I'm posting this again because I may have accidentally made a new comment instead of replying to you. I'm still working out the kbin kinks...
I haven't played Magicka so I can't compare (although reading the comments I feel like I have to play it now) but for me, what makes DD great is its smooth combat system. It's real-time action with varying casting times, so you need to be strategic about how you cast spells and when. Your character can switch classes pretty much whenever you want and you gain access to different spells the more you play certain classes. I could go on, but the last thing I'll say is that I've never played a better version of "magic Archer" in video games.
One massive downside to the game is its story; It's pretty much non-existent. But if you like awesome combat and party management it's one of the coolest games out there. And I haven't even mentioned the pawn system yet lol
Tyranny had a fun system where you could create custom spells based around combining a Core Sigil with Expression, Accent, and Enhancement Sigils to modify the spell's behavior. So you could have a Fire core sigil, combined with an AoE expression, fast cooldown accent, and a bleed enhancement. Of course the spells have a cost attached to them so you couldn't have your mages casting ridiculously powerful spells on rotation until you ran out of magic, but you could pop it off once or twice then fall back on weaker, faster spells. Unfortunately like with most flexible magic systems like this, mage characters are overpowered as hell, as long as you have your party tank camping a chokepoint.
In video games, I think it was Magicka wherein you could craft your own spells more-or-less on the fly.
In TTRPG, Mage: the Ascension, for much the same reason.
The issue for me is that I want to feel like I know Magic. I want to feel like a wizard, shaping the power of the cosmos to my will. If all I have is a collection of pre-scripted tricks... it really doesn't matter how many pre-scripted tricks I have, the feeling of creativity in spellcasting is lost.
Magicka is very interesting, definitely one of the more unique spell-casting systems (and it feels like a real system). Unfortunately I'm not good at it, it's pretty fast-paced and I die so much. xD
Magicka is amazing for short burts of coop fun.
However, at some point you find that one spell that is just too busted and trivializes everything, until the DLCs decide to chuck a billion enemies at you.
From a technical standpoint, it's also a bit rough around the edges and likes to crash to desktop.
Definitely a decent investment if you can pick it up on sale.
Divinity: Original Sin 2 has a pretty robust magic system. The chaining status effects are fun and there are multiple ways a player can turn a fight into their advantage.
Yeah came here to say the same thing. The interactions between the different spell schools is incredible and they can also interact with the environment.
Master of Magic was an old MSDOS/early Windows era turn-based strategy game similar to Civilization. I came across it in 1996, and I spent a ton of time playing it. There a few different types of magic that you farmed from natural areas. As with Civilization, you created alliances, did research, and expanded your power. Once you took over the world, there were portals to the dark world where you faced your true adversary, a lizard-like race.
As a young kid at that time I enjoyed cheating in masters of magic and casting the Armageddon spell early to end the game. Honestly they game was an awesome alternate version of civilization for its time. Awesome memories playing it.
Psst... Hey friend, I don't know why I typed that. https://archive.org/details/msdos_mom
The Internet Archive (wonderful resource, please donate if you can) has revived many a game from my past. If you don't like that specific version, they've got others. DosBox is your friend here.
I loved the combos you could do in Dragon Age Origins. My favorite was creating a giant oil slick under enemies so they fell down, casting a fire spell, which set them AND the oil on fire, then summoning bees to attack them.
I never got into it because fantasy isn’t really my jam, but the Arx Fatalis system always struck me as interesting. You cast spells by drawing runes with mouse gestures.
Ohhhh I love this game. My friends hated me back when we were playing regularly, because I had some macros for mighty spells. Totally forgot about this gem, feels like ages ago.
Soul Sacrifice had a system where you had to pick between 3 types of stats to build around which affects which spells you could use. After each mission you would have to pick between saving someone or sacrificing them which affects your stats.
If you chose power, you end up becoming a glass cannon with spells that drain your own hp
if you chose def, you end up with spells that supported you and the higher your hp the more damage you did. The trade off is your damage is mostly low.
if you chose neutral then you were pretty balanced.
All of these were affected also by the factions you were part of and which spells you have access to.
I haven’t ever played the following game, but I’ve heard people talk about a Japan-only SNES game called Treasures of the Rudras, where you can string together different word stems to cast different spells.
As for something I have played, there’s the magic system of the Trails series, which depends on arranging magical stones (called “quartz”), which each have certain amounts of magical potential (called “sepith” value), onto a device that allows combining their potential together (called an “orbment”). Then, the combinations of magical potential you’ve strung together are what allow you to cast magic spells (which are called “orbal arts” in the series). More powerful arts require larger and/or more complex combinations of sepith, so you’ll need quartz that provide more and/or different amounts of sepith in order to be able to cast them.
Amulets & Armor is an old DOS game. It had a rune based system, where each spell was a combination of specific runes. Each class started with a limited set of runes, and more could be found in the levels. I loved trying all the combinations to find new spells.
Dishonored series. Coolest system I've ever played - teleportation, possession, and some fascinating level design in the sequel where you jump between times with magic. So cool, in fact, that I've had dreams that I have the Dishonored powers.
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