If I had to play one AoW game, which would you recommend?

[Yoona_939]

I got the trilogy in that Humble Bundle a while back, and I like the look of them all, but I have a big backlog of games so only really want to give one of them a go at the mo. Which would you recommend?

[5M0k1N]

personally i enjoyed the first one the most. but they all got their pros and cons so its hard to recommend one over the others. the thing i hated the most about age of wonders 2 and shadow magic is how overpowered heroes can get. the same applies to the first one but to a lesser degree.

id say watch some gameplay videos and decide on your own :p

[Wixmef]

I'd say the first one, that's the one I liked the most.

[Malaficus Shaikan]

Age of wonders: you are a commander of either to keepers(good guys) or storm of cults(bad guys) you have to make choice during the campaign that effect what army you command and what ending you get.
Also tranfering units is done on a cost based system.

Age of wonders wizard thrones:
You play as mirlin a young human king in a time where humans are royaly boned.
Who nearly drowned and then gets saved by the wizard king gabrial.
In order to save humanity from extinance you have to master each sphere of magic.
And eventual inherrit the wizards throne.
The game plays in missions called: inisitation phase, mastery phase and special sphase.
Inisitation is when you learn about a new sphere of magic. mastery is when you learn the most powerfull magic's in that sphere. and special is just an extra optional mission.
You take whatever spells you learned and items you equiped with you into the mastery and special phase.
You aslo can bring along heroes(and there equipment) free of charge, but nothing else.
It is a great story but very linear.

So too answer your question:
Do you want to be some nameless commander/hero who have choices in his campaign?
Play age of wonders.
You want a epic story about a young human king rising to dimigodhood while contending with dimigods and other powerfull beings?
Play age of wonders wizards throne.

Then play shadow magic :P

Dont bother with age of wonders 3 it is crap.

[wargul16]

I guess I am a bit late on that but anyway...just start with the first, it is absolutely worth it and play till the end. They are all great! Really great. I bought Age of Wonders 3 a year ago or so but never installed it...I guess I don't dare playing it 'cause of the videos i saw.... ;)

[Grakor]

If you're more of an RPG player, then the first Age of Wonders is probably a better way to go. It follows a character that you create, as well as heroes that you gather over the games, and you get to keep them pretty much all the way through if you transfer them. For this reason, I think AoW has stronger RPG elements than AoW2 does.

Heroes can pretty much get really strong and stomp things in AoW2 as well, but you lose access to all of your heroes every three maps, essentially. AoW2 is about a set character who isn't a hero and thus doesn't build up outside of your spell researches, so there's less that you're keeping from one section of the campaign to the next. (Wizard's Throne is much more about mastering each sphere of magic, and each sphere can be considered its own mini-campaign of 2-3 maps.) Shadow Magic has roughly the same set-up, but each "mini-campaign" focuses on a different wizard entirely.

AoW3 is its own animal, but it sounds like you don't have it if you bought the original trilogy. I disagree that it's crap, though. It's good, just a bit different.

[5M0k1N]

Originally posted by Grakor:

as well as heroes that you gather over the games, and you get to keep them pretty much all the way through if you transfer them.

i think i couldnt transfer my hero in AoW1 after he reached certain level i think. he was just more expensive than the points it gave me to expend lol. was a sad moment :/

[BigRowdy]

you bought the wrong games. these games are more like table top or computer strategy games than rpg although there is a hint of rpg in it. Personally I love these games especially the first one.