Medieval2 ~:cheers:

[Dayve]

I just hope i'll be able to play it with at least large unit sizes with my setup...

[Antagonist]

Obviously my previous post was intended as a joke, when I read that my mind somehow formed the image of somebody frowning at the chaos of battle and executing maneuvers with mouse and keyboard, but then the music suddenly changes, the game zooms in and the guy drops the PC stuff, picks up a gamepad and starts bashing out combos.

Incidentally, this interview came out a few minutes ago and is worth a look. While the screenshots certainly look very nice, the accompaning blurb with comments like "...designed to appeal to all gamers, not just hardcore strategy fans" inclined me to a certain cynicism about how the game would play. But this interview makes me feel a little better about it. It confirms that the talk of combos is an aesthetic innovation intended to make the battles look better, as against a surreal platform-jumping genre-blurring synthesis of real time strategy and beat-em-up. Also the faction list, they have Venice and Milan instead of "The Italians" and also appear to be featuring a nation I've never even heard of, which surprises me.

My main hope is still for increased modability though, since it's unlikely to be the game I really want to play in it's original form.

Antagonist

[Chester]

I agree with many posters comments here. Don't start typing with adreneline in your blood. It looks good, but whocares. Every single game that has come out in the past 5 years has looked good.

Quality Graphics are now industry standard. It's nothing new. All that's ever mattered was the gameplay. And being lovers of history, why else are we here?, I'm sure we will all find that the game is going to be watered down for brain dead 13 year olds.

And one more thing. These new models look very complex, I hope we can find people in this community that can skin them properly.

[Jebus]

Also the faction list, they have Venice and Milan instead of "The Italians".

Yet, they still have 'Spain'.

A crime against the grand battlefield the Iberian peninsula was in the Middle Ages...

[Kralizec]

Religion certainly played a major role in the medieval period and subsequently the religious system in Medieval 2 has more depth than previous Total War games. One aspect of this involves the Priest characters you'll control on the Campaign Map. Priests can be used to spread your religion in their surrounding areas. However, they may turn heretic, in which case they fall under AI control and spread heresy instead, undermining the established religion. If you are deemed to have a problem with heresy in your lands, the Pope may send out an Inquisitor to deal with the situation. As well as reducing heresy, these characters may also denounce nearby characters, and have them tried and executed. Senior Catholic priests can become Cardinals, giving the player influence in the Papacy, and they can even get elected Pope, improving their original faction's standing with the Papal States.

Now this just sounds awesome.

Notice how I said sounds awesome.

[Kralizec]

Yet, they still have 'Spain'.

A crime against the grand battlefield the Iberian peninsula was in the Middle Ages...

They have Portugal in it, and Navarre as an emerging faction. It's certainly an improvement over the original MTW. Just mod your copy of MTW2 and replace "Spanish" with "Castillian"

[the_handsome_viking]

It looks like a fun game and its pretty darned likely that everyone here will buy it when it comes out.

Whatever flaws are found in the game will eventually be corrected through mods.

[Stormy]

Faction list ?

[Dayve]

England, France, Scotland, Holy Roman Empire, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Milan, Venice, Papal States, Sicily, Poland, Russia, Hungary, Byzantium, The Turks, Egypt, The Moors, The Mongols, The Tumurids, The Aztecs.

[Lord Winter]

why must every single game make a big deal about graphics. Why cant they focus on something much more importent such as gameplay.

[LordElrond]

Because graphics dazzle over-eager consumers into quickly buying the 'pretty' game.

[Chester]

Graphics are also easier to make now. Like I said, every game as of late has good graphics. Gameplay is always the challenge. It's what keeps you coming back for more.

In RTW, the only time I really marvel at visuals is when I'm following my calvary into a group of foot soliders. The horses move so nicely, the sound makes it feel more real, the clash between the two groups is exciting.

But in the end I value AI and movement of animation.

[LordElrond]

I really hope they spent a lot of time developing the ai. I feel like RTW suffered a lot from the lack of tactical ai. So far the interviews and game announcements that I have read haven't mentioned anything about the ai that is going to be implemented in the game.

[Ypoknons]

Doesn't it have non-uniform units? EB could really have used that for the barbarians, and the difference would be far more pronounced than during MTW's timeframe - it'd make the Roman uniformity of equipment much more shocking.

One improvement in historical accuracy is getting rid of Italy and making it Venice and Milan.

Give it a chance- without CA, we would have no Total War. Whatever they do to make it better only benefits us, and the units themselves are quite artistically beautiful.

[Modestus]

The Aztecs that’s my biggest worry what the hell are they doing there, that’s very peculiar I think their part of a mini campaign not sure but if their somehow part of the main game then that’s a good indication that any underlying programmes dealing with religion or politics could be very basic once again.

[Wardo]

Looks spectacular though!! Units get bloodier and muddier as the battle progresses, each soldier in a unit looks different from the other. It's probably not going to be terribly historically accurate, but by golly it looks like a shitload of fun! I know I can't wait.

