Mid term reviews thread...

[Barry Fitzgerald]

Thought it would be interesting to see if anyone has any thoughts on the game having played it for some time.

Esp regards their ist impressions...has it grown on you? Or are you colder towards it. Would you change your rating?

More of a general talk, rather than specific issues. As we already have issues/bugs threads etc.

So how do you rate it having played for a good bit already. Is this the best TW yet? If so what is rocking your boat...? If not why not?

What were you expecting this time around? And does this hit the spot!




I want to play some more myself before I comment again in detail....

[NagatsukaShumi]

AS a gamer, yes the game does indeed "hit the spot" thus far and I am enjoying the experience that it has given me. Ignoring historical inaccuracies and bugs that have been noted by CA for fixing has allowed me to enjoy myself whilst playing it, yes as a modder theres not much I can do there BUT as a gamer I am glad tosay I am loving this new installment, probably helped by the setting it is based in.

[Frantz]

Stretegic level = 9/10 so much improved from rome ( i just lack borgognone , swiss and aragonese ... )

Tactical level = is a 5/10 with the "dead AI" bug , would be a 9 if addressed , i ca watch for hours the troops marching into battle ...

right now is a 7/10 ... will be a 9/10 if they address the ai code

played at 0.5 ... around 480 turns with sicilians

[econ21]

I want to play some more myself before I comment again in detail....

I know - that's the problem with this thread. It's still a bit soon for most of us with busy lives.

My view of RTW really only changed into my second full campaign. My first Julii campaign was like a whirlwind romance - I was swept off my feet. My second campaign was like a messy 6 week old marriage ending in abruptly in disillusionment and a quickie divorce[1].

I'd be really interested to hear from people who have actually finished a long M2TW campaign. And even - bearing in mind my personal experience with RTW - people have made a serious effort at a second one.

At this time, that's asking a bit much but it would be good if anyone posting "second impressions" here could indicate:

1. How far in their campaign(s) they are.
2. Which faction(s) they have played.
3. What difficulty level(s) they have played.

Eg I am just turn 90 of England on VH/VH and think that disqualifies me from giving a genuine "second opinion" on the game.






[1]There was a happy ending, though, as a few months later, my ex got an RTR-makeover and we've been head over heels ever since, as you can see from our happy, bounching children, the Will of the Senate PBM threads in the Throne Room:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=64989

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=65721

[Barry Fitzgerald]

Well it may be a tad early for some...and of course with a patch due..it could make a significant difference to people's view of things.

But knowing some TW players as I do..I can imagine lots of coffee cups collecting on the desk.! lol

[Vuk]

No ones finished a campaign YET!!!!!!!! WOW, you guys...

[Lord Condormanius]

But knowing some TW players as I do..I can imagine lots of coffee cups collecting on the desk.! lol

I have two ashtrays that are so full they are overflowing.

[afrit]

Still on my first France H/H campaign, turn 54. May need the XMas break to get it finished...

So far much better than RTW...

[IRONxMortlock]

I abandoned my first campaign as the French around turn 80. At first, I really wasn't impressed with the game and I wasn't eager to click on the M2TW icon on the desktop when I'd sit down at my computer. Sure the graphics were nice but I was finding it difficult to figure out what was going on and on the battlefield I couldn't get my troops to do what I wanted like I was able to with RTW. In short, I had no idea what I was doing.

I'm now at about turn 65 of an English campaign and I'm enjoying the game much more! I was able to make good decisions and develop good strategies on the campaign map from the start and I've worked out how to control my troops properly on the battlefield.

I think the problem I initially had with the game was starting as the French. Too many borders put too much on my plate at a time when I was still learning how to play.

To sum up, the game has definitely grown on me and I look forward to trying other factions in the future.

[GFX707]

Right now I just abandoned my second campaign as Scotland as it was bogged down in the way RTW got on VH in the campaign, i.e stack after stack besieging your cities resulting in endless, boring repelling of AI assaults only to have the next AI country declare war on you, then another, then another.

I really enjoyed the game at first, but that was probably just because of the differences between M2TW and RTW....then I began to see that the campaign was still much the same - try to achieve something while opponent after opponent breaks alliances with you to commit suicide by declaring war on you....wars the country in question has no chance of winning because they are already at war and your country is twice the size of theirs....sigh.

