Note: I have
not played Medieval 2 very thoroughly -- I've probably not spent more than 15-20 hours on the game in total, plus I've not played it in the last 6 months -- so take my words with as many grains of salt as you're comfortable with. That said, my impressions are as follows:
Medieval 2 is....okay. It's not a bad game, but it's not a great game either. While it is a noticable improvement over Rome, that's not really saying much IMO.
Pros: Obviously, when zoomed in, combat is somewhat better than MTW from a visual/graphical standpoint. The controls and UI are a little more user-friendly, particularly the battle interface. The combat AI is a little better this time around. Although Inquisitors in Medieval 2 have an annoying tendency of burning your best generals for heresey, I overall like how religion is handled in the game -- Papal elections (and the political maneuvering that goes on behind them) can be pretty fun.
The castle/city system is an interesting innovation as well, as it adds another layer of strategy (do you focus your province(s) on either primarily making money or producing troops?).
Cons: Remember what I said about Medieval 2 being better graphically? Well that doesn't apply to battles from the "general's view" (zoomed out); in fact, MTW still looks better in this regard. Nor does it apply to the campaign map, which -- despite the fact it's now set in a 3D environment -- still looks just as cartoonish as it did in Rome. Diplomacy is still broken, despite the more sophisticated model in M2TW; factions will still attack you for little or no reason, and refuse to sign peace treaties even when it's clearly in their best interests to do so.
The AI, while not quite as bad in RTW, is still not exactly a strategic *or* tactical mastermind. In battle, it still isn't particularly clever or imaginative. On the campaign map, the computer still leaves cities under-defended....despite the fact that it probably has a couple good-sized army stacks nearby (that are often just standing around doing nothing).
As another demerit, I positively
hate the fact that when you install & play Medieval 2, you're limited to only 5 initial factions (English, French, Germans, Italians/Venitians, & Spanish). In order to unlock the other playable factions, you must first beat the game with one of those 5 factions. Yes, I know that everyone says this is easy to mod so all factions are playable right away; but that's hardly the point. The point is, you shouldn't *have* to mod the game just so you can play as all the factions from the start. It's maybe a minor complaint overall, but one that I strongly disapprove of.
In the end, despite the numerous improvements and added bells & whistles, M2TW basically feels like Rome with a medieval skin. If the Total War games were women, I would describe them as the following:
MTW: She's the cute librarian who always flirts with you when go in to return/check out a book. She's smart and funny, and likes talking about all sorts of different subjects, be it the nature of the universe or the local sports team.
RTW: She's the incredibly hot blonde that you've wanted from when you first met her. When you finally hook up with her, though, you find out she's not only shallow and dumb as toast, but that she's not even very good in bed.
M2TW: She's the dumb blonde's brunette friend, who -- while only marginally more intelligent -- is still at least smart enough to not want to be viewed the same way as her. So she gets a make-over, and then does her best to look and act like that cute librarian you always run into. In the end, however, she can't cover up the fact that she doesn't have much more intelligence & personality than the blonde.
I've said it over and over and over again: MTW (and Shogun, for that matter) actually immerse me in the world. Medieval 2 (and Rome) just feel like I'm "playing a game".
Re: Original MTW Lives On!!
Originally Posted by Martok
Note: I have not played Medieval 2 very thoroughly -- I've probably not spent more than 15-20 hours on the game in total, plus I've not played it in the last 6 months -- so take my words with as many grains of salt as you're comfortable with. That said, my impressions are as follows:
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). Luckily for me the game works flawlessly on my new ATI gfx card. Installed it and copied the install to new directories to install a few mods.
#Hillary4prism 
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