Too much hate against this game

[Axios]

I don't understand why everyone is hating against this game. It is exactly what it says on the tin. Strongholds 3. It is litrully just strongholds 2 with better graphics and a few extras. Don't see whats so wrong about that? If you liked number 2 you will like this.

As for all the "problems" people are getting, I have only had 1-2 small graphical errors which were fixed with a few video settings tweaks and a reset.

[Lynx]

I had about the same amount of bugs on the 3 campaigns. None ruined the game. I think I had to reload a level once because of a bug. I never tried multiplayer so that may be where the problems are.

[Multox]

I've got to agree. I held off on buying the game a long time due to the comments in the forums. Finally, I decided to try it anyway and I'm glad that I did. I've enjoyed playing this game and intend to continue. Yes, there are some bugs but so far they've been minor. Possibly I'm not experiencing them because I have a very high end computer.

[Rambo]

multipay can not start.. fulll of bugs...

[Maktlan]

no skirmish mode....only part of stronghold 2 i liked

[Anvos]

lack of skirmish mode is a big one as that was one of the features that gave stronghold crusader and 2 replayability,

also the story is somewhat half baked and though it tries to be a continuation from 1 it seems to forget all the work you did rebuilding and setting up the kingdom and army

[RogueRAZR]

I loved Stronghold 2 and love this one as well.
There are several bugs I have run into though. I have only played a bit of the campaign, but some of my soldiers and people will get stuck on objects like walls and farms.

Can be very game breaking when you king gets stuck lol. Also I have seen several graphics glitches with weird squiggly shadows flashing across my screen and stuff.

It still is a fun castle building game, its not a mainstream multiplayer competitive RTS like Starcraft, but its still a fun game for what it is.

[LethargicalL]

there are only a little bugs as far as i get, i agree with Ant, why so much hate?

[Starman]

Ok so I played Stronghold 3 for the first time now. I enjoyed both Stronghold and Stronghold Crusader and looked forward playing this game. After failing setting up a connection to the firefly servers to create my Stronghold Online account, I played a quick 1vs1 match with a friend. First impressions: very cut down and rough. No improvement to the first game at all. The new gridless building system looked cool at first, but after some battles even that couldn't make it up with the first title. Units got stuck in buildings/walls all the time. At the end of the match even my whole army, around 100 troops, got stuck in a bridge that I needed to pass in order to face my opponent. So I have to say I'm very disappointed about this game. Better buy the Stronghold Collection with the old but still superior titles and keep your hands of this disaster.

[MeetYourMaker]

I love this game - worth every penny :)

[Serann]

Not sure how people manage to play this game without encountering it's many, many flaws. Basically the only remarkable change from Stronghold 2 was removing the grids, and even that doesn't work all that well. Walls are a b***h to handle and so are gates. Units would often get stuck in pieces of enviroment, and in a game where you can't skip the sieges, missions that require you to be careful with a preset amount of soldiers, that is just an unforgivable bug. Heck, this is v1.1 already and it's still broken.

Also, I can't help but feel that with the campaign drawings, it looks as if they planned to make complete, fancy pictures from the scratches that we have now. All in all, I am rather disappointed or maybe I am just frustrated that in ten years, firefly is still building on it's one hit, barly changing it's sequels at all, as if they were developing pokémon games. I guess that one time they tried to change things funadementally (SH Legends) it backfired too much.

[Ensign]

TLDR : Never played a stronghold game? You may enjoy it. Only played SH2? You will love it. Played crusader? You wont like it as much as you did crusader.
Scroll all the way down for Pros
Read just below this sentence for Cons (off the top of my head and on my limited 7hrs gameplay experience)

