Matrix Games Forums

First things first: Great game! Congratulations on the team!



For the last years I have been playing just a few games: CoG, Harpoon CE, Hearts of Iron II, Crusader Kings:DV, Football Manager 200x, while spending most of my free time on a mod - called Magna Mundi - of another game, Europa Universalis III.



CoG:EE certainly takes what is best in its first iteration and adds a ton of new features that seem to be very well balanced since 1.0. At the same time, the urge to change the gameplay that sometimes possesses the designers in sequels (check the original disastrous release of Europa Universalis III, fixed in style only one year and a half after release with the second expansion) had me biting my fingernails at the final result. I had no reason to ever doubt your judgement after all!



CoG:EE is a Masterpiece and, in my humble opinion, THE option to those who ever played and delighted themselves with that gem of grand strategy board games called Empires in Arms to feel the same experience, only in the computer.





This being said, and sensing it would be too much to ask from Eric and the team to put the map and the counters (or figurines) on my table in the garage, the biggest fault I find for the game presently is the lack of widescreen support.

Yes, it can be played in my 24'' widescreen monitor and it will not spoil the whole experience, but I think a game like this, which will last years and years in our HD always ready to be played, should adapt to the 2006 reality (2006, mind you! ) and not get stuck in the 2000 one.


So, I can only ask, politely and in the best of moods, if there is any chance we can see widescreen support in a future patch, knowing beforehand that Paradox Entertainment did precisely that with Crusader Kings (which means it should not be THAT time consuming, *I think*).



All this said in the most constructive of spirits and really, a big thank you for this gameplay GEM!

I agree 100%!
 
I have CoG but couldn't get into it because of the complex economics, but the simplified economy option in EE was a great addition. I'm having a blast playing the 1792 campaign. Once I get a handle on running a simple economy, I'll try the advanced option.
 
Also really like the in-game manual which I use quite frequently.
 
Kudos to Eric and Matrix Games!

Thanks for your comments!

No promises on the screen resolution issue. It may well have to wait until the next engine, since it's not an easy change to make.

I must say that it is quite an impressive game development feat when the biggest complaint is about screen resolution. Kudos to the enter WCS team for a great game design and top quality release.

Ubik, as a HUGE fan of Magna Mundi, that is high praise indeed. Glad to see we share the same interests[:D]

Thank you very much for the extraordinarily kind words.  I'm a fan of "Empires in Arms" as well, though sadly haven't played in almost a decade now -- and I have to admit I don't think we've ever finished a game of it.

Regarding widescreen support, the good news is that we're developing a sequel to the engine that can run in windowed mode at any high resolution, possibly even with multi-monitor support.  I actually have this written, and it seems to work, more or less, properly.  (Huzzah!)  The bad news is that we really don't have the resources to make these changes to the COG:EE engine: it's far easier to create something anew with variable resolution than it is to retrofit it to a project with as many little interface bits as COG has.

Would it be very hard to make higher resolutions available without using windowed mode?
I'm not a big fan of windowed mode...

TheOx:

Thanks for the kind words. More than 400.000 downloads and the dozens of weekly support emails we receive, besides the activity in the forum mean a lot to us. [:)]

We are now deep into the production cycle of Magna Mundi Platinum 2 and I can promise you lots of groundbreaking changes to the game next June.


In regards with CoG:EE and bearing in mind it is more niche than EU3, I am very happy on how things got expanded in a linear way. It is safe to say if one was a fan of CoG one will be a fan of CoG:EE. So, contrary to what happened in EU3, there was not a deliberate attempt to broaden the target audience here, besides any newcomer that happen to share the same tastes as ourselves, of course. But in the end, I think quality always sells.

Not that the EU3 engine lacks quality, it doesn't in any way, but the radical gameplay changes from EU2 to EU3 didn't make sense for long time fans, while the game was still too complex to appeal to the mainstream gamers.
I told then and tell again that it was a bad move that only payed the first time where both old timers - through past experiences - as well as mainstream gamers - through the PR campaign - were lured into buying EU3 in release state.
Fortunately the expansions altered this state of affairs and EU3:IN can be considered a worthy successor to EU2.




Ericbabe:

Don't start me talking about my 4 full campaigns of Empires in Arms!
Each one took between 8 and 10 months to complete with 6 hours sessions weekly in my garage where a map was set up permanently. I got some pretty good scores (one 1st place, two 2nd and a 3rd) and it felt something like a sports season with 8 to 10 months of playing then 3 to 4 months of resting! [:D]

Ah, the good times! [;)]


As far as widescreen support... I surely understand your reasoning pretty well but it doesn't hurt to lobby a bit! [8D]

It would be such a nice surprise if you included something to this effect in a patch. Well, speaking for myself, I'd be willing to pay for it, tbh!

