Hi everybody! ^_^
T(oo)L(ong); D(idn't)R(ead) version at the very end.
Arcaani may not be my name, but it is, among other things (Arcanus, Eirik, Bottle(!), other "wierd" (weird) stuff), what I am called on the internets.
I'm a not-so-long-time-player and forum-lurker, slightly-shorter-time-legitimate-Dom3-buyer, and I generally love halfway-RTS games (Rome:Total War and the mod Europa Barbarorum, CivIV, Romance of the Three Kingdoms 4 (on the SNES), etc), though all most good games get plenty of playtime in my house. And yes, I did kind of download the full version of Dominions 3 before deciding to buy it.
My first encounter with Dominions 3 (and the Dominions series in general) was through a foreign exchange student (and eventually (luckily), friend) from the Philippines. I was playing on his computer at the time, and I didn't really get it. I played as Ermor, mostly because I enjoy studying Roman culture, but I didn't really "get it". Looking back, that may have been because the learning curve is a bit steep... or because Ermor/the Roman Republic relies on more than its Hastati and Triarii in this game (Undead! "Top notch, wot wot wot, my gel?" (a cookie if you can put the reference in context. And it isn't a verbatim transcript))... or perhaps because I just didn't have enough time. I can't even remember which kind of Pretender I used.
Nevertheless, roughly a month or so ago I... acquired the game. Yes, I did download it. Sorry. I don't endorse "piracy" (though I do endorse piracy! Arrrr)... Don't kill me. <_< I did end up buying it... That makes it okay... right? Anyway, I fired it up. It was great. I can't quite recall which faction I played as first, but it didn't take long before I started a game on that 221-tile map as an Allfather (called lsildur. I was unable to use capital letters, so I had to choose something that started with an I. Because small L's look like capital i's) of the Vanheim (I live in Norway, so I found them and their mythos rather irresistible). It rocked. I still haven't finished that game, and I never will
. "Moar" on that soon.
I got my copy of the game today. I ordered it a week ago. It takes roughly a month to receive books from Amazon.com (Not an endorsement, don't kill me). It took a week for you guys to get it all the way to Norway. Epic wins and free internets for all.
And it just "feels" great. I installed patch 3.14 and I'm currently browsing the manual (this thing is BIG! ^___^ I mean, I though the AoE2 manual was good. This thing is equally interesting... and it's sooo big too! Q(^_^Q) ) and running the tutorial. I'm learning some things I didn't know before (F1 is your friend mid-through-late-game), and it contains valuable tips on kicking *** and takings names in Dom3 in general.
Anyway. I hope to be a productive member of this community - at the very least, I won't incite rebellion (wut?). It's been a pleasure writing this. It won't be a pleasure reading. But that's what you get for trying to accumulate knowledge! ^_^ Have a good day.
TL;DR: Hai guise! Amovi, amavi, emi. Evidently that means "I took/stole [downloaded illegally - Don't hurt me]. I liked. I bought.". And that's the story of Dom3 and me.