Good game? DLC worth it?

[Vantezzle]

So, I was going through my steam library and stopped on this game, I remember buying it on launch(I loved Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic ages ago) but because of IRL health issues, I never got to playing it, and forgot about it until now.
Is this game any good?How much content/replayability is there?How many hours could you get from the singleplayer? And should I get the DLC?

[Lars]

I've mostly played this as a singleplayer game (but I've also greatly enjoyed it with a friend for a map or two), and at least for me the amount of content and replayability is more than satisfactory.

I would for sure add the Eternal Lords expansion, and possibly the Golden Realms one as well, depending on how much you hate halflings. The base game has two single player campaigns, and each expansion has a decent length campaign as well with some replayability options if you want to pursue different key choices.

Most of the replayability of the game comes from its random map generator which has to be said is good at churning out interesting maps to play on, that added with all the race, class and specialization options to pick between makes for a lot of fresh ways to approach each map. Both the DLC also add new optional rules, and lots of creatures and sites to the random map generator, in addition to the races and classes they add to the game.

If you liked the older AoW games there's a good chance you will like this as well. In my opinion it strikes a good balance between its roots and adding in its own slew of new things to the series.

[TwoTonGamer]

This game has remarkable turn based tactical battles and an excellent strategic layer to back it up (enhanced with mods). To me it strikes the perfect balance between complexity vs. simplicity.

The replayability is definitely there with random maps and an absurd amount of variability with race/class/alignment combos, opponents, teams, world setup conditions, etc.

Dastactic has a current YouTube series going right now that you can check out. And literally over a thousand hours of AOW3 playthrough's in his library. His mod collection is first on the list of collections in the Steam Workshop and is amazing. The community of modders that love this game have really greatly enhanced the depth in this one.

If you are interested I recommend getting both DLC's so that you can use Dastactic's mod collection (except maybe "Luckless Halflings". Das hates halflings so much it's charming to watch but I don't mind them at all so I don't use that mod).

[Vantezzle]

Right! Downloading the game and if I enjoy it, I'll grab the DLCs! Thanks for convincing me, both of you! Sounds like I should love it!

[Vantezzle]

Do I need the Triumph account to play?

[~ Fabulous ~]

Originally posted by Tezzle:

Do I need the Triumph account to play?

only for multiplayer

[Teal Quest]

idk, single player actually feels repetitive, no matter what you do: how you mix races/classes/magic and map settings.

But multiplayer is insane! in a good sense.

I'm actually a big hater of aow3 here, from the very first day they released the game, just because of their single player. But at the same time multiplayer is freaking great, got 200 hours in just because of it. And I mean, all of it, pvp, coop, and now I'm starting to love pbem games - those are organised perfectly imho. Never seen a better pbem setup.

[Vantezzle]

Originally posted by Teal Quest:

idk, single player actually feels repetitive, no matter what you do: how you mix races/classes/magic and map settings.

But multiplayer is insane! in a good sense.

I'm actually a big hater of aow3 here, from the very first day they released the game, just because of their single player. But at the same time multiplayer is freaking great, got 200 hours in just because of it. And I mean, all of it, pvp, coop, and now I'm starting to love pbem games - those are organised perfectly imho. Never seen a better pbem setup.

Right right! That's a shame...I've never really been a fan of multiplayer aspects.

[Iguana-on-a-stick]

Originally posted by Tezzle:

Originally posted by Teal Quest:

idk, single player actually feels repetitive, no matter what you do: how you mix races/classes/magic and map settings.

But multiplayer is insane! in a good sense.

I'm actually a big hater of aow3 here, from the very first day they released the game, just because of their single player. But at the same time multiplayer is freaking great, got 200 hours in just because of it. And I mean, all of it, pvp, coop, and now I'm starting to love pbem games - those are organised perfectly imho. Never seen a better pbem setup.

Right right! That's a shame...I've never really been a fan of multiplayer aspects.

