Poll: Should I get Rome 2 Total War?

[thejboy88]

As a big Total War fan, I have, of course, been looking forward a great deal to their latest release, Rome 2. However, despite that, I've been hearing a great deal of negative things from people who've played the game, saying things like it's full of bugs, it's been rushed to meet it's deadlines, or that it's just not as good as previous games.

So, before I decide whether or not to get the game, I'd like to get a feel of it from the Escapist community, and see what they thought of it, assuming they've played it of course.

 

[Caiphus]

I haven't played the game, so feel free to disregard my opinion entirely in favour of those who have.

The game seems buggy and poorly optimised at release. I'm thinking of getting the game too, but not until they fix the AI and the AI turn times, which you say in your OP.

If you're a huge fan of Total War, I hear that the Empire release was really rather buggy as well, so you may have had experience with that. Hopefully they'll manage to turn it around. If I were you, I would wait until some of the creases get ironed out.

This is a brutally honest review from Tom Chick:

http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/2013/09/06/creative-assembly-fiddles-rome-ii-loads/

So yeah. In the immortal words of Yoda: "Wait a bit, I would."

 

[Longstreet]

Yea got nothing really to add to Caiphus' comment, was actually looking forward to my first total war game.

[sub][sub][sub][sub][sub]Please don't hurt me[/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub]

But if you watch all the honest reviews, yes i am going to mention Agry Joe here again, and Tom Chick -so none of that IGN bullshit- you'll see why you should not get it.

Yes i know that with some people it works fine, but how would you feel if you forked over 60 bucks and the damn thing would not work correctly.

Play the waiting game and get it in a few months when all the bugs are worked out.

(on the other hand, they say there are some nice mods)

 

[kingthrall]

I dont like to brag, but recently I created a monster thread on the forums, and you can see for youself and make your own decition from actual buyers of the game.

http://forums.totalwar.com/showthread.php/92936-Serious-question-no-flame-here-Will-you-buy-another-Total-war

 

[Smooth Operator]

Not yet, I'd give it a couple of months and for people to confirm most of the stuff got patched, because right now it will do nothing but infuriate you.
From the derp armies that will not follow orders or change them at will to enemies that do nothing and a completely broken MP, paying full price at this point would be really stupid.

 

[BLAHwhatever]

Yeah, get it at a later date.
I went back to Shogun 2 because the game doesn't offer any challenges.
The AI mistakes on the campaign map and on the battlefield make the game disgustingly easy

 

[Elfgore]

I would say yes, but not now. Wait until about six or so months then buy it. The game should be cheaper and a majority of the really bad bugs should be patched. There is the potential of game of the year 2013 under all of the bugs and glitches.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

Poorly optimized? Definitely, it tends to chug a bit on my rig which should do fine at mostly high settings. Most of the bugs I find are merely annoying rather than game breaking. All TW games in recent memory came out with those kinds of bugs, so we should be used to it(not that it's right to release a buggy game).

The odd crash to desktop rarely bothers me(and rarely happens) because of the autosave system they've had forever.

Currently I'm enjoying Rome, Iceni, and Pontus campaigns. I recommend Pontus. Hoplites, good cavalry, good troops that you can have on the flanks or create an infantry core out of if you want something more flexible than a hoplite phalanx. The Iceni have an interesting thing where all of their generals bodyguard units are freaking awesomely powerful and can be recruited freely out of top tier buildings. I haven't quite gotten that far yet, but I will be wrecking everyone's shit once I do. Finally, Rome has a great little mechanic that your auxiliary barracks recruits different units depending on where the settlement is. You'll learn to appreciate Celtic Auxiliary Cavalry very quickly as they are so much better than your local cavalry. This means that eventually Roman armies can take on a sort of local flavor. I've even made Auxiliary armies just for shits and giggles. They aren't as good as something more traditional for just an infantry slugfest, but they do just about everything else better.

The AI is vastly improved. They tend not to make the same derptastic mistakes they always used to. They use cavalry effectively, always looking to flank if they can't just use heavy or shock cavalry to storm over your men. Oh, and shock cavalry, if you see that an enemy has some, make damn sure your spearmen are stationary when they get charged by them. Otherwise they just get flatout obliterated by the massive charge of these units.

As you can see, I'm quite enjoying it.

 

[OneCatch]

As a big Total War fan, I have, of course, been looking forward a great deal to their latest release, Rome 2. However, despite that, I've been hearing a great deal of negative things from people who've played the game, saying things like it's full of bugs, it's been rushed to meet it's deadlines, or that it's just not as good as previous games.

So, before I decide whether or not to get the game, I'd like to get a feel of it from the Escapist community, and see what they thought of it, assuming they've played it of course.

Yeah, it's buggy as fuck at the moment, but I'm still enjoying it more than Shogun II.
The building trees have been expanded so you do actually have to think of how many high level buildings you can afford, get the ratios of food, industry, wealth, and happiness production balanced to your play style. No provincial taxation, but you can still opt cities out of tax (basically like Empire and Napoleon). A bit jarring given the setting, but not a big problem. Happiness is basically as it always has been, though it now dirrectly effects growth and production in a big way. Food is now really important - your cities will stagnate and your armies will rapidly desert without enough food. It's empire-wide though, so you don't need to worry about regional shortages (thank god).

