Heart of the Matter , Is RTW good value for $?

[Satyr]

Absolutely not worth the money. Shogun and Medieval both gave me more than anyone could ask for in the way of value. Rome is unplayable. It's got lots of cool features and if you are a noob, or just plain stupid, or don't take your gaming seriously, then I can see where you might think Rome is good. But if being able to get a good game out of an AI is what makes a game good, because you take it seriously enough to learn the mechanics and numerology of the game, then Rome sucks.

The comparisons made in the first post in this thread by the way are probably all wrong imho. Rome is not nearly as good as any of those games. And if you are tired of Medieval and want a good game where strategy and tactics actually matter, try Kohan II. It blows RTW away. That or play MTW:VI as it's certainly the best strategy game ever written.

[HarunTaiwan]

Quietus,

One star is not too harsh when the review explains very clearly why it's one star. Also, for those only playing 30 minutes a day, that bug really, really sucks.

It's the only way to warn a consumer. If they still buy it, at least they are informed that they will get poor service from CA.

Let's face it, it's not just that bug either, it's the following:

Scarred general bug (I found this after only 2 hours of playing when I realized I had 3-4 generals called Scarface...c'mon!)
Horse Archer Bug

Now we have the protectorate bug as well, which makes me question my current game where Egypt became my protectorate rather too quickly...maybe I had just loaded a game after undoing a seige? I forget, but it spoils it a bit.

The business maxim is that one happy customer will tell one other person about their experience, but one unhappy customer will tell on average 20 people about their experience. I wasn't really angry until they denied the "feature" and still haven't said it will or won't be "de-featured" in XP.

I'm more than willing to give them 50 more dollars for an XP if it fixes up this stuff and improves the AI in some incremental way.

Feel free to offer them the 3,4, or 5 stars you feel they deserve.

[tai4ji2x]

of course, it's all relative, and in comparison to other forms of entertainment, it's not so bad value-wise. still, i can no longer with confidence recommend it to friends. that's what's at issue here, i think.

[AquaLurker]

IMHO, the game is good but it was not up to expectations. Generally because of the game balance issues and the campaign replayability.

In campaign games, the AIs just aren't challenging enough strategically due to the complexity of the map even in VH mode. Everyone is a Sun Tze when we fight against the AI. The only way to get some challenge is to play really losy factions with units balance issues.

In Battles, the the units are badly balance. The AI simply cannot handle some features (like the phalanx and testudo etc) effectively to put up a challenging fight. The game engine is also flawed and it allows cav or infantry/pike spaming which encourages players to spam.

I too hope that all these issues can be solved by CA in one way or another but I have little faith in that happening due to their terrible customer support.
I hope they would provide better customer support and refine the game engine in the furture.

[Benny Moore]

If I could turn in Rome: Total War for the money I paid for it, I would. I would even forgive them for the time I've wasted playing the single player, dissatisfied and thinking that I was doing something wrong, and the time I've wasted modifying the game in a vain attempt to remedy the problem.

[matches88]

worth the money sure, not sure its worth the time tho. i don't expect great ai just enough to keep the "believability of a decent opponent" factor. the more you scratch the more you see that it's just not there. i don't expect to purchase a patch in the form of an expansion tho..

[Shambles]

Heres what i want to know....

You ppl who say Rome total war is Worth the money,
Do you own Shogun Or medieval total war at all?

Becous seems to me only ppl who never played previous total war games Say Rome total war is worth the money,

Id like to know :)