Boo to Tom Chick

[Jarlaxle135]

I was just reading his review of BTS over at Yahoo Games to see what it said about Age of Ice. Well, here it is: "On the other hand, two scenarios are particularly disappointing. The weird zombie X-Com mod called Afterworld gets points for style, and then immediately loses those points for tedium. Age of Ice, drawn from Derek Paxton's epic Fall from Heaven fantasy mod, is a canned puzzle map that plays like a Heroes of Might and Magic scenario. You're better off waiting for Paxton's latest version of the Fall from Heaven mod. "
He says it is disappointing, but doesn't say why. It is almost as if he was running out of room in his column. At least everyone else in the world knows the truth about AoI. Great job FFH team.

 

[Nikis-Knight]

Eh, sounds like he just doesn't like fixed map scenarios. That's fine, but there would have been little point putting the FfH 1 or 2 that you can download here into BtS.

 

[wicshade]

I realy liked the space mod myself, i thought that was almost as good as Kael's FFH2. The only reason i don't like age of ice is because ive played ffh2, but the flavor of erebus in age of ice was integrated very well.

 

[Jono]

Eh, sounds like he just doesn't like fixed map scenarios. That's fine, but there would have been little point putting the FfH 1 or 2 that you can download here into BtS.

At least there would've been a playable version of FfH in BtS then.

 

[Jon Shafer]

Tom was limited to 800 words for his review so he didn't have enough space to go into detail. He will, however, be posting an in-depth analysis of the BTS scenarios on his website (tomorrow).

http://www.quartertothree.com

Jon

 

[ChaoticWanderer]

iim not really into fixed map scenarios either i like random map games 100% more.

 

[BeefontheBone]

In fairness, I had much the same HoMM feeling - particularly the "wander around the map cleaning up long after it's clear you've won" towards the end. Having played the wonder that is a full game of FfH, it did feel restrictive, even while the early game, weather mechanics and so on were pretty snazzy. It didn't induce the same "wow" factor that Rhye's (despite having played the Warlords version not so long ago) or especially the Final Frontier game did. He's not wrong about Afterworld either.

 

[Aeon221]

He's also totally right. How on earth could you go from full throttle FfHII to AoI and not be disappointed?

I mean, Amurites who don't use magic? Teh lame! Playing AoI was like having everything I hated about FfH2 shoved into a big package and dumped on my door. But then adding a cool feature (interactive and dangerous weather conditions) so that I would be sad that it wouldn't be in the main game.

And Afterworld was the biggest letdown of the century.

 

[LordGek]

At least there would've been a playable version of FfH in BtS then.

Yeah, I think its actually not meant fully as a slam but to take Civ 4's best series of mods and turn them into a clever little fixed map scenario, no matter how well done, just feels disappointing. On the other hand, Fall from Heaven 2 is CLEARLY not ready for prime time yet and going comepletely back to Fall from Heaven 1 would seem a weak option. I think they made the best call possible for BtS...but its still a let down.

 

[rusty217]

I disagree, imo aoi was a good scenario, it gave a great bit of backstory to the main game as well as vastly improving the flavour for the civs involved. It gave a little bit of insight into future developments for the main game "equipment and random events????", well i hope so anyway....

It also removed the only thing i found undesirable about the main mod of ffh.

 

[rusty217]

He's also totally right. How on earth could you go from full throttle FfHII to AoI and not be disappointed?

I mean, Amurites who don't use magic? Teh lame! Playing AoI was like having everything I hated about FfH2 shoved into a big package and dumped on my door. But then adding a cool feature (interactive and dangerous weather conditions) so that I would be sad that it wouldn't be in the main game.

And Afterworld was the biggest letdown of the century.

Well the amurites did use magic, try the children of kyorlin, or epona,

And if you still don't think they used enough magic then atleast aoi has shown why the amurites use magic.

 

[vorshlumpf]

He's also totally right. How on earth could you go from full throttle FfHII to AoI and not be disappointed?

How can you be interested in the FfH setting and not love AoI?
I'm sorry the scenario didn't 'do it' for you. Personally, I love it.

 

[LordGek]

I disagree, imo aoi was a good scenario, it gave a great bit of backstory to the main game as well as vastly improving the flavour for the civs involved. It gave a little bit of insight into future developments for the main game "equipment and random events????", well i hope so anyway....

It also removed the only thing i found undesirable about the main mod of ffh.

I hear you there. While I like the concept of the magic in FfH2, until the AI can use it competently it feels like a bunch of rules that only I as the human player can take full advantage of and gives me an unfair leg up in the game.

 

[Sureshot]

i enjoyed the scenario but scenarios generally don't have much replayability for me.

 

[Caradoc]

Hey, some of us around here like Heroes of Might and Magic scenarios!

 

[frenzyslave]

Personally I felt it was a step backward, and was a bit dissapointed about the magic options for AoI. But... I grew to like it, as I bumped into pirates (I was a bit sad that some of these weren't in ffh2), the weather effects were cool (and annoying but coool), and it was sooo different. Its a pity it was a fixed map, but I suppose you kinda have that with all those specials running around. Oh, and that cheesey bird... Thumbs up.

 

[Kael]

Thats cool, everyone is entitled to their opinion. AoI and FfH are designed for two different purposes. AoI is expected to be a single play game with a bunch of detail, new features, etc. FfH is a much bigger project and its goal is replayability.

Those that love FfH for its replayability may not enjoy AoI. Some may enjoy AoI more than FfH because its more detailed and polished (does less, but each aspect is fully developed).

That and AoI is intended as an introduction to the FfH universe for players. Start there in a relativly simple setting before downloading the public mod. And for the fans its a romp in a unique setting and some extra history for those that enjoy it.

 

[Broken Hawk]

I'm still waiting for my copy from Amazon so I can't say much. But if I understand the history of Erebus correctly, much of the knowledge of arcane lore was lost during the Age of Ice. Therefore the Amurites would not know a lot about magic. Right?

 

[Kael]

I'm still waiting for my copy from Amazon so I can't say much. But if I understand the history of Erebus correctly, much of the knowledge of arcane lore was lost during the Age of Ice. Therefore the Amurites would not know a lot about magic. Right?

Yeah, the knowledge is lost. More than that, these remnants of humanity have lost that spark, the talent for the arcane. Kylorin is not a man as these other men are, he is from an earlier age, from the greatest days of men (and Epona to a lesser extent, though you can probably figure that story out by reading Epona and Kylorins pedia entries). In that regard his bloodline is as important as his teaching.

Men do recover, people outside of Kylorin's bloodline do learn to use magic into the next age. But they never match those that share his bloodline directly.

[TAB]"He was our father in every way, our protector, leader and teacher. He raised our civilization from the shadows of humanity that was left after Mulcarn's triumph. He did this by the giving of his blood. In battle he bled alongside our armies, and when no other mortal dared go further he walked on alone. But he also shared his blood with us through his children. There were many, by multiple wives and each bore a mark of his unique heritage. These children were as men from the Age of Magic, and the power of that age coursed through them. After the fall of the white hand, after Kylorin left us, the legacy of the generations that came from him are his eternal gift to the Amurites."

- Valledia the Even

- From the Children of Kylorin pedia entry in AoI.

 

[evanb]

Hey, some of us around here like Heroes of Might and Magic scenarios!

Hear, hear!