Demo Impressions

[Tomisama]

Would prefer music at least “trying” to be true to the period. Maybe based on some semi-authentic instruments of the period (flute, drums, trumpets, lairs). Voices too, in the language of their origin. Must have! Atmosphere is “everything” in a period game…

The “extra” graphics, the arrows on the ground under the selected troops; dead! Hope is only for the demo, like the gold halos in the MTW demo (if I remember right). And the white flag routine is moronic (I’m sorry, but had to say it). I hope that also is only in the demo.

On the other side, this is a beautiful game. Once the controls are mastered, the ability to take a close look at the fighting may be one of the best things about this game. Not just because it’s a great view, but because (it at least seemed to me) that I could see in a glance what I had to read before. That is, who was winning, and who was loosing. Important stuff

Overall I am personally pleased with the direction that RTW is going. We are only a few patches away from heaven

Salute!

[Nerouin]

Frog- I don't have that problem at all. I play on medium settings, low anti-aliasing.

[GFX707]

Also I wish there was some way to order your troops not to pursue fleeing enemies....or some kind of built in common sense that would make a cavalry unit chase routers a certain distance or something like that. With the speed of the demo your cavalry is off the map before you know it....

[Papewaio]

One thing that seems to be missing that I'm NOT happy about - the casualty ratio bar thing from the STW and MTW minimap. I need that thing...

Its there on the bottom left box near the speed/pause buttons. Hover your cursor over it and it will give % for yourself, allies and enemies...

[LordKhaine]

The main problem I had with this demo, is that it was a demo and not a full game.

I want to take over europe

[bhutavarna]

i want to be able to move the damn PAUSE like in MTW. it's very annoying. at least we should be able to turn it off.

[Kommodus]

Ok, some of my impressions...

1. The graphics are definitely better, but when viewing the action from a distance, it doesn't make much of a difference. I'll be upgrading my hardware soon, so I'll then be able to perceive the full impact of this improvement.

2. For some reason, it seems a bit harder to keep track of what's going on. This is probably just because I'm just not used to the changes.

3. I happen to like the musical score. The voice acting is average in quality and out of place at times. For example, selecting a unit causes that unit to announce its type, and soldiers scream "we're under attack!" when attacked. These features seem like attempts to mimic other strategy games, and are out of place in the Total War series.

4. The Battle of Trebia is quite easy; I won a "heroic victory" the first time. As has been noted, skirmishers run away too soon when on skirmish mode and the Poeni infantry are missing their spears.

5. The green triangles beneath selected troops really are too intrusive. Banners turning white for routed units also look rather silly; such measures weren't necessary in prior TW games.

6. I agree that the fights seemed rushed. I had hoped for longer melees, rather than shorter ones. When combined with the inherent difficulty in keeping track of everything that's going on, this is less than ideal.

That's about it for now. I enjoyed the demo overall, but wish some things were different. Oh well.

[Gregoshi]

I know what you all are talking about with regards to the speed of the game, BUT could it be "rushed" only when the units are running? At the beginning of Trebia, when the Romans are just walking towards you, the movement seems almost painfully slow. Same with giving your units (even the cavalry) movement orders - they take their good old time about it. Give them running orders and the afterburners kick in. After playing Trebia a couple of more times, I'm beginning to think that the speed issue is that the speed between walking and running is greater than it was in STW/MTW. When you are playing the battle, it seems very fast, but when you look at the scale of things and then the speed at which the units are running (fast!), it doesn't really look unnatural - at least to me. Maybe STW & MTW coddled us too much with a reduced running speed. Well, that is my impressions on the speed issue.

I don't believe I've read any comments here about the Numedian Cavalry's special "circle" attack. I gave that a try and it is a very neat attack to watch. I don't know how effective it is, but visually it is impressive. I wonder what other cool special attacks this game has in store for us.

About the music, the piece that I really fell in love with today was the one that plays over the menu. There is a part where the music has a sweeping and almost majestic feel to it - but in a very subdued way. That isn't a very good way to describe it, but there it is.

I messed some more with the camera controls. I do believe there is a bug in there. The "rotate" controls don't rotate, they strafe. So we have two ways to strafe with keys and none to rotate. Unfortunately, I'm more comfortable rotating with the left/right keys rather than using the mouse, so changing my view is a bit awkward for me.

