Fantasy Wars: promising new turn based strategy game

[frogbeastegg]

It's a turn based hex strategy game with a (supposedly) challenging AI. It's not an old game either - it's a new release! I feel all faint and dizzy, thought this type of game was long gone.

Anyone know anything about this title? There are some reviews here. There's a demo too. I'm downloading it.

[Raz]

Bah, Heroes of Might & Magic III?

[frogbeastegg]

That was a long time ago

[pevergreen]

IGN gave it a 7.8.

I'd look to the demo if i played that genre.

[frogbeastegg]

Edited the title into something which better reflects what I’m finding.

I don’t know if anyone remembers a game called Fantasy General? Everywhere I go I see Fantasy Wars compared to this game. Not having played Fantasy General, my own comparison is with the Age of Wonders series and Heroes of Might and Magic.

The demo was nice. It lacked a tutorial and has a time limit on it, so after a single play, and some review reading, I picked up the full game. Well, well! So far so very promising.

The manual is stuffed with stats and has an appendix with formulae for advanced players. Um, it also has random sections in French.

Terrain is very important in battle; the wrong terrain can reduce a unit to wimpy as wet tissue paper. Positioning is equally important. Ranged units adjacent to a defending unit will provide supporting fire. This cover is limited to once per turn for each ranged unit. Certain units, mainly human knights, are impetuous and will charge without orders if you move them next to enemy units.

There is a good variety of units, all slotted into overall unit types: ranged, heavy infantry, light infantry, heavy cavalry, light cavalry, air fighters, air bombers, mages, skirmishers. As far as I can see from such limited play time every type will have a valid role to play.

Air units aren’t a standard unit with the ability to move large distances over any terrain. They can only attack units directly underneath them, and they are not strong enough to destroy enemy units alone.

Units gain experience. They can go up 5 levels, or 10 if they are heroes. Each level automatically applies stat boosts, representing the shift from recruit to hardened veteran status. You get to pick a perk for each level too, meaning you can further customise your units to specific roles. Level 1 scouts can gain a poison attack which kills all the wounded men in enemy units, a fire arrow attack, or a defence bonus when in forests.

The game’s damage model is a bit different to the ones in games like HOMM or AoW. A unit has a set number of men. During combat those men can be wounded or killed. Dead men are lost for good and can only be replaced by standing the unit in a friendly settlement and recruiting. Newbies in a unit dilute the unit’s overall experience level. Wounded men are out of action until you order the unit to rest and make camp. If they’re in safe territory all of the wounded will recover in a single turn; if enemies are in close proximity then fewer wounded men will heal and return to action.

Settlements are very difficult to take. Even low level ones grant significant bonuses to defending troops.

I don’t feel it’s fair to comment on the AI yet. Overall opinion from reviewers and players on the game’s English forum is that it’s not stupid. Fingers crossed I shall agree …

[Raz]

If you can't handle the graphics of HoMM III, you probably won't be able to handle the graphics of an MS-DOS game from '96... that is, Fantasy General. It was, as the name implies, a game where you are the general of an army commanding troops of a fantasy nature. It's your classic good-vs-evil game from back in the day. It didn't have much in the way of story but if you want to try it you can get it here for the low, low price of nothing. No it isn't warez or anything like that, but you will need DOS-Box (an MS-DOS emulator). Still, I'd only recommend that if you can handle the user-unfriendly interface of setting up DOS-Box. If you ever have extra time on your hands I'd suggest trying it out.

On topic however, I tried the demo out, it was neat and all but it didn't have that edge... I don't exactly know what the edge is but I didn't like it as much as I hoped. Sorry for the rushed post... I'm in a bit of hurry...

[frogbeastegg]

[Moderator's note: investigation indicates that Fantasy General has been released for download by the copyright holders, making it that rare beast: legal abandonware. Therefore the link is permissible here.]

If you can't handle the graphics of HoMM III, you probably won't be able to handle the graphics of an MS-DOS game from '96... that is, Fantasy General.

Depends how you mean handle. If it's a case of "Argh! Ugly!" then I have no problems after the initial shock to the eyballs has worn off. On the other hand, I did have problems reading the text in HOM3 because of the way low resolution fonts appear on my screen.

Charm. That's what Fantasy Wars is missing for me at present. The first fantasy strategy game I played was Age of Wonders, and that game was full of charm. Since then it's something I've associated with the genre; most of the titles I've played have it.

There haven't been many turn based fantasy strategy games in recent years.

[pevergreen]

Sounds ok, the only thing stopping me from potentially purchasing this is i think i read that its not an open time frame, there is always a short amount of time to do it.

