(LONG) New poster, a remark to: TotalWar has gone to the Dark Side (Colosseum)

[Soulflame]

Hello again everyone,

Thanks for the replies, I'd like to comment on a few.

@ quadalpha:
I know the new buttons are in place and the kill ratio is still there, but the killbar is more obscure, even when I'm running at 800x640. It will be pretty hard to read in higher resolutions I think, plus the whole reason it's there is to give you a quick global overview of the battle, whereas it is now a bit hidden. Add to that, that the bar includes allied units (I heard, didn't notice myself), which has both good points and bad points. I personally like the bar without allied kills, but now I don't have the choice for that bar anymore.
Which is also the case for the new buttons. The slider gives you more option. Choice equals power (at least to those willing to make them), they just removed power from us. Why not make it the slider but put the buttons there as well, as a way to 'quickly come to a standard fast forwarding (like 33% or 66%)', making the slide jump to that speed. That way the people which like the slide can manually use the slider, and those who find the slider ambigious could just press the buttons to move the slider.


@Ldvs:
Yes, but isn't comparing necessary? How do you choose the games you like? It's probably on some distinct features. I choose Warcraft for the fantasy-comic style warfare, with nice graphics, but also lots of options (I play mostly custom trigger games, which can differ enormously, from Tower Defense to AOS's). I choose Diablo because it's item system and character development appeal to me. I play Neverwinter Nights because I get totally enveloped in playing a role with nice graphics to boot.
And I play the Total War series to immerse myself in grand historic battles and boost my ego of being a good commander (;)).
Of course Rome;TW is a new game, but does that mean it should stray from it's heritage? It's strength? The uniqueness? What if Rome;TW suddenly was a first person shooter. Would you say "Hey.. it's just a new game! Adapt! It's a good FPS!" ? I don't think so. Maybe for some people the change is less then for others, but for me and some, the change is very notable and feelable (is that a word? sorry.. I'm Dutch.)
Not all changes are bad, mind, but the demo just didn't feel like the previous games. Like I said.. I came into contact with shogun just a few months ago.. and was hooked. I was hooked more to a 4-year old game with less graphics and the old battle systems, then a demo of an upcoming game with superb graphics and the new battle systems. That tells me a lot about the atmosphere of the game.

Another problem you pose is that we should play the game a few times before judging. I agree with you that we should. But it would be disappointing if we found we misjudged Rome;TW because we expected it to be (in the end) as unique in the world of games as the previous TW games. Because right now, Rome;TW doesn't feel that unique to me.
Lastly, I will definately try to adapt, but adapting and taking the bad things 'just for sake' is not a good reason. It is then like "Well, some of the game is good, I guess I'll have to ignore the bad things and keep my head high", not a very nice idea if you want to enjoy your game.
I will buy it.. since I also like history, but I don't think I will enjoy this part in the series as much as the previous ones.

[Ldvs]

@Ldvs: Yes, but isn't comparing necessary? How do you choose the games you like?

I simply read the reviews, then try the demo if there's one available and eventually buy the game in case i find it worth it. I don't make any comparison, i take the game for what it is and not what it should be compared to another one.

I guess i don't like to do like others ~:p

[Puzz3D]

Ldvs,

I may have missed it, but I don't see how Hannibal is giving +5 valor to his troops. Here are the demo stats for Trebia and it shows Hannibal and all the generals as having zero command stars:

character Caius Agricola, general, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 23, , x 64, y 95
;character Sempronius , general, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 23, , x 64, y 95


army
unit roman velite soldiers 60 exp 0 armour 1 weapon_lvl 2
unit roman velite soldiers 60 exp 0 armour 1 weapon_lvl 2
unit roman velite soldiers 60 exp 0 armour 1 weapon_lvl 2
unit roman velite soldiers 60 exp 0 armour 1 weapon_lvl 2
unit roman hastati soldiers 100 exp 6 armour 2 weapon_lvl 1
unit roman hastati soldiers 100 exp 6 armour 2 weapon_lvl 1
unit roman hastati soldiers 100 exp 6 armour 2 weapon_lvl 1
unit roman hastati soldiers 100 exp 6 armour 2 weapon_lvl 1
unit roman princeps soldiers 100 exp 4 armour 1 weapon_lvl 0
unit roman princeps soldiers 100 exp 4 armour 1 weapon_lvl 0
unit roman princeps soldiers 100 exp 4 armour 1 weapon_lvl 0
unit roman princeps soldiers 100 exp 4 armour 1 weapon_lvl 0
unit roman triarii soldiers 100 exp 4 armour 1 weapon_lvl 0
unit roman triarii soldiers 100 exp 4 armour 1 weapon_lvl 0
unit roman triarii soldiers 100 exp 4 armour 1 weapon_lvl 0
unit roman triarii soldiers 100 exp 4 armour 1 weapon_lvl 0
unit roman light cavalry soldiers 40 exp 6 armour 2 weapon_lvl 0
unit roman light cavalry soldiers 40 exp 6 armour 2 weapon_lvl 0
unit roman generals guard cavalry early soldiers 10 exp 8 armour 2 weapon_lvl 2

