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Good turn-based strategy with fantasy theme?
streever
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hi folks,
I've just tried out Battle for Wesnorth--I enjoyed it, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. (I was annoyed at how ranged units for instance must be in melee range to attack... I mean, what is the point of giving me a cleric who can kill undead but he has like 5 hp and the undead can kill him in one round on the easy level for beginners?)
Any suggestions for really good RTS that have a more medieval style? I'm looking for something extremely tactical, with flanking and terrain and positioning. I don't care if it has magic or not (I'd prefer something which is more mundane than magic actually, but whatever).
I don't care about multi-player--am interested in a solid single player experience.
Thanks in advance.
I've just tried out Battle for Wesnorth--I enjoyed it, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. (I was annoyed at how ranged units for instance must be in melee range to attack... I mean, what is the point of giving me a cleric who can kill undead but he has like 5 hp and the undead can kill him in one round on the easy level for beginners?)
Any suggestions for really good RTS that have a more medieval style? I'm looking for something extremely tactical, with flanking and terrain and positioning. I don't care if it has magic or not (I'd prefer something which is more mundane than magic actually, but whatever).
I don't care about multi-player--am interested in a solid single player experience.
Thanks in advance.
streever on
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PC or Console?
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Also this.
A narrower scope is always good because I was just going to toss Fire Emblem: Inset Subtitle Here out into the aether and go about my day. But of course it's not an RTS.
Warcraft III is the most medieval of the RTSes.
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As far as turn-based games, you won't have as many options on the PC. There's always the Heroes of Might & Magic series along with the Warlords series, but I would hardly consider the combat even remotely tactical for either. If it has to be PC, then the old SSI Gold Box games might work.
So I'm just going to throw out my usual suggestion of Myth II, since that fits the whole "flanking, positioning, terrain" criteria to a T. It's not exactly new, but it's still awesome.
For something more recent, maybe one of the Total War games? Havn't played them myself, but the description sounds like it might be up your alley.
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I want something set in old time with tactics. I do use the PC.
What system has a lot of these games? I always figured the PC would have everything!
EDIT: Ah, you want TBSes.
In which case, Civ IV and the Fall from Heaven mod is awesome.
King's Bounty is a game in the grand tradition of Heroes of Might and Magic, most of which are still pretty good, I hear.
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Something more akin to Civ IV would probably be your best bet, or see what old titles are wandering around GOG.com
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Check it out, it's mad cheap: http://store.steampowered.com/app/61520/?snr=1_7_suggest__13
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=195998
disciples also is not as tactical as wesnoth and much less so than the total war series (not too bad if you get it cheap but definitely a b-grade game).
king's bounty is a good series, it just has its own set of drawbacks.
Wakfu is a new game that is a turn based MMO. It is currently in closed-beta, but will be releasing open beta April 27th. At release of OB it will have 6 of 14 classes.
Check it out.
And it is free.
Good questions Jothki--
I'm actually interested in both (small squad and larger army), and I'm not sure about lethality--I'll have to try a few to see.
It seems like I have a TON of great suggestions already--Medieval II looks incredible, and I like the lack of fantasy, with the option to use one of the LotR mods if I feel the need to.
I'll look into some of the RTS too (Stronghold and some others), and the Fire Emblem games for more TBS.
Thanks a lot folks. This is great.
It's the same price on GoG, plus you get the bonus goodies (mostly the excellent soundtrack), and no DRM.
Adding to this, the fantasy level in A Game of Thrones is pretty low, at least for the first book (which is what I assuming is going on in this game).
I have a Nintendo DS that I haven't used in a long time--I'll look at games on that too.
The thing with my fantasy bias is I feel like a lot of games with a lot of magic elements end up being not as subtly tactical, because you are always trying to build up to the one big magic dude who can just demolish everything. I kind of like limited choices that are done well.
I want my choices to be more narrow than a list of 20 spells with raise dead and "mass immolate" spells. I want the options to be grounded in economic decisions and limitations. (That was my other problem with Wesnorth--you could pretty easily buy 20 spearmen units. One quarter of them die, but they just mow down everything if you buy one cavalry unit who runs around grabbing villages--I think that strategy is kind of lame, but once I see such an exploitative and easy strategy it is hard to not keep using it)
If you're willing to look back further, Heroes of Might and Magic 3 is a staple of mine for fantasy TBS, and the later games in the series aren't bad either. Along those lines, the Age of Wonders series is quite similar, though I prefer Heroes to it. Neither of these games are very restrictive in what options you have, but economic decisions play a huge part in getting to the point where it opens up. Lategame it tends to end up more about your heroes than your kingdom.
I know it is kind of a narrow scope I'm giving, but I do think there are some cool things that have been suggested. I pretty much wanted something like Mount & Blade, but turn based with society building. I mean, to a large degree, M&B does that, it just doesn't have the level of management that I wanted. You mostly spend the game riding around the map. I'd like something where you actually build the kingdom, ruling fiefs, and raising armies to fight in TB gameplay. RT is ok too.
But, like I said, I have a lot of good recommendations already. I feel like you guys came through & then some. I'll be checking out the games suggested over the next week or so. I'm pretty psyched.
Seconded so hard. It is by far the greatest game of its type since Master of Magic, and I'd call its tactical combat deeper and superior.
Thirded with gusto. Flying units have always been broken in the series, but it's still great.
EDIT - fixed the thread title
Throwing in my vote too, yeah.
Shadow Magic is one game that we can always be expected to play at a LAN, even if a solid game can take many hours. The diversity between the races in combination with your specialization in magic opens up a wide range of combinations and tactics, making each game pretty interesting each time you play.
So yeah, SM x1,000,000
Fifthed. Finest of its genre by miles.
It should be noted that you can get Master of Magic on GOG for like $5, but the game has a few problems:
- the computer is kind of dumb, and if it is outmatched in combat, it will literally "give up"; it won't move any units, and it will just kind of let you kill it.
- the tactical combat has lots of things to it, but a given battle is not terribly expansive.
On the other hand, some of the low-res spritework it has is very nice, and I never tire of seeing the view of a town that has shafts of light shining down on it from some holy blessing, while also showing a circle of black mages waving their arms while the city is surrounded by a wall of fire.
How long does a game of Shadow Magic take? There are a ton of TBS games that have the unfortunate anecdote of "it's great and all, but games with friends either never finish/take foreverrrrrrrrrr to finish".
Shogun 2 is a better game than Medieval 2, but I'd recommend people wait for a few patches before buying it.
Gratz on making great choices!
Check out http://aow2.heavengames.com/ for a bunch of neat AoW Shadow Magic related stuff, including mods, maps, and a big fan made patch. Not required but it's cool none the less.