I saw Rome on a shelf in a game shop and thought, "Sure these units and battles are only for cover art. Surely there isn't a separate campaign map and battle map." Etc etc. I got it and one of the best moments in probably my life started. The game was so fucking good I can't describe it.
I saw it on a shelf and immediately wanted it because I was ancient Greece geek, also I played some strategy games before, but yeah combining RTS battles with turn based campaign is what made this series.
It's a shame that Rome 1 still to this day remains the only Total War game where big armies have to use reserves and think about their formations to prevent the army from breaking. Watching and playing 31K battles for Rome 1 is still something I miss a lot and no TW game has come close to imitating that.
Some complain that units break too easily but I'm with you here, you really need to take care of your units in Rome and then you get the most out of them.
I was just playing a campaign as the Julii and the Brutii came to me offering me 2500 denarii if I agree to attack Thrace, a faction that had been eliminated for well over a decade at that point
With the announcement of Rome Remastered there was a huge boon in interest for this old classic game. Sadly, The Remaster has launched to mixed reviews and for a time, I worried that the legacy of Rome Total War may be tarnished by this... This video came out of me reflecting on the original Rome and just how great a game it really was. Suffice to say this video ended up being bigger than anticipated but I'm happy to say that Rome really is better than you think! (Spoilers) A big thank you to MELKOR and Volound who both contributed to this video and who will also appear in part 2, alongside Prince of Macedon.
I think the remaster holds up as it still uses the same battlefield simulation that is absent from the modern titles, like with the cavalry formations and testudo
On the historicity of the Original Rome: what is so amazing is how the gameplay mechanics actually reflect some of the most interesting social dynamics in the ancient (Roman) world through gameplay mechanics which relays the competing interests and aspirations of the social classes at the time. Your talk on the civil war is correct, but population and squalor is another part of that. For instance, in the game start, you are interested in conquest because 1) the Senate and 2) more importantly, new lands means more slaves which means a higher population. As you said in the video the higher population gives you all these advantages as you expand. Yet when you reach the twilight of your Empire, right around when the civil war begins, the dreaded “squalor” mechanic begins to have a really deleterious effect on the internal stability of your empire. This is when riots were breaking out regularly in Rome and social unrest was at its peaks across Italy itself. Much like the Romans experienced themselves, previously, what you first desired so badly, large populations, large armies and a large empire, (if we include the other Roman families) becomes your biggest threat and it slowly dawns on you, just like it did on Augustus, that the only way for there to be peace, is through bloodshed. To this day, a better “simulation” of the complex political and social situation of the late Roman Republic, even if it has lots of anachronisms, has never been created.
always great to see someone willing to go into the gameplay and examine the mechanics and systems and how it affects the player decisions and actions and ultimately.. their immersion and experience. RTW got so much right and you did a great job here of cramming a lot of it into this 50m. from the testudo degradation to the ball-and-chain generals to the single entity problem and its implications for generals and their place on the battlefield, all of these things are extremely important and go to the essence of what a TW game feels like to play, and all of these things have changed so much over the years - regrettably for the worse. every time i see these things acknowledged by others, i feel relief that im not alone, and hope that other developers will notice us and make games that acknowledge us, because TW is no longer willing to. looking forward to part 2. thanks for inviting me to be involved and it was nice to hear my sentiments cap off a great and efforted treatise like this. will be interesting to hear a historian comment on the place this great game occupies. cheers TNH
Many Thanks again! I loved your final line - felt fitting for the end. I think your videos over the last year have certainly pushed my analysis deeper. Hope you enjoy the second part!
This was great, looking forwards to Part 2 :) Loved your comments on the humour of the game also, something I've never really thought about much. Not only is it the most immersive title I've ever played, but I've also never laughed so much whilst playing.
Cheers! I think the humour part was the first section I wrote as it happens. I think it's what makes me pick it ahead of Medieval II when pressed for a favourite. For me, speaking to others (like yourself) about the game was really interesting to me as there always new perspectives I hasn't considered.
My God with a masterpiece, both the video and the game. It was 12 o'clock when I thought about the game again. Having to work tomorrow I only wanted to spend like 5 minutes to read about the remastered version as I doubted to buy it. This led to me clicking here via reddit and I just had to login to my UA-cam account to write this comment. I have rarely been so entertained from beginning to end while being fresh for every bit of interesting information I hear. This game has such a special place in my heart and you touched so many things that made me realize why. Some things that I noticed and loved in hundreds if not a thousand hours of gameplay. The music gave me goosebumps in combination with your narrative. My old pc without internet connection at my parents place still gets turned on from time to time purely to play this game. It never ever bores me till this day. I have bought various other total war games, yet was always disappointed as it never captured the heart of Rome total war. The overly need to make things complicated for new players really bumped me out. Now I can fully see why I love this game so much. Every plus you point out I love, every flaw I have grown to love. Thank you very much for your bizare effort to make this amazing long video. I hope you will manage to read this and you know how much this is appreciated. I wonder if anyone will ever read this at all, but it was nice putting it on paper. I should install Twitter.
Very well said. You put into words and video imagery what countless thousands want the world to know about a game that entirely deserves such praise, even so many years after its launch.
There is a reason RTW is my most played total war game the amount of depth in the mechanics just makes newer titles look like kiddo pools, I can still enjoy them but I for different reasons
Yes, I point out a few things from three kingdoms, but I don't dislike the game at all. 3K is the example because I enjoy it enough to keep it installed. 😅 I like a lot about that title but the battle mechanics in particular were so wonderfully deep in the days of Rome.
Totally right! In this game, it is so satisfying to learn to use units to their full extent. Best shooter from steep hill - javs - dmg increase goes through the roof Best shooter from behind - slings - unbelievable shitty dmg from the front but now they can kill even urban cohort Best shooter on bridge - onagers - big fire bolders landing on concentrated masses. These scenario need to be seen to be belived: Light cavalry zerg rush to eat up the standard default bull (infantry centre archer behind cav on two wings) very long line formation, and the 'noob box' to counter this, and full missles to counter the 'noob box'. Legion vs phalanx which is better? that depends. Ever bring 15 units of Dogs in a siege? Also the complexity of the campaign, I mean the most overpowered units in this game, the 360 shooting on the move horse archers, belong to the poorest factions in this game. As germans learn to use boring phalanx every game, if they beat the early game with it, only then will they later get the most fun beseker unit and chosen axe. As gauls learn to time dog release and war cry, they later get the best foot archer in this game. Army composition is also really a thing - that is just absent in later games. For example: If I am playing carthage, the army going to italy is total melee cavs with maybe one or two elephant, the army going to france has the small shield and sword iberian infantry a unit I would not use anywhere else. The army going to greece is half cav and the other half slingers - yes slingers are used to beat the meat grinder of units the armored hoplite. Finally I take phalanx army to Egypt. I'm etenally gratful that carthage has no normal archer units, this eventually forced me to learn what slingers excel at.
It took me a long time to get into tw warhammer but I really love tw wh 2! I still think that the historical titles have the best, most realistic battles that just draw me in. Rome, medieval 2, shogun 2! Even empire and especially napoleon!, all incredible titles. I haven't tried three kingdoms and I don't like troy.... warhammer 1 never did it for me and the third got boring quickly...
