Expeditions: Rome - the final Expeditions game from Logic Artists

[Tyranicon]

Tyranicon, in the name of realism you should make super detailed, unskippable, sex animations with those ugly women

What do I look like, BioWare?

 

[AwesomeButton]

Tyranicon, in the name of realism you should make super detailed, unskippable, sex animations with those ugly women

What do I look like, BioWare?

No, that's what the next part of the sentence is, the one one you didn't quote!

 

[Darth Roxor]

Tyranicon, in the name of realism you should make super detailed, unskippable, sex animations with those ugly women

What do I look like, BioWare?

actually yes

 

[Ladonna]

These guys are apparently going to do more Expeditions games (or not)

https://campfirecabal.com/

We'll see what happens.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

These guys are apparently going to do more Expeditions games (or not)

https://campfirecabal.com/

We'll see what happens.

Might be outdated

 

[Fargus]

These guys are apparently going to do more Expeditions games (or not)

https://campfirecabal.com/

We'll see what happens.

I thought embracer flushed them down the toilet?

 

[Shrimp]

These guys are apparently going to do more Expeditions games (or not)

https://campfirecabal.com/

We'll see what happens.

Might be outdated

Considering the last update is a post from August 2023 saying the studio has closed I don't think there's much to update

 

[Ladonna]

These guys are apparently going to do more Expeditions games (or not)

https://campfirecabal.com/

We'll see what happens.

Might be outdated

Considering the last update is a post from August 2023 saying the studio has closed I don't think there's much to update

Oh shit. Didn't see that....

Well, hopefully someone steals the general format and combat engine, and restarts this series elsewhere.

 

[cvv]

I'm actually having fun. About 35 hours in and most of those just flew by. Yes the legion battles are boring and obnoxious but I'm really digging the setting. There are a few dindu centurions and their handling of famous personalities like Caesar or Lucullus is headscratching but otherwise it's fun. What other game allows you to raise a legion and hunt down Mithridates, that jumped up kinglet who dares to challenge the might of the grorious Roman republic?

 

[BlackAdderBG]

What other game allows you to raise a legion and hunt down Mithridates

Alea jacta est does.

 

[cvv]

Final sitrep, 75 hours, enjoyed it a lot.

In the grand scheme of things dindu centurions are a small niggle. Actually my only major complaint are the legion battles. They do make you feel like a legatus all right but they're just too simple and unfun. And I'm not even sure making them more complex and involved would solve anything. I for one am not interested in Total War type strategy elements in my epic party-based, turn-based RPG. In the end I just accepted it as a necessary evil.

The reason I kept playing for all those 75 hours is the pros vastly outweighed all possible cons in my book. I grew to love the combat. Dare I say it? It's even better than the Larian offering in D:OS and BG3. You can't teleport around and hurl fireballs at the mobs but it more than makes up for it with a vast array of tight tactical and positioning options at your disposal. You can form formations like two heavies with shield camping a chokepoint, one or two long-reach pikemen behind them and an archer or two taking reaction shots. And that's the most basic arrangement. Once you unlock all the perks and abilities it's so much fun. Your heavies can hunker down and deflect (but become immobile), your pikemen get bonuses for adjacent heavies, your archers become veritable machine gunners with multiple reaction shots per turn, with bleeding/fire/poison arrows, with knock-down and armor-stripping effects and many, many more. You can even specialize them into Legolas-type light-melee skirmishers. And then there's the whole morale and crowd-control layer, with a whole bunch of related chardev options. I didn't use them too much since I only played on Normal and mostly it was easier to just kill mobs instead of cc-ing them with fear or various other abilities but I imagine on Insane they'd be essential.

Oh and there is the thief-type class plus gladiators bundled with the DLC. And every single class have three subclasses you can specialize in (or split your points between those if you wish), with only one or two in total feeling slightly underpowered. All in all it's one of the best and most fun chardev/combat systems I've ever played.

The second major strength of this game is the C&C. Reading the guides and walkthroughs after I finished I was surprised with all the possible paths my run could've gone. Not gonna spoil here, let's just say your choices do matter a lot. You can win or lose your party members, you can have or not have an extra legion to command in the 3rd act, you can decide the fates of many significant NPCs and in the end your own fate as well.

As for the third major strength I appreciated the itemization in Rome. Not the best system ever perhaps, but distinctly above average. For some time now I've been banging the drum about modern devs being especially inept at creating acceptable, let alone great, itemization so it was pleasing to see Logic Artists didn't drop the ball completely here.

And finally the writing. I felt writing in Conquistador and Viking was stronger but in Rome it's again above average. I liked my follower personalities and the way famous NPCs like Cicero, Cato or Lucullus were written. It's decidedly an alternative history of Rome, considering the fates of some of those characters in this game, but still solidly handled.

