comparison shopping

[Sammual]

Originally posted by mercurycs:
ok, I'll stick with the demo for a bit and give it a serious go. I do wish it were more along the lins of Master of Magic, as that is my favorite game of all time, but I know that there will never be MoM2
You have given me some great information and I certainly appreciate your help.

This game knocked MoM down to #2 on my all time PC game list.

Sammual

[Darryl]

You like Master of Magic huh? Well as a recovering MoM addict I must say you HAVE to learn Dominions. Don't believe me? Well I asked about Dominions about a month ago. Gandalf among others gave a pretty good direct comparison to MoM in the thread here:

MoM Addict seeking New Dominions

By the way, it isn't very difficult to learn the demo with the included instructions. It's freakin impossible to learn the demo with that little flimsy pdf thingy! Check this out:

Dominions II Walkthru

Follow that walkthru. It is EXCELLENT.

I don't know how you are about games, but I hardly buy any. Bought Dominions after about 2 weeks with the demo. Last game I bought was in 2000 (HOMM III). I've been pining for MoM2 for years. No more. I'm on the same road as Sammual: MoM may soon be relegated to "2" on my personal all time list. Dominions is not MoM2, but the basic aspects that addicted me to MoM (tons of options, varying gameplay without scenarios, replayability, epic proportions) are present in Dominions.

And feel free to ask questions here. "RTFM" doesn't seem to be a phrase used much here

Darryl

[olaf73]

Its a fun game. If you can get past the initial learning curve, its worth the money. Although I agree with you, for a low budget game the price they are asking is questionable.

The walkthru link posted earlier in the thread is a must, IMO.

olaf

[Saber Cherry]

Originally posted by mercurycs:
I cannot find a manual to download and the demo is very difficult to figure out without one.

Look here too:

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;f=74;t=000172

Anyway, I also suggest you play with the demo a lot. Once you figure out how to play, Dominions will grab you and you will not be able to escape. It will haunt your dreams, and if you delete it from your hard drive (like to pass finals), you will download it again and play some more. And eventually you will realize you have to buy the full game.

[Gandalf Parker]

A lot of things are said about this game. Difference of opinions on alot of it. But if I were to look for a common agreement it would be this....

If you like strategy, and can get past the learning curve of this game, it will survive on your computer longer than any other game you can buy for that price.

Eventually you might toss it. But I feel safe in gauranteeing that it will take a much longer than average time to get there. Even the ones that toss it tend to feel they got their money worth compared to most on the shelf games.

[PvK]

I much prefer Dominions I or II to AOW2, Total War, and MOM. Lots more interesting stuff going on, and much better done, in the areas I mainly care about, which are the tons of creative and original stuff which is well balanced and created carefully and with humor. Each game plays differently, and I'm constantly learning and seeing new things.

AOW2 has more detailed graphics, and tactical control during battles, but there are far fewer unit types, and I hate the combat system, so those don't really end up being advantages as far as I'm concerned.

In Total War the strategic game is just a framework to give context to the tactical battles. The tactical battles in that series are quite interesting, and offer several things not found in Dominions, but that's because it's really a very different kind of game.

Master of Magic is fascinating in its own way, but I always found it very buggy in the many Versions I played, and the AI was disappointing to me. Without multi-player, that meant handicapping oneself in various ways, which was still lots of fun. However Dominions has its own style, which I very much prefer, and has tons more stuff in it.

PvK

[aldin]

Originally posted by Gandalf Parker:
If you like strategy, and can get past the learning curve of this game, it will survive on your computer longer than any other game you can buy for that price.

This is exactly right. I know one of my favorite ways to rate games is on whether I get 'a buck an hour' entertainment out of them. So whereas Moonbase Commander only had to capture my attention for five hours after a bargain bin $5 purchase at Target, Dominions II had a rather heftier requirement. Over seventy five hours later, I think I'm doing okay

~Aldin