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What are the best TB Fantasy RPG/RTSs out there?

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What are the best TB Fantasy RPG/RTSs out there?

from Elemental Forums

I am really enjoying Elemental. However I feel it needs some more work. It just feels like I have to make too many concessions each game and am not really challenged. Also, the simplicity of the tactical battles was a HUGE dispointment and really kills my desire to start a fresh game... I like indie devs, and support this game as well as Darkfall, just so we can have more variety and push the quality of AAA games. I feel like their hands were tied as far as release date and its either support them or see 5 major studios release all of our content.

Anyways, I keep hearing people mention other RTS games like dominion and MoM etc. I would be interested in trying a new game while I wait for Elemental to get polished. One game that seems similar is HOMM5. I REALLY liked the tactical combat, but the overmap and strategy elements fell flat. Can anyone recommend any other games to try, hopefully one that is still rather recent (past 5 years Id say).

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

Oh, also has anyone heard the extent of mods? Could we put something as complex as HOMM tactical battles into Elemtental? How about have dungeons actually load up dungeons that are REALLY long tactical battle maps...

elemental
675,269 views 276 replies
Reply #176 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Gothnak, reply 176

It's the same with Civ... Civ 1 great, Civ 2, fantastic and then the rest have left me a bit cold as they tend to have the same upgrades and units... I've played more MoM & Etherlords than all the HOMMs or CIVs put together.

Sounds like someone needs to try Fall From Heaven 2... and a couple of days off work :)

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Reply #179 from Elemental Forums Top

The other modmods are interesting as well...

Reply #180 from Elemental Forums Top

Dominions 3, AOW:SM, and Fall From Heaven 2

Reply #181 from Elemental Forums Top

Damn, can't get the FFH addon cause they're servers are down.  :annoyed:

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Reply #182 from Elemental Forums Top

Once you get Fall From Heaven 2, there are a few add-ons you should try.

 

Fall Further,

Rise from Erebus (similar to the first)

and Orbis

 

there are others that are nice, but those 3 are a good start. Orbis kinda plays like Rise of Mankind (to an extent)

 

If you're feeling lucky, and feel like playing Dangerous (or winning/balance isn't that important to you) then try Magister Mod. (however, I warn you ... it doesn't have an installation guide and can be kinda tricky getting it to even work properly, but I personally think its awesome)

Reply #183 from Elemental Forums Top

The positive out of Elemental in the state that it's in, I now have even more game choices now than I have time to play them.

Wish I would have known about these months ago.  Would have saved me from spending money on Starcraft II and a few other games.  SC2 is a decent game and all.  I enjoyed the campaign but after that I was done with it.  Main reason I bought it and others was because I was bored and waiting for Elemental to release.  So I kind of regret having spent the money on SC2.

Reply #184 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Gravedancer, reply 182
Damn, can't get the FFH addon cause they're servers are down. 

Where did you go to download it?

Reply #185 from Elemental Forums Top

I kept checking back and their servers finally came back up.

I downloaded it from here, or at least found the link to download...

Civilization Fanatics' Forums - Downloads Database - Fall from Heaven II
http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=1

... which points to here (which is what was down).

Fall from Heaven II download - KaelFfH - Mod DB
http://www.moddb.com/members/kaelffh/downloads/fall-from-heaven-ii1

 

 

Reply #186 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting falconne2, reply 177


Sounds like someone needs to try Fall From Heaven 2... and a couple of days off work

I concur...

While looking for MoM informations on the Web, I found FFH2 tuesday in the morning...

I basically spent the whole two next days playing, and going to sleep at 4 in the morning. I just finished the first game yesterday around midnight. Wow, that was great.

And now I hear there is "add-ons" for it ?

(and I've yet Dominion 3 to test...)

Reply #187 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Gravedancer, reply 186
I kept checking back and their servers finally came back up.
 

That's good. It might not be obvious but you also have to download and install the "o" patch and if you want it to look pretty, you also want the media pack and blue marble, which are rather large downloads.

The Wild Mana modmod significantly improves the AI and makes some good additions to the UI, but it also adds a bit more game content so you probably want to get your head around the base mod before trying that.

Reply #188 from Elemental Forums Top

Now what we need is a FFH mod for elemental...

