I actually am in the middle of my replay of Rome 2 - I started my journey with Rise of Republic campaign and will hopefully go all the way to Atila, since I barely touched that game. And I must say, after several years going back to this one it doesn't feel bad. IMO Atila and this one are the last games that still offer a classic TW experience. Aft this, it went downhill. IMO Warhammer was the breaking point. After Warhammer, historical titles were never the same again. And it is sad - because even after all the years - Rome 2 isn't perfect - but instead of fixing the mistakes with the next historical title, they decided to abandon the whole thing. Empire 2 and Medieval 3 aren't happening.
Supcom was amazing. Still got it installed and really need to get around to fixing my connection issues so I can go back to playing. More of a fan of the Tiberium series personally but I can understand the love for red alert.
Just throwing it put there. The settlements and armies that defect during a secession is not random, so you can dismiss the troops before it happens. The armies you lose have a general of the party that is rebelling, and the towns are also controlled by that party. You can find this out on the overview map.
Dropping a campaign after a succession just out of pure, undesire to continue after the event message, despite telling myself every time I turn the game on, that I will embrace the gameplay, is a very familiar feeling. That mechanic has never not made me quit playing.
What a mountainous effort you put into this video, its script, very well done Sir Zade The point of reference for Shogun 2 was just right, bridging the gap between old and new Total war games because a lot of the positives you highlighted from Shogun 2 applies to games like Medieval 2 and Rome 1. For me, ignoring Rome 2 comes down to a few fundamental things, readability, forced generals for armies and fort shenanigans, i consider changing these mechanics and visual style an unrequired downgrade over something that wasn't broke. I remember that i played Rome 1 as a kid in 2011 and how one of my no general army captains was promoted to a general after being able to win an incredible victory, which is something that can happen by the way, and how that general went to become one of my best 6 star Generals, he died because SPQR rushed my hand to complete an objective and that was the start of my genuine arc to prepare to conquer Rome and the rest of the fellow Roman family generals. Best part is none of this was even some scripted path i had to walk down on. the freedom i have with the older games is too good for me to walk back on, even though the games i'm walking back from are in front of me in the future with supposedly more modernized gameplay. And i especially dislike that, apparently from what you're saying... army formations are merely stat boosts, that is so cheap! Surrounded units fighting to the death in older games is suppose to flash the unit banner red constantly signifying that the unit has no choice but to fight, but if you were to open a path for them they would turn white and run, i dont know if this mechanic exists but its definitely not noticeable from unit banners. And dont worry about being good or bad, just play until you get better, however i will tell you that i am primarily playing Very Hard - Very Hard on the titles that i do and focus on my ability to win battles no matter the odds and even i will tell you that there is something off about the real time battles you're experiencing here, something artifical. Thank you for this video, incredible effort and even though i didn't like the increase in light from your sunny beach scenes, i still enjoyed your company :^)
Thank you mate, much appreciated! I kinda wish I played Rome 1 as a kind to really understand the differences with 2. It's hard to quite understand the depth of it all in retrospect. But I understand what you're saying and I get it!
Rome 2 also has an auto resolve system that practically begs players to use it, discouraging players from battles with how much detailed information it gives as to the outcome as well as how exploitable it is.
Medieval 2 had an autoresolve system with the same problems dude. If you outnumbered your enemy you were winning it. If you outnumbered the garrison you were winning it. This only got worse when you added another army. Every total war game has this problem. “Maybe not the first 2 but I’ve never played those”
@@thedonkey6704 No, because in Medieval 2 there is no automatic replenishment. If you autoresolve all the way in medieval 2, you need a lot longer to recover than in Rome 2. Plus, autoresolve in medieval 2 is basically a random roll that can sometimes give you really bad results, while in Rome2 you get consistent results(not optimal, but usually not too far from results of manually fought ones) every time from autoresolve with the exact percentage of casualties given to you.
Reynold Sanity's videos were gems when Rome 2 first came out, I still remember telling friends about his critiques of the game. Rome 2 was a huge dissapointment for me back then and I had only played Shogun 2. Now, as a modder for WHIII and someone that has played many other TW titles, Rome 2 will always be a dark spot in the history of the franchise, and as your analysis explained, it is the origin point for all the game design issues we see with the rest of the franchise. It will be a great day when we see the return of real formations and the removal of activated abiltiies, but in the mean time, modders such as myself will have to step in to clean the mistakes creative assembly refuses to quit making.
Same issue as Star Wars Battlefront. All we wanted was Battlefield 4 with SW textures and sounds. TWW3 is more arcadey than ever, in a time when even the historical titles are arcadey. Also, thanks for the efforts, helping keep the series alive.
The whole change with armies and defending settlements was changed because it was way too abusable. For example in shogun 2 the ashigaru units were just too cost effective and also trained way faster than samurai so what people did was just spam them this was common even in rome 1 where it was even harder to replenish the more expensive units. In the older tw there was almost no manoeuvring with armies needed just put just enough heavy infantry into each city so you can defend a few alleyways and then you just forget about and use your armies only for attack. The main thing people missed about rome 2 was that it was the first ever total war where taking just one unit in multiplayer was not the meta.
Kinda blew me away honestly. Outnumbered and surrounded to that degree should spell defeat for any unit no matter how expensive they are. If they've let themselves be in such a catastrophic tactical situation they Deserve it lol
Reminds me of my Vlad campaign in warhammer where you can boost up him and his wife along with a bunch of other vampires and they can most kill off most of the huge stacks on there own while constantly healing themselves along with the powerful pit of shades attacks with the shadow vampires. But at least there they are super powerful Vampire lords not just regular dudes who are completely surrounded.
I got many comments, being a severe TW nerd, and little time, but where I gotta pause the video for the right now: I can almost appreciate that every other TW release they do something (usually bad) with the unit cards and it takes people crying out online to get it changed, like how it popped back up in 3 Kingdoms and even Warhammer 3
I can't stand Rome 2 cards art and the fact that there is no collision for cavalry charges, Rome 1 still the best to this day, with each year there is a degradation in programming we don't have the geniuses of the past anymore
@@diego2817 Part of the issue is that they're practically still using the same tech instead of keeping up with the times. They don't even have a tool reporting code conflicts to my understanding
On the seccessin war one, I cant be entirely sure but there is a map view that shows what provinces you own belong to which House in your faction. usually when you conquer new settlements it usually tries to split it even or maybe its dependent on how many Senators you have is how its split? But generally, make sure the generals of your armies are from YOUR House or at least a member of another loyal House.
What always surprises me are people who are surprised that CA launches are buggy messes It's been like that like for over a decade now sadly Also, this video made me feel old :(
Perhaps I'm a glutton for punishment, but I miss Darthmod's gameplay tweaks. Every Total War since Shogun II has felt like a QP match, rather than the brutal, tactical slog that I greatly enjoyed.
I was gifted Rome 2 at launch for my birthday when I would turn 13. My PC back then was terrible and could only muster about 10-15 FPS while playing but I didn't care; to me I was finally playing the game I had been waiting for. I had fun with it despite the horrible experience, and attributed it to my PC being bad. Eventually I got tired of it and left it alone for 4 years or so. I came back after it had already been patched the hell out of it with its multiple issues, a new PC and with a pretty clean slate and only good memories (seriously, I don't know how I tolerated such a low FPS average lol), though already having seen and read about the huge disaster it was. As of today I have 578.8 hours on Steam. Despite its many issues, I still had fun. Makes me wish it had actually launched well, and we could have gotten a masterpiece like Rome 1 was. Such a shame, honestly.
I have the same history with Rome 1. I remember the low graphics versions of those units bing like, 10 polygons xD Pointy legs, barely distinguishable faces etc, powerpoint level of frames. But man did I spend hours on this game as a kid. Fun to see another generation having the same experience with the more recent releases
i remember playing it on my dual core, 4 gbs of ram and 300? mb vram laptop. got 25 fps on the map and about 9-10 in battle io remember, played it a bit and stopped. came back like you, i loved rome 2, needed mods to be fun. Im glad i can now afford.. well i mean two years ago i could afford a top end gaming pc and though now i could never afford the same thing i still have that and i can finally enjoy games (as of the last two years) even if my pc is quickly becoming mediocre.