Europa Barbarorum was my favourite mod for Rome. It was so in depth and it took the roleplay aspect to new heights. I always remember fighting Pyrrhus several times finally managing to beat him by changing up the tactics I would normally use as a Roman faction. All Rome Will Be amaaazed at such a victory, the day is ouuuurrrs. Good times
I remember my faction leader was in a town with only a few cheap and weak units and we got attacked by a full stack. I managed to kindof hold the enemy off in the narrow roads to the town square but my units started dying. I basically had my faction leader left and i just charged him head on at the enemy and he caused almost an instant mass route and it was insane.
"Caesar's Nightmare" started playing as I deployed my soldiers in what would become my most memorable battle. It was my first playthrough: I was the Brutii, having long since learned that cavalry was king, but not yet understanding why my armies of predominantly cavalry kept on getting destroyed by Greek phalanxes. This 12-unit army in particular was half equites, half auxilia cavalry, as in this ever-so-cursed save the Marian reforms hadn't yet hit by 240 BCE. I was still yet to conquer Thermon, as the Greek had teched up quickly and had a doom stack patrolling Northern Achaea. When my twelve cavalry units got attacked by the doom stack I thought it was over, until I recognized the weak points in their roster: Militia hoplites and archers. Using my superior speed and the terrain to my advantage, I destroyed their army and won by the skin of my teeth. Even now, however, every time "Caesar's Nightmare" plays as I draw up for battle against superior numbers I think "oh s*** oh f***" and am reminded of that time.
This is what I love about this community. These personal stories are strangely memorable. Perhaps because the music is so good it helps these memories stick.
This video deserves a special places in my personal favourites, alongside MATN's run and the less known Galaxy Lynx's Hero of Sparta. You did a great job, praising and criticizing the correct aspects of the game. You did justice. Tiny curiosity. The Italian CD version had a bug: it crashed in 261 BC, due to a writing error in the historic_events file. When the game came out I didn't know how to mod it. The bug was only fixed with patch 1.5, so if you wanted to finish the game when the patch wasn't released yet you had to speedrun the game in 12 turns. This is how I learned to play Rome, back in the day. For us Italians, Rome wasn't the exact definition of a perfect game, when it was released... So I still have hope for the Remaster, as long as they keep patching it and trying to improve it. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day :)
That is very interesting! Certainly something I wasn't aware of. I like that you saw it as a challenge... although I suppose it does limit replayability. 😅
It is indeed a better game than people realize! One of the greatest titles in the series despite its flaws (many of which are improved or rectified in the remaster). I am confident the mod scene for Rome Remastered will improve and get people back into this game.
Yeah the remaster has many good points although in it's current state I still largely stick to the original. The modding scene is very interesting though and I'm sure you will continue your great content on that stuff! Looking forward to it!
@@GudeaTW Yes. Partly because I've always modded the game to fix and tweak minor annoyances... but Mainly because I found my save files crashing a lot on the Remaster and the original game has always been very stable for me. Must say though, I haven't had the crashing since the 2.0.2 patch so that's very encouraging.
I started the series with Medieval 1 (incredible game), but RTW blew me away for reasons you've stated here. The thing that sticks out to me to this day in sea of great things (like that incredible soundtrack...), is the game's handling of characters, traits, and stories. I'm glad you dedicated a section to it. Getting invested in the Role Play & "emergent story" of characters in a Total War campaign is important to me, and it's something that's been lost in the newer titles. Also loved how you said: "the game had a sense of humor and playfulness. It doesn't let historical accuracy get in the way of making a great game." To that I say, May the hats shield you from the enemy's fearsome gaze, TNH.
Thank you. I always appreciate a good honest hat! Great to hear this struck a chord with other fans of the classic total war series. Keep spreading the good word of Rome on your channel my good sir!
You did this game justice with this review, it is a legendary game that took sweat, blood, and ambition, and still holds up today. Glad to see when others play and appreciate this one of a kind.
This game was so good for its time it is crazy. Still one of the best total war games to this day. If they had added more units to the factions in the remaster it would be perfect.
So many levels of greatness. Ancient words of wisdom before battles with Japanese war drums. Motivation speeches before battle. Battle units you never knew existed from different cultures. The seven wonders of the world and their mystery. Characters and their attributes and retinue making or breaking your success. Managing economies while needing to watch your back. Paying the price for conquering the wrong region or people at the wrong time. Flat out domination when you master the game.
Great and informative video. Your thorough illustrations as to why Rome is such a classic is right on the money. With all its great attributes, I just love how this game allows the player's imagination to drive it forward.
Played about a 1000 hours for _Rome II_ ... just to grind for a 100% completion rate for all the Steam achievements. Uninstalled the game afterwards and never looked back. Played _Rome: Total War_ back in 2005 for several hours a day for at least 365 days in a row (rookie numbers for some, I know) because it was groundbreaking at the time to say the least.
Ik I’m 2 years late but dude I love this video and I definitely subscribed to your channel. The amount of detail and depth you placed into this is amazing. I have Rome 1 on mobile the remaster and definitive editions on steam. Rome 1, Medieval 2, Shogun 2 Rise & Fall of The Samurai, Empire Total war, Rome 2 and Atilla are my all time favorites but nothing will compare to the scale and quality of Rome 1…nothing beats this. Thanks bro 🤝🏽🌹🩵
And btw, did you ever notice, that a hit in the back during a melee (which was the common thing during melee battles) is possible only in RTW and M2TW? In all later TW games, using a new type of "scenic" melee, nobody hits anyone in the back. All they do is just seek a "fight mate", to make a "battle dance" with. Medieval I TW Music is the best for me personally. But... yeah. Divinitus is the best of all TW Music.
I think my favorite thing about the room to the war is is that yes while it makes us history of fun and all you don't need to know anything about ancient history to have a good time the more you know about how the army's fought and organize themselves and conducted themselves you will have an edge
It's not just that it was a great game for it's time. It STILL has more polish in many features than modern TW games. Just one example is how stationary infantry units will double up their ranks as friendly units approach from the front, allowing skirmishers or cavalry to pass through largely unhindered, and then close ranks again. Whereas in modern games, the approaching troops just have to push through the unit blocking their path. This isn't just cosmetic either, since it allows you to be much more aggressive with for example skirmishers. It also affects unit selection, since it is only the more disciplined and well-trained units that have this ability.
I've found in Rome Total War and the remaster that I would much rather have daughters or adopt a soldier than have a son. On VH the inherited traits always seem to be the worst traits possible while very rarely having a surprise grandson or great grandson that is competent with good traits. I know this simulates real life to a degree...a son could be a shadow of a great father. But in real life the opposite was just as likely...Alexander eclipses Phillip in almost every regard. I just wish that traits like "inbred" wouldn't just pop up to make the game harder. When looking at the family tree the person was not inbred. Or some traits like "cowardly" cannot be changed no matter how many battles you win. You can have a general that is a conqueror that defeated numerous people and expert commander to give a plus 9 to command only to have him retain the "cowardly" or "afraid of blood(haemophobic)" traits. You'd figure the general would've got over it after personally killing several hundred soldiers...
That's a good point about the daughters... You can be more selective and my impression about their quality is similar to yours too. Most traits have a 'no going back' point. Usually when they hit the second level of the trait. The disliking blood one though does always feel like it will not revert back at all but that's likely because traits have a chance of self perpetuating over time so as they get older they will tend to end up with the more extreme traits.
