Rome 2: Total war is coming!

[Zanovar]

do You mean the unlimited video memory?Game looks the same and plays the same with or without that option selected,although with it selected hitting 2g+.im only into prologue atm.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Yep, that one. Highest so far is 2500mb at 1080p.

I skipped the prologue and went right into a game with sparta... only to discover they're kind of broken because they don't hold formation...

 

[datalink7]

Yeah I have the unlimited box clicked.

 

[obidamnkenobi]

4.5? Lol. Hardly. I'd put it the low 7's- Flawed but of interest to people into that type of game. TW is kinda hard to get into with a bit of a learning curve as well. If reviews are spending less than an hour with the game as mentioned earlier.... well you're going to have a bad time.

But that sounds like a solid 5 to me. Totally average, not bad and not great. And reading the rockpapershotgun review that was feeling I got too. If we don't assume the silly 7=crap, 9=average review scale..

I played the original Rome a bit but I'm not interested in this. Rather play EU4, which I don't have enough time for anyway.

 

[Nintendesert]

It's an above average game and it's not for you, you're an EU4 wacko, a whole different breed. You're like Arma fans.

 

[BrightCandle]

I have spent a couple of days with it. I think based on the level of flaws, bugs, graphical issues etc I would say I agree with 4.5. If the bugs weren't there, if the new mechanics like the flags were not so totally stupid then it might deserve more, but if once they make it work as intended I wouldn't give it more than a 6.

 

[Midwayman]

But that sounds like a solid 5 to me. Totally average, not bad and not great. And reading the rockpapershotgun review that was feeling I got too. If we don't assume the silly 7=crap, 9=average review scale..

Review scale is what it is. Usually it takes a game with massive flaws to get into the 5 range. I'm not seeing that when I've been playing it. However if you're one of the unlucky one who has been having hardware and performance issues....

5 normally means garbage nobody should bother installing.
6 is about where playable, but serious flaws is
7 is normally where generally good games, but niche, or some issues come in
8 is what I'd consider a must buy if you're into the genre, or you should take a look is you're not really into that type of game
9+ is you should play this game no matter what game type you're into.

I wish people would use the whole scale as well, but most reviews stick to a "school grades" range.

 

[Red Hawk]

Yep, that one. Highest so far is 2500mb at 1080p.

I skipped the prologue and went right into a game with sparta... only to discover they're kind of broken because they don't hold formation...

That's a lot of memory...are you running the game with the vegetation alpha setting on? According to Creative Assembly that option should only be enabled on the most high-end PCs.

 

[Dumac]

Apart from severe graphical issues which I thankfully don't have, I really don't get all the complaints.

This smells like a total war game to me. It plays like one. Some of the new mechanics I love, some of them I dislike, but overall it is what I was expecting.

 

[Regs]

Apart from severe graphical issues which I thankfully don't have, I really don't get all the complaints.

This smells like a total war game to me. It plays like one. Some of the new mechanics I love, some of them I dislike, but overall it is what I was expecting.

I was not expecting the AI to totally ignore my forces to rush to the capture point in a city or land battle, like a defensive line men in football trying to get at the QB. I was not expecting 3 minute battles when it is near impossible to have enough time to manage my men before the AI turns white and runs with their dick in their hands. I was not expecting the great city of Carthage to be over run by rebels before I could declare war on Carthaginians . I did not expect EVERYTHING to cause squalor. These things need to be fixed.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

If it's anything like the last 10 years of total war you'll have to depend on community mods for the best experience.

That's a lot of memory...are you running the game with the vegetation alpha setting on? According to Creative Assembly that option should only be enabled on the most high-end PCs.

I'd like to think I have a "high-end" PC :thumbsup:

 

[Skott]

Can't wait to see Joe's actual review. I got a feeling he's really going to rip on CA and rightfully so. I'm so glad I didn't waste $60 on this game. Reading and watching reviews throughout the Net there is plenty of evidence the game has some serious problems. Hopefully the patches can really fix the issues or this game will suffer badly in sales. I really want to try this game but common sense and experience of past TW games has told me to hold off for a while.

I'm also eagerly waiting what the modding community can do for this game. Assuming CA can fix the major issues the modders should be able to really take this game and make it really enjoyable. That will take time though as the work can be slow on the bigger projects. A RTW2 Realism mod be great if they can pull a team together to do it.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Who's Joe?

EDIT: Just installed it and started playing today. Gone through about an hour, not sure how far through the prologue I've gotten. I have to say, the basics are still the same, but the details are different - the way the camera pans and zooms, the way the buttons look, the responsiveness of the units...