Eh, it's one guy's opinion. A valid one, to be sure, but this is really a personal preference thing. I love the single player and have been playing it for years without getting bored thanks to the variation, with mods to jump in if it ever starts feeling same-ish. Plenty others do too.

If you liked Shadow Magic's single player, AoW3 should work at least as well in my view. Gameplay wise it's a mix, there are those who still prefer Shadow Magic's playstyle, but I for one love AoW3's.

That said, I'm not a huge fan of the AoW3 single player campaigns. Scenarios and random maps are much more fun. (And so are the DLC campaigns, those are excellent.)

[Vantezzle]

Originally posted by Iguana-on-a-stick:

Originally posted by Tezzle:

Right right! That's a shame...I've never really been a fan of multiplayer aspects.

Eh, it's one guy's opinion. A valid one, to be sure, but this is really a personal preference thing. I love the single player and have been playing it for years. Plenty others do too.

If you liked Shadow Magic's single player, AoW3 should work at least as well in my view. Gameplay wise it's a mix, there are those who still prefer Shadow Magic's playstyle, but I for one love AoW3's.

That said, I'm not a huge fan of the AoW3 single player campaigns. Scenarios and random maps are much more fun. (And so are the DLC campaigns, those are excellent.)

Mind if I ask how many hours did you get from the singleplayer?:)
I've started playing the Elf campaign earlier today and I'm really enjoying the game so far, haven't touched the random maps yet.
I loved Shadow Magic but it was so long ago, I can barely remember it.
I guess you also recommend buying the DLCs?

[Iguana-on-a-stick]

Originally posted by Tezzle:

Mind if I ask how many hours did you get from the singleplayer?:)
I've started playing the Elf campaign earlier today and I'm really enjoying the game so far, haven't touched the random maps yet.
I loved Shadow Magic but it was so long ago, I can barely remember it.
I guess you also recommend buying the DLCs?

To be honest, I can't remember. I mostly play on GoG and that doesn't track it.

But let's put it this way. I first bought the game on release in march 2014. But honestly, I only played it for a little while. Compared to the older games it felt a bit bare-bones and I didn't really like the campaigns. Plus there were balance issues.

But since I loved the older games, I did eventually get the Eternal Lords expansion a while after it was released in 2015. And then quickly after I also got the Golden Realms one.

That was 4 years ago, and I haven't stopped playing since. 99% of it single player.

For the first three years I hardly used any mods. Last year I started using more of those. And I still have plenty of games I wish to play.

I don't play the game all the time, but every few weeks I'll fire it up again and spend an hour playing in the evening, and many more in the weekends.

I looked in my save directory and I around a hundred different games saved, most of which must have taken between 10 and 20 hours to play? (Though some were quicker or unfinished, probably) I have 50 custom leaders, each of which I've played at least 1 game with and some of which I've used many times. It's a rough estimate, but at the very least many hundreds of hours. Probably well over a thousand. More?

And yeah, I recommend the DLCs. They (and the free patches that came out in the meantime) were what really made the game come alive for me. They added much needed variety in races and classes and a whole bunch of interesting gameplay systems that made the strategic map in particular a bit deeper and more interesting.

But do note that the DLC gameplay changes don't affect the original campaigns much, for balance reasons. They're for random maps and scenarios.

[Vantezzle]

Originally posted by Iguana-on-a-stick:

Originally posted by Tezzle:

Mind if I ask how many hours did you get from the singleplayer?:)
I've started playing the Elf campaign earlier today and I'm really enjoying the game so far, haven't touched the random maps yet.
I loved Shadow Magic but it was so long ago, I can barely remember it.
I guess you also recommend buying the DLCs?

To be honest, I can't remember. I mostly play on GoG and that doesn't track it.

But let's put it this way. I first bought the game on release in march 2014. But honestly, I only played it for a little while. Compared to the older games it felt a bit bare-bones and I didn't really like the campaigns. Plus there were balance issues.

But since I loved the older games, I did eventually get the Eternal Lords expansion a while after it was released in 2015. And then quickly after I also got the Golden Realms one.

