RE: "Upgrade" options between Dominion series.

[SlipperyJim]

I really, really, really don't understand the complaint that Dom3 is just recycled Dom2 plus a little bit. The whole point of sequels is that they should: A) preserve those qualities which made the original game enjoyable, B) eliminate the annoyances of the older versions, and C) add some new stuff for gamers to enjoy. And yes, I put that list in order for a reason.

The most important part of a sequel is to preserve those qualities which made the previous version(s) fun to play. Seriously. Without that, there is no continuity between the versions, and you might as well be playing a new game. Dom3 scores high marks in this category.

The next priority is to eliminate the annoying features of previous versions. For strategy games, the most significant area for improvement is the AI. Another good improvement is to streamline as much micro-management as possible. Whether it's Civ4 or Dom3, a solid sequel will try to eliminate much of the pointless button clicking, slider juggling, and other micro-management tasks which tend to bog down strategy games. When I play Civ4, I want to pretend to be an emperor, not some bureaucrat who is constantly tweaking my citizens for maximum productivity. And when I play Dom3, I want to pretend to be an aspiring god, not some revenue agent who massages the tax rates in every province. Again, Dom3 scores high marks here.

(I might be a bit biased because I never played Dom2, so my experience is straight from Dom1 to Dom3. From my perspective, Dom3 has seriously reduced the micro-management that I was used to suffering....)

Finally, the least important category is new stuff. Why is this category the least important? Because the old stuff was pretty good, or you wouldn't bother playing the sequel! Dom3 inherited a solid foundation of good content from the previous Dominions versions. You liked them, right? So why wouldn't you like more of the same? Still, without some new stuff to savor, the sequel might seem boring, so give us some new stuff! And Dom3 succeeds here, too, with new nations, new ages, the dormant/imprisoned pretender options, nation-specific spells, and more. Also, as others have mentioned, Illwinter keeps coming up with more new stuff in their free patches.

Finally, if you've somehow managed to exhaust the content in Dom3 off-the-shelf ... there are always mods. Gratuitous Plug: Try any of Sombre's nation mods, especially Ulm Reborn.