RTW demo - looks like fun

[lord of the mark]

Ok, so I'm halfway through HL. I know when I'm done, I will be craving a return to my favorite types of games, TBS, historical strategy in general, etc. And now that ive got a non-dino machine, Ive got lots of games I've heard about for a long time to play. And I've got FIOS, so I can DL demos and stuff lightning fast.

So googled for a free Demo site, and found one that looked good ( I forget which). I started skimming backwards through time (since some of the latest games wont run on my machine, which is a 2006 budget PC with IG) I saw RTW, and figured I'd try that.

I ran the tutorial. It runs fine, and it looks like fun. I would need to get the hang of the camera thing (I dont think ive played a fully 3D strat game before - RON wasnt 3D like this, was it?) And some other interface thingies.

Looking at RTW, Im tempted to skip the earlier incarnations in the series, but I will check out their demos too before deciding.

[Quillan]

I played Shogun years ago, had problems with it, and quit. Never played Medieval, but picked up Rome and loved it. Medieval II is great (arguably better than Rome) too. Two things: all of the TW games are a mixture. They use a TBS system for the campaign map, then a RTS format for battles. You can pause the game during the battles to issue orders, then resume play, so it's not quite a twich-fest like Close Combat was.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Quillan
I played Shogun years ago, had problems with it, and quit. Never played Medieval, but picked up Rome and loved it. Medieval II is great (arguably better than Rome) too. Two things: all of the TW games are a mixture. They use a TBS system for the campaign map, then a RTS format for battles. You can pause the game during the battles to issue orders, then resume play, so it's not quite a twich-fest like Close Combat was.

I would get Shogun for the Japanese atmosphere, both for myself and cause it would be kewl to show it to POTM who's taking Japanese. OTOH if its really going to be frustrating, I might skip it. I'm pretty sure my IG card can't handle MTW II.

I'm aware of the TBS/RTS hybrid thingie, thats interested me about the series for a while. In my mind I dont divide games into TBS and RTS, but into 'classical' "build, harvest, fight" RTS, and "strategy" which latter to me includes TBS, Paradox type games, and I presume the TW series, among others. RON fulfilled my recent craving for the former, so now I'm mor looking for the latter.

[Kinjiru]

Any of the Total War games would be a great addition to your library. Each iteration has something the others do not.

Shogun had great atmosphere and really interesting psuedo-random events. It gets a bit difficult to tell the units apart (unless you are a student of japanese military history) and the ninjas are way overpowered.

Medieval (I) is easier to get into than Shogun, but lacks in atmosphere. The family dynasty aspect adds some flavor though. Trebutchets are fun!

Rome, IMHO, is the best of the series. Good balance, interesting map. Lots of factions to try out, easily (relatively) moddable.

Medieval II has great graphics but seems to have not been QAed as well as the others (armor actually makes your forces more vulnerable, reinforcements are inept).

I would get MII over MI (if your rig can handle it), but Rome is the better game.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Kinjiru
Any of the Total War games would be a great addition to your library. Each iteration has something the others do not.

Shogun had great atmosphere and really interesting psuedo-random events. It gets a bit difficult to tell the units apart (unless you are a student of japanese military history) and the ninjas are way overpowered.

Medieval (I) is easier to get into than Shogun, but lacks in atmosphere. The family dynasty aspect adds some flavor though. Trebutchets are fun!

Rome, IMHO, is the best of the series. Good balance, interesting map. Lots of factions to try out, easily (relatively) moddable.

Medieval II has great graphics but seems to have not been QAed as well as the others (armor actually makes your forces more vulnerable, reinforcements are inept).

I would get MII over MI (if your rig can handle it), but Rome is the better game.

what I may do is get Shogun and Rome, and skip Med I, and just hold off on Med II till Ive upgraded my rig, its not like I dont have other games to play. OTOH, a few months ago I saw a combo pack with Shogun, MedI and Romen, and I think all the xpacks, and Id have to compare that (if i can find it easily, in bricks and mortar or online) to buy Rome and Shogun seperately.

[DrSpike]

They are all good games. Personally as I've said before I would just pick the setting that attracts you most and buy that game.

[Quillan]

Shogun might not be frustrating to you; I can't say. I got it way back 6-7 years ago. I hadn't played many RTS games before, and that part of it I just couldn't handle, so I quit rather than punch out my monitor. I'm better at it now. Also, the expansions and patches for it weren't all out, so any glitches were probably solved since then, but I never picked it up again. Most of the bugs mentioned about Medieval 2 were fixed in the 1.2 patch, but I'm with you; I think you'll need a decent discrete graphics card to handle it.

[lord of the mark]

not that i could come close to playing it on my rig, but do y'all now that Empires:Total War, for the 18th century, has been announced?

[MosesPresley]

I have been a fan of the TW series since Shogun came out way back when and I played everyone of them.

MTW II is garbage. It is all about the eye candy. But the eye candy is beautiful. One example of how bad it can get is the AI will stand in one spot and let you pummel it with archers until they are dead. There are many path finding errors. I also will find enemy faction leaders running around in weak stacks deep in my territory making them easy targets. Diplomacy is pointless, but in the TW series, diplomacy has always been waste of time. The AI has no respect for any agreements. Inquisitors will decimate your bloodline. There are also many other bugs that totally ruin the game. Visit the forums and read some of the comments before you decide on that one. But, it is the prettiest of the series.

I still play RTW. That was a great game. The last patch introduced a seige tower docking bug that almost ruins seiges, but you can still sap effectively to offset the issue.

Shogun TW is still my favorite, even with its antiquated graphics. Once you discover some of the exploits, you may lose some interest, but it should take you awhile to discover them. Ninjas may be overpowered, but you don't need to rely on them and if you have a sufficient Shinobi force, you needn't worry much about the enemy's ninjas at all.

The original version is the best. Building costs are greatly reduced with the patch, so make sure you download that if you get STW. The Warlords expansion pack adds some new overpowered units, but the new units are a lot of fun. So when you get bored with STW regular, definitely update.

The first MTW was OK.

[DrSpike]

That's my impression too. There's a lot more in the later games but they've always cared more about having stuff than having stuff that works well. And the patch support has generally been bad, which reinforces this.

[lord of the mark]

whatever. Ive DLed the MTW demo (the first one, not MTW II) and have had fun with it so far.

[DrSpike]

Yeah you are the kind of gamer that will like the 'fluff' they've added and not care too much if some of it is too strong or weak. I've always advised you to get one of these games.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by DrSpike
Yeah you are the kind of gamer that will like the 'fluff' they've added and not care too much if some of it is too strong or weak. I've always advised you to get one of these games.

By too strong or too weak, do you mean A. Overpowererd or underpowered relative to historical accuracy? B. Overpowered or underpowered for purposes of balanced gameplay or C. Something else entirely?

If A, I certainly like historical realism, and when I know the game sufficiently would enjoy discussions of that. OTOH I can accept a "beer and pretzels" war game that isnt perfect wrt to the details.

If B, yes, since thus far I only play SP, an exploit isnt that huge a deal, since the AI presumably wont exploit it, and even if I find out about it, I can choose not to use it.

[lord of the mark]

In any case I wont be getting Eras immediately. As it turns out life events brought the whole family into CompUSA the other day, and as a result we now possess one of the truely great, groundbreaking games of our era. Im looking forward to discussing it here.

[Verrucosus]

With regard to "fluff" (which isn't bad in itself), it might be worth mentioning that Shogun includes a setting where emissaries from other warlords talk Japanese with English subtitles.