Got Milk?

As you know, I started playing Black & White last Sunday. I spent a few days trying to bring good to the people of the world and I failed miserably. Townspeople begged nonstop for shelter, food and supplies. My creature (the tiger) was good at fighting and lousy at taking care of my believers. At some point it was decided that I was an evil god (apparently due to the neglect of my townspeople) and once that happened, even if I went back to a saved game I was regarded an evil god. Today I started the whole game over with a new world, the knowledge of how to keep my townspeople happy and awareness of how to make the best use of my creature.

Testify, you sinful bastards!

The bad:

For starters, the game saving system is ridiculous. Why let me save a game if I can’t really go back to that game state? I consider this to be a major flaw in the game’s design. My next big issue with the game is the required micromanagement. Babysitting your towns and creature gets to be a real pain in the ass. And finally, the annoying requests of townspeople. There is almost never a moment when they are not asking for something. They ask for more homes when you can’t even build them. They ask for food when there is a field of grain 20 yards away. They ask for offspring when the town is already overcrowded. Admittedly, the system for displaying the towns’ needs is pretty cool. The town will raise one or more flags displaying their needs at the time. But after the 600th time hearing “We need more homes!”, it’s tempting to burn the entire village to the ground.

Folks, if you look out the right hand side of the aircraft, you will see a land ripe for godly wrath and destruction.

The good:

Now that I know what to expect, the game is becoming thoroughly enjoyable. I blame my previous failure on lack of good documentation and training. The in-game tutorials and manual do not stress nearly enough the importance of creature training and upkeep of your towns. This time around I have spent much more time teaching my new creature (the cow) how to cast miracles, care for the townspeople and impress non-believers. This lightens the micromanagement load significantly.

Once I had some time to sit back and relax I started enjoying the game for what it was meant to be. It is a beautifully crafted world with an interesting landscape and a very cool way of gaining territory. Basically, if you can convince people in a new town that you exist, you have power in that territory. Most of the time, you’re fighting to steal new believers from another god in the visible world. The abilities to zoom from the clouds down to a blade of grass, to throw boulders and trees and to rain fire and lightning down upon the land give a great sense of power and control.

More next week so stay tuned!