Rome II Praise Thread

[HorseArcher]

Even though my a$$ is getting kicked the 4th time now, I'm trying to enjoy the game without any mods and see what the developers were trying to pass on as a complete game. Game + mods = is not the way the developers intended to play it. The game should be playable and enjoyable without any mods or DLC.
Before patch 9, the game was just a steamrollin' experience and people exploited the unresponsive AI, but now the AI is given a cheat upgrade to make up for its incompetence from earlier stages.
Even though it's hard to frustrate me with anything, I think the vanilla game is sort of hanging on that thin red line of whether it's frustrating or enjoyable, but people with less patience, the game probably falls on the frustrating experience, rather than enjoyable, even if everything works the way the developers intended. Some people just don't want mods, because truth to be told, many mods are cheating (as I tried out some of them) and modifying certain aspects to a point, that it will have unwelcome side effects or it's more of an exploit than a mod. (in this category- falls any mod that modifies the turns/year; ancillaries and traits;unit strengths and prices; faction overhauls; map overhauls;game flow overhauls; -so basically 90% of all mods.)
My philosophy in this regard, a full game, that has to depend on mods to be enjoyable and playable is not a full game.

[DeliCiousTZM]

Even though my a$$ is getting kicked the 4th time now, I'm trying to enjoy the game without any mods and see what the developers were trying to pass on as a complete game. Game + mods = is not the way the developers intended to play it. The game should be playable and enjoyable without any mods or DLC.
Even though it's hard to frustrate me with anything, I think the vanilla game is sort of hanging on that thin red line of whether it's frustrating or enjoyable, but people with less patience, the game probably falls on the frustrating experience, rather than enjoyable, even if everything works the way the developers intended. Some people just don't want mods, because truth to be told, many mods are cheating (as I tried out some of them) and modifying certain aspects to a point, that it will have unwelcome side effects or it's more of an exploit than a mod.
My philosophy in this regard, a full game, that has to depend on mods to be enjoyable and playable is not a full game.

Well who plays Medieval 2 without mods anymore? or Empire? Maybe you need to rethink that POW. For me though the game is excellent in Vanilla.

[Huberto]

The SP campaign is still awful (that's what I play in TW). Put aside the fact that for the first time CA managed to streamline the historical feel right out of one of its games. The CAI is still too passive; won't defend it's own territories, prefers to cruise the Mediterranean with mini stacks instead of fight. I like cruising the Med too, but... We have other deep problems with the game, but...well I thought it was telling that someone here posted he really only likes the battles...which is reasonable, I guess. Next up:Total War: Arena!

I do hope they fix this game design or do a much better game next time. In the meantime, go Garamantia!

[chris10]

I'm trying to enjoy the game without any mods and see what the developers were trying to pass on as a complete game. Game + mods = is not the way the developers intended to play it. The game should be playable and enjoyable without any mods or DLC.

Thats exactly it. I played the crap out of MTW,RTW and R2TW before going to mods and thats how things should be.
I gave up on R2TW in November...give it another go in a year or so when the game is final and works properly in every way (siege AI...hint,hint)...maybe somebody with enough patience and dedication has built an epic mod ala RSII then...if so I'am in again...if not...well, I think I will TW just let go.

[HorseArcher]

Well who plays Medieval 2 without mods anymore? or Empire? Maybe you need to rethink that POW. For me though the game is excellent in Vanilla.

Dear Monetary!

Medieval II had its own problems (Horse units not charging properly) while spear units were not given the proper bonus against cavalries and the ever resurfacing (since RTW) suicidal AI general unit ruining the battle in the first few minutes. Even though we call them "mods, that fixes or trying to fix the game", I'd rather classify them as user made handicaps.

This also includes "mods" that change the ancillaries and traits as well as mods trying to alter unit and agent behavior to have a more logical game play. These aren't "mods" in my book. These are handicaps.

What I call mods are stuff like
-Europa Barbarorum (changing plenty of things around to have a completely different experience from the vanilla game;
-Anything regarded as a graphical, special effect altering mod (such as my own skymod 6 years ago)
- DarthMod (pick any of them) which changes the gameplay as well as units and strategy to a point to have an entirely different experience.

Of course, opinion varies by each individual, this is my 2 cents.

[Anna_Gein]

@ OP :If you don't want to play real time battle you should try Paradox games. Their newest titles are particularly good.

