Why I am pissed at Medieval 2 + Kingdoms

[TehMac]

Well, first off, I think the graphics are superb, the production values are great, but I'm still left wanting. There are others out there who agree, but that's not relevant.

For one thing, there's no atmosphere. I don't feel like it's the medieval period. It could be modern times with swords being swung around. The engine has amazing potential, yet there's no grit; there's no real color. Uniforms were not invented as we know them until the 17th century, why are there (for example) spearmen all wearing the exact same type of colored tunic/robe/ whatever you want to call it???? It's just so simplified, there's no color, there's no grandeur, it's all dumbed down, over simplified bull shit. There's an argument that If the spearmen were of a multitude of colors (like green, brown, peasentry colors befitting spearmen rank) you'd be unable to locate your troops. Well why the fuck did they put a button in the battle interface that you can click...and whallaaa! You see your troops underlined in green, and the enemy in red. It's not that hard of a concept. There are also banners floating around the troops heads that you can click if your eyes are impaired and you can't distinguish between friend and foe, and order troops around from there. So this, "well if spearmen were in realistic colors, we wouldn't be able to command properly," goes out the door. Instead, you get over simplified bull shit.

Speaking of team colors, why are the Byzantines always fucking purple? They weren't purple, their fucking standard was RED. And yet every single unit of theirs has some sort of purple on his surcoat, what is it with this bull shit? Why is CA simplifying everything and making a load of crap either way. They should actually use their ingeniously modified engine of making units look different and have a girttier look, than just using it to generate different faces.

The Campaign map pisses me off too, the AI isn't a problem for me, it's that I'm always finding the game sooooooo slooooooooooow. I just wish they'd put the game in real time, screw the AI, at least I won't find myself falling a fucking sleep waiting for the turn to end.
Rebels are always popping up, I find it more of a chore, than an actual empire building experience.

 

[Stoneburner]

You complain about the lack of realism in the choice of garb, but also complain about the semi-realistic requirement of micromanaging an empire ?

 

[TehMac]

I am complaining about how the campaign is more of a chore than anything else, whereas in Medieval 1 it actually was challenging, but fun--and Medieval 1 was not dumbed down like this game.

Another complaint I add in is the slowness. The factions are not well reflected, troop types are just basically all the same. In every single campaign except for frickin Americas in Kingdoms, at least TWO factions have huge two handed swords, which end up looking like enlarged cheese cutters. What the fuck is going on here? When did CA start trying to appeal to fans of the Nutcracker ballet?

 

[murban135]

.

 

[pontifex]

voila

 

[TehMac]

Originally posted by: murban135
.

Out of pure curiousity, what does that mean? I always see people leaving punctuation marks, and yah...

 

[ayabe]

The units aren't all the same in Med 2, there are variations which is an improvement over RTW.

The games pushes current hardware pretty hard and I think some of the changes you are requesting would just make the game unplayable.

Plus there's an option to not see the AI moves and speeds up turns considerably.

 

[Dacalo]

Originally posted by: TehMac
Well why the fuck did they put a button in the battle interface that you can click...and whallaaa! You see your troops

It's voila, French. Please refrain from using the term if you don't know what it is. It's not WAHHAALLALAL.

 

[TehMac]

Originally posted by: ayabe
The units aren't all the same in Med 2, there are variations which is an improvement over RTW.

The games pushes current hardware pretty hard and I think some of the changes you are requesting would just make the game unplayable.

Plus there's an option to not see the AI moves and speeds up turns considerably.

I pushed that button, but frankly, if the variations are that subtle, why even have them?

I was referring to faction units--I was saying that in all Kingdoms campaigns, there are at least TWO factions per campaign, barring the Americas that have a two handed swordsman unit.
And this is an exmaple, I could point out how the campaigns just seem to be duplicates of each other.
This is just gross-historically, and just...wtf were they thinking?

Originally posted by: DacaloIt's voila, French. Please refrain from using the term if you don't know what it is. It's not WAHHAALLALAL.

ROFL

 

[ayabe]

i dunno Tehmac, I feel you and everything but there will never be a perfect game that gives us everything we want. What we have to play with in Med 2 + Kingdoms is pretty damn good though.

I haven't checked out any Med 2 mods but there might be one or more there that ups the ante on the realism.

 

[TehMac]

Yeah, I'm glad you feel me, I was beginning to think no one did.

But yeah I can only hope CA Aussieland sticks to their dumbed down console rubbish, and CA UK makes the rest of the Total Wars.

 

[Dacalo]

Hmmm... some interesting points. I have played some Medieval 2 but haven't opened up Kingdoms yet.

I believe the colors are there to help players distinguish easily from other factions, rather than trying to depict the native colors. Sure banners are there but this "feature" helps some people who are not able to distinguish the obvious.

Rebels ARE annoying though, since the battles take longer than other games.

 

[BladeVenom]

Originally posted by: ayabe
i dunno Tehmac, I feel you and everything but there will never be a perfect game that gives us everything we want. What we have to play with in Med 2 + Kingdoms is pretty damn good though.

I haven't checked out any Med 2 mods but there might be one or more there that ups the ante on the realism.

There are mods to change the way everything looks. There are also mod guides available. Something like a color change should be fairly easy.

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: TehMac
The Campaign map pisses me off too, the AI isn't a problem for me, it's that I'm always finding the game sooooooo slooooooooooow. I just wish they'd put the game in real time, screw the AI, at least I won't find myself falling a fucking sleep waiting for the turn to end.
Rebels are always popping up, I find it more of a chore, than an actual empire building experience.

