powergod: I liked all of them... but the first is very different from the second.

The first is slow paced most of the time, you have to explore a lot, it's a long game, and very difficult in the second half of the game... it is not made to fight in third person view with your avatar, but it's very good to go around like this, the graphic is very well done and the atmosphere is superb... I liked going on a mountain to see the battles going on down in the valley :)
Something I REALLY liked in this game is that you are IMMORTAL, and even your helpers, you just can't die, because you will respawn after some minutes.
Another thing I liked is that if you are in a battle and you leave the area, when you return there it's like nothing was happened :D The area will change only if a battle is won.
You just don't need salve/load tricks in this game you just have to play until you win :D It's VERY relaxing.

The second one (like it's expansion) is different in may ways:
- you CAN DIE (it's really a GAME OVER)... your characters can use resurrection, but only if they are near, and they have only some minutes to do so...
- the world is not so huge, and the battles are more "arcade" than the first, more fast, and require less strategy... it's difficult to explain
- it's surely made to be mainly and RPG and THEN an RTS... you can see this because it's very comfortable to play this game in third person with your avatar, at least it's very better than the first game in this situation.
- you CAN'T ESCAPE from a battle... once it is started it is a lose or a win... (and a lose is a GAME OVER)

As I said I liked both games, the first for the atmosphere, and the very relaxing gameplay mainly, the second for the better AI and third person controls, but somehow it was not so immersive to me.