Together Retro: Populous

[Ack]

I don't know how the PS1 presents itself, but the tutorial is basically a joke that doesn't explain anything on the SNES version. You'll need to read the manual or watch online guides to really understand how to play the game.

As for why it's important...well, consider how influential it was when it was created because there was nothing else like it. But you also have to consider that since Populous' inception, there have been over 20 years of refinement to video games, including the concept behind the God game.

Think of Populous as a historical oddity, important to consider though not necessarily one that may be fun to play nowadays. This TR is more like a history lesson than a relaxing romp with a game, which isn't necessarily a bad thing to have from time to time. It is good to play the games of yesteryear just to see how much these things have evolved, even if you dislike them. You just don't have to play them very much.

[CFFJR]

I honestly haven't even tried the game yet...

[alienjesus]

So is no-one playing this one? It seems sad to have a Together Retro with essentially zero participation.

yeah it really does seem this way. I don't know, I feel like nobody is motivated enough to even get into it. I can't remember any other TR month where there was a complete lack of participation like this.

Thought for next year -- I tend to find games like this a bit more conducive to Winter months. Anyone else think that could be part of it?

Or does Populous just suck? If it sucks, why is it kind of reveared historically?

Personally I just couldn't even follow what was happening even in the tutorial. So it really turned me off from diving in.

I think Populous has just dated worse than other similar games to be honest. I can imagine Sim City or Theme Park would have been more popular.

[noiseredux]

This TR is more like a history lesson than a relaxing romp with a game, which isn't necessarily a bad thing to have from time to time.

point well taken!

[Opa Opa]

I have zero motivation to play this game right now. Sorry guys.

[Urban Champion-e]

The main article still points to the Rayman Together Retro thread.

[Opa Opa]

This month should have been Ballz 3D.

[dsheinem]

This month should have been Ballz 3D.

Next year the plan is to do Ballz 3D all year long, playing as a different character each month. In December we'll mix it up a little and play the "Director's Cut" version for the 3DO.

[Conrad hart]

So, just to give everyone a quick summary: I just joined this forum and love the idea of together retro. I have been a fan of Populous since it first released and wanted to throw some positive vibes in for the game.

Populous, IMO, still holds up today but you've got to play the right versions and you, unfortunately, kinda have to know how to play going in.

For the version issue, the best is likely the Amiga version (no Amiga hooked up at the moment so no way to verify, but it seems likely). One thing you will probably want is some sort of mouse like input. The SNES version works but it is slow and I think a little more confusing than the game deserves. I have recently played the PC version (cga graphics and speaker sound!) and the gameplay still held up. I also picked up the DS port and while it adds some new wrinkles, I also think it held to the basic gameplay of the original pretty well. The latter is probably the easiest to track down, although I don't know that for sure because I have the Japanese version (didn't know there was going to be a us port at the time)

You definitely shouldn't be playing the ps1 version of the third game.

As to how to play, it's actually pretty simple. Your two main influences over the world in micro are to raise and lower the land. Your whole goal with this is to grow your population. Larger populations will feed your energy pool which will enable you to cast more effective and devastating spells on the enemy god.

To grow your population you need flat land so you should start each map by locating your guys and flattening all of the land around them. When they get that they will build bigger settlements which will help them grow. This will likely occupy all of your time in the early game so look for "shortcuts". For example if you click on a corner twice and lower the middle once it levels a much larger piece of land than clicking each square individually.

Anyway, the enemy god is doing the same thing. This is where having a large population is good because it will fill up your mana (?) bar. Your spell arsenal consists of earthquakes, floods and volcanoes which do all sorts of nasty things to the land you are looking at. You can also summon a knight to go do some holy slaughter as well as cast Armageddon which basically ends the level in a mass battle between both sides (make sure you have more guys before you cast).

Anyway, nutshell. In the spirit of being new, and a fan of the game, I going to go pick up the English version of the DS game and give it a spin. As this is my first post, I apologize in advance if this is an inappropriate start and I just missed something in the thread. I also tried to type this on an iPad so I know there must be some egregious typos created by the spellcheck.

My point is: the game is still fun, and still fairly different. It's worth your time to check out so don't give up!

[Ivo]

Yeah that sounds just like Populous 2. I do remember some levels in Pop 2 that were rather harsh because they disabled the land manipulation spells. Those were really boring. Pop 2 has a load of spells so you may want to try that one - you also get to issue "directions" (on a rather macro level) to your population and can also get them to go out of their houses there.

Ivo.