Ghosts of games long dead (but still breathing): Master of Magic
…and breathing way better than Everquest does for me. As I mentioned in that post, GoG.com is some shit. I can’t say “the shit” because there is lots of other “good shit” out there, but it’s definitely “some shit”. Where else could you find a prepackaged (ie with a built in DOSbox shell so you don’t have to monkey with it – unless you want to – I’ve tested it and it works perfectly in XP, Vista & 7) of the best game of 1994 for $5? OK, best is totally subjective, but lets just say it’s the only game from 1994 I feel a regular urge to play. And SURE you could download a diskripped version for free, but this one even comes with a shiny pdf manual.
So, viola:
What is Master of Magic (MoM for short)? It’s a 4X game, but one of the very few that is based on magic instead of science (cmp. to Civ1-5, Moo1-3, Galactic Civ, etc.). And it was a beauty. Sure, the diplomacy option was basically a joke (but at least it was predictable – they will always, always turn on you, often for no good reason), but it did serve a purpose (spell trades) and the graphics can’t hold up to today’s standards – but who plays 4X for the graphics?
In the game, you choose one of a dozen or so preset wizards (or make your own – which has several levels of strategy to it), each of which has a different combination of magic spellbooks (which determine the number, quality and realm – life, death, chaos, nature, sorcery – that your spells come from) and “retorts”, which are “always on” abilities that do things like boost the amount of mana you generate, or make you research spells faster. Some of them are downright awesome (Warlord, which costs 3 picks and makes all your units start out one level higher and Myrran, which also costs 3 and lets you start on Myrror (there are two worlds in MoM: Arcanus & Myrror, Myrror has “better” races and tougher enemies)), but most are moderately useful (the various element masteries which cut casting cost and boost the mana gained form the matching nodes). Only one verges on useless for me (Charismatic, gives you a boost to diplomacy actions and a cut in costs on mercenaries & items), and that’s only because the diplomacy model is so weak. Although, given that the point of the game is to wipe out all the enemy leaders (there is *NO* diplomatic victory option, also something of a rarity), it makes sense that everyone would turn on you…
The way you set up your wizard and your starting race make a lot more difference in how the first half of the game plays out than in other games I can think of (usually your starting choices provide gentle shifts, and sometimes the “big special race unit” doesn’t come into play until end game) as each race has a fairly different list of build options and unit types. There are a few that play similarly: orcs, humans, high elves, nomads and their myrran counterparts of dracons, beastmen & dark elves are the generic “can build almost everything and have at least one awesome unit” races, although the orcish awesome unit is not really awesome, but orcs are the only race that can build everything, so they have that going for them. The other races are more limited building wise, but not necessarily less powerful: halflings are one of the most powerful races in the game in the hands of an experienced player (enchanted slingers are nuts) as are trolls (very limited buildings and units, but most of their units regenerate) although gnolls, lizardmen and klackons (angry little bug dudes) are considered weak by many, and you have to play them with a specif goal in mind tailored to their playstyle. Those three races are notably stronger early game, and support and early aggression type strategy. Note that you can always take over cities of other races, but the races available in a given map vary.
Another interesting bit, given today’s gaming structures, is that there is no “campaign mode”, technically all you do in this game is skirmish (ie random maps vs. random opponents with the same goal: defeat all). That was always enough for me… I have played this game more times than probably all the other 4x games combined – yet I still have barely played on the top two difficulty levels.
So, you explore the map and build cities in typical 4X style, a la Civ, etc. When you encounter an enemy, invade a city, or explore a ruin or node (which you need to capture to generate mana to cast spells), you go into a battle screen that’s a fairly typical square-grid based deal.
A (not so) epic battle:
Yeah, even though they had glowing werewolves, I had a colossus and a wyrm (the snake head thing) and some other random badassery.
There are a ton of factors that play into unit strength and the strategic battle screen above… I’m not even going to go into it, suffice to say that the options are wonderful, and I’m still learning new things about the way the game works. For one, the combat structure is unlike any other… your attack and damage numbers do not indicate how much actual damage you do or block, but rather how many 30% chances you have to do or block 1 point. It makes for some interesting mechanics and some very lucky kills or deaths.
To win the game you can either wipe out all the enemy wizards (via taking out their capital cities and denying them the mana to return once banished), or cast the “spell of mastery”: basically a really long research & cast time spell that simply ends the game. You get extra points for casting the spell of mastery because as soon as you start casting it the enemies go nuts and attack you, or rather attack you harder. Duh, because casting it kills them!
I usually take out 3 enemies the old fashioned way, then lock the fourth down in their capital by surrounding it with badass units while I explore the rest of the map, letting my cities grow and looking for new spells (because you get extra points for larger populations and extra spells).
How it usually ends:
There are some bugs with the game that they never really got fixed (occasional hard crashes and 1 or 2 spells that don’t work right), but even with that, and 16 years of dust, this game is still a 9.5/10.
There are two fan mod/patches out (hard to find copies of them and you have to google around – they don’t even have host pages I can link you to!), and I’m currently experimenting with the “Master of Magic 2.0″ patch, which has a TON of unit mods, spell fixes and other tweaks. It’s fun so far, but it seems like some of the races are buffed beyond what I consider fair (barbarian marauders – extra fast cavalry with throwing axes – are just crazy), but I’ll need to play all the races first before I render a judgement.
In conclusion, if you like 4x games and can tolerate OLD SCHOOL graphics, I don’t think you can go wrong with Master of Magic.
Also worth noting that Stardock tried to buy the MoM license, but wasn’t able to get it, for a game they were working on: Elemental (which I have been waiting for forever). It’s been out for a few months, but the general consensus is that it’s “not baked yet”, so I’m holding out for the next big patch (due next month, I think) before I consider picking it up more seriously. I’d hate to wear myself out early on a buggy.
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