Since they're on sale, I'm looking to get one of these two games, but I don't think I should get both. Is there any major difference besides visual style worth getting one over the other?

I'd get the 10th year edition for the vastly improved graphics and GUI.

Which is better Settlers 2 10th Anniversary or Settlers 3 ?
I have never played any of them before.
Thanks.

Get em both if you can.
I'm currently playing both and I can honestly say I prefer #3 but the difference is small AND more important, I seem to be in the extreme minority with my opinion.

A few differences. 2-10 (that will be #2 !0th Anniversary from now on) has better graphics and is step for step the more traditional Settlers game. It is basically the same game at the original 2 but with WAY WAY WAY WAY better graphics, camera, and sound.

#3 falls between the two graphics wise but I personally like it for what many Settlers purist call horrible tweeks. Namely you can build almost anywhere and you don't need to worry about roads. Some call not having to worry about roads cheating, I call it more convenient! Besides, transport still plays a big part. You still need a clear open path from one area to another or your goods will not get moved; you just don't need to worry about physically laying down a road anymore. I just played an Amazon mission where I had to protect two camps using either a short skinny route between the camps or a long wide route. I kept opting for the short skinny and kept getting my ass kicked because it kept getting jammed up. When I opted for the longer wider route I kicked its ass because I went from a country road to the Autobahn and my carriers never got stuck in traffic.

There are others but I won't bore you. Feel free to ask me if you have any more questions.

Thank you tinyE that was good of you.
They sound like fun.

I sent GOG a message in the hope of clearing this us as well. From what I can tell from the two pages:
Gold has the expansion packs and a map creator.
10th has better graphics.

If that's the case, I'll be getting Gold, since I purchased III and IV, which have the older graphics.
(I just hope GOG gets back to me before the sale ends...)

In 10th anniversary gameplay is slightly enhanced, mainly involving soldiers management and improved user's iterface.

Okay, thanks. Though do you know if it includes the expansions?

Expansion for 10th anniversary edition is unavailable in English (it was available e.g. in German or Polish), so it's not included in GOG's version.

Ah, okay. Thanks again. :) Looks like I'll go with gold since I try to play the more peaceful option in most games.

It's worth noting that some fans have translated the Vikings expansion and made it available for the 10th Anniversary edition. You'll still need to buy the expansion somewhere of course, but wanted to make sure you guys knew about it. I have not tried this myself, I just came across it while researching these games. Sounds like it's not perfect as some of the notifications and building names are still in German, but it does sound playable.

I remember playing settlers gold on a pc before and it is a total different version than the settler2 gold edition sold here. Or it is just so long ago that my memory proves me wrong and those were the graphics back then. This version here is actual the DOS version with [C|E|V]GA graphics, not sure but pretty bad :)

I would only really buy it again for historical reasons.

The 10th Anniversary version is all the original gameplay with brilliant graphics and voice over. The campaign is challenging at times until you learn how the AI works.
Example: You can easily keep the enemy at bay with foresters. Build a tower and two to three foresters around it. The AI will see a forest and starts building woodcutters instead of catapults :P
It also annoys the sh*t out of the enemy, because the foresters will plant their trees deep into enemy territory and usually quicker than they can be cut down, which leaves less building space.

Hahaha, that is a strategy I've never thought about using. But one thing's for sure, it's bloody annoying when you're about 10 seconds away from getting up a tower fairly close to the border, and the AI gets up a bloody barracks or guardhouse, and the whole thing comes crashing down, and you don't even get the building materials back.

I'd go with the 10th anniversary edition btw. The campaign is really good, and you can add Vikings to it as well, which further improves gameplay. Having gold coins off as default for all your military buildings is a huge advantage, as it's so bloody easy to forget to manually turn it off for every single building you build, especially in a building spree in several directions. It's also easier to know where you are training soldiers (sword, shield, beer), as there is a single button to click in the storehouse/HQ. But perhaps the best with Vikings is the campaign. It's very well-made, and there are sub goals for example, which makes it more interesting than "smash the AI to pieces".

The only downside to Settlers 2 is that there is no map generator. With that, the game would be a killer. 10th has a map creator too btw, so there is no difference there as far as I know (but I don't have the gold version).

Settlers 2 Gold says it includes Settlers 2 plus a Missions CD. Extras also shows that it includes a map generator.
Settlers 2 10th Anniversary says it includes enhanced graphics Settlers 2 , three available nations: Romans, Nubians, and Asians. No mention of a map editor or generator or the missions cd.

Is it worth getting both? Or is one really more complete than the other?

edit: Nevermind - they are on sale for $4, so I just bought them both.

Settlers 10th Anniversary does have a map editor. New user maps can be found on "Siedler-Maps".
The map generator worked only in the Vikings Add-On for 10th Anniversary.