Freeday 11 June 1999
Oh, I'm tired. Last night I finally got Master of Magic up and running again on the old old PC. (It requires lots of conventional memory, which is hard to get on modern computers with all their extra stuff). Master of Magic (usually called MoM or MOM by fans) is one of my all time favorites, probably only second to the roleplaying game Daggerfall. Witness the fact that the title of my web site, Chaos Node, is a phenomenon well known to the players of this game. (It also has a way technical meaning, but that's not it.)
So what's so great about Master of Magic that I sit up till 4 in
the night playing just 5 minutes more? Years after I first got it?
It can hardly be the graphics, which look dated by now.
[1]
And the artificial intelligence, such as it is, was doomed from
the start. You can be pretty sure to win, even at the highest
levels of difficulty, if you survive the first critical minutes
long enough to actually implement a decent strategy.
But there are so many ways to win. Well, actually only two, but
there are so many ways to arrive there. The game has lots of
different races, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.
You start out with one of these, but can absorb others into your
empire. Or not, if you so choose. Some of them go well together,
others hate each others guts on sight.
Then there are five different colors of magic, each with its own
spells. These also can be mixed, except for two of them; but
if you don't specialize in one color, you don't get the most
powerful spells in the end. In addition, you may choose other
bonuses instead of spellbooks, such as a proficiency in channeling
magic over long distances, or a bonus to making magical items.
Oh yes, you can make your own magical items, from a simple ring
of speed to enormously powerful enchanted weapons for your heroes.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention the heroes, of which there are many,
and if you don't hire them, they may go to the enemy instead.
Some may come to you by themselves as your fame grows, others can
be summoned. Just like you can summon heaps of fantastic creatures,
from tiny pixies to deadly storm giants. All of this takes lots
of magic points (mana) which you have to build up through temples
etc, so you have to keep an eye on city development too.
In short, it's something like Dungeons & Dragons meets Civilization.
The replayability is stunning, if you like it the first time you
will probably love it years later.
With all the good computer games out there, who needs a life? Of course, this works the other way around, too, but games are cheaper.
Today's quote: "The bird brain, though much maligned, can perform feats while sleeping of which we can only dream - namely, it can stay awake." Scientific American, May 1999.