THE GREAT QUESTION - WORTH THE MONEY?

[Spain's Pain]

It's.... interesting. There are definite improvements to it, but we'll see how long it keeps me entertained. I feel like a certain sandbox element has been lost in the shuffle here... then again, I've only been able to play it for a few hours.

[Shabby_Ronin]

I've only been truly "loyal" to one series and that's TW, often it's very begrudged. I still remember that day in EB talking to the clerk like ten years ago, before I'd ever played a computer game and going "Wait, you mean you can fight battles with thousands of samurai?"

I swore today I wouldn't buy it and changed my mind an hour later. It's the only game in town boys, I can't find the good mix anywhere else.

I wish there was a third choice of "I bought it and feel guilty".

[Chyeaaaa111]

NTW DEFINATELY is worth your money. SOOOOOOOOOO much better than ETW in every way. The MPC is not buggy. The BAI is soo much better than ETW - No melee blob at all. The CAI is smarter. Drop-in Battles are incredibly awesome.

NTW has exceeded my expectations completely! Granted, they were very low because of my ETW experience, but it surpassed what I was expecting. I came in very skeptical, and was very pleased.

And most importantly, I did not encounter one bug or crash. So stability is not an issue at all like it was for ETW on release.

P.S. To really get the most out of the game, you need to have internet because the ability to play humans really gives the game some variety

[Kanaric]

The AI is still lacking, but everything else seems pretty damn good.

The problem with that statement is that the AI IS the strategy game, if the AI is lacking the game is bad.

[SgtCoolBeans]

I always thought empire was cool regardless of the flaws (probably helped that I got a better computer lol) and I was a little skeptical about this one mainly because of the more linear campaign mode. And the fact that they said it was going to have better graphics (which is good but Empire ran really slow sometimes and I was worried this would do the same)

But I must say now it is so much better. For starters I put everything on ultra (which i didn't have for empire and its on the same computer) it ran so much smoother. Its grittier (sp?) and a lot more real. Empire was cool but it felt rather cartoonish sometimes. This one is much better.

The addition of multiplayer campaigns is really nice I like it a lot. Its nice to have a human to interact with (one downside is that the multiplayer campaigns only allow 2 people which is a bummer i hope they change this).

I haven't got to try the new napoleon campaigns but the large sandbox one seems fun and open ended.


oh and the A.I. is better that is for sure. Not as good as a human player but a lot better than in Empire. I was testing my game and putting it on ultra so I had the a.i on the standard difficulty level and even on that difficulty level they flanked my army and actually stayed in a volley against me instead of running at me like complete idiots. I'm actually going to have to think a little bit more when it comes to playing a computer which I like.



I have a few beefs which are

1. the new unit card design- it looks rather ...... unfinished, at least in my mind. Its nothing big but it just kind of bugs me because the unit cards look like toy soldiers.

2. While the units do have varying stats for different nations so the line infantry is not all the same, there aren't that many units to choose from (granted I did not get the limited addition one which probably helps). This is not to big deal because there is still a decent selection.



thats about it so far as I can tell the simple answer to your question is yes, yes it is most definitely worth your money

[Luth]

Yes!
All in all, I would HIGHLY recommend this game to my fellow Total war brethren. I'm excited like when I first played RTW.

Enjoy!

haha funy how some people just mention RTW or MTW2 does any1 here was old enough to play shogun :o ( still remember when i first buy Shogun i was on vacation and not in home so didnt have a pc to try it out im talking about many years ago no many pc were around so i have to read the box and manual fo the game for 3 days, when i arrive home i was stuck at pc for 3 days and 3 nights playing it lol dam was good time, was my first college year mm yea i should be studying nvm Shogun and TW series are more fun! )

well im agre with erkli pasha I'm excited like when I first played Shogun total war!

and if you didnt try or waste money in empire NTW is a good option especial with the new MP features

[Hazbones]

Drop in battles = great
Non-idiotic BAI = great
Awesome graphics = great
Bringing back the "warcry" from RomeTW = great
Pretty Stable = great

Willing to pay $40+ for NTW (aka an ETW patch) that has everything that should have been in my ETW game in the first place = TERRIBLE

I voted "NO". At least not until I see this mysterious uniform editor, mod tools, or something that would justify the cost.

[Delysid]

The game is $69USD on steam in my country for the standard edition.
WAY to much for an expansion pack.

[larsier]

haha funy how some people just mention RTW or MTW2 does any1 here was old enough to play shogun :o

I am only 18, but i remember shogun... i loved it even if i was only about 11 at the time, and dident speek a weurd of english.

I had to figure everything out myself.

O good old shogun...

