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Sergeant
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Jul 20, 2009
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  • Hearts of Iron III
I had NO IDEA this game existed or was coming out. I happened to be on Paradox Games website, on the "Games" page and noticed it and clicked on it. I cannot tell you the feelings I felt...

Civ IV is probably the greatest replayable game ever made. I only got in on Civ IV, and I remember that people had said, "Oh, Civ III, that was the ultimate game, Civ IV is terrible," and the like. Seeing how it was my first Civ game, I liked it a lot, and am at the point now of thinking it might be the most well made game ever, when factoring in fun, replay, value for the buck and quantity of gameplay materials (ie, all the options it has).

So I have never wanted to go back and try Civ I, II or III. I've heard about them, I'm a gamer, I just never got on board until Civ IV. The graphics alone just look too much improved from III to IV for me to be able to go back and fall in love with that one, plus, pollution and happiness are the two elements about the city population in Civ IV; I've heard it was painfully detailed with taxes, pollution, unrest, sickness, sewage, etc., etc...or things to that effect, anyway. The two from Civ IV make it more than enough to keep up with, I would not want all that from Civ III.

The one thing I have wanted, literally said, for many years, is a "High Fantasy" type game that plays exactly like Civ. A "Dungeons & Dragons" or "Lord of the Rings" world (though the D&D was clearly sprouted from the base of the Land of Tolkien), but with the same gameplay/options/mechanics as the Civ series has. There was never one done. I know "Fall From Heaven" was touted as that, and the guy said it actually sprouted from a D&D pen-n-paper campaign he ran, but it was clearly not what I wanted. Just too different from "Spells/Magic/Trolls/Orcs/Dragons/Wizards/Archers/Knights/etc." that I wanted.

I also bought Civ V. I cannot say it is bad. There are some improvements. I just think Civ IV plays better. I fell, somehow, more in control of how my Empire changes the world than in Civ V. In Civ V, I feel like I am going through the motions, but in Civ IV, I felt powerful. So I don't think Civ V is a bad game at all, I just enjoyed Civ IV a lot more.

Well, FINALLY, there is a game of EXACTLY what I want in a Civ mod/game. EXACTLY! I cannot believe this thing is coming out. Literally, I have stated many times that I want to play CIV in the D&D world. I have never seen a mod that did that. None even close from what I wanted.

This game does that. I watched a guy play for 35 minutes on a preview of the game; it is exactly what I want! There is one smaller-ish kind of thing that I did notice, several of the standard races from "High Fantasy" worlds were not there. No Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, Lizard men, Orcs. I did see Goblin Skirmishers, and monster spiders, and ghost wolves, and flying rats and rat armies, but I for one would LOVE to see the main races of the game be expanded from HUMAN, UNDEAD and MONSTERS to also include those standard fantasy races, especially Elves and Dwarves.

Hopefully, this game will be able to be modded, then there is no question the fan-base will add these guys in there. If not, I would pay for an expansion that added these things.

OVERALL, though, I must say...I CANNOT BELIEVE IT!!! I have been wanting this game since I first played Civ IV in 2004 or whenever it first came out.

I am so glad I accidentally found out about Warlock: Master of the Arcane...it is EXACTLY what I have wanted to play as a Civ game since I started playing them!!!

Again, only thing so far I saw was the lack of "High Fantasy" races, and personally, I wish it was more like Civ IV than Civ V, but I can still live with both of those problems if this game plays anything like that 35 minute preview indicated it would...and I am close to 100% positive it will.

I already pre-purchased it yesterday!
Less than two weeks. I am so glad I stumbled upon it!!! I've been waiting 7 or 8 years for this game...:D
 
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I don't have the beta, so I can't confirm anything in-game, but I can at least confirm that the game's setting (the world of Ardania from the "Majesty" series) does indeed have Elves and Dwarves. They might just be accessible under certain conditions; for example, one only attracted Dwarves in the Majesty games if your Blacksmith was upgraded enough. I've seen videos where "Minotaur caves" had a pyramid built over top to allow Minotaur units to be built, so that's another possibility.
 
The one thing I have wanted, literally said, for many years, is a "High Fantasy" type game that plays exactly like Civ. A "Dungeons & Dragons" or "Lord of the Rings" world (though the D&D was clearly sprouted from the base of the Land of Tolkien), but with the same gameplay/options/mechanics as the Civ series has. There was never one done.

