besides all the ridiculus complaints about this...

[Axe-Battler]

masterpiece, is anyone's only problem with the game that they are just getting bored of games overall? lol

Whenever I am playing mtw2, i feel as if something is missing, or incomplete,
I had this feeling when I used to play mtw1 and rome a little while before
they released mtw2's demo, does anyone else feel this way?

[Wurfspiess]

The atmosphere is missing in all titles after Shogun

[maxiumus_pooh]

The atmosphere is missing in all titles after Shogun

The first Medieval had atmosphere, and a dark, brooding mood. But since they went next gen the feeling of being in those times has dropped. Rome, for example did not give me the feel of the ancient world. Medieval 2 has recovered some of the feel, yet....yet.....:hmmm:

[Cadmium77]

The first Medieval had atmosphere, and a dark, brooding mood. But since they went next gen the feeling of being in those times has dropped. Rome, for example did not give me the feel of the ancient world. Medieval 2 has recovered some of the feel, yet....yet.....:hmmm:

It's the music; STW had seriously radical oriental music. Even MTW had pretty good medieval music in it. But RTW and M2 TW are deeply compromised in their aesthetic taste in music, and veer off into the vulgarities of Hollywoodland.

I really hate Hollywood music. It's the worst; it substitutes the bombastic and melodromatic for the true piquancy, the pithiness of the genuine period music and what you end up with is a bland flavourless glop, sort of like substituting Macdonald's or KFC for authentic regional cuisine. It's like eating a can of Spagettios instead of sitting in a decent restaurant in Firenze eating pasta with university professors at the next table...

I've sent them links to records of authentic period music on period instruments but they ignored it. The masses don't like being suprised or disoriented by anything that is jarringly outside their experiences. They want to hear what they already know. It's the same mentality that gives you radio stations that play nothing but Led Zeppelin 24/7 for years on end.

[Ludicus]

....sort of like substituting Macdonald's or KFC for authentic regional cuisine.

.....

I've sent them links to records of authentic period music on period instruments but they ignored it. The masses don't like being suprised or disoriented by anything that is jarringly outside their experiences

Cadmium,you are an "old" man (I mean:not so young) but young at heart.

[SIlver General65]

I doubt it at im sure alot of mods will be comeing soon ot later

[Aristocrat]

Yes. I have felt this since buying M2TW, I just got bored really quick and ended up only playing a few turns before shutting it down.

However, after tweaking diplomacy settings a bit my current game has reeled me back in...this is the first time since, well, ever, that it has crossed my mind that I just may be eliminated from the game.

I am playing as Milan and have expanded little in the 20 or so years of play (2 turns per year), taking only corsica, florence, and sardinia, and very recently, the city of venice in a crusade (which took so much cunning to orchestrate I must congratulate myself).

After taking Venice I decided to check and see if, now that my immediate threats were dealt with (minus the HRE), that I would develop the steamroller effect ad quickly dominate the map.
Imagine my surprise when I saw that France was a super power, expanding (funnily enough) to take all of modern france minus Caen, and Hungary was also a superpower, with the Turks and Byzantines facing each other with about 7-8 full stacks a piece in Asia Minor, to decide the fate of the region.

Needless to say this makes me happy, and has added so much atmosphere to the game, France is becoming more aggressive, moving armies near the border and developing a navy, and the previously unapproachable HRE has agreed to a military alliance, with both of us having military access, which they promptly used to march their emporer and his army out of Italy.

Combine these major events with all the other lesser events happening across the map and the game has got it's magic back for me.

I have to finish this post thanking Spartan though, it was his suggested values for diplomacy that I took and added and the game is ten times better for it.....my war against Venice was vicious and bloody, with me barely having the manpower to beat them (hence the crusade which gave me access to sorely needed crusade units....though in truth the campaign to save Milan and take Venice hinged on a True Cross Unit and Milanese Standard unit...those units are machines in the early game).

So my suggestion, honestly, is to try the diplomacy tweaks, perhaps read a few historical novels, and then try playing it with, well, a little "role play" (Just let yourself be sucked in).

[abaris]

If you want to call it a masterpiece, you're entitled to your opinion. Just the same as everyone posting valid complaints.

After all it's of no use to act as if one was a member of the particular game company's PR unit. Valid criticism can help the developers and modders in creating an even better experience.

As for me, I refrain from calling it a masterpiece until I don't crash to the desktop and until the diplomacy including the inquisitors and the battle AI is deserving of the I behind the A.

[Ludicus]

So my suggestion, honestly, is to try the diplomacy tweaks

And those are?...

[DavidtheDuke]

And those are?...

I don't know if Spartan did the same as me, but I've halved the series of numbers related to diplomacy at the end of the descr_strat.txt file in data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign/descr_strat.txt. I also increased the negative numbers against the slaves, so Iwouldn't see anymore random rebel cities.