Exactly, if it's as good as RTW then it's only a graphics update, but better graphics are better than nothing, as long as it doesn't play worse than RTW. The "combo" thing must be like Black & White 2, while units in BW2 are totally unrealistic and arcadish, they look AWESOME, you can actually zoom in all the way and watch them FIGHT, of course, they do some unrealistic moves, but it's a fantasy game anyway.

My only concern are the Aztecs and the strategic map, somehow I think it would be easier to code a good AI for a "province", risk type of map (even hexagons) than this free-roaming map, of course, it would need TONS more "provinces" than the Original MTW had so that we could actually manouver around, maybe a free-roaming mode within a province mode? Something never tried before, two armies move into the same province, then they take turns free-roaming inside that province untill they retreat or engage in battle, nah, this is too complicated, too complex and too hard to be made in a pleasant way, but it would add supply issues, ie. if you cut out an Army by conquering the provinces behind it (encircle) he would need to supply itself from the province he's in and if that province doesn't have enough food for his army they die or start deserting, of course armies could have their own supply wagons, so they can survive X number of turns, like a garrison in siege can survive X number of turns.

But the Aztecs, what the hell, how is this going to work? A Mini-map? A "Viking Invasion" of sorts?

No offense, but I find the Aztec war much more boring than other conflicts, personal preference I guess, if I was in CA, I wouldn't pick the Aztecs for a mini-campaign, but I guess we'll have to wait and see, who knows, maybe it's fun, I hope...

[Stormy]

England, France, Scotland, Holy Roman Empire, Denmark, Spain, Portugal, Milan, Venice, Papal States, Sicily, Poland, Russia, Hungary, Byzantium, The Turks, Egypt, The Moors, The Mongols, The Tumurids, The Aztecs.

Thanks.

[Mr Jones]

lots of these new features don't seem all that important to me... i mean, is it really that great that troops will hav individual faces?

[Ypoknons]

lots of these new features don't seem all that important to me... i mean, is it really that great that troops will hav individual faces?

Please! Please! This is supposed to be a happy occasion! Let's not bicker and argue about who killed who.

[Lord Winter]

lots of these new features don't seem all that important to me... i mean, is it really that great that troops will hav individual faces?

I agree why cant CA focus on other things instead, the majority of people will probably turn done the visual quality just so they can play without any lag.

[LorDBulA]

Personally i find it good that MTW 2 is based on RTW engine and not on some new one. It means that they dont have to put as much work in the engine, and they can concentrate on more important things like adding new features, impoving AI etc.
RTW is very good engine, i am quite happy with it, and with a bit more complexity like descriped in interview it can be brilliant.
I hope that it will be like STW and MTW basicly similar graphic (the same angine) but MTW was much more complex.
I hope that they will develop features that where cut out from RTW but where most definitely WIP. Army supplies for example. In RTW files we can see clearly that this was planed but was cut out.
And ow boy i really would like them to introduce more complex scripting, if they would do this them MTW 2 would be fabulous platform for modding.

And no, afther RTW i could never go back to province tape campaigne map like in STW, MTW or Risk.

[aleh]

I think by Tumurid, he means Timurid, as in the Empire founded by Timur...But it only started existing in the late 1300s. Which means it'll be in the Late/High era. Sorta like the Novgorods in the original(I think). I don't know, I have no hope whatsoever for this, it'll look good, it'll perform better. But to bring the gameplay to its full capabilities, it'll have to be a mod. And if the EB team, or another one puts the same effort into that as was put into EB. We'll have to wait till late 2007, early 2008 for something like EB.

And...the Aztecs? I mean come on. They're basically stuck in the Americas. It'll no doubt have to be a non-playable faction there so that the Americas aren't an easy ride for whomever gets there.

I think the hottest fighting will be in the Italian peninsula with three factions occupying a relatively small space. I'm happy they included the Moors, that'll rock.

Though I would love it if a mod(*coughEBcoughEBcough*) expanded the map south and included some of the Central and Eastern African civilizations. Perhaps the Mali Empire, the Axumite(severely weakened of course), the Kanem-Bornu. And perhaps some expanding city-states/kingdoms(a-la Milan/Venice) like Mombassa since it was the greatest trading center in Eastern Africa unless I'm mistaken. But I am biased in favour of that region Or heck, something in the Horn of Africa, that expands eastwards into the Arabian peninsula and northwards into the Nile region(I think). But hey, what am I saying, eh?

[EdwardL]

No need to be pessimistic here..

lets do some innovative thinking as to how to explain their new ideas and innovations to TW series..

"Spain": the game starts 1080 a.d. at which point this nation would be referred to as the kingdom of castile. However, by the time it will end, 1530 a.d. it has become spain. we'd like to hope that this is worked out through the progress of campaign. lets give CA the benefit of the doubt.

