Just to get the ball rolling:

Besides loving the hero: Ham Binger (...just because... )

From the various campaigns...

I liked Melenis (Meandor's girlfriend) from the first game. I thought she was a fun enemy.

Also, who was the Human General fellow (I forget his name) that you allied with against the Shadows, but didn't like you and Phobius had him killed? Anyone remember his name?

I also always liked Nimue, because she went mad and killed all her children (the Lizardmen). I always loved how she was meant to be a little unstable and unpredictable.

Hm, well, I liked most of the major characters from the original AoW - Julia, Meandor, Elric, Talic, Gabriel, Inioch, Joseph... really all of them, although for different reasons. Julia I saw as the heroic character (Elric is cool, but he's lacking in his own backstory). Meandor is a tragic antihero. The others make great villains, although each in their own unique ways (Gabriel after all is doing it in the name of good - and he's not a bad guy as long as you don't happen to belong to the world order he's trying to replace).

I was less enchanted with the cast of AoW2+. The old characters from the original didn't keep the things that made them charming, and the new characters were, I thought, rather bland.

Let me say AgeofWonders is a great classic!

My personal favorite characters include Tempest, Arachna, Meandor, Perses, and Vorsar(when he has goa'uld eyes).

My list of what made AgeofWonders:SM a great game:
1} The random game generator and map editor for endless replay value. Also the map editor is one of the best I've seen for TBS games the only other editor which comes close is the heroes3 editor. It's awesome to make custom items, wizards, and heroes so easily in the editor.
2} The multiplayer where multiple human players can all fight on the same battlefield at the same time!! I still haven't seen/found this in even current TBS games.
3} Stable and Solid game. Enough said.
4} Configurable game options where players can choose their spheres, wizard, number of heroes, etc., etc., .
5} Adjustable game time limit... this is great for keeping a game moving at a fast pace. I have a brother who would otherwise literally take days for one turn.
6} Multiple map levels such as what we saw with Master of Magic(MoM). This allows map makers to create unique different realms whether they be of dungeons or a different island or another dimension or perhaps the inside of a crashed asteroid.
7} Friendly modding available... swolte, hellbrick and others are not only adding new units and structures, but also trying to fix the few minor bugs/exploits which remain.
8} Multiplayer options such as PBEM, HotSeat, Simultaneous, Classic, and all work via LAN or WAN.


Sorry I strayed off topic a little.

The story in AoWI was very well integrated into the level-design and overall game. The subsequent games less so--mostly because the levels weren't all known til the end of the development cycle.

That and I didn't have time to do as extensive a timeline and backstory the way I did with AoW. I look back at that and still think it's a bit excessive. (The Timeline's in the manual of the first game... heheheh...)

Even in AoW I, I didn't know King Joseph's name til it was too late to put much mention of his actual name in the story of the game.

So if someone could remind me who was Talic, Perses and Arachna (was she a wizard?)? (The other names I recall quite well)...

--Ray

PS. Vorsar! Yeah, that was his name. Loved him... especially all borgified... King Joseph made a decent Undead character in later games. Always kinda made me laugh (since it's JOsh Farley's image that Lennart mussed with... buwahahah) Also loved Sir Danc the Strange (who, btw, is based upon Danc (Daniel Cook) the lead creative/game designer of game company Spryfox ). The first game had a lot of personality... including my wife's image... I still sometimes play it and have her be my lead hero, so that I can justify spending copious amounts of time on the computer, and if she gives me grief I say, "But Honey, if I don't play, you'll be destroyed.")

I always liked getting Lingolas the Hermit in AoW1. Just like his portrait I guess. Same goes for Forok the Bloated and Dactor Deathbringer. But all of the hero images are nice.

As for personalities... I agree the characters for AoW1 are better. I liked "The Dark Side" better. Meandor, Inioch, etc.

In AoWSM (maybe AoW2 I can't remember) I like Anon, because he looks just like Morgan Freeman, which I always found funny.

Any of them that were Lizardmen or Tigran I loved!

First of all i like the aow1 story and atmospheric feel its unchallenged.

