Are we paying more for less?

[Archonsod]

From the sounds of it MTWII has more fantasy elements than Dominions already

I have to ask when the last time YOU bought a video card considering they are up ~$200 for a midline one

Last month. Your missing the point though - if I want to see how much I can push it, I'll load up Oblivion, Farcry or similar, not Dominions. To be honest, if all I wanted was a good looking picture on the screen you can download any number of graphical benchmarking demo's which are ten times prettier than anything the games market is likely to produce for a while. Thing is, I buy games to play, if all I wanted was to watch the eye candy I'd just put a DVD on.

edit:

basically what makes Dom3 "better" in terms of features and gameplay?

Kinda depends on you.Personally I don't like the total war series all that much.
Although you did offer your own argument - if you bought Dom 3 now, by the time you can afford Medieval 2 it'll likely have dropped in price...