RTW or ETW

[Green Warrior]

I recently purchased Empire Total War but I'm not feeling as enthusiastic for it as I thought I would given my fascination with that historical era.

I'd like to hear the opinions of other players about whether they prefer RTW or ETW and why.

Thanks.

[Ciciro]

Empire Total War is the worst Total War game, if you do not consider any of the spin-offs.

[eugenioso]

RTW is a classic, while ETW is the retarded cousin twice removed on its mother's side.

[apostrophefz]

[I've played ETW for 30 minutes]
Superficially, the time period of those two are galaxies apart, and ... even graphically, it's hard to point the best one, because of said period difference.

In gameplay, management wise there's a huge difference: in RTW the management looks incredibly simplistic; which is dual, because it works nicely, but may feel lacking. In ETW, just as the campaign loads you're welcome into a much more complicated , and modern, world, with multiple cities and buildings in a province(a country); trade routes leading out of the european theatre; government chairs to fill, and what struck me the hardest, Europe is a patchwork of factions, all diplomatically linked. I'm playing as Austria (I'm dying to jump into the mediterranean) and I'm actually really anxious in this crowded space of a continent. Used to RTW, the first total war game I effectivaly played, where the world is half rebel populated, I'm already feeling like an intruder here, poised to be crushed.

Take what I said with a grain of salt. I'm new to the game, and naive still.

in a later note, the campaign map in ETW feels light, and there's no solidity in the elements, as in buildings and units. Bright color and lack of detail dominate and it feels almost childish.
I've installed Rome 2 , so, it's goodbye for now to ETW...

[Mylemakis]

RTW with XGM-mod is the best. I've been having lot of fun playing that mod. Best of all the campaign map goes all the way to Indus. Now building Alexander's empire as Seleucids and it's going fine.

I prefer Europa Universalis and Crusader Kings for the strategy games set at the Middle-ages. Much better diplomacy system in them and there is no blank spot (like rebels in TW) in the map. Even the tiniest kingdom is represented. Much better view for the global policies.

[Rijul.J.Ballal]

RTW has a ton of great mods and is always fun. ETW is the newer game with better graphics [although a few mods make RTW pretty impressive]. It all comes down to the sort of game play you prefer.

[kael_butcher]

RTW all the way. I've played both ETW and NTW and I was just bored by them.