My favourite aspect of the AoW series is that when you look at the three games (AoW 1, AoW2/SM, and AoW 3), they all play completely differently.


Why do I love this? Because at no point do I feel like any game is redundant (well, except for TWT, because SM is standalone). I've been playing the snot out of AoW 3. I absolutely love AoW 3. And yet, when I'm tired of AoW 3, you know what I want to play? AoW 1. When I'm tired of AoW 1, I'll boot up SM and have an absolute blast.


These radical shifts in gameplay mean that the fanbase usually has a tough time with each new game. I mean, I remember when AoW 2 first came out, it was utter pandemonium. Everyone was criticizing the game because it played and felt so different from AoW 1, and to be fair, TWT was pretty rough on release. A lot of the changes made were felt to be unnecessary or even negative, while a lot of the changes felt necessary went unmade. But some patches and SM caused AoW 2 to mature into its own game that was (and is) a huge amount of fun. It had a very different focus than AoW 1. Less Warlords, more Master of Magic. But this meant the two games weren't really competing.

Then AoW 3 came out, and elicited the same negative response from the community. Again, it managed to mature into its own game (though I will say that AoW 3 on release was much better than TWT was), and has become a fantastic game in its own right. I know for me personally the big surprise has been that most of the changes I was unhappy about have ended up being changes that I really love. Getting rid of the Attack system I remember thinking "Okay, is it even really Age of Wonders anymore?" but in practice it is fantastic and IMHO one of the best changes the game made, because it goes a long way towards shrinking the gap between unit levels. Gone are the days where level 4 units or high level heroes can slaughter dozens of stacks without a scratch, and personally, that's a change I'm really happy with.


In any case, compare it to a game like Heroes of Might and Magic. I love HoMM, but the only one I really play is 3. Why? Because while HoMM 2, 5, and even 1 are solid games in their own right, they've all got the same fundamental gameplay as 3, but IMHO 3 did it better. I'll occasionally boot up 2 because I love its charm, or 5 because it made some changes I like, but at the end of the day, if I play a Heroes game, it will almost always be 3.


AoW has averted that, and I think that's a great thing. I can't imagine a time when AoW 1, SM, and 3 won't all have a place on my harddrive, because they're all excellent games that are a massive amount of fun, and they're all different. I mean, even look at the multiplayer scenes. 3 has far and away the biggest scene, right now, but SM is still alive and well, with PBEM games always active on here and the AoW Heaven forums, and Gameranger usually having several online games going at once. Even AoW 1 still has a small but dedicated group of PBEM-ers.

I just wish the AI were smarter instead of a cheater AI. It's not that practical to find a good skill matchup for a game that takes several hours to play once without actually planning your life around it. The alternative, waiting for the enemy AI to derp around until they slowly crack and fizzle, can really take some wind out of my sails. I love the AoW1 game design, but on some of the larger maps, the only thing I could do was either assassinate the leader, or just plain raze everything in sight because I couldn't defend a whole three-story map when the enemy was getting 200-300% extra gold just because.

I know AI isn't an easy thing to design, but from the time I've spent on AoW3 so far, I don't get the feeling that there's been any progress at all. If you look at the gold map for a campaign, you always start with nothing, harvest a few quests, and then watch the enemy derp around doing nothing while you chip away at whatever cities you can until the dam breaks... and then it'll only be four more hours until you can finish the objective.

PBEM for AoW1 is probably great, but on my end, it would be a lot less of an investment to just have a range of AIs to play against that's actually a range of AIs and not a range of cheater bonus parameters. I can't play against humans based on what I've done in the campaign mode, because playing against the AI is so out of balance that it's almost not even the same game, and it's very much a pity. Great game design, but that AI... :(

High difficulties in AoW1 never intimidated me, because the AI couldn't win a tactical battle to save its life. I typically played with leaders off to avoid cheap assassination tactics, and still never had a problem.

In AoW3, keeping my heroes alive and beating much bigger AI armies intimidates me much more. The AI now flanks and uses its abilities against me. Ever since the patch I've come to hate units with the phase ability. Much more dangerous... especially because they still cheat.

The strategic AI does remain weak, I'll admit.

Anyway, I agree with the OP that all incarnations of the series have their own styles and strengths, but I do feel the third game in many ways manages to combine the things I liked best about the first two. (and a half.)

True, it can do some evil stuff. In one of the Nomlik missions the AI kept two stacks of units hovering near the northern edge of the map. Whenever I would try to invade the center with enough units it'd immediately come in and walk towards any undefended city, forcing me to retreat. If I went after them, they immediately ran away. Had to split up to do anything at all.

The one and only thing that spoils everything else in AoW3 - it's 3D graphics. There's ABSOLUTELY no need in 3D for TBS, especially for such battle-oriented one as AoW3. It's NOT beautiful, it's NOT comfortable, it's NOT useful, it DOES NOT add immersion or atmosphere. It's just an idiotic rubber stamp that 3D is a must for modern game, especially for strategy game.

Look at Panzer Corps or its offsprings Warhammer 40K Armageddon and Sovereignty, for example. Your eyes are resting on these landscapes... And now look at AoW3: so-so icons, but the main map, unit animated screens, battle screen with its schizophrenic camera - all graphical part makes the game unplayable.

Er, really?

I like the 3D view, especially the low view where you see the landscape. It makes the game quite immersive for me. I see where the enemy`s coming form in a way it might look in reality. I would like armies to look more like armies ( halbardiers and cavalry should number in the hundreds) and better anims with more sounds (people don`t scream much), but heck, it does a lot for me.
Why can`t one have great tactics and strategy with excellent 3D graphics? Why can`t we have the best of both worlds? This is what i`ve always wanted in all my strategy games- In real life we see it happening in 3D, right?
Here I see it done.

It's just like trying to sit on two chairs. When I play TURN-BASED strategy, when most part of playtime I plan, think, compare stats, keeping attention on health numbers and spell effects and so on - man, why the hell do I need the realistic water surface and ragdoll physics? If I want some kind of action with halberds and horseriding, I play Mount & Blade, or even Total War where I don't need to turn brain's full power on :)
In AoW3 all these trinkets are just distracting and irritating. Damn, I'd maybe even agree with 3D if this 3D would be made right. What we have here - it's a BAD 3D graphics that looks even worse on Ultra than on Low.
This game is a biggest disappointment for all my time on GOG so far.

Ok I understand you hate it, totally. I don`t. There`s not much else to say, save, we must agree to disagree.

I agree that 3D was bad for AoW3. Not game-breaking, but I really don't like how everyone looks like ants. You have to fiddle with the camera to get just the right balance between being able to tell what's what and being able to see enough of the field to strategize. Unless you have a big screen, it's really hard to do. It also doesn't help that small units are visually represented as half a dozen dudes.

The one place that didn't see a substantial overhaul was AI. The AI still has to cheat to have a chance. The campaign keeps putting you in a power trough at the start and then you climb out, and then cleaning up for the victory takes a long time afterward. It feels like single player doesn't really teach you how to play well in general because of this.