RTW and M2TW were games tailored to the dedicated strategy gamer and were made unique by it's real time battles. They were also the only versions fully moddable and til date full conversion mods still get published. Given the more and more catering to the instant gratification crowd and very basic modding capabilities it's not surprising that later versions have faded rapidly (anyone still remember ETW?) while these two are still popular. Ironically RTW remastered is actually a step back towards fully moddability - but then it's not made by SEGA\CA. Nice review, reminded me of the days when I had more hair :p
The ease of modding in RTW and M2TW has always been a wondrous thing. I know basically nothing about coding and I'm not a natural with computers at all, but modding these games is just so simple. The very idea around this channel's mod guides are that it is amazingly simple to do quite significant things. Your guides take that to a whole different level but even so, that people still bother to Mod these old games today over the newer ones is a testament for sure. :)
At 4:50 with some testing it seems the shield bonus always applies to both sides of the unit, only the rear is unshielded. This carries over to Medieval 2 as well
@@ToNerdistoHumanTNH Volound actually tested it on his alt channel, Volound Expounds, and I've done a similar test to confirm the results and yeah, unfortunately it doesn't seem like shields are directional, they apply to both sides.
I was going to buy the remaster but hesitated when I found out there was no MP campaign and path finding was still trash on sieges. Ultimately CA's treatment of the Prince of Macedon was my final straw and I did not buy the game...
The patches have made some noteworthy improvements but the city pathfinding is certainly still problematic. In its current state I think I would only recommend the remaster to someone who can't play the original on their modern pc. There's still plenty it needs to improve.
I love the city pathfinding lol. Lose like 20 men while the enemy runs 2000 men into my pikes while I take a defensive stance at town center where my morale regardless of what I do doesn't break.
i really like the population cost balancing on huge unit scale, it makes the recruitment of an army feel like a real, major investment just like real life. often times in real history, armies would comprise a significant portion of a nation's population.
i REALLY loved the sieges as they had the FULL scale of a FULL city. u could also capture towers and look for weakspots in the defenses (including tower covering fire), making towers NOT op if not protected well (unlike medieval 2 towers which devastate anyone nearby if any unit remains near them).
Age empires and all rts games like it were fun, but honestly once i played etw, my first total war, i found what i wanted in a war game. Rts are fun but to truly manage an empire is a totally different experience
So, I’ve just seen your video and had to stop at the diplomacy section. I found that diplomacy can actually be used and there is quite some depth into it. If you read the diplomacy guide for Fourth Age: Total War, they do quite a good breakdown of how diplomacy works in the game, how to butter up factions, use trade rights, map information, alliances, and even protectorates.
@@ToNerdistoHumanTNH I finished the video. It was marvelous and I can’t wait to see more from you. Absolutely brilliant that you mentioned and worked with the larger UA-camrs that helped keep this game relevant for all these years. This is a game that will truly stand the test of time. Hopefully the remaster can come up to the level and maybe even surpass the original in popularity due to its modern features.
Oddly enough the Bat Bomb was almost deployed, but it was beaten to the punch by nuclear bombs. So it was ultimately shelved. Oddly enough it was said to be highly effective. Though personally I think the pigeon guided missile is more interesting than the bat bomb.
This is sort of an odd comment for me to make as my PC is too much of toaster to run anything after Med 2, but I have watched LPs of the newer TWs and it seems that units, even elite ones, don't have value anymore. What I mean is that they are often thrown into the grinder and chewed up because the replenishment system makes recovering losses quite easy even deep into enemy territory. There's little consequence for being sloppy, and Pyrrhic battles or wars of attrition appear to be a thing of past TWs now.
Incredible video, you have said everything I thought, for a strange reason in the Spanish-speaking public they do not observe some things that you mention, by the way, what do you think of Rome remastered?
For most parts, I agree. However, I am somewhat torn about army caps. Thing is, RTW and MTW2 require you to do *a lot* of micro-managing regarding armies. Even assembling the armies takes a lot of tedious but easy work. Plus, it leads to the ability to create overwhelming forces by having several armies attack at once. I get that in regards to immersion, the settlements should produce the units, and global recruitment might not fit in with that. So maybe something like there being reenforcement lines, visibly for you when you select the army, and tied to cities? For the cap itself, it means that you focus on a few strong armies, design them carefully, and have mostly interesting battles. I get that it is not realistic or anything, but I think it works in terms of fun. In regards to you talking about reinforcing the garrisons of border provinces, how about making that a direct feature? You have garrisons as usual for the later engines, like say in Warhammer, but you can click some button that bolsters them, obviously at a pricey cost, and maybe some other drawbacks (reduced growth and slower building?). I'm also torn in regards to the ability to increase city size by disbanding troops. Very very useful and also some cities start way too small. Thing is, the disbanding method is tedious to use. Another stack of peasant to manage. Again I think I'd prefer there being a feature, you being able to encourage people to settle there, maybe draw a resettling line from one city to another. As for the increase by slaves, make them a sort of resource that one can shift around. Them being distributed to exactly the cities that have generals in them is kinda wonky, would prefer direct control.
Army upkeep costs and population growth, when done correctly, work perfectly fine as immersive limitations. Not only do they provide a major incentive to invest into your civil infrastructure (ports, roads, markets, farms, mines, ...) and diplomacy (trade agreements, tributes, ...), but also to restrain yourself in terms of army compositions. The forced and gamified "number of armies" and "no army without general" restrictions alone wouldn't stop you from building a ridiculous full stack steamroll army of buffed up elites only. But not being able to afford said elites because you neglected your trade network does. Not being able to recruit or restock said elites because you built everything but better barracks does. Having to send additional ships and troops against raiders and pirates does. I agree that simulated supply lines and official resettlement programs could add to the game. And maybe some settlements like Dimmidi, Nepte or Siwa could bear a strict hard limit on maximum sustainable population to stop me from building metropoles in the Sahara.
Great video!! Couldn’t of said it better!! Are there any little fixes you know of to make the original run better? I’m having a lot of trouble with lag. Keep up the good work!!
Thank you! Some people say that reverting to the previous version helps. But it always varies computer to computer. Mine runs fine so it's hard to say exactly what will work.
My favourite take from this video is the fact that the game is from the perspective of the Romans. This explains so many design decisions and the nomenclature used throughout. Brilliant. Even the Egyptian faction is just a bronze age stereotype of what the Romans thought of them at the time! The stereotypes of Egyptians are not just a modern phenomenon. I also praise the choice of using American accents for the Romans, and whatever on earth the barbarian accent is supposed to be! The barbarian generals remind me of those old historical movie villains from the 60s!
Pretty sure that Egyptians models were used because they developed them for the Decisive Battles/Time Commanders shows and it was just cheaper to leave them in rather than re-design them.
@@DanMcLeodNeptuneUK I can't speak for Time Commanders cause that was strictly a UK show, but Decisive Battles came out months before Rome: Total War launched on History Channel.
For me it perfectly hits the sweet spot of historical accuracy and fun gameplay elements. Grounded in reality but shown through the lens of an ancient storyteller who adds extra emphasis to make things interesting. There’s also the immense emergent gameplay and modding potential which you discussed. For example I went into the game files and changed the epithet “the Mean” to “the Dickhead.” Now sometimes a random enemy general will attack me who is named “the Dickhead” and I get a big laugh every time. So much creative potential. I really have a hard time finding games with the degree of freedom Rome gives you. And of course, Jeff’s soundtrack. ROMA INVICTA ROMA AETERNA EST OPTIMVM OMNIVM LVDORVM!
