How does this game compare to R:TW?

[matthew the black prince]

i think rome total war=9.1
medieval twar:9.0

rome comes out by a hair

[Armatus]

Originally posted by matthew the black prince@Dec 27 2004, 10:57 AM
i think rome total war=9.1
medieval twar:9.0

rome comes out by a hair

Let's wait for the expansion before we give Rome a higher rank than Medieval...

[whiskeyman]

I only ever had the patience to conquer the whole of Europe in MTW once.

True. I did once go 100 with the Byzantines and that was enough. The last 40 turns or so of MTW get really boring, chasing around a few rebel provinces with your multiple stacks of armies and uber generals. I always played to just 60 %.

The graphics are better in Rtw, and the sieges are grealty improved, but i miss some of Mtw's quirks, and as someone mentioned earlier the unpredictibility.

When I get bored of rome I'm sure I'll go back to Medieval.

[Armatus]

Originally posted by whiskeyman@Jan 6 2005, 11:50 PM

True. I did once go 100 with the Byzantines and that was enough. The last 40 turns or so of MTW get really boring, chasing around a few rebel provinces with your multiple stacks of armies and uber generals. I always played to just 60 %.

The graphics are better in Rtw, and the sieges are grealty improved, but i miss some of Mtw's quirks, and as someone mentioned earlier the unpredictibility.

When I get bored of rome I'm sure I'll go back to Medieval.

I will agree with that, begining a campaign in MTW is far more fun than finishing it. But I felt the same way in RTW. I think partly because we are limited to playing the boring computer and not eachother. A human opponent would make it exciting until the end, BUT alas that is another story... and I won't go there on this thread heh.

[Ragss]

I have spent the last 4 days playing a medmod english campaign, and I stand by my previous statement that MTW is better. Maybe after some patches and an expansion pack RTW will truely rival it, but for now ill stick with MTW.

[FrAnKeNsTeIn]

I was waiting Rome about half a year, every day checked its site for news, but now after some month playing, I am very dissapointed and as we can see many of us are. That is one of the reasons why people are moding this game so much.
Here is my opinion...First thing which I don't like in Rome is that on difficulty hard or higher you need to fight every battle by yourself if you wan't to survive. Computer every battle which I played with results 1200 killed 300 lost played with defeat. And that's why in 30 years on very hard difficulty I needed to fight in 88 land battles. With sea battles they were 187. In Medieval I could play only campaign map if I wanted becouse computer could win theese battles for me!
Second thing is money. In Medieval money was much more important. You could built and upkeep only 2 or 3 good armies. And that is when your empire is one of the biggests.To built all buildings in Medieval town you needed much more than a half of the games time. And it was not boring becouse that was one of ways which you could become more succesfull than your neighbours. In Rome two or three full armies is nothing and with this population thing you can't become much more technical advanced than your neighbours, all buildings you can build in already 80 years.
And the graphic, most important thing. In Rome with this fully coloured map I have no realistic feeling. In Medieval graphic was not so good but with it's colours it looked far more realistic.





P.S. I am already playing Medieval. Add some replies maybe( if you want).

[FrAnKeNsTeIn]

Guys, Where I can download Vikings Invasion! Please help!

[Fiatil]

You have to BUY the game. Just like most others.

Oh, and I think I prefer MTW as well. I'm not really sure why, in all aspects RTW should be better. I s'pose MTW just has an awesome feel to it that RTW lacks that makes me want to keep coming back and expand my empire. I had insanely good times making Italy the superpower of Europe in MTW, but for some reason I became bored with RTW after a bit.

[Morindin]

I've tried to go back and play MTW a few times.

When I got it I thought it was the best game ever. I got it about 4 months before the release of RTW and played it hard out, so one could say that I did not get sick of it at all, but rather, I got caught up in the rome hype.

When I go back to it now I usually get bored of it relatively quickly. The reason?

Atmosphere.

There are so many of the game mechanics that are great in MTW, but the battles and strategic map are lacklusture (only after RTW). I keep zooming down to see my units fighting but then I realise they are in 2D and it looks so aweful. I also love the massive armies you can get on the screen at one time in RTW ( thousands of men), my MTW armies just look so small in comparason and hence the atmosphere is ruined.
Playing on Huge in MTW also isnt fun due to the unit build times.

Also, while MTW IMO is better than RTW in some ways when you have been playing RTW you forget about some of the annoying MTW things (grass is always greener on the other side).

All in all it comes down to the atmosphere of the game - I can't really get back into MTW.

vanilla RTW v1.1 == MTW + Viking Expansion + patches
modded RTW v1.1 > MTW + Viking Expansion + patches
soon to be patched RTW + mods >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> MTW.