Some things I like, some things I don't. I'd expected it to be a bit better than this, TBH. But I don't really feel like I've wasted my money or anything....yet.

At least the game loads reasonably fast. Benefit of having an SSD, I guess.

I'd like to think I have a "high-end" PC

How do you do this. I've got a 920 and a 6950, and I'm struggling to break 40fps on High, and this is with only a few units on screen. I'm sure once the larger battles get there (there WILL be larger battles, right?) the FPS counter will just go through the floor. Not sure if it's a CPU or GPU problem.

 

[Madia]

Who's Joe?

I think he's referring to "Angry" Joe Vargas:

http://angryjoeshow.com/

In the little I've played so far I only ran into one bug. After the patch I ran the graphics benchmark and doing so actually unlocked the "bloodthirsty" achievement. So far I haven't noticed anything that affected the game itself except for a freeze up near the end of a battle. I am getting large framerate drops on the campaign map especially during zooming in and on other player's turns but I'm averaging 60fps during battles. Even when I turn everything to the lowest setting the fps is still dropping on the campaign map.

 

[irishScott]

I have to say the shit AI (charging phalanxes with slingers) and the flag mechanics have me concerned. The former because you'd think a company with 10 years experience making games like this would make better AI than that, and the latter because it takes a lot of the strategy out of the equation in open field battles; and it seems intentional.

I can understand wanting to eliminate corner camping, but a stupid, arbitrary flag in the middle of a field is about the dumbest way to go about it. Also detracts from the whole tactical/campaign map integration. You start a fight intending to use a hill you see on the campaign map, only to be forced to ignore said hill completely and charge the enemy or arbitrarily lose.

I think I'm going to give this game a good long wait. Plenty of factions in Shogun II I haven't played yet.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Aside from the corrupted saved games I'm enjoying myself.

I'm going to see if I can create backups and use them in the event that I lose another.

Doing fairly well this time, but I fear like past TW games once I get a foothold with a "hard" civ the true easy mode nature of the game will present itself.


I enjoy the era, unlike Shogun because I simply have little interest in feudal japan.

I think it has to do with the fact that Shogun is so little actual cultural differences being that it takes place on an isolated island, whereas with Rome you get Greeks, Romans, Carthage, Persia, Germana, Britannia...

Then again it's probably just personal bias :thumbsup:

 

[tenpole]

I am loving the game. It does have crashes and lock ups for me in the turn screen but maybe that is built in so I do actually stop playing and goto bed.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

I am loving the game. It does have crashes and lock ups for me in the turn screen but maybe that is built in so I do actually stop playing and goto bed.

I slept two hours today

Phalanx vs Slave Nation of Slingers... I'm like 35 turns in on this campaign and this nation has a huge economy with one port city and seemingly no military of it's own it's purely slaves (most of them came off ships!)... Though he has a lot!

Alexander would have been proud :thumbsup:

Auto resolve gave me 0 chance to win... lulz

 

[Nintendesert]

I decided to start out a Rome campaign, I've noticed more slowdown while I'm highlighting a city and scrolling on the campaign map. If I don't highlight the city, no performance problem. I'm not sure if it's due to the patch or I just never really noticed before today.

 

[tenpole]

I am always broke and my generals throw themselves on their sword.
I like to have the Floozy as my household item, pity there is only one box.

 

[Anteaus]

In spite of it's flaws I think Rome 2 is the best is years. I'm not trying to downplay Shogun 2 which was great, but this is the first TW since Empire where I'm actually really into the battles. For TW:N and TW:S2 I pretty much always used the quick resolve feature but with Rome 2 they got the feel right and I'm actually having fun ordering Legions around. The AI is crap but then again the AI is crap with every TW game so I'm not sure what else to say about that other than that if crap AI keeps you from playing then just avoid all the TW games.

 

[Zenoth]

In spite of it's flaws I think Rome 2 is the best is years. I'm not trying to downplay Shogun 2 which was great, but this is the first TW since Empire where I'm actually really into the battles. For TW:N and TW:S2 I pretty much always used the quick resolve feature but with Rome 2 they got the feel right and I'm actually having fun ordering Legions around. The AI is crap but then again the AI is crap with every TW game so I'm not sure what else to say about that other than that if crap AI keeps you from playing then just avoid all the TW games.

Nah I wouldn't say stop playing all TW games. I'd just say wait for community mods, which will make Rome 2 much better over time, mark my words. The TW community has never failed to come up with at the very least one or two "major" mods that ultimately make every single one of the TW games better than their vanilla counterpart. You don't even need complete conversions, or gigantic mods like Darth Mod, something more "humble" still usually does it.