[Oafus Magnus]

Well, it's a shame if ETW was such a let down that it puts you off buying NTW. There really is no comparison between the two other than the fact it uses the same game engine. I do find it interesting that given all popular game franchises (Madden, Final Fantasy, Call of Duty, and so forth) have stronger and weaker titles over the years and the fans either give the next one a go or just move on to something else, many TW fans feel personally wronged by CA and feel they are owed something because the manufacturer didn't deliver promised features.

[King Mob]

Yes buy it. Man if you see 3 movies this year it will be more than worth it!

[FloatingBlizzard]

The game is $69USD on steam in my country for the standard edition.
WAY to much for an expansion pack.

That sucks man, it was 39 here, ouch.. Where do you live?
NTW is a lot better and the AI is VERY much better. I have the difficulty on hard and campaign on hard too, its really fun.
Honestly though, i think everyone who doesnt want to steamroll the italian campaign should put difficulty on VH, because its very easy to just destroy Austria, simply because once you destroy a few armies of theirs, they don't have enough money to make another big army--So cities are practically unguarded and you can just force surrender.

Also, someone else said it feels like we lost some of the sand box feature, which from i can tell is completely true. There is still plenty to do, but it's all guided.

And yes, it does feel like an expansion pack in a few ways--but the AI, graphics, sounds, and all the new effects make it stray away from being an expansion pack.

Sooo many things are fixed, combat feels so much more fluid and lifelike, you can now feel and see the terrifying power of artillery, ugh i wish empire was like this!

I would rate NTW 9/10, despite the price--10/10 if they release good modding tools.
I would rate ETW 6/10 vanilla
Great job CA!

[JL Chamberlain]

The AI is noticeably better then in Empire though. Also, drop in battles amongst many other things help alleviate that.

I know Darth is good and all but what would everyone do if he was to say " i'm not going to mod anymore" and then never came back?

BTW i've finished the italy campaign and the BAI is on par with Darth's mod. I've had 90% of my battles with 2 neat lines shooting it out with the AI trying to flank with cavalry and some light infantry units. CA did keep their word as far as decent BAI in my experience so far with NTW. During the campaign i personally fought about 13 battles usually with full stacks. so there has been some rigorous testing in the 4 hours or so i've been playing.

[XxGREAT-BRITAINx]

I am only 18, but i remember shogun... i loved it even if i was only about 11 at the time, and dident speek a weurd of english.

I had to figure everything out myself.

O good old shogun...

LoL I like what you did there! XD.

[The Vicar]

I know Darth is good and all but what would everyone do if he was to say " i'm not going to mod anymore" and then never came back?

Personally, I'd probably play a better mod, like Imperial Splendour.

But then I'd do that regardless of your hypothetical scenario, so whatever.

[Thoragoros]

given all popular game franchises (Madden, Final Fantasy, Call of Duty, and so forth) have stronger and weaker titles over the years and the fans either give the next one a go or just move on to something else, many TW fans feel personally wronged by CA and feel they are owed something because the manufacturer didn't deliver promised features.

The difference is that ETW was a strategy game with broken AI, meaning it was, for all intents and purposes, a broken game. There was no excuse for that.

I have played all of the COD titles, and not one of them could be dubbed 'broken.' If a CoD title was ETW, it would be the equiviliant of the guns not firing, that is what the AI is to a strategy game, and the AI here was simply broken.

[RO Citizen]

I think it really is.

Note: And it's 40$, not 50

[Malkuth]

6.5 hours of play in Including drop in battles and I must say that this game totally rocks.

I stayed up to 1 AM playing the dam thing. Worth the money.. Hell yeah.

[Hresvelgr]

The difference is that ETW was a strategy game with broken AI, meaning it was, for all intents and purposes, a broken game. There was no excuse for that.

I have played all of the COD titles, and not one of them could be dubbed 'broken.' If a CoD title was ETW, it would be the equiviliant of the guns not firing, that is what the AI is to a strategy game, and the AI here was simply broken.

Call it broken all you want, a lot of people, myself included, enjoyed it greatly over the past year. It is certainly more replayable than those damnably boring FPS shooters or whatever games you are talking about. MW2 certainly wasn't very fun after you beat campaign once. The people on this website are the most atrociously negative gamers out there.Talk about spoiled.

[Thoragoros]

Call it broken all you want, a lot of people, myself included, enjoyed it greatly over the past year. It is certainly more replayable than those damnably boring FPS shooters or whatever games you are talking about. MW2 certainly wasn't very fun after you beat campaign once. The people on this website are the most atrociously negative gamers out there.Talk about spoiled.

Of the ETW AI isn't broken why did Kieran of CA call it a 'Beaten Donkey' at the SF preview event?