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Master of Magic

YallYall Registered User regular
edited February 2010 in Games and Technology
I consider myself a gaming aficionado, so I was surprised to see an article in PC gamer where some famous developer stated that one of the all-time best games was one I'd never heard of.

That game was 'Master of Magic' by Microprose (one of my favorite old school publishers, which made my total ignorance of this game even more of a surprise to me).

I found that the game is [redacted]. I'm anxiously awaiting trying it out once I'm done with work today.

Does anyone here have any fond recollections of this title? It's old and obviously the graphics are dated, but supposedly it has a 40,000 page strategy guide, which alone is enough to warrant my attention.

Wiki page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_magic

Yall on
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  • DranythDranyth Surf ColoradoRegistered User regular
    edited January 2010
    Master of Magic is fucking amazing. A few friends and I all had it and used to play it all the time, trying out different spell combos and such and then discussing how our games went. I got way more than my money's worth with that game, for certain.

    I'm quite interested in the spiritual successor coming up soon from Stardock called Elemental: War of Magic. In fact that reminds me to check into it again since I thought they were going to try some sort of beta this year.

    But yeah, MoM got a bit brutal on the harder difficulties just because the AI players would start at such a much more advanced state than you. Once you got a solid base going, you were usually ok but spread yourself a bit too thin at just the wrong time and you could quickly get taken advantage of and banished. It has been a while so I can't even remember all the names of the Champions that I liked. I know when playing mostly Life magic, getting Torin the Chosen was an early goal, pairing him up with a regiment of Paladins as soon as possible so they could begin laying waste to everything they came across was fun. God, elite Paladins were overpowered for 'normal' units.

    Many many many games were played. I often remember getting into a dispute with the other wizards (which happened constantly once power levels in various areas were exceeded), then getting the notification of another beginning to cast the final Spell of Mastery, which was one of the ways to win the game if it was finished. Sending a squad of ridiculously beefy heroes and some normal units like Paladins flying across the map to the Wizard's capital to try and decimate their heavily fortified city before they could finish the spell.

    I think my favorite victory type was utter conquest though, taking over all of the enemies' cities except for their capitals while I populated virtually every spot I could on both planes of existence with a new hamlet to be grown into a full city itself and murdering any settlers that any other wizards tried to send out.

    *sigh*

    It does make me sad that I never really got into Age of Wonders, particularly Shadow Magic, which was the most MoM-like. I really liked the tactical dungeon crawls that you got to do for treasure and such.

    Dranyth on
  • Xenogears of BoreXenogears of Bore Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    It's a more complicated Fantasy version of Master of Orion. What's not to love?

    Xenogears of Bore on
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  • UrQuanLord88UrQuanLord88 Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    It's a more complicated Fantasy version of Civilization. What's not to love?

    Fixed.

    I eagerly awaiting the modern remake of the game but stardock's version doesn't seem anything like the old game. It looks more like HofM&M

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  • Tiger BurningTiger Burning Dig if you will, the pictureRegistered User, SolidSaints Tube regular
    edited January 2010
    The Civ 4 mod Fall from Heaven 2 recalls MoM, and is pretty great. It doesn't have the tactical combat, though, of course.

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  • Xenogears of BoreXenogears of Bore Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    No, it's quite obviously built on MoO. I won't argue that it isn't a bit more civvy than MoO 1, but it's not quite as close as MoO 2. Fantasy MoO 1.5 is the most accurate way to describe it.

    Xenogears of Bore on
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  • Mojo_JojoMojo_Jojo We are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourse Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    It's a more complicated Fantasy version of Master of Orion. What's not to love?

    And how. There's some "spiritual successor" in the pipeline somewhere. Elements or something.

    Mojo_Jojo on
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  • YallYall Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    Interesting page related to the topic:

    http://www.masterofmagic2.com/

    Yall on
  • Mojo_JojoMojo_Jojo We are only now beginning to understand the full power and ramifications of sexual intercourse Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    Yall wrote: »
    Interesting page related to the topic:

    http://www.masterofmagic2.com/

    Which hasn't been updated in three years.

    Mojo_Jojo on
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  • dasnoobdasnoob ArkansasRegistered User regular
    edited January 2010
    I spent so many hours playing this as a kid. One of my favorite games of all time. I don't want a 'spiritual successor.' I want the real thing updated for play on modern systems with updated graphics.

    dasnoob on
  • YallYall Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    Mojo_Jojo wrote: »
    Yall wrote: »
    Interesting page related to the topic:

    http://www.masterofmagic2.com/

    Which hasn't been updated in three years.

