Stronghold 3 - Released next week, any takers?

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[MaxKos]

  Well the release date for this game is getting nearer and I'm still in two minds whether to pre order it or wait until the price drops a bit. There are things I like and other bits that leave me underwhelmed. Frankly considering they have had 10 years to tinker with it and are using the new Havoc game engine to produce the new physics, I'm not all that impressed.

I liked playing Stronghold 2 for all its shortcomings, for this new release they seem to have gone back to Stronghold 1 gameplay using Stronghold 2 graphics with their 3D visuals, with a more freebuild style. For the medieval look, I wish they had improved their visuals somewhat, because they are using the same models in this game as they did in the previous one, some of which were decidedly ropey.

I suppose the bottom line is, if you like medieval castle builders - there's very little choice, so its this or nothing.

If you live in the UK www.coolshop.co.uk are doing Stronghold 3 pre order for £22.99 instead of £29.99 and Anno 2070 for£25.97 instead of £29.99.

That's all thats on offer for citybuilders for the next year so I suppose we had better gather these crumbs, or change genre.

Regards Mac  

[City Builder]

Not really liking the visuals, they feel too dated for me to pop $50 or even $40 at this point.  I'll have to wait and see what player reviews say about it, like whether it's just the original SH 1 with updated graphics (which still aren't current to 2011 in my opinion).


I enjoyed SH2 much more than I did SH1 to be honest.  I was going to reinstall SH2 just yesterday after watching SH3 videos to see how much it had changed visually but can't seem to locate my disks, might have to pop out $19.99 and buy sh1 and sh2 from steam if the urge gets me.

[pad11]

I have this one on pre-order but really doubt I'll start it till much later as it is released just two weeks before Skyrim...and frankly, Skyrim has me so excited it's hard to sleep at night 

pat!

[MaxKos]

Like the new thumbnail, are you losing your hair over the state of the gaming world?

Yes thats how I feel, especially after buying A Game of Thorns against my better judgement, its not a bad game per se, just a very complicated game of intrigue and conspiracy which soon gets very complicated and uncontrollable.

I recently bought X111 Century: Death or Glory - Gold with Blood of Europe; Its a fantastic game, visually stunning, with the ability to hide in and use terrain, the scenarios are great, but very hard and demanding, making use of correct tactics is essential because the AI is very punishing and for something a bit lighter Joint Task Force (I've been meaning to buy for ages, hard to get hold of) which is a RTS but is also quite difficult, with lovely visuals and teams that act intelligently for once.

I think its worth keeping a look out for these small developers because the big publishers are just making big glamour titles for kids but with no content or gameplay, like the film industry all glitz and glamour CGI generated effects, but no believable plot or storyline. They forget that its the older generation who have the spending power and kids pocket money will be cut over the next few years as economic reality bites.

Regards Mac  

[MaxKos]

  Hi pat

There's a nice preview of Skyrim with some mouthwatering pictures on www.gamezone.com, where one of the team is invited to have an early play through of the early stages and from what he describes makes it sound very interesting indeed and one of the reasons why this series stands apart from other RPG's. Looks like once you get it there'll be more sleepless nights and the sports world will be missing a commentator for a while.

I'd cancel Stronghold 3 and get it in December when the price will have dropped to about £20 or $25 because I think its overpriced at the moment, as its not well advertised and has only a small/medium following, it might even appear in the Steam Xmas sale.

Regards Mac

[pad11]

Thanks Max!  That preview is very exciting...The Elder Scrolls series, really, quite a stunning achievement...I've often wondered why someone like Peter Jackson or Ridley Scott never jumped on board to make a film series out of it...could you imagine Ridley Scott helming a Morrowind film?  With, perhaps, Russell Crowe in the lead?  WOW!

Take care,
pat!

[MaxKos]

    

Oh Dear! Stronghold 3 looks like its an out and out pig of a game.

I'm happy because I didn't waste my money on it and sad that its turned out so badly as I was looking forward to it despite my reservations, after having been bitten a few times this year with some indifferent games - this time I waited to see what the reviews made of it, www.rtsguru.com gives it a 5. Then went over to the games own forum and I've never seen such anguish and disappointment, they all seem to agree that they've been ripped off and have wasted their money.

It looks like its fundamentally wrong and no amount of patching is going to correct it, in fact to a sceptical eye it might appear that the team at Firefly have just cobbled together this abomination without any real testing for the sole purpose of accruing a bundle of cash on the back of the popularity of previous games - then will do a runner in due course, laughing all the way to the bank.

In fact there's so much junk coming out these days that sooner or later the buying public are going to rebel and not bother buying these mainstream games, unless they have good provenance.

Shame.

[pad11]

Max, I bought it...and good lord it's awful.  I mean AWFUL and won't even start now...they tried to patch it today and US and GERMAN users are now told the Steam says the game is 'unavailable'  and I bought mine at Gamestop...go figure!  Seriously, if Skyrim wasn't a scant two weeks away, I'd be ticked off...now, I'm just going to boot up Knights of Honor and go old school!

pat!

[MaxKos]

Hi pat.

My commiserations, I don't know what stopped me buying it, I think after watching the pre release videos, I just didn't think there was enough new content to justify the price and was waiting for the price to drop. I won't go through all the gripes but one thing made me laugh, one disgruntled purchaser had written he had made a cow pen and a new calf was born that came out and said "Baa-Baa" and he said Jeez if they can't even get that right what hope is there for it. Another said he was amazed that a spearman was chipping away at the wall and the new rag doll effect caused an archer to fly off and also that he wasn't to impressed with wolves climbing ladders and killing his defenders on top of a tower. These are just some of the minor glitches, the major ones are the deal breakers.

Last night I was playing Anno 1404 and really enjoying it again, the trouble is the hours just fly by- so fingers crossed I'm looking forward to Anno 2070 being a winner and won't prejudge it, but just take the new concept for what it is. In truth I've got a pretty large game collection and quite enjoy replaying them, like you do. Look after them because I think we've had the best and looking on the horizon, there's not a lot there.

Regards Mac

[pad11]

Thanks Max...10 hours later and I still can't start my version of the game.  God Firefly really messed this up.

I just don't think I can buy 2070.  It's sad because 1404 Venice to me is the most complete builder ever created...stunning and as flawless as a PC game could be (no game is perfect).  But the whole climate change/global warming meme just infuriates me.  I honestly don't think I'd have any fun at all, I'd be too pissed off by the progressive psuedo-scientific crap...sigh...

thankfully Skyrim is on its way and maybe I'll pay the 20 for Citiex XL 2012....

take care,
pat