What is really new?

[st.patrik]

Dom II was a great step beyond DomPPP, but my take is that Dom 3 is the perfection of the changes that Dom II initiated.

I loaded up Dom II today. I noticed immediately that some of the commands that I have grown used to in Dom 3 weren't there: things like being able to resize the commanders bar, or hide the commands to the right-hand side, etc. I noticed the lack of the information-rich interface that I have grown used to: in Dom 3 I can see gem amounts, magical items, province descriptions, etc. in the main view. I recalled some of the non-particle-ized spell effects (even things like poison) which looked pretty silly in Dom II. Dom II was a great step forward, but a lot of the changes weren't complete - the game creation process for example was in some ways a step back from DomPPP. In Dom 3 the changes are pretty much complete, as well as a whole lot of stuff added (such as the aging system, national spells, the different eras)

In other words, I think it's a better, more complete game than Dom II, even though it is similar in content and style. Much more than a service patch, since most aspects of the game have been re-examined and thoughtfully changed. See below for a short list off the top of my head for new things that I'm particularly grateful are included:

• pretender creation independant of game creation (how bitterly I wished I had this in Dom II!)
• random opponents in game creation
• several different AI tactics, as well as AI strengths
• different eras (each with different emphases)
• total gems available listed in main screen
• commanders' icons are resizeable, and show gems + magical items equipped, as well as troops being commanded
• national summons!
• new spells/items/summons designed to deal with demons (hate those demons!)
• damage done in combat shown
• eradication of most all the old and nasty spell graphics (Slime, Poison)
• new battlefields, depending on terrain
• terrain survival actually makes something of a difference (at least for swamp survival - hopefully we can convince the devs to add more!)
• new independant troops (toad, horse, lion, bear, wolf, deer tribes)
• new fortress types
• new option of awakening, making it more viable to create a great bless strategy.
• bless effects shown when creating a pretender
• ability to get out of windows (such a spell lists) without scrolling to the bottom
• shift-click to recruit multiple units at once
• in SP, clicking 'end turn' automatically takes you to the next turn
• less friendly fire (IMHO)