Expeditions: Rome - the final Expeditions game from Logic Artists

[Aarwolf]

Yesterday I decided to start my new adventure as a roman legate:

I am about 10 hours in, finished Lesbos and first mission in Asia Minor (Mysia). Story is ok so far, companions are decently written and voiced (the first four, I didn't encounter the fifth one yet), combat is very good, albeit strongly nuxcomish.

I like visiuals, I like that missions have different goals to achieve (rescue some VIP, destroy X things, don't kill boss but incapacitate him and so on), I don't know what to think about battles though, they seem to random to me, but I shall see.

Overall good game, 8/10 so far.

Ah, the one last thing - to all esteemed codexers enraged by strong women and homosexuals in game. What could you expect other than this from a game that starts at fucking Lesbos of all places in ancient Greece?

 

[Tyranicon]

I'll reserve my judgement until I have actually finished the game, but so far it feels very railroaded - probably even more than Vikings since there are basically no side missions.

(....)

It feels odd that they actually went with VN-style dialogue figures appearing on both sides of the screen when such a large number of characters you come across just use the default blurred character portrait.

Yeah that was my impression from the demo as well, although at the time I just assumed it was because they wanted a linear story mission to showcase.

As for the large amount of silhouettes, I'm assuming that the artist/art team just ran out of time. It would be smarter to have a set of random npc portraits (with swappable features) than just a silhouette. It's jarring.

 

[Larianshill]

I have no idea what's up with this guy's portrait, but he looks metal as shit

 

[Parsimonious cook]

OK, so this Liberal dude is apparently just a white guy in blackface, a typical liberal in 2022 if you ask me.

Also, just arrived in Africa

Spoiler

those fucking niggers killed Luculus, time for some colonialism, me thinks

 

[Harthwain]

I have no idea what's up with this guy's portrait, but he looks metal as shit

Kind of reminds me of Sam Worthington:

Spoiler

 

[Larianshill]

This is Larianshill reporting from act 2. I would like to post a daily reminder that pacification missions SUCK.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

friendly coexistence with barbarians

Ended so well for Rome.

Since I like to shill for the blog of this historian lad, to quote from a recent article of his:

This was not necessarily a bad thing: the Romans, after conflict and plague in the late second and third centuries, needed troops and they needed farmers and these ‘barbarians’ could supply both. But as we’ve discussed elsewhere, the Romans make a catastrophic mistake here: instead of reviving the Roman tradition of incorporation, they insisted on effectively permanent apartness for the new arrivals, even when they came – as most would – with initial Roman approval.

This problem blows up in 378 in an event – the Battle of Adrianople – which marks the beginning of the ‘decline and fall’ and thus the start of our ‘long fifth century.’ The Goths, a Germanic-language speaking people, pressured by the Huns had sought entry into Roman territory; the emperor in the East, Valens, agreed because he needed soldiers and farmers and the Goths might well be both. Local officials, however, mistreated the arriving Goth refugees leading to clashes and then a revolt; precisely because the Goths hadn’t been incorporated into the Roman military or civil system (they were settled with their own kings as ‘allies’ – foederati – within Roman territory), when they revolted, they revolted as a united people under arms. The army sent to fight them, under Valens, engaged foolishly before reinforcements could arrive from the West and was defeated.

In the aftermath of the defeat, the Goths moved to settle in the Balkans and it would subsequently prove impossible for the Romans to move them out. Part of the reason for that was that the Romans themselves were hardly unified. I don’t want to get too deep in the weeds here except to note that usurpers and assassinations among the Roman elite are common in this period, which generally prevented any kind of unified Roman response. In particular, it leads Roman leaders (both generals and emperors) desperate for troops, often to fight civil wars against each other, to rely heavily on Gothic (and later other ‘barbarian’) war leaders. Those leaders, often the kings of their own peoples, were not generally looking to burn the empire down, but were looking to create a place for themselves in it and so understandably tended to militate for their own independence and recognition.

 

[Tyranicon]

I have no idea what's up with this guy's portrait, but he looks metal as shit

Probably a reference to the HBO ROME character of the same name (which is itself a reference to the "historical" personage mentioned in Caesar's writings). Infinitron this probably answers your question whether they're in the game.

 

[Lyre Mors]

I've been playing the game for about 15 hours

Overall it's a pretty mediocre experience

Damn, 15 hours in two days. Sounds pretty mediocre.

I'm just playing on normal difficulty which in hindsight might've been a mistake, but the combat encounters have been almost insultingly easy so far.

Playing on normal difficulty in modern day and insulted by the lack of challenge...

