I don't get it. Historical accuracy is what I think makes this DLC campaign the best of all Rome II DLC campaigns. This map is extremely detailed and has a nice 12 turns per year system. Furthermore, people keep complaining about the unit rosters when it is near perfectly historically accurate. So I guess total war players barely care about historical accuracy and want really unrealistic units in the game? I think the only problem is how overpriced the campaign is, but if you get it on offer its well worth the price, unless players continue whining over unit rosters and how "boring" the campaign is.
Thank you! I fear that future Total Wars will drop historical accuracy in favour of what gamers consider “cool”. Now, I quite love history and like Total War because it’s sort of a way to re-enact the past, and I think a sizeable proportion of the TW fans are like me, just people who like history and want to recreate it. But increasingly these reviews are made primarily by gamers who are more in for the gaming aspects of TW than the historical re-enactment aspects. So far I think TW has kept a nice balance between gaming and historical values, but I fear that this balance will soon be broken if gamers that wouldn’t mind playing unrealistic games in favour of gain more influence on the Creative Assembly
If you like this dlc or if you dont like it, i highly recommend everyone to try the mod called HELLENIKA which is a mod absolutely for wrath of sparta. Its the best mod for total war i played so far and its a total overhaul, it adds many units all of them historical accurate and many changes to the campaign .. everything based on reality and history. Search for it on steam workshop and if you decide to download it make sure to read the guide and manual so you can play it properly.. steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=656921464
Sure there's a lack of unit diversity but what can you expect when it's a DLC set in classical Greece?? I really enjoyed this campaign to be honest as it's one of my favourite eras from history. Not including Syracuse was a miss though
I actually don't mind the lack of variety. After all, pretty much all Greek warfare was hoplite-based. It would have been nice to see units like the Sacred Band of Thebes, or chariots for Persia. Persia could probably do with some hoplites too, as they had mercenaries. There's a game called 'Hegemony Gold: Wars of Ancient Greece', which covers a larger area than 'Wrath of Sparta', and is set in the period of the Peloponnesian Wars to the death of Phillip II of Macedon, with some different and very interesting gameplay. I'd recommend it to anyone who didn't like 'Wrath of Sparta' (and even those who did). And yes, Persia has hoplites, and Thebes has the Sacred Band.
I liked this DLC the most out of all. I have never experienced your agents problem and other noteworthy bugs, and managed to finish the game in a couple of days and about 82 turns with Sparta. I really don't feel the unit rosters are a problem. I'm still kind of used to Shogun were things were pretty much the same. I feel like this is different than the usual Rome II, as I have to use other methods than just better units to win my battles. I liked the campaign map as well, especially the amount of detail and islands that are in there. I do feel like there could have been a bit more unique units and features, but still a very enjoyable experience overall. Just my opinion and experience though, of course, opinions and campaign gameplay is random and different for everyone.
Totally agree, I can only go by the experience I had and my opinions, it wouldnt surprise me that many out there may enjoy this. The campaign map itself is beautiful, I probably shouldve said that but Im sure people can see it for themselves. and I liked the simplicity of shogun 2, but each clan felt different and had specialist units. Land battles as I said could be fun, just over time they became repetitive and the agent problem only occurred for me around turn 100 when tey mustve all ranked up, maybe I was just slow to expand :P
A lot of people complained about battles being too short and now they're complaining that they're to long.... Really guys.... Really? Also people constantly compare the Hopkins warfare in Rome 2 to that of Rome 1. Whilst Rome 1's pike phalanx was fine, it's hoplite phalanx was pretty inaccurate, that's not to say Rome 2's phalanx is 100% accurate, but Rome 2's is much more accurate. And historically hoplites in this period did tend to fight barefoot.
Man, I was really looking forward to this DLC. After WW2, the Peloponnesian War is my favorite era of military history. Disappointed there is no Syracuse, disappointed there is no real unit diversity, and apparently many other issues you pointed out Darren. Here's to hoping that somebody mods this, and soon....I need my fix haha. I did like that they added the Athenian long walls though.
