Master of Magic remake from Thea developers and Slitherine

[Tanaka]

Bit sad to see that they've retained the max 5 player limit but they did say they were going to stay true to the original as much as possible I guess.

Yeah not interested for this reason it's 2022 not 1994 some things can be updated.

So this needs to be changed but when they speed up movement then it needs to be like old game!! They cannot win whatever they do. Best is to do whatever they want and ignore all the complainers.

Nah they can update it all they want. I just want to be able to play with all players not limited. The reason they did this back then was because computers could not handle it. Now they can. Allowing you the option of playing with all players unlike limiting to 5 in 1994 is not changing the game. It is giving you the option of a great update. I have no interest in the same old limitations.

 

[Blake00]

Yeah I copped a lot of flack on the MuHa discord for saying they should up the player count (and some did bring up the CoM gang**** stuff with 10+ players as a counter argument) but I really don't see the harm in upping it to 7 or 8.. a limit of 5 in 2022 is just ridiculous. They won't though so fingers crossed modders can get to it as sadly in many cases it's a hard limit modders can't touch but there have been a few games over the decades where modders were able to do it. However then the other wizards view screen would need to be heavily accessible for change too (to squeeze in the extra players) which seems unlikely.

 

[Tanaka]

Yeah I copped a lot of flack on the MuHa discord for saying they should up the player count (and some did bring up the CoM gang**** stuff with 10+ players as a counter argument) but I really don't see the harm in upping it to 7 or 8.. a limit of 5 in 2022 is just ridiculous. They won't though so fingers crossed modders can get to it as sadly in many cases it's a hard limit modders can't touch but there have been a few games over the decades where modders were able to do it. However then the other wizards view screen would need to be heavily accessible for change too (to squeeze in the extra players) which seems unlikely.

Yeah I was about to say you can now play with up to 13 players in COM Windows so why downgrade back to 5 buying the new game?

 

[Lacrymas]

When is this coming out anyway?

 

[Gaznak]

MoM doesn't really need a remake

THIS.

And I keep wondering what is the target audience of this... ehm, endeavour. Old farts like me and many other codexers? Nah. Zoomer gamers? Not sure. Who else?

 

[Blake00]

When is this coming out anyway?

Was going to be late this year but considering it's getting towards late this year who knows now lol.

And I keep wondering what is the target audience of this... ehm, endeavour. Old farts like me and many other codexers? Nah. Zoomer gamers? Not sure. Who else?

Is what I keep wondering too.. and I run the friggin MoM fan communities & have been sharing their stuff around lol... so if I can't connect with what they're doing then.. yeah bit of worry lol..

I think most of the core fanbase ("old farts") will give it a shot but will end up going back to classic MoM and CoM2+Warlords. And I think the "zoomers" will ignore it as it's graphics just aren't good enough compared to other 4x games coming out and even ones from years ago now.

Really the only thing that might save it will be it's modding potential which they say will be good but fans will be the true judge of that lol. At least then maybe the graphics can be improved..

 

[Lacrymas]

The graphics of the original were/are fine. Is MoM a cultural juggernaut and I'm not aware of this? It does indeed seem weird to remake it.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

I don't think it's weird at all, it's still one of the most revered (for a good reason) 4X that never actually had a proper, worthy sequel or even spiritual successor. Remaking it in a typically low effort/talent/creativity manner such as this is indeed pointless.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Slitherine bought the MoM IP and since everyone already owns the game they aren't going to make any money that way. Remaking the game is the safest bet they could take, instead of betting their cash on a sequel. And judging by everything I've seen so far they are doing everything they can to maximize profits by making this remake as cheap as possible.

 

[Gaznak]

never actually had a proper, worthy sequel or even spiritual successor

Well, I think AoW 1, 2 and 2.5 are the most close to MoM 'spiritual successor' title. Not really 'successors' per se though but rather 'followers', inspired spiritually and borrowed mechanics- and content-wise. But the closest nevertheless IMO.

There is also Lords of Magic that could be 'contender to succession' to some extent.

 

[covr]

Take off your boomer glasses, gentlemen, of course some ppl are going to play this. Fantasy general 2 has been a moderate success and its original game was even more obscure than original MoM. If it's good - ppl will like it and play it. Having the MOM IP is just a trick, something interesting to mention during live stream or some review. Let's be honest, most of original MOM players are already placed in homes for people with dementia, they won't buy the game, they can't even buy themselves a coffee from coffee machine.

As a person who loves 4X games - the UI, sound and graphics of MOM are really outdated after that ...30 years? It is a game from different era, UI is unusable on modern screens, it is not very efficient or good looking. Graphics are not the highest point of pixel art, it is just pixel... something. The gameplay is top notch, but the rest is not up to today's standards.

There's a lot of potential for Slytherin and Shitea Devs.

 

[InspectorRumpole]

MoM doesn't really need a remake

THIS.

And I keep wondering what is the target audience of this... ehm, endeavour. Old farts like me and many other codexers? Nah. Zoomer gamers? Not sure. Who else?

Someone like me for instance.

Don't know why actually, but I never tried the original, so I don't have the nostalgia goggles.

I'm too old and comfy for wanting the hassle of dosbox, lack of settings and such.

 

[mastroego]

I have the nostalgia and I agree that the graphics and UI at least could use the update.
This is why I'd prefer a perfect "copy" of everything else. Except they're not going to do that, are they?