To be completely honest of all the TW games I own I haven't bothered to play any of them under their vanilla state, in years. And to be frank I don't remember a single one of them being "very good" at release day, they all needed at least a major patch before being "playable enough". And then the community kicks in (usually it really kicks in after the second patch comes in). I have two mods for Rome TW (original), one I stick to for Medieval 2. Also I'm using Darth Mod for Empire TW, and as for Shogun 2 even though I've bought it during its release week I still haven't played enough of it to know which mod(s) (if any) would be worth getting, but I'd get one for Shogun 2 as well, I just know myself for that.

The thing about the A.I. in "all TW games" being crap (generally-speaking) is probably because the A.I. coders team has been the exact same over all the years. If they were bad (possibly, not saying it IS the case, but it's possible, it's not because you're being hired by a company that it means you're good at what you're doing). If not, then it looks like they keep hiring people who don't know their job enough or just don't have enough time polishing. I don't want to be harsh toward Creative Assembly's A.I. team by the way, but I'm looking at real-world possibilities. It IS possible that they're just plain bad A.I. coders, period. But I genuinely believe that more than anything else they simply never really had enough time or budget for the A.I. department, because A.I. in video gaming is probably priority zero for most developers and publishers alike.

But despite the A.I. issues I still maintain the thought (and hope) that Rome 2 will be significantly better over the next few months. In a year from now there will be one or two major mod for it and CA will have released at least two, if not more official and big enough patches that most people will forget what vanilla was like at release day. The only exception to that "rule" I believe is Empire TW which by itself is - for me - the least satisfying and entertaining of the TW games simply because I happen to dislike the time period it covers and absolutely get bored of it if I dare playing just two hours even with Darth Mod, but at least with Darth Mod the game is better overall (in my opinion).

 

[Bateluer]

Nah I wouldn't say stop playing all TW games. I'd just say wait for community mods, which will make Rome 2 much better over time, mark my words. The TW community has never failed to come up with at the very least one or two "major" mods that ultimately make every single one of the TW games better than their vanilla counterpart. You don't even need complete conversions, or gigantic mods like Darth Mod, something more "humble" still usually does it.

To be completely honest of all the TW games I own I haven't bothered to play any of them under their vanilla state, in years. And to be frank I don't remember a single one of them being "very good" at release day, they all needed at least a major patch before being "playable enough". And then the community kicks in (usually it really kicks in after the second patch comes in). I have two mods for Rome TW (original), one I stick to for Medieval 2. Also I'm using Darth Mod for Empire TW, and as for Shogun 2 even though I've bought it during its release week I still haven't played enough of it to know which mod(s) (if any) would be worth getting, but I'd get one for Shogun 2 as well, I just know myself for that.

The thing about the A.I. in "all TW games" being crap (generally-speaking) is probably because the A.I. coders team has been the exact same over all the years. If they were bad (possibly, not saying it IS the case, but it's possible, it's not because you're being hired by a company that it means you're good at what you're doing). If not, then it looks like they keep hiring people who don't know their job enough or just don't have enough time polishing. I don't want to be harsh toward Creative Assembly's A.I. team by the way, but I'm looking at real-world possibilities. It IS possible that they're just plain bad A.I. coders, period. But I genuinely believe that more than anything else they simply never really had enough time or budget for the A.I. department, because A.I. in video gaming is probably priority zero for most developers and publishers alike.

But despite the A.I. issues I still maintain the thought (and hope) that Rome 2 will be significantly better over the next few months. In a year from now there will be one or two major mod for it and CA will have released at least two, if not more official and big enough patches that most people will forget what vanilla was like at release day. The only exception to that "rule" I believe is Empire TW which by itself is - for me - the least satisfying and entertaining of the TW games simply because I happen to dislike the time period it covers and absolutely get bored of it if I dare playing just two hours even with Darth Mod, but at least with Darth Mod the game is better overall (in my opinion).

While everything you've said is true, it is not, nor should it be, the job of the community to correct the developer's mistakes.

 

[el-Capitan]

First fix is out. I can't find a changelog, however :/

 

[Nintendesert]

While everything you've said is true, it is not, nor should it be, the job of the community to correct the developer's mistakes.

It's also been like this with TW from as far back as I can remember. So the community also knows what it's getting. There are no new bugs with this AI, it's the same easy to cheese out on AI that we've always seen.

I don't find it particularly broken, it's simply TW.