Amazing review! I recently purchased the game, while I like the game, it can't capture the feelings I had playing Rome 1 when I was 11-12 years old a decade ago hahaha Any recommendations for Rome 2 mods?
@@teaser6089 actually, like I said in the video, I like Rome 2's music quite a bit. However, I don't think the Rome 2 ost is as good for youtube videos as Rome 1's haha
You forget to point out the trade system in rome 2,which work only from capital to capital,faction to faction,in relation to older games which was settlement to settlement
I know it's all personal preference, but I for one absolutely love the stylized, "Greek vase" style art on the Rome 2 unit cards! For me, the when that art is replaced by more realistic portrait style units cards, it just makes me kind of sad..
For me it just made it hard to tell units apart. Many units look to similar. I actually really like the stylised unit cards from Attil's AOC and Thrones
couldn't disagree more. I want to look at a unit card and intuitively understand it's function. Rome 1 accomplished this while the Rome 2 unit card leaves the user resigned to read a bunch of stuff they dont feel like they should have to. take the "Iberian Infantry" unit card from Rome 1, the picture of the unit combined with it's short description of "fast moving light infantry" with a list of it's abilities is perfect
For people who d find the unit cards difficult to keep track of during battle, I'd recommend the Coloured Unit Cards mod, where unit cards are colored by their unit type. (Non-spear Infantry are light blue, archers are green, spear/pikemen red, ect. Still keeps the art style, but makes it easy to tell units apart in battle.
Good review for a game that I've always loved, despite it's flaws. I tried the DEI mod thanks to your review of that and it's reignited my love for this game. Thanks!
Glad you enjoyed the review, and I'm glad I was able to convince you to try out DeI! It's truly an excellent mod, I really like it. I don't want to compare DeI to mods like EB or RS for Rome 1 - totally different beasts.
@@GudeaTW I really enjoy the atmosphere and setting of Rome 2, I just felt it was missing the complexity that I've come to prefer of Paradoxes strategy games. With DEI I feel like I can have the best of both XD
I love your retrospectives and they were how I found this channel, so this video was a welcome surprise. I'm not really a big fan of the new army management system because it makes reinforcing so inflexible. They most likely had to do it to make the army traditions and army stances mechanic work. But tradition buffs were, I felt, ignorable since high xp armies are all you need to wipe out the enemy, and I think stances could have been tied to a general instead of an army. The tiny armies in the old games were frustrating though, but I felt like Shogun 2 was moving in the right direction since the ai always seemed to form and maintain several fullstacks depending on their territorial size. I agree regarding the ai, but campaign ai can still be too passive; even on legendary I declare more wars than the ai does (which, granted, is probably a bit more realistic than an all-out Mediterranean free for all). In any case, this is a great and in-depth review!
You're welcome! Glad you enjoyed the review (and I'm glad someone likes my retrospectives haha). Perhaps I'll do more Rome 2 videos, taking a more in depth look at each campaign separately perhaps since doing that in this video would have taken up too much time. Imperator Augustus and Empire Divided definitely deserve more in depth reviews.
I actually really liked the unit cards... the 2D art assets were probably my favourite aesthetic touches in Rome II and the pretty menus often got me hyped to reinstall, but the drab, ugly-looking campaign map elements (and the fact it isn't Rome 1!) usually put me off quickly.
First of all thanks for the review, it seems that it took a long while to do considering the lenght of the video. I agree with most of your points but i consider thar Rome 2 works best with her mini campaigns( the latter 2 being the best ones). Also i hope to see an Attila review on the channel one day, your insights are quite good.
You're welcome, my pleasure! Yeah this was a tougher long form video, but hopefully it was enjoyable for everyone. By mini campaigns do you mean the regional ones like Wrath of Sparta and Rise of the Republic? I enjoyed Empire Divided quite a bit as well, despite its issues.