Ex:Rome was a genuine surprise for me. I usually prefer blobbers from isometric party-based RPGs but I really warmed to this game. If it wasn't for the fundamental flaw with the legion battles it'd secure a spot in my Hall of Fame.

 

[Yosharian]

> a small niggle

Interesting choice of words

 

[Lord_Potato]

Final sitrep, 75 hours, enjoyed it a lot.

In the grand scheme of things dindu centurions are a small niggle. Actually my only major complaint are the legion battles. They do make you feel like a legatus all right but they're just too simple and unfun. And I'm not even sure making them more complex and involved would solve anything. I for one am not interested in Total War type strategy elements in my epic party-based, turn-based RPG. In the end I just accepted it as a necessary evil.

True, it's a good game. Being a bit butthurt about the ahistorical possibility to play a female legatus I didn't even notice 'dindu centurions' or they didn't spawn as often in my campaign don't remember. Most of my centurions seemed to be pretty tanned Mediterranean folk. Fortunately, none of them was a woman.

The reason I kept playing for all those 75 hours is the pros vastly outweighed all possible cons in my book. I grew to love the combat. Dare I say it? It's even better than the Larian offering in D:OS and BG3. You can't teleport around and hurl fireballs at the mobs but it more than makes up for it with a vast array of tight tactical and positioning options at your disposal. You can form formations like two heavies with shield camping a chokepoint, one or two long-reach pikemen behind them and an archer or two taking reaction shots. And that's the most basic arrangement. Once you unlock all the perks and abilities it's so much fun. Your heavies can hunker down and deflect (but become immobile), your pikemen get bonuses for adjacent heavies, your archers become veritable machine gunners with multiple reaction shots per turn, with bleeding/fire/poison arrows, with knock-down and armor-stripping effects and many, many more. You can even specialize them into Legolas-type light-melee skirmishers. And then there's the whole morale and crowd-control layer, with a whole bunch of related chardev options. I didn't use them too much since I only played on Normal and mostly it was easier to just kill mobs instead of cc-ing them with fear or various other abilities but I imagine on Insane they'd be essential.

The combat system is pretty good, but there are some overpowered abilities, like the one that lets rogue characters (Velites) walk without spending action points - it indeed lets you to teleport around the battlefield and at least once allowed me to cheese an assassination mission by simply walking to the target on turn one and cutting him down

Oh and there is the thief-type class plus gladiators bundled with the DLC. And every single class have three subclasses you can specialize in (or split your points between those if you wish), with only one or two in total feeling slightly underpowered. All in all it's one of the best and most fun chardev/combat systems I've ever played.

The second major strength of this game is the C&C. Reading the guides and walkthroughs after I finished I was surprised with all the possible paths my run could've gone. Not gonna spoil here, let's just say your choices do matter a lot. You can win or lose your party members, you can have or not have an extra legion to command in the 3rd act, you can decide the fates of many significant NPCs and in the end your own fate as well.

You can get a second legion in the 3rd act? I thought it was a peculiarity of Egyptian campaign! Oh well, at least I managed to keep all my companions together until the final act.

As for the third major strength I appreciated the itemization in Rome. Not the best system ever perhaps, but distinctly above average. For some time now I've been banging the drum about modern devs being especially inept at creating acceptable, let alone great, itemization so it was pleasing to see Logic Artists didn't drop the ball completely here.

For me it was too much about crafting, and too little about special weapons you found during missions. Once I understood and mastered the crafting system, it allowed me to outfit my A team and most of B team in quite overpowered gear.

And finally the writing. I felt writing in Conquistador and Viking was stronger but in Rome it's again above average. I liked my follower personalities and the way famous NPCs like Cicero, Cato or Lucullus were written. It's decidedly an alternative history of Rome, considering the fates of some of those characters in this game, but still solidly handled.

Yes, the writing was definitely solid.

Ex:Rome was a genuine surprise for me. I usually prefer blobbers from isometric party-based RPGs but I really warmed to this game. If it wasn't for the fundamental flaw with the legion battles it'd secure a spot in my Hall of Fame.

At certain point I gave up on understanding the legion combats and just remembered to have more men than the enemy and good centurions in charge. It was enough to win every battle in the game.

 

[Lord_Potato]

What's up GrainWetski ? Why are you butthurt today?

