Well, firstly HoMM isn't a "real" 4x game, it's more of a turn-based strategy game.

Secondly, we can't tell how good AoW3 will be or even when it will be released. If you have enough money to spend you might want to pick up FE now and AoW3 in a couple of months when it gets released.

I'd compare FE to Master of Magic in terms of gameplay and how it feels to play. If you haven't played Master of Magic I'd highly recommend you give it a shot.

Fallen Enchantress is a great game, does it need work? Yes. I think Legendary Heroes is a step in the right direction and like many on this forum I eagerly await it's release.

FE is a great game.  The LH expansion will probably be better.  If you like the Age of Wonders series you're bound to like FE.

I would say FE is better than AoW, but thats just my personal opinion.  Whether you prefer the AoW series of FE/LH only you will know.

FE is only $30... the number of hours entertainment you get out of a game like this makes 30 bucks a bargain if you ask me.

The major question is whether FH will have the same AI flaws FE has. Sorry, Frog. But in my current game a pretty strong AI army is standing around doing nothing at all for 20 turns now. And it looks like it's not gonna change that. So I feel entitled to state that it is far from perfect.

So, personally I would wait a long while after FH's release and study the forum (especially the support section) before I'd do the purchase.

Nice avatar, btw hubi... EXTEEERMINATE!

I only played the original AoW way back in the day, but as I recall that game and FE/LH can't really be compared.

AoW was all about the magic and assailing your opponents.  It is strategy lite and tactics heavy as I recall.

FE/LH is kinda the opposite: strategy heavy and tactics lite.  It is more of an empire builder than a tactical wargame.

There is still along way to go in all aspects of the game (yes AI, I'm looking at you) but it is a nice game and if you like Civ and other similar 4x games then FE is the way to go.  If you're a fan of AoW then don't expect that kind of game play from FE.

Eh?

Well he didn't ask about Shadow Magic... he asked about AoW.... so I assumed he meant AoW (the original) - I would point out that you chopped the second part of my sentence, where I stated it was my personal opinion.

For what it's worth - yes, the AI in FE is far from perfect. But it's far from perfect in pretty much any game in this genre, including the AoW series (just google and you'll see similar issue raised as that in FE).

Honestly I don't understand some of the comments around here. This game is 30 bucks. You guys sound like it's buying a new car. Here in Aus that's about the price of a bottle of scotch, or 2 trips to movies, or 3 big mac combos. I presume it's roughly similar elsewhere. That's great value for the number of hours entertainment you'll get out of it. Yeah there's still plenty of room for improvement in a lot of areas, but it's still a great game and loads of fun!

I think there's a lot of "the grass is greener" syndrome going on at the minute.

If you are on a limited budget, I would definitely wait for AoW3 to be released, then see how that is received. FE plays quite differently from AoW games - there's a faction-wide tech tree, and you design your own units instead of relying on pre-fabricated ones. As others have pointed out, there is a much larger focus on strategy in FE rather than tactics like in AoW.

I would wait with FE until they have made alot more work on the AI, Fe has great potential but for me the lack of a semi decent AI and too simplistic tactical battles is a big let down (I could live with simplistic tactical battles but the AI is too weak).

The game is challenging when on the harder difficulties but is it still dumb and for me having a bad AI that cheats like crazy is not fun. In some games you feel as if the AI is actually pretty smart and fools you or sometimes does something new/unexpected and in a good way, this is not the case for FE yet sadly.

But instead of waiting for AoW3 take a look at "Eador Masters of  the Broken World" it has got a lot of great feedback and will be released in a month or so.

With all of the above said I have to give credit to Stardock, it's my favourite coding company, I have never seen anything like them when it comes to keeping promises or supporting their games. FE is a good game just not my cup of tea due to a few issues.

For me, FE has paid for itself many times over its retail price. Besides the hundreds of hours of game play, it kept me so entertained that I stayed away from World of Warcraft longer than I expected, which I had dropped just before the last expansion. I eventually went back to WoW but only after the expansion went on sale. I credit FE with saving me at least two of the four months worth of unspent WoW subscriptions fees and half the cost of the expansion. Again, that's on top of the hundreds of hours of fun I've had with it.

I still play FE. I also think its AI provides more than a sufficient challenge for most of its users. Sure, it could be improved, but which AI couldn't be?

It's been stated before, Fallen Enchantress' focus is heavy on strategic empire building and much less on tactical military gameplay. It is also rather clunky and lacks a finishing touch, you will now and then stumble upon stuff that feels like and most of the time is not working a 100%.

But there is one crucial and great strength of the game: it's customizability. You have lots of sliders and options to costumize the world, the enemies, your faction, your heroes. You can design units so your enemies use them to crush you, you can mod things to change the game to your liking. If that is your thing, Fallen Enchantress is definitely worth it. If you want a finished tactical 4X game, rather not.

You are trying to decide between a game that is out now and one that claims it will be out in the fall (I can't remember the last time a game has come out on time). I like both FE and the AOW series....but I'm left trying to compare an actual game with a known price, favorable reviews, and very good forum feedback relative to any game I've purchased recently, to a game in development with not much concrete known about it except its pedigree and that it seems to be a moderate evolution of the AOW series, not a totally new game.

I'd go with an enjoyable and real $30 game over a hypothetical one with an unknown price and an uncertain release date unless you are very cash strapped; if you are reluctant to fork out $30 now maybe you should go for an older cheaper strategy game you haven't played before from gog, Desura, etc. I like Eador Genesis, AOW Shadow Magic and both of the old King's Bounty games. They all have turn-based combat on a grid. If you really want cheap, I found Eador Genesis to be very entertaining (but it has a steep learning curve) and costs ony $6 at gog.com.

I'm an AoW fan and in my opinion FE is not better than the AoW games. Legendary Heroes looks promising though with the changes in combat and hero leveling. In my opinion, the FE games have the potential of becoming as good as the AoW series, but they are not there yet.

But what the hell, buy them both and support a good cause!

People really like AoW that much?  I found it one of the many flat attempts to follow MoM, and thought it was uninspired and dull.  FE is IMO better by miles.  But to each their own I suppose.