This thread caused me to fire up MoM for a bit of nostalgic gaming. The dated graphics did not interfere with the enjoyment. The UI took some work to get used to. I kept trying to scroll with my scroll wheel and hover the cursor hoping for a pop-up info box. Despite its age, it is still engaging and a blast to play. I sincerely hope a new modern MoM can be just as fun.
Yeah, I played it not too long ago myself, when I got a copy off GOG. In fact, I think it’s the first video I made on my YouTube channel. It holds up very well, and looks charming to boot, imo. I hope these guys can give us a modern MoM that still feels like MoM.
So why not go all in on that and do a pixel art reboot of MoM? All these modern 4X reboots go with very sterile 3d art.
I don’t love Planetfall. It’s ok. But it wasn’t hard for it to slide back (not to MoM although I am going to start playing soon).
MoM is one of the games that I always have on any new system. I would love a good remake. Without messing with the base game.
We need to get the ball rolling on the Iron Man Challenge-thread. I’ll see if I have time tomorrow.
Ouch LOL.
Caster of Magic, by Seravy, has been turned into a DLC:
https://www.slitherine.com/game/master-of-magic-caster-of-magic/pc
Given his dedication (he made the changes without having access to the source code), it is probably well deserved:
First gog review:
Blockquote
This is what we’ve been waiting for.
Master of Magic was bugged on release, causing the AI to struggle to play it’s own game. It was still fun but it took decades for community patches to fix it.
Seravy’s Caster of Magic mod isn’t just a bug-fix, it has completely overhauled the game to remove, change and balance redundant or useless spells, abilities and features without drastically changing the original game.
The changes are too numerous to list here. There are loads of new spells, changes to map generation, changes to the way certain tiles work, a change to roads and the number of units you can field meaning that you can no longer just defend your territory with one big army, forcing you to build more armies and hold them in location to fend off theats.
The biggest change is that Caster of Magic is now built so that the AI can beat you with the new set of tools it has. Suffice to say, the game is now BRUTALLY difficult on the higher settings: the AI can not only play it’s game, but it plays it well.
The main complaint about MoM, that it’s AI was bad, no longer applies. The other changes just pump this game to the highest level possible, and Master of Magic finally retakes it’s crown as best fantasy 4x even 25 years after release.
That is interesting. Thanks for letting me know.
It would be tempting if the base game wasn’t overpriced.
The base game is over $2,000?!?!
Wait, what? Is that a joke I missed?
EDIT: I get it now. :)
It’s over 1 dollar, and for rose tinged nostalgia, that’s all I am willing to pay.
Nostalgia my ass! I still play MoM pretty regularly and nothing has topped it in the turn based fantasy style for me, although AoW made a decent run at it.
I won’t say I play it regularly, personally, but generally I agree with Banzai here - I played it not more than 4 or 5 years ago and got super into it again, it held up well thanks to a delightful art style and easy to understand mechanics and combat, and it is still more fun than many modern strategy games. Thankfully guys like Triumph have taken up the torch so I don’t feel the urge to play MOM any longer, but it’s a very good game that has held up well over the years, in my opinion.
/me puts on glasses and throws money at gog
Deity Empires scratches that Master of Magic itch for me.
As someone who played MoM original and when it was out, although I was very very young, I cannot stand the art style of these “older style” looking games. It just feels different, weird compared to the really old stuff I played.
Deity Empires has poor art, period. However, there’s a really nice mod that replaces the artwork for all the units and terrain. With that, looks fine for me. The cartoony-ish art is replaced with stuff like this:
Looks good enough for me, anyway. In a strategy game I just want the graphics to not be painfully bad.
It definitely looks better.
I’ve noticed as I get older my tolerance for squinty or terrible art combined and terrible UI is just dissipating. Sadly it was the UI that killed Parkitect for me. I didn’t mind the art though at all. It was cutish at least.
Do you recommend all of wabbit’s graphics mods (Monster pack, icons, cursor pack, new land, hi-res units)?
They added a nice little launcher to let you choose between original MoM, community patch, and Caster of Magic. It will be interesting to see what they do with the sequel, and if this Seravy person will be involved.