'Featureless' Expansion

**vale** · 05-30-2005, 22:46

I agree with you man, the expansion are so featureless like you said. I guess since they have a taste of what rtw brought now they are hungry for more, they could just make that as a patch and published it since there are only a few change that compare to our mod that submitted by rtr and other they are close to it. There is no point really to get the expansion if they just did a little modification over the skin and some new unit which can be done easily with a skilled modder. So unless they published another game that are better than rtw which i think is unlikely to be I see there is no need to get the new xpan.

**Soviet_AK-47** · 05-31-2005, 01:12

My hopes are that the at least can get in a feature, like I've heard of in MTW, that causes civil wars, and also balances civilizations (we need that).

**Wishazu** · 05-31-2005, 01:18

i was hoping for defeated factions to be able to return like in mtw.

**Nelson** · 05-31-2005, 05:03

If you dismiss the new features and then ask “Where are the new features?”, the answer will always be “There are none”. You still may not think the expansion is worth buying but as Total War expansions go, Rome’s may be the most feature rich yet.

What did Mongol Invasion add to Shogun?

What did Viking Invasion add to Medieval?

Neither of these made any sweeping changes to game play. They were about new factions for the most part.

This is an expansion to Rome, not Rome II.

**Bhruic** · 05-31-2005, 05:08

Originally Posted by Nelson

What did Viking Invasion add to Medieval?

The improved reinforcement system? That's certainly why I got it. I didn't care about the new campaign in the least (and, in general, enjoyed it nowhere near as much as the Medieval campaign).

Having the expansion add a new campaign is nice and all, but my decision to get it or not will likely be on what improvements it makes to the game as a whole. So far, I haven't been impressed.

Bh

**sik1977** · 05-31-2005, 05:44

Originally Posted by Nelson

If you dismiss the new features and then ask “Where are the new features?”, the answer will always be “There are none”. You still may not think the expansion is worth buying but as Total War expansions go, Rome’s may be the most feature rich yet.

What did Mongol Invasion add to Shogun?

What did Viking Invasion add to Medieval?

Neither of these made any sweeping changes to game play. They were about new factions for the most part.

This is an expansion to Rome, not Rome II.

Nelson, I wonder if you actually played both those expansions.

MI brought in the Mongols which were not dependant on provinces etc, and had a totally different strategy. This is what we will be seeing recycled in the BI as Huns it seems. MI, also added a lot of things to the main campaign. Such as old eliminated factions returning, and many features which came to MTW later on but were intriduced in MI and were not in STW.

MTW: VI brought in the reinforcements. That feature alone was worth the expansion and as Bhuric said, i got that expansion just for that feature, as it not only added to the expansion, but more so to the original main campaign. There were other nice touches as well and balances and improvement in AI, specially AI navies which finally started attempting creating trade routes and not just gather in one water square for a big party.

I can go on and on. I have played all of them, and many times over. I like RTW, but was hoping that like before the expansion would add something new and truly exciting, or at least a much wanted feature like campaign replays and a detailed campaign statistics screen, which has been missing in all TW games.

**Mongoose** · 05-31-2005, 06:14

"BUT TEH HORSE WILL BE SWIMIN11!!!!1!!1!!111!!11!1!"

J/k

The xpac does look rather dull...i wish they would focus more on gameplay then eye candy.

**Ab Urbe Condita** · 05-31-2005, 07:05

Originally Posted by mongoose

"BUT TEH HORSE WILL BE SWIMIN11!!!!1!!1!!111!!11!1!"

J/k

The xpac does look rather dull...i wish they would focus more on gameplay then eye candy.

I hate to tell you but you brought up an addition to the gameplay right there; the ability to ford rivers. Actually, I've heard more things about gameplay additions in the xpac than I've heard about "eye candy." The only feature so far that I would call eye candy are the night batles.

**Marcus Maxentius** · 05-31-2005, 06:32

There could be more, we haven't heard anything yet. I wouldn't expect to see "bugs/AI fixed""Save/load problem resolved "campaign battle replays" in an MTV style commercial.

It's also not a mod. And it's also not a new game. It's an add-on pack. Many of these are just extra weapons, items, levels,missions etc. Some have new "features", but this is certainly not an absolute requirement. Heck, when you buy extra packs or figures for table-top gaming, you're not getting extra "features", but it makes it fun. I love having new choices or continuing the story a little bit more. I would not be disappointed if I only had new things to play with or new places to play on and not new ways to play as well.

Don't buy it then. Buy a brand new game. I think it might be fun. Wait and see. It's not like MI and VI were sold on the bug-fixes/menu tweaks. You found out after you installed it. Right now the mags just want to tell you about the expansion itself, not the game patch that comes with it.

**Revelation** · 05-31-2005, 07:18

Eye candy is great. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the way RTW looks. In fact, it still fills me with a sense of "being there" when I zoom in for a close up and watch my Roman front line advance upon the enemy.
Marcus, I would hope we all(most of us) know the definition of an expansion pack. What folks I think are/were hoping for is a fix to some of the still blatantly evident bugs that were not addressed in patch 1.2, and also some recognition of this by Shogun in This Interview

Don't buy it then.

Thanks for pointing out our choices. Never heard that one before.

I guess I should just give up on the bug fix issue. There are a few "unofficial" patches out there that address the current problems with RTW that work quite well, also, a shitload of mods that hold enough extra content to not have to worry about the exp pack.
Eventually the pull of the exp pack will be to strong and I will give in to temptation, but until that day............well, i'm gonna go down

**Revelation** · 05-31-2005, 01:16

I have learned from CA's previous efforts. This time round i'll definately be waiting a good few months to guage the the general consensus on the expac before even considering purchasing it. Let's face it, Shogun was , as ever playing his usual games. Answering in detail questions about the minor asthetics (eye candy) and non improving features, then hedging and baulking when it came to the tweaks that would really make the exppac an exppac and not just a $$$ making exercise for CA.

Why spend your hard earned $$$ on this thing when you can play the mods for free!
Perhaps i'm jumping the gun a little, maybe they will surprise us. Maybe......