Favorite games

[Potatoman]

Foodstamp said:
Hooray for single player games like Master of Magic where balance can take a backseat to variety. Balance has become an obsession of modern gamers, and it makes perfect sense in a multiplayer game, but in a game like Master of Magic what is the point?

This is an interesting viewpoint. I agree with you, to an extent. In a game that is designed only for single-player use, players can adjust for rough balancing by handicapping themselves or helping themselves, depending on whether they take advantage of poorly-balanced mechanics or units. As long as the balance is not too lobsided (eg. you MUST use unit x to win, or if unit y is useless), then the game can still work. I would only have an issue if the units/spells/races that I liked were so terrible that I could not use them and win.

It's interesting to note that, as AIs get more difficult, balance becomes more important. If you must play optimally against a difficult AI opponent (or another player online) then, in order to win in a roughly-balanced game, the effective variety of stuff that you can use is greatly reduced. It is the unfortunate reason why fine game balance is essential for most modern games.

As for MoM, I actually do wish that it had been balanced better. I would find replaying MoM more fun if it was able to challenge me without forcing me to handicap myself (which also effectively limits the variety of things available in MoM), and I would have a great deal of admiration for a game able to wrap all of MoM's "stuff" into a coherent and balanced game system. Plus, then it could have hotseat multiplayer, so I could play it with my friends. Then it'd be perfect.