God that last quote was one of the most perfect ones i have ever heard when it comes to describing the state of total war. Eventhough i loved Rome 2, it will never be Medieval 2 or Rome 1 and the quote becomes more and more relevant after each release ever since. Each total war game can be cool in their own way and have some redeeming qualities but if they cant compare to Medieval 2 or Rome 1, then we will just get just as disappointed each time.
@@dannyp9210 nope, just playing the barbarian invasion expa on hard, not sure if I have the time and willingness to try some mods, I can barely take time to play
I was hoping to see an assessment of Rome 2 from you as you seemed less likely to just blanketly mad at it like most other TW or RTS content creators (like Reynold Sanity, which I was suspecting would get some kind of mention in this video lol). But even with your measured approach, all this great retrospective has succeeded in doing is making me play Shogun 2 again lol. But I have come to appreciate at least some of the things that Rome 2 got right. Though it's still not enough for me to wanna get the game even at this point. One thing I do wanna mention is that for all of Reynold's clever takes and surprisingly accurate predictions on where this series would eventually go, I still vehemently disagree with his assessment of Shogun 2's soundtrack. He mentioned in his video on Empire how it was too peaceful. That it should also follow the TW games set in Europe with their bombastic orchestral themes. To which I say the man likely only heard the menu and campaign map music and decided to play something else in the background, because Shogun 2's soundtrack was made by the same madlad who composed Rome 1, and used traditional Japanese percussion, war chants, and wind instruments to absolutely nail the chaos of that game's real-time battles, and long, sustained strings to build up suspense during the start of naval combat in particular. And Fall of the Samurai had a constant theme going of Eastern and Western instruments coming together to hammer in the campaign's theme of modernity and foreign influence both mixing and clashing with Japanese tradition. Both soundtracks were great. And I don't know what that man was hearing for him to think that the battle tracks were "peaceful" in any capacity.
Shogun 2s soundtrack is fantastic and to say otherwise is simply incorrect 😅 Hope you enjoyed the video - I did try to come it from a balanced perspective and I like to think I gave it's dues for both the positive and negative sides of it
@@Zade_95 I definitely did, just as much as I really enjoyed your video on Shogun 2 a while back, which is how I found your channel. Really appreciate you covering strategy games in ways a lotta folks don't. Can't wait for the next StarCraft stream!
Whilst Rome II has a warm place in my heart (I mean, I did make several of the mods in your playlist, such as AAA: Generals, Orbis Aquarum and acted as contributor to a few others), I do agree with most of your critique. For me, it's probably the setting and the flexibility that Rome 2 offers from its modding community. If I want something simple, I play vanilla (with a mod list similar to yours) and if I want something more hardcore, then I play my own heavily tweaked version of DeI (i.e. I made some of the visuals more consistent with vanilla; I don't like some of its new UI choices). Trying to fix its readability and presentation issues is one of my long-term goals to fixing the game (i.e. in my free time, I can't mod at all times).
This is the most comprehensive and on the nose video on Rome 2 and Total War in general I've seen. Great job! As a TW fan that started with Shogun back in the year 2000, I fully agree with your assessment of the issues Rome 2 faces and that it's offspring inherited. I really hope that CA will do what you advised at the end of the video: stop those annual releases of uninspired copy paste DLC's and sequels and settle down for a few years to make something truly innovative and outstanding. Shogun 1 was an amazing technical achievement and innovative, Rome 1 was, Shogun 2 was. I want to see something of that order.
Twenty years from today we will have a channel named: "ZADE, ARE HIS REVIEWS AND COMMENTARIES STILL WORTH WATCHING?". My grandchildren seem to think so. 👍👍👍👍👍 Total War: Rome 2 - "Skye's Guide to Difficulty Settings and Their Effects (for DUMMIES)".
I've sunk way too many hours into this game, also as a slight note. You can influence the political parties whenever they are close to seceding, first you know which generals align with which faction so you now who will secede when the civil war starts. Also you can view the provinces and who they are controlled by (talking about which of your political faction actually governs it) so you can see which provinces will also secede along with the army.
Nice video! I have over 800 hours in Rome II and I played it a ton for a couple of years after the release. Especially with mods like DEI. However nowadays I never have the urge to go back and play Rome II. But I still love to play Rome Remastered and especially Shogun II + Fall of the Samurai and I would buy and play a Medieval II Remastered instantly. Sometimes I feel like playing Atilla because it is a relatively hard game and I love the setting. But whenever I think about it I rather end up playing the aforementioned older games. There is just something that makes the older titles far more fun and enjoyable for me. The more modern titles just feel too restrictive and the battles are overall lacking. About 75% of Rome II settlement battles are about some random villages without walls and it just doesn't feel as meaningful and takes away the frequency of siege battles. Rome II is definitely not a bad game and it has a lot of content. But it is not a game that I will ever miss playing at all.
This is exactly how I feel. MTW2 is my favorite combination of tactics, diplomacy, and the combat was just so much more realistic and logical. The setting is much more appealing to me too.
I still remember the first time I booted up Shogun Total War when it first released. The initial "babies first battle." I didnt know much about Japanese history. Thought the glags on the guys backs was strange. Awesome game. It changed my life as a gamer.
the most infuriating thing about the battle ai for me is that it starts out with a solid formation and then proceeds to destroy it the moment i come into range , the ai is a bit too hyperactive for its own good , yes if you are outmatched by enemy ranged units you should advance but if the advantage is miniscule or you are equals there is no need to rush the enemy , at least in shogun 2 the ai would send out its archers to skirmish against yourself (like in real life) and only advance on your army if you killed their archers
This is the title that took me from total love for creative assembly to hatred of them! I bought it on pre-release. The first and last time I will ever do that. It was a mess. I loved Rome and medieval total war but hated Rome 2. I go back to it now and then to see if I’m actually missing something and still hate it
I feel like you forgot to mention anything relating to the sound design of Rome 2, honestly compared to a lot of the other TWs, even the one directly after it, the sound design is quite bland and lacking. The music feels passionless, and the voice acting gets grating very quickly. The sound scape on the campaign map isn’t too bad, but with the other 2 factors, it doesn’t really help with anything.
You're right - honestly I felt I didn't have a lot to say about it and I was happy with the video length. Personally I think it's fine and offensive, but I see what you mean. I could've thrown in a sentence or two so that's my b
There were a lot of things I didn't like about Shogun 2, so there's a disconnect there when the video only mentions positives when I got a decent amount of negatives about it. Probably the 2 most harmful things about Shogun 2 were it was a title which restricted modding abilities compared to older titles, and it was also the game where CA started paywalling factions off selling access to them separately.
@@strugglesnuggledslime7040 Empire was harder to mod, but Shogun 2 yet again. And them paywalling factions off was not a thing in Empire. Empire got the Warpath campaign which was a separate map focussing on the "new world" specifically. NPC factions in both cases were unlocked maybe not by editing a txt file anymore, but still fairly easy + completely. Not so in Shogun 2 anymore.
My biggest gripe with Shogun 2 and why I never finished it was the horrible siege battles. Siege engines not needed when you can just throw a stupid torch at the door. I hated that mechanic.
I find it amusing you find Shogun 2 superior, because for me it was the one I liked the least. That said Shogun 2 was the first one I tried so it certanly got something right and I assume I am baised as I am generally not impressed by Japan or Japanese culture. It was Empire and later Napoleon that made me fall in love in the series and I considet those overall the best. Rome 2 is a game I like by pure accident. I love Hellenistic Age and Rome 2 by accident presented fairly well Hellenistic age, sometimes better then actual Rome (military tactics and Satrapy system), but frankly Attila is far better game not only in terms of gameplay, but also in terms of time period representation as they represented exactly what they wanted mostly accurately (Hunnic representation could use some work) and while there is still doom and gloom, it still has moments of triumph and advancment when you play as migrant factions. I haven't played games after Attila, but I am very curious how Total War works with hero/character units of Troy and Three Kingdoms or Total Wargammer that may as well be separate series.