"Aztecs": Alot was going on in the new world in the 1500's.. the age of discovery. The struggle between european nations in the caribbean was just getting under way. Legendary SPANISH conquistadors were beginning to make a name for themselves; Cortez, Pizarro, just to name a few. Desoto and his journeys. The original MTW actually had 3 campaign maps: Early, High, and Late era maps. although only slightly different from each other, one could hope that since CA already has a war engine already established, that they would have time to make a new world map exclusive of europe.

Rome Total War vs Medieval Total War 2: I remember for like a month straight prior to its release that i was making constant phone calls to every game shop in town trying to find out if they would happen to be getting it in earlier than the other guy, learning that it had been pushed back several times grr. I even asked for the strategy guide just to have something to at least keep me occupied prior to its release. When i finally called the day of its release and heard "yeah we have it", sure enough i fired up the camaro and hit 100 on the i-state to get to Gamestop. My girlfriend went with me and thought i was just out of my mind over a computer game. RTW didnt turn out to be what i expected.. games never do, but RTW still ended out a damn fine game.. in some ways better than i expected, and the modding community helped make it that way. MTW2 wont turn out to be what we expect, but modders like the EB team, RTR team, and the great guys at the forge and strat center will make sure a good quality product with result in the end. My girlfriend is no longer with me, but RTW and its mods still are hehe.

Also you should wonder on questions such as when will the Total War series finally be all inclusive of a "total war" it proclaims and finally introduce naval battles

[King of the dutch]

I really don't get what's the fuss about. Just look at it. It looks wicked! And it doesn't mean you have to buy a whole new PC. Look at R:TW compared to M:TW. My comp doesn't have more trouble with R:TW than with M:TW. Systemrequirements for R:TW are nothing: 1 GHz 256 mbram. That's peanuts!
Maybe now they will actually want you to have 512mb ram! Look at Fear. Now there is a game i can hardly play coz of the high requirements. And all this realism talk. I think EB is cool. But you guys (the history freak tpye a guy, yes i'm one too ) are NOT the MARKET. Everyone else is. If CA doesnt sell games to a LOT of ahistorical people that just want to 'kick ass' they WON'T BE MAKE GEMES ANYMORE (Sorry for shouting).

I think the game will be great, aztecs will be great, cannons will be great. It will be massive. IF they do the battles like the original M:TW it's a killer.
I understand (some) of the feelings but i think CA is as realistic as a professional game developer with an interest in money has to be. Without CA, EB/RTR/MundusMagnus/Terrae EXpunthingy/napolenic:TW II/Warmap/LOTR TW/ wouldn't exist. (all IMHO) So be happy for a change. They're back:

3

Greetz kotd

[Krusader]

lots of these new features don't seem all that important to me... i mean, is it really that great that troops will hav individual faces?

I know of some EB members who'd like to sell their souls to create different helmets for Macedonian phalangitai or KH hoplites with different shields.

[Proper Gander]

cool! cavalry can hover in the air now!

http://www.tothegame.com/res/game/49...een5_large.jpg

they're not even touched up very well if you look closely....
before RTW i had a "buy it without reading a review" mentality towards TW.

now it's a "read reviews, play demos, visit 5 foras, then think about what else i could do with the money for a week and then decide if i really want to RISK it" mentality....

i don't think TW will ever be the same as it used to, i hope it will, but i doubt it.

[TB666]

cool! cavalry can hover in the air now!

http://www.tothegame.com/res/game/49...een5_large.jpg

They are on a hill
And you can see it quite clearly.

[aleh]

Look at the small spacing diagonal to the upper-left-most section of the trebuchet. Above and a slightly to the right of the soldier with the yellow brigandine(I think), which seems to be covered up(the right side of his body) by the trebuchet's shadow. There's a small spacing of green, they are on a hill true, but the two horses's hooves are clearly not touching the ground, there's a small(or not so small depending on how you look at it) space between the green of the raised hill, and the darkish-light blue of the sky. Or else the riders have freakishly long legs.

[TB666]

Look at the small spacing diaganol to the upper-left-most section of the trebuchet. Above and a slightly to the right of the soldier with the yellow brigandine(I think), which seems to be covered up(the right side of his body) by the trebuchet's shadow. There's a small spacing of green, they are on a hill true, but the two horses's hooves are clearly not touching the ground, there's a small(or not so small depending on how you look at it) space between the green of the raised hill, and the darkish-light blue of the sky. Or else the riders have freakishly long legs.

Oh I see it hehe.
That don't even look like a horse.
I see the end of a horse that clearly touches the ground but the other thing don't like like a horse.

[Proper Gander]

it's not just that, they generally look so wrong in there. clearly not an ingame screenshot.

we were showered with screenshots of RTW with units in them that never managed it into the game. even walls, that didn't manage it into the game. even wonders that were intergrated after complaints!

so basically, it's a lont way to go, these screenshots are merely promotional. let's see what the game actually looks like. i won't be fooled a second time, i'm not THAT stupid.