ETW has restored my faith in the Total War series - thank you CA

[Furunculus]

Just thought it was worth my giving a public thank you to CA.

I started with the STW demo, but never bought the game.

I then bought MTW, which i loved from the first moment, and have replayed a thousand times in the last 8 years, and a thousand times more trying all the myriad of quality total conversions.

However, it all went sour with RTW. the campaign map, which is the bit i really care about, and i judged it an epic fail, somehow it didn't have the charm or the polish of the old turn-based map, and it lacked any kind of feedback to let you understand what you could do, and to feel the consequence of actions taken.

I had high hopes for MTW2, because i was medieval but again i found the same problem, and i began to blame my utter dislike of the new 3D games on the semi-realtime campaign map style used in the new games. No empathy, no feedback, no fun.

So it was out loyalty more than anything that i bought ETW, a last chance before i had to admit to myself that it was time to leave the total war series. A lingering affection overcoming my dread of another title utilising the semi-realtime interface which i considered to be an epic fail.

But not so. I cannot say quite how the gameplay and interface has changed with regards the campaign map in ETW, all i can admit is that I am thoroughly engaged and delighted having just finished the RtI campaign.
Initially i didn't give two hoots about the RtI campaign, but i think it has proved invaluable in leading me into to the strategic depth available in the campaign map, so it has proved an excellent tutorial for which i am grateful.

So there we have it.
I have no explanation for why I love ETW when i hated the same semi-realtime dynamic from the previous two games, but a subtle combination of CA pixie-dust and the RtI tutorial has left me a happ y convert to the current way of doing things. My faith in the franchise is restored, and i look forward forward greatly to playing a grand campaign with Britain.

I would welcome any comment from you guys as to what has changed that could so profoundly alter my perception of the total-war games......................?

Thank you CA.

[Subotan]

Sounds like a pretty decent review. I hope I'll be able to say the same when I finally get my graphics card working.

[Suraknar]

You know somehow, it is the same with me,

I Loved STW and it is what got me hooked, MTW was great as well, and for both I got the expansions too.

I still got RTW, which albeit I love the period it is set I could never play unmodded for some reason, I do not mind the 3D, but it felt like the new Engine was not fleshed out completely, like if all possibilities were not taken advantage of, same deal with M2TW (but it was somehow less modable). I never got the expansions for these two.

I really am enjoying ETW and I have the same feeling as you, I think CA/SEGA have hit the nail in the head with this one, and taken advantage of what is the best possible implementation with this new engine.

I also am looking forward to the MP Campaign Mode, already talking with many friends about it.

maybe it is the fact that both STW and MTW did not pretend being something more than a Strategic Planning Board. And RTW/M2TW attempted to do something more with it, give a more Live approach to the strategic part of the game, but it was failing, because it still retained the "Board Planning" gameplay.

ETW has many Live elements, that flesh it out now I believe, the Naval Combat, the Research, the Governments, the way we build structures in various Locations within a region and the way it all interacts together, to say nothing about the Mufti theater Map.

Yes Kudos CA! Took you a while but you outdone yourselves with this one.

[Mazoch]

I'm having much the same experience. I never really enjoyed the campaign map in R:TW or M:TW2. I think my main issue was that I always seemed to be chasing small armies in circles or just spedning so much more time walking to the next siege. So far my experience with E:TW has been much better.

[Furunculus]

haha, now you mention it i never bought the expansions for rome or M2 either.

i think i played rome for all of an hour before i got bored and abandoned it, and the same happened with M2 after about six hours.

and as people have said, the awesomeness of ETW will only get better when they release the multiplayer campaign.

[Buckwallis]

Well, I was initially critical... which I normally am not.

But I'll have to say that the depth of this game in campaign mode has surprised me and, playing on Hard campaign, Very Hard battles I am really enjoying this game now.

There are a bunch of things I hope to see refined and fixed in patches/ mods. But the core of this game is quite solid... and the concepts rock.

It just needs to be optimized for performance and have a few tweaks here and there...

[Yun Dog]

Yes,

At the risk of being called a honeymoon period fanboy.

I am loving ETW!!!

same story as most

played STW, MTW, RTW EB,

M2TW was a big disappointment, was ready to walk away

didnt buy Kingdumbs (first TW title not on the shelf)

And Im not saying its perfect but as said there is a good foundation game here which no doubt with some mods and fixes will keep me playing for years

The seabattles are almost like getting two games for one they are so good, and theres a whole new set of skillz to learn ...fighting seabattles

There are some nice features to the Camp map, and the game feels huge.

Well done CA, I think youve cracked it

this game has an epic feel to it, I think the steam support will come into its own down the line, and the community will be getting alot larger.

now just 7 hrs more work and Im back there

looks at clock

[Quickening]

Well I love all the Total War games and concur that this just blows them all away. And thats from someone who dislikes the time period.

