched new spells and occasionally gained new abilities from dungeons.
6. Dungeons on the overworld map. Exploring the overworld and conquering nodes and towers and ruins was in many ways more enjoyable that subjugating your wizard opponents.
7. Multiple worlds. Arcanus and Myrror (or an equivalent, surface and underworld would work fine) are a minimum, but I'd love to see even more done with the concept of travel to alternate worlds.
Those are the traits that, if I saw them in a game that was done well and fun to play, would make me think the game was a worthy successor to Master of Magic. I'd love to hear what other people think a worthy MoM successor would need.
