Think I should bay Direct2Downlaod $50 for MTWII?

Should I buy MTW II if:

1. I loved MTW. It remains one of my favorite games, ever, only surpassed by the fact that I . . .

2. Really love RTW. I am addicted to this one. Completely.

3. I've seen screen captures from MTW2 and it just looks wicked. Totally.

But does it play as well, does it crash? Also, I got bored with vanilla RTW pretty quickly and got the mod for RTR, then EB.

Also, before I buy it, has anyone modded the map yet? I tend to like a detailed map with a bunch of provinces.

Finally, how many factions are there? In MTW, my favorite factions were:

Byzantines
Egyptians
Alhomads
Russians

Are they still there?

Thanks in advance for sharing your opinion.

Spidey

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Originally Posted by Spidey

Should I buy MTW II if:

1. I loved MTW. It remains one of my favorite games, ever, only surpassed by the fact that I . . .

2. Really love RTW. I am addicted to this one. Completely.

3. I've seen screen captures from MTW2 and it just looks wicked. Totally.

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Personally, I admit that while the game is pretty fun, it still doesn't compare to the original MTW. However, that said.... Since you liked both MTW *and* Rome, then the odds are extremely good that you'll enjoy Medieval 2 as well. :yes:

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Originally Posted by Spidey

But does it play as well, does it crash? Also, I got bored with vanilla RTW pretty quickly and got the mod for RTR, then EB.

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By all accounts, it's pretty stable this time around. I've not experienced any crashes myself, although I admittedly haven't really played the game that much as of yet.

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Originally Posted by Spidey

Also, before I buy it, has anyone modded the map yet? I tend to like a detailed map with a bunch of provinces.

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Not sure about this one. You might want to check out the Medieval Total Realism mod, though. It's not out yet, but it does look fairly promising.

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Originally Posted by Spidey

Finally, how many factions are there? In MTW, my favorite factions were:

Byzantines
Egyptians
Alhomads
Russians

Are they still there?

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There's 17 playable factions, and yes all 4 of them are in Medieval 2 (although the Almos are the Moors now).

I think buying it sounds like a no-brainer for you (your TW preferences seem very close to mine), although personally I prefer to have a DVD or CD in my hand rather than download a game. The main advantage of M2TW over those great RTW mods is that the strategic and battlefield AI is much better (let's face it, RTWs was never great). I tend to suffer STW/MTW level casualties or worse; and indeed the battlefield AI seems to fight better than MTWs AI. It does not crash for most people (except for a Timurid elephant crash that was supposed to be patched).

And yes, it does look totally wicked.

Some people have experienced problems with the downloaded version.

There are mods expanding the maps, and many mods will have betas out soon (no new models though)

Unless there is some reason why you can't buy it locally (like living somewhere it's not retailed) I would go and buy the DVD version. It'll save you a lot of time on downloading, and if you get tired of it someday at least you can give it to a friend.

I'm all for direct download on some games (multiplayer FPS for example, where versions can be kept up to date), but this isn't a game where it has much advantage.

I'd get the DVD version if I were you. It's a rather huge game (as in, 7-8gb huge).

As for how it plays.. like a cross between MTW and RTW. Which sits very well with me.

I loves MTW and I found MTW2 is improved overall. It is still not perfect, though, especially the AI.
The graphics are incredibly nice and the sieges are much improved.
I got the game by Ebay through a professionnal seller at 20 euros (it is an absolutely orginal version), si perhaps you could consider this option.

Stéphane

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Originally Posted by Spidey

Also, before I buy it, has anyone modded the map yet? I tend to like a detailed map with a bunch of provinces. Spidey

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BigMap is certainly a good replacement for the standard map. I think Spurius is at version .99i now. http://www.totalwarmods.com/BigMap%2...ml#andextended

Be careful with D2D.......I downloaded Call of Duty 2 awhile back, the game worked fine but updates and patches would not work with the downloaded version of the game....updates and patches only work with the CD version of the game......no idea if the same thing pertains to MTW2.

I updated COD2 and then the game would crash. I contacted tech support for COD2 and the tech support people told me that you could not update or patch the downloaded version of the game.....only the CD version.

Again.......no idea if the same thing would happed to MTW2

Whatever you do, don't use Direct2Download. Like the poster above, there are definitely problems with the patches for it. That, and having a hard copy of the game is much better than an electronic version, imo.

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Originally Posted by econ21

I think buying it sounds like a no-brainer for you (your TW preferences seem very close to mine), although personally I prefer to have a DVD or CD in my hand rather than download a game. The main advantage of M2TW over those great RTW mods is that the strategic and battlefield AI is much better (let's face it, RTWs was never great). I tend to suffer STW/MTW level casualties or worse; and indeed the battlefield AI seems to fight better than MTWs AI. It does not crash for most people (except for a Timurid elephant crash that was supposed to be patched).

And yes, it does look totally wicked.

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Yes, it does look totally wicked. But I can't believe you are suffering MTW level casualties. I am managing wins with around an 10 to 1 kill ratio. I admit that isn't quite as bad as Romes 100 to 1 but it still is way off from MTW where I would get 4 to 1 at best and often would be happy with a 2 to 1 kill ratio. For all that you have been defending this game, perhaps you should improve your skills so that you notice the problems first.