This is the only place I could ask!!!

[Megas Methuselah]

Yeah, I enjoyed ETW for a while, though it was disappointing in many ways. I keep hearing really good things about NTW, though, but I'll still wait until it hits the bargain bin.

As for M2TW, it's not all that great. No. If I were you, I'd wait until the EB Team releases EB2 until buying M2TW and the Kingdoms expansion. AI's retarded in M2TW just like in RTW. I noticed, however, that combined with repeated political marriages and small tributes every turn, alliances can become very strong and solid; I played a crazy game as Scotland once, and the Dances & English were strong allies because of these marriages, in spite of the fact that WE SHARED FREAKIN BORDERS. Even in EB, it's difficult (though certainly possible, I do it all the time) to maintain alliances with shared borders. In conclusion, the only things I actually liked about M2TW were the marriage alliances. I guess the multiple skins per unit, blood effects, and re-vamped recruitment system were ok, too.

I really hope EB2 includes princesses in the game, even if only for the Hellenic & Hellenistic factions. Those marriage alliances are realistic and historically accurate, after all, and TOTALLY adds flavour to the game. Heck, we even see marriage alliances occuring between Carthaginians and Iberian tribes in history, too... Even if they're not included, they should at least be disabled (like they were for the Muslim factions), so they can be easily enabled through modding. PLEASE.