The work of the artists did its charm too. (unit portraits for example, the handmade ones)

Evil:

Clearly nr1 is Meandor, also picture of him in the aow1 Manual are great. Remember them? I like this character. Sadly he somehow turned green and soft.......and brutally uncool in aow2+ So he changed to my favourite char to the most hated one!

Really liked the endsequence of the Meandor Campaign, that was clearly the best ending. Made all other endings feel boring. ;>
A worthy end for a Warlord in a wargame, he who rules by the sword dies by the sword. Or maybe his rebelling army burned him in his palace dunno, a bit open end? Anyways it was my taste! I suppose he did drink a glas of vine too shortly before his place got stormed by troops? I would imagine it...like looking at his own death without care. A good end. It will make him a legend and martyr for later generations.
Its also my prefered end. It will allow life to continue on the blessed continent with all races included, and things will be as chaotic as on the start on the Cult vs Keeper campaign. There might be an evil rule over the blessed continet for some time. What is good cause elves ruled a bit too long, that present more or less the good dudes.

But without a strong and charismatic leader the cult of storm will dissolve like the golden horde of ghengis khan making it easy to write a new story in those chaotic times.

Melenis is my favorite too along with Meandor, they are a couple i would not seperate them. She could be very cool. Sadly she had not a very long life in aow1...

Resurrected Inioch was fun and hideous too in aow1. You did not know exactly how he would react to each of the factions, especially cult of storms and keepers, when he returned as undead evil wizard. Of course he planed to roflstomp the blessed continent with his legions.I still wonder how he could be stopped seemed so unlikely, but the same could be said about the human/highmen alliance.

Neutral:

King Joseph could have been more developed, i suppose. But i liked him in a way. A King out of control leading his humanity to doom and judgin things very wrongly. Thats my view on him. A bad but somehow mighty king. Remembers me a bit on King Vortiger in the Arthus saga.(especially in that merlin movie played by Rutger Hauer!)

Pure good:

Gabriel. Looking at his portrait and that strange alliance with the humans that steam roll all other races no matter what, it made him shine a bit evil. The highmen seemed to me like a cult that preach the light, but work towards a higher evil where prolly lucifer is the shiny light. Ever heard of the "Scarlet Crusade?" order?

In aow2 that feel is gone, and they just seem like a emotionless order that is super righteous and pretty brutal in dealing with evil.

Good:

Bormac the orcslayer of course. Who can be cool on the good races? Of course only a rude dwarf with great might, who drinks his beer.

Julia prolly the weakest char i ever seen. I do not really like warrior girls. The idea just does not convience me at all. Always have to think on belly free armor....so stupid.

Beautiful women should be maidens. Or Casters. Evil poisoners. Powerplayers in the shadows and all that. Rogue is ok too perhaps.
My favorite is the Evil Sorceress theme, similar to Melenis.

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On a side note:
Do you remember the Couple in Baldur's Gate 1. Sarevok and....his girlfriend i don't remember the name. It was quite epic for a while too, cause she wanted the heroes to spare him but sacraficed her life by turned against you with no chance of a success, just wasting her life to make a point. What a neat story part. Wonder what sarevvok was going to feel? Or in aow terms what meandor did feel when melenis perished? I think he was not pleased with her animation!This was really a cool part of the aow1 story! Kinda reminds me on the great movie: "Dellamorte Dellamore". Also called the "Cemetery Man". His love kept coming back from the dead, no matter how often he did kill her. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109592/

Also like the psychopathic BG girl couple that liked to kill for fun and waited in an INN for you and were driven by a pretty heavy madness. :-)
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Oh i suppose Beren and me do really enjoy the excessive Timeline of Aow1. it was really good work and the campaign was one of the best i played in a tbs fantasys setting. Before that i prefered Heros of might and magic 2 - Archibald Campaign.
Most other campaigns in the games i played, felt a bit boring after those 2....uh, lack of multiple choices, strong characters(especially strong evil ones) + good plots and settings a good campaign gets you hooked like a thrilling book.

