Elemental Forums
For developing Elemental as far as possible:
Sword of Aragon, Dominions, and MoM (Obviously).
A well done mesh of these three would be so supremely classic...gah.
I concur. A very close 4th for me would be Lords of Magic SE (the re-release version with unique epic monsters). I don't think that game ever got is full due.
Lords of Magic is by far one of my favoritestest games, and its too bad the graphics are so antiquated that its not worth playing. I still remember the tremors I got when seeing the Lord of Death walking around. And then my computer crashing randomly. I really liked the mesh they had of RTS and turn style gaming.
To that list I would add AOW:SM and Civ II, for the multiple maps! Underground! Alternate dimensions! Think of the modders!
Yeah, I think LOM would have been a much greater success if it hadn't been so buggy when first released. I also think they did a great job of balancing RTS and turn-based aspects. Some of my other favorite things were allowing your generic army units to accrue experience/abilities, choosing whether you wanted to do detail combat or quick combat (and risk higher casualties), and the way they forced you to make strategic decisions on allocating your magic users (i.e. touring with parties, training lesser users, researching spells, etc.).
The SE version was much less buggy, and added unique creatures. I thought it was a superb game from soup to nuts once the bugs were ironed out.
**Edit** clarified a point
MoM obviously. Nothing has really come close to the bar that this game set.
Sword of Aragon was actually quite similar to War of the Lance, which I have mentioned in another thread.
Civ 4 is an excellent entry into the Civ universe using a "modern" 3d game engine.
Speaking of Lords of Magic, isn't that game out on gog.com now? 
<--- Getting ready to spend cash on a few GOG games, as soon as he straightens otu the bank. "Yes, really, I can buy things in France when I live in the US... it's called the internet! The website banks in France!"
1. CIV IV (best game ever)
2. Master of Orion II (flexible research tree, big monstas give big rewards ++)
3. MOM (ofcourse)
Some oldies from me
Used to play it on ZX Spectrum,very good example of strategy game where multiplayer games can be finished fast,no city building,you design your wizard by splitting experience points amongst mana, action points, stamina, constitution, combat, defense and magic resistance. Remaining experience points are spent on spells. Spells may be offensive in nature (magic bolt, curse), potions (speed potion, healing potion), utility (teleport, magic eye) or summoning (goblin, unicorn, etc).Then battle begins and you fight other wizards.
The player must arrange marriages, father children, appoint family members to governmental positions, and fight in order to conquer the lands. Armies must be drafted and soldiers must be trained.
Sound familiar,right
Sets you as a Roman senator, with the ultimate aim of colonizing as much of the known world as possible, and retaining that power against Carthaginians, Vandals, Parthians, Persians and all the other world forces. You have a strong army at your disposal, and can direct your generals as to which countries they attempt to invade.
The game is turn-based, and these turns operate in phases, beginning with the economic circumstances of population and tax income being decided - it's recommended to keep taxation taxing low unless things become desperate. The game then updates you on the statuses of your generals, and give you the chance to redistribute them to other parts of your kingdom.
Officers may rebel and cause a civil war - fortunately this can usually be pre-empted. More serious are attempts to take land from other civilizations, which take place in order and include conflicts between other groups.
Newer games
Heroes of Might and Magic IV
MOM and AOW
Dominion
I do remember liking, and losing the cds (Or trading it for Total Annihalation?) Lords of Magic, been a looong time. I'm gonna have to look for this Lords of Chaos game though..Genghis Khan, and other such Koei titles, could def bring some information to the game I suppose.
I hope I am being redundant here, but I feel a bit worried whenever people say to the devs "Look at game X". I would STRONGLY prefer to have EWOM be as unique as possible as opposed to a derivative of some existing game.
There is a 3.02 patch to Lords of Magic SE that fixed all the bugs in the game, added better scroll speed controls, input wide screen fix, and other general improvements. This definitely was one of my favorite games and was the first thing i thought of when i saw Elemental. I even played through it again just a few weeks ago. My only complaint is the game is kind of easy even on hard. Though it was kind of funny playing it on windows 7.
Someone should buy the rights of Lords of Magic and make a second one.
That's why you look at MULTIPAL (I cant spell) games. Heh.
Not necessarly, different ideas put together can be new, and it's damn hard to find a 'new' idea..though slightly easier in gaming since it's not 100 years old (Well electronic gaming anyway).
I would say that the piont is not to mimick, but to exceed previous games. To do that, you have to know what you're up against. All the games mentioned in this thread ought to be looked at.
If we are talking about strategy games...
1. Sword of Aragorn
2. Age of Wonders 2. [+ Expansions]
3. Warlords serie
You are not going to find a "true original" game at this point in time, especially in a turn based strategy game. All you can do is take what you have learned, perfect it, and implement it. Essentially, until a new genre is founded, everything is built off of the experiences of the past. It's the nature of everything, even computer games.
This does not mean that the game cannot be ground breaking or epic.
I'm a bit shocked and alarmed I'm not seeing more "Heroes of Might and Magic" or "X-Com" on any of these lists.
Also, wasn't Dominions released in 1998? a year later and it could have been on the PS2. I feel its far to new to be worthy of the title "supremely classic", at least in the same way the other two hold it. (MoM = 1993, Sword of Aragon = 1989)
While I disagree about mimiking games I DO think that there's still room for TRUE originality in the games market. It's just not old enough to have everything done, especially as new PC power will possibly give rise to new possibilites.
That's like sayiong there can be no more great books because they are all derivative or no new great music for the same reason. You can do something completely new fresh and dare I say it? original by drawing on the strengths of existing works! I mean there are going to be cities (deriviative from Civ! + hundreds of others) There is going to be research trees (again at least dozens if not hundreds of games already) um armies and tactical battles.
A lot of us came here hoping for "MoM 2". I think we all know that is NOT what is coming and I honestly think most of us at this point are excited about the direction EWOM is going and at this point would be disappointed (if that is possible) with "just" an updated MoM.
I have no doubt that EWOM is going to be hugely original but to say ignore excellent aspects of other games I think is to fall off the other side of the horse....umm let the pendulum swing too far the other way. Sure even the strengths that they "mimic" from other games they need to find a new, fresh way to present that idea.
BTW, this is in reference to Scoutdog's reply #14 above. To say you want the game as unique as possible is asking for a piece of crap game like Spore. Spore had some real potential and was definitely unique...but it sucked! I would much rather see a fresh look at some old themes COMBINED with a strong component of truly unique individuality.
I completely agree
I agree, as PC power constantly increases as the same with developer software the gaming possibilities are reaching new possibilities. I'm slightly disappointed how the last 5 years most games have been more focused on graphics instead of more important aspects such as game content, strategies, map sizes, artificial intelligence(AI), and editors.
Seriously we don't need to see shadows perfectly meshed with moving blades of grass! It's disgusting how so many game companies believe awesome graphics is the most important piece.
In the realm of xcom I would love to see some hints of Laser Squad Nemesis. Also some flavor of Ogre Tactics would be very cool.
MOM, XCom, MOO and MOOII (MOOIII sucked despite my hopes) and various CIV versions especially Alpha Centauri.
These are the benchmarks by which I judge all newer TB strategy games. So far I have yet to find a game that exceeds the potential of those original games. Elemental is the first game in a long while that seems to be in the ballpark... Here's hoping that they live up to the legacy! 
James (and Alex)
1.Civilization 4
2.King's Bounty: The Legend
3.Anno 1404: Dawn of Discovery
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