Thanks BVG! But yeah to those saying what do I expect, it's all hoplite, well Shogun 2 was all one general army composition too, but had diversity among their ranks. More unique units to each faction at least each playable would be nice. Why not add a unit with just 80 men that are elite? Why not add a real high tier unit that costs a huge amount of upkeep or initial cost because their armor is good. Why not add different breeds of horses around greece in different provinces that allow recruitment of different cav units. People that say it's all one type of fighting are correct, but labelling everyone as 4 different types of hoplite is frankly insulting to the time period.
DarrenTotalWar The only faction that had different hoplites than the rest of the factions was Sparta and Sparta already has different hoplites.There are no other units to be added in this DLC without screwing historical accuracy. Why should they add different breeds of horses? This would screw HI even more. I don't get why people expect good cav from Hellenic factions. Greece is a hilly, rocky and arid area unfited for horse breeding. The only place that had good cav was Thessaly and they already have a special unit of horses.
People complain about not having historical accuracy and realism in the game but when they do finally get it they complain about it. Personally, i liked this campaign.
hoplite warfare isnt well represented by rome 2s battles. i love the setting and the factions, but they need some diversity either in diplomacy or units. 13 units between 15 factions is just bad.
No, they had the same units for all factions in shogun 2 except one or two factions with unique units. This is identical to the Wrath of Sparta campaign with all factions having the same rosters except one or two factions with unique units. Similar to Wrath of Sparta, some factions in shogun 2 were better at sea and some better at land regarding specific traits. Shogun 2 being a full game and not a DLC had completely identical unit rosters and everyone was fine with it because it was more or less historically accurate. Same applies with Wrath of Sparta, having mostly the same units for accuracy purposes but for some reason now everyone is mad about it. But for some reason shogun 2 felt "different" whereas when Wrath of Sparta has identical units and a limited roster like shogun 2 it becomes "Bad". Sorry if i am coming off aggressive but i am just a little confused by certain people's stance on it all.
JustAnotherGuyOnTheInternet But that's my point, the factions in Shogun 2 were baically the same, but trough good design decisions they were able to make each faction play unique...
"nobody wearing anything on their feet" isn't a bug. it's terrible that we probably won't get another dlc like this. CA tried to do a historical campaign and it got shot down by hipsters.
Weird, I asked around and anybody in the know about history said they should be wearing something. Upon some research myself into Spartan hoplites of the time, it said they wore basic sandals. I certainly never heard of barefoot armies before in greek warfare, but who knows, maybe it is a thing, apologies if I got it wrong, but I have researched it, unless my sources are just all wrong. And I'm as far from a hipster as possible :L
DarrenTotalWar it is CA, of course it isn't going to be historically accurate to a 't.' never said that 5th century b.c.e. hoplites didn't go into battle barefooted (just said the barefoot thing wasn't a bug) there is a famous vase called the Chigi vase, this is where CA probably got their idea for the hoplites. +ultraboy222 I don't want to start some psuedo historical debate on youtube, but when has CA ever really depicted a historically accurate battle sim? so to complain about CA not depicting hoplite warfare when they never have aimed at a historically depicting any kind of fighting is just being a total war fanboy hipster.
It is historical compared to all their other games and dlc except for Maybe the more modern age ones like Napoleon where there really isnt to much that can be done ahistorical.
DarrenTotalWar Greeks were often depicted barefoot in battle. Although I'm sure it could be debated, to quote Osprey's Warriors of Ancient Greece "One unusual feature noticeable in many representations of Boeotian hoplites is that they wear boots. Elsewhere in Greece hoplites invariably fought bare-footed."
The reason you get the major diplomatic penalty is to reflect history. As soon as one faction became too powerful the others would turn on it. It's what kept the fighting going for so long.