A lot of people have complained about the politics aspect, but I quite like it. Some of the intrigues that can develop are quite funny. I do miss the family tree though, and they do need to sort out the aging of characters (though this problem is more pronounced in the early game because you start with older characters - it evens out a bit later).

And the battles themselves work really well. The battle maps themselves are great with good variation (but not as ridiculous as Shogun II) and flexible reinforcement/coastal assaults, and there's noticeable differences between unit types.

To give an idea of how much variety, here's a breakdown of spear units:

Pikemen - long spears, phalanx formation, tight formation - eg macedonian pikes
Hoplites - normal spears, light phalanx, tight formation - eg greek hoplites
Spearmen - normal spears, standard formation, charge bonuses - eg Triarii
'Aggressive' spearmen - huge charge bonus, loose formation with no bonus or penalty - eg Gladiator Spearmen

Each type 'feels' completely different in a fight, and there are probably 5-10 subtypes of each of those 4. And that's just the spearmen!
The overall battle AI is a bit borked atm, especially with sieges, but it's far from unplayable, and it'll be patched I'm sure.
And the core unit behaviour is improved (skirmishers now skirmish properly, AI generally reacts more plausibly, units are generally well balanced but still unique).

The graphics do need optimising as well, but they aren't nearly as bad as people are complaining. The UI is kind of crap, but not a gamebreaker (and the new overview button is great).

TLDR, it's an innovative game with some significant flaws at the moment, but most are ones that'll be patchable, and it remains fun even with the flaws.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

As a big Total War fan, I have, of course, been looking forward a great deal to their latest release, Rome 2. However, despite that, I've been hearing a great deal of negative things from people who've played the game, saying things like it's full of bugs, it's been rushed to meet it's deadlines, or that it's just not as good as previous games.

So, before I decide whether or not to get the game, I'd like to get a feel of it from the Escapist community, and see what they thought of it, assuming they've played it of course.

What's your patience for bugs?
How comfortable are you downloading and frequently upgrading mods?
What's your budget for games like?

If you have no issue spending full price for a game that was released (easily) 4-6 months too early, and using mods to mitigate the worst of its many failings, then you can have fun with Rome 2. As I've said elsewhere, there's a strong foundation here, and when the game works it's a lot of fun. There's a lot of AI hilarity to be endured, though, and without mods there are probably too many game play issues to merit even a mild recommendation.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

When has Total War game just ever been bug free? And this is coming from a huge Total War fan.

 

[GundamSentinel]

I've been playing it for the past days and have been generally enjoying it. There are quite a few bugs and stupid design decisions, but under all that there's still a good Total War game with some very nice features as well. I'd wait a month or so and see what it's like then, especially if you've got an AMD machine.

 

[Something Amyss]

So yeah. In the immortal words of Yoda: "Wait a bit, I would."

I believe he said that in his review of Diablo 2.

But if you watch all the honest reviews, yes i am going to mention Agry Joe here again

honest reviews

Agry Joe

...lolwot

If histrionic rage translates to honesty, I don't know what else there is to say about the gaming industry. It's no wonder people don't like professional reviews, since no professional can possibly get away with throwing that level of epic tantrum.

No wonder review bombs are so effective.

 

[rofltehcat]

My tip: Wait/look for a deal (e.g. Steam or imported key, maybe even get a good retail deal).

It is fun to play but ultimately not as good as most other Total War games. Some aspects/changes of the game were not 100% thought through (or not completed). It is enjoyable to play but it doesn't really offer as much of a challenge nor the depth of other Total War titles.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

If histrionic rage translates to honesty, I don't know what else there is to say about the gaming industry. It's no wonder people don't like professional reviews, since no professional can possibly get away with throwing that level of epic tantrum.

Eh. His schtick is "Angry Joe", right? Not "Calm Joe" or "Quiet and Reasoned Joe". If you can get past the screaming for comedic effect, it's actually a pretty on the nose review. And the final score is more than fair, especially given he was dealing with unmodded vanilla code. I would've given it half the score and been twice as caustic if I'd had 40 minutes to discuss the issues.

 

[Something Amyss]

Eh. His schtick is "Angry Joe", right? Not "Calm Joe" or "Quiet and Reasoned Joe".

Except most of his reviews are rather calm. So your argument is he's shit at his job 98% of the time to justify the 2% where he lives up to his name? Interesting.

If you can get past the screaming for comedic effect,

I note he's only that funny when it's a game he treasures dearly. One wonders if it's really for comedic effect.

 

[In Search of Username]

Nope. Not only is it a buggy mess at the moment, even once that's been fixed it will still have inherently worse game mechanics and balancing than Shogun 2. So go for that one instead if you don't already have it - despite what I consider to be a less interesting setting than Rome, it's definitely the best in the series thus far, and Rome 2 is among the worst.

And if you already have that one, well, go play it some more! It's really good!