 

[Infinitron]

The reason I kept playing for all those 75 hours is the pros vastly outweighed all possible cons in my book. I grew to love the combat. Dare I say it? It's even better than the Larian offering in D:OS and BG3. You can't teleport around and hurl fireballs at the mobs but it more than makes up for it with a vast array of tight tactical and positioning options at your disposal. You can form formations like two heavies with shield camping a chokepoint, one or two long-reach pikemen behind them and an archer or two taking reaction shots. And that's the most basic arrangement. Once you unlock all the perks and abilities it's so much fun. Your heavies can hunker down and deflect (but become immobile), your pikemen get bonuses for adjacent heavies, your archers become veritable machine gunners with multiple reaction shots per turn, with bleeding/fire/poison arrows, with knock-down and armor-stripping effects and many, many more. You can even specialize them into Legolas-type light-melee skirmishers. And then there's the whole morale and crowd-control layer, with a whole bunch of related chardev options. I didn't use them too much since I only played on Normal and mostly it was easier to just kill mobs instead of cc-ing them with fear or various other abilities but I imagine on Insane they'd be essential.

Good post. I'm not the biggest fan of the Expeditions formula (as implemented in all three games, not just this one), but I thought the complaints about this game's character system and combat were short-sighted. People saw "no stats, just ability trees + gimmicky objective-based encounters" and automatically dismissed it as shallow.

 

[Camel]

What's up GrainWetski ? Why are you butthurt today?

He’s always butthurt.

 

[Lord_Potato]

What's up GrainWetski ? Why are you butthurt today?

He’s always butthurt.

Yes, but I was curious what caused him to be on his period today.

 

[cvv]

Good post. I'm not the biggest fan of the Expeditions formula (as seen in all three games), but I thought the complaints about this game's character system and combat were short-sighted. People saw "no stats, just ability trees + gimmicky objective-based encounters" and automatically dismissed it as shallow.

There's a lot of stats, just no attributes (Strength, Dexterity, Magic etc.). It's not a problem in Rome because with five classes and three subclasses for each, together with a huge array of weapon stats and abilities, you can build your characters in so many different ways you don't really need the classic attribute system. Plus there's an extra buff synergy layer, so you're essentially building not just individual characters but your fighting unit as a whole, almost like a mini-legion.

As for the objective based encounters, I couldn't stand that shit in Blackguards 2, where every single fight was some sort of obnoxious gimmick. I didn't mind them here, probably because most fights are "normal" and the objective-based ones are actually fun - when you're standing on a cliff and chuck torches on an enemy caravan below or when you have to steal enemy berserk potions or when your party is split into 3 units, each having their own tasks during a city siege.

Goes to show you don't need fireballs and draghuns if you know what you're doing as a developer.

 

[Tyranicon]

I started rewatching HBO's Rome and this is on 60% sale, so okay why not, I guess I'll give it another attempt.

Edit: They have the two main characters from the TV show (Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pollo) as praetorians so that's neat.

 

[Lord_Potato]

I started rewatching HBO's Rome and this is on 60% sale, so okay why not, I guess I'll give it another attempt.

Edit: They have the two main characters from the TV show (Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pollo) as praetorians so that's neat.

L. Vorenus and T. Pullo are also secondary characters of Julius Caesar's writings, because they served under him and became quite famous due to their heroic deeds. So the timeline checks out.

 

[cvv]

I started rewatching HBO's Rome and this is on 60% sale, so okay why not, I guess I'll give it another attempt.

Edit: They have the two main characters from the TV show (Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pollo) as praetorians so that's neat.

L. Vorenus and T. Pullo are also secondary characters of Julius Caesar's writings, because they served under him and became quite famous due to their heroic deeds. So the timeline checks out.

In the game they already serve during the Third Mithridatic War in 72 BC, when in real life they would've been just small boys. It'd be more accurate if they were only available for recruitment in Gallia but it's a small detail.

Btw Pullo is a great heavy (princeps), I ended up taking him into most of my missions, to the exclusion of some core party members. Vorenus is meh, he's more useful as a legion centurion, passively raising the morale of your soldiers.

 

[Infinitron]

Aren't the praetorian names randomly selected?

 

[cvv]

Aren't the praetorian names randomly selected?

Not sure what you mean, there's a fixed roster of praetorians you can hire, with their own names and portraits. Nothing is randomized. Pullo has always the same face and is always a princeps.

 

[Abu Antar]

I started rewatching HBO's Rome and this is on 60% sale, so okay why not, I guess I'll give it another attempt.

Edit: They have the two main characters from the TV show (Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pollo) as praetorians so that's neat.

By Jupiter's Cock.

 

[Nortar]

People saw "no stats, just ability trees + gimmicky objective-based encounters" and automatically dismissed it as shallow.

People who never tasted good coffee might find Starbacks soy-latte tasty.
It does not mean they are wrong, it just means they don't know any better.
The same goes for telling good tactical combat from E:Rome's shallow, as you put it, shit.