Does anyone else notice the odd behaviour of some of the units, the light barbarian infantry (sorry to those of you who cringe at that name). At the beginning of the battle, more often than not, some of the barbarians (maybe 8-10) start walking towards the rear, like they are leaving the unit. This is as the Romans are still approaching and I haven't given the barbarians any orders yet. Could CA have added deserters or something like that?

[Papewaio]

The Barbs walking towards the rear... I would say that is a discipline rank thing... something that has been toyed with in the TW series but not fully fleshed out... would be far more important to a Phalanx if people decide to open up the ranks...

[andrewt]

The speed problem for me is not so much as how fast they walk/run but how fast they kill. The cavalry charges in particular are ridiculous but even the infantry charges look like they kill too much. Even the melee when it is supposed to be a long meat grinding thing is resolved too quickly. I charged a 30+ (already suffered a few casualties) sacred band into 100+ hastati and princeps units and they kill more than 50% in 2-3 seconds when charged at the back and around 33% when charged at the front. It's also way too easy to disengage and charge again. That part is actually fine if not for the damage charges do.

I played a game controlling the Sacred Band Cavalry almost all the time and I had 10:1 kill ratios with all 3 of them. They had more than 200 kills each and one had almost 400.

[Nerouin]

The elephants are insane!!! I LOVE THEM!!!

Also the cav is great. It always used to anger me in MTW and STV how HEAVY, HEAVY cav like Lancers or Golden Horde Heavy would simply hit a unit of anything, no matter how weak, i.e. peasants, and just STOP. The point of heavy cavalry is that they RAN YOU OVER. In melee, though they were proficient, they could be unseated by someone with a stick.

[Yoritomo]

I found the speed to be spot on, It may need to be reduced a smidgen (one hair of a bees dick) But I think the new speed is good...

I have an Radeon 9600XT and have only had the light show a couple of times, not everytime I play Trebia

Strange but true

[Papewaio]

I think the speed looks like the guys are gliding over the terrain... watching the Roman Heavy Infantry run at a very fast speed over half the map chasing skirmishers and looking like they never tire... it may be no fatigue... but the sheer speed looks silly... might have to report steroid abuse at those rates

[Ser Clegane]

I know what you all are talking about with regards to the speed of the game, BUT could it be "rushed" only when the units are running? At the beginning of Trebia, when the Romans are just walking towards you, the movement seems almost painfully slow.

That's a very good point, Gregoshi. At first the speed was also my major gripe about the demo - at the first try things evolved so quickly that the battle was over before I even fully realized what was going on (and funny enough I was victorious without even doing much ) - but when I player the tutorial afterwards it seemed to be slower.

Overall I was very happy with how things looked and felt in the demo. Graphics and overall "feeling of reality" were very good.
The cavalry charges sometimes seemed indeed overpowered but I think it's hard to really judge this without having played more balanced units.

The green arrows and the unit replies after giving orders were quite annoying (but at least the units did not give annoyed comments or started burping or something like that when you clicked them several times) but these are very minor things that (as well as the speed setiings) can hopefully be easily changed or made optional in the final version - so I'm quite optimistic that these things will turn out well.

I also experienced the "arrow-flare" but luckily it stopped after the archers shot their first two volleys.

I am eagerly awaiting the final version.

[Midnj]

First off, graphics, wonderful. I have a Raedon 9600 pro and I ran high detail and high res with no slow downs. AA caused it to choke of course, but AA always does that.

Interface, I thought could have been much better. I'd go into details but most of what I would want to say has been mentioned.

I will certainly buy Rome for the single player campaign, but I'm more into multiplayer. Just from the demo I don't think it will make for a good multiplayer game (given how little CA seems to care about that I'm not too hopeful). I will have to wait to see how the full game and full unit roster pans out, but this thread is called demo impressions afterall.

My main concern is that RTW is going to be an infantry-centric slug-fest. It's like those boring MTW multiplayer games where you get two wimps who take mostly infantry and run them into each other. What the hell is the fun in that? At least RTW has much larger maps, so aforementioned wimps can't take map flank positions and remove flanking options.

I'd have to echo that I don't think the demo did the hype justice. I was really excited loading up the demo and after playing it 10-12 times I'm much less so. Still, the strategic aspect of the game looks like great fun.