Reply #189 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Tormy-, reply 168



Quoting Bellack,
reply 167



Quoting Mistwraithe,
reply 121



Quoting Ellestar,
reply 117
Birthright: Gorgon's Alliance is an old fantasy TBS with some optional RPG elements. It's a computer version of the Birthright setting for Dungeons and Dragons TRPG.


I had the impression that Birthright was very buggy and unbalanced (rather like Elemental) and never really got fixed (hopefully not like Elemental). A cursory play of something (a demo?) reinforced this conclusion so I never played it further.


Am I wrong about Birthright? Should I be trying it out? It certainly sounded like a game that should interest me.



Actully it was a good game however it did have a few bugs that never got fixed.



"few"? It was like ToEE [bugfest], however the huge community mod for ToEE fixed the bugs / enhanced the gameplay at least. [Which is why I say ToEE + community mod = best cRPG] Birthright had huge potential, but it failed due to the lack of support.

I loved ToEE escpecially after the community mod. I just wish there were more games made using the same format

Reply #190 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Tasunke, reply 183
Once you get Fall From Heaven 2, there are a few add-ons you should try.

 

Fall Further,

Rise from Erebus (similar to the first)

and Orbis

 

there are others that are nice, but those 3 are a good start. Orbis kinda plays like Rise of Mankind (to an extent)

 

If you're feeling lucky, and feel like playing Dangerous (or winning/balance isn't that important to you) then try Magister Mod. (however, I warn you ... it doesn't have an installation guide and can be kinda tricky getting it to even work properly, but I personally think its awesome)

Orbis is awsome. I liked Civ4 but with FFH and Orbis it made the game many times better. Now if it only had tactical combat it would be pretty near the perfect game.  However CIV 5 looks promising

Reply #191 from Elemental Forums Top

Just installed Dominions 3 again, while we wait on Elemental to get where it needs to be (and Civ 5!).


If you have never checked out at least the Dom 3 demo, you really owe it to yourself to do that.  Its got more style and character than pretty much any game ever.

 

edit: and its on sale right now through September 8:

http://www.gamersfront.com/store/dominions-3-the-awakening.html

Reply #192 from Elemental Forums Top

I finally tried the Dominions 3 demo last night.  It looks pretty cool. just wish I knew what I was doing. :)

The graphics are... well... what can I say, I'm a sucker for good graphics.  Sorry, for saying that, please don't revoke my strategy gamer card.

Reply #193 from Elemental Forums Top

I'm liking Galciv2:ToA the best for TBS. 

For RTS, I'm liking SC2 the best, but that could just be a phase.  I just got it.   Rise of Nations:Thrones and Patriots had me awfully hooked for a long time.

King's Bounty I love, but it's not really TBS or RTS.   Or even RPG.  It's kind of its own thing.   

NOT a fan of the Civ series.   The problem is the game just takes so bloody looooong.   One turn in the industrial age can take over 30 minutes.   I can be done with an entire CnC3 game by then.

Reply #194 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Gothnak, reply 176
Oh, i played HOMM 3, 4 and 5... But they were really just the same game again.. King's Bounty takes the game and mixes it up a lot, which i love...

But... despite mixing the game up a lot, it IS the same game and plays like the same game. So it has all the good from the original game, but updated and improved. I don't remember any other sequel that changes so many things while maintaining the feeling.

Reply #195 from Elemental Forums Top

I was hopelessly addicted to HOMM3 but hated HOMM IV.

Reply #196 from Elemental Forums Top

One from me, there are basicaly three big mod mods for FFH2, Orbis, Rise from Erebus (Formely Fall Further), and wild mana. All of them are based on FFH2, but on top of them, they change gameplay, balance, add more stuff etc.

Orbis is quiete good, but it is not that much updated lately. 

Rise from erebus, did not have update for an ages. It is most stuff packed mod. However, AI is the weakest part.

Wildmana, has best AI and some nice stuff, its not full of godies like other ones, but does provide better chalange.

 

I like wildmana best, simply for AI. Its fun to play with stuff for a while, but without much chalange, it gets boring for me.  Also, wildmana is still quiete alive, with beta test of version 9, which is sweet :-)

Reply #197 from Stardock Forums Top

Agreeing with a lot here, FFH2 is a GREAT fantasy TBS. The amount of difference between the factions (I fancy the vampire lords or the ashen empire, or whatsitsname was (sorcerer lords out to bring hell on earth). It is a while since I played it, but I played it a lot for a while. A friend of mine broke his CIV IV dvd so he couldn't play it anymore - on purpose, so he wouldn't loose his job. he was bitten that bad.

