I think it might be available for digital download, but seeing as the original B&W is no longer being produced getting hold of a hard copy is actually somewhat more difficult than it should be. And yes, although you can find listings on Amazon, some people have taken the "limited edition" thing completely out of whack and are trying to sell for 400 bucks.
'Course, I've still got the original CD plus Creature Isle and they're both in pristine condition. I'm just that kind of awesome.
I'm a bit partial to the original, having played it many times and in many fashions since I was a just a kid (and *never* fully grasping the complexity and power of the creature's mind), but I've played the demo to B&W2 (again, repeatedly) and I appreciate it for its own reasons.
The original held, for me at least, a far greater feeling of wonder and atmosphere compared to the second one. And thanks to certain features of the game (some intended, some not so much) had some interesting variety in how you could pull off specific things. And the creature, for all its blatant ridiculousness and aggravation at times, really developed its own personality and made you grow attached to it (as well as allowing you to potentially teach it some really very complex and amusing tasks).
Black and White 2 was simplified in a number of ways and by quite a bit. However, simplicity is not a bad thing. It made a lot of godly things so much easier to do than in the first one, and implemented some things which I really rather enjoyed (miracles, for example. While I missed having several miracles and the game dynamic of needing to protect certain out-of-the-way villages to use them, I really liked the versatility the new miracles provided and the ability to have the same basic "force" be used in different ways, like pouring or throwing). Citybuilding was far more complex and, as such, generally more satisfying and allowing for more creativity. Villagers finally served a purpose in warfare (aside from just throwing them at other, enemy villagers), and would themselves reflect the kind of lifestyle they were living, making things a bit more interesting on the small-scale.
However, the point-buy tribute system was... Not particularly my kind of deal. Sure, it gave you something to work towards personally, and in a sense it allowed you to customize your playstyle... But there were so many stupid aspects of it, and some of the methods of getting those points were downright moronic (particularly in BotG). Really the only way to handle it was to just hack the whole mess and then ignore the massively huge numbers that would start piling up. Oh well.
And the creature was a bit... Well, useful. Highly useful. Pretty much just a tool. In whatever sense of the word you'd like to use.
I thought it was funny how they handle the various roles and then the "free will-ometer", seeing as the thing rarely had any ideas or personal thoughts beyond "I'm gonna eat that pig!", "I'm gonna water that field!", and "I'm gonna pump some iron with that tree!". I guess we went from having the idiot-savant autistic creature from the first game and picked up a featherbrained jock creature instead.
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Topic: The B&W Franchise. (Read 6163 times)