[Saxon]

Dom III is deeper than Dom II. You have to think things through to a greater degree than before. I also held off buying for some time, but eventually did and have been very pleased.

The random map generators are very nice and you have new options regarding the setting of victory conditions. This allows you to customize how your game runs.

The pretender design function is also really, really nice. You can set up a pretender for a nation, then save it. This allows you to experiment and fiddle with your pretenders in a way you could not before.

The game has been finished to a higher polish than Dom II, the little touches are evident.

Finally, I will use the dreaded “more” word, as there is one area which you should consider. The three ages system and the large number of nations really does qualitatively change the way the game is experienced over time. It is not like some games where “more” means the same unit with a different graphic or “more” similar missions that have different names. These additional nations play differently and require you to truly adjust your mindset and approach.