Ouch!
After 30+ hours of game play I have come to some conclusionsabout the inherent problems with Rome2. By the way, that 30 + hours of game play shows up in the Steam statistics as10 minutes; so much for the value of Steam being a source of accurate sampling.
Much has been said about the unit cards and my own take onthem is I can take ‘em or leave ‘em. The one thing that stands out about themin particular is that they were made from a very minimal palette. I wish there was some way I could transpose the unit cards from RS1 or RS2 and use theminstead without going into a major modding effort.
It may well be that the unit cards in some mods were so welldone that CA decided that no matter what they did someone would accuse them ofcopying and so the decision was made to go with something that the modders hadnot done with RTW. At this point, it’s a good a guess as any.
The battle AI and campaign AI might just turn out to be thebest ever. No one will know until all the bugs are put through a sieve and filteredout. At any rate, I’m sure the battle AI will be improved to the point where itis satisfactory and some of what appears to be irrational about the CAI will betweaked.
My opinion is there are deeper problems with R2 than theincidentals I’ve mentioned above. None of which would be a total game breakerbecause I know they can be amended.
The campaign map is probably the best so far, bearing inmind the fact that some expected TW traditions on map play were inexplicablyleft out in the cold. To date, at least in my experience, all Total War gameshad something that kept the player waiting expectantly for that next turn tocome around. In the case of Empire, that next turn might take 45 minutes to comearound in late game while the player watched haplessly as two dozen individualunits standing in a small area of the map decided that they would eventually donothing. Nonetheless, the expectancy of that coming turn still lured the playerto endure it so he could make his next move.
For me, that doesn’t seem to be the case with Rome 2 and I think I havefigured out why. First the UI is so untraditional TW. Why would they do that ifthe old system was part of the expected TW gaming experience? The UI in itself though is not game breaking.
Even the lack of a family tree is not game breaking, but itwas another much expected feature that was left out in favor of a system thatis suppose to induce intrigue and instead leaves the player with repeatedoptions of picking out a new general. Why? Why? Why? What was the logicals equence that could have led to such a decision? If anything, it would beinteresting to know.
The new army system is a major improvement in game play andone I was hoping for. It too needs a little tweaking, but my hat’s off to youon this CA. It was a good implementation.
No, the major flaw in game immersion lies deep in thefundamentals of the game. The new province system was a brilliant idea, butsomehow it was taken and literally walked off a cliff. The building tree iswhat I’m talking about and the symbolic impressions of what’s supposed to bestructures in a settlement, along with bizarre consequences associated withbuilding each unit:
For instance, a government building has negative consequences on public order. What? It seems like it would be the reverse. It’spossible to build latrines, but they effect more than sanitation, health, growth andall the little considerations that have to be made before building a buildingthat looks like a symbol and may be difficult to detect on the map unlessyou’re building a circus or coliseum. I, for one, like to see a visual representation on the map and in the UI of what I’m spending my time on.
And let us not forget roads. They’re supposed to magicallyappear as we progress and expand. From what I’ve seen there are two basic roadtypes on the campaign map: trails and dirt trails. Maybe I haven’t playedenough yet. It doesn’t matter. The choice to build roads should be the player’sand they should have some distinctive appearance on the map. I often played Shogun to the extent that I could see the appearance of imperial roads on the campaign map. For some strange reason it was fun.
So here you have it. My opinion anyway. The reason why Rome doesn’t draw me into want to play another turn is the abysmal UI and the insanely limited buildingtree with it’s infernal symbols and paradoxical consequences. I use to find excuses not to do yard work or go fishing in order to have a reason to spendtime playing TW. Now, it’s more like: “Well, I may as well go mow the backforty.” or “Well, it could rain and get miserably choppy, but I think I’ll takethe boat out and chance catching some trout instead of playing.” or “I think I’ll sit on the back porch, drink some beer and watch the squirrels andBluejays.
The problem with Rome2 is I’d rather being doing so many other things than looking at symbols, doing simple addition and subtraction and then picking a symbol hoping for the desired result. It doesn’t draw me in because it isn’t fun and that’s what it’ssupposed to be. It would be different if I could spend my turns planning campaigns, and looking at an intriguing set of buildings and their effects to choose from. It might all come together then and be an enjoyable experience. As it is, no.
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