Haha. I am planning to look into traits more in a guide video... such an example shall have to fit into that video. It reminds me of playing Pokémon as a kid and naming my rival a similar name. The old jokes never get old.
when using wedge formation in rome1 dont click on the actual unit but click furiously behind it , that way they will still kill people and knock them aside , a unit of cataphracts on normal battle difficulty can cleave apart the most elite of pike units , followed up by another unit of cataphracts in normal formation and you can more or less obliterate the pike formation from the front
I played a campaign as the Julii. Never enslaved nor genocided a single settlement. I wanted to be a nice guy. Ended up conquering all of Gaul, Iberia, Britain, Ireland, Central Europe and all the way to Themiscyra. Then I just build farms, academies and roads for turns upon turns. Then I got bored and tried playing on veryhard, and quickly found out I had to act like a complete psychopath to be competitive, then I felt guilty.
Am I the only one who really liked the remaster? There are some annoying bits, but I feel like maybe people expected it to be more like a remake? Fundamentally all I went into it wanting was the ability to play it on a modern PC in decent graphics, so for that reason I really liked it
I'm with you, here. It might have been wise to invest a few more months into polishing the remaster before release, but Feral have been great with patching since then, and I do also prefer a conservative remaster to the often incoherent, simplified and game design breaking remakes we see elsewhere. Plus, the modding scene is already working its magic on the remaster.
it didn't come at the best time and it didn't have a clearcut audience to sell to. most of the current TW player base are on the newer historical/fantasy titles, and most of those likely never played RTW back in the day. some people pointed out that it already had a sequel/remake (rome 2) that was a polished product with a healthy concurrent player base. the OG player base who still play the fully 3D titles (pre ETW) didn't necessarily need to move onto a version of the same game, on the same engine, that wasn't supported on windows 7 or 8 (but was supported natively on MacOS and Linux). those are just some of the things i remember seeing various people discuss around the time it first launched.
wedge can go through a somewhat thin hoplite and phalangite line and when you split a unit's continuity they get a loss to defense skill stat. it works, just not as effectively as other abilities.
You're completely right about immersion in games like Rome or Medieval 2, which is why I can't for the life of me understand why the narration in Medieval 2 is unmutable. Every 5 goddamn seconds, listening to awesome battlefield noises I have to hear the narrator say the most obvious stuff or warn me about every single unit that routs or whatnot. It's so annoying and I'm never able to immerse fully becuz he keeps repeatign and repeating. Really spoils the hard work in sound effects in favour of a mechanic that isnt even that grreat
Personally Shogun 2/FOTS is my favorite TW game, but Rome is easily #2. I find Shogun 2 just made every system perfect and accessible. I’d love to see your thoughts on Empire, Napoleon, and FOTS!
Though my favorite still stays with Medieval 2, the vast majority of the reasons obviously stem from Rome 1. Medieval 2 simply took an innovation, an idea, and uncompromising quality, and turned it into what I believe to be a masterpiece. We don't get Medieval 2 without Rome paving the way, and I like Rome 1 as my third best (after Shogun 2, and 4th place is... not even in the ballpark).
19:23 First time I saw this detail on the city map and even years later I amazed. AND lets look at so called "Rome 2", when barbarian faction captures big roman or greek city, settlement turns into a village. Be it Rome, Athens or Carthage. All the unique structure and stone buildings magically turns into wooden huts. "Rome 2" was a insult to Total War.
I feel so slow learning the new total wars ☹️ my battles are always flawless but I struggle every time I expand my empire I'll have a random enemy army beach my shore where I can't defend. I wish I had a friend who could teach me some tips balancing campaign troops, finance, and food. A lot of people say Rome II is super easy I'm struggling. I keep trying though.
Keep at it and keep trying new strategies or civs until you find something that clicks! You'll get there! I had the same issue but it was a slow process!
Use two mods. One to get rid of forced march, which the AI cheeses like hell, and one mod to allow going in and out of the sea only through port cities. This stops the AI from cheesing and taking your lands with a bunch of quarter sized armies running around.
if i recall there is a patch to sort out some of those issues. idk about fan mods patches but I know there are some post game patches released by the devs years ago
I saw Rome on a shelf in a game shop and thought, "Sure these units and battles are only for cover art. Surely there isn't a separate campaign map and battle map." Etc etc. I got it and one of the best moments in probably my life started. The game was so fucking good I can't describe it.
I went to the shop to buy Age of Empires III and got directed to Rome Total War... my live was never the same again!
I saw it on a shelf and immediately wanted it because I was ancient Greece geek, also I played some strategy games before, but yeah combining RTS battles with turn based campaign is what made this series.
It's a shame that Rome 1 still to this day remains the only Total War game where big armies have to use reserves and think about their formations to prevent the army from breaking. Watching and playing 31K battles for Rome 1 is still something I miss a lot and no TW game has come close to imitating that.
Some complain that units break too easily but I'm with you here, you really need to take care of your units in Rome and then you get the most out of them.
@@ToNerdistoHumanTNH it makes stuff like using manipular legion formations in game make sense.
Med 2 is that way too....
Shogun 2 is also like that, if you encircle armys there thay will rout just as in rome 1
@@Random-World-Eater yep, just recently replayed shogun2 and units will mass route just as fast as rome 1
Even the diplomacy was kinda fun. The gaul saying accept peace or we will attack please dont attack was funny and fun
I was just playing a campaign as the Julii and the Brutii came to me offering me 2500 denarii if I agree to attack Thrace, a faction that had been eliminated for well over a decade at that point
With the announcement of Rome Remastered there was a huge boon in interest for this old classic game. Sadly, The Remaster has launched to mixed reviews and for a time, I worried that the legacy of Rome Total War may be tarnished by this... This video came out of me reflecting on the original Rome and just how great a game it really was. Suffice to say this video ended up being bigger than anticipated but I'm happy to say that Rome really is better than you think! (Spoilers) A big thank you to MELKOR and Volound who both contributed to this video and who will also appear in part 2, alongside Prince of Macedon.
Looking forward to it!
big names
all big names
How can I add new formations?
I think the remaster holds up as it still uses the same battlefield simulation that is absent from the modern titles, like with the cavalry formations and testudo
On the historicity of the Original Rome: what is so amazing is how the gameplay mechanics actually reflect some of the most interesting social dynamics in the ancient (Roman) world through gameplay mechanics which relays the competing interests and aspirations of the social classes at the time. Your talk on the civil war is correct, but population and squalor is another part of that. For instance, in the game start, you are interested in conquest because 1) the Senate and 2) more importantly, new lands means more slaves which means a higher population. As you said in the video the higher population gives you all these advantages as you expand. Yet when you reach the twilight of your Empire, right around when the civil war begins, the dreaded “squalor” mechanic begins to have a really deleterious effect on the internal stability of your empire. This is when riots were breaking out regularly in Rome and social unrest was at its peaks across Italy itself. Much like the Romans experienced themselves, previously, what you first desired so badly, large populations, large armies and a large empire, (if we include the other Roman families) becomes your biggest threat and it slowly dawns on you, just like it did on Augustus, that the only way for there to be peace, is through bloodshed.
To this day, a better “simulation” of the complex political and social situation of the late Roman Republic, even if it has lots of anachronisms, has never been created.
always great to see someone willing to go into the gameplay and examine the mechanics and systems and how it affects the player decisions and actions and ultimately.. their immersion and experience. RTW got so much right and you did a great job here of cramming a lot of it into this 50m. from the testudo degradation to the ball-and-chain generals to the single entity problem and its implications for generals and their place on the battlefield, all of these things are extremely important and go to the essence of what a TW game feels like to play, and all of these things have changed so much over the years - regrettably for the worse. every time i see these things acknowledged by others, i feel relief that im not alone, and hope that other developers will notice us and make games that acknowledge us, because TW is no longer willing to.
looking forward to part 2. thanks for inviting me to be involved and it was nice to hear my sentiments cap off a great and efforted treatise like this. will be interesting to hear a historian comment on the place this great game occupies. cheers TNH
Many Thanks again! I loved your final line - felt fitting for the end. I think your videos over the last year have certainly pushed my analysis deeper. Hope you enjoy the second part!