Can you be "genre-defining" if you're almost the only game of the genre ? Outside of Total war, I know only 2 other games with the same "4X turn-based campaign map + real time big scale battles" formula : Arthur the roleplaying wargame & Oriental empires (on ancient China)
I still remember being incredibly burned about Rome 2 back in 2013, I had never looked more forward to any one single game prior to its release. The state that Rome 2 released was utterly insulting that I'm surprised that stigma isn't discussed on the same level as Cyberpunk or No Man Sky. I'll concede that after all these years, Rome 2 is a decent game, fun even that I play it every now and then, but it pales in comparison to its predecessors and even successors.
Hi, guys, any good guide out there to take up modding? I have some good ideas for this game, but I have no clue about how to modify the game files and so on.
The sad thing about Rome 2 is that there are so many elements there that could make it great even after its utterly disastrous start. However, it just feels like so much of those elements just don't come together. And every time I have tried to go back, I find myself empty of drive to continue.
I've been a big TW fan since Rome 1 and Rome 2 is my most played game ever. I don't really bother with the specifics of how the game runs behind the scenes, I've just found the mods that tweak the game to my liking and find an achievement I want to go for
I got like 500 hours on this game. I’d say I play it because I’m interested in the time period and because the game still looks really good(The mods too). I just wish they didn’t get rid of splitting up armies and recruiting without a general.
Creative assembly made a good halo wars game and didnt implode immediately after. I'm already convinced they're incredible. For reference Ensemble made the first Halo Wars, and it killed what was left of them
Mostly agree but can't believe so many old total war gamers liked the captain system that the ai couldn't use properly...the one main broken mechanic of older games is the fact you could force the AI to use armies with no morale due to missing a general, you could deplete replenishment, or exploit ransom by killing and routing one captain army after another after another. This still breaks m2tw mods because there still isn't a work around for this problem.
Having discovered and played both rome 2 and remastered recently, I suffered from the bugs the original Rome had, but even if I had fewer of them in Rome 2, the ones I had were absolutely unacceptable, even after all the patches. The original's ones were not bad to that level.
Was there ever a “logistical burden” for recruitment in prior TW games. I remember being able to recruit top tier elite units in freshly conquered settlements for Rome 1 and Medieval - which is why I resorted to realism mods. You do make some good points in terms of simplification for Rome 2. Overall I do like the game, despite the trend it started for the entire franchise. I certainly find it and Attila more realistic and immersive than the more recent TW games. Also, while I do agree that unit abilities are somewhat arcade-like with how they buff up units, I will say that I think this trend preceded Rome 2. I recall NTW battles where infantry units had gotten charged by cav while starting to form square; the infantry did not get wiped/routed despite getting hit before completing the formation, which indicated to me that there were some buffs getting applied. Overall morale system for Rome 2 I agree isn’t optimized to the degree I would prefer, but I don’t have much issue getting chain routs if I employ the right caliber of unit. Using a very bad unit (vigiles or some other militia) against a lesser number of better units just isn’t a viable strategy in this game.
I played Shogun: Total War when it first came out. Loved that game and Medieval. Then came Rome. What a trio of great games! Rome 2 was an utter cluster fuck. The Warscape engine is appalling and not fit for purpose. I hope I’m never disappointed by a game in such a way ever again. It still sucks. The province system, the fact the AI simply cheats and the lack of any actual physics. What a mess!
Rome II is one of my favorite games of all time. Played it since day 1. I know it's a mediocre game, but it has incredible potential. Someday my mod will be complete.
Great video, I really enjoyed your breakdown. It was very thorough and level headed, as usual. Personally I haven't played Rome 2, but I have played Attila and the newer Total War games. I think the thing with me is, like you said, I don't really like the battles, and if I don't like the battles, why not play a Paradox game?
I think the dev should make Total War title that involve more than just stuff like Medieval Europe, China, etc... ( Fantasy stuff is okay. I like them) Region like India, Africa, Native America, South East Asia, Vietnam, Korea, Eurasian stepp like Mongol, stepp people of Russia's deep Central Eurasia,.... Those are rarely explored, and will make very good material for a successful Total War title.
As an old TW fan who played thousands hours in Rome 1, Med 2, Empire and Shogun 2, but played for the first time in Rome 2 only just after 10 years, i find most criticism about this game absolutely unfair. Especially about battle system. For example, Shogun 2 was a game where stats of units was much more important than R2. In Shogun 2 units are too specialized: spearman always wins cav, swordsman alwsys wins spearman, and there's no way to influence this in 90% of cases. In Rome 2 the difference between a stats of 2 units is insignificant very often, and tactical desicions really can provide an critical advantage. e.g. Hastati wins legionnaires and heroes of Sparta by terrain advantage. For the same reason tiredness of the troops and preseance of reservs is much more important. Morale system is not as different as people think. It always depended on the damage first place, but damage in R2 is realy reduced so it takes more time to influence morale. The battles became longer and more realistic, but now it has some "lag" between the player's action and its result. First and last, i think Rome 2 is realy great TW game that unfairly criticized due to misunderstanding of its mechanics and ruined first impression at release.
Holy shit im old. I remember being hyped for rome 2, but my pc could barely run the OG. Now i can run any game on my rig. But dont have the time, or the dopamine levels of 11 years ago
Rome 2's greatest sin wasn't that it was bad. Like you said, it was good from year 1-2 on. It was that it wasn't great. It's just okay, and it feels okay. What's weird though, is Attila added in morale mechanics that were reminiscent of older Total War games, but they pooped the bed on optimization. So, when people stopped playing it, it feels like they said "see? No one likes those old mechanics." But there was also a vocal group of Total War fans that hated the mechanics in Attila, so I guess we're all different.
Had great fun to play battles in Rome 1 and Medieval 2, but when I tried Rome 2 it was auto-resolve only after short time. I had high hopes for competitive gameplay for Rome2, but nah.
My only gripe with Rome 2 is the battles. From being awarded for my tactics to just not being able to win unless the stats of my troops are higher or have at least 2 full stacks...my brain just cant compute that...ill always hammer and anvil, flank, ho for a higher ground etc but it does basically nothing...annoys the hell out of me, which is a shame because I really like the game but just cant agree with how battles work. Its completely illogical to me. I never played Attila bcoz rome 2 was such a weird direction with battles for me as Rome 1, Med2 main and Shogun 2 player....should try it and snap an antiquity mod on it.
This. Tactics from MTW2 are replaced with smash-blobs. I hate R2 with a passion for what they did at the launch mostly, but the lack of solid tactics makes battles boring slogs.
If a Rome Title...I prefer the Rome I Remaster way more, it has some nice Updates like the Merchants but also the "old" Rome Feeling like I think... and don't this dogshit Building System where you can't build all buildings in a City. Sure, Part 2 have also some or even many nice things but still, Rome 1 Remaster has my Loyalty. All hail to the Seleucid Empire!
Plus, you can watch your cities real time at any time. That, the population mechanics, being able to build anything and seeing the effects in the map (roads, cities changing cultures, internal trade routes) gives a sense of progression I sorely miss on newer Total Wars. Plus, there is some physicality to units that is missing in post Rome II Total Wars. City Pathfinding sucks though. PD: Hope we eventually get a Medieval II Remaster.
made me want to go back and play shogun, i still am holding hopes they will come back and do a empire or napoleon. even if its just a grand edition or reskin to modern engine or hardware capabilities. i havent bought a total war since warhammer 1, i never was a warhammer person and hopefully since they only got 3 titles from them to do now they have no choice. thats assuming total war doesent collapse on in itself because of the stuff going on inside CA
Excellent essay, as always; I have been a...distant(?) fan of the series since its inception, but - for whatever reason - my poor, addled mind could not wrap itself around the game mechanics. I have purchased all the main games + DLCs over the years (save for the latest 2 in the series), but I have YET to crack the (I'm sure *simple*) code and get down to playing any of them. In any case, thank you for this in-depth deconstruction - much appreciated. ~~~ P.S. Any plans to circle back around to Homeworld - Cataclysm (Emergence)? :D
Thank you - much appreciated! I did start with Cataclysm but I hit a wall and haven't gone back in a few months. I definitely get there at some point but I can't say for certain when right now :/
I don't understand the need of watering down gameplay mechanic for modern Total War games, when stupid 12 years old me back then who can barely read English text did just fine on Rome and Medieval2. Also massive disappointed when CA didn't bring back Jeff Van Dick for the modern Total War games soundtrack. Old TW games battle soundtracks always get my hyped up and ready to go while modern TW's soundtrack was such a snooze fes.