There was: Master of Magic (dam dam daaam).
It was like Civ 1, but better. You can find it on GOG.com for six bucks.
MoM is a Holy Grail of Fantasy Civilization games, never anything managed to get close to it. Some people may say that Age of Wonders are better, but don't listen to them, they're evil.
 
Nope. Tried the demos of them, they are just too outdated now. I've always liked hex-based games, board or PC, but never got into the Empire building stuff of Civ until Civ IV. By then, it was too late to go back and try those others, they just didn't cut it (I tried demos within the last year, just to see again).

This game, it is a modern version of the classic "Civ"-type game genre but in a purely Fantasy setting! That's what I've been dying for.

Thanks, Kimarous, for the heads-up on Elves and Dwarves. The gives me good hope they will be in there somehow, hopefully as another of the "Major Races" as 3 is a little light, even though there are several leaders for them all. Hey, Civ only has one race, it is all the leaders that make it unique. Even still, with that said, I hope some more of the races do come out as prominent. An expansion with 3 more "Major" ones would be awesome, but we'll see.

I didn't like Majesty 2 from what I saw and read, but can you tell me anything else of interest in that particular world/culture/canon, specifically how it would relate to the typical world of something along the lines of Dungeons and Dragons.

Ohh, I just cannot wait!
 
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If the game is based on the Fantasy Wars/Elven Legacy engine, I wonder if it would be possible to convert units from these games and use them in a Warlock mod... There are lots of interesting units in FW/EL that could be used, including Elves and Dwarves, but also cavalry units (AFAIK Warlock has only the donkey-based Stubborn Knights), flying units like Eagles, and some interesting war machines (Ballista, Zeppelin, Dwarven Mobile Fort).
 
If the game is based on the Fantasy Wars/Elven Legacy engine, I wonder if it would be possible to convert units from these games and use them in a Warlock mod... There are lots of interesting units in FW/EL that could be used, including Elves and Dwarves, but also cavalry units (AFAIK Warlock has only the donkey-based Stubborn Knights), flying units like Eagles, and some interesting war machines (Ballista, Zeppelin, Dwarven Mobile Fort).

That would be awesome. I would even pay if they made DLC from those units. :)
 
I'm actually not sure this is very Civ like. It used to look a lot like Civ 5 in early beta, but I haven't seen anything to suggest the same depth of civilization management and growth (correct me if I'm wrong). It looks like there is more emphasis on combat, units, and magic. I'm not sure it's exactly what you are hoping for, but it's still a fantasy 4x and looks amazing.

If you want a fantasy Civ IV, well there's nothing fitting that better than the Fall from Heaven mod and it's myriad of mod-mods like Master of Mana and Rise from Erebus. Might be worth a look while you wait for this.
 
HA! Caught you; you didn't read my first post! Fall from Heaven is "no where near" anything I wanted from a D&D mod. I have watched two extended gameplays of over 30 minutes (previews of guys playing), and THIS is what I want in a Civ "D&D" mod.

To be honest, I thought Fall from Heaven was kind of bad.

Master of Mana or Rise from Erebus I have not tried, and will, but if they are on line with Fall from Heaven, I can say right now they are not for me. I tried one that was an offshoot of FfH, but thought that fell flat, too.

I want the self-induced 12 day coma thing...or a time warp, yeah, that would be better!
 
I didn't like Majesty 2 from what I saw and read, but can you tell me anything else of interest in that particular world/culture/canon, specifically how it would relate to the typical world of something along the lines of Dungeons and Dragons.

I'm not sure if Warlock is following Majesty canon (I mean, it should) and not sure if it takes place after or before Majesty 2 (because I'm not too familiar with what happened there) but...

The races and classes of Majesty actually have nothing to do with D&D, except that they're both "fantasy". Elves were the lords of vice, gnomes were dirty but hard-working, and actually not a lot is known about the dwarves except they can't really bear to with elves and gnomes. Paladins and healers (and a few other classes) were all-female.

Now I understand that Majesty 2 kind of switched it back to more "traditional" roles, which I think is too bad, but the bottom line is Warlock is definitely not D&D/Forgotten Realms.
 
I'm not sure if Warlock is following Majesty canon (I mean, it should) and not sure if it takes place after or before Majesty 2 (because I'm not too familiar with what happened there) but...

