tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post577409120239205128..comments2024-03-29T02:34:55.592-04:00Comments on The CRPG Addict: Game 222: The Master of Magic (1985)CRPG Addicthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-21173932385172490532021-10-16T13:58:49.524-04:002021-10-16T13:58:49.524-04:00On the topic of Simtex's Master of Magic, stil...On the topic of Simtex's Master of Magic, still one of the best 4X games ever made in my opinion, there is a fan mod called Caster of Magic that tightens up all the game mechanics significantly. <br /><br />As for the C64 game here, for me it is mostly notable for Rob Hubbard's incredible SID programming. The man was a bona fide genius and I don't say such things lightly!Benjamin D.Halfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05771587247257122201noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-71294721227787329202021-05-16T16:07:33.519-04:002021-05-16T16:07:33.519-04:00some body actually made madter of magic inspired g...some body actually made madter of magic inspired game fir c64, recently. and its really good <br />https://psytronik.itch.io/dragonspireHeri's Mindstormshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15400810892341709394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-14478203620361738062020-03-01T12:55:33.105-05:002020-03-01T12:55:33.105-05:00I also had this game as a youngster but could neve...I also had this game as a youngster but could never work it out and so died very early and very often.<br /><br />As for the music, Rob Hubbard is a bit of a legend in computer game music, but this one isn't one of his best moments as the entire thing is an "unoffical" cover of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfxcreFEowE" rel="nofollow">Synergy's "Shibolet"</a>. Hubbard borrows another Synergy track for the music in <i>Zoids</i>; composers in the UK computer games scene were not always respectful of copyright. ;)thekelvingreenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-49819173741842418062016-08-02T17:05:33.248-04:002016-08-02T17:05:33.248-04:00Once again we have a powerful figure, in this case...Once again we have a powerful figure, in this case the master of magic, who just grabs some jerk to recover an artifact. What's the likelihood of a favorable outcome here? Are we sure we want this guy to live forever? Natehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08098875250377735658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-21565691905266045882016-06-11T22:46:31.068-04:002016-06-11T22:46:31.068-04:00> Richard would found Codemasters Ltd. with his...> Richard would found Codemasters Ltd. with his father and brother, David Darling.<br /><br />Boy, talk about an obliging mum!Random Commenternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-23944517284190585072016-05-17T01:57:34.960-04:002016-05-17T01:57:34.960-04:00I've played "The Spectre of Castle Doomro...I've played "The Spectre of Castle Doomrock". It doesn't seem to be an RPG as there are no items. It's just a top-down view of a bunch of rooms connected by doors. You visit each room, defeat the asterisk/monster inside by repeatedly pressing the attack button. Defeating the monster improves your attack or defence stat. Repeat until you are strong enough to take on the spectre. Once you kill it, you get a message saying the spectre isn't dead and it has used its magic to reanimate all of the monsters and make them (and itself) stronger. Then you have to repeat the process, because you aren't strong enough to defeat the resurrected spectre. I don't know if the game can be won. If it does, it takes more than two resurrections.Tristrom Cookehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13893955972144823884noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-446595071453841062016-05-17T00:45:27.142-04:002016-05-17T00:45:27.142-04:00SSI's Stronghold (1993) first! If there is any...SSI's Stronghold (1993) first! If there is any game that ought to be emulated nowadays, it should be this! Majesty came close but it still lacked a little something. Oh, and Birthright as well.Kenny McCormickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01553499727945099493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-30951565142560264232016-05-16T16:52:12.578-04:002016-05-16T16:52:12.578-04:00It's a little more fiendish than that. I think...It's a little more fiendish than that. I think it's something like a potion of "Orkanian" intellect. Still enough to suss it out, but not enough to be blatantly obvious what's going to happen.<br /><br />Your point is taken about "Fireball," but whether you cast it once or zero times is a pretty small distinction. The point is that a regular CRPG player would probably go into this game not realizing that spell points are extremely precious and on restorable by a single potion, and even then not by much. You have to treat that meter as a precious resource and not like the "mana bar" of a typical RPG.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-43299922766806628362016-05-16T12:22:44.543-04:002016-05-16T12:22:44.543-04:00I think Warlock tried to fix Master of Magic's...I think Warlock tried to fix Master of Magic's biggest fault - its overwhelming ambition leading to no end of technical problems at launch and issues like the underwhelming AI - and produced a game that despite being twenty years newer felt considerably less advanced because it took far fewer chances and features fewer spells, races, units, etc. to keep itself streamlined and avoid upsetting a well-considered balance. It was a fine strategy game, but it made Master of Magic look like a Paradox game in comparison. I love MoM's crazy depth, warts and all.<br /><br />Eador might have gone too far the other way. There's a lot of complexity and it has a very steep difficulty curve - it's super easy to faff around too long and let your opponents grow strong enough to steamroll you, I discovered, or get wiped out by an innocuous encounter - whereas Master of Magic is fairly easy on beginners (especially Civ fans) even if it takes a while to get a handle on all the strategic options it has to offer.