Fourth Age beter than Third Age?

[TheRomanRuler]

Well you read the title

EDIT: I dont like Fourth Age TW. For many reasons:
1. Rohan and Gondor fighting against each others, WTF????? NO way!!
2.After Napoleon and Medieval 2 its very hard to come back to Rome
3.Dont like story

Why not to do this on Medieval 2?

ps. Hope Team wont get angry, i just cant imagine LOTR after death of characters or with some other changes... =

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

What do you mean by better?

[Aradan]

FATW and TATW are different, in that they have different target audiences and are therefore focused on different things. It's hard to find someone who likes both, and asking in this forum if "FATW is better than TATW" is the same as asking the opposite in TATW's forum. Chances are you won't get an objective answer. Plus, "better" is also pretty vague.


This thread should remain flame-free and polite, if it is to remain open.

[Sarisophoros]

Personaly I like both pretty much equally, more or less, it varries. If you mean which one presents the era in a better way, couldnt answer they represent different time periods. I mean about TATW you can go on by books and films. All that I know about FATW period is whar I had read on this site and to me it looks like very well rounded up. I think that M2TW is an example of game benefiting from graphical improvements and TATW is like walking in the movie (like them a lot) with all those creatures so for me that is a big plus for that mod. But FATW also goes deeply to into presenting these new factions and units so it is very easy to get into that mod as well. Actually when I think about it TATW is my favourite M2TW mod because of Middle-earth movie like theme. Was and allways will be RTW fan first, I guess. And to answer you conclusively, the best mod is the one that has more phalanx units in it.
I meant one out of these two (FATW and TATW) of course. But yes EB comes close ti it.

[Hrobatos]

Roma Surrectim II? I agree with you that RSII is by far the best mod ever
only EB comes close ti it

[Aradan]

Bringing RS2 and EB in the discussion is somewhat off-topic, but it's interesting to see graphics "by far" outranking accuracy, depth, gameplay and stability as a comparison standard even when it comes to roman-era mods.

[Sarisophoros]

No, no, no. I didnt say that graphic outranks anything and let alone by far. Most games get graphically improved and still it helps nothing to the games playability. Of course that in RTW and in M2TW gameplay and depth are the first thing to look for in a mod and after you play a few the only things to look for. I get the feel for units and for what they can do and for what they can sustain and then I play by that. Accuracy I dont fuss about (like to see it but I am not very demanding there) and stability gets worked out eventually. I mean I dont play betas but if I like the mod I play it. What I meant was that in case of TATW nice shiny colors do add to the enyojment of playing, for me. Dont know the whole atmosphere is vivid like in the movies. But all things considered I would rather play a FATW campaign.

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

Personally I'd say that you can't compare an RTW mod to an M2TW mod - I will always preffer FATW because, in my opinion, M2TW is retarded. So the discussion is pointless.

[Hrobatos]

I dont like TATW coz its gameplay is boring
but do its off-topic, RSII has awesome graphics, general accuracy and gameplay

[Ferdiad]

May I ask what actually is the differnce between TATW and FATW, besides the diffent engine?

[Basileus of Byzantium]

I dont like TATW coz its gameplay is boring
but do its off-topic, RSII has awesome graphics, general accuracy and gameplay

Doesn't EB have better accuracy? I'm not a historian myself so I have no clue but heck the team even researched the weather back then. Oh ya also getting back on topic, the whole FATW and TATW kinda seems unecessary because its always opinion. Perfect example is what Hrobatos just said above me, in which he believes TATW has boring gameplay while another may have a different view on it. In the end from what I've seen these kind of topics have a high chance of flaming and what not unless stopped by an admin/moderator.

[♔DARTH LEGO♔]

I dont like TATW coz its gameplay is boring

....i think that is more MTW2's fault than TATW.....

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

May I ask what actually is the differnce between TATW and FATW, besides the diffent engine?

Everything. You name it, it's different.

[Éorl]

May I ask what actually is the differnce between TATW and FATW, besides the diffent engine?

Starting with history, TATW is - obviously - set during the time of the War of the Ring, while FATW is set many decades after the events described in The Lord of the Rings (starting 100 years or so after the death of Elessar). Therefore, you have creatures like Fellbeasts, Nazgul, or Balrogs in TATW, which you won't find in FATW.

Speaking of the setting: TATW incorporates ideas, designs and concepts from the movies, which are often sloppy adaptions (and I mean the original work of the movie writers and designers, not the adaption of those in the mod) of the ideas, designs and concepts established in the books, or even just mere fabrications with no basis in the books at all, whereas FATW strictly adheres to Tolkien's works, which means that all ideas, concepts and designs are considered well, not only from a game mechanics, immersion and balance point of view, but also in order to stay true to Tolkien's works.

There are other differences, but as a member of the development team, I won't speak of those, but let the players and fans elaborate.

[Hrobatos]

....i think that is more MTW2's fault than TATW.....

not really, I'm playing some other M2Tw which do have good gameplay, but for most mods that is true
vanilla has boring gameplay and most mods werent able to change it

[♔DARTH LEGO♔]

not really, I'm playing some other M2Tw which do have good gameplay, but for most mods that is true
vanilla has boring gameplay and most mods werent able to change it

essentially why i qualified by saying its more

KGCM never gets boring for me, but its not the first time i have heard this comment and it wont be the last and above all i can sympathise with it up to the point where the boredom is associated with a mod for MTW2, instead of its vanilla state.....thats all

[Tuskin4]

I think FATW is better its more original keep up the great work

[Beorn]

TATW has great visuals, but misses all the petty things that can make its gameplay to differ than the vanilla. IIRC, some of the building descriptions of TATW refer to Eastern Europe towns etc....

[Themea]

Petty is perhaps not the right word. That would assume that the things are not worth the time. So what they're doing is petty, they're ignoring the little things.

[StealthEvo]

It's simple really. When it comes to making a setting on pre-established canon. Any situation that you can try and immerse yourself in, which is the point of making these types of modifications, to provide an altnerative narrative in history. Well thats the point of the TW series for me.

Any type of immersion you create is effectively fan fiction. And that ultimately has a finite number of ways it can end. More often then not, if you choose to produce said tales of said immersive fan fiction more often then not you'll be told off because you didn't do it right.

Wheras a scenerio that is for intents and purposes open ended, IE there was only a page or something written and the FA:Tw went on a crazy lore writing rampage and left everything to play for (from a lore perspective) Since there is no established canon to work towards things start becoming more immersive (which again is the point as it add's replayability and everyone tells their friends)

I know i'm not one to blow my own horn. (much)

But I thought i'd give you and example.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=375178

It's an early AAR that I wrote, the game set the scene and brought the narrative to life. Better then the T dawg. Blaytently.