What Total War do you think is the best and why?

[Veles Shadow]

My Fav is RTW because I know all the fations there I've played it loads and I have about 3 Mega Campains ! It is also the First Total War game with Really Good Graphics My Fav Faction is Seleucids.What TW Games are your Fav and why?

[Shieldmaiden]

You know the thread will just turn into a graphics vs gameplay argument? As usual...

But, my personal favourite TW is Rome, because of its playability (the older TW's have a clunky interface IMHO) and my interest in the period

However, for pure gameplay I'd pick Shogun Its just a classic, and still feels fresh years later (I find its tactical depth - and especially AI - superior to Rome).

[The Wandering Scholar]

I have played Shogun, Medieval and ome, out of them I would say Rome purely because better graphics means better gameplay. Rome has a campaign map which is smooth instead of clunky ie you can move anywhere on Rome, you can only move into the next province on MTW and STW. PLus the time period is more interesting IMO although there was wars galore in the other time frames. ETW/ M2TW should be better, yes you guesse4d it better graphics = better gameplay. Even though the time frames are not as interesting with them two more recent games. R2TW if it is ever brought out would top it all IMO. It would be good to see a replica of the enormous barbarian armies in that game even if that means that the graphics are sub-par.

[Charge]

better graphics means better gameplay

Now that is

or

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

M:TW, although I must confess that Shogun was a classic also.

Graphics in a game a relatively irrelevant factor in enjoyment I can get out of it. In my opinion, they are only really needed to show the player the essentials of what's going on. Yes, it may be nice to have a photo-realistic experience, but when it comes down to it other factors are much more critical.

On that note, M:TW/S:TW style graphics actually serve the purpose of showing the player what is going on better than Rome and it's successors. Units are easier to define when zoomed out - in Rome everything transforms to a blur of sprites. This is essential for players such as myself, who prefer to watch a battle from overhead rather than from down on the soldier's level of things.

Moving away from the eye-candy perspective, M:TW and S:TW has much better AI both on the field and on the campaign map. R:TW has the major issue of an AI that lacks power and tactical ability. This was effected by the campaign map's change from "risk" style map to a more RTS style map and the complete rewrite for the battle field AI. The AI seems incompetent at flanking and skirmishing. It also doesn't deal with many player tactics correctly, often leaving it vulnerable to exploits which the player can use. This cam make battles unchallenging for a more experienced player.

Another key issue is battle speed. R:TW runs like a Charlie Chaplin movie on fast forward - in other words, painfully fast. Although I could tolerate it when I first entered the TW series, when moving back to it from M:TW, I was forced to tediously modify the files to give units more hitpoints. This speed also leaves less room for both the player and the AI to use any tactical abilities that it may want to.

M:TW is feature filled with epic civil revolts, treason, plot and political intrigue. When it comes to this sort of thing, R:TW is, well, fairly empty. Although it does have some nice new features, such as the "improved" diplomacy, these are often completely broken or the AI simply doesn't know how to use them. There isn't the depth that M:TW has in pretty much every respect.

R:TW is also too easy. I've managed to build up a small Empire (all of Spain and part of Italy to a thin strip of upper Greece) in M:TW, but it took me from the start of the early period to 1453 to actually complete. I was also not the most powerful faction - the English were a lot more successful that me, and the Byzantines were battering me on the Greek front. Building up this empire took me many attempts. Several times I failed in my take over bids and had to start again. Also several times I foolishly declared war on the English, and had them landing in all my coastal provinces within a matter of a few short turns.

In R:TW I've only lost a campaign once and, regardless of who I play as, I always seem to end up controlling a large mass of land very quickly. This isn't helped by the ease of fund raising - in my largest M:TW empire I've never earnt more than 2,000 florins per turn (after costs have been subtracted). In R:TW a similar sized empire would be granting me infinite funds of about 50,000 denarii+ per turn.

[The Wandering Scholar]

Well said. Still eyecandy is important to me.

[Horseman]

Well I've played them all many times over and they all have their unique points. But overall my fave is RTW - Mainly because its the time period I am most interested in.

I do still play all the others though, depending on my whim at the time!

[Ravie]

Shogun... 'nuff said.

[Martok]

M:TW, although I must confess that Shogun was a classic also.

Graphics in a game a relatively irrelevant factor in enjoyment I can get out of it. In my opinion, they are only really needed to show the player the essentials of what's going on. Yes, it may be nice to have a photo-realistic experience, but when it comes down to it other factors are much more critical.