<br /><br />It feels like a great number of fantasy empire sim developers have their own ideas about how to build an improved MoM, but no-one's quite managed it yet. Subjectively speaking, of course.<br /><br />(Boy, this got off-topic, huh? I hope the Addict decides to review the game when he gets to 1994, since it has a few RPG elements. I know he has the Warlords games on his list.)Mentohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12666135395522594894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-16436337946666024352016-05-16T08:21:25.454-04:002016-05-16T08:21:25.454-04:00The purpose of Fireball is to hit multiple enemies...The purpose of Fireball is to hit multiple enemies at once. In a nutshell, Magic Missile delivers a strong hit to one enemy; Fireball delivers a weaker hit to multiple enemies around you; Energy Drain delivers a weaker hit to one enemy but also restores your life somewhat; and Magical Shield protects you in combat. <br /><br />There's really only one area that Fireball is potentially handy - one of the floors (the third one down, I believe) is a huge open area with monsters scattered about, all of which start moving towards you as soon as you set foot in the level. Depending on where you go it's possible for a horde of them to come bearing down on you all at the same time. Theoretically Fireball could be handy there.<br /><br />But I agree with the Addict that the best spell bar none is Magical Shield, simply because it's so cost-efficient. I recall on my winning runs I used Magic Missile exactly once (to kill an Orc to get a weapon early on, as you start with just your fists) and then Magical Shield was the only other spell I used for the rest of the game. Although if you find the spell-point-restoring potion there is a little room for "error" in spellcasting.<br /><br />I remember there's also a "Potion of Orcish Intellect" that you can find in the dungeon. What happens when you drink it? You LOSE spell points. Makes sense to me!Voltglosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07893726442063421240noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-34670862958157931362016-05-16T07:54:15.090-04:002016-05-16T07:54:15.090-04:00Anonymous, anyone who likes my blog should be grat...Anonymous, anyone who likes my blog should be grateful that I am not stronger and more focused. If I was, I certainly would play fewer games.<br /><br />You can all stop debating the guest post issue. I'm going to have one, as a trial, on some somatic material that flows well with things I've said before. But I won't have guests posts for regular reviews. Even if that means I have to slog through the rest of this ridiculous French game by myself.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-75816774783796623652016-05-16T04:39:46.268-04:002016-05-16T04:39:46.268-04:00I was indeed talking about The adventure gamer. Yo...I was indeed talking about The adventure gamer. You guys are doing good job, but its not appealing to me anymore. As I said, i like consistency and over the time, i get used to someone's style and I hate changes.<br /><br />It's like as if you have a favourite restaurant because there is a great chef and you love how he cooks. But someday, they change the chef and he cooks differently. It's still the same restaurant - the same location, the same interier - but the food is different and you realize it. <br /><br />I still think TAG is a good blog - if i were a new reader, i would be probably satisfied. But at the moment I read it only when there is a game i played. <br /><br />Chet, you should try to focus more. These thoughts about abandoning a game and giving it to someone else because you don't like it, are a sign of weakness. I thought you are an Addict and no CRPG can beat you. If you don't like it, just give it a few hours, write your opinion and skip it. No one says you have to finish everything. You can always come back later, when you are in good mood and more determined. But please, keep reviews for yourself. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-54039813610267595772016-05-16T04:07:59.997-04:002016-05-16T04:07:59.997-04:00I vote No on guest posts. There are 5 million othe...I vote No on guest posts. There are 5 million other incompetent video game bloggers and I don't want them on your site. <br /><br />If you insist on guest posts, please only allow occasional, well-written essays on video game history or themes. Please don't allow people to review games for you.<br /><br />In other news, "Back in my day monitors only had 1 color," says the crotchety, old gamer.Davenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-80954842703768043732016-05-16T01:45:40.757-04:002016-05-16T01:45:40.757-04:00Totally agreed with it. Too many cooks may spoil t...Totally agreed with it. Too many cooks may spoil the pot but variety is the spice of life.Kenny McCormickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01553499727945099493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-74130285518157315042016-05-16T01:43:42.038-04:002016-05-16T01:43:42.038-04:00A GREAT RPG should have a few spells that should n...A GREAT RPG should have a few spells that should never be used. Like the Discworld's Eight Great Spells and Ultima's Armageddon. It adds a lot of flavor to the world and underscores the danger and trappings of bending reality with mystical will.Kenny McCormickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01553499727945099493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-46352147389351848582016-05-15T22:40:04.190-04:002016-05-15T22:40:04.190-04:00At the risk of agreeing with Anonymous, I actually...At the risk of agreeing with Anonymous, I actually prefer blogs where you can follow the experiences of one reviewer over a long period of time and really come to appreciate their viewpoints, especially when the articles are well-written. I think group blogs frequently fail on both counts: it's impossible to provide that shared experience AND because you have multiple writers, it takes much longer to get into a groove with a good style. Try going back and reading Chet's first posts and you'll see how much better they are now, just imagine doing that with a fleet of reviewers.