Game News Expeditions: Rome Released

[jackofshadows]

Why does this game prevent you from naming a female character because of historical accuracy but then chooses to put historical innacurate shit everywhere else?

They must show to you how hard woman were oppressed at those times right off the bat.

I was mildly excited for this game, but they clearly gone overboard with the woke shit. I don't mind history inaccuracies at all in principle, I don't really mind even supernatural stuff that was present in the previous games but fuck these obviously politically induced ugh, elements. I'm not buying this and won't play it even because that shit is just too jarring.

Will try A Legionary's Life later on instead to satisfy my thirst for Roman setting.

 

[Sensuki]

Gonna have to back Roxor up on this one. Logic Artists literally didn't do anything differently to Conquistador and Viking regarding sex of player character and NPCs - it's the same in every game of theirs. You get a different dialogue response from some characters, but not sure if it affects C&C.

I understand the portrait thing, that could have been handled better I think but complaining about the fact that you can play a female Centurion is silly. Do you complain that you can play female in Baldur's Gate or Divinity or something ? No.

 

[Bruma Hobo]

Judging by screenshots alone, this definitely looks worse than the previous games in the series, Conquistador for example might technically have had as many stronk wymins as this game, but the player was able to easily ignore them by picking male party members only, and the writing was actually pretty good so it was easier to buy the whole premise of a world filled with female chieftains (that actually made the setting feel more exotic and interesting, despite the obvious political intentions behind). That approach cannot work as well with better known historical periods like the late Republic though, or when hiring subpar writers.

I hope I'm wrong though, the Expeditions series has been so far criminally underrated, and it would be a shame for it to end with a whimper because of identity politics of all things.

 

[Junmarko]

 

[Bruma Hobo]

Wait till BIggus Dickus hears of this.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Gonna have to back Roxor up on this one. Logic Artists literally didn't do anything differently to Conquistador and Viking regarding sex of player character and NPCs

The only time the game cares about historical accuracy is when it involves telling you how bad women had it. Otherwise, out the window it goes. They use it as a cudgel to beat you over the head with, it's very disingenuous.

 

[Grotesque]

Do you complain that you can play female in Baldur's Gate or Divinity or something

Is this game in a fictional setting? I am asking for a... friend.




This poor woman had to masquerade as being a man because she wanted more from life than being the wife of a wealthy senator.
The simp player was put to his place by this strong independent woman.

He really doesn't GET IT

 

[Sensuki]

Is this game in a fictional setting?

(Alt)-Historical setting but it's still fiction. Maybe it's just easier for people to buy into Shieldmaidens than it is a female Centurion and Amazons

 

[Commissar Draco]

Shield maiden were known to exist if still very rare but the Senator class woman playing soldier not so, there were however female gladiatrix in late empire though wealthy one but still with low social status and it was age of decadence for Empire again but Republican era Consul being OK with such farce is just projecting modern western liberalism onto by gone era. It would be fun game if such woman had cut her hair and pretend to be a man, risk the consequences of being discovered etc.. etc... but no we cant have this one too cause wokenism tolerates no past contrary to its dogmas hence why Kang is no gladiator slave of our PC family send to protect him by his Mom but fredman and citizen.

Kudos for this player for taking one of rare portrait which is not some effeminate metro nue man, My Tiberius Furius Draco uses this one too.

 

[Darth Roxor]

"(Scoffs.)"

like that goddamn thing darth roxor was talking about

(Alt)-Historical setting but it's still fiction. Maybe it's just easier for people to buy into Shieldmaidens than it is a female Centurion and Amazons

Shieldmaidens are easier to buy into because there is at least some precedent for that. Female centurions on the other hand are retardo.

 

[bobocrunch]

games been fun so far, character stuff isnt spread out enough and is offloaded to beginning and ending acts, gameplay scenarios can be unbalanced but are enjoyable if you plan right and the skills are fun to use
near the end of act 2 now as a (((woman))) legate and theres been a lot of misogyny but im not sure if its affected gameplay or story until if i play as a man
some kibble for all the spergs: you make a

Spoiler

african legion

 

[Infinitron]

Shieldmaidens are easier to buy into because there is at least some precedent for that. Female centurions on the other hand are retardo.

I think the devs realized this and that's why Rome is their only game that even acknowledges that female soldiers/officers/warriors are unusual.

 

[Utfärd]

 

[BlackAdderBG]

Shield maiden were known to exist if still very rare

No they did not lol, next you will tell me the Amazons existed and were used as hoplites and there are probably hundreds more mentions in ancient writing of them than the lolmaidens. It's pure fiction, some woman grabbing a weapon to defend herself when her village is raided or some freak of nature that was born with some mutation doesn't make a whole new class in society.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Shieldmaidens are easier to buy into because there is at least some precedent for that. Female centurions on the other hand are retardo.

I think the devs realized this and that's why Rome is their only game that even acknowledges that female soldiers/officers/warriors are unusual.

and it's stupid

 

[BlackAdderBG]

"unusual" :D Like it's just mentioned passing by, "yeah they got woman leading the legion, that's unusual, but hey good for them it's 700 Anno Urbis Conditae after all"

 

[Viata]

Why fucking Rome? Why not Persia during Cyrus the Great times? It would be cool as fuck, damn.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

Why fucking Rome? Why not Persia during Cyrus the Great times? It would be cool as fuck, damn.

I'd like an Expeditions type game covering the war of 602–628 between the ERE and Persia.

The Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628 was the final and most devastating of the series of wars fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Sasanian Empire of Iran. The previous war between the two powers had ended in 591 after Emperor Maurice helped the Sasanian king Khosrow II regain his throne. In 602 Maurice was murdered by his political rival Phocas. Khosrow proceeded to declare war, ostensibly to avenge the death of the deposed emperor Maurice. This became a decades-long conflict, the longest war in the series, and was fought throughout the Middle East: in Egypt, the Levant, Mesopotamia, the Caucasus, Anatolia, Armenia, the Aegean Sea and before the walls of Constantinople itself.

Great narrative hook and plenty of ground to cover.

 

[last new account I swear]

That would be cool.

Alas Logic Artists management are hacks just wanting to cash in on the most generic trend settings ever.

"unusual" :D Like it's just mentioned passing by, "yeah they got woman leading the legion, that's unusual, but hey good for them it's 700 Anno Urbis Conditae after all"

Yeah, it's completely retarded. It would have been better imo if they just straight up ignored it, at least then you can like more easily ignore it. This half-measure approach is much more jarring and immersion breaking.

 

[Rincewind]

Well, the Rome TV series is one of my all time favourites, and Spartacus: Blood and Sand and its sequels are quite good as well. They depict affluent women as quite powerful individuals, but not in this retarded revisionist way, but due to them being in control of their husbands, which I'd say is the far more realistic way of doing it. The portrayal of gay relationships, the treatment of foreign nationals, and the complete lack of Christian morals make these shows quite believable as well.

I wish we'd get some good games full of political intrigue like in these shows one day.

TRVE ROMAN BREAD FOR TRVE ROMANS!

 

[Bastardchops]

Gonna have to back Roxor up on this one. Logic Artists literally didn't do anything differently to Conquistador and Viking regarding sex of player character and NPCs - it's the same in every game of theirs. You get a different dialogue response from some characters, but not sure if it affects C&C.

I understand the portrait thing, that could have been handled better I think but complaining about the fact that you can play a female Centurion is silly. Do you complain that you can play female in Baldur's Gate or Divinity or something ? No.

Head covering amongst ancient Roman women
In the midst of Plutarch’s discussion on the Roman custom of head covering he notes that “it is more usual for women to go forth in public with their heads covered” (Plutarch, Roman Questions). Sebesta, professor of classics at the University of South Dakota, explores this tradition in detail:

“The costume of the matron signified her modesty and chastity, her pudicitia. It consisted of her distinctive dress, the woollen stola, which was worn over a tunic; the protective woollen bands which dressed her hair; and the woollen palla or mantle, which was used to veil her head when she went out in public … the veil … protected the married woman from religiously impure things, limiting the likelihood of her seeing some omen, object, or act that would diminish her purity."

Not only should they not be soldiers they should be covered up.

 

[Sensuki]

I think it's possible that several people have misinterpreted my post, quoted above.

What is historically accurate, what is expected from an RPG and what is expected from the developer judging by their previous catalogue are different things.

I think if you had absolutely any expectation for Expeditions: Rome to suddenly buck the trend of being able to play a male or female character of whatever class/role you like in an RPG - fantasy, sci-fi or otherwise and not let you play a female warrior character, or not include female warrior characters despite the game being in a historical setting and in most cases such a thing being historically inaccurate, then that was a foolish expectation. That let down is no one's fault but yours.

There's only two RPGs of any kind that I can think of without a preset character such as Geralt of Rivia that have some kind of mechanical / etc difference between male and female characters - Grimoire, where females have less Strength and that indie RPG set in India that's like a CYOA type thing. Maybe there's more but they are super rare.

I think it's fine to think that the concept of a female Centurion is silly - it is certainly less plausible than a female Conquistador or female Viking warrior. I just don't see how you could have the Expectation that it wasn't going to be a thing in Expeditions Rome.

The portraits thing is a different issue entirely. That was absolutely put in at the last minute to please gaming journos, and the portraits look stupid because they did them cheaply. If they'd done it properly and had portraits done specifically with different ethnicities (such as Gallic, Gypo, Nubian etc) that would have been better (and yes, still historically inaccurate).

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Not only should they not be soldiers they should be covered up.

heh at a TV drama being more historically accurate

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I think if you had absolutely any expectation for Expeditions: Rome to suddenly buck the trend of being able to play a male or female character of whatever class/role you like in an RPG - fantasy, sci-fi or otherwise and not let you play a female warrior character, or not include female warrior characters despite the game being in a historical setting and in most cases such a thing being historically inaccurate, then that was a foolish expectation.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance already did just that. There's even a DLC specifically about addressing it.

 

[last new account I swear]

What is historically accurate, what is expected from an RPG and what is expected from the developer judging by their previous catalogue are different things.

The problem isn't "there are foid warriors reeee" (okay maybe it is for some of the posters but my complaints are the only ones that matter), the problem is them paying lip service to repressive Roman social norms, and then doing nothing with them.

Why am I told in char creation that a woman doesn't have a first name, when it literally changes nothing in how the characters address me since they all use the nickname anyhow? Why does the tutorial officer tell me that I will obviously not take part in the fighting as a woman, but then I end up leading Roman soldiers and doing a bit of mass murder without anyone saying anything? It makes no sense and is completely jarring.

If you want to a present digestible, whitewashed, Hollywood Rome then just do that without, yknow, drawing attention to actually how sexist and patriarchal it is, same as you did in Conquistador. At least then the argument premise of "it's fantasy-history" holds ground without the game world feeling cheap and with no weight behind the setting. Or stop being hacks and just have the "woman" choice as an actually meaningful hardmode in your historical video games. Like I can't believe fucking mount and blade is the only game that attempted to do this properly.