Yay, I've won the game, which should come as no surprise by now.

After the jump, I take a victory lap. Or do I?

So one of the reasons I count this a hollow victory is evident in the screenshot below. This is a picture of the playback map at the start of the game, indicating everyone's starting position:

On the southern continent, you can see the Svartalfar (white), Sheaim (purple), ahd Khazad (brown) crammed together with no room to expand. The Bannor (light blue) to the west and Elohim (darker blue) to the east have a bit more breathing room. In fact, you can easily tell that the Elohim have a great starting position, protected by water from any other player. Their only disadvantage is that they're stuck in a maze of narrow valleys.

Meanwhile, up on the northern continent, you can see the Calabim (red), socked into their desert in the northeast. And there are my Balseraph (orange), in a lush be-rivered forest, with plenty of room to expand unmolested. It's easy to tell from this map that the Balseraph will win this game, with the Elohim in second place. It's also easy to see that the Khazad got totally screwed by Fate (i.e. the map script).

Finally, by way of farewell, I'd like to say that Fall from Heaven does an excellent job of making me want to jump right back in to start a new game. One of the problems - if you could call it that - with the design of Civilization is that it plays out like a pyramid. The early game stages are broad and distinct, with each civilization's traits and unique units making them feel different. They're the bottom of the pyramid. But as you play, as religions narrow down and technology advances, all this stuff fades into the background. The game is invariably about the same tanks, infantry, UN, and nukes that may or may not be lurking on the map. This is the top of the pyramid. In terms of gameplay variety, it goes from a broad varied early game base to a narrow endgame point. By the time I've taken a game all the way up to that point, it's a bit daunting starting a new game knowing that it's eventually going to come to this same point.

But Fall from Heaven II doesn't have this problem. In fact, I'd say it's a cure for this problem. By presenting such dramatically different civilizations, each with their own unique rules and each capable of dynamically changing based on which religion they embrace, Fall from Heaven II has many ways to playing out. All the way up until the end, I was able to take advantage of abilities and units that were absolutely unique to my choice of civilization and religion: spell-casting puppets, improved summoning, Gibbon Goetia, surprise attacks after a declaration of war, slave workers and entertainers, and my army of diverse powerful mimics. Heck, I'm sure poor old Loki would have still been valuable if I hadn't gotten him killed by a hill giant named after one of the Three Stooges.

For my next game, I intend to try...well, I can't very well get into that because it would be a whole other game diary.

Up next: I have one final treat for you on Monday. Be sure to check back.
(Click here for the previous Fall from Heaven II game diary.)