-No skirmish mode (the thing that made crusader great)
-Campaign cutscenes are slow camera pans of sketches (yes SKETCH not drawings like in boarderlands or colorful storybook drawings like fable, im talking rough pencil sketches, i understand its medieval times and its an asthetic but come on........look on youtube its really bad.......)
-Units get stuck in and around buildings, seriously hindering your economy (feeding a mouth that isnt working, and worse they are important like weaponsmiths or farmers, these people ARE your economy)
-Minimap is maddeningly unhelpful ( a green block with blotches denoting buildings and resources with enemies as teeny tiny dots, watch youtube vids trust me this is the worst mini ive ever seen)
-Clicking on some peasents doesnt always give you a proper soundbyte or acknolegement (moms and old men nvr speak much like children nvr spoke but even the farmers sometimes dont say a word, be sure to click on only one every few secs or u get no byte)
-Some sounds are missing (you wont hear the clangs and bangs of blacksmitths for example)
-Horses are still as brittle as ever (mounted knights will have thier horses killed from under them often, (ONLY 3 HORSES TO A STABLE!?!?!?)
-Too many arbitrary negetive random events (witch sightings, rain, blight, they had some of these in cruasder but geeze on top of the negetive impact of blight killing food supplies now i get a huge popularity demerit? im talking -20 or -30 here)
-Buildings are as impersonal as ever (clicking on them no longer gives you a sound or tiny video showing you what its about, its not necessary but it was a nice touch, it feels empty and makes the city and people feel less alive and more like its the computer program it really is.)
-Walls seem to crumble as if made of gramcrackers
-Throwing a banquet no longer shows the inside of teh keep and banquet being held (you click "Hold Banquet" and boom you get your Honor points. No fanfare whatsoever)
-Oxen often feed in thier holding area when there is stone and iron to tow. (thier status constantly ON and OFF indicate "Waiting for resourses" and "Idle" constantly on repreat till you destroy it and build a new one.)
-During a freebuild you cant choose the size keep you want. (hoping to have a small saxon hall for a tiny village? too bad your going to have the HUGE stronghold keep)

Just a month ago i played alot of stronghold crusader, ive had it for years now from a wallmart before steam was even a thing. I read alot about SH3's horrible bugs but i got it on the steam sale a few days ago anyway, its dirt cheap so why not?

The reviews were right its not as good as crusader. Skirmish mode was a big deal for me but i could do without it so how about them maps? only 3 free build maps available....you can make ur own but its much harder than in crusader, in crusader u had these paint tools that were easy to use, now i got to deal with the same map creator as age of empires 3 and age of mythology. During one of the economic missions where you must restor the inn in working order and protect the pilgrims my farmers (timed mission those farmers cannot waste time!!!) get stuck in buildings, enemy men at arms get stuck and are untouchable by my troops so they are invincible while they fling spears at my work force, i have to destroy the building to free them and i dont have the resources to rebuild it since the guy killed all my woodcutters. Worst part is i must constantly check that the food/resource shortages i suffer are from my lack of workers in those fields or if my workers are simply stuck ontop of the gatehouse or in a building like my hops farm. Its the only gamebreaking bug but its inexcusible in a game where the poeple ARE your economy and this is an economy game afterall, no workers going to the quary then no walls to build, no farmers then no food, ect.

Though pros...........
-Buildings can now finally shut off individually instead of the entire industry
-When selecting more than 25 men all of the men cry out in unison an aknowledgement (instead of one man saying "Yes my liege?", the men say "YOUR HIGHNESS!" in unison, a very nice touch)
-alot of the buildings are pretty tiny (a baker is still the same size as a brewer and weapon smith of all kinds, as is the candle makers and tailors)
-you only need one church and inn to satisfy all the people (as long as u keep the ale and candles supplies up, then you only need one church and inn.)
-During big fights men dont clip to each other as much (this was nvr a problem in 2D SH:C but in 3D SH2 this was a problem)
-Fights last a good while and arent decided in seconds (defense values seem to have risen allowing us to see fighting finally!)
-Resources can now be auto sold/bought (simply set the number of items you wish to retain in your supply in the market and the market will sell the remainder or set how many u wish the market auto buys and u will nvr have to busy urself with micromanageing ur purchases though you can if you want to.)
-Influencing people with "Good things" gives you 50% more hp but only 25% reduced productivity (Being a benevolent lord has never been easier on your economy!)
-Gold comes in a per sec basis so its easy to monitor
-Voiceacting is pretty good, absolutely nothing wrong with it. (love the return of the one guy who did all the peasent voices for the first game, he even did the women wich was fun)

It deserves the hate it gets im sorry to say, ive seen the interviews for sh3 and they are all nice people willing to bring us the glory of stronghold crusader but unfortunatly they brought us a bronze when we wanted another gold.