Was going to comment that this video was like a Reader's Digest of your critique series. Now I know why.
This was great, looking forwards to Part 2 :)
Loved your comments on the humour of the game also, something I've never really thought about much. Not only is it the most immersive title I've ever played, but I've also never laughed so much whilst playing.
Cheers! I think the humour part was the first section I wrote as it happens. I think it's what makes me pick it ahead of Medieval II when pressed for a favourite. For me, speaking to others (like yourself) about the game was really interesting to me as there always new perspectives I hasn't considered.
The Greeks could rule the world..... Best intro vid ever, made me feel like I was a proud Greek willing to give it all for my nation.
I watch that video and I become a Greek. Rousing stuff!
My God with a masterpiece, both the video and the game. It was 12 o'clock when I thought about the game again. Having to work tomorrow I only wanted to spend like 5 minutes to read about the remastered version as I doubted to buy it. This led to me clicking here via reddit and I just had to login to my UA-cam account to write this comment. I have rarely been so entertained from beginning to end while being fresh for every bit of interesting information I hear. This game has such a special place in my heart and you touched so many things that made me realize why. Some things that I noticed and loved in hundreds if not a thousand hours of gameplay. The music gave me goosebumps in combination with your narrative. My old pc without internet connection at my parents place still gets turned on from time to time purely to play this game. It never ever bores me till this day. I have bought various other total war games, yet was always disappointed as it never captured the heart of Rome total war. The overly need to make things complicated for new players really bumped me out. Now I can fully see why I love this game so much. Every plus you point out I love, every flaw I have grown to love. Thank you very much for your bizare effort to make this amazing long video. I hope you will manage to read this and you know how much this is appreciated. I wonder if anyone will ever read this at all, but it was nice putting it on paper. I should install Twitter.
Somebody read it XD
It's been over a year, but I have read it eventually. Thank you so much for your kind words. 😊
Very well said. You put into words and video imagery what countless thousands want the world to know about a game that entirely deserves such praise, even so many years after its launch.
Thank you for your kind words :)
There is a reason RTW is my most played total war game the amount of depth in the mechanics just makes newer titles look like kiddo pools, I can still enjoy them but I for different reasons
Yes, I point out a few things from three kingdoms, but I don't dislike the game at all. 3K is the example because I enjoy it enough to keep it installed. 😅 I like a lot about that title but the battle mechanics in particular were so wonderfully deep in the days of Rome.
Totally right! In this game, it is so satisfying to learn to use units to their full extent.
Best shooter from steep hill - javs - dmg increase goes through the roof
Best shooter from behind - slings - unbelievable shitty dmg from the front but now they can kill even urban cohort
Best shooter on bridge - onagers - big fire bolders landing on concentrated masses.
These scenario need to be seen to be belived:
Light cavalry zerg rush to eat up the standard default bull (infantry centre archer behind cav on two wings) very long line formation, and the 'noob box' to counter this, and full missles to counter the 'noob box'.
Legion vs phalanx which is better? that depends. Ever bring 15 units of Dogs in a siege?
Also the complexity of the campaign, I mean the most overpowered units in this game, the 360 shooting on the move horse archers, belong to the poorest factions in this game. As germans learn to use boring phalanx every game, if they beat the early game with it, only then will they later get the most fun beseker unit and chosen axe. As gauls learn to time dog release and war cry, they later get the best foot archer in this game.
Army composition is also really a thing - that is just absent in later games. For example: If I am playing carthage, the army going to italy is total melee cavs with maybe one or two elephant, the army going to france has the small shield and sword iberian infantry a unit I would not use anywhere else. The army going to greece is half cav and the other half slingers - yes slingers are used to beat the meat grinder of units the armored hoplite. Finally I take phalanx army to Egypt. I'm etenally gratful that carthage has no normal archer units, this eventually forced me to learn what slingers excel at.
It took me a long time to get into tw warhammer but I really love tw wh 2! I still think that the historical titles have the best, most realistic battles that just draw me in. Rome, medieval 2, shogun 2! Even empire and especially napoleon!, all incredible titles. I haven't tried three kingdoms and I don't like troy.... warhammer 1 never did it for me and the third got boring quickly...
Europa Barbarorum was my favourite mod for Rome. It was so in depth and it took the roleplay aspect to new heights. I always remember fighting Pyrrhus several times finally managing to beat him by changing up the tactics I would normally use as a Roman faction. All Rome Will Be amaaazed at such a victory, the day is ouuuurrrs. Good times
I remember my faction leader was in a town with only a few cheap and weak units and we got attacked by a full stack. I managed to kindof hold the enemy off in the narrow roads to the town square but my units started dying. I basically had my faction leader left and i just charged him head on at the enemy and he caused almost an instant mass route and it was insane.
"Caesar's Nightmare" started playing as I deployed my soldiers in what would become my most memorable battle. It was my first playthrough: I was the Brutii, having long since learned that cavalry was king, but not yet understanding why my armies of predominantly cavalry kept on getting destroyed by Greek phalanxes. This 12-unit army in particular was half equites, half auxilia cavalry, as in this ever-so-cursed save the Marian reforms hadn't yet hit by 240 BCE. I was still yet to conquer Thermon, as the Greek had teched up quickly and had a doom stack patrolling Northern Achaea. When my twelve cavalry units got attacked by the doom stack I thought it was over, until I recognized the weak points in their roster: Militia hoplites and archers. Using my superior speed and the terrain to my advantage, I destroyed their army and won by the skin of my teeth. Even now, however, every time "Caesar's Nightmare" plays as I draw up for battle against superior numbers I think "oh s*** oh f***" and am reminded of that time.
This is what I love about this community. These personal stories are strangely memorable. Perhaps because the music is so good it helps these memories stick.
@@ToNerdistoHumanTNH That is usually how good music works.
This video deserves a special places in my personal favourites, alongside MATN's run and the less known Galaxy Lynx's Hero of Sparta.
You did a great job, praising and criticizing the correct aspects of the game. You did justice.
Tiny curiosity. The Italian CD version had a bug: it crashed in 261 BC, due to a writing error in the historic_events file. When the game came out I didn't know how to mod it. The bug was only fixed with patch 1.5, so if you wanted to finish the game when the patch wasn't released yet you had to speedrun the game in 12 turns. This is how I learned to play Rome, back in the day.
For us Italians, Rome wasn't the exact definition of a perfect game, when it was released...
So I still have hope for the Remaster, as long as they keep patching it and trying to improve it. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day :)
go and check out Gudea TW , he had a very interesting interview 2 days ago XD
That is very interesting! Certainly something I wasn't aware of. I like that you saw it as a challenge... although I suppose it does limit replayability. 😅
Post-Premier Comment: For me it was the organic traits that built the story for the characters that I loved.
Indeed! Completely optional gameplay but it's there for you should you care for it :)
It is indeed a better game than people realize! One of the greatest titles in the series despite its flaws (many of which are improved or rectified in the remaster). I am confident the mod scene for Rome Remastered will improve and get people back into this game.