The races and classes of Majesty actually have nothing to do with D&D, except that they're both "fantasy". Elves were the lords of vice, gnomes were dirty but hard-working, and actually not a lot is known about the dwarves except they can't really bear to with elves and gnomes. Paladins and healers (and a few other classes) were all-female.

Now I understand that Majesty 2 kind of switched it back to more "traditional" roles, which I think is too bad, but the bottom line is Warlock is definitely not D&D/Forgotten Realms.
No, I know and realize that. Fafhrd and The Gray Mouser are not D&D either, but it is from the same "High Fantasy" angle. That is more of what I meant. It doesn't have to be D&D, but I am looking for description of the "High Fantasy" elements. Doesn't have to be the same, but clerics, fighters, paladins, dragons, trolls, dwarves, that is all pretty D&D-ish to me (as is Fafhrd and the Mouse, or many other Fantasy settings...it's all good).
 
Okay, I'm just saying, you said earlier
several of the standard races from "High Fantasy" worlds were not there. No Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits, Lizard men, Orcs

And the Majesty world (Ardania) doesn't have those traditional races (other what's been mentioned) by design. Frankly, the only monster races that got expanded upon in the Northern Expansion were the goblins and Ratmen. I'm guessing Majesty 2 and now Warlock may have expanded upon some races even further though.
 
In a game I played, there was a Dwarven settlement. It was not in my zone of control yet, so I don't know if building on it will give access to Dwarves... though I suspect it would. I would like to see Dwarves and Elves more fully fleshed out as races of their own in an expansion or DLC though and not just as recruitable units. Here's hoping.
 
I also pre-purchased after seeing TotalBiscuit's video. I was going to buy this anyway just didn't know it had been opened for pre-purchase yet. :)

2012 is going to be an awesome year for fantasy strategy games. Conquest of Elysium 3 launched about 6 weeks ago; Warlock launching in a week; Elemental Fallen Enchantress launching in a few months; and possibly a new Age of Wonders on the cards at some time in the future as well.
 
If you like the CivIV so much, you should also test the fantastic Fantasy MOD for it: Fall from Heaven 2. I'm sure you'll like it. The creator of this mod is now working at Stardock making their new fantasy game: Elemental: Fallen Enchantress.
 
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If you want a fantasy Civ IV, well there's nothing fitting that better than the Fall from Heaven mod and it's myriad of mod-mods like Master of Mana and Rise from Erebus. Might be worth a look while you wait for this.

I must say, Master of Man has possibilities. I tried Rise from Erebus as well, but just like Fall from Heaven and Fall from Heaven 2, I just did not like it very much. I know the characters/cities/events/techs/etc. were named from roughly "High Fantasy" stuff, but for me they just didn't play like a High Fantasy game.

Master of Mana, though, that might finally be a Civ IV mod I can get into. I only played once, and spent almost 100 turns and didn't get far at all because a group of skeletons took a long time to beat. Really surprised me and I kept throwing increasing armies at it, and they would win up until about turn 60, and I finally just overwhelmed them. I also founded a 2nd city that was destroyed by Elk or Deer of something, so both those things really took me aback. Was a much more of a "rough" world than I had anticipated.

Then, the army I did have left got destroyed by an a named Ogre guarding his den/cave, and also some drakes or dragons came up along side and also destroyed me. I didn't really understand some of the things, like how Magic really worked, but that mod might be a good one.

THANKS for pointing me in the direction of it. I had no idea it even existed. As I said, both FfH and FfH2 were very disappointing for me, so I never delved further into finding other mods of that mod.

I will definitely be trying at least one more game (and to bring myself back to a grounded base, you know what I did...played a random game of Civ IV, Beyond the Sword...HA! Civaholics...I need you, badly!!!).
 
HA! Caught you; you didn't read my first post!

I did, I must have just been tired and missed some of it. Not sure why plain FFH isn't high fantasy enough for, it's got everything you mentioned ("Spells/Magic/Trolls/Orcs/Dragons/Wizards/Archers/Knights/etc."), but I'm glad you are enjoying Master of Mana. At least somebody will have something to do over the next week while waiting for Warlock. >_>
 
If you like the CivIV so much, you should also test the fantastic Fantasy MOD for it: Fall from Heaven 2. I'm sure you'll like it. The creator of this mod is now working at Stardock making their new fantasy game: Elemental: Fallen Enchantress.

My thought reading the OP was exactly the same...."man it sounds like FFH would be perfect for this guy."