MoM, AoW, FFH2, E:DoM, Dom3, which is bettah and wi

[Heresiarch]

Being all are magic oriented 4X games, I'm willing to choose one to try out but the ancient question pops up: which is better and why?

MoM: Dosbox loaded it and tried it for 3 turns and then I dropped it.Ｉcan't understand why people say it's awesome. The game feel too much like Civ. The graphics sucks too much (slap me). But the whole point is...the game just feels too much like Civ! Can you guys explain what's so awesome about MoM? Especially, is it STILL awesome by today's standard, compared to the other MoM-likes?

AoW: Is it any good? I've heard it's a mix of HOMM (which all I've played a loved except 4) and MoM. I've heard the eXpand part of it doesn't work as good as the others. The magic in it sucks compared to MoM and Dom3. But the game seems fun? Any opinions?

FFH2: I've played it many times before, but never too deep. Because it's a mod, so many things just doesn't seem "complete" to me.

Dom3: Very complicated and FUN it seems. Too bad I'm a damn pirate and I've heard the serial keys doesn't work for versions after 3.04. Bummer.

 

[MetalCraze]

MoM is cool and has the most badass spells found in a fantasy 4X game but 320x200 absolutely kills it for me as I can barely see what is what with hugeass pixels on smallass sprites.

AoW is good. Play AoW1 and AoWSM (skip AoW2 as there is no point in playing it because AoWSM, being a standalone addon, is superior) - both are pretty different in terms of gameplay. AoW1 is closer to HoMM, while AoWSM is closer to MoM however both of them are superior to Heroes.

FFH2 is being dragged down by a mess that is Civ4. All Civ4's shortcomings are there like the lack of ZoCs, stupid inability to just quickly pass through neutral territory without declaring war, etc. FFH2 is still good though but it needs to be a separate game (which they now make) and needs less silly "modder" stuff. You know - like Guybrush Threepwood being one of the heroes there.

Never got around to playing Dom3 although certain Codexers I trust recommended me to try it.

 

[Trash]

Stupid fucking graphic whores should stick to their consoles.

 

[MetalCraze]

But graphics suck on consoles

 

[Luzur]

goddammit.

 

[catfood]

MoM is good but I can understand why you can't get into it. The graphics are kinda difficult to make out at first but at least the interface is pretty good considering the year when it came out. You should try playing it some more and you might get the hang of it. For example I played it for the first time a few years ago and I felt the same things you do, but I stuck with it and I'm glad I did in the end. As for other MoM-likes, well I don't know if there are that many, some other codexers might know more about it. I'm going to try the Elemental demo now that I think about it. Then there's...

... the AOW games. As Skyway said 1 is closer to HOMM and 2 (and SM) is closer to MOM. They are really, really good, in fact I can't even play HOMM now that I've played AOW (even though they don't have a lot of similarities). If you do want to play, which you should, then I'm going to tell you that the super duper hero stack of doom from HOMM is almost useless. Mobility is the name ofthe game and so it's best to have a lot of mobile units on the map going about capturing resource centers and towns. In 2+ you can build your own towns but they aren't really and important part of your strategy on most maps as they grow very slow and the cities that you can capture, no matter how basic they are, are often more advanced.

Like in MOM the magic part is the best, you gain spells by researching them, doing quests, finding them on the map or trading with the other players. Since the stack of units doesen't exist even low level damage spells will still be useful later on. And the global spells are the best: you can flood the lands, freeze it, turn it to blight, create mountains and valleys, institute rebellions in enemy cities. You can raze cities and you can for instance bring them back with Animate Ruins spell as undead towns. Cool eh?
The bad part is that 1 doesen't have a random map generator, and the one in 2+ is really shitty BUT you can find a lot of good ones at aow.heavengames.com

 

[Elwro]

BTW, AoW is now $6 on GOG.

 

[reaven]

Why isn't there a MoM port / remake / clone ?

 

[Raapys]

Stardock just tried. Didn't go so well.

 

[Technoviking]

I used to play Dominions 3 quite a bit back in the day. It's definitely a fun a game. As I recall there were quite significant differences between races, which lead to a whole lot of replay value and tactics testing. (some races were sort of overpowered though )

I've heard a lot of people say that it's hard to get into, but it's not really. It's just harder to get into than most modern day games, which honestly isn't saying much.

Before getting started I'd suggest reading a bit up on the basics in the manual. Then just slowly start reading up on the rest as you progress through the game and random stuff starts piquing your interest.

You won't get anywhere fast without reading either the manual or some random tutorials though, so if that kind of stuff is not your cup of tea, then I suppose you'd want to give Dom 3 a pass.

 

[Raapys]

Ye, Dominions 3 is a good game in many aspects. Playing that undead race(Eremor?) was especially cool. Still, the game's not really made for single-player. AI isn't exactly good, and there wasn't any diplomacy( in SP). It's definitely meant for PBM.

MoM is still awesome though. The spell system is just excellent, tons of cool spellbook/ability combinations, cool summons, cool enchantments, etc.

 

[zeitgeist]

I don't really get the MoM complaints, it has very decent graphics considering the resolution (and great fonts too), everything is immediately recognizable and consistent in style. It's at least on the level of (if not superior to) Civilization, which is absolutely playable even today. Are you perhaps playing with some weird filters in DOSBox if you can't even make out what's what?

 

[Vitriol]

AoW is a great game, at least the first one. There is a decent variety of units and abilities and while city management may not be too complex it has certain interesting mechanics, like ethnic cleansing of conquered citites. The magic system is inferior to MoM with a limited number of spells, but the research mechanic forcing the player to choose between accumulating mana and acquiring new spells still works great. Also, it's fun to watch how certain spells alter the landscape, often as a side effect - a storm of life magic deals heavy damage, but also leaves a fertile grassland in its wake. The campaign is pretty good and has c&c leading to six different endings. Give it a go, it has aged well and still offers excellent gameplay.

On a related note, how the hell is it possible that all attempts to remake MoM have failed so miserably?

 

[Trash]

MoM looks absolutely fine. If you can't stomach that you really shouldn't be bitching about popamole and consoletards.

 

[8utt3rs]

MOM is CLASSIC and CLASSIC IS CLASSIC BRO, ALL THOSE CHEAP COPIES GOES TO THE DOGZ AOW IS DECENT THOUGH BUT CANOT BEAT THE MOTHER OF MAGIC!