MagicManICT wrote:Wouldn't that be akin to blaming Microsoft for things in Empire Earth? (Same developer as Age of Empires, but published by a different company.) Look at how similar the two games play, and yet each has their own design decisions and community. There's a lot of overlap, but they are most definitely distinct games with EE being a clear successor of AoE.
Anyway, there's nothing wrong (in my opinion) with saying that Salem is the spiritual successor. As Sevenless and many others have pointed out, many of the core concepts were developed there. However, as the design of Salem has progressed, there have been some quite divergent mechanics come out of it. Gaming (and art in general) are full of these lines of succession. It's not hard to spot them. Just like in typical gallery art, appreciate where the artist is coming from and where they have been; look at their works as stages of growth and progression.
I'll be content if we all start calling it a spiritual successor. Salem is Haven evolved past the need to keep certain mechanics just because they've been in that game for X years. That's very healthy in my opinion.
As for the write up. It's very nicely written, but it shows what most Vets of SeaTribe games would probably call naivety towards how the gameworld is set up. It's not to say it can't work the way you envision it, it's just hellishly unlikely to (hell, because us older players are around guarantees it won't
).
Suggesting that criminals can be hunted down and killed is "justice" for example. While that is one way to look at it, a murder IS a murder in this game, and that crime leaves a summonable scent leading straight to your killer's claim. That is not a valient act, it is merely a justified crime in its own right. Avenging petty theft starts wars. Avenging murders leads to genocides. The enemy town doesn't care if their member stole from you, they care about their dead comrade 9 times out of 10. And your justice seekers are almost always bored "criminals" looking for an arrow to their next target.
Trying to slot things nicely into Justice and Crime isn't going to work. Salem is a game of shades, not black and white.
It's been neat to see the evolution of a game. Salem has come so far, and still has far to go. Although frustrating, I think it's been an experience worth the effort.