Come on then!, who else thinks Rome Total War or its mods is better than Total War: Rome 2 is it just me ?.

[BigEl_nobody]

@stackero
I agree with you that RS2 is an amazing Total War experience. In my opinion only beaten by Broken Crescent and Vanilla Medieval2. But as amazing as they improved Rome 1, I am not able to play RS2 for very long periods of time. At the beginning of a campaign it tends to be unfair all the way (I play on H/H all the time), and when you get a bit into depth of a campaign, it gets super easy due to an insane amount of money you can generate through settlements. Also the CAI seems to be quite Passive (Not as passive as R2 however). And I played RS2 way before the Announcement of Rome2 already, and altough the ancient period of time is my favourite time period, I had this feeling already way back when I first played the Mod.

The only TW game I played trough several times is the campaign of Vanilla Medieval2! Because the game was a challenge trough the whole campaign. In late game when you builded up a huge empire, you had the plague as event, the invasion of the Mongols and Timurids, and your cities where most of the time close to a rebellion, so you constantly lost a settlement here and there and had to fight not only at your borders, but inside your Empire too. Also you could never trust anyone, not even long time allies, becasue they betrayed you constantly. Maybe it was a bit extreme in that regard, but it really felt like Total War. You had to be on your toes the whole time and there were never long periods of time where you could just sit back and build up CIV - Style.

So to conclude I would go with this ranking: Medival2 Vanilla > Broken Crescent > Roma Surrectum > Rome 2 = Shogun 2 > Rome 1 > Empire.

[Dunadd]

Rome 1 had far better music at campaign and battle levels, better atmosphere, far more choice of what to build in cities and was generally more fun. Unmodded battle AI was pretty terrible (suicidal generals charging their cavalry bodyguard to their deaths to kill a unit of skirmishers). Unmodded vanilla Rome 1 had plenty of seaborne invasions - for some reason mods seemed to kill that off.
Vanilla Rome I Ptolemaic Egypt was laughably historically inaccurate with biblical period units mixed in, but mods improved all that greatly. Some Rome II mods like Europa Barbarorum and Extended Realism were pretty nice and had decent battlefield and campaign AI (though EB pretty much killed off seaborne invasions for some reason).

Still hoping CA will co-operate with modders to make some really awsome Rome II mods, but at the moment Rome II seems pretty dull and annoying to play.

[tigger_t]

Think it's you. Rome 1 had a bigger impact for me cause that's what brought me over to total war games from age of empire, empire earth kind of games but thinking back the ai was completly retarted in comparison and there was so many pointless things to manage that had very little effect and of course size and graphics.

[Nota']

Modded: Maybe, just maybe.
Unmodded: HELL NO. ARE YOU CRAZY!?!!?!?! 4 Roman empires, pink pajama people, units from the bible, flaming pigs.
Unpatched: Even more no, AI retarded stupid ass bugs. R2 may have this but it has more features etc.

Remember, mods like RS2 took 7 years to come in the fruition. R2 was pumped out in 2 years.

[stackero]

Modded: Maybe, just maybe.
Unmodded: HELL NO. ARE YOU CRAZY!?!!?!?! 4 Roman empires, pink pajama people, units from the bible, flaming pigs.
Unpatched: Even more no, AI retarded stupid ass bugs. R2 may have this but it has more features etc.

Remember, mods like RS2 took 7 years to come in the fruition. R2 was pumped out in 2 years.

You make an interesting point; Roma Surrectum 2 took 7 years, one of the most, if not the most popular Rome vanilla Modifcaion. Then CA spent two years on R2.

My point would be to ask, why CA learned nothing about making a better game. They have all the experience of Shogun 1 & 2, Rome 1, Medieval 1 & 2, Empire, and not to mention all the good feature modders put into vanilla Rome to study, but still they learn nothing from the good and the bad in those games, instead CA gives us Rome 2. The worst TW core designed game ever.

By the way, Roma Surrectum 2.5 has no flaming pigs, screeching women, barking war dogs and has only one Roman empire that starts out with Hannibal at the gates, so to speak. And don't get me started on the difference in the epic battles of RS2 over R2.

Agree with some of the silliness in R1 but in those days it was awesome to play even with its defects. I wish I could say the same for R2

Just putting that out there.

Good Gaming.

[Mithridate]

Making sense, what fun is there in making sense?

Jokes aside, Conquering the world with the Pink Pyjama people was the best experiences ive ever had in a vanilla total war game

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Nothing will stop the smooze!

[Maelbox]

Closer to 3 years. And Rome 2 had a large, professional and coordinated team of close to 100 people. RS2 changed some stats, added some visual assets and a few scripts. R2 is an entire game - there's no comparison.

[stackero]

Closer to 3 years. And Rome 2 had a large, professional and coordinated team of close to 100 people. RS2 changed some stats, added some visual assets and a few scripts. R2 is an entire game - there's no comparison.

Its obvious you never played RS2 and as for R2 being an entire game. My definition would be; ,unfinished, poorly designed and-- oh well, lets just agree to disagree.

Wait, a 100 people worked on this game. All the more shame on CA.

Good Gaming.

