What it will take for me to purchase Dom III

[BigJMoney]

I don't know how most of the entrenched community (especially those of you from Dom I) feels about this topic, but I'd like to offer my opinion as a still fairly new player to Dominions. I don't really play Dominions very much. I played the demo, and I paid retail for the game, but after a few games, I just can't bring myself to play it again. The reason? I think summoning magic is too necessary for winning the multiplayer games. And, if it is used in Single player the same way it needs to be used in Multi Player, you can utterly dominate your opponents. Dominions II has a nice range of Empires, a nice range of units, a huge range of spells; thus, a varied range of available tactics. The problem is, none of the truly winning tactics seem to rely upon all of the nuances that can arise when you mix the Empire specifc traits and units with all the other factors. They do seem to rely on summoning magic, however. Now, what Empire you choose will affect when, how and which summoning spells you use. It also affects the early game strategy. Supposedly, some Empires use magic more than others. Truthfully, I think they all rely upon it exactly in the same way. Some Empires have more and varied magical options open to them, but I can't think of a single empire that can rely on any of its non-magic special abilities to win a game.

Now, maybe all this is intentional. It could be that Dominions simply isn't the right game for me. However, with all of the 'content' that Dom II has, I find it very hard to believe that it was intended to be the "summoned armies game". One other area this comes up in Dominions is in some of the "must have" magic items that exist in the game. I read a very informative article that a WotC Magic: The Gathering designer wrote on good strategy gaming design. One of his points was that a "broken" piece was a piece in a game that the majority of players look at and say "why should I NOT include that piece in my strategy?" That's sort of how I feel about a few things in Dominions, either a few spells or a few magic items, maybe depending on which Empire you choose.

Anyway, this isn't meant to be a threat or negative criticism. It's just my opinion on the few areas I think Dominions could do better in for Part III. And, if they aren't addressed, I can't say I would be willing to buy it. Which would be too bad, because Dominions has so much going for it.

=$= Big J Money =$=