Nobody will crucify you because you happen to have fun with R2. Far from it. But everyone should be able to distinct the quality of a product and its pleasure it offer. Be it for a game, an album of music, foods, etc ... R2 might provide you some fun but it is a bad strategy game and a bad TW while a game like S2 was a good strategy game and an average to good TW imo.

[DeliCiousTZM]

Dear Monetary!

Medieval II had its own problems (Horse units not charging properly) while spear units were not given the proper bonus against cavalries and the ever resurfacing (since RTW) suicidal AI general unit ruining the battle in the first few minutes. Even though we call them "mods, that fixes or trying to fix the game", I'd rather classify them as user made handicaps.

This also includes "mods" that change the ancillaries and traits as well as mods trying to alter unit and agent behavior to have a more logical game play. These aren't "mods" in my book. These are handicaps.

What I call mods are stuff like
-Europa Barbarorum (changing plenty of things around to have a completely different experience from the vanilla game;
-Anything regarded as a graphical, special effect altering mod (such as my own skymod 6 years ago)
- DarthMod (pick any of them) which changes the gameplay as well as units and strategy to a point to have an entirely different experience.

Of course, opinion varies by each individual, this is my 2 cents.

Well i guess you and ModDB + the majority of everyone disagree, they are mods. TATW is not a handicap it is a mod so is stainless steel and Darth mod. You're grasping at straws all total war have problems but most games out there has more.

I like how the King arthur developer was honoured to even be compared to Total war. What i have learned over the years is that making a game like total war on the scale that it is, is no easy task so i cut CA some slack. That being said we shouldn't think twice about voicing our concerns or point out flaws or would be flaws for some, we might just wanna temper the intensity of our shouting. Sometimes the community gives me the impression of a spoiled kid shouting at his mom for not getting all his favourite toys for Christmas

[pyj99]

What i have learned over the years is that making a game like total war on the scale that it is, is no easy task so i cut CA some slack. That being said we shouldn't think twice about voicing our concerns or point out flaws or would be flaws for some, we might just wanna temper the intensity of our shouting.

The voice of reason ...

[crawe1]

Every total war game is good, i hated the buggy glitchy mess Empire was but i still enjoyed it. Rome II is shaped and even starting to shine from all that polish, still it can't make up for some missing features but it plays well.

Multiplayer campaign > Vanilla
Singleplayer Campaign > Mods
= Rome 2 Good time!

I'd agree. Been playing ever since Shogun, and even a weak TW game is better than most other games. With Radious mod, along with my own changes, I'm really enjoying R2.

[Cavalier]

well maybe ur not having any problems, but many are, and it's not fair to have paid there hard earned money to get frustrated over and over.
Im still experiencing bad lag on lowest graphical settings, and I have a $3200 dollars PC, just don't say anything you don't know about.
People are very upset of what poor state the game is in right now.
Do you know I haven't even finished a single campaign yet, didn't even pass turn 40

That's weird. I've got a computer that I bought for about the same money and I play with my settings mostly on Ultra/Extreme(except for Shadows, water and particle effects), and I only experience a slight lag when there's 5000+ units fighting simultaneously.

--------------------

Anyway, I've enjoyed the game from start. Not as much as I would if the game had been released similarily to post patch 9. But with patch 9 things are starting to shape up nicely. The only thing that is lacking is Siege AI. I didn't mind it much at first, but now I'm feeling the effects.

[wulfgar610]

You are right. The mods make a great difference. SEGA and CA did have a rushed release. However, now the game is not as awful as some would suggest.

In many respects a better game than Shogun 2. But it does have a lot of failings. However I enjoyed it and found it well worth the money. People these days have high expectations.

[Karnil Vark Khaitan]

Just wanted to share this with everyone.

SaeedOnWeb

sad now people will hate you.....

[paradamed]

The game can be enjoyable. I had fun some times. This doesnt mean the bugs are gone. If you did not see any of the problems reported here you havent played enough of the game. Even ca acknowledges the problems the game has, since they have been trying to fix things with a ton of patches. I can remeber people here claiming the game to be perfect some weeks ago. If the game is perfect why is ca releasing bugfixes in a monthly base then? Im not annoyed that you are having fun but I get annoyed that people try to throw the bugs under the carpet with such statements.

[geyserik]

There are still some problems with the game siege A.I.Anyone?But the game plays well since patch 9 enemy armies hold and don't break nearly that easy.Leads to longer fun battles.I really do enjoy this game but it may be because I love this time in history.

