This is actually a highly enjoyable series - mix of strategy and mediaeval life simulator - it's not perfect but it is fun.

The first was brilliant, beautiful and highly enjoyable in a laid-back, "watch the days go by" sense, only it was VERY broken, specially when it comes to multiplayer. Crusader was a great game that fixed lots of the first game's misses, but the crusade setting was a little too sandy and barren for my tastes, specially when compared to the beautiful, idyllic scenery of the first game. Then, it went downhill. Stronghold 2 was a buggy mess with great ideas to be added to the franchise, almost all of them falling sadly short and taking the series closer to a traditional RTS game. Stronghold Legends is just awful and painful to play and look at if you ever played the first one. 30 bucks, however, I believe to be a reasonable price to see the sheer brilliance of the first one and study just how the series went downhill, while having moderate fun.

@indyake:Good points, man. Seriously. ¬¬