On that note, M:TW/S:TW style graphics actually serve the purpose of showing the player what is going on better than Rome and it's successors. Units are easier to define when zoomed out - in Rome everything transforms to a blur of sprites. This is essential for players such as myself, who prefer to watch a battle from overhead rather than from down on the soldier's level of things.

Moving away from the eye-candy perspective, M:TW and S:TW has much better AI both on the field and on the campaign map. R:TW has the major issue of an AI that lacks power and tactical ability. This was effected by the campaign map's change from "risk" style map to a more RTS style map and the complete rewrite for the battle field AI. The AI seems incompetent at flanking and skirmishing. It also doesn't deal with many player tactics correctly, often leaving it vulnerable to exploits which the player can use. This cam make battles unchallenging for a more experienced player.

Another key issue is battle speed. R:TW runs like a Charlie Chaplin movie on fast forward - in other words, painfully fast. Although I could tolerate it when I first entered the TW series, when moving back to it from M:TW, I was forced to tediously modify the files to give units more hitpoints. This speed also leaves less room for both the player and the AI to use any tactical abilities that it may want to.

M:TW is feature filled with epic civil revolts, treason, plot and political intrigue. When it comes to this sort of thing, R:TW is, well, fairly empty. Although it does have some nice new features, such as the "improved" diplomacy, these are often completely broken or the AI simply doesn't know how to use them. There isn't the depth that M:TW has in pretty much every respect.

R:TW is also too easy. I've managed to build up a small Empire (all of Spain and part of Italy to a thin strip of upper Greece) in M:TW, but it took me from the start of the early period to 1453 to actually complete. I was also not the most powerful faction - the English were a lot more successful that me, and the Byzantines were battering me on the Greek front. Building up this empire took me many attempts. Several times I failed in my take over bids and had to start again. Also several times I foolishly declared war on the English, and had them landing in all my coastal provinces within a matter of a few short turns.

In R:TW I've only lost a campaign once and, regardless of who I play as, I always seem to end up controlling a large mass of land very quickly. This isn't helped by the ease of fund raising - in my largest M:TW empire I've never earnt more than 2,000 florins per turn (after costs have been subtracted). In R:TW a similar sized empire would be granting me infinite funds of about 50,000 denarii+ per turn.

^^^ What he said.

Medieval is my favorite, with Shogun an extremely close second. I place MTW first since I enjoy the time period more, but STW is actually the better overall game IMO.

Rome and Medieval 2 are both far, far behind the other two titles. As Omanes has said, pretty graphics are nice, but are absolutely no subsitute for great gameplay.

[Judge]

i must say i have stw, mtw/vi, rtw,bi, mtw2 and kingdoms............

without a doubt the best game i played is MTW/VI

[caravel]

out of them I would say Rome purely because better graphics means better gameplay

ETW/ M2TW should be better, yes you guesse4d it better graphics = better gameplay.

So as a somewhat fitting analogy: better CGI equals better acting/plot/storyline!?

[The Wandering Scholar]

Since when has a TW game had acting, plots and storylines? these are not plausible criteria.

I seem to have been ridiculed slightly by my opinion of graphics meaning better game play, yes I may have confused opinion with fact but generally they are all the same, different timescales with a campaign map and battles so therefore the game which portrays that campaign map and that battle map should be the best.

The graphics of the later titles are far better than the earlier ones which obviously the case. Therefore IMO (not fact) the later titles are better. Since RTW is IMO the most interesting era RTW is the best game.

[caravel]

Since when has a TW game had acting, plots and storylines? these are not plausible criteria.

It was an analogy and an entirely plausible one. You are effectively saying that "if it looks good it plays good". This quite simply isn't true. There is no way that any amount of eye candy can rescue an otherwise crap game.

I seem to have been ridiculed slightly by my opinion of graphics meaning better game play, yes I may have confused opinion with fact but generally they are all the same, different timescales with a campaign map and battles so therefore the game which portrays that campaign map and that battle map should be the best.

Some might say that you've invited ridicule with that statement, simply because it doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

The graphics of the later titles are far better than the earlier ones which obviously the case.

True.

Therefore IMO (not fact) the later titles are better.

That's fine if it's your opinion. But in your previous post you were making the statement "better graphics = better gameplay".

Since RTW is IMO the most interesting era RTW is the best game.

