Warlock : Master of the Arcane (Demo Out, It's Awesome)

[boots468]

After fifteen mins only, it's probably too early to dismiss the game entirely but it seemed a bit basic and shallow from first impressions, which is a shame. A seemingly unlimited casting range makes offensive spells utterly game-changing, making defensive fronts/tactical hit and run raids impossible.

I'll wait and see what people think of the actual full game before ruling out a purchase, but preliminarily, this seems of a similar unbalanced/untactical/unfun level to Elemental:WoM. Hopefully I'll be proved wrong, but for now I'll stick to Age of Wonders:Shadow Magic for spell casting 4X fun.

[Juan Carlo]

What's wrong with TotalBiscuit's voice?

I'm not attuned to the ins and outs of British accents which is why I ask, but it interests me. Is he trying to affect some regional dialect that isn't his own and doing a poor job of it?

[Drake Sigar]

What's wrong with TotalBiscuit's voice?

I'd like to know too. He sounds almost exactly like my uncle from Gosport.

[R-F]

What's wrong with TotalBiscuit's voice?

I'm not attuned to the ins and outs of British accents which is why I ask, but it interests me. Is he trying to affect some regional dialect that isn't his own and doing a poor job of it?

It's an obviously fake "radio voice". I have never heard a person that talked like that that wasn't putting it on. I can affect the voice too (it's about the only one I can do other than "upper class dandy" and "camp German man"), but it's not a voice that's ANYWHERE in the UK.

[Drake Sigar]

Be right back, gotta' go confront my uncle over why he's been pulling a fake accent on me for 26 years and possibly nominate him for an emmy.

[R-F]

Be right back, gotta' go confront my uncle over why he's been pulling a fake accent on me for 26 years and possibly nominate him for an emmy.

Record it and we can compare.

[b0rsuk]

There is no one british accent. People from different regions speak differently.

[Drake Sigar]

Record it and we can compare.

I don't claim to be a master of accents, but my family hails from all corners of the UK. As for your CSI voice analysis - if my uncle stumbles into my study, and my computer is active, and a voice recording program like Audacity happens to be on at the time, maybe I'll say "hey Terry, this little shit over the Internet wants me to record a few seconds of your voice because he doesn't believe anyone talks like you." Aside from that, there's no scenario where I'll be making any conscious effort to indulge the sheer egotism you're displaying by assuming this is worthy of my time.

[Fumarole]

So this looks like something I'd enjoy since I got on with Fantasy Wars​, yeah?

[dsch]

It's an obviously fake "radio voice". I have never heard a person that talked like that that wasn't putting it on. I can affect the voice too (it's about the only one I can do other than "upper class dandy" and "camp German man"), but it's not a voice that's ANYWHERE in the UK.

To be honest, it's not his voice so much as what he says that can be a bit grating. Apparently, he's also moved to the States, so no one'll be able to tell anymore.

Warlock demo: Was entertaining enough, I thought. I liked how the cities look like they'd have more personality than the stacks of numbers that cities in Civ all eventually reduce to. Would have liked to see heroes, though, and that randomised tech tree is also a bit disappointing.

[b0rsuk]

I haven't played the game, but is magic research completely random this time around ??! Both Master of Magic and Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic had random spell research, but they allowed you to choose your spellbooks/spheres. So in the long run you knew what spells you were likely to get. For example, you could take several books in Nature (green) and count on getting a number of summoning spells. So while it was random, you had influence over it.

From gameplay videos it seems like there are much fewer mage customization options.

[Vexing Vision]

Love the Demo. Absolutely love it and the fact that you have very few "filler" units. It's much closer to AoW than to MoM though, and overlaying that with Civ 5's excellent military system is a win.

One question though - will the full game have a random map generator? Played the demo three times so far, but I would LOVE to see good, random maps for this.

[Heister]

It's an obviously fake "radio voice". I have never heard a person that talked like that that wasn't putting it on. I can affect the voice too (it's about the only one I can do other than "upper class dandy" and "camp German man"), but it's not a voice that's ANYWHERE in the UK.