Oh and the war elephants were cool, if overpowered. I liked seeing them slice right through a Roman unit or three. Reminds me of the old swiping trick in MTW.

[Rosacrux]

First impressions (played an hour last night, couldn't devote more, since wife is out of town I went out for the 4th night with some ladies - beats RTW, actually would beat it even without pharaos, dogs, cats and bitches):

- Not bad, not bad at all. The voice acting is terrible (can live with it - just turn it off, actually) there are some glitches and chokes (I already received my new super graphic card and I'll install it when I got some time) and some features are just awful (green arrows anyone?). But overall it looks impressive and plays nicely.

- I managed to play the tutorial once (upped speed too) and Trebia once (again, with upped speed - CTDed while I was trying to finish off ze Romans... maybe due to the increased speed?) and I will try them tonite once more. I don't think I'll play them any more after that, that is if I won't get some MODification for the demo.

- Overall I can't wait for RTW to come out. I'll ban dogz, catz and pharaos (until I manage to get a hold on modding) and play the heck out of it!!!

[TCon88]

Ok now its my turn, firstly i think the cursor moves to slow in response to the mouse but i know some of you others have already said that. And i dont like the green arrows when you click a unit, it just gets it my way. Apart from that i cant find anything majorly wrong with it, maybe the voice acting but i can live with that.

[YAKOBU]

Hi everyone

I must admit being initially very disappointed by the demo but after playing the battle a 2nd time felt a little better.

Just a couple of points:

- Did anyone else end up with the camera view under the bridge in the tutorial? Good job I only had control of 3 units!

- Has anyone let AI control a group for them? I took control of the elephants and cavalry while grouping the skirmishers in 1 group and the infantry and archers in another. The AI then altered the group formation and angled the group at about 45 degrees which was not sensible!

- I am also struggling to get a view where I can see the battle and also make out individual units. close-ups are great but not practical for full battles.

[Bob the Insane]

Played it on my home system last night (AthlonXP 2600+, 1GB RAM, Geforce 6800GT), config was 1280x960, no AA, all options set to high or higest and all turned on except advanced shadows... Runs smooth most of the time but you can sense the frame rate dropping when it's busy on screen, no stuttering though... Looks fantastic IMO, no funny light or dodgy colours for me luckily...

Game play, I don't know what people mean about it being too fast, the speeds people move at do not seem unrealistic and the historical battle starts with the sides very close together so the batle starts very quicky which is probaly why it seems so quick... Personally I am not a strong fan of the historical battles in MTW as I perfer a battle to be part of a campaign and have some context and consquences, so for me this demo is only showing part of the game.. It looks good and plays well and the landscapes look a little more realistic this time... This is still total war in style and content but with additonal features too... The special abilities of units in cool and I like the way rallying your troops has been implimented... Nothing in the demo seems to be overpowering and yet nothing appeared uselessly weak, ever the skirmishers have their place and their uses..

Personally I think the tutorial is a bit poor, but I have an idea about that... I reckon the tutorial in the full game is tied to the campaign map and as that is not in the demo they could only use an actual battle portion of the tutorial...

[Bob the Insane]

Additionally, anyone else think that the scale in RTW is sightly larger? I don't think you can zoom out as far as in MTW... Might be mistaken though...

[jimmyM]

well, first impressions of playing the demo? grinning like a FOOL (yes, like that) the graphics and system work well and the cavalry charges are most amazing
the map does seem larger, definitely more interesting and fun to play on as it doesn't just cut off...
yes, i had that bug with the worrying dissapearingunder the bridge act...takes me back to using VIZ and disappearin into the ground - possibly direct x needs updating? i think the battles were rediculously easy...the romans at trebia broke very easily, so maybe i'll see what the mods can do

[Sjakihata]

the rtw camera can go further out than the mtw one

[MadKow]

Just adding to my impressions the fact that i also had that weird glare attributed to ATI card (X800 pro), but i fiddled a bit with the graphic settings, mainly getting higher quality, and i must have done something that works.

[The Wizard]

I played the demo a couple of times, and to me it seems this is an old version of the game which is soon to go gold... stuff like the Poeni holding invisible spears is a real pity to me.

The graphics are great - after a bit of messing around I got my GeForce 4 MX to run the game like a jewel, and I like the animations and action of the units in battle. I might try that 'disable synchronizing' option just to see what it does.