That annoyed the hell out of me too so I just turned off "See AI Moves" at the start of the campaign. Now all turns take 5 seconds.

As for uniforms... having played the clone war that is Rome, I'm very satisfied with Medieval 2 + Kingdom's appearance.

 

[TehMac]

Ehh, well maybe so, I did turn off Med's AI Watch Moves nonsense, still didn't help. But I just didn't feel the atmosphere--it didn't feel like a true sucessor to Medieval 1. I suppose it was because CA Australia made Med2. Let the UK CA stick to the Total War series, and let the CA Aussies make the dumbed down console bull shit.

 

[murban135]

Originally posted by: TehMac

Originally posted by: murban135
.

Out of pure curiousity, what does that mean? I always see people leaving punctuation marks, and yah...

I originally posted something that in retrospect was not needed in the thread. Just deleted my remarks.

 

[TehMac]

Originally posted by: murban135

Originally posted by: TehMac

Originally posted by: murban135
.

Out of pure curiousity, what does that mean? I always see people leaving punctuation marks, and yah...

I originally posted something that in retrospect was not needed in the thread. Just deleted my remarks.

Well, I welcome all remarks, good or bad, I don't care, but sure.

 

[Bateluer]

Google Dues lo Vult. Its the equivalent of the RTR mod for Medieval T/Kingdoms.

Edit - I always see people complaining about their troops wearing uniform colors. I much prefer having colors on my troops, that way I can see where my soldiers are with a glance. If you wanted realism, most of your troops would desert every turn, or you'd have much higher percentages of deaths from plague.

 

[imported_Imp]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Google Dues lo Vult. Its the equivalent of the RTR mod for Medieval T/Kingdoms.

Edit - I always see people complaining about their troops wearing uniform colors. I much prefer having colors on my troops, that way I can see where my soldiers are with a glance. If you wanted realism, most of your troops would desert every turn, or you'd have much higher percentages of deaths from plague.

I threw a tantrum when I had a "state of the art" army, 100% strength fullstack start deserting on me when I went on crusade and didn't attack soon enough. I'd go on a rampage if they put in realistic desertion and death rates due to disease. On that note, I would not mind them having higher death rates for troops under siege...

 

[tigersty1e]

Originally posted by: TehMac
Well, first off, I think the graphics are superb, the production values are great, but I'm still left wanting. There are others out there who agree, but that's not relevant.

For one thing, there's no atmosphere. I don't feel like it's the medieval period. It could be modern times with swords being swung around. The engine has amazing potential, yet there's no grit; there's no real color. Uniforms were not invented as we know them until the 17th century, why are there (for example) spearmen all wearing the exact same type of colored tunic/robe/ whatever you want to call it???? It's just so simplified, there's no color, there's no grandeur, it's all dumbed down, over simplified bull shit. There's an argument that If the spearmen were of a multitude of colors (like green, brown, peasentry colors befitting spearmen rank) you'd be unable to locate your troops. Well why the fuck did they put a button in the battle interface that you can click...and whallaaa! You see your troops underlined in green, and the enemy in red. It's not that hard of a concept. There are also banners floating around the troops heads that you can click if your eyes are impaired and you can't distinguish between friend and foe, and order troops around from there. So this, "well if spearmen were in realistic colors, we wouldn't be able to command properly," goes out the door. Instead, you get over simplified bull shit.

Speaking of team colors, why are the Byzantines always fucking purple? They weren't purple, their fucking standard was RED. And yet every single unit of theirs has some sort of purple on his surcoat, what is it with this bull shit? Why is CA simplifying everything and making a load of crap either way. They should actually use their ingeniously modified engine of making units look different and have a girttier look, than just using it to generate different faces.

The Campaign map pisses me off too, the AI isn't a problem for me, it's that I'm always finding the game sooooooo slooooooooooow. I just wish they'd put the game in real time, screw the AI, at least I won't find myself falling a fucking sleep waiting for the turn to end.
Rebels are always popping up, I find it more of a chore, than an actual empire building experience.

Press the space button on the campaign map and your characters and the AI's characters move much faster. Alternatively, you can click the mouse button after ordering them to a spot and they'll move faster.

If you search some Med 2 forums, you can eliminate all of the rebels. I had to restart my first campaign because I had conquered 70%+ of the map and spent each turn fighting rebels. In my current campaign, I've seen no rebels except for the ones that start off at the beginning or the ones who rebel...basically no rebel spawns.

They're all the same type of soldier because it's easier on your system and easier to code. It would be great to have them all look very different, but it's pretty hard.

THis game could be better, but there is no other game out there that compares.

 

[TehMac]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
Google Dues lo Vult. Its the equivalent of the RTR mod for Medieval T/Kingdoms.

Edit - I always see people complaining about their troops wearing uniform colors. I much prefer having colors on my troops, that way I can see where my soldiers are with a glance. If you wanted realism, most of your troops would desert every turn, or you'd have much higher percentages of deaths from plague.

Well I think there's a best of both worlds concept; in this sense, perhaps you're right; I'm not asking for a more realistic game, I'm just asking for a grittier atmosphere, and a grittier style of modeling for soldiers. At the same time, I disagree; Med2 caters to a wide variety of n00bs (not say you're one) so they had a button you can push that flash green under friendlies' feet, and red under enemies'.

yes, I have played Deus Lo Volt, but it lags like a mofo, and has glitches. I find mods are only so good a solution. It's not completely a Total Realism mod, because...well I won't plague you with details.


@ tigerstyle: yes, I know all about space bar and making troops move faster.