Anyone play Eador: Genesis?

[Mondkalb]

I only recently discovered this little gem when it was on gog.com discount (it's cheap anyway, normal price $5.99).
From the looks it doesn't seem to be very special, but there is a plethora of things going on beneath the simple (but charming) old fashioned graphics.
The game was first released in Russia a couple of years ago and was released in English in 2012 I think.

"Eador: Genesis" merges elements from a lot of classical turn-based fantasy strategy games like "Master of Magic", "Heroes of Might and Magic", "Fantasy General", and others as well.
The gameplay is strangely addictive and though I am playing for several weeks now, there are still things to discover. There is an insanely complex building tree for your stronghold, a bulk of items and artifacts to support your heroes and armies, dozens of spells, lots of units, and plenty of skills to distribute to your heroes (and units) on level-up.

The Game comes with a tutorial which explains the basics, but you are on your own soon enough.
Most of the units, buildings, items, spells, resources and so on are clickable to open a little help window or show a mouse-over help window. Unfortunately, there is no manual and the home page of the game is in Russian only (google translate can help you out there).

I found a lenghty in-depth review which also sheds light on some of the game mechanics, for instance the use of stamina for heroes and units alike in battle (very similar to "Fantasy General") or the importance of moral alignments (your decisions with random events may have an influence on the mood in your provinces).

http://www.gamespot.com/eador-genesis/user-reviews/2200-12583651/

All in all this is a wonderful game and I enjoy playing it very much.

[krazyhades]

I've played some. It's nice! Definitely Master of Magic inspired, which is a good thing, as that's a game I actually still play here and there.

[Mondkalb]

I also play MoM every now and then.

It has the same "one more turn" addictiveness.

[Mondkalb]

Well, that's not a lot of players ... ^^

Additional information: The game should run fine under Linux with Wine.

What might appeal to *banders, there is no real save option, it's basically ironman. If you loose, you loose. (There is an option to go back one turn, for a price. Also, you can have multiple player profiles.)

I've gathered some more reviews:

http://www.cpugamer.com/reviews/eador-genesis-review

http://dragonchasers.com/2012/12/15/first-look-eador-genesis/

http://www.tacticularcancer.com/content.php?id=3904

http://www.grogheads.com/rev-eador.html

[krazyhades]

Do you play any Dominions III?

[Mondkalb]

Do you play any Dominions III?

No, never played any Dominion game. Probably never appealed to me because it looks like depending on large battles.
I might have a look at it sometime.

[krazyhades]

There's no battle micro, as you have to set up commands for your units beforehand.

The main reason I like it is the insane number of spells.

[Nivim]

I also play MoM every now and then.

Do you have the fan-made patches or balance tweaks for it? It's been awhile, (and I remember it with this painful feeling like I forgot something I cared about,) but people on the Realms Beyond forums have been working away on various MoM projects, and all of them are available to use.

It has the same "one more turn" addictiveness.

I hear this a lot, and each time it seems uncomfortable to me. Shouldn't it trigger some kind of emergency stop once you realize you had decided to do n turn(s) but did >n turns instead? Or really, just an emergency stop for any situation in which you unthinkingly did something the previous you decided not to do. Even if it really is a good idea, you're better off making sure.

[Mondkalb]

Do you have the fan-made patches or balance tweaks for it?

I still have to try those out. I only recently joined gog.com where I read about the insecticide path which sounds good.

As for the "one more turn" behaviour - that occurs in many games where you might get the next upgrade or a wonderful artifact or whatever pleasant surprise in the next turn ... (Notably in games with fog of war on the map when you get a glimpse of something promising just on the edge.)

[krazyhades]

Nivim, not sure what you're meaning by your response to the 'one more turn' aspect of MoM and similar games. I think Mondkalb was simply describing that games like Master of Magic and company (Civilization series, etc) have incremental advancement and build-up that occurs turn after turn (oh, just 3 more turns until my library us done! oh, just another couple of turns until this technology is researched) until suddenly it's time to go to work. But your post seemed to be talking about a game going over a pre-set turn limit.

[Nivim]

Apologies for vanishing, and for thread necromancy, but I hope for this to be clear enough to make up for it.

I am fairly sure I'm talking about the "until suddenly it's time to go to work" part; I mean-- you don't find it at all scary to lose consciousness to some impulse like that? It feels like a little death, so I almost instinctually try to find some defense against its influence; a mental structure analogous to a "pre-set turn limit" which clamps off the harm the habit can do to me. The crux of this issue, and perhaps the reason I failed to respond so long ago, is that I find it disturbing (at around the level of "watching a 30-year-old at the store act just like a 4-year-old") that this set of fear, feeling, instinct, and defense doesn't even seem to have counterparts in the people here.
The whole experience has been vaguely like going out onto a balcony in the dark, reaching for the railing, and finding nothing there.

Moreover...there's a part of me that does not want to hear the response to this, because I imagine it will be retaliatory, strained, or flippant; no responses one should make a person want to write.
:[
Sorry.

[Mikko Lehtinen]

I hate that addictive "just one more level..." feeling. I love games that provide natural stopping points.

I'm designing Halls of Mist mostly for myself. I only play one dungeon level per day and stop after that. Actually I only play after doing sports -- playing Mist is a good reward for myself!

I'm trying to make sure that each dungeon level is an interesting challenge by itself, and provides enough fun decisions for the player to make. I want myself to feel happy about playing my daily dungeon level. I want to meet monsters that will kill me unless I use my inventory and the randomly generated battleground wisely.

I guess I'm more interested in balancing individual dungeon levels so that playing never feels too easy than balancing the whole game from beginning to winning... Each dungeon level should be a mini-roguelike, a separate strategic/tactical puzzle.

[Magnate]

There's no battle micro, as you have to set up commands for your units beforehand.

The main reason I like it is the insane number of spells.

I liked the Dominions games but aren't they multiplayer-only? I don't think they had any AI to speak of.