Should I bother with Rome 2 ?

[jaspritsingh]

Hi All,

While waiting for a disc based version to start selling in my country, I read the views of all the lucky folks who got to play the game till now. Quite a few people are not happy with the game. Now that a disc based version is available, I wonder should I buy now or wait till things get patched ? I am still in love with Empire and Nappy and after putting in 40 hours in S2 I just put it away. Right now I am seriously considering going back to Rome 1 for my TW fix.

Another thing in my mind is my laptop. Its a Core I3, 4GB RAM, NVidia GT 540M 1GB VRAM. Will it be able to run Rome 2 decently? It played S2 all nicely but I am still a little unsure after seeing the youtube videos of Rome 2 with all its fancy graphics.

Any inputs will be helpful.

[Wilbo]

I'm playing on an i7, 6GB RAM, GT 540M 2GB. With settings on Very High, it's entirely playable and performance is similar to Shogun 2, so I'm sure you will be able to play it (albeit on lower settings).

As for the complaints, I think it's great - the map is huge and of a great era, the nations are varied and interesting, the to-general recruitment and province management are great improvements. I do have some complaints, about the UI and that there's no short campaign, but it's still a great Total War game. If you like Shogun and enjoy the era, I think it's well worth a go - though it's up to you if you wait a month for more patches and a slight reduction in purchase price.

[Myth]

If you enjoyed Rome 1 you should get Rome 2. It's great and it looks like it will be supported to overcome some of its flaws.

[Bramborough]

If you've enjoyed previous TW games, I don't see any compelling reason not to get TWR2. It may not be the best in the series, but it's still a TW game. If you're like me and have a particular interest in the Roman period, well then it will be an enjoyable game despite its shortcomings. As Myth says, the game will be (probably? hopefully?) be improved as time goes on. Some folks are calling it "unplayable" right now...I don't really know why, I've played 200 turns. Yes it has flaws. The AI does stupid and annoying things, sometimes maddeningly so. Just like in previous TW titles. AI turns take a long time, which gets longer as your empire grows and you can see more of their units. Just like in previous TW titles. If such issues weren't enough to overcome your basic enjoyment of a TW game before, I don't really think they will be so with Rome 2.

As an aside, I do think it's interesting that you preferred Empire and Napoleon over Shogun 2. This is contrary to many others' opinions which I've read (I myself don't have one, as I haven't played S2). What I (possibly erroneously) infer from this is that your interest in and knowledge of the subject historical era is a large component of your enjoyment of the game(s). So...if Roman history floats your boat, then I think TW:R2 will probably do the same.

Can't really comment intelligently on your computer specs, I'm an idiot on all that stuff. I dunno, might have to set graphics to "medium" or something.

[fallen851]

I would buy it, just not yet.

Wait for CA to iron out the game some, then it will be much more enjoyable when you do get it.

[Fisherking]

I have the game, but I won’t load it up until I get back from a 2 week trip.

If they are doing a patch a week it should be a bit better by then.

This is the same argument with every game in the series past MTW.

RTW was messy when it came out. It took about 3 months to get the first patch. Lusted did a lot to get the bugs worked out, guess that is why they hired him.

It will be a decent game in a month or so and likely a great game in 6 or 8. No worries.

[jaspritsingh]

As an aside, I do think it's interesting that you preferred Empire and Napoleon over Shogun 2. This is contrary to many others' opinions which I've read (I myself don't have one, as I haven't played S2). What I (possibly erroneously) infer from this is that your interest in and knowledge of the subject historical era is a large component of your enjoyment of the game(s). So...if Roman history floats your boat, then I think TW:R2 will probably do the same.

It might be true. I really enjoyed studying world history for that period and have held an affinity for gunpowder units since long.
S2 felt forced and alien to me. I did not buy FOTS and just gave up on S2 later.

Anyways I got the game and installed it after work yesterday. Did not get to play much as I was really tired but from what I saw it looked great. My laptop seemed to handle it decently. I checked the graphics tab - its set to custom. A few things ultra, a few things high and a few things turned off. I ll set most of them to med/high when I get to play as I did notice some stutter in the First battle in the prologue campaign.

Biggest gain over S2 - it picks my VRAM correctly. S2 stubbornly showed it as 500 MB.

One last (maybe dumb question) - In the starting video just before the menu comes up a latin quote is shown. What does that mean ?

[Bramborough]

One last (maybe dumb question) - In the starting video just before the menu comes up a latin quote is shown. What does that mean ?

Quo usque pro Roma ibis?

How far will you go for Rome?

At least...according to translate.google.com....

http://translate.google.com/?sl=la#la/en/

[Cyclades]

I am playing Rome 2 on an iMac 27" with a Radeon HD 6770M, i5 2.7GHz and 12GB RAM. After the recent patches the game runs pretty well and I get by with Ultra video settings most of the time on 1920 x 1080 resolution.

Gameplay wise Rome 2 is improving quickly with the patches and together with some mods I would recommend it.

[jaspritsingh]

Finally got to play. There was considerable stutter in the battle mode to I made most of the settings High/Med. Now playing nicely.
The prologue campaign was too guided for my tastes so I dumped it and now am playing as Rome on easy. Picking up the new game layout.

Only gripe so far - I cant type the money I want to offer in diplomacy. It starts at 10%