I don't think Rome 2's ui is great. There are some design decisions, like the terrible encyclopedia at launch, and the illegible unit cards, that are just inexplicable. There's also the new way that information windows appear. Rather than getting two at a time, like in Rome 1, you can only open a single info window, which means that consulting the building browser involves a bunch of needless clicking back-and-forth. You have to carefully select what buildings you make in Rome 2, so why make it more difficult to look up their effects? In general, CA added a lot of game mechanics that exist mainly within their dedicated windows, which makes them all feel more tenuous as things affecting your country. This is why the politics in Rome 2 feels so pointless for me, it feels like a separate and much less interesting game I have to play, even though its decently important.
I love Rome 2, and then despise moments of it. The Siege of Carthage because its nothing like the alpha siege, and there's a lack of cinematic cutscenes. The intros for Rome II lack so much variety and the cinematic intros just don't do enough to immerse you like Attila. The battle system is very simplistic and it really comes more alive when you play a MP battle however. This game needs a Rome III. I WANT a Rome III. Rome II is a game full of unfulfilled ambitions.
Let’s be real the easiest way to fix the new total war games ( thank to Warhammer ) is to remove Hero units and replace them with squad size elements…. That way they are realistic and not gods walking among men.
Awesome video. I've never played Rome II but love Attila, I wonder if I remember that game a bit too fondly as it was my first historical Total War game ^^ As far as some of the mentioned fundamental issues of the series are concerned, I'm really pessimistic. We've seen improvements of some aspects like the diplomacy in the Three Kingdoms game. However, other even more pressing problems of the engine seem to have gotten worse. Units clump up more and move more erratically in Warhammer 3 compared to its previous installments. Sieges are in my opinion the worst they've ever been in a Total War game in Warhammer 3. The gamey, casual, tower-defence mechanics really ruined any interest I had left for them. Somehow, I don't think CA currently has the resources to approach these fundamental issues.
so rome 1 was my game I have played most of the total war titles bar a couple, I didn't mind rome 2, i hear what you're saying about stat modifier, it feels like the new total war are almost arcady, it's all about stat modifier. the unit ones I can deal with 1 or 2, the campaign modifiers no.. just no some of thing in total war i loved in total wars shogun: hiring units they don't suddenly appear full strength, older titles: population bring this back please. new titles: require a general per army and limited armies.. no should be based on your economy no hard cap. also gives you the option spam lower lvl units or small compact professional armies empire/shogun: the villages connected to each town. issue i do see with that is a settlement that only has max 3 villages will never be as good as max 7, more variety of villages and the limiting factor should be resources found.. i.e coal/ sugar ETC. you should be able to build up a backwater settlement. rome: attila: the defensive fort in the middle of the city. cities should be your strong points, rome attila with it's roads and cities defensiveness, you can create a defensive line., armies can get around it but you can see them coming miles away. absolutely adore that feature. like the option i playing defensive or agreesive ties into the next one none of the total war so far: garrisons there should be the option to almost design the garrisons or choose the type of garrison. maybe 3 types. cities on the outskirt you want large garrison they shouldn't be free but they should be cheaper then normal armies, also has the bonus is an armies slips into a region where it is considered safe and all the garrisons are light can cause significant damage. you can choose between defensive or offensive. total war empire: naval battles. the big naval battles in empire just make that game. i pretty personally always fought naval battles cause every battle felt different, some of my ships became mythological.. retired them to trading where they got tied up into another battle commanding these old warships was nostalgic i could remember names.. three kingdoms: the diplomacy, was one of the best oh of all tittles i dont mind total war warhammer. but it's a different game to historical, i never bought troy or pharoah, they are too gamy not enough choice. i understand some people like the resources in troy. personally instead of mining those resources in a stockpile i'd like a price for them. the lower the availability the higher price an item is the higher it will be to use that to construct/train new units. supply and demand. and i dont like to see supply lines. for armies. instead of marching ignoring provisions. personaly a trade system between all cities and armies would do well enough block all trade routes into a city it wont be get any food and other resources. block the supply route of an army, it will eventually starve. in regards to the blob issue... i don't see any issue with that. it choice. if you want to charge 5 units into an all out war go for it. personally, leaving several units out to regain the stamina and swap unit in and out. I think blob is purely a player choice.
Despites you have some good points i disagree with you with some others. Rome 2 is the most playable historical total war title and it will remains that for at least other years. Its just the best total war game and with mods its just amazing. Its just not for you i understand.
This didn't make me want to replay Rome 2, but it did make me want to go sit by a river on a sunny day
I want winter to end already because of this video.... I'm in Canada, so that's not gonna happen until April X.X
Based, be the change we want to see
I know grass is always greener but I wouldn't mind being colder atm haha - it's been hot AF here!
@@SplendidFactorApril? You must live in BC haha Winter is Oct-May. It is known.
I actually am in the middle of my replay of Rome 2 - I started my journey with Rise of Republic campaign and will hopefully go all the way to Atila, since I barely touched that game. And I must say, after several years going back to this one it doesn't feel bad. IMO Atila and this one are the last games that still offer a classic TW experience. Aft this, it went downhill. IMO Warhammer was the breaking point. After Warhammer, historical titles were never the same again. And it is sad - because even after all the years - Rome 2 isn't perfect - but instead of fixing the mistakes with the next historical title, they decided to abandon the whole thing. Empire 2 and Medieval 3 aren't happening.
Supreme Commander and C&C Red Alert had some good air/naval combat as well.
Supcom was amazing. Still got it installed and really need to get around to fixing my connection issues so I can go back to playing. More of a fan of the Tiberium series personally but I can understand the love for red alert.
YES can't believe that didn't pop into mind
Just throwing it put there. The settlements and armies that defect during a secession is not random, so you can dismiss the troops before it happens. The armies you lose have a general of the party that is rebelling, and the towns are also controlled by that party. You can find this out on the overview map.
Exactly. Although I found surprising that the seccesionists have tier IV units when I havent researched them yet.
I didn’t realize Zade had the physique of Jupiter Optimus Maximus himself. I mean look at those arms
You're too kind king
@@Zade_95 and Chewbacca lol!
Dropping a campaign after a succession just out of pure, undesire to continue after the event message, despite telling myself every time I turn the game on, that I will embrace the gameplay, is a very familiar feeling. That mechanic has never not made me quit playing.
What a mountainous effort you put into this video, its script, very well done Sir Zade
The point of reference for Shogun 2 was just right, bridging the gap between old and new Total war games because a lot of the positives you highlighted from Shogun 2 applies to games like Medieval 2 and Rome 1.
For me, ignoring Rome 2 comes down to a few fundamental things, readability, forced generals for armies and fort shenanigans, i consider changing these mechanics and visual style an unrequired downgrade over something that wasn't broke. I remember that i played Rome 1 as a kid in 2011 and how one of my no general army captains was promoted to a general after being able to win an incredible victory, which is something that can happen by the way, and how that general went to become one of my best 6 star Generals, he died because SPQR rushed my hand to complete an objective and that was the start of my genuine arc to prepare to conquer Rome and the rest of the fellow Roman family generals.
Best part is none of this was even some scripted path i had to walk down on. the freedom i have with the older games is too good for me to walk back on, even though the games i'm walking back from are in front of me in the future with supposedly more modernized gameplay. And i especially dislike that, apparently from what you're saying... army formations are merely stat boosts, that is so cheap!
