Am I Prima's Catamite?

**Lemur** · 09-26-2004, 20:13

I'm stuck at work today, so I went ahead and raided the midtown Manhattan Gamestop, and picked up the Rome Strategy Guide. Skimmed it over lunch, tried to see if there was anything really interesting and new, finished lunch, and then froze in my tracks, struck mute by this consideration:

Am I Prima's catamite? Am I supporting the non-creation of game manuals? Am I funding some sort of shady, evil enteprise that starts with Bosnian war orphans and ends with a poorly printed manual? Will a rare and beautiful species of parrot go extinct because of my unprincipled game-guide consumerism? Am I suddenly less than a man, less than a child, less than a hermaphroditic worm?

Should I be very, very ashamed? Or is it okay to buy the strat guide?

**element** · 09-26-2004, 20:47

Naw your ok, besides it was 20% off!

**Lord Angelus** · 09-26-2004, 20:56

Never mind all that cobblers,just tell us if it's worth getting

**Lemur** · 09-27-2004, 03:53

Never mind all that cobblers,just tell us if it's worth getting

Short answer would be no. There are a whole lot of unit stats, but it won't be long before someone puts those up in downloadable form. And after giving it my attention at both lunch and on the subway, I can say that I don't get the impression it's going to plug the CA-sized holes in the undocumented features.

I should have saved my money and just read these forums.

Although it was nice to have something new to read on the subway, I'll grant the book that.

**Oaty** · 09-27-2004, 11:57

Strat guides have become very poor these days. Its probably because games have become more and more complicated that it takes a good amount of time to write a decent one. What I've noticed is that forums usually outweigh the strat guides, sure the strat guide provides an immediate answer but more than likely you have to root through the manual and still not find the answer. Whereas a forum you'll get a knowledgable person of the game whereas strat guide writers get most of there knowledge from the producer then play it a little. Whereas a forum (sure you may not get the answer until the next day) you'll get an in depth accurate answer.

**Ulstan** · 09-27-2004, 14:11

I do not know if it is worth it or not - but if it ever would be worth it, it would be immediately right after the game was released :)

Actually, I think the idea of a 'strategy guide' is fairly flawed for today's games - they change a lot, and tactics that may have worked when the guide was written may be quite awful by the time you buy the game.

What I do like in the strategy guides I've bought have been the maps, charts, and unit stats - I buy it as more of a 'statistics appendix' than a 'strategy guide'.

If the RTW one has unit morale listed, profiles for the different races units, and maybe tech trees for some of the other fations, that would be valuable to have. :)

**Lemur** · 09-27-2004, 18:46

If the RTW one has unit morale listed, profiles for the different races units, and maybe tech trees for some of the other fations, that would be valuable to have.

Well then, you might want to pick it up. It lists all buildings and units for all the playable factions. But somehow I was expecting something ... more.

**Ulstan** · 09-27-2004, 18:50

I'd buy a "Prima RTW Modding Guide"

**Orvis Tertia** · 09-27-2004, 20:09

I was sorely disappointed in the RTW Prima guide. I really enjoyed the MTW guide--not only was it helpful; it was also enjoyable to read. You could tell that the author had some experience with the game and had talked with the Devs. The RTW guide is dull and has almost no insight that couldn't be gleaned from a few hours with the game and the rulebook. There are no meaningful insights into strategy or tactics, and much of the information I was looking for just isn't there, such as explanation of the trade system, discussion of the diplomacy system (unless you just need to know how to click on the buttons), and no discussion of what a "protectorate" means, for example. Big, big disappointment. I was really excited about getting the guide, but soon realized it was not worth the money. I looked on the Brady guides Web site, and there is not one available for RTW, so I guess we're stuck without a decent strategy guide. (Maybe Gamespot's online guide will fill in some of the blanks. They usually put together something decent.)

**Lord Angelus** · 09-27-2004, 21:02

Oh well the whole thing sounds quite disapointing

Even though i had played Medieval for several months before i bought the MTW guide it was still a decent toilet/bathtime read and still interesting to see the difference between units.

With so much to go to town on in Rome i really hoped it would surpass the content/quality of the MTW one.

I still might buy it in the future as long as its not £20.Thanks for the opinions lads.