Previews!

[DominionsFan]

RonD said:
To some, only a serious upgrade to the graphics engine would make Dom3 anything other than Dom2.5. I'd bet my copy of Dom3 that many of the same people would have whined about "Civ3.5" if Civ4 had used the same graphics engine as Civ3, regardless of the gameplay changes.

Depends on the playerbase. Personally I absolutely don't care about the graphics in a turn based strategy game.
In fact there is Dwarf Fortress, an ASCII based game. That is definitely the game of the year for me, and of course Doms 3...and maybe Heroes of Annihilated Empries.

[Agrajag]

I think that Dom3 does seem like more of an expansion than a full game, to the untrained eye.
That is because usually (that is, in the more commercial side of the industry ) expansions are merely modpack with a few more units and a new campaign, while often a new game just has less units and content (but better graphics).
Dominions 3 however, adds lots of units (and thus seems like an expansion) without adding new graphics (just seeming less like a new game).
In reality (rather than how things seem), Dominions 3 does add a lot, a new aging system, UI improvements, new shields, a random map generator, redone castles (and an AI that uses them), Dormant/Imprisoned gods, gameplay tweaks (costs/supply), much improved mod support, and I guess some more stuff I can't think about right now
That sure seems enough to me.

[Nerfix]

I made a big list of changes at Wargamer and I forgot stuff from the list. Like the Awakening.