What flaw?!!
Completely flawless!
Yeah the remaster has many good points although in it's current state I still largely stick to the original. The modding scene is very interesting though and I'm sure you will continue your great content on that stuff! Looking forward to it!
@@ToNerdistoHumanTNH stick to the original as in play the original?
@@GudeaTW Yes. Partly because I've always modded the game to fix and tweak minor annoyances... but Mainly because I found my save files crashing a lot on the Remaster and the original game has always been very stable for me. Must say though, I haven't had the crashing since the 2.0.2 patch so that's very encouraging.
I started the series with Medieval 1 (incredible game), but RTW blew me away for reasons you've stated here. The thing that sticks out to me to this day in sea of great things (like that incredible soundtrack...), is the game's handling of characters, traits, and stories. I'm glad you dedicated a section to it. Getting invested in the Role Play & "emergent story" of characters in a Total War campaign is important to me, and it's something that's been lost in the newer titles. Also loved how you said: "the game had a sense of humor and playfulness. It doesn't let historical accuracy get in the way of making a great game."
To that I say, May the hats shield you from the enemy's fearsome gaze, TNH.
Thank you. I always appreciate a good honest hat!
Great to hear this struck a chord with other fans of the classic total war series. Keep spreading the good word of Rome on your channel my good sir!
@@ToNerdistoHumanTNH Thank YOU for the thoughtful video man :)
You did this game justice with this review, it is a legendary game that took sweat, blood, and ambition, and still holds up today. Glad to see when others play and appreciate this one of a kind.
You just summed up everything I like about this game light years over the newer games
:D You have good taste!
I m already on the table waiting patiently to be served XD
A tasty tasty dish I hope!?!
@@ToNerdistoHumanTNH yaaaammyyyyy , more pls ??
Great video about a truly great game! As many others said, this game will always have a special place in my heart... Looking forward to part 2!
Love hearing how many people feel the same. Thank you and see you for part 2.
I play so many games, but at the end and of the day I always come back to Rome (the original). I really hope more people see this
I feel much the same... Thank you! Spread the good word!
This game was so good for its time it is crazy. Still one of the best total war games to this day. If they had added more units to the factions in the remaster it would be perfect.
So many levels of greatness. Ancient words of wisdom before battles with Japanese war drums. Motivation speeches before battle. Battle units you never knew existed from different cultures. The seven wonders of the world and their mystery. Characters and their attributes and retinue making or breaking your success. Managing economies while needing to watch your back. Paying the price for conquering the wrong region or people at the wrong time. Flat out domination when you master the game.
2 parts!? That's what i wanted to hear. The second video with the lecturer and other youtubers sounds really interesting.
It was interesting to record and brought up ideas that I hadn't considered.
Lovely! Looking forward to part 2!
I better get editing then! 😅 It is quite different in style but I think it should be an interesting listen.
Great and informative video. Your thorough illustrations as to why Rome is such a classic is right on the money. With all its great attributes, I just love how this game allows the player's imagination to drive it forward.
Absolutely! It gave you the freedom and the tools you needed to create your own story if you want it.
Someone got their bronze age Total War wish fulfilled!
This game was a huge influence on me growing up. Great job with the video!
32:00 Well, 2 years later, you got your wish.
excellent video doing great justice to a great game. thanks again for top quality content!!
Glad you enjoyed it! :)
I may have to follow that lecturer. His page looked hillarious!
It was a funny page, hence why I threw it in. He's a great chap.
Played about a 1000 hours for _Rome II_ ... just to grind for a 100% completion rate for all the Steam achievements. Uninstalled the game afterwards and never looked back.
Played _Rome: Total War_ back in 2005 for several hours a day for at least 365 days in a row (rookie numbers for some, I know) because it was groundbreaking at the time to say the least.
I agree with most of the statements you made in this video. Thanks for making it.
Ik I’m 2 years late but dude I love this video and I definitely subscribed to your channel. The amount of detail and depth you placed into this is amazing. I have Rome 1 on mobile the remaster and definitive editions on steam. Rome 1, Medieval 2, Shogun 2 Rise & Fall of The Samurai, Empire Total war, Rome 2 and Atilla are my all time favorites but nothing will compare to the scale and quality of Rome 1…nothing beats this. Thanks bro 🤝🏽🌹🩵
And btw, did you ever notice, that a hit in the back during a melee (which was the common thing during melee battles) is possible only in RTW and M2TW? In all later TW games, using a new type of "scenic" melee, nobody hits anyone in the back. All they do is just seek a "fight mate", to make a "battle dance" with.
Medieval I TW Music is the best for me personally. But... yeah. Divinitus is the best of all TW Music.
Absolutely! The quality of battles was king back in the age of classic total war.
Excellent stuff. Rome must be the most fun and playful Total War title.
My thoughts exactly.
Pre-Premier Comment: Amazing! I've needed this video for 17 years now!
I feel like I've needed to get this out for that long. The script is nearly 9000 words! 😂
Absolutely!
I think my favorite thing about the room to the war is is that yes while it makes us history of fun and all you don't need to know anything about ancient history to have a good time the more you know about how the army's fought and organize themselves and conducted themselves you will have an edge
Great documentary
Danke! Funny to think of myself as a documentary maker but I suppose I am now ;P
this was my FIRST total war, and nothing ever compares to it. truely amazing.
i really liked the RTR platinum mod 1.9
Still my favorite game even though Napoleon was my first follow up by Medieval II Gold Edition and Rome Third game.
Interesting. Going backwards though titles can be dangerous but perhaps it is simply that the cream always rises to the top :P
Oh how poorly has your comment at 31:58 aged, about a bronze age total war now that Pharaoh has been released...
Lmao i was wondering if anyone else already commented this
It's not just that it was a great game for it's time. It STILL has more polish in many features than modern TW games.
Just one example is how stationary infantry units will double up their ranks as friendly units approach from the front, allowing skirmishers or cavalry to pass through largely unhindered, and then close ranks again. Whereas in modern games, the approaching troops just have to push through the unit blocking their path.
This isn't just cosmetic either, since it allows you to be much more aggressive with for example skirmishers.
It also affects unit selection, since it is only the more disciplined and well-trained units that have this ability.
Still playing with the Roma surrectum and invasio barbarorum mods. 💪💪
Lots of great mods. So little time (even after 17 years).
I've found in Rome Total War and the remaster that I would much rather have daughters or adopt a soldier than have a son. On VH the inherited traits always seem to be the worst traits possible while very rarely having a surprise grandson or great grandson that is competent with good traits. I know this simulates real life to a degree...a son could be a shadow of a great father. But in real life the opposite was just as likely...Alexander eclipses Phillip in almost every regard. I just wish that traits like "inbred" wouldn't just pop up to make the game harder. When looking at the family tree the person was not inbred. Or some traits like "cowardly" cannot be changed no matter how many battles you win. You can have a general that is a conqueror that defeated numerous people and expert commander to give a plus 9 to command only to have him retain the "cowardly" or "afraid of blood(haemophobic)" traits. You'd figure the general would've got over it after personally killing several hundred soldiers...
That's a good point about the daughters... You can be more selective and my impression about their quality is similar to yours too. Most traits have a 'no going back' point. Usually when they hit the second level of the trait. The disliking blood one though does always feel like it will not revert back at all but that's likely because traits have a chance of self perpetuating over time so as they get older they will tend to end up with the more extreme traits.