[Maelbox]

Its obvious you never played RS2 and as for R2 being an entire game. My definition would be; ,unfinished, poorly designed and-- oh well, lets just agree to disagree.

Wait, a 100 people worked on this game. All the more shame on CA.

Good Gaming.

Of course I've played Rs2, otherwise I wouldn't have commented. It's a mod, and nothing more. There's more to a game than just graphics and editing tables. CA had to build everything in the engine, from the way terrain is rendered through to AI decision trees. Every volumetric cloud and randomly generated terrain map was all coded by the team at CA. The modders change high-level aspects by adding a few new sounds, textures, models and having some people write a script or two. While there are some major issues with pacing in RS2, it's decently done, but there is no way at all it can be compared to an entire game and the work that goes into one, such as Rome 2, as much as you may or may not like it.

[stackero]

Of course I've played Rs2, otherwise I wouldn't have commented. It's a mod, and nothing more. There's more to a game than just graphics and editing tables. CA had to build everything in the engine, from the way terrain is rendered through to AI decision trees. Every volumetric cloud and randomly generated terrain map was all coded by the team at CA. The modders change high-level aspects by adding a few new sounds, textures, models and having some people write a script or two. While there are some major issues with pacing in RS2, it's decently done, but there is no way at all it can be compared to an entire game and the work that goes into one, such as Rome 2, as much as you may or may not like it.

I'll give you, Rome 2 looks nicer, but RS2 is enjoyable to play. R2 has a long way to get there, a long way. But you have your opinion about R2, and I'll have my fun playing RS2. To each his own.

Good Gaming.

[Vasilefs]

Rome 1 total war is 9 year old game and it is still played by many players,I am sure that in 2022 we will forget that in past there was game called Rome 2 total war.

[rudthemighty]

Rome 1 kept me interested for 9 years. I was bored by Rome 2 within 10 days. I dont even play it anymore. ****** CA and ***** Rome 2 total war.

[stackero]

Rome 1 kept me interested for 9 years. I was bored by Rome 2 within 10 days. I dont even play it anymore. ****** CA and ***** Rome 2 total war.

Well those few words kinda says it all. Good post I have to rep it +1




We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would harm us.
- George Orwell
M
"To sin by silence, when they should protest, makes cowards of men"- Attributed to Abraham Lincoln

[stackero]

This is why I think vanilla Rome totalwar is better than Rome 2,
Vanilla Rome, despite its early defects was fun, immersive, epic and could be heavily modded Rome 2, in my opinion is none of these. And as bad as vanilla Rome AI could be, it surpasses R2 by a long shot especially with mods.

Watch enough of the vids below for those who what a wargame not a pretty game.I'm not throwing rocks at those who like R2, to each his own, I just can't play a game that has no life and unfinished to boot, My opinion again.


RTW/Roma Surrectum II: The Siege of Jotapata 67 AD, Vespasian v
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwLtq...yer_detailpage

RS2 : Campaign map AWESOME
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=vna3aCtD4uw

Rome TW : Roma Surrectum 2 - The Eagle Has Landed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmFTa...yer_detailpage

Rome Total War : Roma Surrectum 2 (Trailer1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=tTKMsv5Zgi4

Roma Surrectum II - Short Review
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LY7y...yer_detailpage

Let's play Roma Surrectum II Pergamon Ep.1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LY7y...yer_detailpage

A Roma Surrectum 2 Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WfMo...yer_detailpage

Rome TW (BI) : Classical Age Total War mod
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JkAt...yer_detailpage

Lets Play: RTW; Rise Of Persia Mod. Spartan Campaign EP1 old mod
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDAbN...yer_detailpage

Rome Total War trailer 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IKlV...yer_detailpage

Let's Play Europa Barbarorum - Romani (Part40) - The Great Army
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLA3r...yer_detailpage

Roma Surrectum 2.5 - Carthage Part 19: Engaging Spurius Fabius
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=7MNQFMKaWys

The Numidians retaliate vs Carthage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=crAtAcivGQc


The Spartans do not enquire how many the enemy are but where they are. Agis, II 42;7 BC
You should reach the limits of virtue, before you cross the border of death. 'Tyrtaeus Spartan poet.
"If all the world were just, there would be no need of valor."~~Plutarch

[stackero]

Rome 1 total war is 9 year old game and it is still played by many players,I am sure that in 2022 we will forget that in past there was game called Rome 2 total war.

I'm hoping CA 'fixes' the game. I truly want to like this game but its lifeless to me and I have little confidence in CA to deliver a playable fun game from the disaster that is Rome 2.

Sadly, I fear, you prophesize the truth of it.

[IceTorque]

quit playin' after 10 days.

Lucky you didn't play rome 1 v1.0 or you may have quit playin' after 10 hours and missed all those years of gaming goodness.

[Shaun]

A lot of people are looking back at the release of Rome 1 with rose tinted glasses. In reality it suffered from quite a few of the complaints that people are making about Rome 2.

