There's all sorts of ways I prefer the mechanics of AoW1 to its successors. Those are still good but I just can't stand the graphics of AoW3. I can barely understand what's going on. If only someone made a 90s graphics mod to reduce it to 640*480pixels with 2D sprites.

AoW 3 is great. I played it quite a bit but never managed to finish the last mission on the campaign. Somehow I just never went back to finish that mission.

I like having my combat monsters roaming around with Fury, Stone Skin, Enchant Weapon, and Dark Gift, but I really, really miss the mobility provided by Water Walking and Haste. It is a toss up whether I prefer using the Free Movement spell or just using about two levels worth of skill points to get the abilities automatically.

I've finally made my way to the last map of the Cult campaign. It is going to be short and ugly when I get to each wizard, since my 3 man hero team is packing 10's in nearly every stat, with Extra Strike liberally applied. Meandor will be holding a Death Storm in reserve, Talic will keep a Town Gate spell ready, and my other hero (came with regeneration, woot!) will be packing vicious beatings to hand out liberally.

It has amused me just how often I've been sucking up to the Human faction on any particular map, considering how much rage Talic keeps expressing in the storyline.

Edit: Since I'm about done, I figure I'll mark Senteria's first answer as the solution. There were lots of good answers; thanks guys!