 

[Lacrymas]

I don't think it's weird at all, it's still one of the most revered (for a good reason) 4X that never actually had a proper, worthy sequel or even spiritual successor. Remaking it in a typically low effort/talent/creativity manner such as this is indeed pointless.

Who knows of this reverence? None of my gamer friends have heard of this game, let alone played it.

 

[Gilius Thunderhead]

Who knows of this reverence? None of my gamer friends have heard of this game, let alone played it.

Have you ever asked yourself why all your friends are homosexual?

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Well, I think AoW 1, 2 and 2.5 are the most close to MoM 'spiritual successor' title. Not really 'successors' per se though but rather 'followers', inspired spiritually and borrowed mechanics- and content-wise. But the closest nevertheless IMO.

There is also Lords of Magic that could be 'contender to succession' to some extent.

AoW series borrowed a lot from MoM for sure and it's a great series in general, but 1 is not even a 4X while the following entries don't shine in that aspect, either. LoM is where I completely fail to make a connection, unless you simply mean as a fantasy tb strategy with separate combat layer (I purposely avoid using "tactical" as that abomination does not deserve it). There were games that actually tried to be a legit MoM's follow-up, the problem is that they were all poor.

Take off your boomer glasses, gentlemen, of course some ppl are going to play this. Fantasy general 2 has been a moderate success and its original game was even more obscure than original MoM. If it's good - ppl will like it and play it. Having the MOM IP is just a trick, something interesting to mention during live stream or some review. Let's be honest, most of original MOM players are already placed in homes for people with dementia, they won't buy the game, they can't even buy themselves a coffee from coffee machine.

As a person who loves 4X games - the UI, sound and graphics of MOM are really outdated after that ...30 years? It is a game from different era, UI is unusable on modern screens, it is not very efficient or good looking. Graphics are not the highest point of pixel art, it is just pixel... something. The gameplay is top notch, but the rest is not up to today's standards.

There's a lot of potential for Slytherin and Shitea Devs.

The only place where FG2 was a moderate success is probably the codex (which is disappointing to see). In reality, it did poor numbers even by the publisher's low standards. Also, stop with the constant stream of hot takes, I cannot take it anymore. It's not like it takes some secret esoteric knowledge to realize that MoM still has its community with actively developed patches, modifications etc and that fantasy themed 4X is an untapped market. Sure, you ain't gonna get nu-civ numbers here, but for a properly supported project matching Amplitude levels should be very doable. This thing, however, is on a typical Slitherine trajectory of 600 concurrent peak players on steam being considered a "moderate success".

Side note: I literally have no fucking idea what you're talking about in that paragraph about the UI, the "master of..." standard UI gives you a quick and clean access to all necessary info and takes like 5 minutes to learn if you ever played a strategy game in your life. Are you someone who prefers modern wonders of how nu-civ handles with lack of even absolutely basic stuff like unit lists and struggle with outlandish concepts like side-scrolling?

 

[covr]

Zboj Lamignat, yea, FG2 was such a flop that it generated 3 full blown expansions by itself. That's what you do when your games sells poor - you just invest more into big DLC's right? And that MoM modding community is literally one guy making unofficial patches and another guy modding the game. That's it.

As for the UI - interface taking 40% of the screen and no right click might be considered as outdated. Does the game scale well into modern aspect ratio, or should be played in windowed mode?

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Dude, welcome to 2022, not like it takes 10 second to check how popular a game is. FYI - more people are playing MoM rn then they are FG2, with the latter having peak player (almost always a release day) count of around 600 people.

Yeah, I think it's safe to assume that a game from '94 does not have a widescreen support. It still operates on a couple of clearly define and easy to understand screens that give you easy access to all the info that you need, while avoiding clutter, nestled tabs and all modern plagues. The worst thing I can say about it is that it looks meh, while UIs of a lot of games from the nineties were works of art.

 

[InspectorRumpole]

Nah, The font, which is designed for a low res CRT screen doesn't look good. At least to my old eyes.

 

[Gaznak]

The gameplay is top notch, but the rest is not up to today's standards.

Well, the problem here is that today's standards are retards' standards. Just look at any modern TBS/4X. They all seem to be designed by the same one blind talentless Excel lover. And these wide screens, God, these screens, they make me really seriously sick. Playing on these screens has nothing common with comfort, convenience and aesthetics. Aesthetics are probably the main thing which is lost today, and it seems, irrevocably.

 

[Dadd]

I don't like the art direction. Everything looks lopsided and malformed and the colors are washed out.

 

[mondblut]

The gameplay is top notch, but the rest is not up to today's standards.

Well, the problem here is that today's standards are retards' standards. Just look at any modern TBS/4X. They all seem to be designed by the same one blind talentless Excel lover. And these wide screens, God, these screens, they make me really seriously sick. Playing on these screens has nothing common with comfort, convenience and aesthetics. Aesthetics are probably the main thing which is lost today, and it seems, irrevocably.

It's a strategy game. The more of the map fits on the screen at once, the better.

 

[Old One]

Switching to 3D graphics doesn't seem like any kind of improvement to me.

 

[Blake00]

looks like we've got a release date now...

https://steamcommunity.com/games/1623070/announcements/detail/3305103170308164752

.

 

[Arryosha]

MoM Classic currently free on gog