Well Done CA

I have not played M2TW for too long and whilst I know (and have seen) a few of the bugs and whatnot that so many people or upset with I feel that CA have done a good job. A few little touches that I like..

Diplomacy - I like the little bit at the bottom telling you if the offer is "balanced" or "generous" etc. This helps in that you do not give up too much for nothing.
I would like a "get you and your horse of my land" option that the AI seems to get but I do like the improvements. Even if it is a bit overwhelming at first.

I like the being able to recruit more than one unit a turn for the bigger cities.

Scraping together one unit of 30 odd guys with 80 dogs taking two turns form a town with 24,000 people in was wearing a bit thin.

I also like the limitation on what you can recruit from in the towns. Not everyone wants to/can be a knight - although I would prefer being a knight to being a peon.

I like the finding of historical (or at least special) relics. Some are good, some bad and some just plain funny.

That is onme thing that I have enjoyed with this game so far. The humour - from Assassins getting squashed behind door to sneaking into towns disguised as a bush - and some of the generals speaches are just brilliant. All this adds to the enjoyment I think.

The inquistors are a problem but they will no doubt be sorted in the patch. Drpping the spawn rate (or AI preference to build them) for them or making them less agressive would be good, or even making them easier for Assassins would help.

All in all a 8/10 and with minor tweaking well on the way to a 9.5 I say...

A question along this line:

Is MTW2 closer to the game we all want or not?

Yes, I'd say. Much, much closer. It's a huge step forward from RTW, for the reasons El Diablo listed here, and others.

I know many disagree, but I vividly remember the acrimony and outright anger at RTW -- much of which I thought was undeserved. Compared to RTW, MTW2 is an enormous stride in the right direction.

I echo what was said here. I have played for a good 2 hours, trying to unlock the Scots as the English in a Short Campaign (Not a fan of the English Units, but to each his own).

There's a few bugs and things that I consider almost gamebreaking but, otherwise, I feel the design and direction of the game is way better than it was in RTW. It feels more balanced, strategic and historical than RTW.

Actually i still believe that most of the anger over RTW was well deserved. I was only ever able to force myself to play out two full campaigns in RTW. I start maybe three or four others that never got past fifty turns. I didnt even consider buying BI or Alexander. At the moment RTW is sitting somwhere gaining dust and i highly doubt if ill ever touch it again (every now and then i like to reinstall older game including STW and MTW1 and play them for a bit simply for nostalgia's sake).

Im enjoying MTW2 quite a bit so far. While there are some things that i hope CA will tweak in their patches (like inquisitors going around killing everyone (ive seen them kill several faction leaders so far and countless others), the pope's eternal dislike of you for defending yourself, etc) and there are some major bugs that need direct attention i have every belief that CA will address these soon enough in patches. Hopefully as well their patches wont just fix whats already there but improve the features and AI as well. I would be very very pleased if CA implemented their latest AI with every patch.

Of course a huge amount of my pleasure with MTW2 comes with the assumption that CA will release their developer tools in short order. Im remaining optimistic about this despite the fact that CA hasnt said a word about this beyond the unpacker. The best thing they can do is keep us updated on what theyre planning.

Indeed. The way the Pope will conquest of aggressive states is ridiculous.That was one of the main ways a conquest could be considered just in medieval Christendom, others being if the enemy was an oath breaker or heathen, heretical, etc.