Age of Wonders 3 - Hands-On Preview @ RPS

Couchpotato

Part-Time News-bot
Joined
October 1, 2010
Messages
36,185
Location
Spudlandia
Rock, Paper, Shotgun has new preview of Age of Wonders 3 based on the games beta.

Is it unfair to hope for more than a solid sequel, with all the pieces seemingly in place? I was relieved when I accepted, a couple of hours in, that Triumph hadn’t diminished in the decade since Shadow Magic. The game feels safe – a riff on a formula successfully applied many times before – and there’s something to be said for sinking into a well-constructed game, with the growing certainty that it was built by solid, steady hands. But as draconians battled dwarves and dwarves battled elves, I found myself thinking of the weird humour and strange planes of Warlock II, and the sheer oddity of Eador: Masters of the Broken World. My mind even turned to the latest Fallen Enchantress game, which was the (presumably) final manifestation of a deeply flawed experiment.

Age of Wonders III isn’t weird, strange, odd or experimental. It’s also substantially less flawed than many of its apparent competitors. I expect it to absorb a great many happy hours when the final release arrives in the near future but I also expect that I’ll spend at least some of that time dreaming of worlds more wondrous and weird.
Thank you Thrasher for the link.
smiley-wink.gif


More information.
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
36,185
Location
Spudlandia
Sounds pretty good. I was hoping they do not try to reinvent the wheel there.

Though I am still sad about the low number of races. I wouldn't mind non-perfect balancing if it meant more races.
But maybe the problem here is more the production cost of the 3D assets and not so much the time for balancing.
 
Joined
Dec 13, 2010
Messages
620
Though I am still sad about the low number of races. I wouldn't mind non-perfect balancing if it meant more races.
Indeed... 6 races in comparison to 12 in AoW2 seems a little few.
 
Joined
May 6, 2013
Messages
4,968
Location
Germany
Well the reason was explained on the game webpage. Development costs was the excuse not DLC. They even explained what happened to some of the other races.

I still foresee DLC incoming and others should also. It's the way things are nowadays.^^
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
36,185
Location
Spudlandia
Since this is reboot of series it's more realistic for game to be same scale of first AoW rather than Shadow magic.
From the information I have it's set in the future a long time after the other two games. It's not a reboot as one of the main heroes is the daughter of Queen Julia.

Here check out this interview. - http://www.incgamers.com/2013/03/age-of-wonders-3-interview-with-triumph-studios-lenart-sas
Was that Merlin in your announcement trailer? Will be characters from previous series be returning?

You are right, that guy in the announcement trailer is a grizzled Merlin. Although a long time has passed since the events of Shadow Magic, some characters will reappear. For example Queen Julia of the Wood Elves has married a Dark Elf. Their union caused these hostile elven factions to bury the hatchet and created the High Elves. Julia’s daughter Sundren, is the protagonist of one of the two story campaigns.
The game site even calls it a sequel.
AGE OF WONDERS III is the long anticipated sequel to the award-winning strategy series. Delivering a unique mix of Empire Building, Role Playing and Warfare, offering the ultimate in turn-based fantasy strategy for veterans of the series and new players alike!
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
36,185
Location
Spudlandia
By reboot I meant form gameplay standpoint, game looks lot different from previous games.
Sorry it gets confusing as usually reboot means a series is being remade. A constant bane of the movie business right now, and some game franchises.:)
 
Joined
Oct 1, 2010
Messages
36,185
Location
Spudlandia
Back
Top Bottom