GBAtemp Recommends #99: Arcomage (DS Homebrew)

[BORTZ]

Welcome to the 99th issue of the GBAtemp Recommends Revival Project! This is a weekly feature where we talk about some of our past favourites. Some may be famous, others have been ignored when released against larger titles but all are a worth your time.​

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Acromage (DS Homebrew)

If you like fantasy and card games, this one is for you. Its as simple as any of your basic smartphone games (in fact, I think there is a beefier version for phones…).

Good thing to point out is that the game originated in 3DO's Might and Magic 7. Also a very good game to play if someone hasn't played it yet!

You have a tower and a wall, your opponent has the same. You have a Temple that generates 1 magic times the number of temples you own, a quarry for stone and mine for gold that functions in the same way. At the beginning of each of your turns, your resources generate depending on those numbers.

You will be given 6 cards. You must either play one card or discard one every turn. Each card has its description detailed right under the graphic, as well as cost.
The goal of the game is to play a card that does damage to the enemy wall or castle, eventually reducing them to 0. The game is over when you or your opponents castle reaches 0.

The artist work on the cards are all well done. While there isn't much in they way of graphics or polygon work, so the artwork is the best you get. But its well worth it, and the game has been a great toilet pal for some time, tucked away on my DSTWO.

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If you want to submit a game, please let me or Hadrian know first and we'll discuss it.
For a look at all the games we have covered, please visit our Wiki page for a complete list with links.

 

[Qtis]

Acromage, Good old Acromage! This is quite a good game in terms of actual quality. Gameplay can be adapted quite fast with the way the opponent plays their hand.

Good thing to point out is that the game originated in 3DO's Might and Magic 7. Also a very good game to play if someone hasn't played it yet!

 

[FAST6191]

I remember playing it in Might and Magic VII I think it was, actually sought out all the pubs to play it in.

I remember seeing the DS homebrew and gave it a spin, for some reason it never quite made it as one of those homebrews I drag through from cart to cart and SD card to SD card.

 

[BORTZ]

Acromage, Good old Acromage!
Good thing to point out is that the game originated in 3DO's Might and Magic 7. Also a very good game to play if someone hasn't played it yet!

I actually had no knowledge of that at all! Thats really cool!

 

[Ryukouki]

Looks like Hearthstone

 

[calmwaters]

Sounds like Yu-Gi-Oh! Not to detach from the subject of this game, but does anyone know a good videogame for that franchise? The ones I've played are... frustrating.

 

[CathyRina]

Sounds like Yu-Gi-Oh! Not to detach from the subject of this game, but does anyone know a good videogame for that franchise? The ones I've played are... frustrating.

I don't know which one you've played but I spend shit tons of time playing World championship 2011. It's a little outdated though.

 

[BORTZ]

Good thing to point out is that the game originated in 3DO's Might and Magic 7. Also a very good game to play if someone hasn't played it yet!

Looks like Hearthstone

OLD Hearthstone

 

[calmwaters]

I don't know which one you've played but I spend shit tons of time playing World championship 2011. It's a little outdated though.

Three years is outdated? lol, I would've thought 6 or 7 is outdated. But thanks.

 

[FAST6191]

I do not know if I would quite call this yu gi oh, from what I understand there (I can not claim to know the game well but it is not that different to a lot of games and I did learn the rules to help hack a few of them) it is a bit more of a complex game where this is somewhat closer to a more traditional board game sort of thing. When people say it is outdated I usually find they mean it does not have the new cards, any updated rules, it may use things that are not competition legal and the like -- seen as it is a collectible card game then you kind of have to bring out new and expensive things every so often.

As for a computerised version of yu gi oh game, especially on a handheld, is not likely to be great any time soon. It is an actual serious and well studied mathematical problem -- if you see the supercomputers they use to do chess, how they struggle to do something like go and the like then consider that yugioh is far far more complex*. It is why you have a sharply limited selection of cards, a sharply limited ability to customise decks, the AI is probably not that good even then (not sure if handicaps exist but that could happen) and why it takes a few seconds to "think" (it is not the game being cute as it genuinely needs the time). Alternatively if you can change those things you will likely not have the option to go up against a good AI.

*any number of moves, you do not know your opponent's deck, you do not know the hand your opponent has and they vice versa for both, you might have a skip a move, traps exist, sacrifices exist........

 

[ferofax]

Looks like Hearthstone

Mmm, I dunno about HearthStone, but this mini-game (and the game it hails from) are from the '90s, so it predates that game by at least a decade, maybe two. So which one looks like which?

Also, sudden nostalgia kick to the head, I'm still reeling. I LOVE THAT GAME! My main was always a vampire, so first priority is to get something that deals with the negative regen during daytime outdoors. As soon as I can, I prefer to fly around, find a bunch of enemies (preferably a naga's nest, but that's late into the game), SWITCH FROM REAL-TIME TO TURN-BASED (this one's genius! you can go from action to full tactical combat with the press of the Spacebar), rain measly Fireballs and puny arrows to the point that I gain enough experience to level up a few times in one sitting, lol.

...Can't remember if I've actually finished the game, though. But I do remember going through the elemental planes -- which means I probably did finish it.

EDIT: Totally talking about Might & Magic VIII: Day of the Destroyer. Yep. The one with the funny CG-rendered sprites. I thought it was brilliant, mostly because at the time all I had was a huge IBM laptop that can only run games like this, Starcraft, Diablo II, (games that mostly came at the tail end of Windows 98SE). Arcomage is also present in this game.

 

[SLiV3R]

I will give this game a try =) Looks cool!