I like fun elements too. Like big stupid monsters, like a big troll who is either brutally but lacks intelligence and speaks in funny ways, or is even good at heart, but trys to act evil and ulitmately fails. I think the never ending story part1 and david bowie's the labyrinth have a lot of cool characters how i like them. I really liked so much the big black wolf called Gmork and this big stone giant who could not defend his friends against the void. Yeah and morla of course. Such a good movie and book, the book had more characters. :-)
might not fit into a war game anyways, though.

[This message has been edited by DarkMystery (edited 12-14-2011 @ 01:31 AM).]

I liked the style of Tempest and Oneron in SM. Although cant say much of the deeper character development, as I never really played the campaigns.

Talic was the default name of the AoW1 PC for the Cult campaign. Perses was the Tigran wizard in SM, and Arachna was the non-Meandor dark elf wizardess in AoW2/SM (the death wizard from the Circle of Wizards that didn't join the conspiracy). Mind you, neither of the last two do much - Perses just appears in one scenario as a potential ally against Ambir while Ambir is still working for Phobius, while the most significant thing Arachna does is tell Merlin where to find Meandor.

I will defend AoW1 Gabriel, though. In the High Men campaign, they're careful to put to rest the souls of dead Elves when they get the opportunity, and the overall impression is not one of being bad for members of the world order he's trying to replace. He's bad for those who try to hold on to that world order - the elves and other races are supposed to have moved on, and for those that do so willingly, he does what is in his power to make sure they get to where they're supposed to go safely. It's those that resist that he leaves to their fate.

The overall impression is one of 'for the greater good'. The High Men seem to be the army of the forces of good, while the fair races are, effectively, terraformers. The war the High Men are needed for is still being waged in other worlds, so it's important for the greater good that the circumstances be set up that can lead to more High Men being available for the cause - and that apparently requires humans to be in charge. From Gabriel's perspective... I think he does mourn for those who die fighting against his cause, but when push comes to shove it'll be a heck of a lot worse for all concerned if the forces of evil are victorious in the bigger conflict.

(Mind you, one thing I didn't like in the campaign was the way that choosing to fight for the Lizards basically guaranteed that the worst possible outcomes for the Lizards would result - a High Men victory means they get replaced by humans, while an Undead victory means that death rules over everything. We know from AoW2 that a Keeper victory isn't too crash hot for them either, but at least that isn't so obvious...)

Regarding favourite characters... I'd probably go with Artica and Marinus, as amusing characters if not as reliable allies. I like Ambir, but that's probably my draconic bias shining through. The conspirators, I think, could have used some more fleshing out in general - you can see why most of them would be joining the conspiracy, but seeing more of their individual motivations and possibly the odd 'what have I done?!' moment might have deepened the story. (Nimue, especially, I was expecting to show signs of having second thoughts - it does make for an interesting twist to have the Lady of the Lake being one of Merlin's enemies, but I was expecting there to be some form of conciliation later that points towards their future interactions in the Arthurian legends.)

Meh, if you go by the AoW2 storyline Artica was never an ally, just an opportunist who made no secret of her distain for you even if she didn't openly support the conspiracy. And Marinus was mostly useless. Even Anon would turn against you if you becam "too evil" - say by trying to migrate a few undead cities rather then immediately raze them. Just another one-sided extermist without the 'special' relationship to Humans the Highmen had.

Karissa on the other hand was a true ally, the only one in fact you could actually count on in the game. All she wanted was a place for her Orcs to live under their own laws, which is not so much different then what the story claims the Humans want. Though we see in AoWSM how badly that turned out.

My favorites are the Lizard heroes from AoW1, especially Shai Eggbuster and Forok the Bloated. I like their portraits and titles. The Lizard race and the fact that heroes have titles are among the things that I like in AoW1

I wonder why you ask such question here, I have a suspicion...

I was kind of wondering that too PawelS...

Just Curious...

Very interesting!
I do remember one hero that made me chuckle... I think he was called Vinney the Odd...

[This message has been edited by Davespice (edited 12-14-2011 @ 02:04 PM).]

