Total War: Rome II was meant to be the best in the series. A sequel to rise above Rome Total War, probably the most critically acclaimed of the Total War series. And yet, for many people it disappointed and it disappointed big time. Just like with my previous Shogun 2 article, I will be looking in to various factors, which could either help future writers or hinder them. While the lure of antiquity may be great, is it enough to overcome the game’s core problems?
Total War: Rome II- The Game
Total War: Rome II (hereby known simply as Rome 2), was marketed as the sequel to top all sequels. It was billed as the game that represented the pinnacle of the Total War series. A mix of historical accuracy with enjoyable gameplay and mesmerising graphics. Yet, alas, it was not. In this section, I will go through the main features of this game that may hinder or help writers wishing to do an AAR on it.
Rome 2 gameplay is, simply, put it, a step backwards from Shogun 2’s. Shogun 2 was a polished game with (mostly) working gameplay mechanics. The battle’s felt fun to play and the campaign map had both complexity and was well streamlined. Not much felt like it had been ‘dumbed’ down. The tech trees were easy to use and while, the character progression was more suited to gameplay than writing, family trees were still and you could even choose your heir.
Battles in Shogun 2 were a fun affair. While the “rock, paper, scissors” mechanic was a bit too noticeable, it worked well with the sort of units present in Sengoku-era Japan. Battles were of a good length and when you fought a truly epic battle, it felt epic, lasting for at least ten or more minutes. While the AI, will never be as good as real players, and Shogun 2’s AI had a tendency to hill camp (quite like real players I say), it was good enough to present you with a challenge.
With Rome 2, though, battles do not feel fun. They are a rushed, messy affair. Units, even the fabled Roman legionaries or Macedonian phalanxes, struggle to keep formation and the AI is simply shocking. It will feint charge (not on purpose either) and will run around in circles, like it was dog chasing its tail. Unit abilities are rather ridiculous and units will waver as if every single men were a coward peasant rather than an established Roman legionnaire. Battles last at most five or so minutes, even if there are thousands of men fighting for their lives.
The campaign map is not much better. While there are an incredible amount factions, a wish that many a players have wanted, this leads to turn endings lasting minutes even if you have turned off ‘follow AI movements’ and haven’t discovered half of the factions. Now, this cannot be down to simply the amount of factions because turn ending in something like M2TW would last at most ten seconds at the start of the game. Now, while M2TW may have only had 20 or so factions, if you do the appropriate maths, the turn endings should last at most 1 or so minutes. The AI will create minuscule armies, that have no chance against even your garrisons instead of massing armies of death. Family trees have vanished and character progression just isn’t fun anymore. The character skill trees from Shogun 2 are still present, though are clunky and the effects of many of the skills are not properly shown.
It is not all bad, though. The amount of armies you have is not just limited by your economy but also by your power and city building for the most part of it is fun. The campaign map looks excellent and the ability for the full-screen campaign map map is cool. Building your empire is as fun as ever, though still hindered by the duration of turn endings. Perhaps the biggest hindrance to writers is the one turn per year mechanic used in Rome 2. This means that characters last a short time in-game and that marching speeds are extremely inaccurate due to it taking 2 years just to march up some of Northern Italy.
The biggest problem, though, is the lack of optimisation. This, I feel is the biggest threat to Rome 2 AARs. Many RTW players and M2TW players play that game because it is not just excellent, but will run on the majority of computers. But with Rome 2, unless you have an identical build to the ones at CA’s HQ, then you might as well play another game. People with good PC builds have reported frame rates of something like 15 FPS. That is, to simply put it, ridiculous! I could play Shogun 2 on my Mac! Even if I had a gaming computer, my chances of playing Rome 2 at high settings with a good FPS would be slim. This is why M2TW and RTW AARs are still being written because they don’t require a fancy, new computer. That is also why many people shy away from Shogun 2 AARs. But while that game is well optimised, Rome 2 is anything but.
Rome 2- The Setting
The one thing that Rome 2 will always have going for it is the setting. The age of Antiquity is one, which many authors absolutely love and presents a writer with a world full of political intrigue as well as bloodshed and epic battles. The schemes of Roman senators, the exploits of generals from the east, the sheer stubborn bravery of a Germanic tribe are all bases for some truly great stories. Life in Antiquity is also well recorded as historians were well respected and so, writers can use incredible historical accuracy in their story if they so wish. The amount of books on Roman tactics, on the Senate, on the wars of the Diadochi, are so numerous that it is easy to research such things. In contrast, books on Sengoku-era Japan are less numerous and finding books about samurai that of are the same high-quality is a hard.
The Future of Rome 2 AARs
The one certainty I can say about the future of Rome 2 AARs is that it is uncertain. Currently, I cannot say for certain whether the negatives of the gameplay will outweigh the positives of the setting or vice versa. But, I fear that it may become like the Shogun 2 sub-forum. I know for certain that there will be at least one great AAR to come out of Rome 2 but how many more than that I cannot truly say.
Currently, though the future may look not as bleak as I paint it out to be. Our very own m_1512 as taken up the gauntlet and started his own AAR based on the Macedonian faction. His AAR, titled Saga of the One-Eyed (A Diadochi AAR), is still in its early stages yet shows much promise. Whether other writers will follow is a mystery but if he can create a masterpiece, which, due to his writing skills, I don’t doubt, than the Rome 2 AAR sub-forum may have a future. Sadly though, as of latest update, m_1512 has been unable to continue do to gameplay restrictions, which have caused his character to die on a 10 turn march.
Alea Iacta Est, however, is an AAR, which is one of the most read of the Rome 2 AAR sub-forum. It follows the fortunes of the Cornelia family of Rome and follows their conquests as well as their defeats. The author, bourboncream, has been able to masterly combine excellent screenshots with exciting battle descriptions to create a high octane story. Of course, you can find the full review above in the reviews section of this issue.
Finally, another noticeable AAR with a lot of potential is Cavalier’s The Return of Macedon. Following the leaders of the kingdom of Macedon, Cavalier’s tale is centred around the plot side of things a lot more than Alea Iacta Est. Hopefully, Cavalier will continue this AAR for I myself think that it does have a lot of potential.
Ending Thoughts
In conclusion, it is hard to say whether the sub-forum will be as successful as the original Rome Total War one is. If CA can fix the numerous amount of bugs and get it to a standard similar to Shogun 2, than indeed there is a future for it, as the lure of Antiquity may be too great. I just hope that that indeed happens and that in a couple of years time, there will be countless upon countless AARs based on Rome 2 for us to feast our eyes on.