HOI3

[pvthudson01]

I am going to pass. The real time nature and the terrible combat sequences turn me off every time I try HOI2 or EU3. I just hate the way the units move and fight and the way the game plays.

But don't listen to me, I like hex games and love my stuff grognardy. I would take Battlefront or a good TOAW scenario or Time of Wrath over this game anyday.

Paradox will release a "Hoi3 Complete" edition which will include all together for 19,99 euros
After some years i've learnt how to better enjoy Paradox games.... by WAITING!

So true

[Hanal]

ORIGINAL: Arsan

I enjoyed Hoi2 quite a lot and i'm certainly interested in HOI3 (the imporvements looks great!)
But my poor old computer probably won't be able to handle it. [:(]

So i will wait 1 or 2 yeras... and by then i will have new computer and Hoi3 will have half a dozen patches, a couple of expansions, will play great and Paradox will release a "Hoi3 Complete" edition which will include all together for 19,99 euros [;)]
After some years i've learnt how to better enjoy Paradox games.... by WAITING!! [:'(]
Cheers

You can wait all you want but DIPLOMACY will still be a crapfest!.....[;)]

[Arsan]

[:D]
Hey i said "games"... Diplomacy was from Paradox but... was i really a game?? [;)]

[Peter Fisla]

Pre-ordered through www.impulsedriven.com; I'm looking forward to it. I used to play HOI but skipped HOI2...

[Banquet]

HoI3 is a must buy for me.. I haven't kept up with all the info pre-release but what I've seen looks fantastic. I've probably spent more time playing various versions of HoI than any other game.

It's an easy game to criticise, often unfairly in my opinion... because considering it's scope it generally works pretty well.

That being said.. Johan, as you're here.. I hope something has been done with the Japan AI so that they don't always roll over China and, as the British player, I end up having to fend off 120 Japanese divisions in India, with the US AI doing nothing to help.. not historical, and not fun.. (especially not every.. single.. game..)

[carnifex]

I played HOI and HOI2 and this version doesn't have any appeal for me. I look at the videos and the screenshots and it's the same game. I'm not dissing the game, I actually had fun with the first two iterations, but the system is played out for me.

[jjdenver]

Anyone know the release date? I'd heard August 4 but I went to buy it from gamersgate and it's still listed as preorder. A web search gave me dates of Aug 5, Aug 7. Best Buy says Aug 11. Anyone know the real date we can get it?

[Banquet]

7 Aug I think, for download on Gamersgate

[Jonathan Pollard]

I'll wait until the general consensus on the Paradox board is that it's patched sufficiently for decent online multiplayer games.

[doomtrader]

There are different dates for different regions/countries.
IIRC there was some issue with printed manuals

[JudgeDredd]

GG is going to be ready for 7th I heard. Steam 14th (I think?)

By the way, the demo is out.

[Historiker]

First impression:

Awesome! If stable, it'll be quite some fun for sure.
Let's see how much sleep I'll get playing it tonight... [:D]

[doomtrader]

90% of the people at polish forum says the game is lagging. Very much.

[Lützow]

My first impression about HoI 3 demo:

It's a mixed bag. Some stuff is better as in the predecessor, some is worse and for some, well, one needs getting used to, I suppose. However, I can't complain about performance, runs smooth in 1920x1200, and the AI does a decent job at first glance.

[JudgeDredd]

ORIGINAL: Historiker

First impression:

Awesome! If stable, it'll be quite some fun for sure.
Let's see how much sleep I'll get playing it tonight... [:D]

Not entirely sure at the moment. Stuff is happening all over the place. Poland is VERY aggressive (challenging - good thing) but it's very very time consuming and quite click festy...I'm having trouble keeping up and I only have 2 arrows on the speed level (about an hour every 2 seconds by the look of it)

I'm having difficulty with what units are in what regions (how many units/formations etc) and simply selecting all and moving at the moment, but I guess that will come with time. I'm also having trouble with units because only the very zoomed in levels can you see "stacks". Saying that, it'll be a case of "understanding" the interface...I like the scaling of the counters.

France is banging on the front door whilst I'm pre-occupied with Poland. Even landed a unit in North Germany?? Taking quite a few regions away from me also, but that's because I'm not "playing" properly at the mo - so not really trying to stop them.

The game is laggy, but I did have AA up to 8 sampling - so I turned it down - it needed a restart for it to take effect, so I haven't tried to see if it helped by reducing it. Map was difficult to scroll because of the lag - one minute I was moving smoothly - next minute not at all and then BAM - went waaaay north (or South, East, West - whichever way I was moving).

