OT: Warlords Battlecry 3

[DonCorazon]

Originally Posted by WraithLord

Do you still play WC3?

I had really only played WBC2 - it was one of the few games that captivated me enough to finish. For some reason, I never got around to WBC 3. I had it but suffered from re-start syndrome: Fey Alchemist, wait no Dark Elf Assassin, no no, High Elf Runemaster, doh....

I would echo that WBC is a bit light on strategy and can be easy. In fairness though to the game, there are ways to make it harder: Ironman, don't hire mercs, don't spend $ to increase your retinue slots, don't use the 4 healing potions...

It can be pretty intense in the scenarios when the AI rushes you early on, but otherwise it does share some of the mindless joy of a game like Diablo where you are the all-mighty slayer of the masses.

The one thing I forgot to mention that I love about this game is I put it in the category of games like Dominions and MOOII that have "soul". The comments some of the units make are laugh out loud funny (I won't try to replicate them here, just listen to the masochistic Quasit or Arnold Schwarzenegger-like Reaver for examples) and at the same time has that heavy epic fantasy feel. The art is great. Admittedly the game is a conglomeration of time-tested fantasy archetypes, with a few fresher ideas like the Fey or Sratthi, but its packaged so nicely and has enough content to make for a fun if somewhat mindless romp.

[Humakty]

For long time fans of Warlord serie, WB3 is a must have ! I'm currently levelling again the good old Moooo.

[slMagnvox]

Want to chime in as a big Kohan fan, WraithLord. I played like 20+ hours a week for nearly a year. I Got Immortal Sovereigns a month or two after it came out and kept playing till near the bitter end, otherwise known as the release of Kohan II. Which I bought, but being laptop bound at the time never did play.

Such a brilliant game, some of those 4v4s were the most intense gaming I had ever participated in. Nothing like pushing through 3v2 on a flank and rolling all the way across the map. Or being the anchor and holding the opposite line 1v2.

Each game was so unique. Every faction was completely playable, everyone went random. The Random map gen was awesome. Early game you open an amulet or two and some of the Kohan were beasts. Fight a few lairs, cap an indy. Nationalist town on the frontline and you knew there'd be some [i]heavy[i/] fighting there. Hah.

Thanks for reminding me of that. I wonder if any games get together anymore? Surfing over to their forum, looks kinda active...

[WraithLord]

I actually tried Kohan II but it was so lame I couldn't even finish the tutorial. I wonder how the design team could take out so much of the great stuff of the predecessor to end up with such a poor release.
I mean, had they just updated the gfx and tweaked some minor stuff, added some content that would have been enough.

As for Kohan, I sometime lost myself in play losing precious sleep hours
I esp. liked how the armies seemed to have a life of their own. The mages would bombard and buff, the archers and cavs would do their thing. Was fun to just kick back and watch them huge battles

[Septimius Severus]

The original Warlords was great and so were the later iterations.

[cthulhu]

WBC3 was pretty fun. It and dom3 are the two fantasy war games with the most variety of options available. Lots of different races and magics. And the voices in there were cool - if you've played the Lost Spires mod for Oblivion, the boss voices in there are all ripped from WBC3.

WBC3 tended to have terrible multiplayer balance, at least at higher hero levels.

In WBC3 1.03 (the last official version) the most powerful race was wood elves. In the unofficial patches (1.03.23 was the last in the sequence of unofficial patches aimed to improve multiplayer game balance among other things; there are also other unofficial patches aimed at other goals but they were less popular) which race was most powerful was a lot more ambiguous but I was best with fey on that version.

There is a fan-made alternate campaign available (different plot, campaign bonuses, missions, etc) by the name of Conquest Campaign if I recall correctly.

[Sombre]

I enjoyed both WC3 (and of course WL3LR) and Kohan. I also hated the direction they went with Kohan 2, trying to make it into a warcraft 3 style game. It ranks up there with TA being followed by TA:K as one the most disappointing game progressions I've seen.

[sector24]

Unfortunately we won't see another iteration of either game anytime soon. Ever since Puzzle Quest came out they've spent all their time trying to capitalize on the Puzzle RPG craze.

[WraithLord]

Go figure why developers who have amazing games on their hands choose to either abandon them, do totally different projects or do a lousy sequel.

I know that rationally there are many reasons: financial, boredom with original game, expectation to have great success in different gaming category etc.

But look at the list of great games that either don't have a sequel or have a bad one and OthO look at companies who stuck to their good games (Blizzard?, Stardock?).
So we have
- MOM
- AoW, so so sequel & later dev chose to make light RPG
- Kohan, bad sequel and that was the end of it AFAIK
- WbC3, no sequel
- WL3, no sequel
- Dominions III, no sequel planned

*sigh*

[cthulhu]

WBC3 is a sequel to WBC2. There was probably a WBC1 at one point too.

Same for Dominions 3.

And WL3 does have a sequel (with some hopes for an additional sequel), unless you are referring to a different game or implying a Sequel-Which-Shall-Not-Be-Named situation.