I played Rome 2 properly for the first time on the back of this. I’d always been a RTW and M2 player but decided I needed to try the modern games. I’m really enjoying how different it is. A few things irk me but I think you’re summary is spot on. Love your vids, you’re my favourite TW RU-vidr always watch your vids!!!
Hi ScottishBaker, thanks! Glad you like the vids. Yeah definitely, while I have a lot of nostalgia for the old games and I still play them on average more than the newer ones (I suppose my most played games are RTW, Med 2, and Shogun 2), I don't agree with all the extreme hate the newer ones get. They feel different and have their own strengths and weaknesses, no doubt, but I still enjoy what they bring to the table.
I approve of the constraints Rome 2 places on the player. Limiting a player's options forces them to make tough decisions which results in more satisfying gameplay. Yes, it is more arcadey, but for me at least, more interesting to play.
It's always been hard for me to get past the absence of walls. It just doesn't feel real without the defenses that people in cities everywhere depended on from prehistoric times all the way into the gunpowder age.
It's tough. I get where they were coming from (I mean, not every settlement engagement was in a walled settlement), but their solution was too heavy handed
The main problem of Rome 2 is snowballing. Once you get a good start the AI can't stop you in any way and you just auto resolve every battle because why bother. First 20-50 turns as Seleucid Empire are one of the hardest things to survive in the game but when you finally take out Egypt and most of your singe province neighbours you can just crusade against the Parthians that have no better idea that to spam low level horse archers and EASTERN SPEARMEN against your lvl2 armourer and blacksmith buffed armies of heavy infantry, archers and mega armoured elephants.
Unfortunately, I'd say this is an issue in a lot of Total Wars. Luckily there are mods (for pretty much all of them) that at least attempt to rectify this issue (Extended Realism, etc.)
Not true. I have my fastest win record with seleucid on impossible. 41 turn military victory as I could have done it in 40. Reason being that I forgot to buy boats at the proper turn. The snowball is true for sure. Thats why I have many starts and far less campaign finishes.
I was thinking about to buy Rome2 for me and i search a long time for the question that it it's still worthy or not so where is the 75% discount ^^? I really like that video
Don't give your money to steam lmao. G2toplay, Kinguin are two of the best sites to buy games, you just go to steam and activate the product. Rome 2 Emperor edition costs like 11€
Thank you very much for this informative review of Rome II. I've been trying to decide which older TW game to check out until I get my GPU repaired. (Currently playing with a 1gb card Nvidia GTX 650)
I just got into Rome 2 a few months ago after only having played Warhammer 1 & 2 in the TW series. Had tried Atilla a bit, and Rome 2 a bit before the last set of DLC's and couldn't get past a few of the things that they were missing in comparison to Warhammer. But now I've been playing Rome 2 constantly and love the things it has on the WH series. The sieges are actually a lot of fun. You have to buy ladders other then the set of 4 you start with. Not unlimited range towers. Pikes! I love using pikes, and Warhammer has pikes in the army books but yet to come in the game. You commented around 18 mins in about minor settlements not having walls and I really like the balance this game has of sieges, town battles, and field battles. Makes them all more fun when its a variety all the time. Maybe there could have been unique structures like in WH that give specific settlements walls (if thats moddable, I assume not or it'd likely be done). I really like the Imperium system as opposed to Warhammer's punishing you for making more armies and not really any way to track if your empires big enough to set off a premature chaos invasion. Battles themselves take longer because there isn't all the aoe and flying units going on. It feels really well balanced for the most part. The AI for the most part doesn't blob up and plays rather well. Even in sieges they usually put up a decent fight. Anyways loving Rome 2. And tons of good mods for it. Just waiting for the next sale to get the last few dlcs
Yeah sieges are definitely an improvement in every way... I get so frustrated with Rome 1 (and Med 2) sieges.... I actually like the Imperium system as well! Good points.
I highly recommend trying the dei mod, i cant play the base game now, dei just makes the game so much more enjoyable for me, it makes the game a real challenge
The Greek Cav in Rome 2 imo is more like teanage boys riding donkey into battle rather than soldier on horseback. They are bad, slow and need constant micro.
@@GudeaTW yeah in vanilla. The greek cav is so bad in my recollection i just cant find any use for them in higher difficulty. Rome 2 will always be bad in my mind cause its launch was so bad i still find it funny that CA release it at that state.
I like the unit ui images, it feels like a greek metholodgy art but on other factions that are not the romans greeks or hellenic nations it feels incompatible. but even besides that i like the art on the gauls units even the art and cultures dont match at all
I think the style of unit cards they used in Empire Divided should have been used in all the grand campaigns, and the black Greek style ones should have beenn used in Wrath of Sparta
@@GudeaTWPersonally, I think Empire Divid's unit cards are pretty ugly. Looks like someone slapped the 3d model with paint on a bleak background. In that case I prefer to use the overstylized Vanilla Unit Cards, even if they don't fit every nation. As for beautiful unit cards, for me it's Total War Warhammer 2, closely followed by Shogun 2.
Good review. I remember looking forward to the release of Rome 2 and was devastated when early reviews showed it to be a broken mess. Decided to wait till it was fixed. Still haven’t bought it.
Luckily they brought it up to snuff and then some with the Emperor Update a few years ago. Just about every single performance and balance issue was fixed, it now runs better than Rome 1 on my laptop. It's a true shame the greedy rushed launch keeps people away to this day
If you wanted to be really cheeky you could simply remove the "paid-DLC" factions from the map via modding and add clones of them :P. However this would not work with a lot of mods
@@GudeaTW probably not, CA I assume would take them down if they noticed such mods on the workshop, though as said before, doing such a thing would mean you wouldn't been able to use a lot of mods, even basic unitpacks for those factions (unless you go and edit them yourself to make them compatible)
Rome 2 really made me hate the campaigns in TW games since the design decisions make no bloody sense. The amount of limitations or the workarounds really feel like the game has removed all sandbox elements from it. Really hate it, especially love it how the province system only made the battles be around towns with just garrisons in them while there's still pretty much no battles. What I also don't understand was your point about the recruitment from generals, wouldn't the units be trained from barracks in the city and then put in the army? I don't know how the recruitment worked exactly but that makes more sense to me. eeeh I still can't defend the game after their numerous patches, if anything, I'm even more disappointed knowing that the game is still lacking what made the previous games great.
@@GudeaTW mmm it just didn't make much sense to me but fair enough if it worked like that. I'd kinda like a system like in Empire to S2 where the generals can recruit from armies but instead have to wait a turn extra than while being in the capital city idk or maybe how far they are from it I really dislike how it's just no difference between army being actually present in the city or just somewhere random on the field
Yeah, your review is really deep and accurate. I also think Rome 1 had more spirit and vibe feeling than Rome 2, also the Unit Card is sure a big stepback for Rome 2, in my opinion
I actually have tried to get into Rome 2 before, but found it completely overwhelming. My experience with Total War is only with the original Rome and Medieval II, so going into Rome II was very daunting, with almost everything having been changed and unfamiliar. I've been meaning to give it a second shot, and was wondering what campaign and faction you'd recommend to start with, to ease into the game and get used to everything that is different from the classics.
As my Personal opinion, start as Either Rome,macedon, or Egypt. they are the easiest to get into. The macedonians are hold and then hammer. Roman's just plain attack everything
Yeah I see your point about it being overwhelming! Everything plays quite differently, both campaign and battles. I think mustang restoration is right, those factions are probably the most straightforward and as egypt or Rome you have fairly secure borders. For a new player I'd definitely go for the grand campaign, but Caesar in Gaul might be a good introduction as well. After testing all the campaigns, I have to say I personally found Empire Divided quite engaging.
@@GudeaTW Yes, I was leaning towards Caesar in Gaul, as you said it was a fairly linear, goal driven campaign. That might be a good way to learn the mechanics of the game before jumping into the large openness that is a grand campaign. Thanks for the response.
@@blakeprocter5818 Canonically that is pretty unwise though. If you got the DLC play rise of the republic, then the grand campaign, then after finishing it, only then Caesar in Gaul and then the Imperator Augustus campaign that is practically the endgame phase of Rome 1. Atleast that would make sense most historically if you care about that and gets you used more to the units. As in my Oppinion Rise of Republic is just a big tutorial and has the Early game units of grandcampaign as their mainunits. Otherwise if you want to play grand campaign, just go for Athens. You can just sit out and send emmissaries and moneygifts to macedon and sparta until you got your city and trade build up, then just put your armies right next to macedons cities while Macedon is away fighting Epirus or Ardiai or Galatia... and then declare War on them and storm the cities...voila you got a huge instant empire and now have enough time to dick around with the game I used sparta to get used to get game, are you are pretty isolated but still have professional units, all these fancy citybuilding trees, diverse units on the greek isles, are near to rome and pretty much have all the features you have as rome without playing rome. Rome is just too easy as soon as you upgrade your infantry to imperial units Btw I advice you to use the Parabellum Combat mod for more realistic and longer combat and the Parabellum population mod that brings population feature from Rome 1 back. You can just DL it over steam workshop. If you want more realistic campaign AI and diplomacy with Treaties and Alliances and Satrapies that actually matter, then also download Parabellum Campaign AI. I use all 3 and cant play without them anymore. Also ballistas and scorpions as well as dogs are still overkill and get me 200-350 kills per units each fight, no matter what anyone says
Rome 2 is by far my most played TW game. The mods I have for it are purely to make the game look better, nothing that changes the overall gameplay mechanics. Too many people hear of Rome 2 and instantly judge it on its vanilla release. Which is a shame as this game did make a comeback.
@@GudeaTW the main menu theme is enough to win me over by itself but i just prefer how rome 2's soundtrack sounds like those old movies from the 60s about this time period but i admit rome 1's soundtruck is more fun sounding
@@scringle2844 Rome 2 music is very epic and orchestral. Battle music is intense. Rome 1 has very great and hypnotic campaign music that I like more, but the battlemusic is just aggressive drumming. Even tho cool to especially playing as the free tribes of europe
Rome 2 I have 16mods enabled all for historical and graphical purposes. It's really great. Also CA didn't made the aqueducts appear on IA and ED map so install a mod for that.. My favourite campaign is Imperator Augustus as Regnum Antonii (yes I have historical names mod too for every campaign) also I love Empire Divided especially as Roman usurpers (Aurelian's Rome) and the Palmarene Empire. CIG is great to just conquer and don't do anything stupid during winter buy instead planning what you will conquer next. Then HATG I like but playing as Rome I like it once I have Italy for myself. I really like to play as Rome. It really is a great game now especially with historical mods and some graphical mods. Also people if you don't like the unit cards download Nordo's 3d unit cards. There are also a lot off better buildings mods. Better UI mods. Also better wattter 3 HD is a must have and a better textures mod too. And historical mods is a must have for this game imo. For grand campaign just use DEI. For the other campaign(s) install separate historical accurate mods. I don't have wrath off Sparta, and Rise off the Republic because that time period doesn't interest me. I have all other campaign packs, and blood dlc. Now excuse me Antony wants me te build a fleet so he can start the invasion off Sicily. I sided with Octavian against Pompey and Lepidus declined I'm still defensive allied with him. I only took Palmyra with Mark Antony as the general and let Armenia took Hatra and Dura and helped them. Also I have to put him back in his legion in Greece and let Bassus take command in Syria again. I'm 10 turns in, and my wife Cleopatra does well too. Once I have Sicily Corsica and Sardinia Octavian will like me and Lepidus probably too because the dumbass will have war with Pompey too. But I don't know who to crush next Octavian or Lepidus? I don't know yet. My economy is very great my armies are strong (in a couple off turns). Parthia is pushed back. I fought all battles manual or would've lost at least 2 settlements very early because auto resolve gave my Garrison not a chance. And I crushed them both. Anyone playing right now? If yes what campaign, and what faction? Edit: if I have type mistakes it's very early am still tired. Also I play this game the graphics everything on extreme and boxes like SSAO and all that good stuff ticked ON. Have still average off 90fps. I wish Attila was optimised like this game. Attila refuses to use all my hardware. But it's still very nice looking especially if you put those ugly shadows on performance, and all the rest on quality with some things on very high quality and tick all the graphical boxes on. It runs without lag and it looks great. I have some mods for Attila I think 18 or so. But is there a big mod for Attila grand campaign that overhauls a lot to make it more historical? I want to play as WRE or ERE on hard. But historical accurate so that I don't have to go to paganism everytime for example. So please anyones a big overhaul mod for Attila??
I only play with mods because despite the game being MUCH better than at launch (last time I pre-ordered a game), the core of the game remains infuriating. I think if anyone asked me to describe the feeling of Rome 2 in one word it would be frustrating. There's always something, be it a bug, a mechanic, or ai randomness that will stain your fun at some point. Also, the voice acting...SUH-LINGERS, SPARE MY ARSE
Haha actually this is the last time I pre-ordered a game as well! It was a cool pre-order pack though, with the buildable catapult and the card game that was actually kind of fun...
I'd say if you haven't played too much Rome 2, it's better to start off with some vanilla in order to get the hang of it and the new mechanics, and then go for a mod like DeI.
Well I'm happy you enjoyed it, but personally while I have tried over and over again, with mods too, just cant have fun with rome 2 for very long. I dont like the new army system, I dont like limited building slots, and the battles just lack oompf. To be honest, I havent been truly satisfied with an historical TW since Medieval 2. Empire was a mess without lategame, and asian stuff doesnt interest me.
@@GudeaTW having never played a total war past medieval 2 until rome 2 recently . It was rather to easy to be strutting around with multiple gold gold stacks, Weapons and xp. In the prior games. Maybe if I was lucky in rome 1 or medieval 2 I'd have a stack of ten units who make it to gold xp or maybe an entire army if things worked out well but never multiple stacks lmao. Oh great review btw
Meanwhile, in 2013: AI Programmer: "We've put more resources into the AI than we had in any Total War game to date." *JOFF-TCHOFF-TCHOFF-TCHOFF-TCHOFF-TCHOFF-TCHOFF-TCHOFF-TCHOFF*
@@GudeaTWWhat is the best part of the video? The part where he shows off a boat behaving like a sandworm (complete with Dune music in the background)? The part where Joe tears the AI a new one whilst standing like a real-life Ancient Rome warrior? Oh, I know! *"THE MEN ARE WAVERING!!!!!1111!!!"* Eeyeah, the best thing I know of Total War was that Rome 2 was a disaster. But not anymore! I now own two Total War games: Rome (Remastered) and the original TW game, Shogun. I can't wait to experience what Joe considers the greatest strategy game series ever (but I'll freely admit that his review turned me off from Rome 2)!
Unit rosters for a lot of factions is an issue. Need bigger map ( more settlements and more movement like Wrath of sparta, and Rome 1's politics; building. Still love the game....but thinking of what could have been makes me thirsty for a Rome 3. But let's be honest....I haven't liked anything they've put out since Rome 2 so....tho I think Attila has great mechanics like raze/abandon and horde mechanic.
I think unit rosters are, in general, better than vanilla Rome 1, but they could have been done a lot better. Well, I suppose my views are clear in the review :)
For me honestly, vanilla Rome 2 is better than Rome 1, yes Rome 2 has problems, but Rome 1 too, and when compare historical accurcy, gameplay and overall structure, i prefer Rome 2. Of course, nothing beats Medieval 2 haha
I would definitely rank it above vanilla Rome 1, and actually above vanilla medieval 2. Mods of course are a different story, but DeI and even vanilla are quite fun
Personally I have a love hate relationship with Rome 2 I really wish CA would of upped it's fort game I really wanted my based Roman fort system but it is what it is
I just picked this game up actually on a sale. Only six quid. The graphics always were very impressive, but a lot of the reviews at the time slated the game. I’m wondering has it improved? Hence watching this review
@@GudeaTW Did they fix everything by and large? A lot of bugs, bad AI etc Just shows you how taxing these Total War games are on your system. I have HP PAVILLION laptop RYZEN 5 4500 GTX 1650 16GB RAM 256GB SSD I have the graphics on extreme, and it’s running in the 20-30fps... on a game that game out in 2013....! Looks good tho.
hmm I know it's possible to recruit quite a few units at the start as Armenia in Empire Divided, but not in the grand campaign no... which part of the video are you referring to?
@@GudeaTW I'm not referring to your video, but great review btw! I just figured you'd be able to help me out here. Last I can remember you used to only be able to recruit 3 units a turn, from the start, playing as Rome.
Definitely, I think it's a... workhorse of a game. It appeals to a lot of people, it has a pretty good degree of historical accuracy (at least compared to Rome 1 and Medieval 2), it has a variety of campaigns and a large number of factions with different playstyles to choose from... It's definitely a solid game, but not perfect.
I find the campaign interesting, the battles are ok... I don't like battle with heroes much, they get old quickly. I think it looks very nice.... I'm not a huge fan of the UI. I was definitely more positive about it closer to its release. I think it's ok. I might do another Total War games ranked video once I get to 4000 subscribers
Rome II was the hugest disappointment. They knew the title would be popular so they made the game as casual as possible, to engage lil kids to roll and be happy
Haha I do think that Rome 2 has some complex mechanics (politics system, food system, sanitation, etc) but the systems don't influence each other and they don't matter very much (technologies are too weak, food does not affect public order, etc) and that's one of the biggest problems with the game
Rome 2 is not better to the original one , to many bugs which still exist , still no population mechanic {people of rome mod saved them there} , trade only through ports and no domestic trade ? , magical replenishment system , formations facing slingers = who wins ? , copy-paste point-based generals attached to the armies and so on . ps 1 For the record , 6k hrs in that game . ps 2 For a better experience close to vavilla , Radious is the answer . ps 3 Going forward means improving the things we have , not making new ones with questionable results XD . ps 4 Maybe i m wrong but Attila is not only better to R2 but could-should be the best historical game the last 10 yrs , given the love by CA Rome ll has .
@@GudeaTW u attack and sack a settlement , next turn the garison is full ? Region trade why removed ? Why not implemented again after so many uptades ? I ll end it here cause everybody will think i m a hater and i m not "that" guy . For a TW recruit it is a good game but as the time passes by so the recruit watches for more "complete" games tools and mods . Thats the reason we still have a living comunity in 2021 for such "old" games and a thriving WH series .
@@baggelis_aikaterinis Warhammer 2 is that polished though because the Team added a looooooot of stuff from features, to Animations to bugfixes all in their own free time for free. I understand that though as the studio is basically making the same game for almost 20 years now and Warhammer is something different. I would be burned out too especially now since the have to shit out a new half-developed title every single year because of CAs legendary greed that even activison is jealous of. Activision would not dare to remove Blood from Call of Duty and sell it for 3-5 bucks. Or take a 7 year old DLC for Shogun 2 for 10 bucks, remove it and resell it as a 35 bucks "Saga" Title. Or release a game which lets you fight against countless factions, but lets you pay 10-15 per piece to play as them even though you already own the game supposedly. Warhammer 2 completely unlocked is still over 200 bucks, years after release
this combined with parabellum campaign AI mod parabellum combat mod parabellum population mod is the best game in the entire series in my oppinion. I even prefer it now to rome 1 because of all the political stuff and that diplomacy actually matters. But I miss diplomatic options like being able to Give or Buy entire Towns, the pay a faction to declare War on a faction that you are at peace with and stuff like that, I really miss it dearly. And it annoys me that every single battle is a Fullstack and latergame double, tripple and 4stack vs 4stack army brawl. I miss the small battles and tactical gameplay it opened. But otherwise I would say Rome 2 and 1 share the same place, Shogun 2 the second and Empire the 3rd. It would be my personal favorite without all the bugs or if the Darthmod was the retail version.
I tried to like this game. It's still buggy. Can't change my tax rate at times. Also the no walls is a huge turn off. But beyond all this. Combat is still buggy as shit. :(
Co op or against campaign are massive in Rome 2. I once played the Hannibal at the gates campaign with a friend (Rome vs Carthage of course). It was a grind and It really kinda felt like an ancient world war. Invasions at Sicily, Africa and Italy. Bribing everybodys allies was exactly how I imagine the actual events in history. Another reason why I love Rome 2 are beautiful cinematic battles and troops. Just watch the latest Machinimas made by the RU-vidr Kaisa and you will understand what this game has to offer
I feel like what they really missed out with this game is letting the player build up regions and provinces rather than having everything there by default. Customize your region depending on the geography and resources. Plan the layout of your own regions defense. Having a simple city builder that is cohesive with campaign map and integrates with the player. Idk how the AI would function but that's always a major issue with total war games is that it will always focus on beating the player. Like ai will never attack another rebel settlement until you take it. Ai unit comps was a huge issue as well either nothing but skirmishers or tons of siege weapons
Thanks so much! I appreciate it. I reached out to them regarding the DLC and they very kindly provided me with the code that made this full review possible. :)
Something I really enjoyed in Rome II was the politicking. The constantly trying to appease different parts of your government, while also dealing with your incredibly limited allies really gives it a political drama vibe that honestly few other total war games have pulled off, if any.
I really can't understand a lot of the criticism about the artistic style. The unit card design, for example, is one of my favourite things about this game. They feel so *Roman* to me. The first RTW on the other hand, while I've had a lot of fun with the game over the years, looks pretty awful to me in retrospect.
For me the Rome 2 art feels good... but only for Greek city-states. It feels off for everyone else and especially barbarians and nomads. It’s immersion breaking when playing Suebi or Massagetae. Neither is it best when applied to Roman units - ancient Roman wall-graffiti may have suited it much better than Greek vase painting. In the end, when they’d decided to go for artsy unit cards, they should have gone full in and create distinct art style for each culture, eg. Eastern factions getting Persian stonework, Romans getting wall-graffiti, and Barbarians getting perhaps some Gaul-inspired sculpture carving. Egypt would also do much better with something unique. Even diadochi factions may have used something much more akin to wall fresco-mosaic of Alexander from Pompeii than some Greek vases from a bygone era. It fits only Athens, Sparta and other Greek cities and even then it’s not an ideal choice.
Then this is an issue of familiarity with ancient art. To those who know that this art style was exclusive to the Greeks and their colonies, that its peak was around the *6th century* BCE, and that Roman art didn't resemble it in any way, it doesn't feel Roman but entirely out of place with most factions that aren't Hellenic, with the exception of the Etruscans who were the biggest lovers of Hellenic pottery anywhere.
This is the second worst total war ever. How is possible to you to say is better now? The last update to the political system just screw it forever. The game have so many flaws not recommended. Play rome 1 or better the warhammer. Worse than this just the empire total war
I agree with the political system, it makes no sense whatsoever and also doesn't apply to the AI. No strategy in it to me and just gets in the way. And I say this as someone who loves CK2 and the politics in that game. Politics in CK2 is logical and strategic, and applies to both the player and AI. In Rome 2 politics is this opaque mess of numbers without any kind of consistency. And I also say this with a heavy heart because Rome 2 has so much good going for it, for one I really loved the ability to have combined naval and land battles. Watching navies come in to reinforce my land troops was one of the most interesting things I have experienced in TW. Alternate victory conditions was something interesting that was introduced too. To win by economic or cultural victory. Well you know what, maybe just disable the politics altogether using a mod. It would not be perfect because of the technology tree bonuses to politics and all that, but it's better than nothing.
For hoplites, you just gotta make every battle a defensive one by goading the enemy to attack you and backing yourself into the map corner while your supporting range units whittle away the enemies charging your hoplites, the only worry is an enemy's ranged units, but more often than not they target the hoplites who can soak the hits up. I've literally cheesed multiple campaigns doing this as the various Greek factions.
MY review : Back in 2013 RTW2 was worst cash robbery in history. Than it got better but its still s.it compare to other titles, THAN they push history away to force political agenda. Worse total war game ever . Change my mind .
IMO, big problem with Rome 2 is that armies MUST have a commissioned general attached to them: no more splitting your force up to finish off battle survivors while the main detachment goes on to other targets. But really, I rather like Rome 2 and still play it regularly today (just finished a Legendary Arverni CiG campaign)
I talk about this in the review. I like the idea behind it (reducing AI stack spam), but I wish the solution didn't have to be so heavy handed. However, it does reduce AI stack spam...
It also makes sense historically, a big problem Rome faced was troops being loyal to their general, not to Rome, giving some general funny ideas, like creating an empire from a republic
Right, well I get that it’s all tied into the family and politics, civil war/cessation, and military traditions side of things, and it also just happens to kind of reflect the idea of consular armies and such...it’s still a frustrating loss made worse by feeling like they didn’t have to ax the mechanic, and that there is lots of other missing little things like it. Progress for CA very often looks like big steps forward in obvious areas while completely stumbling in the subtle areas that they used to excel at.
This game without a plethora of mods is worthless and can get you on your nerves... anyway, it still is my favourite game. Superb review, keep up with the great work.
@@GudeaTW I bought Shogun II a few months ago since I had seen the complete game really cheap in a key codes web, but I only have played a battle so far. I guess the historical time and location don't attract me too much, aside from the fact that I mostly play Rome II and I haven't got tired of it yet. The game engine seems different, I mean, Shogun II units seem to move really fast, it's difficult to switch from a game to the other. Moreover, I can't be bothered to learn its metagame, what units are better than others, good army set up... learning Rome II's was a hard experience, I don't want to get through it again for the moment.
HATG is the best DLC in my opinion, I've played it plenty of times, especially as Carthage, which it's not so enjoyable in GC if you ask me. Nevertheless, I've not purchased RoTR which Indeed seems awesome. In regard of DLC faction packs, some of them are close to be a scam. I've purchased Pirates & Raiders (for Tylis), Greek factions (for Aspis Companion and Agrianian Axemen) , Black Sea Colonies (I don't know even why) and Desert Kingdoms, which it's in my opinion the only one that deserves to be bought.
Good/balanced review overall. It’s refreshing to see someone who can criticize Rome 2’s weakpoints while still acknowledging that the game has made a massive leap of improvement from its original launch. And I fully agree that the DLC’s really enhance the player experience - I tend to enjoy the DLC campaigns over the main campaign. I place Rome 2 as one of my favorite in the series. Medieval I/II Shogun I/II and Rome I/remastered we’re good in their time, but too often get placed on a pedestal. 3K, Troy and Pharaoh just seem a bit too arcadey for my tastes, and the Warhammer titles, while decent for their own reasons, just don't align with my preferences. For me Rome 2 and Atilla are the peak of historical TW gaming, though each title has some inherent drawbacks. DEI really increases the immersion and challenge, and I’m glad that you referenced that mod! One note regarding cavalry units - they really weren’t as impactful during that period antiquity as compared to later periods of history. Even during Alexander’s campaigns, cavalry were employed as a supporting arm to the main arm (heavy/medium infantry). So it would make sense for Rome 2 to emphasize infantry’s prowess at the expense of cavalry’s. Now, I can certainly acknowledge warscape’s limitations with unit collision and overall charge jankiness. But I still consider Rome 2’s portrayal of cavalry to be decent, though perhaps not awe inspiring.
