Quote Originally Posted by Matteo123 View Post
After the Paradox incident, I decided to give EUIII a try. If you want a game that is a sandbox of the time period, give that a try.

While people say that Total War is about war, that does not only mean warfare. Warfare is only partially based on battles, you also need to consider supply lines, production ability, alliances, popular support, internal politics, etc.

Even if we accept as true the premise that TW games are ONLY about war and not about the techs or diplomacy, fighting battles is not TOTAL war.

I think that EU does a better job simulating all of the aspects of warfare, in comparison to the TW franchise.

Finally, in an unrelated note, the fact that CA has given up on naval realism takes things even further from the warfare sandbox they promised. If they are worried about naval warfare balancing, why not include giant kracken or maybe flying dragons to deal with ships of the line if they are too powerful. If ships of the line are too powerful, make them more expensive (look at the historic cost of a 1st rate vs. a two deck ship). A ship with 18s must have a longer range than a ship with 15s. Like everyone else on the forums, I agree this game can only be solved by unpaid modders.
The EU games are superior to the Total War games in my opinion and the reason for that if you ask me is simply the fact that Paradox are catering purely for their niche market whereas CA are trying to please everyone and end up pleasing no-one. Paradox have a more pure vision basically. Imagine what would happen to the EU games if Paradox decided they wanted to appeal to the casual gamer. The complexity would be out the window in favour of streamlined gameplay and sparkly graphics because that's what sells tragically.
The magic in the Total War games for me is in neither the campaign map nor the battles but rather the relationship between the two. Most of all I love the characters and their personalities and the influence they have on the game, something which has sadly been pushed to the back in Empire.
I'm not complaining, even if CA never make another Total War game that I like, I can't see myself ever stopping playing Medieval 2 so I'm happy.