Found all the messages as annoying as ever and need to reset alot of them.

Looks great and AI does seem to be putting up a fight. I was in end of October and still had only taken the first few regions away from the Polish front line...course I have no idea wth I'm doing, so it might just be my style that's bad!

All the interface stuff is going to take a while to get used to. Overall the game looks alot better. Hopefully the lag will go away.

I will definitely be getting it - it looks a whol lot better than HoI2 (which I simply couldn't get over being locked at 1024x768 and made the text difficult to read) and I deliberately haven't re-installed HoI2 since I rebuilt my system because I knew this was coming...haven't pre-ordered though...might get it from Amazon or Play.com - but have to wait another week or two from them. GG wwill only come with a PDF being download as will Steam - and I want a manual for this puppy.

[oldspec4]

I played HoI 1 at release and skipped HoI 2 entirely. Thought I'd download demo for kicks and grins to see if any major gameplay improvements.

I had the demo CTD everytime i tried to load likely due to my old hardware and 128 mb video card.

[yoshino]

I think that wargames are unnecessary to 3D graphics unit at all!
Especially "Ugly" and be very highly requires PC spec for run.
There are many many beautiful and informational 2D grapics on wargames (such as AGEOD's titles).

I'll pass it.I Play Witp AE which was bought a few days ago.

[mllange]

I downloaded the demo while planning my WITP AE strategy as I like to have a break between WITP turns - the ol noggin needs a break now and then.

HOI3 is in many ways a very different game - for the better in my opinion. Once you get used to the Group > Army > Corp > Division management structure, it is sweet! Makes managing the war on several fronts a breeze. No more trying to micro-manage the movement and control of brigade or division level units (unless I want to). I'll take advantage of the leader bonuses and let the AI work with me to handle many of the details (when I want it to).

I haven't delved deeply into any other aspect of the game yet, it took me a while to get the hang of the organization changes, but I am impressed by what I see at this point. I didn't ever get to where I liked HOI2, even though I purchased both of the expansions (I did try!). This one could very well be a keeper for me. Something to compliment my new love of WITP AE (all over again). I'm impressed by both games!

[bairdlander2]

Played the demo this evening as well.My system had minimum specs and didnt realley see any lag.The game seems quite challenging and it is refreshing to see the AI (Poland and France) actually trying to attack Germany.In HOI1 and 2 that never happened.The interface is different and the new aspects will take some time,basically have to unlearn all things from HOI1 and 2.But overall glad I preordered though I would be dissapointed if I didnt like the demo.

[Joram]

Tried the demo.  I had HOI but skipped HOI2 as well.  Overall I had mixed feelings about it.  First, I don't really like the sprites, it's hard to describe why but just seemed 'thin'.  I played at native resolution (1680x1050) so maybe that had something to do with it.  The counters were plain but functional.  I never figured out what the numbers meant on them though lol.  I'm guessing one's movement.
 
I like the design your own division feature.  Very cool.  I like the myriad of options with technology, espionage and political goals, both internal and external.  Production is very straightforward once you get used to designing your own divisions.  I also like the very open ended nature of the game so far. 

As Germany, I attacked Poland and at first individually ordered every division.  While doable it got quite frantic at times especially when the AI decided to counterattack.  I imagine this would be unmanageable with larger armies at which time I discovered the very beautiful mechanic of setting objectives by headquarters.  Very slick, you can set it by corps, army, and higher echelons too and it will automatically move to the objective.  This alleviated my concerns with this aspect.  It's not clear quite how smart it is yet (i.e. will it use air assets too).   Not sure how good overall AI is either.  I was able to conquer Poland by early October but that's not a complaint, just something you can measure against.  It was my first time, very late at night and it didn't seem too hard though the AI did put in a few good counterattacks, it even won a battle lol!
 
I didn't like the tutorial.  It was actually kind of funny in the way it was written but was otherwise next to useless.  It didn't tell me howto do anything.  Only, this is the diplo screen, this is the technology screen, etc.  Well, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed but even I can figure that out by pressing the shiny buttons.
 
I thought there was a way to coordinate attacks like in old HOI but I couldn't figure it out (admittedly haven't spent a whole lot of time yet).  The airwar seemed very hectic to me.  Guess this is the RTS-hating side of me coming out.  If you are good at RTS games, you probably won't mind it at all.  At least pausing is easily done.
 
I had no lag at all though my settings were only at the default.