<br /><br />I think you may be surprised to hear me say this because I'm one of TAG's more frequent reviewers, but I agree with you and I miss when Trickster was the one writer. But having just had the pleasure of reading him play through MI2 in the "old style", I realize how much his old blog has changed now that we have more people with divergent interests contributing. We're doing more interviews. We're doing more history research and playing a ton of lower-impact games that shaped the development of the genre. We're different.<br /><br />I don't know if you were speaking about TAG or not in your comment, but if you did you were spot on. I hope that CRPGAddict never goes the way TAG did because I cherish the perspective that Chet brings. But once that decision was made for us on TAG, I think we ran with it and made the best of it. And while I am a biased observer, I think the site is coming into its own as something closely related, but quite different, from the site it was before. Joe Pranevichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12997014242774219758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-41377676461158445202016-05-15T20:43:43.093-04:002016-05-15T20:43:43.093-04:00Paradox's Warlock also alleviates some of the ...Paradox's Warlock also alleviates some of the pining for a true-blue MoM successor. Though it actually felt more like playing a high-fantasy Civ5 mod.<br /><br />Anyway, Summons FTW!Kenny McCormickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01553499727945099493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-53264718783941843872016-05-15T14:09:34.673-04:002016-05-15T14:09:34.673-04:00I'm playing Eador at the moment, It captures q...I'm playing Eador at the moment, It captures quite a lot of what was cool about MoM yet lacks a bit of the charm.<br /><br />That said, MoM's AI was atrocious and the game's imbalances, while part of what was charming about the title, forced you to restrict yourself from certain strategies. eg A single unit of summoned shadow demons would defeat the entire map.Tristan Gallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16769219573533545742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-68415808008254661892016-05-14T23:32:28.307-04:002016-05-14T23:32:28.307-04:00Spectre of Castle Doomrock wins the contest for th...Spectre of Castle Doomrock wins the contest for the game name that most sounds like an intentional mishmash parody of half a dozen other games. (Retroactively, of course.) Spectre, Castle Wolfenstein, Doom, Legend of Grimrock, all rolled up into one.Quirkzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16409671254311123117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-21405288084703315822016-05-14T23:27:59.398-04:002016-05-14T23:27:59.398-04:00Regarding spell usage, there's something parti...Regarding spell usage, there's something particularly frustrating that they exist, but other than the two you mentioned it sounds like all of the others (not sure if there are many, or just fireball) are basically just a trap. In a try-until-you-get-it-right game I can accept that some rooms or some monsters are better avoided or ignored, but it bothers me much more strongly that there's spells that practically put you in a walking dead situation by using them even once. It would be much better design, in my mind, if there was at least one place where you could/should use the other spells. For example, one foe that is best defeated by a fireball, but which guards a treasure that includes a mana recharge along with something else. I think I'm drifting into what's really more adventure game philosophy than RPG philosophy here, but that's what this is closer to. But in a real RPG it would be even more inexcusable to have a roster of spells you're not allowed to touch. One of the points of good RPGs is usually to have lots of options and figure out which one is preferable to use.Quirkzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16409671254311123117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-74603680758023516822016-05-14T22:52:35.280-04:002016-05-14T22:52:35.280-04:00There's something very, very wrong with that w...There's something very, very wrong with that woman. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-72812730656719554862016-05-14T22:51:59.005-04:002016-05-14T22:51:59.005-04:00Hmm, I wonder. Can it work if someone feeds you hi...Hmm, I wonder. Can it work if someone feeds you his/her experience with the game and you grade it according to your GIMLET (or you do it in unison)?dahaunshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02098585704891226776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-44185331152699938682016-05-14T20:28:15.575-04:002016-05-14T20:28:15.575-04:00I don't normally ask about box art but I got t...I don't normally ask about box art but I got to ask, you think that's suppose to be Thelric? and why is the woman in a bikini? is there enemies like her?Bakuielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06708554023018591850noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-89459263596663919702016-05-14T14:33:46.082-04:002016-05-14T14:33:46.082-04:00I think an occasional guest post may be okay, but ...I think an occasional guest post may be okay, but one of the things that we love most about your blog is the consistent narrative voice. It's your experience playing these games that we are interested in, not just playing games in the abstract. I wouldn't mind more frequent linking to other similar blogs (of which I keep discovering more and more), but not so much featuring other blogger here. (And I say this knowing full well that I would love to do a guest post here...)<br /><br />Completely unrelated, you have "Spectre of Castle Doomrock" in upcoming games list twice...<br />Joe Pranevichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12997014242774219758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6162314467762792782.post-30923436627835759282016-05-14T09:50:59.001-04:002016-05-14T09:50:59.001-04:00Bah. But that means I have to finish Mandragore my...Bah. But that means I have to finish <i>Mandragore</i> myself.CRPG Addicthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01238237377918550322noreply@blogger.com