I'm thinking that the Peloponnesian War is a prefect spot to create not just a DLC but a new TW game. With bigger map and adding Magna Grecia area with Syracuse and more cities. I enjoy the 12 turns per year, but I don't like at this DLC the system with the united areas with capital (Sparta-Messini-Pylos-Kythira) you know. It's much better to let the cities free at a Peloponnesian War like Shogun
it pissed me off that Athens didn't have the acropolis. The long walls were cool but this era followed the Golden age of greece. I was shocked because in the base game, you could build the acropolis but you couldn't in Wrath of Sparta
Darren, I think it's really unfair to ding CA on not opening the new factions up in multiplayer. They were extremely up front about that. Acknowledging this fact when the DLC was announced. And it's doubly unfair when another strike against the campaign pack is its lack of unit variety. Like we really need more hoplite fielding factions in MP.
Well I never knew about that and I follow CA pretty closely, thats why I was so surprised. I missed their Wrath of Sparta stream, but other than that, I watched their rally point vid and read about it on their wiki. For the average person, who might just buy DLC or might come across this, they should know, that for the same price as other packs, they won't get the same amount of content really. And the faction pack does lack unit variety. Fine if you don't think it should be in MP, but in SP, having only 15 units to choose from for the entire 4 factions is crazy! And the fact you play against these same 13 units over and over again is also crazy! More elite units with smaller manpower, maybe some cavalry training in regions with good horses, maybe just more diverse units in general, more pleb like units, some actual tailored Athenian navy units. When you're cutting out 4 sections in your army, artillery, missile cav, sword infantry and shock cav, you need to bolster the others with variety.
The battles in DLC were more like Rock-Paper-Scissors. > = Beats Hoplites>Cavalry>Skirmishers>Holplites however unless the player buffed up the units and know how to maneuver
Thumbsup for the small 'fail.' popping up in the corner at 0:49. Noticed it from the corner of my eye, but had to go re-watch the part and pause to read it.
Personally thought Athens was going crazy with its spamming of agents, it didn't cause me to much problem, as in my first and only play through I built my agents up to kill others and would check enemy agents every turn. Athens once razed a settlement which surprised me, I would of liked of seen more moves like that instead.
Good review Darren, I agree with a lot of what you said. But why haven't you tried naval battles? They are very much improved, I used to never play them either, but now i play them all the time!
i did play some, they just really annoy/dissapoint me. Its literally a game of bumper cars. usually they tried to nreak the oars of ships back then, and boardin didnt involve jumping 20ft onto other ships. No exuse for it being so bad in Rome 2.
DarrenTotalWar Yeah the boarding is pretty lame i agree, but i like the mix of burning ships with archers and ramming them. They could be a lot better.
I considered buying this mod because the date this takes place is when Egypt was still ruled by itself and not the Persians or Greeks. But the Campaign is only limited to Greece so... Never mind.
I've had fun so far, trying to "role play" Sparta, and following historical choices. However, I agree that the core systems seem broken . It seems like it was done without that much care and depth. Thebes doesn't even have the sacred band. And Thucydides mentions that throughout the war , Both Athens and its allies, and Sparta, evolved to use different kinds of equipement and tactics. So the roster shouldn't be so limited as its portrayed in the game
Background music is from Rome 1, isn't it? Your reviews are very good and I hope you keep your critical point of view and don't become a marketing puppet by getting lured by preview versions.
No matter what if you want it historical the rosters will be similar. Although why not do simpel things like Cretan archers for the Cretans, Thessalian Cav for the, Thessalians and so on. I think people expected more then partly CA but also partly History could provide. Unlike most I actualy like slow pased campaigns and battles but I see why most dont. I think the biggest failure in this dlc is the setting, not their rather good work. I was the Creator of the Hannibals Invasion Large Empires mod for Hatg and Im considering doing something similar for this aswell. Thank you for your good review and for reading my random thoughts.
Actually, the Thessalian League gets a Thessalian Hippeus unit. It has slightly higher charge bonus than Theban Hippeus for 2 points less in melee attack than the Thebans.
Great video! pretty much encapsulates my feelings too. They also hyped up the unit rosters... which ultimately didn't deliver. Also, Have a nice Christmas!
