Dominions 3 - Holy wars between hibernating gods

[Safe-Keeper]

It's as if Stars!, Heroes of Might and Magic, and Total War met and had an Indie child in a bizarre love triangle. You've got your 2D map of units and provinces, mages casting spells of every kind imaginable, and a sleepyhead of a God who'll join in when he gets around to waking up.

I'm talking, of course about Dominions 3: The Awakening.http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r292/safe-keeper/Dom3_Birdie.jpg
"Look out! Big birdie!"

Dominions 3 is the latest and greatest installment of the splendid Dominions series. It's a turn-based 4X game remniscent of the Total War titles. It has you build up your provinces, research magic with your mages, and forge weapons that can be used by your Commanders. From your home province, you will use your soldiers, mages, assassins, priests, monsters and Pretender God to ensure that your enemies are defeated and that only one religion remains in the world: Yours. As you conquer provinces, you will build temples and field priests to spread the word of your deity, which incidentally also turn the conditions of the provinces converted into those of your capitol. If your homeland is hot, expect some serious global warming as you advance. If it's a rich land, the provinces that fall to your armies will also be richer. You get to assign features such as heat, luck, magic, order, and productivity a negative or positive rating, from -3 to +3, affecting the empire you are to reside in. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Illwinter/Dom3/Images/map.jpgThese guys don't need a Roman Senate to tell them who to kill (note the candles, which indicate the strenght of the players' religions in each province).

The strenghts of the Dominions series has always been the depth and atmosphere: The game lets you choose from an amazing 21 civilizations, drawing heavily on mythology from around the world. In total, the game gives you an amazing 1500 units to choose from, as well as several hundred spells and magic items for your mages to play with. Additionally, you get to customize your god to a certain degree - you've got several incarnations to choose from, including a dragon, a Norse giant, a phoenix, a giant wyrm, a vampire queen, a mage riding a freak giant that walks around on all four without clothes on, and many more. Each empire has about 12-20 different forms, so you won't run out of options any time soon.

Additionally, you get to set the magical skills of your god and the Dominion of your empire, that is to say, its properties. It can be a land of death, luck, heatmhttp://www.shrapnelgames.com/Illwinter/Dom3/Images/unit_ashigaru.jpgThe depth and detail of the game create an atmosphere that sets Dominions 3 apart from other strategy titles.

The game is hard to get into at first, but a detailed tutorial and 300 pages long manual should ensure that most of your initial questions will be answered. Dominions is one vast treasure of a game, and well worth the time and effort you invest in it. There is a free demo over at http://www.shrapnelgames.com, and a forum (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=dom3) where you can exchange thoughts and questions.http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Illwinter/Dom3/Images/conjuration_unsorted.jpgA small selection of the many hundred spells in the game.

I've personally been playing the series since the first installment, and I'm consdering getting the full version of this instead of Medieval 2 Total War. Yes, once you get into it, it's really that good.

PS: Thought I'd point out that the fact that there is 21 nations does mean that 21 people can play at the same time!

[stabiz]

Uhm, it looks like its from 1995!

[Safe-Keeper]

So? I look like I'm from 1985, am I am, yet you don't see me sitting around in a discount bin, do you:p?

Graphics are unimportant. Game-play isn't. I don' think the title would be anywhere near as expansive and enjoyable as it is if it was to be in full 3D, Rome: Total War style.

[stabiz]

I totally disagree. Graphics are are important, just as gameplay is. Would you love SH3 with the same settings and AI if the boats looked like sticks?

And how can a game be better with poor graphics?

[Safe-Keeper]

I totally disagree. Graphics are are important, just as gameplay is.I would say, however, that to me, game-play is more important.

Would you love SH3 with the same settings and AI if the boats looked like sticks?If the graphics were not as good as they are, that'd mean that the developers would have more time to implement other features.

Silent Hunter III with all its intended features, a lot more ships and historical events, a slew of other nifty features... and graphics similar to those in Silent Hunter II or worse, would rock in my eyes.

And how can a game be better with poor graphics?As I said: Development time freed up for other things.

It's like the lack of a Captain's Cabin and Radio Room in the Silent Hunter 4 boats, sacrificed for features such as photo recon missions, life-boats, and other things that couldn't make it into Silent Hunter III.

Of course I love graphics, too (you should know as much from my posts in the SH4 screenshots threads), but I'm also very good at enjoying games with poor graphics if the game-play makes up for them. And quite often, good game-play can provide more immersion than good graphics (X-Com UFO Defense, which had truly bad graphics even by the standards of its release year, is a perfect example).

I'm not saying my way is true and that you have to love this game even though it looks older than me, though;).

[stabiz]

:rotfl:

I see your point, but I really cant immerse if the game looks bad. I envy you, you have many more games to enjoy than I have!

PS: I agree nice graphics are wasted if the gameplay suck, but look at games that have both: FarCry (man, when I stepped out of that cave ...), Rome: Total War, etc. Best of both worlds. (And lately; ArmA, although there is going to have to be alot of patching until it is mega)

[Dowly]

I hate Dominions! No, I havent really never played it, but I keep confusing it to a game called Dominion, that I hate.

I agree, good graphics are important. For me it´s very big part of the gaming experience, adds alot to the immersion.

I also agree that modern(Read: 3D) graphics can make a poor game. A good example is the Broken Sword series that turned to 3D instead of the beautifully drawn 2D graphics.

[stabiz]

I totally agree on the 3D stuff. Like in RTS games, I find that I almost never use the ability to pan or soom,I just set up the game in a view I like, and let it stay there. In Company of Heroes I think I have zoomed twice.

[bradclark1]

Tried it but just couldn't get into it.

[Safe-Keeper]

Did you try the tutorial (the printable documentation for it is part of the Dom 3 download)?

Either way, of course, it's like learning to play Falcon 4.0 Allied Force: It's overwhelming at first and you need to take it one thing at a time (first learn how to fly, then learn how to lock and fire Mavericks, then learn to dogfight, then learn how to land, and so on), but once you get into it, it's really not that hard at all.

Of course, there'll be units, spells and items to discover for a long time, as the game is so huge, but once you've understood how the game works, it's not hard to play at all. The UI is a huge improvement over that of the prequel (although it still has some lacks), and the tutorial should help you get through the learning process easier.