Rome: Total War II

[Flavivs Aetivs]

EU4 is amazing.

[Diocle]

Probably what many of us, RTW players, are feeling is a deep disappointment because we were expecting too much from the new game ...

at least this is my personal case, I was dreaming about a new Rome Total war for almost ten years and after Shogun (a wonderful game) I was expecting a great game ...

[AMELIANVS]

I am likely the only one here who did not played Rome II. at all yet mile:

[Ovid]

Invasio Barbarorum II is what I play on Kingdoms. It's the only Late Roman one left (Fall of Rome is gone, Ages of Darkness II has been in progress for like 5 years... yeah)

I still play Fall of Rome sometimes if you are talking about the RTW mod. It's my favorite just for the graphics and bug free easy play. I'm glad I saved the Downloads for most of these mods. If they ever get the Kingdoms version of EB done I bet it will be great. The original is fantastic but involved.

[Flavivs Aetivs]

I am likely the only one here who did not played Rome II. at all yet mile:

I haven't either. I agree with Diocle in that us obsessive RTW players probably were expecting too much from CA in the game.

@Jim
I need to get that from you. FOR was awesome.

[Robert Vermaat]

More observations. I'm still not clear what the use of 'administartors' or 'chamions' should be, any more than the 'merchants' roaming around in Medieval Total War. Also, the 'line-of sight' diplomacy (you can only talk to countries which you have 'discovered' seems very limiting. This was different in Empire/napoleon Total War, they changed it back, unfortunately. I really think that diplomats/traders from Egypt were present in Rome before the first Roman ship of mine entered their harbours.

Limiting is also the number of fleets per province (1), but maybe that's more because I'm one for dominating the sea before I attack on land. The movement of ship per turn (which resembles one year) is also oddly slow, especially when compared to the movement of land units. This was much better in Empire/Napoeon Total War, I can't understand why they changed this back, too.

I like the land battles better than in the old version. Attacking cities remains difficult, getting bogged down in street fighting remains difficult and often results in simple head to head attack, no tactics involved. Enemy units sometimes act crazy, attacking on their own at a very high speed. I will report back when I've fought more pitched battled.

I do like the fact that cities have their own (invisible) town guards, so that they are never undefended.

I like the sea battles but for some reason the ramming/manouvrebility of the AI ships is better than mine. I don't see why, but maybe I need more practise.
Too bad is that you can't conquer ships. I liked that quite a bit in Empire/Napoleon Total War, and I really deplore that this is not possible in RTW2. When you board a ship and kill its crew, the ship is set alight and abandoned. ad:

New in the game is that factions do not die when their last city is destroyed - you have to destroy their last fleet/army! I kinda lika that, I must say, it keep you on the alert.

[Lyceum]

Guys have you seen this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXkWfEIALxM It seems rather long, not watched it nor in fact played Rome II but I don't know it might be interesting.

I was never going to get Rome II anyway, I liked Shogun II (what little I've played) but CA's model seems to be moving more towards a sort of closed software platform + expensive DLC rather than mod friendly, so that put me off. Mods have always been the life blood of the series.

I preferred Rome:TW with the EB mod, it just...felt better but I'd get really annoyed at some of the descriptions. "Virgil's Aeneid was the first great work of Roman literature" come on that's just lazy. It looked pretty though and I liked the factioning.

All moot though, I've not played for years and I'm not good a games.

[Flavivs Aetivs]

Yeah a lot of people are moving to closed software with DLC to prevent pirating and stuff, but really it will just cause more piracy in games. As more and more liscencing rights and stuff are created for these games and they make them more and more expensive to counter-act piracy, then the more and more people who will get these games for free because they don't want to pay for something ridiculously expensive that is entirely intangible in real life and they can't even improve on their own.

Not to mention the absolute nightmare that would occur if the "Videogames cause violence" people win over the US government. We'd be talking 200 dollars for the next Halo game.

[Dan Howard]

Guys have you seen this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXkWfEIALxM It seems rather long, not watched it nor in fact played Rome II but I don't know it might be interesting.

Nice to hear a friendly Aussie accent. I think I'm going to play Rome 1 again and wallow in the nostalgia.

[Prasutagus]

I think there has been a little too much harsh criticism of the game, but at the same time I am disappointed that Creative Assembly clearly produces games with a casual and uneducated public in mind. I believe an entity of entertainment can have both historical accuracy and the means to appeal to a larger crowd who aren't historian buffs, and not enough game designers, directors, and authors adhere to this. I still play the game and have fun with it, because it is entertaining, but there are some broken aspects. It becomes a grind after a while. Excited to try out the new Caesar in Gaul DLC though. If any of you ever want to try your hand at an online match, shoot me a private message!

[Dan Howard]

I think there has been a little too much harsh criticism of the game, but at the same time I am disappointed that Creative Assembly clearly produces games with a casual and uneducated public in mind.

The criticisms in the above video have nothing to do with an uneducated public. For over half an hour it gives example after example of all the problems and deficiencies with the gameplay itself. Problems that had already been solved in previous TW games.

[d.carmichael]

I can't see the video on my computer at work but if its the one i've seen that came out shortly after release prob half of the points are no longer valid after the patches that have come since the video was made. If its not the same video then i'll have to watch it when I get home.

[Prasutagus]

I think there has been a little too much harsh criticism of the game, but at the same time I am disappointed that Creative Assembly clearly produces games with a casual and uneducated public in mind.

The criticisms in the above video have nothing to do with an uneducated public. For over half an hour it gives example after example of all the problems and deficiencies with the gameplay itself. Problems that had already been solved in previous TW games.

You misinterpret what I mean by "uneducated public."

[Flavivs Aetivs]

I think he means "uneducated public" as in: "noob gamers who (inappropriate act) to every new game they see because it has good graphics and that's all they care about."

The new Halos developed that problem (by that I mean every Halo since Halo 3).

The "uneducated masses" don't care for quality in a story or anything anymore, thanks to the bullet-spamming graphics whoring mechanics of Call of Duty and other games that just want to invite 3 year olds to whine about me "killing them" thinking they're so amazing and invincible.

[Prasutagus]

I think he means "uneducated public" as in: "noob gamers who (inappropriate act) to every new game they see because it has good graphics and that's all they care about."

The new Halos developed that problem (by that I mean every Halo since Halo 3).

The "uneducated masses" don't care for quality in a story or anything anymore, thanks to the bullet-spamming graphics whoring mechanics of Call of Duty and other games that just want to invite 3 year olds to whine about me "killing them" thinking they're so amazing and invincible.

Could not have said it better myself.