New interview - only 5 starting factions !

[hellenes]

The next thing to expect is a port to Nintendo Wii....

[Lord Adherbal]

this is nothing new (compared to RTW), I don't understand how some of you are surprised/disappointed by it. The first thing I did when I installed RTW is unlock Carthage so I could play the faction I wanted too. I don't have a favorite in MTW2 so it doesnt really matter there. But it only takes 2 minutes to unlock all factions.

[Puzz3D]

It's one of the improvements over RTW. Now you have 5 starting factions instead of 3. Wait until you see the improvements in the battles.

[CBR]

It's one of the improvements over RTW. Now you have 5 starting factions instead of 3. Wait until you see the improvements in the battles.

Well I sure hope its not more than 5 factions or its gonna be too complicated for some...


CBR

[sunsmountain]

It's one of the improvements over RTW. Now you have 5 starting factions instead of 3. Wait until you see the improvements in the battles.

Yeah, didn't you read it? Now you have 2-4 sequential (random, not necessarily logical) attack moves, instead of just the underhand & overhand smash alternating. That should bring kill rates down, a good thing, right? And 5 starting factions only means those 5 will get extra content, while the others get less focus. My guess is:

Egypt (Islamic)
Byzantium Greek (Orthodox)
England (North European Catholic)
Spain (South European Catholic)
Germany (North European Catholic) or France


First 3: Definitely. Spain, I hope so (enjoyed them thoroughly in MTW). Germany or France then seem likely.

[Little Legioner]

Originally Posted by Puzz3D
It's one of the improvements over RTW. Now you have 5 starting factions instead of 3. Wait until you see the improvements in the battles.

Let me say you what's gonna be?! Timurid Katyusha rocket launchers may be?

Who cares realism let's have some fun! Lets make the game just more accesible right? We are just old school bunch of funs only future lies in console players.

But it only takes 2 minutes to unlock all factions.

Yes 2 minutes for factions but it's only first step. Couple of months for a realism mods and etc etc. Yeah we know rest of story well...

[Mikhal]

Great news! will read it as soon as i get the time.

and yes its really easy to unlock whatever faction you want. I always go with my favorite faction the first time as that the game gets more challenging when you dont know evrything about it and i really love to meet enemy armies with fearsome units that i diden't have a clue about that they exsisted at all.

hope that Russia will be hard to play as thats my faction.

[hoetje]

I don't see a problem with only 5 initial factions
I like to unlock other factions :P

[TB666]

No problem with this either.
I can spare 1 minute to move some stuff around in a txt-file.
It was so damn easy in RTW.

Timurid Katyusha rocket launchers may be?

Indeed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin_Ki_Chon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_artillery#History
damn you CA for adding a historical accurate weapon.

[Duke John]

The new environment rendering system has allowed us to create impassable terrain for the first time in the series [...]

Huh?
If this guy doesn't remember the features of M:TW then I have little hope that he remembers what else made M:TW superior to R:TW. It seems to me that CA does his best to cut loose from M:TW and S:TW and sees R:TW as a new starting point of the series. I guess it's time for me to do the same. No longer will I see M2:TW as a sequel to the excellent M:TW, but as a sequel to R:TW, a game which I did not really like and hardly played at all.

[x-dANGEr]

I think that is a wise decision. I don't want to start with a boring material-less campaign (Numidia), I'd rather start with a rich, feutures-full campaign. (Romans)

[doc_bean]

Wow, this thread turned out a whole lot more negative than I intended, perhaps I should have been more subtle in choosing a title ?

I'm not quite sure what to think of this, on the one hand it does make it easier for new players to choose, and it leaves the possibility for making the other factions harder. OTOH I fear the other factions might not get the same level of attention as those 5, like the generic 'barbarians' in RTW.

This really isn't a buy/no buy deal to me, battle mechanics and AI are, which might be discussed in the next interview. This might get interesting

[Darth Nihilus]

This is funny because I thought to myself last night that they'd never limit the starting factions like they did in RTW and here it is now. At least when they made you play as a roman faction it was somewhat justified in that there was a lot more work put into roman factions and the game was named after those factions. I don't under stand this, but hey whatever, I'll just change it myself. I want to play as Byzantium fisrt anyway and my guess to the five is England, France, HRE, Byzantines, and Egypt. Anyway, before I really bash the game I'll play it fisrt.

[DisruptorX]

I think that is a wise decision. I don't want to start with a boring material-less campaign (Numidia), I'd rather start with a rich, feutures-full campaign. (Romans)

The only time I've ever enjoyed a RTW campaign were my games as Numidia and Spain, two factions that have to be moddable to be playable. The only fun BI campaign I had was as the Berbers.

Its impossible to lose a Roman campaign, and is therefore not even worth playing.

My favourite campaigns in MTW were tiny factions like the Danes, were it takes work to expand and build up forces.

Unlockable factions is pointless and silly, there is no point to it. Unplayable factions is a travesty.

[Akka]

this is nothing new (compared to RTW), I don't understand how some of you are surprised/disappointed by it.

Because we thought they realized how stupid and pointless it was to lock factions ?
It adds nothing to the game but the (granted, slight) annoyance of having to use a "all factions unlocker" at the beginning.
I'm entitled to be disappointed and irritated at idiotic "gameplay features" that have no positive impact and are useful only at exasperating the player.