The Bad: The gameplay can be very challenging....

**hellenes** · 12-12-2005, 18:39

I dont know if a stupid easy as a 1 years old kid "AI" is classified as a games best feature...

The BI has its share of faults but to call challenge and longlivety a BAD thing for a game is beyond me...

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/...on/review.html

Hellinas

**Ciaran** · 12-12-2005, 19:13

I suppose that depends on the audience the reviewer aims at. If it´s mainly people who give up if they didn´t get all a games´ mechanics withing five minutes, then it actually is the correct thing to say.

**hellenes** · 12-12-2005, 19:18

Easy setting?
Playing RTW first?
Playing Madden instead?
anyway...the reviewer should have states that hes a Big Rigs fan and end the review there...

Hellenes

**A.Saturnus** · 12-12-2005, 22:51

Well, the truth is that for non-hardcore players, RTW is a rather difficult game. I think almost all reviewers have agreed on that much and for us, who are undoubtly to be classified as hardcore players, it´s a bit difficult to judge. I´d bet that more than 90% of all those who bought the game wouldn´t call it easy. The other 10% are on this board.
I for one, don´t play a game in the first place to have a challenge but to have fun. If a game is so hard that it´s frustrating even on the simplest setting, then it´s no fun and that certainly is a minus. That´s not longlivety, that´s rediculous.
That said, BI is an expansion and therefore a higher difficulty can be expected. Considered this, those who can´t even win BI on easy probably wouldn´t like the game anyway.

**professorspatula** · 12-12-2005, 23:23

Well if it's the case that the game is seen as so challenging by some people that it's detrimental to the game experience as a whole, then there's no hope for us hoping the next TW game gets more strategic and complex. If the series has to cater for all these challenged people, by the time the sixth game in the Total War series arrives, it'll be nothing more than simple point and click and flashy non-inactive cutscenes. RTW is far less demanding than the previous games in the series. Often the greatest challenge has been coping with the bugs.

**hellenes** · 12-12-2005, 23:31

Originally Posted by A.Saturnus

Well, the truth is that for non-hardcore players, RTW is a rather difficult game. I think almost all reviewers have agreed on that much and for us, who are undoubtly to be classified as hardcore players, it´s a bit difficult to judge. I´d bet that more than 90% of all those who bought the game wouldn´t call it easy. The other 10% are on this board.
I for one, don´t play a game in the first place to have a challenge but to have fun. If a game is so hard that it´s frustrating even on the simplest setting, then it´s no fun and that certainly is a minus. That´s not longlivety, that´s rediculous.
That said, BI is an expansion and therefore a higher difficulty can be expected. Considered this, those who can´t even win BI on easy probably wouldn´t like the game anyway.

Ill say for your percentage figures that they have same gravity as arguments as me stating that Im the Superman, do you have figures of RTW sales? Is it correct to count one day buyers as people playing the game? I say that 99,999% of RTW purchasers are here on this board, I have NO evidence to prove it but hell I can type whatever I want.
Oddly when a reviewer doesnt like a game because of his personal issues thats called bias...
Well when In a turn based game one can take 50 provinces in 29 turns that says something doesnt it?
As for being rediculus BI still doesnt have any rediculus aspects to it, if you've played RTW enough and know your way with the Programmed Opponnent (for marketing purposes called "AI") there is NO way you lose if you have a basic grasp of tactics...
Agreed with professor...
People are so nicely dumbed down in mainstream that there is no requirement for much complex coding thus cutting down the cost...
Smart buisness for stupid people...

Hellenes

**Come Together** · 12-13-2005, 02:02

Originally Posted by hellenes

IlI say that 99,999% of RTW purchasers are here on this board, I have NO evidence to prove it but hell I can type whatever I want.

Whoa, there is about 1 million people on this board? holy cow. And you're opinion seems a little extreme(and biased) but, it's a free internet i guess.

**A.Saturnus** · 12-13-2005, 22:07

Originally Posted by hellenes

Ill say for your percentage figures that they have same gravity as arguments as me stating that Im the Superman, do you have figures of RTW sales? Is it correct to count one day buyers as people playing the game? I say that 99,999% of RTW purchasers are here on this board, I have NO evidence to prove it but hell I can type whatever I want.

I´d wager that more than 12,574 people bought RTW. Of course you can type whatever you want, but let´s keep it attached to reality.
But hey, I agree with you! For an expansion pack, BI surely isn´t too much of a challenge. But then, that´s still the view of hardcore players (you and me).

BTW, people who are not as good as you in a PC game aren´t necessarily dumber than you. Please, do us both a favour and don´t argue with that.

P.S.

Well when In a turn based game one can take 50 provinces in 29 turns that says something doesnt it?

Did you do that without extermination?

**Viking** · 12-16-2005, 18:33

Originally Posted by A.Saturnus

Well, the truth is that for non-hardcore players, RTW is a rather difficult game.

I was introduced to the TW series by RTW, and hadn`t played other strategy games than Settlers and RA.
It looked difficult when I first started playing, and I stressed a hell lot to not let the Gauls overrun me in my first campaign. However, I did barely loose a single battle and never lost a settlement.
I was also afraid what would happen when the Roman civil war broke loose, with all the fullstack Scipii and Brutii armies. The war was actually practically won after 5 or more major battles, it just wasn`t challenging at all. But it looked challenging, and that`s probably the experience of the game reviewers too.

**GFX707** · 12-16-2005, 19:27

Well, I have been playing since STW. I found that quite a challenge (this was before I "got it") and played most battles on auto-resolve.

Then came MTW and since I loved the Medieval setting I began to play it more and more and became quite good at it.

Then VI came out and I found it quite challenging, even hard (as Scotland) and even lost a campaign on "Normal"....

Then RTW came out and it was a walkover. OK, I thought, that's because I'm playing the Julii....so I try Carthage and it's still easy...."Very Hard" and it's still easy.

Having said that, the vanilla campaign I am playing now as Carthage on "Very Hard", on the campaign map it's still a challenge (although the strategic AI of this game is somewhat pathetic and I may as well completely ignore diplomacy - someone once said "It's not called Rome Total Diplomacy" but it's the same as a world where everyone is a hero like WoW - when everyone is a hero no one is a hero, well when it's always war it gets boring and repetitive) but as soon as I get to the battle map it's just flank, flank, slaughter. The armies start far too close which means no maneouvring (I miss the AI always picking hills in MTW - Do hills even make a difference in RTW? Not that there are any hills) and just point, click, and wonder whether you're playing RTW or the latest AoE clone. Modding the movement speeds to 2/3 helps tremendously, but I wish there was a way for the armies to start further apart.

I'm sure there's a point in there somewhere.

**Ricgard** · 12-13-2005, 22:40

Originally Posted by hellenes

Easy setting?
Playing RTW first?
Playing Madden instead?
anyway...the reviewer should have states that hes a Big Rigs fan and end the review there...

Hellenes

dude, there's nothing wrong with Big Rigs, as long as you play it right. As for the reviewer, he seems too slow for the genre, as is seen by the background game footage.