If it's not that it's the hour-long 3fps city assaults where the AI tries to insert its entire army simultaneously onto 1 siege tower or ladder and you basically have the choice of waiting 2 hours for the battle to end, or just quitting the game. Fun.

As someone who has played since Shogun I am still finding the TW series going downhill. I think it's just that 3D campaign map, it just doesn't really work. If it went realtime in the next one that might solve the problem, but I am so sick of having to babysit my 10000 agents past the "path blocked" spam or watch the same animation of an army/agent walking at a ridiculously low speed backwards, only to lose my place if I try to right click it to speed it up, or have to wait for the diplomat animation to play every turn when they are standing outside one of my cities....it just adds up.

There is still one battle every once in a while that makes it worth it, but most of the time it's just the first few battles of a campaign that feel exciting and challenging, like you're actually achieving something, and then you realise you're just going to be in for more of the same suicidal AI and moronic decision making by the computer. In my current Moors campaign I am watching the Spanish walk around on the map with about 10 1-unit stacks while at war with me, and garrison their cities with 1 general's unit, etc. etc.

Not to mention the completely pointless alliance option. That's probably the number one annoyance in the TW series.

[PaulTa]

I abandoned my first campaign as the French around turn 80. At first, I really wasn't impressed with the game and I wasn't eager to click on the M2TW icon on the desktop when I'd sit down at my computer. Sure the graphics were nice but I was finding it difficult to figure out what was going on and on the battlefield I couldn't get my troops to do what I wanted like I was able to with RTW. In short, I had no idea what I was doing.

I'm now at about turn 65 of an English campaign and I'm enjoying the game much more! I was able to make good decisions and develop good strategies on the campaign map from the start and I've worked out how to control my troops properly on the battlefield.

I think the problem I initially had with the game was starting as the French. Too many borders put too much on my plate at a time when I was still learning how to play.

To sum up, the game has definitely grown on me and I look forward to trying other factions in the future.

If you can't handle the fire, don't touch HRE.

[IRONxMortlock]

If you can't handle the fire, don't touch HRE.

Oh I like the fire all right but when you're trying to learn this game it makes to so confusing it just isn't fun.

[geala]

I have not finished a campaign but it was near year 1530 with HRE on H/H and I could have finished it easily (had over 40 countries). Instead I went to the new world and fought the mighty Aztecs (not very successfully I have to commit ).

Because time was too short to settle things there I decided to start another campaign, as Spain on H/H (where I set the end date to 1590). It's now turn 90 and much more relaxing play as with HRE.

My point of view? I like it better than RTW because I prefer the medieval setting and the better possibilities for a tech tree. I miss the long epic battles of MTW when you sometimes had to replace your ranged units several times because of the sustained fighting. But I hated the MTW risk map and what happened to economy when war started. So MTW battles with M2TW campaign map would be fine.

I can live with the bugs so far. I had the AI sleep bug not so often. Balance could be better indeed, esp. for cavalry (and assassins, grrh). I never believed in the announced great improvement of the AI so I am not that disappointed. What I really desire is the unpacker to set some things right myself, f.e. the costs and stats of some troops, mainly artillery. More different mercenary units would be fine, too.

Before patching I would not start a third campaign. After patching perhaps I will take a look to the Turks for the different scenario they offer.

[Lord of the Isles]

After roughly 150 turns as Scotland on M/M, England on H/H and Sicily on H/VH (all on 1 year = 1 turn)....

I'm somewhere between the bright-shiny-object-disorder feeling I almost always get with a new game and beginning to get used to its weaknesses. I'm still enjoying it but last night I sat down and decided that what-the-hell, I hadn't played GalCivII for a few weeks so went with that instead. That's not a good sign.

I've decided that M or H setting on the campaign map seems to make the diplomacy better for a role-playing turtler like me, as well as possibly toning down the Inquisition (haven't had a problem with Inquisitors in any game, though my playing style keeps me in the Pope's good books mostly). Playing factions with minimal borders probably helps me enjoy the game too - keeping constant wars with neighbours down to a minimum.

The battles have been fine, occasionally very good, though too often the passive AI bug lets me unload all my missiles before closing. Look forward to that being fixed.

Overall, better than RTW so far. I see many areas where CA have attempted to improve on RTW and they deserve credit for that, even where it is arguable whether they have succeeded or not. Looking forward to the first patch and an unpacker so the modders can really get to grips with it.