[DisruptorX]

This is the first of the 3d total war games (well, full 3d) that has a campaign mode that doesn't make me wish I was playing MTW 1 instead. Its just really well done.

MTW 2 was good enough to restore my faith in CA after Rome, but this game was more of an improvement that I was expecting. The diplomacy and trade aspects are really fleshed out and fun to play around with. I'm currently carving out an Empire for my protectorate (Quebec) by trading them territories. Crazy stuff like that just isn't possible in the previous games, what with alliances not working properly.

[Lord of the Isles]

Glad you feel that way furunculus.

I didn't buy Alexander, but have all the rest of the TW series. I recognise some of your feelings because I've had similar ones, though I like all the titles in one way or another. It may be, however, that the last two have held my interest more because of the great things that modders have done to them than for their own inherent qualities. Perhaps also because I love the battles a little more than the campaign map, and I admit that the battles were more satisfying than the campaign game.

As for E:TW so far though, I have mixed feelings. You are right that it does seem to have a much improved campaign map design. It feels like CA have really begun to get to grips with improving the campaign gameplay experience, whereas Rome and Med2 felt a bit as though they had turned the 2D map into a 3D one without thinking enough about how that would effect play. The world map is very cleverly done (3 theatres plus the 4 trade zones) and subsytems like diplomacy, trade, agents and micromanagement issues are all improved and (so far) very promising. The battles don't feel like a huge leap forward as previous new engines have but they haven't gone backwards either so I'm content with that side of things.

However, the downside is the lack of polish to the game and the number of bugs. I can almost live with the bugs, since that is just the way of PC games these days, and I haven't forgotten that previous titles had lots of them too on release but proved robust enough to enjoy while CA fixed them (most of them anyway, eventually). But I do worry about the number of them, and a number of gameplay issues too, since they suggest that the game as a whole will not function as well as it could do (for a long time yet at least). And I worry that some of the issues that we had to rely on modders to fix or improve in previous titles will be harder this time since ETW seems less modder-friendly.

I hope I am wrong.

[Noddy The Beefy Egg]

My RTW didn't work, So i will leave TW games until May, which i will play M2TW or ETW.

[seireikhaan]

Thus far, I am quite happy. It could certainly use some tweaks here and there, but I feel that CA has come out with its best product since MTW.

[Furunculus]

This is the first of the 3d total war games (well, full 3d) that has a campaign mode that doesn't make me wish I was playing MTW 1 instead. Its just really well done.

that is the essential point. it is not that i feel that ETW is so much better than the masterwork that was MTW-VI, it is just that ETW is so good that i no longer pine for the experience of MTW and no longer view the total war series through a lens that magnifies disappointment because of how the series has fallen.

i now have fond memories of MTW instead of bitter-sweet at what could have been.

[Onemanshow]

U will talk us about your faith again when get a ctd bug ruining your campaign......

[Furunculus]

i have had several CTD's, but it has always happened when changing year and so the auto-save feature kicked in just beofre the end-turn button is selected.

[crpcarrot]

totally agree with the OP

while i loved STW and MTW i really hated RTW didnt even buy any of the expansions. MTW2 was ok cos i loved MTW so much i guess but the OP is right it was the strategic map that really didnt mean really make sense or rather maybe didnt add to the enjoyment of the game. but with ETw CA have got it perfect not the just the strategic map but even the battles and the AI tactics, the technology tree even the siplification of the buildings menu, the parliment bit the diplomacy screen i am loving every bit of it and most of all i love that i am only winning battles with the skin of my teeth and losing quite a few as well. i just love that feeling i get when i see ite the enemies last unit rout and my remining 23 infatry and two cannons held on long in enough for a close win wow :P

[crpcarrot]

ive been playing over the last weekend and havent had one CTD. it must be a hardware issue rather than software. only fustrating thing for me has been loading times. i hope patches fix that and theres one of my ships that i have no control over. wich me thinks i should post on bug forum.

[ArtillerySmoke]

I was in love with the Medieval time period. MTW was my favorite TW to date (M2TW didn't do it justice).

Now that I'm playing Empire? I couldn't imagine going back. The engine in this game is by far the best in any total war. Believe it or not, the gunpowder era is done better than the melee eras in all of the past TW's. It's unreal. Battles last forever, they have a progression of opening middle and closing, the fighting gets absolutely ferocious (and I'm not even into a campaign yet lol), you actually rank up in practice battles against the AI now (your armies learn new abils like in the campaign), cavalry acts as it's supposed to, etc etc etc.

If you're one of those people who says "I'm not crazy about the time period" - trust me and others: Play this game. It's the perfect blend of firefights and melee battles. They really nailed the time period.