Surrounded units fighting to the death in older games is suppose to flash the unit banner red constantly signifying that the unit has no choice but to fight, but if you were to open a path for them they would turn white and run, i dont know if this mechanic exists but its definitely not noticeable from unit banners.
And dont worry about being good or bad, just play until you get better, however i will tell you that i am primarily playing Very Hard - Very Hard on the titles that i do and focus on my ability to win battles no matter the odds and even i will tell you that there is something off about the real time battles you're experiencing here, something artifical.
Thank you for this video, incredible effort and even though i didn't like the increase in light from your sunny beach scenes, i still enjoyed your company :^)
Thank you mate, much appreciated! I kinda wish I played Rome 1 as a kind to really understand the differences with 2. It's hard to quite understand the depth of it all in retrospect. But I understand what you're saying and I get it!
@@Zade_95Thanks for the reply
Very hard just buffs the stats, not the intelligence of the AI. A very bad system
Dude you have to play the original it's the best game in the whole series
@@johnchao2422 you mean Rome 1 ? Its one of my primary total war games, I still have save files from 2014
Rome Remastered has to be my favourite by far atm
Rome II was the first Total War I worked on, joining about 3 months before release. Can't believe it's been 11 years.
Must have been a wild few months to start I can imagine!
Rome wasn't patched in one day. But I love the Rome we have today.
only DEI
I wish I'd thought of this joke for the video
Rome 2 also has an auto resolve system that practically begs players to use it, discouraging players from battles with how much detailed information it gives as to the outcome as well as how exploitable it is.
Medieval 2 had an autoresolve system with the same problems dude. If you outnumbered your enemy you were winning it. If you outnumbered the garrison you were winning it. This only got worse when you added another army. Every total war game has this problem. “Maybe not the first 2 but I’ve never played those”
@@thedonkey6704 No, because in Medieval 2 there is no automatic replenishment. If you autoresolve all the way in medieval 2, you need a lot longer to recover than in Rome 2. Plus, autoresolve in medieval 2 is basically a random roll that can sometimes give you really bad results, while in Rome2 you get consistent results(not optimal, but usually not too far from results of manually fought ones) every time from autoresolve with the exact percentage of casualties given to you.
Reynold Sanity's videos were gems when Rome 2 first came out, I still remember telling friends about his critiques of the game. Rome 2 was a huge dissapointment for me back then and I had only played Shogun 2. Now, as a modder for WHIII and someone that has played many other TW titles, Rome 2 will always be a dark spot in the history of the franchise, and as your analysis explained, it is the origin point for all the game design issues we see with the rest of the franchise. It will be a great day when we see the return of real formations and the removal of activated abiltiies, but in the mean time, modders such as myself will have to step in to clean the mistakes creative assembly refuses to quit making.
Same issue as Star Wars Battlefront. All we wanted was Battlefield 4 with SW textures and sounds.
TWW3 is more arcadey than ever, in a time when even the historical titles are arcadey.
Also, thanks for the efforts, helping keep the series alive.
The whole change with armies and defending settlements was changed because it was way too abusable. For example in shogun 2 the ashigaru units were just too cost effective and also trained way faster than samurai so what people did was just spam them this was common even in rome 1 where it was even harder to replenish the more expensive units. In the older tw there was almost no manoeuvring with armies needed just put just enough heavy infantry into each city so you can defend a few alleyways and then you just forget about and use your armies only for attack. The main thing people missed about rome 2 was that it was the first ever total war where taking just one unit in multiplayer was not the meta.
That one unit taking on 5 and getting surrounded, holy hell
Yea I know Roarii(sp) are not great but still damn
Kinda blew me away honestly. Outnumbered and surrounded to that degree should spell defeat for any unit no matter how expensive they are. If they've let themselves be in such a catastrophic tactical situation they Deserve it lol
Reminds me of my Vlad campaign in warhammer where you can boost up him and his wife along with a bunch of other vampires and they can most kill off most of the huge stacks on there own while constantly healing themselves along with the powerful pit of shades attacks with the shadow vampires. But at least there they are super powerful Vampire lords not just regular dudes who are completely surrounded.
I got many comments, being a severe TW nerd, and little time, but where I gotta pause the video for the right now: I can almost appreciate that every other TW release they do something (usually bad) with the unit cards and it takes people crying out online to get it changed, like how it popped back up in 3 Kingdoms and even Warhammer 3
I can't stand Rome 2 cards art and the fact that there is no collision for cavalry charges, Rome 1 still the best to this day, with each year there is a degradation in programming we don't have the geniuses of the past anymore
@@diego2817 Part of the issue is that they're practically still using the same tech instead of keeping up with the times. They don't even have a tool reporting code conflicts to my understanding
On the seccessin war one, I cant be entirely sure but there is a map view that shows what provinces you own belong to which House in your faction. usually when you conquer new settlements it usually tries to split it even or maybe its dependent on how many Senators you have is how its split? But generally, make sure the generals of your armies are from YOUR House or at least a member of another loyal House.
Even after all these patches, dlcs, years of support and mods, it's still shit
What always surprises me are people who are surprised that CA launches are buggy messes
It's been like that like for over a decade now sadly
Also, this video made me feel old :(
Perhaps I'm a glutton for punishment, but I miss Darthmod's gameplay tweaks. Every Total War since Shogun II has felt like a QP match, rather than the brutal, tactical slog that I greatly enjoyed.
I was gifted Rome 2 at launch for my birthday when I would turn 13. My PC back then was terrible and could only muster about 10-15 FPS while playing but I didn't care; to me I was finally playing the game I had been waiting for. I had fun with it despite the horrible experience, and attributed it to my PC being bad. Eventually I got tired of it and left it alone for 4 years or so.
I came back after it had already been patched the hell out of it with its multiple issues, a new PC and with a pretty clean slate and only good memories (seriously, I don't know how I tolerated such a low FPS average lol), though already having seen and read about the huge disaster it was. As of today I have 578.8 hours on Steam. Despite its many issues, I still had fun. Makes me wish it had actually launched well, and we could have gotten a masterpiece like Rome 1 was. Such a shame, honestly.
10-15 fps LOL
I have the same history with Rome 1. I remember the low graphics versions of those units bing like, 10 polygons xD
Pointy legs, barely distinguishable faces etc, powerpoint level of frames. But man did I spend hours on this game as a kid. Fun to see another generation having the same experience with the more recent releases
i remember playing it on my dual core, 4 gbs of ram and 300? mb vram laptop. got 25 fps on the map and about 9-10 in battle io remember, played it a bit and stopped.
came back like you, i loved rome 2, needed mods to be fun.
Im glad i can now afford.. well i mean two years ago i could afford a top end gaming pc and though now i could never afford the same thing i still have that and i can finally enjoy games (as of the last two years) even if my pc is quickly becoming mediocre.
God that last quote was one of the most perfect ones i have ever heard when it comes to describing the state of total war. Eventhough i loved Rome 2, it will never be Medieval 2 or Rome 1 and the quote becomes more and more relevant after each release ever since. Each total war game can be cool in their own way and have some redeeming qualities but if they cant compare to Medieval 2 or Rome 1, then we will just get just as disappointed each time.
But you can fix the troops just standing around durng a fight if you would just turn formation attack off
I am playing Rome 1 remaster and I can tell you is miles better than Rome 2, real physics collisions, population mechanic, campaign IA is a lot better
Are you using any mods?
@@dannyp9210 nope, just playing the barbarian invasion expa on hard, not sure if I have the time and willingness to try some mods, I can barely take time to play
rome 2 was the end of TW - they didn't stop using the warscape engine after that and each game since has just ugly blob melee battles
I was hoping to see an assessment of Rome 2 from you as you seemed less likely to just blanketly mad at it like most other TW or RTS content creators (like Reynold Sanity, which I was suspecting would get some kind of mention in this video lol). But even with your measured approach, all this great retrospective has succeeded in doing is making me play Shogun 2 again lol. But I have come to appreciate at least some of the things that Rome 2 got right. Though it's still not enough for me to wanna get the game even at this point.