[abaris]

I don't know if Spartan did the same as me, but I've halved the series of numbers related to diplomacy at the end of the descr_strat.txt file in data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign/descr_strat.txt.

And what are the effects?

[Delexit]

I don't know if Spartan did the same as me, but I've halved the series of numbers related to diplomacy at the end of the descr_strat.txt file in data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign/descr_strat.txt. I also increased the negative numbers against the slaves, so Iwouldn't see anymore random rebel cities.

Could u be more specific please ? so an exaple from the original descr_strat.txt :

faction_standings england, -0.2 france, scotland
faction_standings england, -0.6 slave
faction_standings scotland, -0.2 england
faction_standings scotland, 0.2 france
faction_standings scotland, -0.6 slave
faction_standings france, -0.2 england
faction_standings france, 0.2 scotland
faction_standings france, -0.6 slave


thus setting the values in positive such as :


faction_standings england, 0.2 france, scotland
faction_standings england, 0.6 slave
faction_standings scotland, 0.2 england
faction_standings scotland, 0.2 france
faction_standings scotland, -0.6 slave
faction_standings france, 0.2 england
faction_standings france, 0.2 scotland
faction_standings france, -0.6 slave

would make those factions really m8s or to much real m8s - as somthing " i take paris & they give me 5000 florins" - joke
???
reducing in half would be like :

faction_standings england, -0.1 france, scotland
faction_standings england, -0.6 slave
faction_standings scotland, -0.1 england
faction_standings scotland, 0.1 france
faction_standings scotland, -0.6 slave
faction_standings france, -0.1 england
faction_standings france, 0.1 scotland
faction_standings france, 0.6 slave

(leaving slave as they are couse we need to plunder )

??????

oops the last should be as :

faction_standings france, -0.6 slave

[Shaun]

Well, since M2TW uses the exact same engine as RTW, and the UI is exactly the same, infact its just really a big mod. I cant help but feel deja vu, I feel like I know whats coming, all I am always wrong. I must admit that I dont play it as much as I thought I would, I have started 4 campaigns so far, and not even past the 100 turn mark yet. Whats holding me back is probably my lazyness to do big battles.

[Frost, colonel]

I must admit that I dont play it as much as I thought I would, I have started 4 campaigns so far, and not even past the 100 turn mark yet. Whats holding me back is probably my lazyness to do big battles.

I thought you put together your very reasonable PC, partly to be able to play the big battles in the first place Shaun?

[Edmonton]

I have started 4 campaigns so far, and not even past the 100 turn mark yet. Whats holding me back is probably my lazyness to do big battles.

Or boredom...

[the_mango55]

Well, since M2TW uses the exact same engine as RTW, and the UI is exactly the same, infact its just really a big mod.

I guess you would consider MTW a really big mod of STW also.

And Baldurs Gate 2 a really big mod of Baldur's gate.

[LoudHoward]

Sorry - didn't mean to! Puter playing up like my Mailed Knights!

[espressojim]

I guess you would consider MTW a really big mod of STW also.

And Baldurs Gate 2 a really big mod of Baldur's gate.

That's a straw man argument.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man
---
A straw man, or straw person, argument is a logical fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position. To "set up a straw man" or "set up a straw-man argument" is to create a position that is easy to refute, then attribute that position to the opponent. A straw-man argument can be a successful rhetorical technique (that is, it may succeed in persuading people) but it is in fact misleading, because the opponent's actual argument has not been refuted.
---

Now use an actual argument to prove the parent poster wrong.

[Ambrosius]

i thhink its just that we have pretty much seen it all in terms of games at this point.

ive been playing video games since the atari 2600 and commodore vic20. when we moved into the PC gaming era, and (for me anyways) some games came around which made such an indelible mark and started off their respective genres. pirates, warcraft, civilization, starsiege: tribes, ultima online, etc.
but go back and play any of those games now and youll be sadly dissappointed.

the thing is that by this point we have 10,000 games in every genre, and more and more clones of them come out every year. it takes either the introduction of a new genre or some totally groundbreaking game/gameplay to really awe us... and such games are few and far between. i think companies should be focusing more on new styles of gameplay and creating truly innovative games rather than just another entry in the gaming market.

that said, M2:TW doesnt exactly do that - theres not much innovation going on here - however it is a truly solid game that is a joy to play. i cant complain.

[Savage_Swede]

Despite all the fun M2TW offers, i find myself again and again growing tired of one campaign after the other. Just today i started a new campaign with the english. I defeated Scotland quite early in a single large decisive battle, whereas i quickly siezed Edinburgh and eradicated the scots from the face of the earth. I then united all of the UK and then France's northern coastline. Now i just figured i would build up and just be very passive until the discovery of gunpowder and so on.

But not long after i had started to build up, my french allies attacked me with an army composed of 4 units. By this time i ended the campaign and went over here instead. I am just so damn tired of the impossibility of doing a peaceful campaign. Why? Oh why can't we all just be friends??