faction carthage
character Hannibal Barca, general, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 23, , x 64, y 95

army
unit carthaginian general's cavalry soldiers 3 exp 7 armour 2 weapon_lvl 2
unit carthaginian heavy infantry soldiers 60 exp 2 armour 1 weapon_lvl 0
unit carthaginian peltast soldiers 70 exp 7 armour 1 weapon_lvl 2
unit carthaginian peltast soldiers 70 exp 7 armour 1 weapon_lvl 2
unit carthaginian heavy infantry soldiers 60 exp 2 armour 1 weapon_lvl 0
unit carthaginian royal cavalry soldiers 60 exp 5 armour 2 weapon_lvl 1
unit carthaginian elephant african soldiers 21 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit carthaginian elephant african cataphract soldiers 21 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit merc numidian cavalry soldiers 30 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit merc barbarian infantry soldiers 80 exp 6 armour 2 weapon_lvl 2
unit carthaginian royal cavalry soldiers 40 exp 5 armour 2 weapon_lvl 1
unit carthaginian royal cavalry soldiers 40 exp 5 armour 2 weapon_lvl 1
unit merc barbarian infantry soldiers 80 exp 2 armour 1 weapon_lvl 2
unit merc barbarian cavalry soldiers 40 exp 2 armour 1 weapon_lvl 1
unit carthaginian heavy infantry soldiers 60 exp 2 armour 1 weapon_lvl 0
unit merc cretan archers soldiers 60 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0

[Puzz3D]

XiaoLi

"The game has a much better cinematic look, which brings me to the disappointing inclusion of those green arrows that shatter the illusion. Too bad."

Using a text editor such as notepad edit the preferences.txt file. In there change:

DISABLE_ARROW_MARKERS:FALSE to DISABLE_ARROW_MARKERS:TRUE
SHOW_BANNERS:TRUE to SHOW_BANNERS:FALSE

Now you can play the game with a better sense on realism. Also, it's worth looking for and trying the mod by Gaius Varrenus because it's very impressive to see the Roman cross the river and form up under ai control. The only problem with the mod is that the Carthaginian infantry was made too strong and it's an easy win even on very hard difficulty.

DEMO MOD BY GAIUS VARRENUS
In this demo you will be able to:

a.) skip intro scene from Battle of Trebia
b.) have the Roman army start BEFORE the the crossing of the river.
c.) instantly adds the Carthaginian sacred band to carthage
d.) larger unit sizes

[Ldvs]

My mistake then, i saw the five flags above the roman units in the tutorial battle. Wierd Hannibal is a 0 star general though ~:p

[DisruptorX]

As for the demo itself, it did move rather too fast. The infantry were faster than I would have liked, but the battle itself was more fun than I had in medieval (that is, after I downloaded the play as gauls patch). I don't see lowering the movement speed for units to be an impossible mod for players to do, anyway.

However, I was dissapointed that, in the full version of Rome, you can't play as all the factions. To me, being able to play as countires like the Sicilians, Hungarians, and Aragonese is what made medieval a great game. I don't really care about balance, starting off as a tiny country and dominating the world is more satisfying to me. Hopefully, someone will release a patch that lets you play as anyone.

That, and what I've heard about druids being in the game had better be a joke.

[kchickenlord]

The only real flaw the demo has is the terrible voice acting, especially the Romans, seems to me theyve sold out by putting in command and conquer style confirmations and given romans American accents, and the cretan archers sound like someone you would meet in the chippy, it ruins the atmosphere, luckily it can be switched off, but what happened to the voices in MTW? they would actually be more suitable for the romans then the voices they have now!
Is it possible these voices are just for a US version of the game?