so zeus is better? I'll amazon that shit.

d.o.w. was the best $8 I've ever spent.

Zeus is more refined and has actual Gods that walk around and do stuff.
Pharaoh has massive building projects and more variety of goods/buildings, but the Gods only "punish" you through events and text.

Zeus is a good starting point and if you enjoy it, I say grab the expansion and Pharaoh/Cleopatra.

Edit: OK, I've rethought this. Zeus is more of an actual "game" whereas Pharaoh is more a micromanaging sim.

Anyone here have a 360?

yup. waiting for the new wolfenstein to come out. the last one for the original xbox was so much fun back in the day.

have you done the whole replacement thing yet?

I have one, and yes, I did the replacement. It was actually really convenient, but I did mine when it got the Red Rings of Death.
Went online, filled out the form, and info regarding the replacement and they had UPS drop a ready to pack and labeled box for shipping.

There is a certain amount of time the 360 has before exceeding the warranty for this though. I think they can tell by the serial #.

Why do you ask?

We no longer touch the 360, it's been all PS3 for a long time now.

My son (Tyler, 10) is literally making himself sick waiting for this one....




I'm looking forward to the new Madden. I haven't played one in about 5 years.... will give this one a try.

cant wait.

and no, i never had the red ring of death. i did return it to best buy once bc it froze, but i swear it was the game i rented from hollywood video that was the reason. ive been pretty lucky with my 360.

thank goodness there's sequel.

My friend eflt his Wii here. He's got some classics. I think I"m gonna play mario 3 or sonic 2.

On my Wii: Super Mario 3, DKC, Ice Climber, Super Mario 64.

hmmm....hard call. I like gods walking around, but then again, I like the micromanaging too. how is the combat? that's what failed for me in the Caesar series.


ps: I'm on my second 360. bleh.

when DOES wolfenstein come out? Rock Band: Beatles is coming out soon, and I might have to get it for the cool instruments.

holy shit.....really? shits gonna be like $250??

I can't remember the Caesar combat, so I'll just hit the main points for both.

Pharaoh:
There are 3 soldier types: Infantry, Archer, and Chariot. You need a weapons maker for infantry plus a chariot maker for chariot soldiers. Archers require no produced items. To raise an army, you build a "barrack" (I can't remember the actual name) for whichever of the 3 types you want. Each "barrack" can take up to 15 soldiers. All cities are capped at 8 barracks. You also have to build a recruiter to staff the soldiers (weapons and chariots are delivered here) and you can also build a academy to raise your troops skill level before they are staffed. All in all, combat plays a lesser role in Pharaoh. You won't have to face invading armies or conquer cities near as much as in Zeus and there is very little naval combat.

Zeus:
To raise an army (other than rabble), you need 4 real things: a palace (you'll need this to collect taxes as well), a grand agora, an arms maker (supplied with bronze), and elite houses. There are also 3 types of soldier. 1st is Rabble, you'll get these as soon as you build a palace. These are private citizens that can be called up (think militia). 2nd is Hoplites. These come from elite houses that are supplied with arms, but not horses. 3rd is cavalry. These come from elite houses that are supplied with arms AND horses. Essentially, the more elite houses you have, the bigger your army. You also can build triremes for naval battle. Trireme wharfs (when active) are staffed with 100 workers. They need wood to build ships and to repair damage, and also arms. Quite often you'll have to defend your city and/or conquer another city for yearly tribute. Also, any heroes who reside in your city can be used to defend it or sent to help conquer other cities. Pet of Gods (Talos, Ares' Dragon, Cerberus, Kraken,etc) will defend the city but they cannot be sent to conquer. There are also a few gods that will personally defend the city (I think Hermes is one, Zeus for sure is) if you have a temple to them and haven't been bugging them with other stuff. You'll be given at least 3 months notice if you city it is to be invaded by an army (gods and monsters just crash the party). When the invading army does arrive, you'll usually be given 3 options. 1: Stand and fight. 2: Pay off the army. 3: Surrender. Paying off the army treats it the same as a victory, you can build a victory monument. Surrenderering or losing the battle will make you a vassal of the conquering city, but you can also build up your forces and take that city to gain your freedom and them as a vassal.

the wife wants a gretsch. :p

I would break those drums for sure though. haha

@SY#&: both of those sound fun. I guess I'll base my choice on price once I'm ready to buy it. thanks!

Both are available under license from Sold Out! games based in the UK. The only drawback is that Sold Out! doesn't have the expansion to Zeus. (It appears that Sierra does make a one-box set of Z/P, right now is $16.95 with free shipping) So be aware of that. Ebay is looking like about $15 for Pharaoh/Cleopatra or Zeus/Poseidon

because of my gf...

I got both games lying around at home, never played them, are they woth it?

I played one of them a long time ago and I thought it was really fun for an RPG (I'm not too into those). It seemed really short though, but since you have both it should be fine.