What other Total War games are mentionable?

[User was nabbed fit]

To cut to the chase, I love Empire TW. I also have RTW (not the expansion though -- worth it?) which I've also spent a bit of time on when it came out and again before the release of ETW, but for some reason I think I found RTW a bit harder... not in the challenging sense, but in the sense that it just takes a lot longer to get certain things done (like replenishing your army after a battle). However, the game is good enough to forget about small quirks like that and concentrate on the rest. I have never played any of the previous TW games though, and I was wondering if they're really worth it at this point? I think there's Shogan TW, Medieval TW + MTW2, and that's about it, right? Out of those, are there any that you can really say there's no point in playing if you've already got RTW and ETW? Or do they have a charm and 'unique enough' setting of their own to warrant a play-through? For example, for me, even though I prefer ETW, I would still replay RTW once I finish this, just to change things a bit... so would I equally enjoy one of the older games? Thanks.

 

[Kaiserin]

I would say that the first MTW would be worth your time, just to see how things have changed. M2TW is good after all of the mods and the expansion, and I personally like the melee combat mechanics in it over that of Rome. It's just something about the way the units go down that feels more realistic, no more of that 80 spartans wiping out a bajillion peasants nonsense.

Hell, they are all good really, the only reason I don't bring up Shogun is that I don't care for the setting. But, if feudal japan sounds like a fun place to wage war in, it's definitely worth looking into as well.

 

[oldmanpaco]

The Europa Barbarorum mod makes R:TW 100% better. Five years after Rome was released I still have it on my HD because of this mod. I don’t think I can recommend it enough.

http://www.europabarbarorum.com/

For M2:TW either Stainless Steel or Deus Lo Vult make the vanilla game much, much better. You need to Kingdoms expansion to use them though. DLV adds some economic and political challenges to the mix so SS might be a better starting point. SS has sub-mods that add serious difficulty but they are not part of the original package.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=314

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=309

Keep in mind that both R:TW and M2:TW differ greatly from E:TW on the strategic level. They are more or less the same on the tactical side though.

Like K said M:TW is also very good if a bit dated. The Glorious Achievement (I think that’s what it was called) version of the main campaign has not been equaled by any of the sequels yet. I do think the prestige ranking in Empire is a step in the right direction.

 

[spacemoose]

the original medieval is the best total war

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

First Medieval and Shogun are so fucking worth it.

 

[PorkaMorka]

The thing about first medieval and shogun is that the AI is actually capable of providing a moderate challenge in the campaigns and is much less retarded than in RTW.

The step down in AI from MTW to rome was amazing.

 

[TalesfromtheCrypt]

Ok Im downloading the EU mod for RTW. Ive been reading their site a bit and I love the historical accuracy they are bringing into the game.
The ahistoric silliness in the vanilla game is just annoying.

Two questions:
1) Does the mod improve strategic and battle AI? I didnt see it mentioned anywhere.
2) The triumph thing for the Roman faction seems like an awesome feature, could someone explain how exactly that mechanic works?

 

[Raapys]

The original M:TW is still by far my favorite TW game. But then I prefer its campaign map to those of the newer games, and even think the combat is better in that game. Since the campaign map is so different, it was also far easier to make a decent AI, which gives a more challenging experience.

 

[oldmanpaco]

Ok Im downloading the EU mod for RTW. Ive been reading their site a bit and I love the historical accuracy they are bringing into the game.
The ahistoric silliness in the vanilla game is just annoying.

Two questions:
1) Does the mod improve strategic and battle AI? I didnt see it mentioned anywhere.
2) The triumph thing for the Roman faction seems like an awesome feature, could someone explain how exactly that mechanic works?

1) The AI itself is hardcoded from what I understand. They adjust some things in the scripts to make them more likely to expand in logical directions and give them some monetary bonuses so they can recruit elite units instead of spamming skirmishers.

There are some mods in the a sub-forum that allow you to play EB using the BI executable which improved AI a bit. I guess the Alexander exe is better still but I've never used it. There are a whole bunch of sub mods to use if you desire.

2) If you have a general who really beats the crap out of a particular nation he has the chance to be granted a Triumph. You first get a trait called 'Prospective Triumpher' or something then get a trait telling you to return to Rome. Once there you wait a season then get the Triumph trait which gives you some bonuses. It's been awhile since I played as Rome so its a bit fuzzy.

BTW - read the faq or a whole lot is not going to make sense.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Main thing I'm missing in Medieval 2 are the negative traits. Why can't I have my princesses marry my princes like I could in MTW1? My royal family should be a group of bloodthirsty inbred mutants god damn it.

And as a question, does Stainless Steel add this?

 

[Elwro]

Strange, I'm pretty sure my copy of MTW 2 had negative traits.

 

[snoek]

I love Medieval 2 and it's expansion the most
edit: oh, and the first medieval and expansion was also very nice

 

[GarfunkeL]

Shogun.

Finally getting Geishas and then using those bitches to assasinate every named character outside my faction... the fun!

 

[Panthera]

Of the recent ones, Medieval II with Kingdoms is the best. Rome's AI is gimped to the point where mods will never be able to recover.

Of all of them, Medieval is the most solid all-around game in the series.

 

[Bluebottle]

Shogun and Medieval 1 are definitely worth checking out, if only to see how different they are from the later 3d editions. You should easily be able to handle the graphics, though I do tend to find the camera a little restricting in battles.
Don't do either of the earlier ones if you've got a Nvidia 8000 or 9000 series graphics card, though. They don't work, and there's been no hint of a fix.

 

[User was nabbed fit]

Aww shit, I have a 8800 GT on my desktop and a 9700 M on my laptop. Oh well. I guess I'll try MW2 + expansion when I get some time.

 

[Mogar]

Some of the mods for Rome Total War are amazing. Take Blue Lotus, a relatively obscure mod that is made of win. Even if it is unbalanced (the demons specifically, granted, they're supposed to be since they're the big bads of the game and your supposed to fight them ), its setting is absolutely stunning. Why can't we get more Asian fantasy settings in games? Also, the faction leaders are awesome (imagine hero units in Total War) Grab it here:

http://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=65798

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Strange, I'm pretty sure my copy of MTW 2 had negative traits.

It has some, but it doesn't actually let you rub your princes and princesses together to make a horrible royal family, unlike MTW1. My previous grand campaign I had a king that was flamboyantly gay and hated himself because of it, had a foreign tranny in his retinue, and everyone fucked the queen because he wouldn't touch her. Not bad, but I want more.