RTW and M2TW were games tailored to the dedicated strategy gamer and were made unique by it's real time battles. They were also the only versions fully moddable and til date full conversion mods still get published.
Given the more and more catering to the instant gratification crowd and very basic modding capabilities it's not surprising that later versions have faded rapidly (anyone still remember ETW?) while these two are still popular.
Ironically RTW remastered is actually a step back towards fully moddability - but then it's not made by SEGA\CA.
Nice review, reminded me of the days when I had more hair :p
The ease of modding in RTW and M2TW has always been a wondrous thing. I know basically nothing about coding and I'm not a natural with computers at all, but modding these games is just so simple. The very idea around this channel's mod guides are that it is amazingly simple to do quite significant things. Your guides take that to a whole different level but even so, that people still bother to Mod these old games today over the newer ones is a testament for sure. :)
At 4:50 with some testing it seems the shield bonus always applies to both sides of the unit, only the rear is unshielded. This carries over to Medieval 2 as well
Interesting. I always thought it did make a difference... Perhaps there is some confirmation bias in my thoughts.
@@ToNerdistoHumanTNH Volound actually tested it on his alt channel, Volound Expounds, and I've done a similar test to confirm the results and yeah, unfortunately it doesn't seem like shields are directional, they apply to both sides.
Love the part about Arabic Summer, resonated with that comment so much - absolute TUNE! 😅
So good! Every time I edited that section of the video I would grin and dance along 🤣
@@ToNerdistoHumanTNH it needs to be played in the clubs lol
Arabic Summer - Dance and enjoy.
Arabic Winter - Relax and contemplate.
Arabic winter is one of the best total war OSTs ever imo
I was going to buy the remaster but hesitated when I found out there was no MP campaign and path finding was still trash on sieges.
Ultimately CA's treatment of the Prince of Macedon was my final straw and I did not buy the game...
The patches have made some noteworthy improvements but the city pathfinding is certainly still problematic. In its current state I think I would only recommend the remaster to someone who can't play the original on their modern pc. There's still plenty it needs to improve.
I love the city pathfinding lol. Lose like 20 men while the enemy runs 2000 men into my pikes while I take a defensive stance at town center where my morale regardless of what I do doesn't break.
Awesome video by the way
Creative Assembly hit the belly with Rome Total War and haven't been able to touch it since!
i really like the population cost balancing on huge unit scale, it makes the recruitment of an army feel like a real, major investment just like real life. often times in real history, armies would comprise a significant portion of a nation's population.
i REALLY loved the sieges as they had the FULL scale of a FULL city. u could also capture towers and look for weakspots in the defenses (including tower covering fire), making towers NOT op if not protected well (unlike medieval 2 towers which devastate anyone nearby if any unit remains near them).
31:58 u got what u want now!
Clearly they are listening. I should make more demands! ;)
Age empires and all rts games like it were fun, but honestly once i played etw, my first total war, i found what i wanted in a war game. Rts are fun but to truly manage an empire is a totally different experience
5:33 You could issue move orders behind the enemy line to break through, though if you're willing to suffer casualties
Good point, it certainly does generally work quite well if you do this!
So, I’ve just seen your video and had to stop at the diplomacy section. I found that diplomacy can actually be used and there is quite some depth into it. If you read the diplomacy guide for Fourth Age: Total War, they do quite a good breakdown of how diplomacy works in the game, how to butter up factions, use trade rights, map information, alliances, and even protectorates.
Brilliant video!!
34:19 I had the civil war while fighting Egypt... pain
Great Video.
Would you consider doing a video like this on "Medieval II: Total War"?
I would love to but with a full time job a project like this will take me a fair while. One day perhaps!
32:00 You got your Bronze Age game now
I wanted the 2005 version of CA to make it 😅😭
I think we all do xD
Can you do a video on all the historical events that happen in Rome total war? Such as: clear glass, Vesuvius, Marius reforms, Archimedes screw, etc.
4:57 this is still a thing in modern Total War, also I wonder how it works on Attila since that game had formations actually working unlike Rome 2.
I'm not 100% sure. I would expect by now that it takes armour types into consideration but I'm honestly not sure!
I saw the title and immediately thought Many A True Nerd.
Never heard of him ;)
@@ToNerdistoHumanTNH I finished the video. It was marvelous and I can’t wait to see more from you. Absolutely brilliant that you mentioned and worked with the larger UA-camrs that helped keep this game relevant for all these years. This is a game that will truly stand the test of time. Hopefully the remaster can come up to the level and maybe even surpass the original in popularity due to its modern features.
Oddly enough the Bat Bomb was almost deployed, but it was beaten to the punch by nuclear bombs. So it was ultimately shelved. Oddly enough it was said to be highly effective.
Though personally I think the pigeon guided missile is more interesting than the bat bomb.
This is sort of an odd comment for me to make as my PC is too much of toaster to run anything after Med 2, but I have watched LPs of the newer TWs and it seems that units, even elite ones, don't have value anymore. What I mean is that they are often thrown into the grinder and chewed up because the replenishment system makes recovering losses quite easy even deep into enemy territory. There's little consequence for being sloppy, and Pyrrhic battles or wars of attrition appear to be a thing of past TWs now.
We need a video like this for Total War Medieval 2
So many people talk about how rome 1 "didnt age well" but ive always disagreed and this video puts that into words.
Incredible video, you have said everything I thought, for a strange reason in the Spanish-speaking public they do not observe some things that you mention, by the way, what do you think of Rome remastered?
For most parts, I agree.
However, I am somewhat torn about army caps. Thing is, RTW and MTW2 require you to do *a lot* of micro-managing regarding armies. Even assembling the armies takes a lot of tedious but easy work.
Plus, it leads to the ability to create overwhelming forces by having several armies attack at once.
I get that in regards to immersion, the settlements should produce the units, and global recruitment might not fit in with that. So maybe something like there being reenforcement lines, visibly for you when you select the army, and tied to cities?
For the cap itself, it means that you focus on a few strong armies, design them carefully, and have mostly interesting battles. I get that it is not realistic or anything, but I think it works in terms of fun.
In regards to you talking about reinforcing the garrisons of border provinces, how about making that a direct feature? You have garrisons as usual for the later engines, like say in Warhammer, but you can click some button that bolsters them, obviously at a pricey cost, and maybe some other drawbacks (reduced growth and slower building?).
I'm also torn in regards to the ability to increase city size by disbanding troops. Very very useful and also some cities start way too small.
Thing is, the disbanding method is tedious to use. Another stack of peasant to manage.
Again I think I'd prefer there being a feature, you being able to encourage people to settle there, maybe draw a resettling line from one city to another.
As for the increase by slaves, make them a sort of resource that one can shift around. Them being distributed to exactly the cities that have generals in them is kinda wonky, would prefer direct control.
Army upkeep costs and population growth, when done correctly, work perfectly fine as immersive limitations. Not only do they provide a major incentive to invest into your civil infrastructure (ports, roads, markets, farms, mines, ...) and diplomacy (trade agreements, tributes, ...), but also to restrain yourself in terms of army compositions.
The forced and gamified "number of armies" and "no army without general" restrictions alone wouldn't stop you from building a ridiculous full stack steamroll army of buffed up elites only.
But not being able to afford said elites because you neglected your trade network does.
Not being able to recruit or restock said elites because you built everything but better barracks does.
Having to send additional ships and troops against raiders and pirates does.
I agree that simulated supply lines and official resettlement programs could add to the game. And maybe some settlements like Dimmidi, Nepte or Siwa could bear a strict hard limit on maximum sustainable population to stop me from building metropoles in the Sahara.
