How Good is this Mod....

[artaxerxes]

I liked Shogun and Medieval(1) - but Rome is just.... NO! - I think it's because I love the ancient world so much, that I'm much more easily offended at the Seleucid empire being so weak, the eastern half of the Hellenistic world missing and Carthage being defeated all the time, than I am at whatever historical inaccuracies that take place in the earlier games. Still, Shogun and Medieval were NEVER among my favourite games - looking back, Age of Empires 1 and 2, Heroes 2 and 3, Dungeon Keeper and Popolous: The Beginning ruled the roost for me back then, and the TW games were just ... plain... ok... I liked Viking Invasion for Medieval, though.

But EB - well, I was 10-14 when playing the games I mentioned above, and I'm 18 now. I spend much less time on games now than then, and the memories I have of those games are so fond, that I could never bring myself to state that EB is better.

BUT and this is probably the highest praise I can ever give a game: when I was younger and I read history books and was then forced to live out my historical hunger solely on fx AOE, where there was nothing resembling the old world, but merely fictional areas, I had a fantasy of having superpowers/being a billionaire with my own game company totally obedient to my demands and nobody else's, and THEN make THE BEST GAME EVER about all those old cultures I read about.
And the praise comes here: I bloody think EB would have been the game I would have made. I remember reading thru the forum a few weeks after borrowing RTW from my local library for fun - and seeing how big the map was, I, well, it was divine! - you know, RTW is a kind of 'you try to imagine you're there, but it doesn't really work, cos' Persia's not there and neither is India'... EB is, well, like BEING THERE FOR REAL


Of course, had I made the game, 272 BC might have vied for 1200 BC and Hittittes, Babylonians, Assyrians and Mitanni have taken the place of Hellenistic monarchies, but that is my personal preference and I know of no RTW mod that creates a game for that period in a way that is comparable to EB so I'm sticking with EB - the time period of which I have, anyway, come to love more and more during the last six months, reading the appropriate volumes of Cambridge Ancient History again and again, till I know them by heart :)

[Mithridates VI Eupator]

BUT and this is probably the highest praise I can ever give a game: when I was younger and I read history books and was then forced to live out my historical hunger solely on fx AOE, where there was nothing resembling the old world, but merely fictional areas, I had a fantasy of having superpowers/being a billionaire with my own game company totally obedient to my demands and nobody else's, and THEN make THE BEST GAME EVER about all those old cultures I read about.
And the praise comes here: I bloody think EB would have been the game I would have made. I remember reading thru the forum a few weeks after borrowing RTW from my local library for fun - and seeing how big the map was, I, well, it was divine! - you know, RTW is a kind of 'you try to imagine you're there, but it doesn't really work, cos' Persia's not there and neither is India'... EB is, well, like BEING THERE FOR REAL

that is so true!

When I began playing games, back in the early 90's, it was mostly crappy japanese beat'em-ups, and stuffy flight simulators, and it was fun, but I didn't consider myself a "gamer". Then, one day, I happened to stumble upon a game called Dune 2, and even though it had only three factions and the only difference between them were their colour, I was hooked!

Then when AoE came, it was like a gift from heaven. All those ancient kingdoms, that had facinated me since I was a small kid, brought to life... but still, there was something missing. It never felt as though you were ruling an actual kingdom, especially since you could have max 200 guys. So I started looking for something else that could satisfy my urge to rule an ancient kingdom. Back in 96 or maybe 97, i tried a demo of Heroes II, and I liked it a lot (even though it wasn't very historical), so in early summer 1999, I marched myself to town and bought Heroes III. For the first time, it felt like I had a kingdom, with little towns, and little generals commanding my little armies.

Some time earlier, I came across a cd with a movie of an upcoming game called "Shogun" (I think it came along with the AoE expansion pack). It looked nice, and i tried it when it came, but I never bought it. Instead, it was Heroes III that keept me occupied, and AoE II, and AoM, etc, etc, and even though I played other games, I never got caught up in that "team-based-shooter" craze that followed CS. Somehow, that dream of the ultimate strategy game kept haunting me, so I roamed the desolate periphery of strategy gaming, in search of that lost graal... (I tried MTW too, but I never got hooked...)
Then, Rome came along. Sure, it had some flaws, especially history-wise, but I liked it anyway, so I played it... and then i dropped it, and moved on to other games, among them M2TW.
Then, one day about a year ago, i tried EB. I didn't really know what it was when I first tried it, but boy, was I taken by suprise!!! There, suddenly, was that ultimate game that I had dreamt of since I first laid eyes on a strategy game. It was huge, it was ultra-historical, it was antiquity! Since then, no other game has really caught me, and as you say, artaxerxes, it was not just you ruling some computer kingdom, it feels as though you are actually there. The dream has come true!

Sorry if I've bored you with my life's story...

[procopius1980]

Hi!

Since this is my first post on this forum, I will give a little information about myself.

I have a Bachelors in History from Lamar University, but it is my sad lot in life to be an IT Director. I am amateur at best, although I have a minor specialization in the early Crusades (of no use in this mod; perhaps I'll find a Total War mod specific to the Crusades).

For that reason, I will be of little use to this board in terms of bringing scholarly opinion or evidence. I will, therefore, confine my posts to my opinion of the Mod's entertainment. I have taken an upper level class on the Classical World, so I at least have an appreciation for the time period.

As far as games are concerned, I enjoy several genres, but the strategy genre is my favorite. I have played Total War games from Medieval I up to the present.

On to Rome: Not having a great deal of knowledge, I found Rome: Total War, to be a very compelling and exciting game, although I had a feeling that the barbarian factions were not getting their due credit.

With regards to Barbarian Invasion, I can only stomach playing as the Franks. This is a shame since I consider this time period to be one of the most important and exciting periods in history; it is the dawn of a new age. I probably anticipated BI's release with more relish than any other game, and it was almost a complete letdown. In that instance, I would love to see a mod of this breadth for this time period.

Here is what specifically drew me to search out this mod: I have always loved the fiction of Stephen Lawhead, but I was recently introduced to Bernard Cornwell and his historical trilogy of Arthur. Reading those books brought me back to the early Total War games in the hope of finding some outlet of play as either a Celtic or Germanic faction. Total War XL has an excellent Irish faction, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. I then considered the Britons as Vanilla Rome, but their lineup is bad even for a Barbarian faction. This is mod is probably the best I'll find. Granted, I would prefer it set in a period when Rome has left the Isle and the Saxons approach, but that may not be possible.

I found the mod just this morning, and I can't wait to get home and install it. I've read over just enough of the information to realise this is a vast change from Vanilla Rome. I can tell a lot of people have put a lot of time and effort into making this. I look forward to playing the Barbarians as they were meant to be played.

Sorry for the lengthy post... I am looking forward to this!

[artaxerxes]

I've read over just enough of the information to realise this is a vast change from Vanilla Rome. I can tell a lot of people have put a lot of time and effort into making this. I look forward to playing the Barbarians as they were meant to be played.

Uh, you're in for a treat. Discovering EB for the first time is amazing. Vast change? If it wasn't for the 'a modification of Rome' info on the loading screen, I'd have never known EB was related to vanilla Rome... Rome is a computer game, EB is a time machine! Good luck with it :)

[McFloit]

Rome is a computer game, EB is a time machine! Good luck with it :)

Exactly