Is Rome II a good purchase for me?

[Stonewall Brigade]

Hello,

I was just wondering if Rome 2 is worth the $59.95 price on Steam. I've heard many mixed reviews about the game and have a few questions to ask:


1) How much does tactics and strategy matter in Rome 2? Is it a complex tactical game with much thought involved, or is it more of a "shoot first, think later" game?

2) I can run Shogun 2: Total War fine with moderate to high graphics, do you think I'll be able to run Rome: 2 without lag?

3) Is the AI really that bad? If so, do you think CA will fix it?

4) Whats the campaign like?

Thank you,

Jacob

[Roach]

1) It varies. Some new strategic depth in campaign view (you having to choose what not to build, etc), which is great if you like strategy. Tactics - the BAI is still hit and miss, especially during sieges and defending towns. The challenge level is not, super high, but on legendary it can be plenty exciting.

2) probably

3) The AI is smarter, but not smart smart. It still stinks at defending towns, but it definitely acts more tactically to flank in battle. Expect this to get worked on by CA for sure.

4) Like any TW campaign - it's a big sandbox and you get to go have fun in it. Challenges vary by faction.

I'd say it comes down to this: Do you love TW and is it the sort of game you come back to and mod and play more? I'm at 80 hours so far, and I'm sure I will play this repeatedly over the next few years. Yes, this game is weak coming out of the gate, but the fact is that thousands of people are putting in dozens of hours each enjoying the game. You can buy it now, or you could wait a few months until you feel more comfortable with the reviews. It's not a great game atm, but it is fun, and like any TW game it will be best when heavily modded.

[Dago Red]

Hello,

1) How much does tactics and strategy matter in Rome 2? Is it a complex tactical game with much thought involved, or is it more of a "shoot first, think later" game?

They don't matter much at this point because the game is deeply flawed, horrendously bugged, and many serious features are missing or badly implemented. The AI fields armies of about 50% slingers/javelinmen and 45% levy spearmen/milita with about 5% generals, cavalry, and more elite troops. There is not much tactical diversity to be had as battles -- even with the latest mods -- still rage too fast and into uncoordinated messes. This should improve as patches continue and modders get to have a more stable platform to work from, but right now, it's just sad.

2) I can run Shogun 2: Total War fine with moderate to high graphics, do you think I'll be able to run Rome: 2 without lag?

No. I can run Shogun II on all ultra with no issues, but I had to bump down to the 4.1 shader to run this without lag. The campaign stutters are largely gone (since patch 3) but battles will still look stuttery to me. I recently went back up to shader 5, because shader 4.1 looks like garbage on nvidia, and am trying to balance out other areas to have a playable performance at 1080p. Animations are not smooth yet with my config, still some stuttering and the AA in the game is not good. Overall the graphics are very decent but nothing like what was seen in the preview footage.

3) Is the AI really that bad? If so, do you think CA will fix it?

Yes. It is terrible. See post 28 here for just one example.

4) Whats the campaign like?

The map looks good (aside from the cartoonish swirling clouds around all the units and other nonsensical WoW-esque graphics that modders are steadily removing, THANK THE GODS). But the campaign itself is vapid, devoid of substance or depth and almost frustratingly boring. The city building is basically gone, reduced to a few slots to click on, some cities literally have only 3 slots and all you're doing is clicking on rudimentary icons with really no connection or interesting thing to interact with, you know, for the human brain to engage with.

There are no longer outlying small towns in the countryside to manage or consider (or attack/defend) just blank countryside. There are no event messages, no cool passages about the inventions of antiquity or other immersive messages from past games. There are no scripted historical events either, no great catastrophes or wars or invasions (that I have encountered yet anyway) apart from one earthquake which had no interesting consequence or even a graphical effect on the map.

There is no family tree or family/dynastic component from previous games, only this sort of back page window from which you can view your faction and mouse over numbers that really have little impact on gameplay. At best they are minor curiosities, at worst an annoyance and confusing almost account book type interface. It's definitely not fun, whatever it is. It doesn't lend intrigue or pull you into the game at all. All it does is boggle the mind and make you wonder where all the cool features went.

Worth buying? Once the game is patched and many things get complete overhauls, yes, probably. Mods might save the day.

Worth buying now at 60 bucks? NO.

[nigelnire]

Hello,

I was just wondering if Rome 2 is worth the $59.95 price on Steam.

Yes its worth $59.95 in Zimbabwean Dollars .

http://coinmill.com/USD_ZWD.html#ZWD=1000

[Makrell]

It is definately worth it. The AI and such is as good as in shogun 2. But units look and running is supreme. After the patches, which came last week the game runs as good as TWS2 for me, with the ca same specs as you.

The campaign map is beatiful, and the events and such great, extremely good control over diplomacy and provinces.