From the first time I saw it, I have always thought that it was the game I wanted to play as a child ... and today I can even afford to modify it.
played for well over a decade and didnt know you could see building sites with the city viewer
Great video!! Couldn’t of said it better!!
Are there any little fixes you know of to make the original run better? I’m having a lot of trouble with lag.
Keep up the good work!!
Thank you! Some people say that reverting to the previous version helps. But it always varies computer to computer. Mine runs fine so it's hard to say exactly what will work.
@@ToNerdistoHumanTNH Thanks mate! How do I go about that?
1:11
Don’t forget that the History Channel used the game’s engine to help simulate different ancient battles.
Absolutely. This game was used for every history thing back in the day!
My favourite take from this video is the fact that the game is from the perspective of the Romans. This explains so many design decisions and the nomenclature used throughout. Brilliant. Even the Egyptian faction is just a bronze age stereotype of what the Romans thought of them at the time! The stereotypes of Egyptians are not just a modern phenomenon.
I also praise the choice of using American accents for the Romans, and whatever on earth the barbarian accent is supposed to be! The barbarian generals remind me of those old historical movie villains from the 60s!
Pretty sure that Egyptians models were used because they developed them for the Decisive Battles/Time Commanders shows and it was just cheaper to leave them in rather than re-design them.
@@therexbellator i thought they came out after the game release tho, is that true?
@@DanMcLeodNeptuneUK I can't speak for Time Commanders cause that was strictly a UK show, but Decisive Battles came out months before Rome: Total War launched on History Channel.
@@therexbellator yep, and what a shame
For me it perfectly hits the sweet spot of historical accuracy and fun gameplay elements. Grounded in reality but shown through the lens of an ancient storyteller who adds extra emphasis to make things interesting.
There’s also the immense emergent gameplay and modding potential which you discussed. For example I went into the game files and changed the epithet “the Mean” to “the Dickhead.” Now sometimes a random enemy general will attack me who is named “the Dickhead” and I get a big laugh every time. So much creative potential. I really have a hard time finding games with the degree of freedom Rome gives you.
And of course, Jeff’s soundtrack.
ROMA INVICTA
ROMA AETERNA
EST OPTIMVM OMNIVM LVDORVM!
Haha. I am planning to look into traits more in a guide video... such an example shall have to fit into that video. It reminds me of playing Pokémon as a kid and naming my rival a similar name. The old jokes never get old.
I loved this game back in the days when I still had my hair. The newer games never captured my passion like Rome1 👍
when using wedge formation in rome1 dont click on the actual unit but click furiously behind it , that way they will still kill people and knock them aside , a unit of cataphracts on normal battle difficulty can cleave apart the most elite of pike units , followed up by another unit of cataphracts in normal formation and you can more or less obliterate the pike formation from the front
Great point. I don't think it quite works as intended... but that solution is very effective for sure!
I played a campaign as the Julii. Never enslaved nor genocided a single settlement.
I wanted to be a nice guy.
Ended up conquering all of Gaul, Iberia, Britain, Ireland, Central Europe and all the way to Themiscyra.
Then I just build farms, academies and roads for turns upon turns.
Then I got bored and tried playing on veryhard, and quickly found out I had to act like a complete psychopath to be competitive, then I felt guilty.
8:52 well that general died like a snap
Am I the only one who really liked the remaster? There are some annoying bits, but I feel like maybe people expected it to be more like a remake? Fundamentally all I went into it wanting was the ability to play it on a modern PC in decent graphics, so for that reason I really liked it
I'm with you, here. It might have been wise to invest a few more months into polishing the remaster before release, but Feral have been great with patching since then, and I do also prefer a conservative remaster to the often incoherent, simplified and game design breaking remakes we see elsewhere. Plus, the modding scene is already working its magic on the remaster.
it didn't come at the best time and it didn't have a clearcut audience to sell to.
most of the current TW player base are on the newer historical/fantasy titles, and most of those likely never played RTW back in the day.
some people pointed out that it already had a sequel/remake (rome 2) that was a polished product with a healthy concurrent player base.
the OG player base who still play the fully 3D titles (pre ETW) didn't necessarily need to move onto a version of the same game, on the same engine, that wasn't supported on windows 7 or 8 (but was supported natively on MacOS and Linux).
those are just some of the things i remember seeing various people discuss around the time it first launched.
wedge can go through a somewhat thin hoplite and phalangite line and when you split a unit's continuity they get a loss to defense skill stat. it works, just not as effectively as other abilities.
You're completely right about immersion in games like Rome or Medieval 2, which is why I can't for the life of me understand why the narration in Medieval 2 is unmutable. Every 5 goddamn seconds, listening to awesome battlefield noises I have to hear the narrator say the most obvious stuff or warn me about every single unit that routs or whatnot. It's so annoying and I'm never able to immerse fully becuz he keeps repeatign and repeating. Really spoils the hard work in sound effects in favour of a mechanic that isnt even that grreat
Such a legendary game
That it is... :)
Personally Shogun 2/FOTS is my favorite TW game, but Rome is easily #2.
I find Shogun 2 just made every system perfect and accessible.
I’d love to see your thoughts on Empire, Napoleon, and FOTS!
The RTR 0.2 mod really changed the game’s pacing
WHAT!? You can pass own retinues!?!?!
It's still my favourite game of all time, haven't tried the remaster yet and don't see a reason to.
Melkor!
IT'S MEANT TO BE SPELT IN ALL CAPS!!!!
REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
MELKOR!
@@MelkorGG sorry my lord
Though my favorite still stays with Medieval 2, the vast majority of the reasons obviously stem from Rome 1. Medieval 2 simply took an innovation, an idea, and uncompromising quality, and turned it into what I believe to be a masterpiece. We don't get Medieval 2 without Rome paving the way, and I like Rome 1 as my third best (after Shogun 2, and 4th place is... not even in the ballpark).
19:23 First time I saw this detail on the city map and even years later I amazed. AND lets look at so called "Rome 2", when barbarian faction captures big roman or greek city, settlement turns into a village. Be it Rome, Athens or Carthage. All the unique structure and stone buildings magically turns into wooden huts. "Rome 2" was a insult to Total War.
Well, I think it's perfect, so I don't think it can be better than what I think.. xD
Well indubitably!
Cool to hear from Volound. He has some great guides on the mechanics of total war.
Indeed he does!
I feel so slow learning the new total wars ☹️ my battles are always flawless but I struggle every time I expand my empire I'll have a random enemy army beach my shore where I can't defend. I wish I had a friend who could teach me some tips balancing campaign troops, finance, and food. A lot of people say Rome II is super easy I'm struggling. I keep trying though.
Keep at it and keep trying new strategies or civs until you find something that clicks! You'll get there! I had the same issue but it was a slow process!
Use two mods. One to get rid of forced march, which the AI cheeses like hell, and one mod to allow going in and out of the sea only through port cities. This stops the AI from cheesing and taking your lands with a bunch of quarter sized armies running around.
Man I can't wait for rome 2
I can't quite tell if this is a jab at rome 2... I'm assuming that's the angel you're going for. :P
@@ToNerdistoHumanTNH it was just not the same level of care. People have been saying this for years but it really was a missed opportunity
great video
Danke Grazie
if i recall there is a patch to sort out some of those issues. idk about fan mods patches but I know there are some post game patches released by the devs years ago
@ 17:12
Why they couldn't also let you use the old UI set up is still a mystery.