Trebia is pretty good - although I kept the impression that the terrain isn't all that pretty, even with details on full for terrain.The fighting, thanks to the engine, looks somehow more realistic - instead of two pretty immobile lines duking it out, it turns into a pretty big morass of men which can get confusing - something that happened to me the first time I played it (subsequently I lost). The elephants seem pretty useless to me - I ran them in just prior to my cavalry's charge, but nothing much was achieved and the formation of the oh so dangerous triarii (to my cavalry) was not disrupted very much.

The music is good, but is it my impression alone that TC's music was better?

Also, the skirmishers were pretty useless also... they ran while a good 200-300 meters away from the velites, something I didn't see the Numidians do... I think they're gonna need a lot more microing than ol' MTW to be effective, at least if this stays in.

I like the control groups and their easier accessibility. It means it's much easier for me to micromanage my troops and therefore be a more effective commander than before - although I did see that the game doesn't react immediately to my pressing the '1' button, which also goes for 'Esc' and 'P'.

Now the voices and reactions of your units are pretty bad, imo. I'd much, much rather have had barbarians screaming in Welsh, for all it matters, rather than in some hoarse idiotic voice. The voice of the Roman units suck too, and I do not like the constant standard RTS-like things that are said when you select them. I much preffered the voices of STW and MTW, which were pretty indescernible but probably in the real language (at least they sounded like they were... not this crap english, it does not help the immersion one bit)...

Overall, a pretty good go at the game, and it's actually looking to be pretty good, save for some important problems do not help the immersion CA seems to be going for at all.

I won't be going into historical details because I'm too lazy at the moment



~Wiz

[Stuie]

Game play, I don't know what people mean about it being too fast, the speeds people move at do not seem unrealistic and the historical battle starts with the sides very close together so the batle starts very quicky which is probaly why it seems so quick...

Apparently people want the battles to last for hours like in real life. Forget the fact that this would completely turn off 99% of the people that will buy the game, and therefore the game wouldn't have been developed....

Personally I am not a strong fan of the historical battles in MTW as I perfer a battle to be part of a campaign and have some context and consquences, so for me this demo is only showing part of the game..

Same here. I've played maybe one or two historical battles outside of the demos for STW and MTW. I care about the campaign battles, and if you look at how far apart the starting positions are in the tutorial, that gives more of a feel for how the campaign battles will play out. LOTS of room for manuever prior to contact. Should be good.

[monkian]

I subscribed to Fileplanet so I could download it quickly and was rather underwhelmed- but then it was only a 100MB demo so I guess expecting lavish music and Tutorials was a little optimistic of me.

The speed is alot quicker and took some getting used to - and my skirmishers were pants too

[GFX707]

I think the demo music is beautiful and the battle music is very energetic and doesn't need to be changed....

[GFX707]

Ok, some of my impressions...

3. I happen to like the musical score. The voice acting is average in quality and out of place at times. For example, selecting a unit causes that unit to announce its type, and soldiers scream "we're under attack!" when attacked. These features seem like attempts to mimic other strategy games, and are out of place in the Total War series.

Particularly a few horn type noises that seem to have come directly from Warrior Kings!

6. I agree that the fights seemed rushed. I had hoped for longer melees, rather than shorter ones. When combined with the inherent difficulty in keeping track of everything that's going on, this is less than ideal.

See my petition thread....

[GFX707]

About the music, the piece that I really fell in love with today was the one that plays over the menu. There is a part where the music has a sweeping and almost majestic feel to it - but in a very subdued way. That isn't a very good way to describe it, but there it is.

I couldn't agree more!

I messed some more with the camera controls. I do believe there is a bug in there. The "rotate" controls don't rotate, they strafe. So we have two ways to strafe with keys and none to rotate. Unfortunately, I'm more comfortable rotating with the left/right keys rather than using the mouse, so changing my view is a bit awkward for me.

The camera controls in the tutorial are set to the new ones and you can't change them but during trebia you can press escape and look through the menus, find the part that says "RTS mode" and change it to "Total War" and you have your old MTW camera back....

[UglyandHasty]

Well overall i am not too disapointed about that demo, keeping in mind its just a demo. Gameplay its just a question of being use to it. Maps look good.

I have just one wish, I hope the game will be easily modable.