This game doesnt deserve........
OMG THIS GAME IS HORRIBLE ID RATHER DIE IN A FIRE!!
What it does deserve is.........
Geez on a scale of 1-100 on how it compares to Crusader this gets a 60. Not enough polish for an 80, too much good stuff for a 40, and its lighting effects cuppled with the environmental sound cues (zooming on water u hear water, zooming in forests u hear birds, swamps you hear frogs and buzzing insects ect) plus voiceacting and various improvemtns on minor annoyences of crusader (selling excess resources every 5 mins, unit clipping, only 5/9/12/24 men to a tower) brings it above 50.

[ruud_kroese]

Archers getting stuck, weird graphics when enemies attack, walls that can't connect for whatever reason, no skirmish mode, online mode flawed. Stronghold 3: Setback from Strongold 2 and unfinished.

[His Holiness Dalai Lama]

Originally posted by Ant:

I don't understand why everyone is hating against this game. It is exactly what it says on the tin. Strongholds 3. It is litrully just strongholds 2 with better graphics and a few extras. Don't see whats so wrong about that? If you liked number 2 you will like this.

As for all the "problems" people are getting, I have only had 1-2 small graphical errors which were fixed with a few video settings tweaks and a reset.

Are you really saying that its stronghold 2 with a few extras? That is so so wrong mate, it lacks kingmaker(skirmish) and multiplayer matches wont start. So only thing to do is campaign (and that is at least pretty funny) and then theres freebuild (boring as hell).

So, after you completed the 2 campaigns (3 if you got stronghold 3 gold) theres nothing else to do. Then you're done with the game. You could keep playing Stronghold 2 forever, thx to kingmaker and multiplayer.

Also, when you say that its minor bugs, that isn't the case for me. The game keeps crashing every second mission or more, and my troops get stuck on the stairs, and then theres the f**king bug with multiplayer.

[His Holiness Dalai Lama]

Originally posted by Ensign:

TLDR : Never played a stronghold game? You may enjoy it. Only played SH2? You will love it. Played crusader? You wont like it as much as you did crusader.
Scroll all the way down for Pros
Read just below this sentence for Cons (off the top of my head and on my limited 7hrs gameplay experience)

-No skirmish mode (the thing that made crusader great)
-Campaign cutscenes are slow camera pans of sketches (yes SKETCH not drawings like in boarderlands or colorful storybook drawings like fable, im talking rough pencil sketches, i understand its medieval times and its an asthetic but come on........look on youtube its really bad.......)
-Units get stuck in and around buildings, seriously hindering your economy (feeding a mouth that isnt working, and worse they are important like weaponsmiths or farmers, these people ARE your economy)
-Minimap is maddeningly unhelpful ( a green block with blotches denoting buildings and resources with enemies as teeny tiny dots, watch youtube vids trust me this is the worst mini ive ever seen)
-Clicking on some peasents doesnt always give you a proper soundbyte or acknolegement (moms and old men nvr speak much like children nvr spoke but even the farmers sometimes dont say a word, be sure to click on only one every few secs or u get no byte)
-Some sounds are missing (you wont hear the clangs and bangs of blacksmitths for example)
-Horses are still as brittle as ever (mounted knights will have thier horses killed from under them often, (ONLY 3 HORSES TO A STABLE!?!?!?)
-Too many arbitrary negetive random events (witch sightings, rain, blight, they had some of these in cruasder but geeze on top of the negetive impact of blight killing food supplies now i get a huge popularity demerit? im talking -20 or -30 here)
-Buildings are as impersonal as ever (clicking on them no longer gives you a sound or tiny video showing you what its about, its not necessary but it was a nice touch, it feels empty and makes the city and people feel less alive and more like its the computer program it really is.)
-Walls seem to crumble as if made of gramcrackers
-Throwing a banquet no longer shows the inside of teh keep and banquet being held (you click "Hold Banquet" and boom you get your Honor points. No fanfare whatsoever)
-Oxen often feed in thier holding area when there is stone and iron to tow. (thier status constantly ON and OFF indicate "Waiting for resourses" and "Idle" constantly on repreat till you destroy it and build a new one.)
-During a freebuild you cant choose the size keep you want. (hoping to have a small saxon hall for a tiny village? too bad your going to have the HUGE stronghold keep)

