One important point IMHO is how many games we've bought for $50 without blinking an eye because so and so made them or it's "title" 2 or 3. I consider myself a professional gamer and have bought/played just about every turn-based fantasy or wargame ever made and was blown away with all Dominions 2 has to offer. AOW2:SM has all the eye candy, more races...sites etc. and after playing all the previous iterations of it i still felt there was nothing really new, a rigidly structured campaign where you were forced to master the "race de jour". Hundreds of turns later after finishing the game once or twice i felt no desire to do it all over again, i can't change my starting race or opponents and every map was the same...yeah, so i got better at "getting it over with"
...big deal! That is just one of the "popular" games of that type. I have been playing Dom2 since the release only as the different Undead armies against 6 or 7 ai races so far one or two at a time and EVERY game has been radically different plus i still have 10 ai opponents/races to go against. Then i will pick another race to play as...well, do the math: i have only scratched the surface
of this deep game...a small percentage of gaming goodness. Replay value is not a strong enough word for Dominions 2...it's a handful of games all in one package. If we were able to buy this game "by the race" for $10 each that would be a steal,right? So in my eyes i'm getting $170 worth of game for $50
. The ironic thing is i happened upon the demo quite by accident, a Holiday buying guide from a gamers website, i shudder at the thought of not having found Dominions 2...call it Divine intervention or just good luck but i call it the best game experience to happen to me in all my jaded years as a gamer
. Now i am spoiled and the bar has been raised!