So, I saw this game randomly on youtube, and I think it might be pretty interesting. It’s coming out 4th quarter of 2017, so I guess there is zero hype about it so far.
An RTS god game, where you play as a powerful mage pulling together different shards of scattered islands seems like an interesting setting for a game.
Oh this looks great I want it.
It does, but as always, the proof is in the pudding. Videos and descriptions can only tell you so much.
Huh, looks interesting, I’ll keep my eye out.
Here are a couple of LP videos from SpaltterCat:
January 9, 2018
January 15, 2018
This looks really slick!
Looks like another game to add to my ever growing list of EA games waiting to be finished.
Driftland has left early access, and the price increased to $30. I got it on sale in Feb and had a great time with the 5h I played. Looking forward to giving it another spin.
The 1.0 update notes are here: https://steamcommunity.com/gid/103582791460332690/announcements/detail/1651042050396583830
I too got it a little while back and put a tiny bit of time in it, really impressed, can’t wait to dive back in.
New update out for this:
Tom has streamed it twice this week and sold me on it, wishlisted for a future sale. :)
So umm, this is really sorta fun, and I spent over 4 hours playing it today.
It is in the current humble monthly bundle.
@Bobtree @BrianRubin did either of you revisit?
I keep meaning to. I should add it to my streaming calendar.
I’m on the fence for getting the humble monthly bundle, and this game is one of the ones that is making me consider getting it. You just gave it some more weight.
I played some more last summer. It’s a good game, but I found the amount of micro-fiddling with the economy and buying upgrades for individual units tiresome (Majesty was significantly more elegant in this regard). Possibly Driftland requires being more efficient in island collecting by better planning and use of magic than I had managed. It would swing between being slow/starved/fiddly in the early game, and then having more resources than I could manage and becoming a spam fest. Getting bigger islands with fewer bridges and surveying by magic portal might help. The new UI that lets you zoom out and mass upgrade is something too, but it still amounts to spamming clicks. The new “Unit List menu recruitment” feature should help avoid hunting for your buildings.
Driftland is still on my “play some more” list. I have some doubts about its strategic depth, but I want to try other factions, the UI updates, and the free DLC they announced coming this summer. I expect that it’s improved a lot since I last played, and I’m glad to see it getting such solid support.
Yeah, Driftland hasn’t got a patch on Majesty.
The economy is very simple: more is always better. So you’ll be balancing the same resources throughout the game, increasing the buildings and the units in a more or less linear fashion, and will only ever be in trouble if something (enemies, weather effects) cause your economy to get into a bit of a death spiral (e.g. not enough food). Which would be fine, if there was more to the game, but there really isn’t. Every map plays out more or less the same.
Majesty had more variety because the economy was much more streamlined. It also had more character (“Tax collector!”), and fighting the various monsters and destroying the monster layers was more satisfying. In Driftland, you basically end up putting all your units on birds (because of the floating islands), which means that they’re very hard to tell apart, especially since a lot of the time I, at least, end up playing zoomed out (because the maps are so big).
Anyway, I played it for a bit and then re-installed Majesty 2 (with the balance mod). Better in every way.
I found Majesty 2 too puzzle-like with the extreme trial-and-error play of its campaign, and AFAIK it doesn’t have a sandbox mode or random maps. There are some mods with balance changes and fixes now, but I probably won’t go back to it.
I’d play Majesty Gold, but it always locks up my computer on exit, which is less than ideal.
Huh, this using the older releases or the HD re-release Paradox did? Never had it happen to me yet so far thankfully.
Always been intrigued by Driftland due to some of the Majesty inspired mechanics. Keep meaning to pick it up in a sale but always forget or have higher priorities. The criticisms put me off diving into it at full price, since Majesty Gold still exists to scratch the itch. Nothing quite hits the same heights set by the original Majesty.
Russia can have a sometimes odd relationship with game difficulty for traditional western audiences, that comes through in Majesty 2 due to the Russian dev studio contracted. They can have a predisposition for liking things extra challenging, which can turn scenarios into finding the one right solution. Due to the design and challenge scenarios can get a bit puzzley or trial and error. Can’t fault their dedication to crazy matches of HoMM3 though.
Majesty formula works better for me when you aren’t trying to force it to be a viable PvP RTS. Waited ages for Maj2 to get co-op PvE scenarios, which always felt more at home with the formula to me.
I think it’s the HD release. It’s perfectly playable, until I quit the game, when it takes my computer down with it. As much as I’d like to, I cannot play it forever. :-P
Majesty 2 with the balancing patch/mod works perfectly fine. I usually ruin a scenario when I become impatient and increase the speed of the game too soon, and the bloody minotaurs/demons/whatever come and start smashing all of my stuff faster than I can pump up/level up my heroes. ;-)