Alexandra Lifestealer really made my imagination run sometimes, with her portrait it's really easy to make up stories... but then on the other hand almost every portait of AoW1, no matter if hero or leader, were made with such talent that it gave me inspiration. Shame the artwork atmosphere of AoW1 didn't carry over to AoW2 and SM (my opinion).

For AoW2/SM, I would say Yaka was most inspiring character.

[This message has been edited by Deroman (edited 12-14-2011 @ 02:31 PM).]

I am in love with Edmond,from a custom scenario Lords of Chaos.
Halfling,2life,no death,one pick from the rest,
Mark 2, Leadership 2,hurl stones,forestry.
Such a nice wizard for exploring and adventures.
No feelings for any other game-character.

Quoted from Deroman:

almost every portait of AoW1, no matter if hero or leader, were made with such talent that it gave me inspiration

This applies to unit portraits too, see my avatar

Yeah, you are still using my picture.
It is said that it is the portrait of a AOW 1 druid,
but they used a picture of me.It is a Dutch game,and I am a Dutch gamedesigner.
Holland is a small coutry,and has only a few gamedesigners so they used my picture a for the druid.

You must be quite old then, Fanaprimo

Quoted from Dark Mystery:

Julia prolly the weakest char i ever seen. I do not really like warrior girls. The idea just does not convience me at all. Always have to think on belly free armor....so stupid.

Beautiful women should be maidens. Or Casters. Evil poisoners. Powerplayers in the shadows and all that. Rogue is ok too perhaps.
My favorite is the Evil Sorceress theme, similar to Melenis.

I figured this was it, despite the not-insignificant number of historical counter examples (well, not the belly-less armor, but Julia didn't wear belly-less armor).

Quoted from Draxynnic:

In the High Men campaign, they're careful to put to rest the souls of dead Elves when they get the opportunity, and the overall impression is not one of being bad for members of the world order he's trying to replace. He's bad for those who try to hold on to that world order - the elves and other races are supposed to have moved on, and for those that do so willingly, he does what is in his power to make sure they get to where they're supposed to go safely.

Yes, I agree. He's a villain because he's destroying the diverse, interesting, pre-human world-order and replacing it with a new world, because of some divine mandate. The other races had their day, and now it's the Humans' turn.

I will point out that the High Men themselves are anything but evil. If Julia captures a High Men city on the Valley of Wonders map, for example, she can recruit High Men units there, and they won't rebel against her or have bad morale or anything else, because she also represents the forces of good - just of a different world order. Of course, Gabriel can do the same thing with the Elves - and, perhaps more important yet, the Dwarves - and that's kind of spooky...

Hello Ray
I would like to know why you ask, Ray?
I mean... What is the background of your interesting question.

I donīt remember all the characters in AoW (all parts) very well right now when you come along and tip me on the breast, because I made so many heroes and wizards for this game during the years but I still love the picture of the ice queen more than any other picture in this game.
Itīs simply the best picture for me.
Her name was Artica. She is soooo impossible cool. I love her.

And I loved an old AoW I hero. I forget his name but I always call him "king Soppy from Egg" in my maps. I made a Wizard picture from his small AoW I hero picture (and merged it with a great picture from AoW II, Draconian) some time ago.
So he finally becomes a great wizard for the lizard race in PawelS mod and in my maps.

Here is the picture I made:

[This message has been edited by The Groll (edited 12-15-2011 @ 00:14 AM).]

Goll: You can ask any question you like, it doesn't mean I'm gonna answer.

Rest: The High Men (and Gabriel) were not evil, if anything, Inioch was. He ignored the High Men, when they came. THe Elves were supposed to leave the Blessed Continent after the Reign of Inioch. That's what was known as the Covenant between the High Men and the Elves. The High Men found the world that the Elves changed into a habitable place. In exchange for other worlds the Elves and High men have worked together for eternities. But the Elves of the Blessed Continent fell in love with their creation, and refused to leave it.

Technically the High Men did nothing overtly aggressive towards the Elves either. They simply created Humanity, because the humans are High Men in embryo. Only the best human souls can rise as High Men, but they require a world where Humans are free... and a perfectly free race doesn't play well with elves...