One thing I do wanna mention is that for all of Reynold's clever takes and surprisingly accurate predictions on where this series would eventually go, I still vehemently disagree with his assessment of Shogun 2's soundtrack. He mentioned in his video on Empire how it was too peaceful. That it should also follow the TW games set in Europe with their bombastic orchestral themes. To which I say the man likely only heard the menu and campaign map music and decided to play something else in the background, because Shogun 2's soundtrack was made by the same madlad who composed Rome 1, and used traditional Japanese percussion, war chants, and wind instruments to absolutely nail the chaos of that game's real-time battles, and long, sustained strings to build up suspense during the start of naval combat in particular. And Fall of the Samurai had a constant theme going of Eastern and Western instruments coming together to hammer in the campaign's theme of modernity and foreign influence both mixing and clashing with Japanese tradition. Both soundtracks were great. And I don't know what that man was hearing for him to think that the battle tracks were "peaceful" in any capacity.
Shogun 2s soundtrack is fantastic and to say otherwise is simply incorrect 😅
Hope you enjoyed the video - I did try to come it from a balanced perspective and I like to think I gave it's dues for both the positive and negative sides of it
@@Zade_95 I definitely did, just as much as I really enjoyed your video on Shogun 2 a while back, which is how I found your channel. Really appreciate you covering strategy games in ways a lotta folks don't. Can't wait for the next StarCraft stream!
Rome II was one of my first games ever, I even got the collectors edition.
Whilst Rome II has a warm place in my heart (I mean, I did make several of the mods in your playlist, such as AAA: Generals, Orbis Aquarum and acted as contributor to a few others), I do agree with most of your critique.
For me, it's probably the setting and the flexibility that Rome 2 offers from its modding community. If I want something simple, I play vanilla (with a mod list similar to yours) and if I want something more hardcore, then I play my own heavily tweaked version of DeI (i.e. I made some of the visuals more consistent with vanilla; I don't like some of its new UI choices). Trying to fix its readability and presentation issues is one of my long-term goals to fixing the game (i.e. in my free time, I can't mod at all times).
This is the most comprehensive and on the nose video on Rome 2 and Total War in general I've seen. Great job! As a TW fan that started with Shogun back in the year 2000, I fully agree with your assessment of the issues Rome 2 faces and that it's offspring inherited. I really hope that CA will do what you advised at the end of the video: stop those annual releases of uninspired copy paste DLC's and sequels and settle down for a few years to make something truly innovative and outstanding. Shogun 1 was an amazing technical achievement and innovative, Rome 1 was, Shogun 2 was. I want to see something of that order.
Twenty years from today we will have a channel named: "ZADE, ARE HIS REVIEWS AND COMMENTARIES STILL WORTH WATCHING?". My grandchildren seem to think so. 👍👍👍👍👍
Total War: Rome 2 - "Skye's Guide to Difficulty Settings and Their Effects (for DUMMIES)".
lets gooo
I've sunk way too many hours into this game, also as a slight note.
You can influence the political parties whenever they are close to seceding, first you know which generals align with which faction so you now who will secede when the civil war starts. Also you can view the provinces and who they are controlled by (talking about which of your political faction actually governs it) so you can see which provinces will also secede along with the army.
Nice video!
I have over 800 hours in Rome II and I played it a ton for a couple of years after the release. Especially with mods like DEI.
However nowadays I never have the urge to go back and play Rome II. But I still love to play Rome Remastered and especially Shogun II + Fall of the Samurai and I would buy and play a Medieval II Remastered instantly. Sometimes I feel like playing Atilla because it is a relatively hard game and I love the setting. But whenever I think about it I rather end up playing the aforementioned older games.
There is just something that makes the older titles far more fun and enjoyable for me. The more modern titles just feel too restrictive and the battles are overall lacking. About 75% of Rome II settlement battles are about some random villages without walls and it just doesn't feel as meaningful and takes away the frequency of siege battles.
Rome II is definitely not a bad game and it has a lot of content. But it is not a game that I will ever miss playing at all.
This is exactly how I feel. MTW2 is my favorite combination of tactics, diplomacy, and the combat was just so much more realistic and logical. The setting is much more appealing to me too.
I still remember the first time I booted up Shogun Total War when it first released. The initial "babies first battle." I didnt know much about Japanese history. Thought the glags on the guys backs was strange. Awesome game. It changed my life as a gamer.
Still burned from pre-ordering this all those years ago
Yep, bad taste that will NEVER go away. I'll never forget the smarmy arrogant hat-wearing jerk developer mocking fans with a grin on his face. Never.
the most infuriating thing about the battle ai for me is that it starts out with a solid formation and then proceeds to destroy it the moment i come into range , the ai is a bit too hyperactive for its own good , yes if you are outmatched by enemy ranged units you should advance but if the advantage is miniscule or you are equals there is no need to rush the enemy , at least in shogun 2 the ai would send out its archers to skirmish against yourself (like in real life) and only advance on your army if you killed their archers
This is the title that took me from total love for creative assembly to hatred of them! I bought it on pre-release. The first and last time I will ever do that. It was a mess. I loved Rome and medieval total war but hated Rome 2. I go back to it now and then to see if I’m actually missing something and still hate it
I feel like you forgot to mention anything relating to the sound design of Rome 2, honestly compared to a lot of the other TWs, even the one directly after it, the sound design is quite bland and lacking. The music feels passionless, and the voice acting gets grating very quickly. The sound scape on the campaign map isn’t too bad, but with the other 2 factors, it doesn’t really help with anything.
You're right - honestly I felt I didn't have a lot to say about it and I was happy with the video length. Personally I think it's fine and offensive, but I see what you mean. I could've thrown in a sentence or two so that's my b
There were a lot of things I didn't like about Shogun 2, so there's a disconnect there when the video only mentions positives when I got a decent amount of negatives about it. Probably the 2 most harmful things about Shogun 2 were it was a title which restricted modding abilities compared to older titles, and it was also the game where CA started paywalling factions off selling access to them separately.
That's fair, if I ever go back to making a big shogun 2 video that will certainly not go unmentioned 👍
Actually that was Empire but yes,its obvious CA tried their best to heavily restrict modding in order to sell subpar DLC.
@@strugglesnuggledslime7040 Empire was harder to mod, but Shogun 2 yet again. And them paywalling factions off was not a thing in Empire. Empire got the Warpath campaign which was a separate map focussing on the "new world" specifically. NPC factions in both cases were unlocked maybe not by editing a txt file anymore, but still fairly easy + completely. Not so in Shogun 2 anymore.
My biggest gripe with Shogun 2 and why I never finished it was the horrible siege battles. Siege engines not needed when you can just throw a stupid torch at the door. I hated that mechanic.
You really made a movie about my favorite game❤. I really hope they are up to 3rd part
I find it amusing you find Shogun 2 superior, because for me it was the one I liked the least. That said Shogun 2 was the first one I tried so it certanly got something right and I assume I am baised as I am generally not impressed by Japan or Japanese culture. It was Empire and later Napoleon that made me fall in love in the series and I considet those overall the best. Rome 2 is a game I like by pure accident. I love Hellenistic Age and Rome 2 by accident presented fairly well Hellenistic age, sometimes better then actual Rome (military tactics and Satrapy system), but frankly Attila is far better game not only in terms of gameplay, but also in terms of time period representation as they represented exactly what they wanted mostly accurately (Hunnic representation could use some work) and while there is still doom and gloom, it still has moments of triumph and advancment when you play as migrant factions. I haven't played games after Attila, but I am very curious how Total War works with hero/character units of Troy and Three Kingdoms or Total Wargammer that may as well be separate series.
Still cant believe that its ten years old!
But then again, R II is the most comprehensive ancient era strategy game available
Rome 2 was a dumpster fire at the start and is still burning today
Can you be "genre-defining" if you're almost the only game of the genre ? Outside of Total war, I know only 2 other games with the same "4X turn-based campaign map + real time big scale battles" formula : Arthur the roleplaying wargame & Oriental empires (on ancient China)
Haha. I know right - the total war genre :p
Still playing... All these years later
I still remember being incredibly burned about Rome 2 back in 2013, I had never looked more forward to any one single game prior to its release. The state that Rome 2 released was utterly insulting that I'm surprised that stigma isn't discussed on the same level as Cyberpunk or No Man Sky. I'll concede that after all these years, Rome 2 is a decent game, fun even that I play it every now and then, but it pales in comparison to its predecessors and even successors.
