Introduction

[Gadzie]

Hi All, just wanted to say that STW is probably my favorite game of all time.. UFO and Civilization would have to get a mention as well. I bought RTW but just got annoyed with the micro management once you take most of the cities and constantly quelling uprisings. Maybe I missed out with MTW.. was it a nice balance of the two games?

Anyway, merry xmas to everyone...

[lugh]

First, welcome to the forums!

I haven't played STW and RTW extensivlely (borrowed them off a friend), so myabe I'm biased, but I think MTW is the best of the three. STW was a little too spartan (I'm stiull buying it eventually though) and RTW was too much flash, not enough substance, though I've heard good things about the BI upgrade combined with some of the mods available. I'll get around to buying it eventually too.

The MTW/VI battle pack is getting pretty cheap. I've seen copies online for about $15 and SoldOut will probably buy it eventually, driving the price even further down.

[Monarch]

Welcome to the forums Gadzie.

PS. Does anybody have the link for 'SoldOut' I've heard it mentioned quite alot around here...

[Martok]

Cheers, Gadzie! I have Shogun and Medieval, and I really enjoy both of them. That said, I do play Medieval far more often than Shoggy. It really depends on what type of strategy game is more your style, though.

My personal opnion is that Shogun is better than Medieval in terms of atmosphere, immersiveness, and its elegant simplicity (or "spartan-ness", as Lugh perceives it; to each his own ). I would also say that the AI is a little better, but again that owes to Shoggy's simplicity, as the there are fewer factions and far fewer units for the AI to keep track of.

So why do I still like Medieval more than its older brother? Well, part of it is that for me, I'm simply more interested in Medieval's time period (although I admit Shoggy did spark in me an interest in the culture of Japan and the Far East in general). Also, while MTW doesn't quite measure up to Shogun's AI and atmosphere, it still comes in a close second!

The main difference between the two games, however, is that Medieval is more complex. There's more factions, units, & agents; there's castle battles, plus to mention the increased role of religion (Jihads and Crusades are tons of fun!).... Some people find MTW to be a little too much to chew on, and I completely understand and respect that. But for me, Medieval's increased complexity gives it far higher gameplay and replayability factors. As much as I love Shogun, it tends to get a bit....stale relatively quickly. (Hence why I don't play it as often; I don't want to actually get tired of it!) With Medieval, on the other hand, I can play it over and over, and it's a different game almost every time.