    :mrgreen: - You're right. I saw today's date near the top of the page and thought that was the date of the posting.

    Yall on
  • Kris_xKKris_xK Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    dasnoob wrote: »
    I spent so many hours playing this as a kid. One of my favorite games of all time. I don't want a 'spiritual successor.' I want the real thing updated for play on modern systems with updated graphics.

    So true.

    You don't need to add in any more stuff, just redo the graphics and I'll buy it. Same goes for a lot of the old classics like Privateer, X-Com, Jagged Alliance, etc etc. Us 20+ year old gamers will buy that shit in a heartbeat.

    Kris_xK on
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  • UrQuanLord88UrQuanLord88 Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    This thread needs more pictures:

    MoM
    uuR0v.gif

    Civ I
    ZSoAC.png

    MoO 1
    7iSKq.jpg

    I'd say Master of Magic ('94) a good mix of all strategy games at the time, Civ ('91), MoO? ('93), HoMM('95)*

    *Oooh scratch that

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  • YallYall Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    Kris_xK wrote: »
    dasnoob wrote: »
    I spent so many hours playing this as a kid. One of my favorite games of all time. I don't want a 'spiritual successor.' I want the real thing updated for play on modern systems with updated graphics.

    So true.

    You don't need to add in any more stuff, just redo the graphics and I'll buy it. Same goes for a lot of the old classics like Privateer, X-Com, Jagged Alliance, etc etc. Us 20+ year old gamers will buy that shit in a heartbeat.

    Considering this is the exact formula used by Hollywood, I'm surprised we don't get more of this in the gaming world.

    Yall on
  • Xenogears of BoreXenogears of Bore Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    It happens all the time, just not with mid 90's Turn Based Strategy games.

    I'd spend upwards of 500 bucks for a balanced multiplayer version of MoO1.

    Xenogears of Bore on
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  • UrQuanLord88UrQuanLord88 Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    Yall wrote: »
    Considering this is the exact formula used by Hollywood, I'm surprised we don't get more of this in the gaming world.

    And just like Hollywood, they will destroy people's memory of their perfect childhood

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  • YallYall Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    Yall wrote: »
    Considering this is the exact formula used by Hollywood, I'm surprised we don't get more of this in the gaming world.

    And just like Hollywood, they will destroy people's memory of their perfect childhood


    Pool of Radiance 1988 vs. 2001 anyone? :cry:

    Yall on
  • 28682868 Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    My second favorite game of all time. Man I put more hours into this and x-com than WoW.

    Torin the Chosen though, he needed a nerf.

    2868 on
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  • gjaustingjaustin Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    I went back and played this game a few years ago.

    I love the Artificier ability. Decking out your Hero with a Lifestealing Sword and an Amulet of Magic Immunity is silly.

    Making wands with a bunch of +mana for your spellcasting heroes is nice as well.

    gjaustin on
  • hazywaterhazywater Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    I loved this game way back. Its surprising that nobody has made any 'ripoffs' or 'homages' of it in all these years considering how much people like the game.

    hazywater on
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  • DranythDranyth Surf ColoradoRegistered User regular
    edited January 2010
    hazywater wrote: »
    I loved this game way back. Its surprising that nobody has made any 'ripoffs' or 'homages' of it in all these years considering how much people like the game.

    So, you *haven't* heard of Age of Wonders then.

    Dranyth on
  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    Yall wrote: »
    Yall wrote: »
    Considering this is the exact formula used by Hollywood, I'm surprised we don't get more of this in the gaming world.

    And just like Hollywood, they will destroy people's memory of their perfect childhood


    Pool of Radiance 1988 vs. 2001 anyone? :cry:

    What are you talking about?
    ;)

    Also, MoM is great and works really well on DOSBox.

    Stardock's next game - Elemental: War of Magic - is supposed to be an homage to this, in part because they couldn't get the rights to make an actual MoM 2. The game is right now in closed beta, which you have access to if you've preordered it. It's been ... a bit ... since I played the beta game, but it is coming along really, really nicely. It's not quite to MoM levels of awesome yet, but it is seriously getting close.

    Elvenshae on
  • AxenAxen My avatar is Excalibur. Yes, the sword.Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    Dranyth wrote: »
    hazywater wrote: »
    I loved this game way back. Its surprising that nobody has made any 'ripoffs' or 'homages' of it in all these years considering how much people like the game.