[daelin4]

Buying Rome2 would be like ordering a juicy steak at a restaurant you frequented...only that once you get it, it's a overcooked and chopped in a strange manner.

And when you complain the chef says that this is what they consider a good steak, but will consider your comments long after you have eaten it, which they insist you should because it is a great steak.

That is a great metaphor of how CA treats the game and its customers.

[Ganossa]

At the moment its the best strategy game you can get, also best TW game out there in my opinion. You have alot of diversity, a huge map with vanilla.
You wont need many mods to make it absolutly enjoyable. The only problem I had so far (even with mods) is a few siege battles but the last I fought was really tough and the AI did well attacking my city from both, sea and through the gate.
PS: I play it on legendary and recommend to do the same

Mods I use: all_factions_playable, colored_unit_cards, Noif's retexturing mod, Radious_AI_Mod, Radious_Graphics_Mod (older version with rain drops on), Realistic_units hight, STIM_1_42 and my GEM of course

[Jackal2233]

First you say...

At the moment its the best strategy game you can get... You wont need many mods to make it absolutly enjoyable...

And then you say...

Mods I use: all_factions_playable, colored_unit_cards, Noif's retexturing mod, Radious_AI_Mod, Radious_Graphics_Mod (older version with rain drops on), Realistic_units hight, STIM_1_42 and my GEM of course

[Ganossa]

thats not alot mods. Only 2 touch gamplay changes.

[Jackal2233]

3 :p (All-factions-playable is a gameplay change)

And STIM by itself is already a hell of an overhaul not to mention Radious AI deals directly with alot of the complaints lol

[vietanh797]

I played 370 hours and still enjoying the game. No mod.
I not sure why people keep use their personal taste to judge a game like this. So far the only real problem of this game is the siege AI and naval defend AI. The rest is okay but still can have a little touch here and there to be better.

CAI don't know how to disband the units that outdated so they need wars to kill the old units and buy new units that's why if you find a faction that not involved in wars they will have crap army that we found a lot in beginning of game.

Since the CAI often in war so they hate each other more than the player that may be just happen to be next to their border for a few turns. That's why we often find people complain that AI is too soft and passive only early when player is small they try to make war but once player grow stronger it rarely happen anymore. And that's also lead to the complain that every faction want to go to war with player so some people get FD, they say the game broken because of that.

IMHO once you understand about how AI work in this game it make a lot of sense it just that player often be too smart or too noob to be able to enjoy the game.
my advice is if you find the game boring since you always win, apply some house rule and play with them. If you always lost your campaign then learn to play properly in prologue before have a campaign

1) How much does tactics and strategy matter in Rome 2? Is it a complex tactical game with much thought involved, or is it more of a "shoot first, think later" game?

in field battle and some naval battle that they not being passive AI is really good and can be dangerous. The battle is quick pace compare to Rome TW but since it is quick it also require you react faster

2) I can run Shogun 2: Total War fine with moderate to high graphics, do you think I'll be able to run Rome: 2 without lag?

I think you can. I have a i3 2100, ram 4GB and a MSI HD7770 the game run pretty good on my PC. Honestly you may have trouble but we won't know until we try. My setting is below. I sometime set the building detail to high to see how a unique city look but in battle get to reduce them since most my battle is involved about 6000-9000 troops if I have those building on high it will be lag

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

As an example for huge battle(patch 1 so my casualties is quite low but at patch 3 it is much different there is another ss as Athens below in patch 2) Patch 3 they now able to sally out so I sure if I try another battle as Athens I will lose for sure

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

3) Is the AI really that bad? If so, do you think CA will fix it?

As I said above siege AI and defend naval battle AI need some work, the rest is fine.

4) Whats the campaign like?

big, the biggest so far in all TW game. Family tree gone but it actually not there anymore in empire so I don't think it is a problem for me. Internal politic design need rework it is quite useless right now. the rest is fine for me.

[wulfgar610]

1. Tactics and strategy are more prominent in this game than previous titles. As much a step upwards as Shogun2 was to previous titles.

2. Rome2 has 2.5x the data in the campaign map compared to Shogun2. The real minimum is more an i5 quad and a 2GB video card.

3. The AI is superior to previous titles. But AI is always AI.

4. The campaign can be dull or exciting depending on whether you want to start some wars or not. The senate gives you targets with rewards but no penalties.

[Jackal2233]

I will admit though, that patch 3 beta AI in non-walled-city defence impressed me. No longer running back and forth getting shot in the back in the process. They form lines. They hold their ground with shields up front. They shoot back. They block other entry ways. They defend their missile troops well with their infantry. It's a big difference.

The game is getting better however you're going to have mixed opinions as some people are still playing with patch 2 as patch 3 isn't official yet etc. AI does make mistakes still, siege AI is still stupid at times but based on the pace that CA is making with recent patches, Rome 2 still has potential and is worth the purchase IMO. Besides, there's bloody mods.