10 Things You Like in Rome II

[DeliCiousTZM]

Not hard to think up the top ten on my mind. Could do the same for the bottom ten as well.
I also second every point Darren brought up, so much to praise!

1. The graphics and aesthetics
2. The amazing multiplayer campaign potential
3. Faction and unit variety!
4. Epic castles.
5. Ambushes!
6. Diplomacy depth
7. Streamlined
8. Strategically and tactically rich
9. Naval engagements in the rain.
10. Chariots/Elephants!

[Zeb77]

1. Using Shogun 2's diplomacy model. Abstraction works well here, as does opening up the various influences on AI decisions to player inspection.

2. Chatter in the ranks during battles.

3. Choice/consequence decisions. Also would add the new festival ideas they've slid in over the past few weeks.

4. Size of campaign map/number of factions. Lots of variety. In theory at least.

5. Visually, some of the cities are brilliantly done on the battle map.


Even with 5 I'm hitting caveats so will leave it there. There's a lot I do like, it's just that as soon as I start thinking 'well, that's quite good...', I then hit the 'but that part of it really sucks' far too quickly.

[rye8111]

1. Lots of open-field battles to fight! I really love the lessening of sieges. Honestly, I think it's a combination of better CAI and less walled settlements, but whatever it is makes the game much more enjoyable. Also, the open-field battles have large army composition.
2. The sheer amount of unit diversity and faction diversity! The setting as a whole adds to this, and the atmosphere feels amazing (I'm a Rome fanboy).
3. Steam Workshop Integration. Yup. I wish I didn't rely on this so much.
4. Unit stats actually matter a lot more for me now. I can look at the stats on units and understand which ones are better and worse based on easy to understand mechanics.
5. The provincial system in Rome II is amazing! I think it's the best addition to the campaign map in Rome II (besides the actual map itself).
6. Ambushes happen a lot more frequently and actually matter now.
7. Army stances: the easily buildable forts and nice raiding. It would be higher on this list if it weren't for forced march messing up the CAI.
8. Diplomacy is workable now, but I think it's too workable now. I like that the AI obeys its alliances, but things like reputation is broken/useless and alliances are almost NEVER broken under any circumstances. In my opinion, it's a little too reliable, but a good system compared to past titles.
9. Soundtrack is pretty nice, but I still long for more from Jeff. Richard is a good composer, but I much prefer Jeff's work.
10. I love the graphics, but in this day and age when 60 USD + DLC is expected for the full game, the graphics should be top notch anyway. Also, graphics don't make the game, and I still see graphical errors from time to time.

BTW Darren, love the vids! Keep 'em coming!

[DarrenTotalWar]

Ok guys this is the final day to add your items to the list! Gathering and writing the script now!

[C.Maximus]

1. Coop campaigns
2. Every region is a faction (no mass rebels)
3. Steam workshop capabilities... makes mods easy and fast
4. faction availability (even more so with mods)
5. music (I dig the music)
6. Beach defenses/assaults
7. Providence system.
8. unique cities
9. in game wonders
10. Ability to choose General bodyguard

[Sebidee]

Ah! Love this thread!

1 - Graphics
2 - Animations
3 - Army Stances
4 - Number of playable factions
5 - Line of sight
6 - Province system
7 - Population happiness system
8 - Improved vassals
9 - Diplomacy
10 - Naval/combined battles

I wish there were more slots, culture, building chains, cities on campaign map and army traditions deserve an honourable mention.

[LestaT]

1-10 - Modability.

[Bakerzoid]

I like the large zones of control for settlements, stops armies from bypassing strategic locations and I also like army stances, making setting up a fort in a valley or other choke-point much easier than in previous games.

[Sp4]

I like the provinces, happiness and cultural influences system. The graphics are nice, both on the campaign map and the battle map. The blood DLC thing is neat.

[AngryTitusPullo]

Off-topic posts deleted. This thread is about what you like about Rome II. There are other threads to post your dislike about the game. Simply said, if you don't like the game, don't post on this thread.

[Samraat Mahendra Maurya]

Nice video

[Lord Baal]

Well, I was being honest and didn't say anything directly negative about the game, in fact I did say it has pretty graphics! It has!!!!

Ok then:

1 It has pretty graphics.
2 It finally adds the naval assaults on shore settlements.

[Rizza87]

I've only started playing over the past two weeks, I bought the game at launch but it wouldn't run on my old pc so I had to save up for a new one.

So far I've played 100 hours as Rome and I'm really enjoying it, there's a few things I would change in the game but nothing to major.

My list:

1 - provincial capitals being the only settlements to have walls, that combined with limited generals makes the placement of your army's more important.
2 - Provinces, It's good to be able to recruit units over a longer distance and not have to go all the way back to a city to recruit.
3 - graphics, The campaign map is well designed and the units in battle are well detailed on the higher settings.
4- Stances, I like that you can reduce the upkeep for an army by raiding and I've found ambushing a really effective way of fighting factions more powerful than me, the only thing I would change with ambush is have a 1 turn cooldown after each use.
5 - fire balls, It's fun pushing them down a hill into the path of the enemy.
6 - war dogs, I always zoom in and watch their awesome attack animations. Out of all the units in my armies war dogs probably have the best k/d ratio.
7 - Naval combat, the siege weapon ships are cool, although with these and also land siege weapons I would either make the upkeep more expensive or limit the amount of siege weapon units you can purchase depending on the amount of generals/admirals you have (at least on the higher difficulty levels).
8 - The ability set an 'attack here' position for your a.i. military ally.
9 - The way that when you annex a faction there not automatically your ally anymore, I just think It makes the option the annex less of a no-brainer especially in the early game.
10 - The variety of buildings you can get and how with modifiers certain sets of buildings get bonuses.

[Hetairos]

Hi mate, just randomly stumbled upon your new vid of top 10. I wanted to give you some rep, because of how reasonable the video was commented. Very good comments, especially the start. Thanks.

[alQamar]

cool thread Darren! Would be nice to see another compilation of the users feedback in a youtube of yours. I am starting without having a sneak on other answers so I am sure I do not only repeat other opinions. Well, let's see:

1 - 10 points - graphical detail on units
2 - 9 points - many great mods, now including music
3 - 8 points - Seasons!
4 - 7 points - Mostly nice modelled campaign map
5 - 6 points - Line of Sight - even though it seems not finished in some occasions.
6 - 5 points - quite faster loading speed compared to the initial release of Shogun 2
7 - 4 points - battle AI in open field battles
8 - 3 points - they tried hard to patch the campaign and settlement / siege AI
9 - 2 points - plenty amusing bugs
10 - 1 point - Battle map picker in multiplayer is now included unlike it was easy in Rome 1 (custom mappacks needed) / Maps aren't diverse enough though.