[Sun Jetzu]

My Name is Sun Jetzu. And I'm actually having a blast with rome 2 right now. Using it to make machinima's and working on short films as well.
The campaign has gotten more fun and the battle AI has gotten alot smarter. Everything is an improvement since patch 9.
I also have my game modded to the hilt. Its like its on steroids. I have All of radious, G.E.M, unlock all factions, Giant Wars, dresden mod, better animals to name a few.
I'm a recovering total war player.

[Sun Jetzu]

well maybe ur not having any problems, but many are, and it's not fair to have paid there hard earned money to get frustrated over and over.
Im still experiencing bad lag on lowest graphical settings, and I have a $3200 dollars PC, just don't say anything you don't know about.
People are very upset of what poor state the game is in right now.
Do you know I haven't even finished a single campaign yet, didn't even pass turn 40, cz I lost interest in the game with it's poor diplomacy, battle lag, bad siege, bad UI, stupid AI.
hope you understand where Im coming from here.

Thats wierd, I have a computer that I spent almost 300 dollars to get extreme gaming ready. And I can play the game now on extreme without any lag at all. I can play full stacks without any lag. I can play full stacks with multiple people on the field and no lag. Huge armies though, those give me lag. But usually only when I'm filming zoomed out shots. So If your still experiencing technical problems like these with the game. It is because of your comp. You might need an upgrade bro.

[geyserik]

Thats wierd, I have a computer that I spent almost 300 dollars to get extreme gaming ready. And I can play the game now on extreme without any lag at all. I can play full stacks without any lag. I can play full stacks with multiple people on the field and no lag. Huge armies though, those give me lag. But usually only when I'm filming zoomed out shots. So If your still experiencing technical problems like these with the game. It is because of your comp. You might need an upgrade bro.

Yeah I'm playing on an acer laptop that cost $700.00 and Im playing on extreme no problems!Loving it!

[Toho]

Yeah I'm playing on an acer laptop that cost $700.00 and Im playing on extreme no problems!Loving it!

see I dont see this at all a positive. it just means that my high end PC is forced to crawl at the level of your laptop because god forbid your laptop runs any MSAA (or wtv the exact term was) would probably make your laptop blow up.
so no... this "extreme" is because it was crippled optimized to the point that a rock could run it.

Thats wierd, I have a computer that I spent almost 300 dollars to get extreme gaming ready. And I can play the game now on extreme without any lag at all. I can play full stacks without any lag. I can play full stacks with multiple people on the field and no lag. Huge armies though, those give me lag. But usually only when I'm filming zoomed out shots. So If your still experiencing technical problems like these with the game. It is because of your comp. You might need an upgrade bro.

please get more informed on this subject the problem is not an "upgrade" when CA made this game they tried to focus on the casual gamers (not a bad thing) and they tried to make sure that most average PCs can run it.
problem is my PC can outrun your PC (lets assume) 5 or 10 times more but since CA did not bother to test and optimize the game to my high end specs then my game does weird stuff. it upgrades some stuff but turns every thing else to . its like putting everything to ultra settings but keeping the resolution low. I dont know how else to explain it to you and this is not even mentioning the whole AMD vs NVidia problems.

[Sun Jetzu]

please get more informed on this subject the problem is not an "upgrade" when CA made this game they tried to focus on the casual gamers (not a bad thing) and they tried to make sure that most average PCs can run it.
problem is my PC can outrun your PC (lets assume) 5 or 10 times more but since CA did not bother to test and optimize the game to my high end specs then my game does weird stuff. it upgrades some stuff but turns every thing else to . its like putting everything to ultra settings but keeping the resolution low. I dont know how else to explain it to you and this is not even mentioning the whole AMD vs NVidia problems.

So your saying that CA only tested this game out on average pc's, so thats what handles the game the best. Since they didnt do the same with high end pc's then the game runs crappier on a better system?
That makes sense

[Toho]

So your saying that CA only tested this game out on average pc's, so thats what handles the game the best. Since they didnt do the same with high end pc's then the game runs crappier on a better system?
That makes sense

and yet its true, same with AMD vs Nvidia and so on.
which also explains why there is barely any AA. your 300$ pc would roast if it even attempted that.

also you seem to misunderstand the whole issue, my computer is able to run things much better than yours so when I boot up a game and expect proper AA i see crappy jaggy lines.
you who is used to crap graphics would probably not notice it, not to mention you said you are playing on laptop? so whats your resolution? 800x600?