The game's concept and screenshots look very interesting to me, but it's hard for me to ignore all the criticism and negative reviews the game garnered.

Without a demo, I really have no choice but to ask openly; is it worth buying this game? Is it worth $50 in its present state, or should I wait for a Steam sale or for more patches to add necessary content?

If this post violates some form of thread rules then I apologize, I just want direct feedback on this and I assume this is the best place to search for that.

Hi Fenrakk101

If your into the stronghold series without a doubt you will love this sequel but beware. Alot of people are disappointed for the absence of skirmish mode. Let me give you full details of the game so you won't come to any surprise at purchase.

When I bought the game in mid January, the retail box looked nice and thick with beautiful screenshots. When I got home and opened it the box felt empty. All it has is the DVD and 2 slip-ins with no manual (2 slip-ins are the activation codes and manual is digital within steam.)

When you activate the game you will need to install from disc then update. This is the game with the largest update. Most games like RAGE, New Vegas, Metro 2033 have a 200mb update but SH3 has a 600mb update. As soon as it starts patching the steam library automatically calculates that the installed content from the DVD is only 85% of the game. The rest is download. Don't forget this includes the Original Stronghold too.

I personally love the game for I enjoy understanding plots and i'm eager to do campaigns but not alot of people are happy with story driven games. Most people enjoy the Stronghold series for its famous skirmish mode. Warning that Stronghold 3 doesn't have skirmish but it does have a Free Build mode. That's the closest it can get. But if you love story driven campaigns then I would tell you buy it. There are some extras in the game like sieges besides the 2 campaigns (Economical and Combat.) Both campaigns are stable with a few bugs here and there but not gamebreaking. No crashes. Multiplayer is stable as long as you have a reasonable amount of bodies.

In conclusion the question is do you think a story driven game with no skirmish is worth $50? If not then i'd suggest a wait for price reduction or atleast a steam sale if you don't mind purchasing digital games. Most negative reviews are from launch date back in October and are obsolete. The game is stable and more playable than ever. I hope this helps you with your decision.

I'm sorry to say I've never played another Stronghold game, so I don't really know what to expect.

I'm a big fan of free build/sandbox modes so that sounds like something I could get into.

How is the multiplayer in this game? Is it satisfying? I want to be able to play multiplayer games against my friend (who will get the game if i do) but if the multiplayer is a letdown then I can't count on that.

Just get it from Amazon or ebay!

Should be able to pick it up for half the rrp.

... Or you can also buy The Stronghold Collection for 19.99€, it contains Stronghold 1, Stronghold Crusader, Stronghold Crusader Extreme, Stronghold 2 and Stronghold Legends (all the Stronghold games except Stronghold 3).

... And they're all patched and fixed by now, so you probably won't be disappointed.

daitken92 wrote:

QUOTE:
Just get it from Amazon or ebay!

Should be able to pick it up for half the rrp.

Sorry but I'm not a fan of mail order stuff. I much prefer to get my games off of Steam.

D3w0u wrote:

QUOTE:
... Or you can also buy The Stronghold Collection for 19.99€, it contains Stronghold 1, Stronghold Crusader, Stronghold Crusader Extreme, Stronghold 2 and Stronghold Legends (all the Stronghold games except Stronghold 3).

... And they're all patched and fixed by now, so you probably won't be disappointed.

That sounds like a pretty good deal. Is there anything I'm really missing out on if I buy this instead of Stronghold 3, or is it the 100% optimal decision?

I would advise you to buy the stronghold collection first so you can get a first hand grip in the Stronghold series. Stronghold 3 does prove its difficult so if you jump right in with no basic knowledge it can get rather frustrating. Buy the collection and play the games in chronological order.

Multiplayer is for Stronghold 3 still has its flaws but it doesn't mean it will stop getting support.

I would go for stronghold collection THEN buying Stronghold 3 when it contains more polish. Also so you can get a better feel for the plot.

I have to agree...
if you haven´t played any part of Stronghold before, better get the Stronghold collection first.

Despite maybe not being on the same level of graphics (which is debatable for Stronghold 2) thy´re definitely very good games (well, IMHO even better than Stronghold 3 ... which is thanks to, in contrast to Lucifer, me being no big fan of campaigns as well as some of the changes made from SH3 compared to SH1 and SH2).

There ist still time to decide if you want to buy SH3 or not, when you are familiar with the other stronghold games (not only will SH3 at the time you finished playing the other parts of SH be more fully patched [and probably also be cheaper than now], but you will also better understand some of the threads here, discussing the changes between SH3 and the former parts of the series)

Praios is right. Get the collection first although graphics might not be suitable for modern gamers but its still very fun to play...

As for stronghold 3, its better to play SH1 first. However be forewarned. It's plot is blood soaked. It's characters depraved. And it's themes are unwholesome at best. So come...play the game. I dare you

Gameplay first graphics next