Just a month ago i played alot of stronghold crusader, ive had it for years now from a wallmart before steam was even a thing. I read alot about SH3's horrible bugs but i got it on the steam sale a few days ago anyway, its dirt cheap so why not?

The reviews were right its not as good as crusader. Skirmish mode was a big deal for me but i could do without it so how about them maps? only 3 free build maps available....you can make ur own but its much harder than in crusader, in crusader u had these paint tools that were easy to use, now i got to deal with the same map creator as age of empires 3 and age of mythology. During one of the economic missions where you must restor the inn in working order and protect the pilgrims my farmers (timed mission those farmers cannot waste time!!!) get stuck in buildings, enemy men at arms get stuck and are untouchable by my troops so they are invincible while they fling spears at my work force, i have to destroy the building to free them and i dont have the resources to rebuild it since the guy killed all my woodcutters. Worst part is i must constantly check that the food/resource shortages i suffer are from my lack of workers in those fields or if my workers are simply stuck ontop of the gatehouse or in a building like my hops farm. Its the only gamebreaking bug but its inexcusible in a game where the poeple ARE your economy and this is an economy game afterall, no workers going to the quary then no walls to build, no farmers then no food, ect.

Though pros...........
-Buildings can now finally shut off individually instead of the entire industry
-When selecting more than 25 men all of the men cry out in unison an aknowledgement (instead of one man saying "Yes my liege?", the men say "YOUR HIGHNESS!" in unison, a very nice touch)
-alot of the buildings are pretty tiny (a baker is still the same size as a brewer and weapon smith of all kinds, as is the candle makers and tailors)
-you only need one church and inn to satisfy all the people (as long as u keep the ale and candles supplies up, then you only need one church and inn.)
-During big fights men dont clip to each other as much (this was nvr a problem in 2D SH:C but in 3D SH2 this was a problem)
-Fights last a good while and arent decided in seconds (defense values seem to have risen allowing us to see fighting finally!)
-Resources can now be auto sold/bought (simply set the number of items you wish to retain in your supply in the market and the market will sell the remainder or set how many u wish the market auto buys and u will nvr have to busy urself with micromanageing ur purchases though you can if you want to.)
-Influencing people with "Good things" gives you 50% more hp but only 25% reduced productivity (Being a benevolent lord has never been easier on your economy!)
-Gold comes in a per sec basis so its easy to monitor
-Voiceacting is pretty good, absolutely nothing wrong with it. (love the return of the one guy who did all the peasent voices for the first game, he even did the women wich was fun)

It deserves the hate it gets im sorry to say, ive seen the interviews for sh3 and they are all nice people willing to bring us the glory of stronghold crusader but unfortunatly they brought us a bronze when we wanted another gold.

This game doesnt deserve........
OMG THIS GAME IS HORRIBLE ID RATHER DIE IN A FIRE!!
What it does deserve is.........
Geez on a scale of 1-100 on how it compares to Crusader this gets a 60. Not enough polish for an 80, too much good stuff for a 40, and its lighting effects cuppled with the environmental sound cues (zooming on water u hear water, zooming in forests u hear birds, swamps you hear frogs and buzzing insects ect) plus voiceacting and various improvemtns on minor annoyences of crusader (selling excess resources every 5 mins, unit clipping, only 5/9/12/24 men to a tower) brings it above 50.

so true, just not the start with "played SH2? You will love it"
No, SH2 were much better, sorry

[Hutton]

Bought this in the sale having played the hell out of the first Stronghold. I saw so many negative comments about it but after a couple of hours playing I love it - playing on Mac (Mountain Lion) I haven't encountered any bugs or anything, s'all good.