15:58 what icons is he talking about? you got like 4 of them is it really that hard to understand them?
Thanks for the video! I've spent a lot of time in Shogun and couple other TW games but this will save me playing R:2 and other recent TW games.
Hi, guys, any good guide out there to take up modding? I have some good ideas for this game, but I have no clue about how to modify the game files and so on.
Now I want to play shogun 2...
Called it, Vanilla Attila is way beter than Vanilla Rome2.
The sad thing about Rome 2 is that there are so many elements there that could make it great even after its utterly disastrous start. However, it just feels like so much of those elements just don't come together. And every time I have tried to go back, I find myself empty of drive to continue.
10:35 if Rome 2 was not realistic it would've been bashed forever for being cartoony trust me on that, you can see this trend even today in many RTS
Ah yes, the throwback to the Rome 2 day 1 launch nightmares 🤣
I've been a big TW fan since Rome 1 and Rome 2 is my most played game ever. I don't really bother with the specifics of how the game runs behind the scenes, I've just found the mods that tweak the game to my liking and find an achievement I want to go for
Oh man! Angry Joe was REALLY angry at that time...
I kinda forgot about it.
I got like 500 hours on this game. I’d say I play it because I’m interested in the time period and because the game still looks really good(The mods too). I just wish they didn’t get rid of splitting up armies and recruiting without a general.
Definitely understand that. If you're into the time period it's easy to enjoy
Creative assembly made a good halo wars game and didnt implode immediately after. I'm already convinced they're incredible. For reference Ensemble made the first Halo Wars, and it killed what was left of them
events of iliad take place during the bronze age, rather than at the end of bronze age, which makes troy historically older than pharaoh
Mostly agree but can't believe so many old total war gamers liked the captain system that the ai couldn't use properly...the one main broken mechanic of older games is the fact you could force the AI to use armies with no morale due to missing a general, you could deplete replenishment, or exploit ransom by killing and routing one captain army after another after another. This still breaks m2tw mods because there still isn't a work around for this problem.
I thought I was hairy then I saw this wookie by a lake and I feel better
Having discovered and played both rome 2 and remastered recently, I suffered from the bugs the original Rome had, but even if I had fewer of them in Rome 2, the ones I had were absolutely unacceptable, even after all the patches. The original's ones were not bad to that level.
I'd like them to do a DLC on Constantine. There is a good mod on it though.
Was there ever a “logistical burden” for recruitment in prior TW games. I remember being able to recruit top tier elite units in freshly conquered settlements for Rome 1 and Medieval - which is why I resorted to realism mods.
You do make some good points in terms of simplification for Rome 2. Overall I do like the game, despite the trend it started for the entire franchise. I certainly find it and Attila more realistic and immersive than the more recent TW games.
Also, while I do agree that unit abilities are somewhat arcade-like with how they buff up units, I will say that I think this trend preceded Rome 2. I recall NTW battles where infantry units had gotten charged by cav while starting to form square; the infantry did not get wiped/routed despite getting hit before completing the formation, which indicated to me that there were some buffs getting applied. Overall morale system for Rome 2 I agree isn’t optimized to the degree I would prefer, but I don’t have much issue getting chain routs if I employ the right caliber of unit. Using a very bad unit (vigiles or some other militia) against a lesser number of better units just isn’t a viable strategy in this game.
An idea for an incredibly useful video: A video going over your issues with each Total War game, and mods you can use to fix or improve those issues.
That would certainly be interesting! And a lot of work aha
I played Shogun: Total War when it first came out. Loved that game and Medieval. Then came Rome. What a trio of great games!
Rome 2 was an utter cluster fuck. The Warscape engine is appalling and not fit for purpose. I hope I’m never disappointed by a game in such a way ever again. It still sucks. The province system, the fact the AI simply cheats and the lack of any actual physics. What a mess!
Rome II is one of my favorite games of all time. Played it since day 1. I know it's a mediocre game, but it has incredible potential. Someday my mod will be complete.
Monster video time! Thank you sir!
🥵🥵
Great video, I really enjoyed your breakdown. It was very thorough and level headed, as usual. Personally I haven't played Rome 2, but I have played Attila and the newer Total War games. I think the thing with me is, like you said, I don't really like the battles, and if I don't like the battles, why not play a Paradox game?
Thanks mate, appreciate it!
I think the dev should make Total War title that involve more than just stuff like Medieval Europe, China, etc... ( Fantasy stuff is okay. I like them)
Region like India, Africa, Native America, South East Asia, Vietnam, Korea, Eurasian stepp like Mongol, stepp people of Russia's deep Central Eurasia,.... Those are rarely explored, and will make very good material for a successful Total War title.
They made three kingdoms and droped....
@@ulrichvonhermann2548 Of course they drop. It's about China. XD
As an old TW fan who played thousands hours in Rome 1, Med 2, Empire and Shogun 2, but played for the first time in Rome 2 only just after 10 years, i find most criticism about this game absolutely unfair. Especially about battle system. For example, Shogun 2 was a game where stats of units was much more important than R2. In Shogun 2 units are too specialized: spearman always wins cav, swordsman alwsys wins spearman, and there's no way to influence this in 90% of cases. In Rome 2 the difference between a stats of 2 units is insignificant very often, and tactical desicions really can provide an critical advantage. e.g. Hastati wins legionnaires and heroes of Sparta by terrain advantage. For the same reason tiredness of the troops and preseance of reservs is much more important. Morale system is not as different as people think. It always depended on the damage first place, but damage in R2 is realy reduced so it takes more time to influence morale. The battles became longer and more realistic, but now it has some "lag" between the player's action and its result.
First and last, i think Rome 2 is realy great TW game that unfairly criticized due to misunderstanding of its mechanics and ruined first impression at release.
Holy shit im old. I remember being hyped for rome 2, but my pc could barely run the OG. Now i can run any game on my rig. But dont have the time, or the dopamine levels of 11 years ago
Haha - I know right! I wish I had the time I used to
Rome 2's greatest sin wasn't that it was bad. Like you said, it was good from year 1-2 on. It was that it wasn't great. It's just okay, and it feels okay. What's weird though, is Attila added in morale mechanics that were reminiscent of older Total War games, but they pooped the bed on optimization. So, when people stopped playing it, it feels like they said "see? No one likes those old mechanics." But there was also a vocal group of Total War fans that hated the mechanics in Attila, so I guess we're all different.
The greatest sin was the disastrous launch and outright lying to the fans. CA will never get that back.
Had great fun to play battles in Rome 1 and Medieval 2, but when I tried Rome 2 it was auto-resolve only after short time. I had high hopes for competitive gameplay for Rome2, but nah.
Is there a mod to change the music to Rome I music? I feel like I'm watching Elizabeth Taylor Cleopatra every time I hear this OST
Yes! Eras of Rome amd SPQR music mod are great!
@@4rnnr_as thanks!
I really wish they could release original Rome Total War and Shogun Total War at GOG platform...
My only gripe with Rome 2 is the battles. From being awarded for my tactics to just not being able to win unless the stats of my troops are higher or have at least 2 full stacks...my brain just cant compute that...ill always hammer and anvil, flank, ho for a higher ground etc but it does basically nothing...annoys the hell out of me, which is a shame because I really like the game but just cant agree with how battles work. Its completely illogical to me.
I never played Attila bcoz rome 2 was such a weird direction with battles for me as Rome 1, Med2 main and Shogun 2 player....should try it and snap an antiquity mod on it.
This. Tactics from MTW2 are replaced with smash-blobs. I hate R2 with a passion for what they did at the launch mostly, but the lack of solid tactics makes battles boring slogs.
If a Rome Title...I prefer the Rome I Remaster way more, it has some nice Updates like the Merchants but also the "old" Rome Feeling like I think... and don't this dogshit Building System where you can't build all buildings in a City. Sure, Part 2 have also some or even many nice things but still, Rome 1 Remaster has my Loyalty. All hail to the Seleucid Empire!
