So far, I have found that fantasy strategy games only

Heroes of Might and Magic 3, Age of Wonders, Fallen Enchantress and Warlock Masters of the Arcane series/games are only worth my time because they all appeal to me the most.

If you've played Heroes of Might and Magic 3 and 5 already, why not give 6 a try? People have been saying that it's a bad game and apparently causes cancer so I started playing it with the expectations that it will suck but I ended up enjoying it quite a lot. It's definitely not as good as HoMM 3 and 5, which are tied for best game in the series im my opinion, but still quite good.

i_saw_a_mudcrab

[QUOTE="Toxicwire1"] I do have Dwarf Fortress, a great free game. And Genesis doesn't really appeal to me, what's the difference from it and Broken World?

Falconoffury

Why wouldn't Genesis appeal to you? I think it's a great game, with many features from many great strategy games. I never played Broken World, but I heard that it is an incomplete and buggy remake of Genesis. Did they ever fix Broken World?

Toxicwire1, you seem to care a lot about complexity. Ever try Dwarf Fortress? By the way, I recommended "Eador: Genesis". The broken world version has a lot of problems, I hear.

Falconoffury

[QUOTE="Toxicwire1"]

With the games you guys have suggested I have tried and took an interest in.

Warlock: Master of the Arcane

Eador: Masters of the Broken World

 

Those are about the two that have entertained me so far.

xsubtownerx

With the games you guys have suggested I have tried and took an interest in.

Warlock: Master of the Arcane

Eador: Masters of the Broken World

Those are about the two that have entertained me so far.

Eador: Genesis

Lords of Magic

Falconoffury

Warlock Masters of the Arcane I am debating to try it, it looks exactly like Civilizations which is alright but I am honestly quite burnt out on Civilizations and that kinda pushes me away from that.

And Age of Wonders 3 is coming out? I will honestly have to check that out. That seems interesting, I never heard of it till you mentioned it, thank you.

I played Eador: Masters of the Broken World and I actually only played for a few minutes and I like the story behind it, it's not like every other fantasy world is (someone who is evil and you must stop them or gather a family to rise up), this is quite unique in it's way and I like it.

Fantasy

Fallen Enchantress, that is meh to me.

Warlock: Masters of the Arcane: Took a slight interest in it but its small amount of factions didn't suck me into the game.

Disciples 2: It did not interest me while researching it.

King Arthur: It interests me but doesn't interest me at the same time.

Kings Bounty Crossworlds: Doesn't interest me.

Fantasy Wars: Looks to simple and unentertaining to me.

Spell Force: It interests me and I do plan on try to give it a chance.

Warlords Battlecry: Looks way to simple for my taste

Battlemages: Does not interest me.

Battle for Middle Earth: I remember playing it for Xbox 360 (I know PC games are better for RTS and such but it did quite interest me but I got to the point where I was bored with it.)

Non-fantasy

Galatic Civilizations 2: Played it but does not intrigue me.

Total War series: Played every single Total War game as I am a fan of the series (only two I have not played is Napoleon and Shogun 1.)

Xcom series: Does not intrigue me.

Company of Heroes: Lacks detail for me. (I know it has quite a bit of detail but the game is just dull for me.)

Sins of a Solar Empire: Played it but for space games I like the customization and it doesn't have it.

But please do keep recommending games to me

I look into every game you guys do suggest.

I'll start with TBS and here you have Disciples 2, a game any fan of fantasy TBS should experience. Before the release of King's Bounty : The Legend back in 2007, Disciples 2 was considered part of the "holy trinity" of fantasy TBS alongside the HOMM and AoW series. In a way those 3 game series are still the quintessential fantasy TBS series because the King's Bounty series is not a pure TBS (only the combat is TBS). The Gold version of Disciples 2 (which includes all the expansions released for the game) is available dirt cheap from GoG.com (i think it's on Steam too, but I prefer no client/DRM with my gaming).

Another fantasy TBS that has been getting a lot of praise from the TBS community is Eador. Having played both games in the series myself (I'm currently playing Eador : Masters of the Broken World but I also have spent over 150 playing Eador Genesis) I can vouch that they are quite addictive and worth checking out for any TBS fan. Speaking of Genesis, I don't know if it's a better game than HOMM 3 (I'll let each TBS fan decide for themselves) but IMO at the very least the creature/unit designs are easily on par with HOMM3. Eador MOTBW is practically a remake of Eador Genesis with prettier graphics but it's also quite buggy and less stable than Genesis at the moment so I would get Genesis if you want to try out the series. Be aware that the game is a lot more challenging (even on easier difficulty settings) than any of the "holy trinity" of TBS games I've mentioned previously; but you shouldn't let that scare you. Again, both games are available on GoG.

I'd also recommend Fantasy Wars (yeah, it doesn't get more generic a title than this); I had a lot of fun with this underrated game and also, like Eador - could be quite challenging at times.

If you like Civilization style TBS games then Warlock : Master of the Arcane is a must try. The game is pretty much Civ in a fantasy setting, but it's a lot of fun.

Moving on to RTS, I'd say everyone who is a fan of fantasy should experience the Spellforce games. Yeah, I know they are RTS-RPG hybrids, but the focus is still on the strategy part - especially in the case of the first Spellforce and it's expansions. IMO it's got everything a fantasy strategy fan would want : lots of different races to control and battle against, a ton of spells from different magic schools, resources to harvest and manage and a decent storyline to boot. It's also quite lengthy for an RTS game, so you get more value for your money.

The Warcraft series (Warcraft 2 and Warcraft 3 in particular) are obvious and frequently recommended games, with many regarding them as the ultimate fantasy RTS experience. I've played them and enjoyed them, but I must say I've had more fun with lesser known RTS made on a lot smaller budgets than what Blizzard had at their dispossal (Warlord's Battledcry and Battle Realms spring to mind). Still, you should probably check them out if only to decide for yourself if the hype is justified.

The Warlords Battlecry series is also worth checking out. Like Spellforce, it offers lot's of races, spells and also features a rather unique way of capturing resources.

Another older, underrated fantasy RTS game is Armies of Exigo. Though you can tell it's inspired heavily by Warcraft, I personally found it better then the latter.

Majesty and Majesty 2 are also a lot of fun and have a unique way of handling things whereas you aren't directly controlling your units but you are influencing their actions a la Dungeon Keeper.

And lastly - if you can get hold of it - I think Battle Mages is quite an interesting take on the fantasy RTS genre. I found it pretty innovative at the time and worth a shot for any fantasy fan.

I haven't played many 4x games but from my experience those games tend to focus on sci-fi settings, not fantasy.

Now I realize I didn't exactly give you a detailed, in-depth description of each of these games I mentioned but I've already exceeded my usual length for posting on forums so I suggest you check out gameplay or let's play vids on Youtube to see if any of them are your cup of tea. You could also dig around for reviews but those are rarely accurate or unbiased enough to be truly informative or crucial when deciding on a purchase. I've lost count how many time a game had received poor reviews but I loved it (and vice-versa a game with raving, praising reviews which I've found overrated and/or shallow). It's your call how you want to handle it, of course.

Anyway, have fun either way and it's great to see that there are still fantasy strategy (especially TBS) fans out there! Personally, I'm sick of all the sci-fi/WW2/historical strategy games out there and I wish more developers would get back to making good old fantasy strategy games.

Shadowboro