[frogbeastegg]

This concerned me too - I hate turn/time limits. While browsing player opinion on the official forum I found a developer explaining that

Well there is only turns limit in the full version of the game. But this limit is presented not in all missions, there just some of them, where this limit is used. As for gold/silver/bronze, this is the rating that you get according to the amount of turns you made during the mission. In the demo version if you did'nt met the bronze level, you lose, but in the full version such feature isn't implemented.

(from here.)

I'm still playing mission 1 of the Human campaign; there's no turn limit. Hopefully this will remain true for the bulk of the game.

[pevergreen]

Indeed, I find the turn limits do not allow for actual strategy, just rushing.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Froggy, maybe you should look into Wesnoth. Even if it's just 2d...

[Crazed Rabbit]

I'm going to second the Wesnoth recommendation. Well done Fantasy hex-grid battling, especially for an indie game. Numerous campaigns, and the ones I played (several) were all well done and polished. AI seems good as well.

CR

[Raz]

... Yeah. Plus it's free... <_<

[pevergreen]

Arent they selling to Xbox live?

I hate that happening.

[Raz]

Arent they selling to Xbox live?

I hate that happening.

Huh? What are you talking about, exactly?

[ElectricEel]

Huh? What are you talking about, exactly?

An april fools' joke.

[Raz]

An april fools' joke.

Oh, I knew that....

[Xiahou]

An april fools' joke.

When I read that headline on their site I remember being completely blown away, then I noticed the date it was posted.

More on topic, I too immediately thought of Wesnoth when I read some of the details of this game. Of course, Fantasy Wars looks like an at least slightly souped up version- that's certainly not a bad thing.

If I didn't already have so many unfinished games (including Wesnoth), I think Fantasy Wars might be one I'd be interested in picking up- looks fun. With the backlog of games I have now though, I have to be choosy.

[frogbeastegg]

I've always been under the impression Wesnoth was MP only. Must have been confusing it with another game. I'll take a look when I have worked the game pile down a bit. Thanks.

I'd love to tell you a bit more about how Fantasy Wars is playing out but I haven't loaded it up since that last post. No PC playtime.

[Raz]

Wesnoth is most definitely single player... with a little bit of multiplayer thrown in. The thing is it does have a timelimit on each of the missions. I've found it most frustrating when I am turtling along, building a massive army and then I finally strike... thing is, when I'm literally just a single turn's move from the target out pops a message:
:Game Over, You have run out of time!:

[frogbeastegg]

Gah! I can deal with the occasional timed mission, but an entire game like that? It's completely against the way I like to play, and the stress of feeling I have to rush, rush, rush means I don't get any enjoyment from playing. Heck, the time limit on TW campaigns makes me faintly uneasy and they are generous enough that I have never once run out of time in all these years of playing. I wouldn't have brought Fantasy Wars if I hadn't seen that the claim all missions are timed was erroneous.

[Raz]

Gee, sorry to put you off Wesnoth so much...

[Crazed Rabbit]

I would argue that the limits in Wesnoth do not detract from the gameplay or force a strategy of constant rushing.

Wesnoth is not like a traditional RTS game in that you build a base and enhance it. It is more similar to a hex based wargame, in that your initial raising/choosing of forces, and how you deploy them to fight, are more important (indeed, you don't even build buildings). Because of this, the time limits don't force rushing as they might in an RTS.

At least try some missions to see if the limits detract from the experience, I don't think you'll find that they do.

CR

[Xiahou]

Yeah, I wasn't even sure there were time limits in Wesnoth. I guess they're usually just not an issue for me. I always like to take my time, but particularly on maps when you're on the attack, waiting too long only gives the advantage to the defender imo.

[doc_bean]

I too was a little worried about the tunr limits in Wesnoth, but the game deals with them extremely well. It's much more a tactical game than a strategicla one in the tradional sense (the strategy is mostly in the mix of arms and the levelling up) You really should try it.

Yeah, I wasn't even sure there were time limits in Wesnoth. I guess they're usually just not an issue for me. I always like to take my time, but particularly on maps when you're on the attack, waiting too long only gives the advantage to the defender imo.

How can you not notice them when finishing early determines so much of your income ???

Waiting would work if you use fast cavalry effectively (elvish riders !). They can stop an enemy's cash flow in one or two turns.

[Xiahou]

How can you not notice them when finishing early determines so much of your income ???

Yes, I was fully aware that finishing earlier means more cash. But I didn't really remember bumping up against hard limits- ie: you lose- for taking too long. Like I said, it never was a problem for me.

[frogbeastegg]

finishing early determines so much of your income

Double gah! That's two out of my three major strategy game dislikes: having my income tied to rushing and/or killing. Being a turn based game it's immune to number 3: the inability to issue orders and moved the camera while paused.

I shall try it one day perhaps, but it's not looking too promising.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

It also depends on the difficulty of the campaign - the "out of the box" ones are varied and there are dozens of other ones (though only a few are actually good or complete).