Plus, you can watch your cities real time at any time.
That, the population mechanics, being able to build anything and seeing the effects in the map (roads, cities changing cultures, internal trade routes) gives a sense of progression I sorely miss on newer Total Wars.
Plus, there is some physicality to units that is missing in post Rome II Total Wars.
City Pathfinding sucks though.
PD: Hope we eventually get a Medieval II Remaster.
Its time for a really good medieval 3. Maybe on a new engine too.
made me want to go back and play shogun, i still am holding hopes they will come back and do a empire or napoleon. even if its just a grand edition or reskin to modern engine or hardware capabilities. i havent bought a total war since warhammer 1, i never was a warhammer person and hopefully since they only got 3 titles from them to do now they have no choice. thats assuming total war doesent collapse on in itself because of the stuff going on inside CA
The first non-tactical Total War game
Rome II + DEI or Para Bellum mod and this game is amazing.
Mods are amazing, not a game
Lmfao no it still sucks
Excellent essay, as always; I have been a...distant(?) fan of the series since its inception, but - for whatever reason - my poor, addled mind could not wrap itself around the game mechanics. I have purchased all the main games + DLCs over the years (save for the latest 2 in the series), but I have YET to crack the (I'm sure *simple*) code and get down to playing any of them.
In any case, thank you for this in-depth deconstruction - much appreciated.
~~~
P.S.
Any plans to circle back around to Homeworld - Cataclysm (Emergence)? :D
Thank you - much appreciated!
I did start with Cataclysm but I hit a wall and haven't gone back in a few months. I definitely get there at some point but I can't say for certain when right now :/
Hi zade. I haven't really got anything to say but I hope you're doing well.
Thanks king, you too
Dude great work on the video but I just gotta say, you’re fucking jacked bro. The Gigachad of RTS games.
Thank you king I do it for the audience
I don't understand the need of watering down gameplay mechanic for modern Total War games, when stupid 12 years old me back then who can barely read English text did just fine on Rome and Medieval2.
Also massive disappointed when CA didn't bring back Jeff Van Dick for the modern Total War games soundtrack. Old TW games battle soundtracks always get my hyped up and ready to go while modern TW's soundtrack was such a snooze fes.
I don't think Rome 2's ui is great. There are some design decisions, like the terrible encyclopedia at launch, and the illegible unit cards, that are just inexplicable. There's also the new way that information windows appear. Rather than getting two at a time, like in Rome 1, you can only open a single info window, which means that consulting the building browser involves a bunch of needless clicking back-and-forth. You have to carefully select what buildings you make in Rome 2, so why make it more difficult to look up their effects?
In general, CA added a lot of game mechanics that exist mainly within their dedicated windows, which makes them all feel more tenuous as things affecting your country. This is why the politics in Rome 2 feels so pointless for me, it feels like a separate and much less interesting game I have to play, even though its decently important.
I revisit it quite often I don't know why
I love Rome 2, and then despise moments of it. The Siege of Carthage because its nothing like the alpha siege, and there's a lack of cinematic cutscenes. The intros for Rome II lack so much variety and the cinematic intros just don't do enough to immerse you like Attila. The battle system is very simplistic and it really comes more alive when you play a MP battle however.
This game needs a Rome III. I WANT a Rome III.
Rome II is a game full of unfulfilled ambitions.
Awesome vid man. I can only imagine the amount of man hours this project took for an hour of my own entertainment. Keep on doing your thing!
Thank you! Well to give you an idea, the old adage of '1 minute of video to 1-2 hours of work' rings true here
Let’s be real the easiest way to fix the new total war games ( thank to Warhammer ) is to remove Hero units and replace them with squad size elements…. That way they are realistic and not gods walking among men.
Awesome video. I've never played Rome II but love Attila, I wonder if I remember that game a bit too fondly as it was my first historical Total War game ^^ As far as some of the mentioned fundamental issues of the series are concerned, I'm really pessimistic. We've seen improvements of some aspects like the diplomacy in the Three Kingdoms game. However, other even more pressing problems of the engine seem to have gotten worse. Units clump up more and move more erratically in Warhammer 3 compared to its previous installments. Sieges are in my opinion the worst they've ever been in a Total War game in Warhammer 3. The gamey, casual, tower-defence mechanics really ruined any interest I had left for them. Somehow, I don't think CA currently has the resources to approach these fundamental issues.
Thank you! I don't disagree - CA need to look inward a LOT to come out of this on top
so rome 1 was my game I have played most of the total war titles bar a couple, I didn't mind rome 2,
i hear what you're saying about stat modifier, it feels like the new total war are almost arcady, it's all about stat modifier. the unit ones I can deal with 1 or 2, the campaign modifiers no.. just no
some of thing in total war i loved in total wars
shogun: hiring units they don't suddenly appear full strength,
older titles: population bring this back please.
new titles: require a general per army and limited armies.. no should be based on your economy no hard cap. also gives you the option spam lower lvl units or small compact professional armies
empire/shogun: the villages connected to each town. issue i do see with that is a settlement that only has max 3 villages will never be as good as max 7, more variety of villages and the limiting factor should be resources found.. i.e coal/ sugar ETC. you should be able to build up a backwater settlement.
rome: attila: the defensive fort in the middle of the city. cities should be your strong points, rome attila with it's roads and cities defensiveness, you can create a defensive line., armies can get around it but you can see them coming miles away. absolutely adore that feature. like the option i playing defensive or agreesive ties into the next one
none of the total war so far: garrisons there should be the option to almost design the garrisons or choose the type of garrison. maybe 3 types. cities on the outskirt you want large garrison they shouldn't be free but they should be cheaper then normal armies, also has the bonus is an armies slips into a region where it is considered safe and all the garrisons are light can cause significant damage. you can choose between defensive or offensive.
total war empire: naval battles. the big naval battles in empire just make that game. i pretty personally always fought naval battles cause every battle felt different, some of my ships became mythological.. retired them to trading where they got tied up into another battle commanding these old warships was nostalgic i could remember names..
three kingdoms: the diplomacy, was one of the best oh of all tittles
i dont mind total war warhammer. but it's a different game to historical, i never bought troy or pharoah, they are too gamy not enough choice.
i understand some people like the resources in troy. personally instead of mining those resources in a stockpile i'd like a price for them. the lower the availability the higher price an item is the higher it will be to use that to construct/train new units. supply and demand.
and i dont like to see supply lines. for armies. instead of marching ignoring provisions.
personaly a trade system between all cities and armies would do well enough block all trade routes into a city it wont be get any food and other resources.
block the supply route of an army, it will eventually starve.
in regards to the blob issue... i don't see any issue with that. it choice. if you want to charge 5 units into an all out war go for it. personally, leaving several units out to regain the stamina and swap unit in and out. I think blob is purely a player choice.
I`m 100% agreed about readability of units on battlefield. It was one of the major factors of not to play Rome 2
yah it's brutal tbh
Its a great game only if you play mods like DEI, Radoius, Parabellum etc
I tried finally finishing a Rome campaign on the tenth anniversary since I bought the game...I failed 😭😭
It's meh way better than launch but still quite boring
Maybe releasing their total war games at different platform such as GOG might help them reach nee players...
Compared to what came after? It’s not that bad. Though Atilla was their last real attempt at making a game.
Despites you have some good points i disagree with you with some others. Rome 2 is the most playable historical total war title and it will remains that for at least other years. Its just the best total war game and with mods its just amazing. Its just not for you i understand.
imagine being this wrong lmao
@@JeyeyeyeyAbout what. ;)
@@Jeyeyeyey "imagine being this wrong about a subjective thing"
So why this ,,best'' total war needs mods if so good? If game sucks without mods - that a sign of shit game...but with sprinkles
@@ulrichvonhermann2548Who says it needs some mods? Today vanilla is great. And good games always has a big modding communities.
Well I know what I'm falling asleep to tonight
Fantastic vid!
Thank you!
Hey, where's all the green??