I agree that all the race specific units and all the cool abilities were very very cool.

things like fame weren't that interesting but added GREATLY to replayability (replayability in this game was so high because there was way way wawy way way way way more stuff than you could see in a half dozen playthroughs... in elemental you can see EVERYTHING there is to see in 2playthroughs)

random events in MoM were actually fairly poorly done, almost always the offer was for something useless that you didn't need and cost too high a price compared to the price of obtaining it normally!

HOWEVER; the map was amazing, all the randomly placed structures on the map were truly inspired and exciting to explore.  By comparison goodie huts and quests are boring!  I also really liked how you got little scouting reports on the MoM version of goodiehut/quests so you could tell if it was smart to engage or not.  Imagine how cool it would be if you had to kill 4ice lords and 4water lords to access a water shard in elemental? that would be cool!

Blame Microprose for this, they've been sitting on the game's license for yeeeeeeaarrs. And I'm sure the reason SD didn't get the rights is probably because Microprose were way too greedy or sticky in their demands.

I mean, the fact they were to work out a deal was a horrible thing when I heard it.

I'm sure we'll end up with something amazing over here.

micropose no longer exists, atari aparently has been sitting on it for years, and atari sucks ass.

Thanks!  I hadn't really looked at GoG in a long time.  They have a selection that brings back memories...

I don't think it's still sold, but yes it works on Dosbox, and it's REALLY easy to find it on the Net on most abandonware sites.

Master of Magic was legendary. As many have said, yes it started out very buggy and ended up only moderately buggy but it was a great game with many fun and interesting choices and that is why it is so popular still.

I don't really care much if Elemental is very buggy, bugs can be fixed and are in fact relatively easy to fix given a few weeks of solid bug fixing (to a moderate level of quality, getting near bug free is another whole ball game).

But the real problem isn't the bugs, as many have said the problem is that the gameplay is shallow and choices are either meaningless (all choices play out the same) or extremely one sided (only one choice is really viable, all others are severaly sub-optimal).

Fix the gameplay depth and balance problems and then we will have a game worth talking about. Unfortunately I believe this to be a much harder task than fixing the bugs.

Not really,  Microprose followed up MoM with X-com 1 & 2,  and then Master of Orion 2.  Following that,  Microprose fell victim to the RTS craze in a half-baked RTS X-com 3.

Hasbro picked them up,  but Hasbro really can't figure out how to enter the digital age.  They've pretty much missed every digital boat they've been handed.  They then sold the rights of Microprose to Atari.

Atari's been pretty much incompetent as a developer for a decade or more.  So Master of Orion and Master of Magic rot.

Further compounding the proble is:  In the late 90's,  everyone saw Warcraft 2 sell a ridiculous number of units.  So they figured they could just churn out some base building crapfest and sell 10,000,000 units too.  So they paid alot of people to scream "RTS is the future!  TB games are old!",  then it became "Only RTS will sell,  no one wants TB games",  even though Civilization and Pokemon showed otherwise.

Now the marketing departments have screamed it enough that people believe it,  just like any other urban legend.  It's one of the bigger reasons why the gaming market is primed to collapse in the next 3 years on a scale that'll make the 80's look like a speedbump.  But that commentary is for another post in a different topic...

Very true.. We must realize, we live in 2010..... Think of the advancement OTHER genres have made.

FPS games, compare CoD4 or BC2 to Doom 1 or Medal of Honor. We've come such a long way, xp points in multiplayer, unlockables, make your own class, lagfree multiplayer, crazy stats tracking, great controls and responsiveness etc etc etc etc.

Racing games, compare Forza 3 to NFS2 or any racing game on the pc from 1990. Compare Dirt 2 with Colin McRae 1. We've come such a long way there too, even further, proper real 4-point physics for the wheels, independent suspension simulation, tire heat simulation, back in the Colin days everything was rotating along 1 central axis, like mario kart nothing more.

Strategy games like Elemental or MoM? Um.... Well.. we.... we have.. uh.. A cool level of detail engine, and, bloom and, and... Building cities in a more interesting way, and... Hmm.. And like, THREE DEE MAN!

I'm a gfx whore, i love shiny gfx. But you gotta wonder, why is it so hard for the strategy genre to improve upon those aaaancient games?
Why cant we compare with other genres? What if Bad Company 2 would be released with LESS features and gameplay variety than Quake 2 had? It wouldnt even sell 100k copies. What if Forza 3 was released with single-axis physics and un-customizable cars and 4 tracks, like back in the dark ages of racing games? It also wouldnt even sell 100k copies.
Yet here we are, with Star Ruler, Elemental, and many others i cant be bothered to think of because they were so uninteresting, such as MOO3, games that in many respects have taken steps BACKWARDS, having LESS features, LESS gameplay, for what?
(it pains me to put Elemental in the same sentence as Star Ruler, Elemental is by far the most complete game of the examples there, but i'm just trying to make a point here)

Do have to give credit to Stardock for Galciv2 though, that is one of the rare strategy games who actually managed to IMPROVE upon the past games, like Civ4 also managed. A rare feat.

Those screenshots of MoM do make me realize, sometimes GRAPHICS actually DO matter. Not as much with strategy games but they are starting to spoil us (look at Civ4 or 5 and GalCiv2) and I love the look of Elemental, its so original and gives that nice flavor of an old school fantasy game modernized for modern times. Its one thing I find attractive with Elemental, I just like the way it looks and my friend says the same thing. Anyone here every played Disciples? I loved the artwork in that game, the painting style of the creatures pictures was just incredible.

Here's the thing: look at the graphics in the GAME. Back in 1997 or so I was playing it after-hours at work, and a two-levels-up boss walked by and admired my chickens (wyverns) and goats (hell hounds.)

Those Draconian Workers are a pretty good example of the kind of detailing we got back then.

(as far as "steps backwards"- Dominion 3 has even worse graphics. For what it's worth.)

I bought this version on GoG like a month ago. I have Windows 7 64bits and it worked like a charm. It's the game + DOSBox bundled in a nice pack!

Don't insult Civ!

Really?

 If anything I personally find that MoM graphics aged very well. I played a game about a year ago, and wasn't put down by it's graphics. It's still very charming.

Although obviously pixelated, the graphics were sufficient for their purpose.

To chalk one up for MoM over Elemental, I find that I prefer what happened when I learned a spell in MoM, as what happens when you learn a spell in elemental...

If you haven't played MoM, or don't remember, just start a quick game and research a spell. You'll see what a I mean

Although I definitely can't complain about the graphics in Elemental, the whole look of cities and their layouts is fantastic. The modability of the buildings offers endless customization of how you want  your empire/kingdom to look. I look the "cell shading" feel of everything, looks amazing. I'm just hoping they'll add little fireworks here and there

Like I said in a post earlier, I'm sure SD have to be extremely careful of what they 'borrow' from MoM as I'm such the remnants of Microprose are laying in the shadows... waiting for a (C) infringement.