That was 4 years ago, and I haven't stopped playing since. 99% of it single player.

For the first three years I hardly used any mods. Last year I started using more of those. And I still have plenty of games I wish to play.

I don't play the game all the time, but every few weeks I'll fire it up again and spend an hour playing in the evening, and many more in the weekends.

I looked in my save directory and I around a hundred different games saved, most of which must have taken between 10 and 20 hours to play? (Though some were quicker or unfinished, probably) I have 50 custom leaders, each of which I've played at least 1 game with and some of which I've used many times. It's a rough estimate, but at the very least many hundreds of hours. Probably well over a thousand. More?

And yeah, I recommend the DLCs. They (and the free patches that came out in the meantime) were what really made the game come alive for me. They added much needed variety in races and classes and a whole bunch of interesting gameplay systems that made the strategic map in particular a bit deeper and more interesting.

But do note that the DLC gameplay changes don't affect the original campaigns much, for balance reasons. They're for random maps and scenarios.

So...From what I understand, the game only truly became great as the old games after patches and DLCs..Right! Thanks for such a detailed explanation!

Sounds like you have a LOT more hours than I've expected! If there's enough content to keep me busy for 50-100 hours, I'm happy, and sounds like there's way more!

Perhaps I should just buy both DLCs already, and try the random maps...

[Iguana-on-a-stick]

Sounds like a plan.

The DLC campaigns are also short and a lot of fun, but also quite difficult. So it's typically better to play some random maps or one-off scenarios first to get a feel for the game.

The DLC campaigns are loosely related to the story in the original campaigns, but follow one another more closely. Golden Realms is first, and then kicks off the events in Eternal Lords.

[Vantezzle]

Originally posted by Iguana-on-a-stick:

Sounds like a plan.

The DLC campaigns are also short and a lot of fun, but also quite difficult. So it's typically better to play some random maps or one-off scenarios first to get a feel for the game.

The DLC campaigns are loosely related to the story in the original campaigns, but follow one another more closely. Golden Realms is first, and then kicks off the events in Eternal Lords.

Right! One more question. How's the unit and spells variety?Is there quite a few of them?

[Terminus]

So, I love this game with over 500 hours played. But it is a complex relationship. The tactical battles get so tedious. It's basically a mini-game that you play over and over again. It's interesting for a while but there are so many battles in a game. There is an auto-battle feature but units randomly die. It's so easy to die in a single encounter. You have to save scum to get a good game in. I would love to see an Ironman mode, it would completely change the game.

[Teal Quest]

Originally posted by Iguana-on-a-stick:

Originally posted by Tezzle:

Right right! That's a shame...I've never really been a fan of multiplayer aspects.

Eh, it's one guy's opinion. A valid one, to be sure, but this is really a personal preference thing. I love the single player and have been playing it for years without getting bored thanks to the variation, with mods to jump in if it ever starts feeling same-ish. Plenty others do too.

If you liked Shadow Magic's single player, AoW3 should work at least as well in my view. Gameplay wise it's a mix, there are those who still prefer Shadow Magic's playstyle, but I for one love AoW3's.

That said, I'm not a huge fan of the AoW3 single player campaigns. Scenarios and random maps are much more fun. (And so are the DLC campaigns, those are excellent.)

Here's a thing though, the game is quite old already and most people who didn't like it, or just got bored with it already left it behind. And at present date, its obvious these forums are dominated by only true fans of the game. So "only one guy" statement sounds a bit out of place here, don't you think?

As for other aspects discussed here, its funny how I'd agree to some of them and completely disagree to others. For example, for me, tactical combat is one of few things that never actually got boring, I'd even say tactical combat is another aspect that keeps the game interesting for me (the other one being multiplayer).
Which means you should just see for yourself if you like it or not. As I said earlier, I hated single player aow3 from the very first day it was released. So, since you @Tezzle enjoy it, I guess this game IS for you...