The first 15-20 hours are awesome! Especially since some new games cost $60 and don't even last that long, I got my money's worth with Settlers 2: Gold :) My issue is that I wanted to play this game forever and that is simply not to be. Mainly, the further you get into the game and the larger your settlement becomes, the more time you spend putting out fires and getting into some REALLY tedious structure building (and by building, I mean long queues). The battle system is terrible, but battle is not the main draw of Settlers 2. In this game, resources are finite and they WILL run out if you take too long. So you cannot really sit back and enjoy the ride (which is what Settlers 2 is supposed to be about) because you have to expand as fast as possible and eliminate your enemy because once your mines expire, that's that. You can send a geologist and look for new mining spots but it is hit or miss if the geologist will find what you need. Not to mention the fact that this is NOT Simcity. There is not always an alert if your settlement has a problem. If there is a hidden problem and you actually pick up on it, good luck trying to find the cause of it...unless you really like to dig into unclear reports in small print. Of course, part of the fun of Settlers 2 is seeing a problem and figuring it out for yourself, rather than having the game hand the solution to you. You know, using your brain :) The problem is that these very cool puzzles do not scale. When your settlement becomes large, it is too many puzzles at once and most of them are quite similar. Yes, you can pause the game whenever you like but Settlers 2 is slow enough! The slowness is very zen and satisfying...in the beginning. But then you are trying to figure out why 1/3 of your structures are not producing their product and you realize that you will have to build MORE of the same structures that you already have built. And now you will have to sit around and wait and wait and wait for the structure be built... Sigh. This game just becomes too much of a good thing.
I dithered back and forth and finally decided to make the purchase of Might & Magic I-VI. I was concerned because they were such old games and maybe I was spoiled by newer and flashier graphics. 1) Might and Magic I - unplayable (too primitive.) 2) Might and Magic II - better than Part 1 but still too primitive to actually enjoy. I play games for fun, not duty :) 3) Might and Magic III - this game has decent graphics and an okay engine. But it is nothing better than average to me. I don't need to play this anymore. 4) Might and Magic IV - I load it up.....Hmmm, I love the intro and the sound quality is quite nice! I like the color palette for the splash screen. I start playing and realize that I want to make my characters from scratch. Ok. I read the manual and start rolling characters. Now I have my party. Hmmm. I like the automap a lot. And the town is easy to navigate. I REALLY like that you can move around as quickly or as slowly as you like. I like the digitized voices. They're fun! I was afraid that this wouldn't have the voices because it is not off a CD but they kept the voices in. Wow, did a monster just attack me IN town?! That's crazy! But I defeated it! And one of my characters has a Long Bow. You can actually hear and feel the twang as you let loose an arrow. Whoa. These 2D monsters...actually have personality. I didn't realize how much I missed that until I played this game. 3D monsters in RPG games are dull and boring monsters take a LOT away from an RPG. Well, the Mayor says I have to go to the Dwarf Mines. I teleport there and crazy-looking dwarves rush me. They are laughing and butting me with their staves! Time for some spells (and prayers!) Long story short....Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen has something that we have been missing from RPG games since the late 90's. PERSONALITY! Games since the 90's are the beautiful girl that is a perfect 10, perfectly polite, nice...and boring! This game is the girl that is a 5 out of 10 in looks....but is loads of fun to be around and keeps you guessing. I will take the 5 out of 10, thank you! I have not played part 5 yet, though I think I will love it. I actually played part 6 when it first came out. It was my first Might and Magic...and I could never finish the game. It always got too boring and I never understood why. Now I understand. The switch to 3D made the monsters dull. And each monster had way too many hitpoints, so the fights were consistently longer and less fun. And the massive amount of enemies and free-roaming movement made combat take way too long since you never knew if you were in range for a melee attack or not. Not to mention getting hit from the side offscreen and having to stop and heal every 2 seconds! And finally, the outdoor environments were massive, rather than memorable. BIG difference between the 2. Purchase this game and play Might & Magic 4 & 5! You will be glad that you did. P.S. Please play through each of them in order, even if only for 5 minutes on the games that you don't like. Playing through M&M 1 for 5 minutes gives you perspective and makes you really appreciate the graphics in part 4!