It's not fake mate. It's the way he talks - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZrcIvEjtRU

[Matzerath]

My only worry is that the developers haven't proven a talent for real strategic combat -- for instance, the whole Fantasy Wars saga is timed battles with mission-based AI. No real computer strategy involved. The demo was fun, but it wasn't enough to tell if there were real strategic computer enemies.

[b0rsuk]

Despite the turn (time?) limit, it is possible to enter the alternate planes through portals. In both Master of Magic and Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic these planes were quite different from the main one.

1. Do the planes in Warlock look differently ? How many different planes are there ?
2. Do they have any interesting global mechanics like in AoW: SM ? Shadow World had units move at about 3x speed, making the plane great for quick shadow travels. It also had shadow sickness, most races not native to Shadow World had temporarily reduced stats.
3. What are the differences between planes ? I heard there are some unique resources like in MoM.

The demo was fun, but it wasn't enough to tell if there were real strategic computer enemies.

I watched the gameplay video by CEO and he said he chose the normal difficulty because it makes AI less smart. So at least some difficulty levels differ in AI brains, not just resource or production modifiers. Try playing the game on Hard or higher.

[R-F]

Despite the turn (time?) limit, it is possible to enter the alternate planes through portals. In both Master of Magic and Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic these planes were quite different from the main one.

1. Do the planes in Warlock look differently ? How many different planes are there ?
2. Do they have any interesting global mechanics like in AoW: SM ? Shadow World had units move at about 3x speed, making the plane great for quick shadow travels. It also had shadow sickness, most races not native to Shadow World had temporarily reduced stats.
3. What are the differences between planes ? I heard there are some unique resources like in MoM.

1. No clue.
2. No clue.
3. No clue.

All I've heard is that some planes are themed and the monsters are harder in them and can choose to invade your home world.

[pakoito]

That's pretty much it. Plane 1 is hellish, plane 2 is nature and so and so. Some units you may recognize from the factions, others not. Even though I could not venture much in the planes because they're hard as fuck (even to get in) what I saw was mostly high level creeps for leveling up and getting a couple of tile-perks.

[frightlever]

I've played a little Master of Magic.

Gave the Warlock demo a whirl last night for five minutes... which lasted about two hours due to some time dilation effect they've built in to it.

So... apart from the tactical battles that MOM has, is there any reason for me to play MOM properly, or do I just break all the promises I made myself and pay top dollar for Warlock and all it's DLC and expansions forever?

EDIT: hahaha. Fifteen quid and it has pre-order DLC for free? I just bought the heck out of it.

[alh_p]

I may be crap at it but has anyone else found the demo quite hard?

I've done a couple of playthroughs (not to any conclusion other than time) and found I got boxed in quite quickly and then that it was quite hard to break down the opposition.

The first time I basicaly played it as a traditional civ game (i.e. not much magic beyond healing) and was bogged down on all fronts with about 4 cities. The second time I played for less time and did a bit better, getting in earlier, but also learning a fair bit about the need for a balance of troops and (probably) catapults to take out cities & defensive towers.

[R-F]

I've played a little Master of Magic.

Gave the Warlock demo a whirl last night for five minutes... which lasted about two hours due to some time dilation effect they've built in to it.

So... apart from the tactical battles that MOM has, is there any reason for me to play MOM properly, or do I just break all the promises I made myself and pay top dollar for Warlock and all it's DLC and expansions forever?

EDIT: hahaha. Fifteen quid and it has pre-order DLC for free? I just bought the heck out of it.

As much as it may pain some people to admit it, the tactical battles in MoM kinda sucked. If you want tactical battles, play HoMM or AoM.

But yeah. Come on, £15.

I may be crap at it but has anyone else found the demo quite hard?

I've done a couple of playthroughs (not to any conclusion other than time) and found I got boxed in quite quickly and then that it was quite hard to break down the opposition.

The first time I basicaly played it as a traditional civ game (i.e. not much magic beyond healing) and was bogged down on all fronts with about 4 cities. The second time I played for less time and did a bit better, getting in earlier, but also learning a fair bit about the need for a balance of troops and (probably) catapults to take out cities & defensive towers.

I'm expecting a MASSIVE need for summoning spells, even if only to support troops. The fact you can summon summons very close to enemies means you can reinforce and harrass easier.