Rome II

[mikeck]

If you are starting out, pick the one that games an era you are interested in. Between Medieval 2, Rome 2, Napoleon and Shogun 2. They are all great and you will enjoy it more if you like the period. If you don't care, I would highly recommend Shogun 2...if is the most polished and beautiful of the group. Plus it has the best AI..by far

[Gusington]

^I agree. But Japanese history can be kind of niche. Not sure what Marty is into. I still don't think the original Medieval is such a bad idea. It's a great game.

[mikeck]

Yep M1 is good. But the graphics are very dated. Heck, even darthmoded Empire is good now.

[Gusington]

The part of Medieval that still sticks in my head ten years later is the music. Probably the best music I've ever enjoyed in a computer game.

[Bison]

Well I'd suggest that which ever you choose to try Marty you wait for a Steam sale to hit.  You'll certainly be able to pick up shogun for 50-75% off and I suspect that Rome II will have a sale day during the Christmas sale with a 40-50% off.

[Gusington]

TW: Eras goes for a pretty low price and includes all the early releases and is on Steam, IIRC.

[Sir Slash]

I only started playing Total War with the start-up of Rome 1 TW. But I'd make an argument that Medieval 2 had the best balance of an easy to play game but with lots of things to strategize over. Solid AI, beautiful units, sieges, and a whole new continent to explore/conquer when the tech gets high enough. Gunpowder units, religion, spies and assassins, and when you think you've got all that figured out, the Pope throws a crusade at you. Loved it and still play it from time to time. My 2 cents.

[Nefaro]

TW: Eras goes for a pretty low price and includes all the early releases and is on Steam, IIRC.

A big complaint I had about the originals (aside from them looking like crap these days) is the way the army movement was handled.  You could send one of your army 'pieces' to attack a neighboring territory and end up having an enemy army just pass right by and take the one you attacked out of.  Like playing musical chairs.  The last time I played MTW, that happened a few turns in a row, the map had turned into a medieval version of Twister, and I ragequit never to return. 

There was the usual complaining about new features in the first RTW, notably the higher fidelity campaign map and army movement, but the concept was a big leap past the simplistic checkerboard type zone movement in the first two.  Moving your armies made more sense, despite the endemically poor AI. 

The old love felt for the original TW games are as much nostalgia as anything else, IMO.  I don't recommend a newcomer starting with those, and I'm not just speaking about possible OS issues.  Start with Shogun 2 or Rome 2 first.

[Marty Ward]

Thanks for all the advice. I downloaded a demo of Shogun 2 and hope to give it a try soon.

As I don't really have a favorite time period (they all sound good to me) and older graphics aren't that big deal if the game is good so I will probably let my wallet decide and one I see one sale. :) 

[LongBlade]

Thanks for all the advice. I downloaded a demo of Shogun 2 and hope to give it a try soon.

As I don't really have a favorite time period (they all sound good to me) and older graphics aren't that big deal if the game is good so I will probably let my wallet decide and one I see one sale. :)

Of them all, I didn't ever buy Empire or Napoleon. Some folks love them, but I've heard some folks didn't.

Medieval, Shogun, Rome One or Two for any of them will be a win.

Honestly, I think I like Rome II the best because it's more streamlined and I'm a turn-based strategy kind of player. If you haven't read my review it goes into a bit more depth http://grogheads.com/?p=2936.

[FlickJax]

Thought i'd fire mine up after leaving it to patch for a few weeks and patches have broken the game on my PC :( updating my GFX drivers and keeping fingers crossed.

[Sir Slash]

Great review Longblade. Don't know how I missed it earlier. Have your impressions changed any with the patches and new DLC?

[Steelgrave]

I want Rome II, but I'm already juggling so many games I'm afraid it would sit on my desktop for a year before I got to it. So I'm making myself wait for a sale.

Maybe.

[undercovergeek]

I want Rome II, but I'm already juggling so many games I'm afraid it would sit on my desktop for a year before I got to it. So I'm making myself wait for a sale.

Maybe.

you only play two!!!!!

[FlickJax]

Thought i'd fire mine up after leaving it to patch for a few weeks and patches have broken the game on my PC :( updating my GFX drivers and keeping fingers crossed.

Nope, bloody patches have killed game on my machine :(