Best [Total War] game for a beginner?

[magomago]

I've been itching to get into one of these games because I want something that makes me think more and consider tactics without turning everything into a click fest.
I played the Shogun demo many many years ago when it first came out, but that was the limit of my experience with the game. However, it left me with a positive impression, although I remember thinking that some of it seemed questionable (I never figured out exactly how much distance I could charge with cavalry, and a few other things but its hard to remember since I feel like I played the game over 10 years ago)

I was looking around google and it seems that by and large the best one is Rome or Medieval II. Rome seems to get more votes in general - a poll will always be dominated by Rome; Medival 2 is referred to as "Rome with a lot better graphics", or is referred to as having big annoyances such as those related to building castles as well as pope mechanics.

I'm fine with either at this point, but one thing I cold not find is which one would be more suitable for a beginner in terms of low and introducing the game? Does one ramp up in difficulty a lot more than the other?


On a side note, I know both have mods - are there texture mods at all that improve the graphical quality (I'm going to be playing this at 1280x1024 on a GTX460 so I might as well crank everything up) because I know that mod work in general can be very impressive (see turning morrowind from ugly shit to a beautiful game, same with oblivion, and even the FO3 graphics I saw the other day)

 

[daishi5]

I think Rome does a better job ramping up the difficulty. When you play as a roman faction, you start as one of 3 roman groups, each one runs out conquers a bunch of land from the weaker non-romans till one gets so big he backstabs the others to try to take everything. Each of the roman factions has a different difficulty as well, to the north is europe, and I find their armies weaker, but their also poorer, the greeks are stronger, but richer and much better trade, and africa seems to be a mid point, not as strong, but not as rich. I haven't played in a few years though. Medieval II was also pretty good, but it took me a few games to get a better handle on the politics part of it.

 

[ibex333]

Don't worry about graphics mods. At the res you're playing all that is completely irrelevant.


I would recommend you try ROME first, as that is the best game in the series. This doesn't mean, however that the other games in the series are not worth playing. I thought that every single Total War game was absolutely awesome. Shogun and Medieval I and II were amazing and so was Empire. A lot of people were bashing Medieval for many reasons, but I beat the whole game and I thought it was great.

One thing of note. Total War games are NOT easy, and they do not offer any instant gratification. The aim in these games is to enjoy every turn, not rush for the end. The endings are very short and there is nothing special about them. It's the gameplay that is so great, and when you do finally get to the end, the tiny cutscene feels so much better than any one of those "special" endings in other games, because it took so much to get there... I had campaigns that lasted months for me in RL. I played about 10-20 turns per day because I was busy at work and school. That was fine. I thought I'd never finish, but I most definitly did. And I went for the "long" victory too!

 

[postmortemIA]

Rome has some magic or appeal that no other game in series (that I have played) has. Anyway you'd want to start with Rome, as Medieval II is historical and natural progression from Rome. It would feel weird to play Medieval II first, and then Rome

 

[StinkyPinky]

Rome is easily the best game in the series imo. I pray every day they remake it with the latest engine and add naval combat and additional features.

 

[lord_emperor]

One thing of note. Total War games are NOT easy, and they do not offer any instant gratification. The aim in these games is to enjoy every turn, not rush for the end. The endings are very short and there is nothing special about them. It's the gameplay that is so great, and when you do finally get to the end, the tiny cutscene feels so much better than any one of those "special" endings in other games, because it took so much to get there... I had campaigns that lasted months for me in RL. I played about 10-20 turns per day because I was busy at work and school. That was fine. I thought I'd never finish, but I most definitly did. And I went for the "long" victory too!

I could never manage to win a game of Mediaval II. I could beat any AI army with almost no losses to myself, I had a huge kingdom so many armies of my own.

I even sent a stack with 20 units of Sherwood Archers to America, who must have killed 100,000 natives.

But I couldn't bear the repetitive nature and the knowledge of how many battles it would take me to achieve the victory conditions.

My one wish for the Total War series is an investment in the tactical AI to make them competitive with the player, or at least less bugs. This in turn would add a lot more meaning to the strategic gameplay as well.

 

[lothar]

Shogun Total War.

 

[Oakenfold]

Get the core mechanics down, Rome wins this hands down imo.

Like others I feel it's the best in the series. Empire and Medieval just did not take hold with me for some reason.

 

[Skott]

I too would say start with Rome Total War. Its an era I often enjoy coming back to and its not especially hard game but its quite fun to play and it has all the basic building blocks of what the Total War series is. And if you want to make it even more fun or challenging there are plenty of mods out there you can download for free and experience. Shogun may have been first but it was RTW that really put CA on the map and called attention to their version of the genre.

 

[NoSoup4You]

I've only played Empire Total War and I thought it was an awesome game. Cannons, ships of the line, gorgeous graphics, immense scope/scale.

Unfortunately upon release it wasn't really ready for the public, lots of issues. I would imagine that's all been fixed by now. Also, the DLC was inexpensive and helped make the various civs even more unique, which is always good.

I really liked the game, the online battles were fun but as with all games - the experienced players were overwhelmingly good, I never invested enough time to figure out all the quirks. Fortunately the battles were always fairly brief, 5-10 minutes...etc. So you never felt like you wasted 30 minutes against a far superior opponent like Age of Empires for instance.

 

[Trianon]

One more vote for Shogun, a must play, played thru all five factions

 

[Kreon]

I also vote for Rome. I have all of the games in the series, except the original Shogun. I currently only play Rome and Empire.

Especially for the basics, its the best. Also, I feel like it has so much more variety than any other in the series (except possibly Empire). Make sure that you either play the short campaign to unlock all the other groups, or mod your way to it. My favorite is the Greeks and Germans (both fight in phalanx).

 

[Regs]

Rome has some magic or appeal that no other game in series (that I have played) has. Anyway you'd want to start with Rome, as Medieval II is historical and natural progression from Rome. It would feel weird to play Medieval II first, and then Rome

I really enjoyed the campaign. Kicking the crap out of your fellow Roman 's then taking on the factions of the world. Regain control over Italy, than central Europe, then conquer the Carthaginians, or the Bruti in Greece.