Masters of Orion 3 THAT Bad?

[Sporky Smurf]

I mean... I heard that Masters of Orion 3 wasn't that good, but so bad that you get it for FREE?

Masters of Orion 3 for Free!

And if you buy something else with it and get free shipping you can get one of the (supposedly) worst games this year for free!

[Roland]

At best. That's the word since day one. Once all the hype and glamor wore off, the ugliness reared its head. And it scared off most of the buyers. IIRC, somewhere around 50% of the people who bought the game returned it. Whatever the figures, this game got big sales, and big returns.

Not surprisingly, that price point has DROPPED by $2.00 since the last time I looked, and that was only about 2 weeks ago. If you're considering this game, get it ONLY from Amazon to get it for free. Otherwise, your money is better spent on Galactic Civilizations (see my GalCiv topic thread). It lacks the MoO feel, but more than makes up for that with excellent gameplay and incredible replay value, not to mention mind-blowing support.

To be blunt, QS dropped the ball. BIG time. They released a SEVERELY unfinished product (worse than D2X's escapade, when the retail version was a step BACK from the current beta version), and have only just begun to get on the ball. But that's ALL they've done. There are still glaring problems, from what I hear, but more disturbing is that QS has, up until now, been very tight-lipped and shift-footed about the future of the product. This is one game that doesn't look to have a very long shelf life in the COMPANY, let alone for consumers. Take my words with a grain of salt, though, as I have no personal experience with the game: only what I have heard, and my own opinions that I've formed because of what I've heard.

DO NOT go into MoO3 expecting another MoO, or MoO2. You won't find it. Period. Maybe in the future, when they iron out the game, and actually FIX it, you'll find something resembling its predecessors, but for now, I wouldn't get your hopes up. I bought GalCiv over MoO3, and you know what? I'm danm glad. I've even put Morrowind down in favor of GalCiv - it's that addictive. :)

[Haider]

Yes it is pretty bad. I've blown 45 € on this thing, only to get a bug-ridden, half-completed, laking piece of software, which has imo nothing to do with MoO 1 and MoO 2. It's interface is ugly and complicated, overloaded and illogical, and struck at 800x600 with an ugly, unreadable font - imo the death-blow for any turn-based-build-up-game which relies on text and statistics. Later some fans released a mod to change the font to something readable.
Even worse were the people on the Quicksilver-forum, which told the people who complained, that they simply are too stupid to see the beauty and perfection of the game. It sounded like "The Emperor's New Clothes".
Or the two reviews (IGN, UGO) which were written before the game was released and which gave it something around 90 %. Apparently they have played some other game. Oh, how QuarterToThree.com was flamed for telling before the release of the game, that it is a PoS (shortly after two outstanding reviews). Quite fun to see them tearing Tom Chick (the reviewer) apart in the forum for his blasphemy.
I really hope that Quicksilver is not allowed to ruin Master of Magic 2.

PS: Good review of MoO3 (except the too low rating): http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=4545

[Jugalator]

The only thing I personally remembered about it was its hideous graphics. Not that I did expect that game to be focused on graphics or anything, but come on... Barely readable text? I'm not sure what the developers were smoking, but that game seemed to have an insanely steep learning curve and you'd have to be either an Excel-a-holic or just a HUGE fan of the series to enjoy that game.

I was really disappointed with the game since I had hoped for it to be a great and FUN space simulator, but it was waay to much of a "space domination simulation software" (lacking a better genre...) to me.

Unfortunately, Sim City 4, that appeared about the same time, was also an anticlimax to me when I tried it out. I could just see that you could build your own city without any objectives? No missions/scenarios?

As for Master of Magic II -- ooh yes, I'd love to see that game come to life!! But please don't keep its "fun" and don't bury it behind a wall of statistics like MOO3. MoM2 had "it" that is so hard to define, and it was a really great game. Of course, I could stand it having more content and features than MoM1, but it need to be streamlined and not a bloated piece of junk like MOO3 was. :( Hmm, I don't even know if it's in development? Anyone know anything about that? There was some rumors a time ago, and some unfortunately said "if MOO3 is successful, we might consider MOM2" or something along these lines. :angry:

Btw, that's a funny review Haider posted. :D It looked to be straight from Something Awful. ;) (especially their game review section) But I'm not saying they didn't deserve such a review. I wonder if the 90%+ reviewers were simply giving the score based on the hype it got, or if they were sponsored by Infogrames or something? I can't figure out how one can enjoy that game to the extent that it's worth a close to "game of the year" score...

Finally, the review Haider posted mention Galactic Civilizations as another (single player) space-sim that was looking interesting at the time the review was posted. And now it seems to be out, along with some positive reviews? Anyone tried it?

