First Impressions

[Monk]

h-h-here i go


tl:dr version included.



The graphics glitches are a real headscratcher.

Turned up to extreme the game looks awful on my setup, and my PC is no busta. It's not a lag issue, it's a render issue, and I'm not sure what's up. Maybe video drivers need to be updated? Would have thought this kind of thing would be sorted for a game that got this much hype, and looked as good as it did in the press videos. For me it looks absolutely hideous.. I'm not far from hyperbole when I say the terrain set on extreme looks almost identical to the Original RTW for me. There is something seriously wrong with that and I'm saddened that the game is released looking as bad as it does, optimized as poorly as it is.


The technology tree is something I don't see nearly enough people talking about. There's nothing to it at all. You can blitz to Post-Marian reforms legionaries in 10 turns. 15 if you count building time.

What? I understand wanting people to have iconic legionaries but.. what? The transition feels completely pointless, and if anything, is a huge missed opportunity. It would have been much better to do an event like the legendary swordsman in the original STW (maybe a defeat causes Rome to rethink its military, etc) or just a plain event trigger like conquering a set number of provinces, giving the player the choice to reorganize the military to be more mobile/efficient ( Marius' Mules).



The new provincial system is needlessly punishing I think. Sacking and looting a city now effects all cities in that province, even if they are your home cities. Rome starts at war with the Etruscan League so naturally they are enemies of Rome. I kill my enemies. I defeat their armies. Crush their resistance and loot their cities.. but by looting their cities, my capital in Rome takes a happiness hit. Why? Rome should be celebrating! I just nailed the enemy commander to a cross and took his woman before his corpse was cold. I'm a hero! Why on earth would that upset Rome?

Provinces now share happiness, so what happens to one city affects the happiness of the region. Okay, i get that. It's an interesting mechanic and is probably meant to have two goals. One of which is getting armies to stop camping castles/cities which i hugely approve of, and the other to upset neighboring cities and make them more likely to attack you from your expansion. I take Sparta and loot it, causing nearby Athens to grow extremely worried and suffer happiness hits as war looms on their neighboring provinces. But the ability to cause "friendly fire" by natural expansion is rather puzzling. The problem comes in the fact that sacking and looting enemies of Rome is now causing riots in the streets of Rome. This is, unfortunately, not a logical balance system. When i first heard about this system I naturally assumed that friendly fire would not be possible but it looks like I was severely mistaken.



I really like the new recruiting system. It feels like a natural evolution of the way armies work and I wish we had this all the way back in medieval 2. The Army naming is really fun too - I sincerely enjoy any game that allows me to add some customization to my troops. I was worried when some outlets were reporting (most notably RPS) that the army leveling wasn't as fun as we were led to believe. That was correct, unfortunately. The bonuses you get are small and incremental to the point that, by the time you see any real benefit, you'll likely have to be closing in on the max level. The model of small bonuses over a long period of time is ultimately self-defeating. Since by the time i get anything good I've long forgotten about the customization.

It would have been much more fun to get honorary bonuses like legionary standards or relics of slain heroes that your men bring with them on the battle map (like in med 2, remember the giant crosses Crusaders could get?). Sure it would only add a small benefit, but the awesome factor is through the roof in my opinion.



This is becoming long winded, so let me sum up a bit..






TL:DR - AKA - "MONK I AIN'T GONNA READ ALL THAT "


The game feels rushed as weird as that sounds. Half-baked ideas and unfinished graphics, AI and systems. Every criticism you've read leveled at the game is fair, and so too is most of the praise. As disappointed as I am there have been serious moments of fun in the time i've played the game! But if I had to put this on the scale of past releases, this is definitely a huge step back for CA. Shogun 2 was tremendous experience from start to finish, one I wrote numerous AARs for, but Rome 2? It just feels like it missed the mark.

It reached for the stars and fell short. In many ways, it's the same as Empire: Total War.


Shogun 2 is still the best unmodded experience you'll find in the 3D TW series imo. (for modded that goes to Medieval 2). If you're thinking about buying this and really want to try it some day, keep an eye on patch notes and wait for a sale. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that there's no fun to be had in Rome 2, because there most certainly is! But there's a lot of negatives.. some of which just don't make any logical sense as to how they got there.