    So, you *haven't* heard of Age of Wonders then.

    Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic is completely awesome and damn near perfect IMHO. The amount of stuff in it is pretty great. Plus there are a number of really cool player made scenarios and a few mods that are awesome. Can't think of any off hand at the moment, but if I remember their names I'll post em.

    Axen on
    A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
  • DranythDranyth Surf ColoradoRegistered User regular
    edited January 2010
    Age of Wonders was to be my next Master of Magic. It didn't really live up, my friend and I agreed that the random scenario was kind of what made MoM so replayable.

    I bought it, and I bought AoW2, not really playing that much of either.

    Then Age of Wonders:Shadow Magic came out which I followed and which finally had the coveted randomly generated scenario capability. I bought it as well... then never played much of it either. At some point I may finally get into it. Strangely, they've gotten quite a bit of my money while I've gotten little gaming out of the products in return. That's my fault though.

    I still have Shadow Magic installed, just need to try to get into actually learning the system. I played MoM for so long that I just knew what was possible for the most part, AoW in general is so foreign, I just haven't had the inclination to learn it as well.

    Dranyth on
  • Judge-ZJudge-Z Teacher, for Great Justice Upstate NYRegistered User regular
    edited January 2010
    I still have my copy, 3.5 disks, box, manual and all. The disks, sadly, stopped working years ago. But I refuse to throw it out. I bought it off the bargain rack at Wal*Mart (along with MOO and X-COM), when I didn't even have a computer that could run it. I would mooch time on my roommate's 386 for some time with the game. Fantastic. And no matter how good a "spiritual successor" might be, I'm willing to bet it won't quite be the same.

    Judge-Z on
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  • enlightenedbumenlightenedbum Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    Mojo_Jojo wrote: »
    It's a more complicated Fantasy version of Master of Orion. What's not to love?

    And how. There's some "spiritual successor" in the pipeline somewhere. Elements or something.

    Elemental: War of Magic, made by the Gal Civ people.

    Also, MoM was fantastic, if horrifically unbalanced.

    enlightenedbum on
    The idea that your vote is a moral statement about you or who you vote for is some backwards ass libertarian nonsense. Your vote is about society. Vote to protect the vulnerable.
  • Jealous DevaJealous Deva Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    Dranyth wrote: »
    Age of Wonders was to be my next Master of Magic. It didn't really live up, my friend and I agreed that the random scenario was kind of what made MoM so replayable.

    I bought it, and I bought AoW2, not really playing that much of either.

    Then Age of Wonders:Shadow Magic came out which I followed and which finally had the coveted randomly generated scenario capability. I bought it as well... then never played much of it either. At some point I may finally get into it. Strangely, they've gotten quite a bit of my money while I've gotten little gaming out of the products in return. That's my fault though.

    I still have Shadow Magic installed, just need to try to get into actually learning the system. I played MoM for so long that I just knew what was possible for the most part, AoW in general is so foreign, I just haven't had the inclination to learn it as well.


    I had the same kind of feeling from AOW. The tactical combat didn't really hit home to me, and there just wasn't the same depth as MoM (though shadow magic improved things a lot).

    One thing that annoyed me a bit was it seemed like only level 3 and 4 units were remotely useful, so rather than playing as the orcs and fighting as orcs, I would play as the orcs and fight as some wierd T3 units that had very little to do with orkyness.

    Jealous Deva on
  • Kris_xKKris_xK Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    The closest thing I've found to MoM is Dominions 3, which is goddamn awesome.

    Kris_xK on
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  • Alfred J. KwakAlfred J. Kwak is it because you were insulted when I insulted your hair?Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    This thread is like a gold mine for me. Lots of new games for my 'to play'-list.

    Alfred J. Kwak on
  • YallYall Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    This thread is like a gold mine for me. Lots of new games for my 'to play'-list.

    Seriously.

    I have Civ 4 so the mods are interesting me. Plus, I'm reminded that I need to play MoO at some point in my life.

    Yall on
  • Xenogears of BoreXenogears of Bore Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    MoO is for losers, never play that game.
    MoO is awesome and really easy to get running. I think someone somewhere has the digital rights to the game and is selling it right now. I think.

    Xenogears of Bore on
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  • YallYall Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    Fuck me, I'm gonna have to quit my job and abandon all semblance of a social life to get in as much gaming as I want. I now have MoO, MoM, ME2, MW2, and MAG all on my plate.

    That's an odd little trend... ;)

    Yall on
  • Xenogears of BoreXenogears of Bore Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    Skip the rest and play MoO.

