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[lumin]

I've always been tempted to get it, and now that GOG has it on sale this weekend, I may just buy it.  But is it really any good?

[Il Palazzo]

It's pretty sweet, actually.
Simple, yet engaging. Great for multiplayer hotseat matches.

[lumin]

It's pretty sweet, actually.
Simple, yet engaging. Great for multiplayer hotseat matches.

How does it compare to Heroes 3?  I know that hotseat games in HoMM3 were extremely tedious.

[Il Palazzo]

It's better, in my opinion. Armies are much more clearly represented, as there are never more than 6(iirc) units per army.
You don't see any 100 black dragons strong armies bashing at eachother.
The units gain experience and can be upgraded to max tier 3(or 4?), but they never become undefeatable - with correct application of overland spells, even a strong army can be withered.

The combat formula is relatively simple, units just stand in two rows and bash each other with their meele, ranged and special attacks(no movement during battles allowed), but considering the amount of unit, spell and hero(+artifacts, of course) variations, they're pretty engaging and by no means a no-brainer.

Game sessions are faster and less of a grindfests than what you get in HOMMs.

It's also very atmospheric, with factions quite drastically different, and a lot of nice touches - like the converting terrain. And uber heroic unit portraits.

[ChairmanPoo]

It sucks, IMHO. The combat mode is far more simplistic (and boring) than Heroes', and no skirmish mode worthy of the name. All it has going over Heroes 3 are better graphics.

[janekk]

It sucks, IMHO. The combat mode is far more simplistic (and boring) than Heroes', and no skirmish mode worthy of the name. All it has going over Heroes 3 are better graphics.

I liked Disciple and IMHO Heroes III sucks (actually I don't like whole series). I always was put off by abstract number of units on what looks like just one dude(and no matter if it is one dude or 1000 of them they still take up as much space, weird). Also I always hated whole process of ferrying new troops to front lines, tedious and brings nothing interesting to gameplay. Disciples with its system makes it all go away and I like how my dudes gain exp and level up.

[Dr. Johbson]

I thought it was pretty good, I definitely like it more than Heros, but its nothing amazing in my book. Fun will be had, however.

[Lap]

All pale in comparison to AoW:SM.

[janekk]

All pale in comparison to AoW:SM.

It pales in comparison with Master of Magic. I think they have it on GOG. Sweet game.

[Il Palazzo]

All pale in comparison to AoW:SM.

It pales in comparison with Master of Magic. I think they have it on GOG. Sweet game.

AoW: SM,  IS Master of Magic. Only upgraded.

AoW, HOMM and Disciples all play differently enough to let you enjoy each one of them.

[janekk]

AoW: SM,  IS Master of Magic. Only upgraded.

No it is not. Only thing that got upgraded are graphics. Magic in AoW is bland compared to cool stuff you can do in MoM.

[Sergius]

AoW is nothing like MoM. All you get is a map with fixed roads and towns, and you get HUGE turns like walk 30 steps... it's a lot more like HoMM.

[Akura]

Never played AoW1, but I've got a demo of AoW2, and it IS MoM. You can even build your own roads and towns, which, according to what Sergius said, you can't do in the first. The magic is probably better, too, like a Life spell that both nukes an area and turns into a lush Eden. Or a Death spell that causes all the dead bodies on the ground to explode in a gooey mess. It's not useful, but it looks pretty cool.

[Micro102]

I have played disciples 1 and 2 and they are defiantly good, I especially like how your territory expands.

[Robsoie]

AoW, HOMM and Disciples all play differently enough to let you enjoy each one of them.

truth.
I own AoW:SW, HOMM3 and Disciples 2 and like them all a very lot. While the concept is the same, the gameplay is entirely different and all of them are interesting.

I only played the demo of Disciples 1 at the time of its release, don't remember why i didnt bought it, but i loved the concept already, leading me to buy nearly immediately after demoplay Disciples 2.
The terrain changing with you conquering specific place is very nicely done and has a good impact on gameplay, the focus on extremely small parties, and their leveling is a nice change in this genre.


Heroes 3 main weakness is the constant need of ferrying troops, it is rather an annoying gameplay part, but everything else is extremely enjoyable and i like replaying often randomly generated scenarios or some of the billions of available user made ones.

I have played for a long time Master of Magic, it is really a cool game even by today standard in term of content.

AoW:SW is the closest to Master of Magic i ever played, while the magic part is less extensive (though some spells are really awesome, especially those affecting the world visuals) than MoM, the battle tactics are better with the units having more possibilities.