General video game discussion

[Thomas Shey]

Master of Orion 2 is another one that never got a proper sequel or spiritual successor. Everything I've seen (especially the official sequels) that's tried to be has had either used spacelanes, had a dodgy and/or realtime combat system, or had a bad interface

I've seen ones that are okay, but most of them are similar in kind rather than trying to duplicate it. (the new Master of Orion is okay but generally just left me cold, and I can't honestly say why. I don't mind the spacelane thing, so that's not it).

 

[trappedslider]

Found this on the WoW reddit

 

[Bohandas]

Master of Magic was Civilization; just with magic. The only difference was on some of the tactical elements because of the breakdown, and that's still there.

Doesn't Civ have a hex grid, and the pretentious zoom that needlessly changes the camera angle, and one unit per tile and no tactical combat?

 

[Thomas Shey]

Doesn't Civ have a hex grid, and the pretentious zoom that needlessly changes the camera angle, and one unit per tile and no tactical combat?

Which version? The game has gone through seven versions, after all. And honestly, I don't see square grid/hex grid being a big deal.

 

[GreyLord]

Master of Orion 2 is another one that never got a proper sequel or spiritual successor. Everything I've seen (especially the official sequels) that's tried to be has had either used spacelanes, had a dodgy and/or realtime combat system, or had a bad interface

There are two that I think almost fit the bill and one that isn't really fit the bill at all but can be a substitute.

You should give Galactic Civilizations 2 a try. It's pretty decent.

The other would be more of an Indie that they've been working on since forever, and has different iterations. Space Empires 5, which I feel follows the natural evolution of what MoO would have done if it had continued along it's destined path instead of being hijacked by fate to follow another destiny.

Edit: Oh yeah, forgot to put in the substitution. The substitution game would be Birth of the Federation. Awesome game, but that's sort of cheating as it was a reskin of MoO 2. I've heard they've remade it for Windows 11, but I haven't actually checked it out.

 

[Pale Violet Light]

The original has held up well, the remake is unstable trash

Eh, I've been playing it for a while now and it seems fine.

Thanks both. I suppose a consensus was too much to ask for.

Part of it will be your tolerance for the graphics. I'm not completely hostile to older style graphics--as noted, my default comfort food game is Master of Orion 2--but the original Master of Magic goes a bit too far.

(The remake also addressed some mechanical balance issues with some units I thought mattered considerably).

I can handle Civ1-era graphics, but not much worse than that. Might give the original a shot.

 

[Bohandas]

In regard to Master of Magic what I recommend is the massive additional content DLC ("Caster of Magic") for the original that dropped roughly around the same time that the remake came out

 

[Thomas Shey]

The other would be more of an Indie that they've been working on since forever, and has different iterations. Space Empires 5, which I feel follows the natural evolution of what MoO would have done if it had continued along it's destined path instead of being hijacked by fate to follow another destiny.

I used to like that one quite a bit--you've got to give credit for a game that actually figures out when computer players have pretty much lost and has them give up--but I find there's some problems getting it to resolve properly with screen size these days and pretty much gave up on it.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Thanks both. I suppose a consensus was too much to ask for.

I find a lot of hostility toward remakes from that period usually pretty hyperbolic, so take that as you will.

I can handle Civ1-era graphics, but not much worse than that. Might give the original a shot.

Its certainly not any worse than Civ-1 since it came out, I want to say three years later (1994 ompared to 1991).

 

[Thomas Shey]

You should give Galactic Civilizations 2 a try. It's pretty decent.

Came back to this because I remembered one comment I had that did not relate to the publisher/designer:

Constructor fatigue in GalCiv2 can become really a thing. I understand what they were trying to represent but managing them got really, really old.