Age of Wonders 2: The Wizard's Throne
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Age of Wonders 2: The Wizard's Throne | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Developer(s) | Triumph Studios |
| Publisher(s) | Take 2 |
| Designer(s) | Lennart Sas |
| Release date(s) | 2002 |
| Genre(s) | Turn-based strategy |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen (T) |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Media | CD |
| System requirements | Pentium II 300 CPU, 64MB RAM, 500MB hard disk, 4MB DirectX compatible graphic card, 8x CD-ROM drive |
| Input | Keyboard, mouse |
Age of Wonders 2: The Wizard's Throne is a turn-based, strategy PC-game in a fantasy setting. The first sequel to Age of Wonders, it was developed by Triumph Studios, a Dutch game developer.
Contents |
[edit] Differences from Age of Wonders
Unlike in Age of Wonders, where the player has the option of removing their leader from the map, players in Age of Wonders 2 take the role of an immortal spell-casting Wizard, who cannot be upgraded, but in certain circumstances can survive being killed.
[edit] Magic system
In Age of Wonders, magic is used via the spell casting abilities of leaders and heroes, and global spells can be cast some distance away from the hero; use of spells in combat is restricted to battles where a hero with spell casting is present.
Magic use in Age of Wonders 2 uses a "domain" system; spells can only be cast within the domain of the casting wizard, or the domain of an allied wizard. Magic domains can overlap with each other, and in the simple case, are centred on the Wizard. When a Wizard is present in a Wizard's Tower, the radius of the domain increases significantly, and in addition is radiated by other Wizard's Towers, Magic Relays and Heroes under the control of the player. Global spells can only be cast by the Wizard, via a spell book located in the main user interface; spells can be cast in combat by either Heroes involved in the battle, or (provided the battle takes place inside their domain) the Wizard who controls any party which entered the battle.
[edit] Combat and heroes
In contrast to Age of Wonders, the maps for tactical battles are now much smaller. This lead to faster combat action and less tedious maneuvering of the units. Also in contrast to its predecessor, when gaining new levels Heroes can no longer choose new skills from an endless list of all available skills; instead, the player is forced to choose one of three offered skills, depending on the Hero's class.
[edit] Fan reaction and involvement
Improved music and graphics, sub-quests from various gods, more races and build options as well as two large single-player campaigns made most of the large fanbase of Age of Wonders happy migrating to Age of Wonders 2: The Wizard's Throne; this was aided by the involvement of members of the HeavenGames community in suggestions, testing and development of the game. Age of Wonders is still played by some die-hard fans however who claim that the changes between the two versions are big enough to make each game unique.
Probably planned as an expansion pack, Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic was published later as a stand-alone game.