    When you can beat it on the smallest universe on impossible with full AI slots and without a diplomatic victory...then you can move on to MoM.

    Xenogears of Bore on
    3DS CODE: 3093-7068-3576
  • The_InfidelThe_Infidel Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    MoO is my top game of all time. Oh, the hours spent....

    The_Infidel on
  • AxenAxen My avatar is Excalibur. Yes, the sword.Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    Mojo_Jojo wrote: »
    It's a more complicated Fantasy version of Master of Orion. What's not to love?

    And how. There's some "spiritual successor" in the pipeline somewhere. Elements or something.

    Elemental: War of Magic, made by the Gal Civ people.

    Also, MoM was fantastic, if horrifically unbalanced.

    Wasn't Elemental supposed to be a new MoM, but that they had some trouble with the license (or what-have-you) and said, "Fuck it, we'll call it something else."

    Axen on
    A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
  • ElvenshaeElvenshae Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    Axen wrote: »
    Mojo_Jojo wrote: »
    It's a more complicated Fantasy version of Master of Orion. What's not to love?

    And how. There's some "spiritual successor" in the pipeline somewhere. Elements or something.

    Elemental: War of Magic, made by the Gal Civ people.

    Also, MoM was fantastic, if horrifically unbalanced.

    Wasn't Elemental supposed to be a new MoM, but that they had some trouble with the license (or what-have-you) and said, "Fuck it, we'll call it something else."

    Yeah, which is what I said, like, last page. :D

    Elvenshae on
  • AxenAxen My avatar is Excalibur. Yes, the sword.Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    Elvenshae wrote: »
    Axen wrote: »
    Mojo_Jojo wrote: »
    It's a more complicated Fantasy version of Master of Orion. What's not to love?

    And how. There's some "spiritual successor" in the pipeline somewhere. Elements or something.

    Elemental: War of Magic, made by the Gal Civ people.

    Also, MoM was fantastic, if horrifically unbalanced.

    Wasn't Elemental supposed to be a new MoM, but that they had some trouble with the license (or what-have-you) and said, "Fuck it, we'll call it something else."

    Yeah, which is what I said, like, last page. :D

    Pfft, how can I keep track of two pages! You ask the impossible! :P

    Axen on
    A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
  • enlightenedbumenlightenedbum Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    Skip the rest and play MoO.

    When you can beat it on the smallest universe on impossible with full AI slots and without a diplomatic victory...then you can move on to MoM.

    The first time I was going to beat an Impossible MoM game the game crashed. And then I reloaded the auto save and it crashed again. Forever. :(

    enlightenedbum on
    The idea that your vote is a moral statement about you or who you vote for is some backwards ass libertarian nonsense. Your vote is about society. Vote to protect the vulnerable.
  • Xenogears of BoreXenogears of Bore Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    Skip the rest and play MoO.

    When you can beat it on the smallest universe on impossible with full AI slots and without a diplomatic victory...then you can move on to MoM.

    The first time I was going to beat an Impossible MoM game the game crashed. And then I reloaded the auto save and it crashed again. Forever. :(

    That's because you went beyond the impossible...

    Xenogears of Bore on
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  • AxenAxen My avatar is Excalibur. Yes, the sword.Registered User regular
    edited January 2010
    Skip the rest and play MoO.

    When you can beat it on the smallest universe on impossible with full AI slots and without a diplomatic victory...then you can move on to MoM.

    The first time I was going to beat an Impossible MoM game the game crashed. And then I reloaded the auto save and it crashed again. Forever. :(

    That's because you went beyond the impossible...

    If he had beaten Impossible he would have created a Positive-Negative and collapsed existence. Thanks for almost negating Reality asshole. :P

    Axen on
    A Capellan's favorite sheath for any blade is your back.
  • DranythDranyth Surf ColoradoRegistered User regular
    edited January 2010
    I remember frequently taking a couple of Sorcery books (or at least one), on the off chance of either finding in a dungeon loot or being able to trade at some point with a high Sorcery wizard for Sky Drakes. Dear god they were overpowered as fuck. Immune to Magic, flying, high attack, high HP, and their lightning breath weapon counted as a first strike I think and since it was lightning, it ignored half armor I do believe.

    And dear lord, if you could get Regeneration and put that on them with Spell Lock to protect it, a squad of 6 to 9 Sky Drakes were utterly unstoppable. Ridiculously high magic upkeep on that sort of setup though.

    Dranyth on
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