Author Topic: A Paladin's Review: Age of Wonders 3 & Impression Series.  (Read 2454 times)

Offline KingIsaacLinksr

  • Master Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,332
  • A Paladin Without A Crusade...
A Paladin's Review: Age of Wonders 3 & Impression Series.
« on: November 10, 2016, 08:20:11 pm »
Another crazy, hectic month. I've really got to fill in time for actual forum trawling at some point because I do like you guys. Wish my job would let me visit the site....but alas....

I did a review of Age of Wonders 3 in written form and then put it in video form. So, that wasn't challenging or anything ;).

http://kingisaaclinksr.com/2016/11/10/a-paladins-review-age-of-wonders-iii-the-golden-realms-are-a-triumph-of-the-eternal-lords/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPyVR1VCI_k

I've also started a first impression series that I'm still playing around with on the format to make it better. Here's the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNshVYBDrnPKNiROh-tq90e_awnfbq0NZ however I figure these titles might be interesting to you guys:

Infested Planet: https://youtu.be/IBTn9Ln07TA

Chronicle: Runescape Legends. https://youtu.be/y3i78LU31zE

Duskers. https://youtu.be/6n22nXOemMg

Thanks for checking my stuff out.
Casual reviewer with a sense of justice.
Visit the Arcen Mantis to help: https://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/
A Paladin's Blog. Long form videogame reviews focusing on mechanics and narrative analyzing. Plus other stuff. www.kingisaaclinksr.com

Offline TheVampire100

  • Master Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,382
  • Ordinary Vampire
Re: A Paladin's Review: Age of Wonders 3 & Impression Series.
« Reply #1 on: November 10, 2016, 09:10:13 pm »
I've only watched the Chronicle one and had a quick glimpse on Infested Planet because these are games I have myself.

First things first, it nowadays has become a standard procedure to put up a small splashcreen with some introduction music because... I don't even know why. People who watch teh video will most likely know anyway from whom it is and about what it is. If you want to do that, your choice, other people do it as well, so there is nothin wrong with it. Just my personal dislike for it and moreso because of the choice of music.

Another thing: If you play a game while reviewing it, turn the sound completly off except you want to show the sound of the game (music or sound effects) for reviewing purposes. This is not a let's play, even if it's a "first impression" video, it is more important what you say and not what the game sounds like at that point. It was kinda hard to understand you during the Chronicle video because the soudn was so loud. If you want the sound during the video, turn it at least down, make some tests if the viewer can still hear you clearly and then make your video.
You did this right with the Infested Planet video, so I don't know why the Chronicle one went down the hill so much. Maybe because it was made a month earlier and you were still in a "testing phase" back then.

I would've liked if you would have pointed out more the differences about the different classes and what they do, because that's important.
I gave my impressions of Chronicle already long ago, I'm not sure if that was already present in the game when you made this video but they've now added also some kind of campaign mode were you can play matches against the AI under certain conditions for rewards. It's basically what Hearthstone already did except you don't have to buy it.

I stopped playing Chronicle, not because it's a bad game (it isn't) but because I nowadays play PvsZ Heroes which is goofy and stupid but I like what they did. Or maybe I'm just goofy myself.

Offline KingIsaacLinksr

  • Master Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,332
  • A Paladin Without A Crusade...
Re: A Paladin's Review: Age of Wonders 3 & Impression Series.
« Reply #2 on: November 10, 2016, 09:21:26 pm »

Another thing: If you play a game while reviewing it, turn the sound completly off except you want to show the sound of the game (music or sound effects) for reviewing purposes. This is not a let's play, even if it's a "first impression" video, it is more important what you say and not what the game sounds like at that point. It was kinda hard to understand you during the Chronicle video because the soudn was so loud. If you want the sound during the video, turn it at least down, make some tests if the viewer can still hear you clearly and then make your video.
You did this right with the Infested Planet video, so I don't know why the Chronicle one went down the hill so much. Maybe because it was made a month earlier and you were still in a "testing phase" back then.

For some reason the Chronicle audio didn't come out quite right, as you accurately pointed out. I've been triple checking since then to make sure the game audio is much quieter than myself. Usually this isn't a problem with my videos but the Chronicle one definitely stands out as a fail. Apologies about that. I think it's the only one so far in this series where the audio is off.

First things first, it nowadays has become a standard procedure to put up a small splashcreen with some introduction music because... I don't even know why. People who watch teh video will most likely know anyway from whom it is and about what it is. If you want to do that, your choice, other people do it as well, so there is nothin wrong with it. Just my personal dislike for it and moreso because of the choice of music.

The music is up in the air right now. I've been switching between just opening game audio and other audio. I may compress the splashscreen into something shorter in length but I'm not removing them because they contain important information such as my full disclosure on how I got a copy of the game. As I've gotten several through free press keys, that's rather important to be up front about.