Kings of Dragon Pass (http://www.a-sharp.com/kodp/) is a fascinating and really different game. You could say it's an RPG but instead of playing a person you play a tribe. It is based on the Glorantha setting, which was a major setting with a wealth of background from HeroQuest. It's sold out, but the original creator will stilll burn you a CD and send it in the mail for $19.

Dominion 3... I tried the demo, but no way am I buying a download edition for nearly $50 (That's with the discount price) with the same $5 for extended download crap EA Store runs. Yes, it looks interesting, but not THAT interesting.

Fantasy Wars / Elven Legacy: Turn-based strategy, more so than 4X Fantasy game, it's still decent to good.

And now, something completely different: BLOOD BOWL! Turn based FOOTBALL fantasy strategy game. :D Seriously. You might find it worth a look.

 

Reply #198 from Elemental Forums Top

I am currently playing MoM (i have the original CD) <--- Best TBS 4x Ever.

I also have AoW... i will go back and play that when i'm done with MoM. Its just not as good in terms of gameplay depth.

HoMM gets boring pretty quick, I have played 2,3,5. HoMM 2 is my favorite because it i played it alot as a kid, the music is really awesome.

Kings Bounty: Armored Princess is really good, I like it much better than HoMM but once you get really strong it gets boring. Therefore I never beat the game (or The Legacy) 

I played Fantasy wars but I stopped because it was not deep enough. I would rather play Panzer General personally. If you don't know what that game is, look it up, Panzer General is one of the best TBS games ever. There are sequels that are newer, but the original is really great. 

X-Com is a great strategy game but kind of dated... great if you like Sci-Fi.

Finally MoO. This is the only game that equals the excellence of MoM... I highly recommend playing Master of Orion 2 if you haven't already. Unlike other old games, this one ages gracefully and most of it still looks great.


Seriously... if you haven't played one of these games before you are missing out!

Reply #199 from Elemental Forums Top

While I am still having fun with Avernum 6, I just recently got my hands on a copy of AoW: SM from a friend's discs. I feel bad as its a free-be. It is truly an amazing game! The graphics are a bit weird. Sometimes they are stunning, but other times... pixelated. Overall, I think the graphics are just fine, even by today's standards. But the gameplay... WOW! Every little detail was thought out and given intelligent complexity. I like elemental and do not want to criticise it as others are doing, but after playing AoW: SM I can really understand the expectations people had. Elemental DOES add some very interesting ideas, and a merging of the two games would be an absolute masterpiece.

So thanks for all the great ideas for games to play! Hopefully I will get rich in the near future and be able to try out more of your suggestions.

(trying to add paypal donate thing here, I know someone wants to support my game addiction)

Reply #200 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting Khardis, reply 198
Agreeing with a lot here, FFH2 is a GREAT fantasy TBS. The amount of difference between the factions (I fancy the vampire lords or the ashen empire, or whatsitsname was (sorcerer lords out to bring hell on earth). It is a while since I played it, but I played it a lot for a while. A friend of mine broke his CIV IV dvd so he couldn't play it anymore - on purpose, so he wouldn't loose his job. he was bitten that bad.

Kings of Dragon Pass (http://www.a-sharp.com/kodp/) is a fascinating and really different game. You could say it's an RPG but instead of playing a person you play a tribe. It is based on the Glorantha setting, which was a major setting with a wealth of background from HeroQuest. It's sold out, but the original creator will stilll burn you a CD and send it in the mail for $19.

Dominion 3... I tried the demo, but no way am I buying a download edition for nearly $50 (That's with the discount price) with the same $5 for extended download crap EA Store runs. Yes, it looks interesting, but not THAT interesting.

Fantasy Wars / Elven Legacy: Turn-based strategy, more so than 4X Fantasy game, it's still decent to good.

And now, something completely different: BLOOD BOWL! Turn based FOOTBALL fantasy strategy game. Seriously. You might find it worth a look.

 

 

I was on the same boat but I took the plunge and I can't stop playing Dominions. Order the physical copy and get a 298 page manual and one of the deepest most awesome strategy game ever (and amazing multiplayer)