I havnt had much experiance with mods and MTW yet. Mods have really bought RTW to life for me. Using a mod like SPQR makes RTW more like MTW, huge battles of epic scales.

I would be tempted to say however than multiplayer MTW is far superior to multiplayer RTW, even wtih the flashy graphics of RTW.

[headcracker]

Well, i've been playing medievil for a long time, i finished 4 campains and i lost onli the first one the other were succesfull so i think that's a great game that gives you fun and fun but RTW...RTW is the greatest game all over the known world!!!!!!!!!!!!
GLORY n' HONOUR!!!!!!!!!

[Armatus]

Originally posted by headcracker@Jan 21 2005, 06:38 AM
Well, i've been playing medievil for a long time, i finished 4 campains and i lost onli the first one the other were succesfull so i think that's a great game that gives you fun and fun but RTW...RTW is the greatest game all over the known world!!!!!!!!!!!!
GLORY n' HONOUR!!!!!!!!!

If the patch does what it claims it will this time around then Rome will be "The" Totalwar game of the series. All this talk about Rome and Medieval, what about Shogun!? The campaign in Shogun in my opinion hasn't been surpassed yet. Have you forgotten about the Cinnematics? Have you forgotten about the Throne Room? Rome was not only to come out with a new engine but take the best things from it's predessors, but it hasn't yet.

[Von Manstein]

Yes, indeed MTW's MP was much better, because of it's lack of lag. Not everyone has a broadband connection.

Pretty much, RTW was all about the graphics and cities. Otherwise, there is little difference to MTW.

[Casanova]

I have to say i have noticed a few different things playing RTW and MTW. RTW is great with the new graphix engine, and campaign maps and the ability to bring more reality to the campaign. But i do miss some things about MTW. For me it seems like playing the different factions in RTW is really not as exciting as it should be. Almost like the factions do not bring enough change from one another. I think perhaps its due to being stuck in the same time period everytime you play a new faction. It would be kind of like the equivalent of playing all the factions on the early setting in MTW. The factions dont really show their true uniqueness of troop units until the later playing years, such as the high period of MTW , but with RTW the game is usually almost over by the time you can actually start creating the best units. Perhaps if RTW had an option to play the later years this wouldnt be the case.
Also another thing that bugs me about RTW is the factions themselves. There are just fewer factions to play, at least it seems that way to me. And it seems like no matter what in RTW you are constantly being attacked by someone, there is never any reprieve from war ( I know this sounds silly but bear with me). I personally am a fan of choosing when and whom i go to war with, and in RTW this is pretty much impossible, due to the fact that the AI doesnt give a damn about alliances, and attacks even when it is sure to bring ruin to its faction. I know that this was a problem in MTW but i dont think it was quite as bad. At least in MTW you could find ways around the fanatical AI. I can remember picking Denmark or Aragon, and a couple other factions and being able to develope my country and recruit soldiers in peace due to alliances I had made, and actually being able to attack when i was ready, and not having to be at war with 2 or 3 other factions at a time. Everytime i play RTW and get to a point where im actually developing my cities and getting comfortable it seems like i suddenly end up getting attacked by 2 allies at the same time or something silly like that. And then it ends up being 2 seiges and a big battle everyturn, and that actually becomes a chore to me after a few turns and it starts to get annoying. I personally prefer fighting bigger battles with breaks in between and feel like in MTW it was possible to do that, whereas in RTW its only a dream i have lol. Well thats just my 2 cents.

[crazyluke]

Those who say that some poeple like Medieval: Total War better are wrong. What evidence is there for this?

I, for example, got Rome: Total War two months ago and got bored with it in about a month. There is almost no variety between factions, apart from units which were just better or worse versions of each other. (Those who have played RTW will know what I am talking about - Hastati ---> Principes, Swordsmen --->Chosen Swordsmen, for example.

In MTW all units can be used throughout the game, because they all have different functions. For example, pikemen cannot properly replace spearmen because spearmen have more frontage.

Also, there are many more factions in MTW then in its sequel. Nowadays, a lot of gaming companies think that it is enough to create excellent graphics and a good marketing strategy, and customers will just be queuing up. Unfortunately this is true, but then they find that the game has crippling bugs, and is very boring.

MTW orces the player to think more, as you actually have to think about what units to use against what, where as in RTW you can just charge in your strongest unit, withdraw and charge again. (Of course with the exception of retarded charges, like equites into a phalanx of Spartan hoplites.

The AI in MTW is actually a whole lot smarter, especially in the battlefield formation department. In RTW, the AI always lines up its units in one single line, with the general behind. Also, because of the new campaign map system, you find single stacks of enemy warbands just wandering around, where as with the tile-like map system in MTW this does not happen.

