NTW - Clearly not an expansion...

This was my #1 worry when I first started it up. "god, don't let this be an expansion repackaged as a full game."

Playing it ... I really am having a hard time finding things that are the "same" from etw other than the basic combat style.

The map is massively different.
Resources work differently.
Morale works differently.
Cannons are actually useful.
Somewhat deformable terrain.
...

The only thing that just feels "same" from Empire is naval combat which hasn't really changed a lick since it was improved in one of empires last patches.

This aside... it feels as different from ETW as MTW2 felt from Rome.

Hell, even the graphics are a big jump up and the thing runs smoothly... which boggles my mind.

couldn't of agreed more. Well worth $39

The thing that will always throw people off is that it "looks" the same... The screenshots didn't do it justice at all. A friend of mine who wasn't going to get Napoleon and actually sorta hated empire... As a thank you for being a good friend and putting up with me uhr... not hanging out with him in like 2 months (messy breakup, been hanging out with another friend who was ALSO going through a messy breakup... y'know...) I steam gifted him a copy.

On my way home from class in SF (ugh... commuting to college sucks... 2 hours in rush hour traffic) he texts me "dude, this game is so much better than empire. The battles don't suck."

He texted me that while I still had an hour left in traffic before I got home... bastard. (it was the day it came out... hadn't played yet)

I'm glad to hear CA didn't fail twice. I didn't think they would since they were building off the 1.5 patch.

I'm wondering about all the lovely modders and if they'll wait for some patches before starting and what they'll do with the game. Mods after all make games have virtually endless playability (I'm looking at you Oblivion).

it feels as different from ETW as MTW2 felt from Rome.

Now there's some praise.

I mean, think about it...

The way things worked in medieval 2 were almost exactly the same as the way they worked in Rome as far as battle mechanics went. Nothing new really, just new units with new beautiful models and skins. The campaign map looked better and there were a bunch of cool new features (and some uhr... annoying ones COUGH MERCHANTS COUGH) ...

Then take Empire and Napoleon. Combat works mostly the same but with new units with beautiful models and skins. The campaign map looks better and there are a bunch of cool new features ... except no turd in the punch bowl like merchants in medieval 2.

The only thing that's bad about this comparison to me is that Medieval 2 had a lot of the same launch issues as Empire, such as naval invasions and such.

Hell, the Duke of Wellington landed a freaking army in normandy in my game a few turns ago (1806 ... lol) so we know THAT isn't a problem this go around... So far no ctd's, it runs smoothly on full ultra graphics with 2 full stack armies on my machine while looking WAY better than Empire...

I was thinking the same thing Society.

And I agree about the screen shots. They really didn't do this game justice. I remember seeing them and thinking "wow CA is falling off, that game looks just like Empire." But it really surprised me.