Fair criticism on not talking about the differences in classes. I'll keep that in mind for card games in the future. Thanks for watching and the feedback, it's appreciated!
« Last Edit: November 10, 2016, 09:26:03 pm by KingIsaacLinksr »
Casual reviewer with a sense of justice.
Visit the Arcen Mantis to help: https://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/
A Paladin's Blog. Long form videogame reviews focusing on mechanics and narrative analyzing. Plus other stuff. www.kingisaaclinksr.com

Offline Draco18s

  • Resident Velociraptor
  • Core Member Mark V
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,251
Re: A Paladin's Review: Age of Wonders 3 & Impression Series.
« Reply #3 on: November 11, 2016, 01:23:52 am »
...I should play AOW3 again at some point. AOW2 was super solid.

Offline Mánagarmr

  • Core Member Mark V
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,272
  • if (isInRange(target)) { kill(target); }
Re: A Paladin's Review: Age of Wonders 3 & Impression Series.
« Reply #4 on: November 11, 2016, 10:16:13 am »
...I should play AOW3 again at some point. AOW2 was super solid.
AOW3 is a really great game. I just miss a few features from AOW2:SM that really makes AOW3 a lesser experience. Like Shadow Realm, Shadow Deamons, Domain casting, persistent unit enhancements, more focus on casting multiple spells earlier in the game and an overall greater magic focus and map modification via magic.
Click here to get started with Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports.

Thank you for contributing to making the game better!

Offline Draco18s

  • Resident Velociraptor
  • Core Member Mark V
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,251
Re: A Paladin's Review: Age of Wonders 3 & Impression Series.
« Reply #5 on: November 11, 2016, 11:55:12 am »
AOW3 is a really great game. I just miss a few features from AOW2:SM that really makes AOW3 a lesser experience. Like Shadow Realm, Shadow Deamons, Domain casting, persistent unit enhancements, more focus on casting multiple spells earlier in the game and an overall greater magic focus and map modification via magic.

Still, I have it and I've played 5 hours, and haven't gotten back to it!
The random map generator is better than in 2, IIRC.  No more "snow next to desert."

Offline kasnavada

  • Hero Member Mark II
  • *****
  • Posts: 986
Re: A Paladin's Review: Age of Wonders 3 & Impression Series.
« Reply #6 on: November 11, 2016, 01:50:09 pm »
I found AOW 3 boring, done the campaign...

Heroes / units are way to frail, requiring careful placement / abuse of mechanic to shoot enemies / walls without getting shot. Which the AI does not understand and make the campaign stupid / grindy / trivial... And that campaign also had the typical "hey, let's start with 4 different towns that can't help each other mission" which made me ragequit.


Offline KingIsaacLinksr

  • Master Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,332
  • A Paladin Without A Crusade...
Re: A Paladin's Review: Age of Wonders 3 & Impression Series.
« Reply #7 on: November 11, 2016, 04:20:08 pm »
I found AOW 3 boring, done the campaign...

Heroes / units are way to frail, requiring careful placement / abuse of mechanic to shoot enemies / walls without getting shot. Which the AI does not understand and make the campaign stupid / grindy / trivial... And that campaign also had the typical "hey, let's start with 4 different towns that can't help each other mission" which made me ragequit.

The main campaign missions are definitely.....bad. The scenarios don't seem so bad and there's the multiplayer ofc which are better.
Casual reviewer with a sense of justice.
Visit the Arcen Mantis to help: https://www.arcengames.com/mantisbt/
A Paladin's Blog. Long form videogame reviews focusing on mechanics and narrative analyzing. Plus other stuff. www.kingisaaclinksr.com

Offline Mánagarmr

  • Core Member Mark V
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,272
  • if (isInRange(target)) { kill(target); }
Re: A Paladin's Review: Age of Wonders 3 & Impression Series.
« Reply #8 on: November 15, 2016, 04:40:17 am »
The random map generator is better than in 2, IIRC.  No more "snow next to desert."
Pf, who cares? This is fantasy! ^_^

I really do miss the map manipulation from 2 though. Having your realm slowly change from one biome to another is pretty sweet.
Click here to get started with Mantis for Suggestions and Bug Reports.

Thank you for contributing to making the game better!

Offline Draco18s

  • Resident Velociraptor
  • Core Member Mark V
  • *****
  • Posts: 4,251
Re: A Paladin's Review: Age of Wonders 3 & Impression Series.
« Reply #9 on: November 15, 2016, 12:17:37 pm »
I really do miss the map manipulation from 2 though. Having your realm slowly change from one biome to another is pretty sweet.

That's fair.

 

SMF spam blocked by CleanTalk