The sound, as mentioned in another thread, is by far the best I've heard in a video game - I get goosebumps when I hear those cannons booming in the far off distance. Sound is often neglected in rts games but it adds just as much to the ambience of a good game.
I know the first Age games sold like hotcakes and that a ton of people really liked them, but even though I've tried and tried again over the years to get into them, they've just bored me. I preferred Starcraft in the early days of AoE and then finally Rise of Nations. I was surprised I loved Rise so much because the Age games just bored me. And at first, I didn't know if I'd like AoE3, either...it had to grow on me.
And grow on me it did. This is a fantastic game. The techs seem a bit more streamlined than in the old games, the card system and HC is strategically intriguing, the trade posts offering points of contentions to fight over, the treasures and creeps guarding them....I don't know, it all adds up to a really interesting and fun experience.
Sorry for making another thread, I lost my head, heh.
[This message has been edited by Timeless_OmO (edited 09-13-2005 @ 04:11 PM).]