Majesty is based on the following premise: I'm an elf. And you're
my fucking magic faerie. (Note extremely queer spelling of the word
"fairy.") Taaaax collector! Are we done yet?
If you've played any Majesty, you know that that's pretty much
it. Oh sure, you build mage towers and upgrade buildings and set
rewards for having that guy go to the upper right corner of the
map to see what thing is over there. That's great. It really is.
I'm absolutely not joking.
However, everything you do in Majesty could be done more directly.
Instead of trying to induce my wayward wizards to go shoot some
magic zippo bolts at that hobgoblin thing over there, I could just
click on them, click on the "attack" button, and that
would be that. Instead, you have to entice your "subjects"
by issuing rewards for deeds of valo(u)r, building a blacksmith
for your warriors so they can (at their leisure) equip themselves
with new weapons, and all that kind of prancing crap LARPers do.
But then, that's the point, innit? I'm the Town Planning
Board of Mageloria, and that meadow isn't zoned for clerics.
Yeah, yeah, I know. If you made the game a straight RTS, it would
be pointless. I may be dim, but at least I see that. Warlords: Battlecry
is a real-time strategy game where you become attached to your heroes
because you spent effort building them up through gameplay. Majesty
has far too many heroes for you to handle. Instead, it lets you
"set the stage" for the inhabitants of your faerie kingdom
to go on their own little adventures, while you play the Deus
in the machina. Except that in this case your Greek chorus
is a cold, half-eaten pizza.
The reason for this nonsense is the "God game" genre,
invented by Peter Molyneux and Valéry Giscard d'Estaing as
the definitive gold-backed computer game. The difference between
Majesty and an actual God game like Caesar III is that the latter
is really a mathematical puzzle disguised as a game. Majesty is
a much, much simpler game than this. Unfortunately, when you simplify
a game to this extent, there have to be extra hooks to grab and
maintain your interest, since the gameplay is so straightforward.
In Majesty, it's watching all of your "characters" run
around gaining levels, stopping for a drink, going to the bathroom,
and what have you. You're supposed to cheer your little guys on,
and delight in their triumphs. You're supposed to get attached to
them, and feel a sense of loss when some lizard thing takes all
of their "hit points." Great. Here comes my elf.