You have some valid points, but you seem to be fishing for some kodex kool kreds in that post more than anything. If the game was really as lackluster as you say, you probably wouldn't be as compelled to play so much of it in such short amount of time.

 

[Infinitron]

Probably a reference to the HBO ROME character of the same name (which is itself a reference to the "historical" personage mentioned in Caesar's writings). Infinitron this probably answers your question whether they're in the game.

Their names are in the game as possible names for your randomly generated praetorians. They're not in it as actual characters.

 

[Shrimp]

I've been playing the game for about 15 hours

Overall it's a pretty mediocre experience

Damn, 15 hours in two days. Sounds pretty mediocre.

I'm just playing on normal difficulty which in hindsight might've been a mistake, but the combat encounters have been almost insultingly easy so far.

Playing on normal difficulty in modern day and insulted by the lack of challenge...

You have some valid points, but you seem to be fishing for some kodex kool kreds in that post more than anything. If the game was really as lackluster as you say, you probably wouldn't be as compelled to play so much of it in such short amount of time.

Now now, it's been 3 days and it's a weekend as well.
I'd been looking forward to this game for a long time so I won't let myself get deterred by elements I dislike just because they appear early on. Despite its faults I still acknowledge the game as entertaining so far but that doesn't change the fact it's not what I'd hoped for.

 

[Lyre Mors]

Now now, it's been 3 days and it's a weekend as well.
I'd been looking forward to this game for a long time so I won't let myself get deterred by elements I dislike just because they appear early on. Despite its faults I still acknowledge the game as entertaining so far but that doesn't change the fact it's not what I'd hoped for.

Yeah, sorry to be so dickish. Just a pet peeve of mine that seems to have become more pronounced in the past few years in particular. People pouring tons of hours into games in a short span of time, then portraying this time as unsatisfying. Takes this hobby to a whole new level of decadence and is just so logically irreconcilable for me. There is being critical and attempting to be objective, and then there is just total lack of self-awareness in an act you are devoting many of your waking hours to. Not saying you're necessarily guilty of this, but the hint of it in your post was enough for me to be compelled to mention it.

Also, turn your difficulty up, you cunt! If it's been a somewhat lackluster experience, it's probably partially because you've deprived yourself of the meat of the game.

 

[Sensuki]

This is Larianshill reporting from act 2. I would like to post a daily reminder that pacification missions SUCK.

I enjoyed the first one. What was wrong with it ?

 

[Larianshill]

Anyone knows how to craft more throwing spears?

 

[Lyre Mors]

I enjoyed the first one. What was wrong with it ?

Yeah, I actually enjoy the pacification missions. Spices things up, adds some nice variety and challenge.

 

[Parsimonious cook]

Anyone knows how to craft more throwing spears?

You need to buy tools (in Asia minor they can be bought from the priest-blacksmith in the temple, I havent seen anyone selling them in Africa so far, but I just started there), then make them in the workshop (they are under tactical items with other stuff).

Yeah, I actually enjoy the pacification missions. Spices things up, adds some nice variety and challenge.

They are a bit hit and miss, but I agree that they are mostly good. The one with Roman deserters was really bad (you attack a camp surrounded by hills full of archers that have LoS on you all the time and are very hard to reach), but many of them are good and fairly challenging. The convoy ambush and the fight with Spartans are my favourites so far.

 

[Spectacle]

After some battles, my Legion's experience drops down to 0 or nearly so. Has anyone seen the same thing happen? Is it a bug, or is there something you can do to avoid it?

EDIT: lol, just tried playing the same battle 3 times. One time I got -27 XP, another +22 and finally +69! Seems completely random. Apart from the XP the battle outcome was roughly similar all 3 times. Something's definitely weird about legion XP.

 

[Larianshill]

Spoiler

 

[vonAchdorf]

He looks like Omar Sharif. He fits into the region.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

That hairstyle gives me more of a Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction vibe tbh.

 

[Sensuki]

(you attack a camp surrounded by hills full of archers that have LoS on you all the time and are very hard to reach)

I think I figured out by accident that to hit these archers you need to use Interrupt with your own.

 

[vonAchdorf]

That hairstyle gives me more of a Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction vibe tbh.

It's Omar Sharif wearing a Hobbit hairstyle.

 

[Alphons]

 

[Modron]

He looks like Omar Sharif. He fits into the region.

Looks nothing like Omar Sharif...

 

[Larianshill]

Stuck on yet another pacification mission, because my non-story companions are shit, and I'm playing the barracks casino until the game gives me better ones.