There is a patch for this that I downloaded, yet I didn't see much of a difference. It doesn't take anything away from the game, but shorter load times would be nice. This can become frustrating at first, even after reading the help files that come with the downloaded demo version of the game. But you get use to it as time goes by. I really liked the sounds of the games, but what bothered me most about them is the repetitiveness of the sounds when certain events were in progress.
Lords of Magic combines strategy and tactical combat.
The game looks great and is very entertaining despite the long wait times for computer opponents during battles. I believe that the demo version is worth the 18meg download. I'm not sure if the full retail version is out as I've not seen LOM in stores.