For example, the battles on an unmodded Rome 1 are ludicrously fast. I haven't played Rome 2 to compare, but believe me they were fast and there can't be much difference between them. There were many key MTW features not in it. For example, civil wars (apart from the Roman one). Generals were always loyal, no rebelling. It took the BI expansion pack to add them back in. Likewise, the same with religion. The AI was quite poor, and there were also quite a lot of bugs too. It took until BI until a lot of fixes were truly introduced.

Then again the reception to Rome 1 was almost unanimously positive, both from the community and from the players, whereas the only positivity about Rome 2 seems to be coming from certain gaming magazines/sites. But overall only time will tell how Rome 2 will go down in history, whether it will ever be even half of the game that was promised.

[Anna_Gein]

A lot of people are looking back at the release of Rome 1 with rose tinted glasses. In reality it suffered from quite a few of the complaints that people are making about Rome 2.

For example, the battles on an unmodded Rome 1 are ludicrously fast. I haven't played Rome 2 to compare, but believe me they were fast and there can't be much difference between them. There were many key MTW features not in it. For example, civil wars (apart from the Roman one). Generals were always loyal, no rebelling. It took the BI expansion pack to add them back in. Likewise, the same with religion. The AI was quite poor, and there were also quite a lot of bugs too. It took until BI until a lot of fixes were truly introduced.

Even if I agree with your first paragraph, you can not even imagine how quick battles are in R2. Probably something like 2 times quicker than RTW. At least.

[waclaw]

I would have thought that "Rome 2" will be compared to Rome1 (playing in 2004 - when I was 26 years old) and yet for me, this game from before the decade is more playable than this latest crap.


sorry for my english, but I'm angry and I feel betrayed / cheated - Grilled us fake movies, promises to finally get that expensive and not playable .


in my work is unthinkable that such a cheat our customers.

[dvk901]

I'd have to say that anything I would post here might be seen as 'slanted', but I'm gonna post anyway. It is true that Vanilla Rome1 was not, in itself, a very polished game. As a coder, I began to discover almost immediately a virtual ton of mistakes in CA's coding of that game that made it unstable and crash-happy. And eventually, I got the knack for fixing those mistakes, and ultimately could produce a coding work of genius that you can play for a hundred years without a single crash. But that's in a game that was easy to modify, easy to understand (with a little study), and basically kinda fun to modify and polish.

Rome2? I have no clue what to change or how. The coding has passed me by, I'm afraid, and I've pretty much decided I'll let the younger more new 'tech-savvy' folks have a crack at Rome2. So for me, RTW1 wins hands down for ease of modding for the 'simple' guy with a desire to change a few things without jumping through firey hoops.

The graphics of Rome2, by far, are better than RTW1....at least I can see this now after three patches to the game. But are they greatly superior to the environment of RS2? Well, perhaps in the WAY things are rendered...which is an important difference for newer games. But not necessarily in WHAT is rendered. We basically put an M2TW environment into RTW1, and it's probably as good as this old game ever gets. So I'd give a slight edge to Rome2 simply because the way the environment is rendered is superior, and made to use all the bells and whistles of newer machines.

Historical accuracy? As much input as Rome2 could've used from mods like EB, RTR7 and RS2 I find it impossible to believe that CA\Sega much cared about this issue. RTW1 was more accurate because it didn't even TRY to be accurate. Rome2 is a historical mess. RTW mods win here hands down and by a mile or two. Why CA didn't use the resources of its greatest fans is a mystery to me.

Strat map and UI. The Rome2 strat map is awesome. City models and the way they change is great. The visual impact and the 'feel' you get from the angle of view is really nice. The UI is ugly. What's up with the aztec unit cards, or stuff lifted from old Greek vases? A cheap 'magic marker' way of rendering units because they have so many different looking guys in them? Can probably be changed, but shame on CA for the lazy look of it all. RTW1 wins here, because at least it was sort of artistic, and the Strat map was almost as good.

Immersion, city management, buildings and the overall 'impression' the game leaves on you. Here, I feel betrayed. Rome2 went in a totally different direction than almost ALL modifications of RTW went. Where we tried to increase immersion and make the game more like 'Civilization with battles', CA basically lobotomized the Strat portion of the game in favor of simple, meaningless building trees, almost non-existent character depth.....I won't go on. It's just too disgusting. This portion of Rome2 gets a resounding 'F'.

Personally, I think Rome2 is a 'decent' game for the crowd CA is probably try most to sell it to....people who don't care about depth or history, and just want to play a game, beat up opposing armies, 'win' all the time and never be mentally challenged by any of it. I don't mean that as an insult....it's just that a LOT of games are like that, and people play them just for the fun of it. What remains to be seen is whether CA was EVER serious about ROME2 being a 'realistic' update and replacement for RTW1. IF they provide modding tools, and IF the game can be altered like RTW to at least the degree that people who want more from this type of game can enjoy it, then Rome2 will survive. But if not.....well, here's the deal, and I still think this is kinda funny. You can often go to a store and buy RTW Gold, and you can easily find M2TW. But anything beyond that? Start searching the internet, because they don't sell. Why? Popularity, I suppose, of the time frames. But mostly it's because you get what you get, and you ain't gettin' much more. Very few mods. Very low potential. If Rome2 goes that route, it will be because there is no (or very low) potential to make it better.