Plus it has been proved in the RTW forums on The Org that the charge bonus is broken.

Because of the idea of garrisonning the actual settlements in RTW, rather than the provinces, most of the battles in RTW take place in cities. It becomes very repetitve, with the only tactic being to charge your most heavily armoured infantry into the enemy, running your cavalry round the enemy's rear, and crushing the enemy troops in a big human sandwich. But in MTW, because the majority of battles are fought on open land outside of towns, you have a lot more opportunity to take advantage of the lie of the land, the trees and natural boundaries, e.g. cliffs, rivers.

There you go, someone who tried Rome: Total War first, and prefers Medieval. Actually I enjoy playing Shogun more than Rome - Apart from those damn Geishas >: (

Also, I think that the medieval time period is a lot more interesting than the ancient world.


Crazyluke

[Vergilius]

Actually I like the campaign of medieval: total war a lot better than that of Rome, but the battles are a lot more fun in Rome total war.

[Ragss]

The battles are only more fun for a while, at least for me. It wasnt long before the novelty of the truely amazing graphics wore off and I was able to see the shallow game beneath (talking about RTW). In MTW I can remember numerous times being genuinely suprised by the enemy's unpredicented tactics. In RTW they just line up and charge, even in battles with completely different unit set ups and terrains, they are all fundamentally the same.

[Storm_Of_Horus]

There is something exciting about RTW, when you hear the thunder of you'r army marching forwards into battle.... but then you wake up to reality and see that almost all of the little bits and pieces that make up that game are flawed somehow. MTW on the other hand is not always so exciting but it's a very solid game, almost everything works flawlessly as it is intended. Complex tactics making good use of terrain, weather etc. I have fought over 1500 online battles in MTW and all of them offered unique tactical situations somehow. When veteran generals meet on the battlefield it is often a game of pure skill, i would call it art if gaming was considered a form of artistic expression.

[BrutalDictatorship]

I absolutely LOVED MTW when I played it (played for about 8-10 months straight, stopped playing almost 2 years ago heh...) and have decided, this afternoon, to start playing it again.

I went out and bought it for 12 bucks at the store (MTW:VI) and will be installing it in about 15 minutes. Anyone know what the standard mod is for MTW:VI?? (like RTR seems to be the "common" RTW mod)

As for which one is better...they're different. I do have to agree somewhat with most people here though that MTW had better AI and pushed a sense of urgency on the user much more so than in RTW.

RTW is fantastic...and eclipses MTW in more than one way (graphics are NOT the only thing that's better...) although I would have to say that MTW offers more of a challenge ( i dunno..maybe heh).

As for whoever stated that MOST battles in RTW take place in cities and not on openfield battle...

I'm at 163BC and I've had to defend a city once...probably attacked an enemy city a million times, but had more openfield battles than anything else.

Further...with the 1.2 patch, I can't say that I agree on the issue of there being little in the way of battlefield strategy AI in RTW. My enemies do all sorts of things...I've actually been quite impressed with their tactics at times. Let's keep in mind that 300bc-14ad is a much different time period, militarily as well as in every other aspect, than medieval times. Obviously commanders had more strategic capabilities 1500 years later.

As for online....I'd have to say that they're both outstanding. Although CA could give us some more depth...a win/loss record, actual registered clans, a stat tracker for total kills, total casualties taken etc...

[ShangTang]

I have been playing both MTW and RTW since their releases and I have to say. I enjoyed MTW far more. The game just flowed better IMO and there was something about each battle of MTW that made it more fun than any RTW battle. Anyways, I will miss you MTW you provided me with many a fond memory.

[DrakKassleron]

In my Opinion, RTW is Better than MTW. The Graphics are obviously far superior, and I think lots of things, such as having Settlements being in Provinces rather than Forts being in Regions, the ability to be at any place on the Campaign Map, and the greater emphasis on Navies, were done a lot better than in MTW. On the other Hand, MTW was a great game and still is today. In fact, although I wasn't a Fan of the Total War Series Until I bought RTW, I still bought MTW, after I bought RTW. I only got it three months ago, and despite the fact that it's much older than RTW and the graphics obviously seem a lot more outdated, I still like quite a few things in MTW better. Far Starters, I love the Medieval Period, and the Factions do often seem more different from each other in MTW than in RTW. This still isn't always the case, though - certain factions in RTW are more different from Certain other Factions in RTW than any Faction was different from any other Faction in MTW, IMO. I love both Games, and still play Medieval: Total War, although I definitely Prefer Rome: Total War.

Drak