Shogun and Medieval

[ThePeskyPorker]

Well hididly ho there neighbors! Just purchased Rome:Total War and I gotta say it's excellent!

I keep noticing references to Medieval and Shogun, though, and I'm wondering if it's worth it to go and grab them both.

I don't mind crappy graphics as long as the gameplay's good. What do you guys think? Is it worth it to grab the other titles or are they too outdated?

[Jeanne d'arc]

Hello and welcome to the org .
As for buying mtw or stw its best to play the demo first to get a good view of the graphical differences compared to rtw.If your still happy with what u see after the demo i recommend buying both.STW however will be hard to find in local stores though, me myself is still searching for stw without any luck yet.

[*Ringo*]

Welcome to the Org Pesky.

As for buying the games i think you should definitely get them. Both are superb, the hours i've lost playing them i could of built a barn! Shogun is still available on amazon.co.uk (warlord edition £4.99 no less) but i suppose that only helps if your from the UK.

Enjoy,

*Ringo*

[Didz]

Well hididly ho there neighbors! Just purchased Rome:Total War and I gotta say it's excellent!

I keep noticing references to Medieval and Shogun, though, and I'm wondering if it's worth it to go and grab them both.

I don't mind crappy graphics as long as the gameplay's good. What do you guys think? Is it worth it to grab the other titles or are they too outdated?

If you like RTW then I would say go out and buy the others asap!

However, shop around as these games are already in the budget category in some stores and there are also some great package deals which include the expansion packs.

Do NOT buy STW without the Mongol Invasion expansion pack as its awesome and also solves some of the initial game bugs.

and

Do NOT buy MTW without the Viking Invasion expansion, its worth it just for the music.

[econ21]

Yes - definitely worth buying both. Depending on your computer, you might not notice too much of a step backwards in graphics - RTW is awesome on my new desktop, but when I played on my laptop, I preferred the older games' graphics.

STW oozes character, has very simple and elegant battles but strategically is not that interesting to me. You have to munch through Japan, province by province, battling all the time - it's tough, but not that free form. The end-game is often dominated by the "Hojo horde" - ie a very rich faction that pumps out armies.

Compared to STW, MTW is more bland, has far more unit variety and has a much more open strategic map. The factions are much more differentiated than STW in terms of units and strategic situation. You can launch crusades and through seapower have a choice where to fight. It has more of a "role-play" aspect to it, allowing you more freedom to wage war or not as opposed to STWs "I must gobble up Japan" limitation.

I suspect both games give you more of a challenge than RTW by virtue of their "Risk" style strategy map - you lose the freedom and authenticity from marching armies around the great RTW map, but the simplicity of STW/MTWs maps do seem to permit a more competitive AI.

[R'as al Ghul]

STW however will be hard to find in local stores though, me myself is still searching for stw without any luck yet.

Have you tried E-bay? I bought a beautiful copy of Shogun there when I lost my original. Complete with big cardboard case, map and manual. Everything clean and as good as new. I paid around 15€ for it but it was worth it. The generic jewel case edition should be avaiable via amazon or similar distributors. I even saw it as a "Green Software" -edition for about 7(?)€ in a store.

R'as

[lancelot]

Shogun and Med available on amazon and both are great, I would say better than Rome in its present incarnation