I agree that RTW is loosely based upon what is quite arguably the most interesting period - just to make it clear that we agree on that point. What I disagree with is the statement that RTW is the best TW game which it clearly is not.

As far as graphics are concerned RTW has been surpassed by M2TW and for the record I don't think it's low poly clone armies were ever that much to get excited about anyway. In terms of gameplay, balance and AI, RTW is found severely wanting in all three departments. Also as far as historical accuracy is concerned RTW is probably the worst title in the series for this.

You need to ask yourself why RTW has been the the most heavily modded TW game in terms of historical realism and gameplay mods based on the same era as the vanilla game. Yes RTW is more moddable than previous titles but why is it that the most popular mods are not those based on other eras and settings, but are the realism and gameplay ones? This points to pronounced deficiencies and shortcomings in the vanilla game.

[The Wandering Scholar]

It was an analogy and an entirely plausible one. You are effectively saying that "if it looks good it plays good". This quite simply isn't true. There is no way that any amount of eye candy can rescue an otherwise crap game.

What I said was better graphics make better gameplay ie the Halo series. With this example I am not talking about the campaign which is not what interests people. So therefore people buy the game for multiplayer (stay with me here) and why do people buy 1 then 2 then 3? The answer is simple better graphics, better weapons etc. This does not mean that Halo 1 was bad just the improvement in technology makes Halo 3 more appealing.

Some might say that you've invited ridicule with that statement, simply because it doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

I like you caravel, you structure your arguments in a way which is most pleasant. I have to take it back with that dross. How does my comment not make sense? In effect the TW series are the same game: Campaign map + Battlemap = TW. Much like my Halo example. In effect STW should be TW, MTW should be TW2 etc it is the same game spruced up. Therefore the later titles should be the best and they are but I have not played anything later than RTW (or TW3) therefore IMO RTW is the best game.

I agree that RTW is loosely based upon what is quite arguably the most interesting period - just to make it clear that we agree on that point. What I disagree with is the statement that RTW is the best TW game which it clearly is not.

I agree ETW should be the best.

As far as graphics are concerned RTW has been surpassed by M2TW and for the record I don't think it's low poly clone armies were ever that much to get excited about anyway. In terms of gameplay, balance and AI, RTW is found severely wanting in all three departments. Also as far as historical accuracy is concerned RTW is probably the worst title in the series for this.

Historical accuracy is a difficult subject I think that CA tried (and could well have failed) to appeal more to the casual gamer in RTW who are not bothered about historical accuracy. It is mainly critised on forums for the game like this one where the majority of members are interested in history, casual gamers IMO are not interested so much. The low poly clone armies are much better in RTW than they were in STW and MTW. Although sprites are an issue but are not nearly enough to put Rome last (or for that matter second).

You need to ask yourself why RTW has been the the most heavily modded TW game in terms of historical realism and gameplay mods based on the same era as the vanilla game. Yes RTW is more moddable than previous titles but why is it that the most popular mods are not those based on other eras and settings, but are the realism and gameplay ones? This points to pronounced deficiencies and shortcomings in the vanilla game.

But there are gameplay mods for previous titles. More could suggest a larger following.

[Motep]

MTW, it the first I played, and in my mind is the best. (havent played shogun or M2TW, so, meh...) I enjoy the game immensely, and only wish my computer could still play it. Lord knows I miss it. I love the strategic elelment, and I just have so many great memories of that game, that I can harly stand not playing it again. (one of my best is conquering europe with an army of peasants, and later being quickly pushed back to england by the islamic nations and russia. I did lose that one, but still, it was a very fun experience)

[eddy_purpus]

yea ummm .
I dont have favorites .
i like them all in diferent ways .
when it comes to RTW . . . the gameplay is at its best . . . the graphics are not too bad nor too good . they are just fine .
but referring to M2TW it looks a little more realistic i think .
beacuse in a unit , every soldier is dressed in diferent ways and that . its artistic but the gameplay somewhat i dont like it too much . when fighting on the battlefield . its just too slow . maybe its my graphic card . but yeah it is a cool game
you can build castles and convert them to cities . i like the M2TW recruitment type . . . as the settlement grows .
the rec slots are more available and you can form an army faster than rome total war . i like that . . .
if they could put that recruitment type in RTWBE it would be way better but you cant have it all
soo yeah i like em all


Edvard0

[dark_disclosure]

i dont think just one is the best i still have fun playing the good old ones and the new ones alike but i seem to find myself strangly addicted to Rome Total War atm specially the Bare Bones Mod