[Roland]

Haider didn't post anything about GalCiv. At least, not in this thread. I, however, did mention it. I also started a GalCiv discussion thread a while back (see link below), but it seems that no one else has bought the game yet. :P So, discussion quickly died off, as I was left to just review the game for everyone else, rather than actually DISCUSS the game (i.e. strategies, tips, etc.). Mayhap in time it will get resurrected, if anyone buys the game. It's REALLY worth the dough, especially if you were disappointed with MoO3.

http://www.lurkerlounge.com/forums/index.p...t=ST&f=2&t=1066

[Haider]

GalCiv is nice. I haven't played the current version, but the old on (5 or 6 years?) on OS/2 (oh golden times ;)), and it was really fun. It is more like Civilization than MoO though, and you only can play human (may have changed now). Battles happen on the galaxy screen and not on an seperate tactic battle field.

[jdirks]

I mean... I heard that Masters of Orion 3 wasn't that good, but so bad that you get it for FREE?

Take it from a longtime MOO/MOO2 fan, at free, it's overpriced.

I don't recall EVER waiting so anxiously for a sequel. I watched the official developers sites/boards and made repeated comments as to how there was appearing to be, an excessive amount of micromanagement and minor detail in the game. I was repeatedly told that this was simply not true and that the designers were dilegently working to NOT create a micromanagement nightmare. In point of fact, that nightmare, is EXACTLY what they did create. Never have I been more disappointed in a game.

Because of my fears surrounding it, I bought my copy via ebay. Got it on Fri night. Installed it Sat night afterwork. Toyed with it till about midnight. Up at 6, try until noon. Grew so fed up with the thing, by 1, it was back on ebay.

[Jugalator]

Haider didn't post anything about GalCiv. At least, not in this thread. I, however, did mention it.

Haider didn't post a review here, but posted a link to one, and that's what I meant. That review mention Galactic Civilizations as another space-sim, and say it's looking "very promising indeed". Thanks for the link to your thread -- it was a bit lengthy, so I'll look at it after work. :)

[bobby]

ive played and its boring as hell , no real new stuff in it just same old gameplay with some new races.

[whyBish]

I've been haunting the MOD forums there, and Sirian tried it for a bit, along with a few other lurkers that I have met.
Firstly, the game sucked out of the box. There has just been a patch, and now the AI will actually attack (sometimes). Some of the modders have/are trying hard to make the game more playable, but there are still serious sode issues that need to be resolvved. The biggest problem after the patch is that the AI is still a moron.
Let me list some of the ways the AI sux:
1) Autobuild of ships - The way it autobuild ships is sad, very sad. It does a maximisation of a single variable, so you can mod a ship type to maximise range, or accuracy or tech level of weapon, or fire rate etc. but it will only consider one of these. If you mod the tech tree so that the first weapon in the tech tree has massive range, quick rate of fire, and very pathetic damage, the AI is screwed (so of course modders try to do the opposite, but it leads to very bland changes, you can't vary weapons much because you will cripple the AI). Also the ships will be built with completely direct fire, completely missiles, completely fighters, or completely sensors etc.
2) Diplomacy - You have no idea what is going on with diplomacy, and the options available are pointless. You can get advanced research and trade agreements, but you have no idea of their worth, and have to renegotiate them every 5(?) turns... with each opponent. The AI will threaten you out of the blue with no other info, supposedly these are triggered by you allying with one of their foes, or building up too many ships at their borders etc., but you can't tell. The AI will happily trade away its planets, even if it is its second to last one, yet it will not let go of tech without at least a defensive alliance and a three to one offer. If it wants one of your techs however it will offer you three to one. It will merrily go to war even if it has no ships to attack you with, or they are already otherwise engaged. It will sit its' huge armadas of thousands of ships in a system until the last planetst are destroyed (since the patch I have seen big fleets that could have steamrolled me, but the game mechanics for 'bombing' means that the AI cannot actually bomb when the pop gets below 1k, and has to wait there for 20+ turns for the pop to starve).

I don't think the 'steep learning curve' is an issue, I mean if the game has meat it would be fine, that is what it is trying to be after all, a strategy game. The problem however is that it is called MoO3 and most people will have expected a MoO2 game. If it had been called Pax Imperia 2 or something people would have called it an improved game (if the AI wasn't gamekillingly dreadful).

Anyway, I hope I have scared you away from MoO3. Don't get me wrong, I am on their boards trying to help out (since I can't get refunded here ;) ), but there is no way I would recommend the game to anyone in its' current state. The patch may have improved the game a ton, but if I had recieved it out of the box in this state I would still have felt ripped off.

I will update you if it becomes fun, but I think 1.10 will be released before then.

P.S. another reason to be thankful for Blizzard, for all their bugs and imbalance, at least their games are enjoyable, rather than work.