perfectly playable in normal difficulty, getting gold victories and all... *if* you are familiar with turn based strategy, but for the normal populace they'll probably enjoy it more in easy, at least the first playthrough.
The AI is easy to take advantage of using some basic tactics. Even though it might have more units or more powerful units, you have a huge advantage in being able to out smart it.
Dont know about the elven sequel but Ive played all teh single scenarios and I have to say the AI has way more units. Often the only reason I have survived is because it doesnt use all the advantiges it has.
Allthough this is how it has always been in general series. So I dont consider it has a bad thing. Its hard if not impossible to code a good AI for strategy game.
You are correct, sir! The AI has a ton of units and most of the time your outgunned and outmatched. That's why I still enjoyed the game. Even with the AI being as dumb as a rock sometimes it was still challenging.
I would of agreed with you that it's hard/impossible to code a good AI about 2 years ago, but an indie guy proved that it is possible. Armageddon Empires has the best AI and is a strategy game to boot. His next one looks like it will be even better than AE.
Plus if you consider that Knights of the Chalice is mostly a strategy combat game, then you have to just sit back in awe over what that guy did. Those are just two examples from the indie market that have outmatched the pros.
The sad truth is that AI uses proccessor power and it is cut back to make room for graphics or other such nonsense. The programmers hands are normally tied. They are only allowed so much power from the processor before some big wig will tell them to make it smaller. It's not impossible to make a good AI, it's just not cost effective