[font="times new roman"]Same here… the game is awesome.[/font]
[font="times new roman"][/font] 
[font="times new roman"]I had a rough time with CoG, the economy was too much to start out with at first. And it did not run all that well on my old computer.[/font]
[font="times new roman"]I then found out about CoG:EE a little while ago and decided to give it another try. A smart decision on my part as the game runs fine on my pc now and the easy economy makes it a lot faster to get a game going without worrying too much about trade and other economics things. I will probably try the advance option later on but for now, I’m having a great time.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]This is an excellent Napoleonic era game.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]I will most likely also get FoF now.[/font]
[font="times new roman"] [/font]
[font="times new roman"]Thank you WCS[/font]

Ubik's opinion matters.

I too am really impressed with this sequel.

I was unable to get into COG because of the economy.

I am really enjoying the great scope of this game,which has to be the best Napoleonic computer game yet done. The detailed battles are fun,have a Napoleonic feel, and the AI is decent. And I have yet to find even one bug.

I enjoy the various strategic options, and the peace and treaty system is outstanding.

Well done!

ORIGINAL: ubik

Thanks for the kind words. More than 400.000 downloads and the dozens of weekly support emails we receive, besides the activity in the forum mean a lot to us. [:)]

We are now deep into the production cycle of Magna Mundi Platinum 2 and I can promise you lots of groundbreaking changes to the game next June.

ubik:

Dang! I just printed out the 177 page manual for MMP1! In 2-3 months I will have to print the MMP2 manual now. I am one of the 400,000 downloads and this MOD is incredible! I had stopped playing EU3, then I stumbled upon the MOD and thought I would give it a try. I sure am glad I did as now EU3 is what it should be. Great job ubik. [&o]

How do you find the time with it being free?! [&:]

ubik:

Dang! I just printed out the 177 page manual for MMP1! In 2-3 months I will have to print the MMP2 manual now. I am one of the 400,000 downloads and this MOD is incredible! I had stopped playing EU3, then I stumbled upon the MOD and thought I would give it a try. I sure am glad I did as now EU3 is what it should be. Great job ubik. [&o]

How do you find the time with it being free?! [&:]

To be blunt:
Quality atracts quality. Talent atracts talent.

Back in 2007, after two months and three very successful versions, we had the fortune of getting people like Alvaro, David and Lars - to name them in alphabetical order - on board and my success is as much as theirs.
Today Magna Mundi involves the work of a spanish, an american, a german, a canadian, a russian, a chinese, a polish, a serb, a british, a portuguese, an israeli, a colombian, as heavily involved team members.

More than anything, Magna Mundi is a work of love.


Speaking of passion and to broaden the horizons of this post, passion is exactly what is lacking ever more in the games' industry.
Eventualy this leads to nine out of ten games being so uninspired that it seems to this outside observer they are designed using some kind of assembly line from start to finish. There is a cardinal rule: What is important is they shine when they leave the factory. So, Shiny Graphix Are a Must!
As for the remaining parts, well those are the "details". "Details" like gameplay that most of the time seems to be decided by a bunch of guys with the creativity of accountants lead by a marketing "guru" that is great at cherry picking parts of other designs which seem to stick with the "target market".
No wonder developing games is a risky business. With so many coasters around only the ones getting better media coverage -which is very different from being, per se, better - will strive.

Gameplay core elements that stemm from the philosophical question "Why do we play?", elements like challenge, risk, punishment, tangible and intangible rewards, time as a balancing factor and many more are present in most of the titles on the market in random ways, forms and combinations.
Its a bit like a guy claiming to be a master cook and dropping random ingredients into a cooking pan, after burning through a million dollars in "the project", upon the presentation of the final meal, he expects to show the public the finest example of haute cuisine.


Fortunately for the "true connaisseurs", some fringe companies like Matrix, Paradox or Shrapnelgames to name a few, invest in true "Master cooks" and are able to present really creative games that will last for long in our hardrives.
...And while delving on these companies and their games, it is also interesting to note the following rule of thumb: The quality of a game tends to be inversely proportional to the level of intrusiveness of its copy protection. [;)]

Thus, to finally write something on topic [:o], CoG:EE is an example of an excellent game, ready to be experienced by people who enjoy to play strategy games.
Pertaining CoG:EE and as an example of a great design decision, even if I am a huge fan of the complex economy - not so complex once you understand 3 or 4 concepts each turn- I think the option of adding a simple economy is the perfect example of broadening the game target audience without taking quality from it.


Finally and again risking the wrath of moderators and admins as i'll deviate from the topic again, allow me to point to my fellow gamers another gem of gameplay called "Mount & Blade".
Google for it, download the demo and be advised there are mods that add immensely to that great and untapped engine. Predictably, it got an unremarkable "6.0 out of 10" in one of the biggest review sites around.




.

Mount & Blade _IS_ an awesome game Ubik, and that was an excellent review [;)] Thanks for helping our hobby in so many ways!