frogbeastegg
07-08-2003, 09:47
My copy of Edge arrived in the post this morning and it has two pages of RTW. I'm not going to type out the article or scan the pages or anything that breaks copyright.
-There are some new (to me anyway) screenshots featuring elephants, archers, gladiators and assorted cavalry/infantry action.
-There are 180 buildings for the Romans alone.
-Diplomacy has been enhanced massively. You can now send detailed proposals, pacts and family alliances.
-No Roman faction can win alone. They are too weak at the start and must team up with other Romans.
-The larger the Roman Empire gets the more the Roman factions fight amongst themselves. Apparently they play like an Italian crime syndicate.
-They say "It is rather terrifying to consider what could be added to the package over the next 12 months". 12 months That's the longest release date I've heard so far. It also says release is summer 2004
-The battles are very pretty. The unit animation sounds as good as the animation in those trailers CA have been showing. So I think we can believe CA when they said it was gameplay footage http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif Everything has a certain cinematic value to it while remaining totally functional to the game, eg walls look very good when they collapse but this is more than eye candy, walls need to collapse in sieges. Melee combat looks fantastic, collision detection applies to all troops so no weird screens of men standing in horses. There is less need for stat memorisation because the uses of the units is obvious.
-Unit types are now much more obvious in what they can or cannot kill. Spearmen are obviously deadly to cavalry when formed up as you can see the spearheads pointed at the horses.
-Each unit now has a special attack ranging from a wedge formation to unleashing war dogs.
-Waypoints now allow for orders outside of movement. I guess this means you can order troops to move, change formation and then move to attack.
-The sound is supposed to be very good. The SFX are widely ranged and very appropriate eg a sword hitting a shoulder should very different to one hitting a shield. NOTHING ABOUT VOICE ACTING SO DONT ASK. (Just thought I'd make that clear http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif )
-This one is for the realistic/Gameplay argument. This is not going to be a replacement for a re-enactor on a wet day. There is a lot of accuracy but it is not the main emphasis for the game. Gameplay comes first. (This does not surprise me, I think it is a sound policy)
It's an interesting article worth reading for the RTW fan (that's us ), maybe not worth buying the magazine for this alone though. My main comments are:
1. Wow This is going to be special.
2. Summer 2004, Nnnooooo That's forever, I can't wait that long http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif
-There are some new (to me anyway) screenshots featuring elephants, archers, gladiators and assorted cavalry/infantry action.
-There are 180 buildings for the Romans alone.
-Diplomacy has been enhanced massively. You can now send detailed proposals, pacts and family alliances.
-No Roman faction can win alone. They are too weak at the start and must team up with other Romans.
-The larger the Roman Empire gets the more the Roman factions fight amongst themselves. Apparently they play like an Italian crime syndicate.
-They say "It is rather terrifying to consider what could be added to the package over the next 12 months". 12 months That's the longest release date I've heard so far. It also says release is summer 2004
-The battles are very pretty. The unit animation sounds as good as the animation in those trailers CA have been showing. So I think we can believe CA when they said it was gameplay footage http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif Everything has a certain cinematic value to it while remaining totally functional to the game, eg walls look very good when they collapse but this is more than eye candy, walls need to collapse in sieges. Melee combat looks fantastic, collision detection applies to all troops so no weird screens of men standing in horses. There is less need for stat memorisation because the uses of the units is obvious.
-Unit types are now much more obvious in what they can or cannot kill. Spearmen are obviously deadly to cavalry when formed up as you can see the spearheads pointed at the horses.
-Each unit now has a special attack ranging from a wedge formation to unleashing war dogs.
-Waypoints now allow for orders outside of movement. I guess this means you can order troops to move, change formation and then move to attack.
-The sound is supposed to be very good. The SFX are widely ranged and very appropriate eg a sword hitting a shoulder should very different to one hitting a shield. NOTHING ABOUT VOICE ACTING SO DONT ASK. (Just thought I'd make that clear http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif )
-This one is for the realistic/Gameplay argument. This is not going to be a replacement for a re-enactor on a wet day. There is a lot of accuracy but it is not the main emphasis for the game. Gameplay comes first. (This does not surprise me, I think it is a sound policy)
It's an interesting article worth reading for the RTW fan (that's us ), maybe not worth buying the magazine for this alone though. My main comments are:
1. Wow This is going to be special.
2. Summer 2004, Nnnooooo That's forever, I can't wait that long http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif