Total War: Rome 2 Announced

Scott Tortorice

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I knew this would be the next title on the hit parade. I hope it is better than ETW:

http://www.gamesquad.com/news/total-war-rome-ii-announced

“Our games have always encompassed a grand vision”, said Mike Simpson, Creative Director. “But we’re now pushing that vision at both ends of the spectrum. From the immense reach of the sandbox campaign right down to the human-level drama of a single warrior on the battlefield, we’re aiming for an unprecedented level of detail and scale”.
I am intrigued by this mention of a single warrior on the battlefield. Is there going to be more of a character system to this game? Guess we'll find out in 2013.
 

prymus

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Nice,I never played the first one but it did get great reviews.Hope this means that Medeival 3 won't be too far behind.
 

Nexus6

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I do hope that they do a Rome Total War 2, but I was under the impression their next game was going to be set in the Ridley Scott 'Alien' universe. Hmmm.

You know, I played the heck out of Rome Total War and although it has much to recommend it, at the end of the day two things bothered me about it. First of all, I would love to have seen some scenarios rather than just a sandbox which starts in 50BC and 370AD. The Crisis of the Third Century (Claudius Gothicus, Aurelian, and Zenobia) for example would have been really cool. For another, although I loved the Barbarian Invasions expansion at first, the trouble with it(when playing the Romans) was that after you weather the initial barbarian storm and get your finances in order, it plays out exactly like the original game. That is, you have to conquer a set number of provinces in a set number of turns. Rome Total War to me was mostly good, if something of a missed opportunity. I feel like I'm still waiting for my ultimate Rome game, and one that doesn't just concentrate on the way overdone 1st Century BC (Triumvirate) period.

Scott, I see you didn't care for Empire. I'm sorry to say that I tried it recently but got bored and frustrated with it pretty quickly.
 
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prymus

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I am intrigued by this mention of a single warrior on the battlefield. Is there going to be more of a character system to this game? Guess we'll find out in 2013.
I think what they are referring to is the way you can zoom in and watch the action of a single warrior,not so much play a single warrior as in Brad Pitt and the opening of Troy.That would be cool though,and as usual I could be wrong.But Napoleon and Shogun 2 both had a slight emphasis like that,where you could zoom in and watch a few warriors battling.Is that what you meant?
 

Rindis

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I feel like I'm still waiting for my ultimate Rome game, and one that doesn't just concentrate on the way overdone 1st Century BC (Triumvirate) period.
A few suggestions:

Europa Universalis: Rome - Another missed opportunity. It's EU, and it's Crusader Kings in one. You aren't any particular person, but characters are important, and need to be given jobs. Anyone who isn't employed eventually goes populist, and if too much of Senate goes populist you get forced into really poor governmental forms—or a civil war. It's actually quite well done, and covers from the First Punic War to the fall of the Republic, but the world feels a bit bland outside of Rome. It's hoped that Paradox will some sort of Rome II soon.

Republic of Rome - A very nice board game, again covering from the First Punic War to the fall of the Republic (in three shorter scenarios, or one long game). Each player is a faction in the senate, trying to get ahead in the in-fighting and achieve dominance (or Dictator for Life) in the Senate, but at the same time you must work together or external forces (wars) will topple the Republic. Sadly the rules are poorly written, and the layout is worse in the recent Valley Games edition. Beautiful production though.

Ancient World Series - I've only got Carthage: The First Punic War, but it's a very nice operational-level look at the period (there's a couple of smaller scenarios beyond the FPW). Chart heavy, and with some really weighty political rules, it really does feel like ancient armies marching around. The next volume is going to be a monster on the Second Punic War (Thunderbolt).

Spartacus - A very nice card-driven game about the crisis of the Republic at the time of Sulla's dictatorship. Spartacus himself is actually a fairly late and minor event, but he sells more copies than Sertorius. The game covers the Sertorian War, the Third Mithridatic War and Spartacus' rebellion. The Roman player technically has the power to deal with all of this, but raising too many legions (for instance) advances the crisis track and can precipitate a domestic crises that topples the government and ends the game. Really nice, wish it was a bit better known.
 

Nexus6

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Rindis, the games you mentioned sound good, maybe even great. The trouble is, I'm sick to death of the Roman Republic. I want the later Empire. I want Marcus Aurelius campaigning along the Danube, Aurelian saving the Empire from total collapse in the third century. I want Julian's campaign against the Persians. ;) As a matter of fact there was an old board game called Imperium Romanum that had everything from the Mithridatic Wars to Justinian's reconquista. What I would like to see is a computer version of that game. It was wonderful in that it was a grand strategic game with a very operational feel.
 
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Rindis

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Rindis, the games you mentioned sound good, maybe even great. The trouble is, I'm sick to death of the Roman Republic. I want the later Empire. I want Marcus Aurelius campaigning along the Danube, Aurelian saving the Empire from total collapse in the third century. I want Julian's campaign against the Persians. ;) As a matter of fact there was an old board game called Imperium Romanum that had everything from the Mithridatic Wars to Justinian's reconquista. What I would like to see is a computer version of that game. It was wonderful in that it was a grand strategic game with a very operational feel.
Imperium Romanum II was the first thing I was going to mention, and I nearly mentioned it in my previous post. Got an unpunched copy last year in fact (I've played it before with a couple friends and their copy). I'm not entirely happy with the all-or-nothing CRT, but it's a good game.

Sadly, I have nothing operational or higher to recommend. I'd like to see it too. Tactically, there's the Great Battles of History series, and Commands & Colors: Ancients to work with.

Still, I do recommend Spartacus. Nice to see a late Republic game that doesn't have Ceasar in it. And I agree with one of my FtF buddies that Sertorius is cool. :cool:
 

Nexus6

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A game without Caesar in it???? lol That's too funny. I say half-joking and half seriously that we have Casear's Commentaries, Shakespeare and Hollywood to blame for people's obsession with the late Republic period. ;)

As I recall with Imperium Romanum, it was often like a chess match. In one of the later Roman Civil Wars (Theodosius I think), my opponent and I spent a lot of time raising armies and jockeying for position. When I finally attacked his main army in Dalmatia (and burned a lot of my expensive supply to do it), he retreated before combat. At that point I said the heck with it, Arbogast, you can be Emperitor of the West. ;)
 

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This is interesting:

[h=1]GDC 2013: Total War: Rome 2 will feature over 100 factions[/h]
I've been saying that I might find it hard to go from the lush Crusader Kings 2 back to the more streamlined TW series, but it now looks like CA might be trying to nibble in on the complexity of Paradox's magnum opus:

An immediate effect worth considering is the fact that Rome, for which the game is named, may not even become the colossal empire that it did in actual history. (If my Arverni warriors have anything to say about the matter, it certainly won’t.) We’re not sure yet how the 100+ minor factions will compare, in terms of their ability to compete, to the handful of playable states and tribes. But it seems, at least, that we might see a little bit more Crusader Kings-esque state building than in the original Rome, which essentially boiled down to a few mega-blobs scrapping with one another.
Isn't it interesting how CK2 is on everyone's lips these days? Paradox has done the impossible: in an era of twitch gaming, it has made grand strategy games popular again. :cool:
 

Nexus6

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I will definitely keep an eye on TW: Rome2, but again, I want scenarios, not some big abstract ahistorical sandbox that the TW series is known for. I want Trajan's Dacian Wars, the Crisis of the Third Century, Theodosius vs. Arbogast, Justinian's 'reconquista', and so on.

Scott, so when you say Crusader Kings is on everyone's lips, you mean you and one or two other people in the forum??? lol Sorry, I couldn't help myself there. ;)
 

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I will definitely keep an eye on TW: Rome2, but again, I want scenarios, not some big abstract ahistorical sandbox that the TW series is known for. I want Trajan's Dacian Wars, the Crisis of the Third Century, Theodosius vs. Arbogast, Justinian's 'reconquista', and so on.
Eh, I like the Total War series as is personally. I make up my own scenarios as I go along and usually have a lot of fun that way. Though it's usually, "Okay, I'll f**k these guys over first but I'll do so that when I fight these guys next... they'll already be royally f****d by the time I turn my sights on them" *chime evil laugh.

Scott, so when you say Crusader Kings is on everyone's lips, you mean you and one or two other people in the forum??? lol Sorry, I couldn't help myself there. ;)
Lol! I see it mentioned a lot on other forums as well though... just not so much here :p
 

Scott Tortorice

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Well, when I say everyone's lips, I mean the two of us here, plus the five voices in my head. They count, right? :D

Happy Easter everyone!
 

Nexus6

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Happy Easter to you too Scott. Speaking of Easter, I couldn't believe it when the increasingly agnostic and Christian-bashing BBC allowed David Tenant to say 'Happy Easter' on Doctor Who! ;)

I hear you Kawaiku about sort of making up your own scenario as you go along in the TW sandbox. Again though, my main complaint of the TW series is that the sandboxes all seem to play out the same. For example, in Barbarian Invasions as the Romans, after you weather the initial barbarian storm and get your finances together, it plays out like all the others. That is, conquer an X number of provinces in an X amount of time. I would hope in Rome 2 that Creative Assembly would be 'creative' ;) and try to think outside the box a little and add variations to their increasingly tired theme.

Glad you guys didn't take too much offense at my cheap shot on Crusader Kings. ;) But seriously, I think I had the same problem with that game as when I tried to play EVE. That is, the presentation and environment just totally turned me off, and I couldn't get in to them no matter how much I wanted too. Oh well.
 

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I hear you Kawaiku about sort of making up your own scenario as you go along in the TW sandbox. Again though, my main complaint of the TW series is that the sandboxes all seem to play out the same. For example, in Barbarian Invasions as the Romans, after you weather the initial barbarian storm and get your finances together, it plays out like all the others. That is, conquer an X number of provinces in an X amount of time. I would hope in Rome 2 that Creative Assembly would be 'creative' ;) and try to think outside the box a little and add variations to their increasingly tired theme.
I see I see. You mean a mixture of more complexity to the games and what not? And yeah, I always played to my own tune whenever I start a campaign. I usually follow the conquer X factions and and X number of provinces under this X amount of time but always continue on afterward until I'm satisfied with the look of my empire, then I start all over again. I do wish though, that there was more depth to the political games and things like that. It would be fun trying to rule over a clan/house/etc. in Rome, working your family into important positions within the government, assassinating opponents or getting exiled to far flung provinces if you flee Rome and you have to manage that area under given restrictions, etc. Would make it interesting.
 

Dr Zaius

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Gameplay looks very good. I especially like the sheer scale of the cities and the darker, grittier look of the game.

[video=youtube;EaDlihIqPws]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaDlihIqPws[/video]
 

Scott Tortorice

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...Having said that about the TW series, here is a gameplay demo. Some nice new tweaks to the game:

[video=youtube_share;7zf_DV9zhIQ]http://youtu.be/7zf_DV9zhIQ[/video]
 

Nexus6

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Hate to be too, too cynical here, but I want more than 'tweaks', I want a major overhaul. To me the pic above looks like the same old Total War, albeit with newer graphics and presentation. Also, I'm not as impressed by rpg elements as I once was. It seems like every game developer has been jumping on the rpg bandwagon these days. To be forthright, gracious, and magnanimous about it though, I hope my cynicism is misplaced and Rome 2 turns out to be a great game. We'll just have to wait a couple weeks to find out I guess.
 

jayedub7423

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I have no doubt the game is going to be amazing, but I have hardly played Shogun so I'll end up waiting to pick Rome 2 for awhile.
 

Scott Tortorice

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Hate to be too, too cynical here, but I want more than 'tweaks', I want a major overhaul. To me the pic above looks like the same old Total War, albeit with newer graphics and presentation. Also, I'm not as impressed by rpg elements as I once was. It seems like every game developer has been jumping on the rpg bandwagon these days. To be forthright, gracious, and magnanimous about it though, I hope my cynicism is misplaced and Rome 2 turns out to be a great game. We'll just have to wait a couple weeks to find out I guess.
That is a good point. I really didn't see anything groundbreaking in that vid. The graphics were excellent, I like the new stances, and the ability to build forts prior to a battle is a great idea, but everything else seemed largely the same.

For me, the key selling point is going to be the RPG elements. The reason why I loved the original was because it had a smattering of RPG events like what is found in CK2. CA has been promising a lot more of that - all sorts of random events, personality-driven stuff, etc, - but I haven't been able to find any evidence of it yet. :angry: Makes me suspicious. However, IF there proves to be a lot of CK2 chrome to this version of Rome, then it is an insta-sold for me. :D

Jayedub said:
I have no doubt the game is going to be amazing, but I have hardly played Shogun so I'll end up waiting to pick Rome 2 for awhile.
I still feel burned by ETW. :D Even though I understand Shogun 2 redeemed CA's failing with ETW, I am still cautious around future CA titles. ;)

I just saw that this game is due out on Sept 3(! - I didn't think it was going to be released until late October), so I guess we don't have long to wait. I expect to see a lot of pre-release PR hitting the wires starting tomorrow.
 
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