AND... Much of the trouble between the Humans and Elves in the Valley of Wonders was setup by Meandor who was jealous of his father. Of course only pieces of this story are given in the game and the materials that went with it...

Of course the High Men did set up Melenis to Blow the Trump of the Dead, and unleash the Undead, so that they could demonstrate what they did best--kill Undead...

--Ray

Goll: You can ask any question you like, it doesn't mean I'm gonna answer.

Well. Nice. Thanks for the interesting answer. A little short maybe. A little imprecise in any case.

Quoted from rayb AoW:

You can ask any question you like, it doesn't mean I'm gonna answer.

Come now, we answered your question!

Just kidding, I know you're not going to answer anything, and that's fine. We all know anyways

Of course the High Men did set up Melenis to Blow the Trump of the Dead, and unleash the Undead, so that they could demonstrate what they did best--kill Undead...

As I've always suspected, but I believe that's the first time you've actually confirmed that it was they who were behind that bit of Reichstaggery

yeah im with the groll, i always pick artica's portrait when playing multiplayer.

Thanks for understanding, you've all been very helpful.

From the wizards I like Julia and Arachna most. The Julia sprite is very nice too.

My most beloved Hero is Ymbria. She has a nice background and I love the graphics...

Quoted from RayB:

The High Men (and Gabriel) were not evil, if anything, Inioch was. He ignored the High Men, when they came.

I know I'm challenging the Word of God (hey, I'm a scientist - scientists challenge everything), but the difficulty with this is the fact that the Elves are not the only race inhabiting the World of Wonders, and the age of Humans displaces them as well as the Elves. Elric and Talic both wonder in their respective High Men endings what happened to the other races apart from the Elves (who went to Evermore), the Humans, the High Men (who went wherever they go), and the Undead (who got destroyed). Did the other races get executed, as you have Elric and Talic both suggest? The question is never answered. The "friendly" version of it is that they went with the Elves to Evermore and that Evermore has a place for them as well.

Quoted from PawelS:

This applies to unit portraits too, see my avatar

Well of course Pawel. With all the magic that the portraits add to AoW, I wonder if the artist(s) had Spell Casting V to begin with...

Age of Wonders 1 has always been a game for me unlike any other. Time can't kill it,
and I foresee that it will only rise in its uniqueness with time. The heart it was given beats strong and proud.

[This message has been edited by Deroman (edited 12-16-2011 @ 06:11 AM).]

ChowGuy: Mechanically, Artica is never an ally. However, one thing to remember here is that the wizards that aren't in the conspiracy don't know what's going on either - including (with a couple of exceptions) knowing Merlin for beans. However, while she ultimately needs to be coerced to cooperate - and that after proving to Merlin that she didn't take Julia - it's her and Merlin that finally blow the lid on who the conspirators are. Problem is that by that point most of the non-conspiring wizards have already lost their Evermore holdings (which is why they're busy claiming as much territory as they can on the Blessed Continent) and aren't in much position to help.

And, as you say, Marinus is consistently a useless ally. But it's not that they're good allies that makes them interesting. Marinus is fun because of just how utterly incompetant he is at anything resembling war, and how that carries across in his character (remember his attempt to threaten Pholtus by any chance)? And Artica is, in her own words, an icy bitch - and quite well-written at being an icy bitch.

In other words, they're both amusing.

Anon I never had problems maintaining an alliance with in TWT - probably because I never managed to have enough evil towns for him to chuck a tantrum over.

Thanks for the official explanation on the High Men position, RayB!

Short of anything to the contrary, I would guess that the halflings and dwarves at least were included in the covenant. As I recall, halflings at least are implied to be related to the elves, and all three could be seen to be important in their own ways to the terraforming efforts attributed to the elves. More importantly, this nicely explains why dwarves and halflings are happy to fight for the High Men - not all members of their populations might agree, but being relocated by the High Men is a darn sight better than being enslaved by the Cult or massacred by the Undead, and the High Men are persuasive enough to get this message across to enough of the population to recruit troops and for the city to remain functional.

[This message has been edited by Draxynnic (edited 12-16-2011 @ 08:32 AM).]