I apologise for this, I really did try to keep to one post but Ive no idea how to edit posts as I had intended to add a few more points.
Change is good. I remember way back when I was playing the original Warcraft. I loved it and I was dying to play the second. But when I did, I was greatly disappointed and went back to playing the first. I remember being annoyed at things like gyrocopters, ships and gunpowder wheras the first game had been pure medieval. I also loathed the new comedy approach Blizzard had taken (people claim that Warcraft was always humourous, it wasn't). The first game was dark and gritty. And I despised the fog of war which was rare in games back then.
After a time however I grew to love Warcraft 2, until it became my favourite game of all time for a couple of years. I went back to Warcraft as well and I realised that neither of the games was superior to the other. Just different.
For me it's the same thing here.
As a matter of fact I was speaking to a friend on MSN earlier today and I asked him if he had ever played Rome. He said he hasn't because he played Medieval and found the battles too slow for him. Now, on my advice, he is going to give Rome a shot.
Im betting, that there are many more people out there like my friend who would prefer something a bit more thunderous than Medieval. With Rome they can have it. Thats more fans for the Total War games which can only be a good thing for everyone. No-one loses. The Medieval and Shogun fans still have their games. There are of course times when companies totally screw up games sequels, but this really isn't one of them.
I take a great interest in history, but I really am not going to notice historical inaccuracies within a game. Mainly because, Im not particularly looking for them when Im having so much fun. But I think it's great that people create mods to suit their own tastes and as the above posts state, it's thanks to CA that this is possible. I have to say Ive read some modders writings and was a bit taken back by their lack of respect (to say the least) for CA. This was not on this forum by the way.
To expand on the bugs thing, well, look at the scope of the game. It is inconceivable that such a game will ever be free of bugs. It just is not possible. Now look at games released the same year as Rome Total War and even later. Look at how buggy they are, how awful the pathfinding and AI is, then try and say that Rome has those things in a poor quality. It simply doesn't. Sadly, we will have to wait for the year 2351 before AI can imitate Sun Tzu.
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