Well in shogun the factions had very similar units as well. More in general but apart from elite units they usually had the same units. I didn't mind that and I think neither did most players. It actually can make for a more simplified game in which strategy is more important than specific abilities of certain units. Enforces the rock papar siccors gameplay you might say.
well, they had sword, spear, archer, spear cav, sword cav and archer cav and each faction had specialist units. Not to mention artillery also. So it really is a lot more than, 4 types of spear unit, 2 types of cav and 3 types of missile.
DarrenTotalWar True, like i said, more in general. Shogun was a full price game, not a dlc as well. What i meant is that i did not mind that most factions had very much the same roster, except for some elite units which did not play that big of a role as they ware usually late game. The unit selection isn't really what annoys me in this dlc - now that I've played it -, it's what the AI does with it.
What navy battles are fun. I tried them just recently and seem that they were improved a lot. Well haven't tried in this dlc but in the grand campaign. Heck I have defeated ground army fleets with my smaller navy fleet easily.
Yeah, I took on a large fleet of transport ships with 6 biremes or something and just rekt them. It was great, something that should have been in the game from day 1.
***** not to mention that they have the speed bonus on sailing. They always did win the auto battles in first patches of the game though. Should also mention that health/damage advantage is greater for actual navy unit. I just personally love to watch enemy ships getting destroyed from my side rams :D
***** "People also didn't jump 5 meters in the air to board the enemy vessel nor did they return to their ship that way." Not sure how that visual bug is related to my comment. Shit like that happens in pretty much any game which has a lot of mechanics in them and uses physic engines and 3d graphics.
Darren, what are your top favorite campaigns of the Rome 2 DLCs? I recently picked up most of them that were on sale and can't decide which one to start. Love the videos btw, and keep up the good work!
Still feel that hannibal at the gates is the best in terms of factions they add, the landcapes (hilly iberia, foresty gaul, italy, africa) and the diverse enemies there within. might do a top DLC vid as i get that question a lot now
i may have laughed for a good 2.... maybe 3 hours, at the "you shouldn't have stabbed the oil" part of this video. video game glitches are the most satirically hilarious things in all of history.
Was I the only one to notice that the shields in Rome 2 are all held the same way at a single point, when hoplons should be held by strap and harness (2 points of contact)? Lazy much?
I have see your complains about the agents so i have make a mod for it. here it is steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=361023002 I will add more in the future in to my collection.
I'd argue that it's less the lack of diversity that's the problem, but rather the issues stemming from the battle engine. Shogun 2 was very much rock paper scissors, but it's combat was meant to be fast paced action. With Hoplites it's not really meant to be that way, so battles can seem boring. The problem, in my opinion, is that units aren't really s weighty. You don't have units pushing against each other properly, making bulges in the lines, and making the battles feel dynamic. Instead it's more like static lines happening to bump into one another.
I feel that if you can't think of any historical units to give a faction to make it diverse...make crap up. It's what they did to some factions in Rome 1. I'd be surprised if anyone believes that 40 berserkers chopping through 200 Roman legionaries is realistic, or that the ivory-clad Middle Kingdom Egyptian elite units rightly represented how Greek Egypt actually was. Rome 1 wasn't fully realistic, but I'm a bit of a history buff and I had fun with it. Realism can be sacrificed for fun, because when you boil things down, war isn't fun in reality. It's horrible. We simulate fun versions of it in fiction. Heck, they can even say right in the unit description "This unit isn't a very realistic portrayal of (insert faction name's) military. It's simply in for variety/balancing/etc." But really, with CA working hard on Attila, I didn't expect a hearty effort from Wrath of Sparta. I expected the flashy trailer we got, plus the hoplite-saturated roster and simplified battles. It takes work, but it can't be THAT hard to make new units, right? Modders do it all the time, and most of the units are ported from the grand campaign (or renamed for a few of Persia's units) directly, so clearly they could've put more effort in this DLC. I learned my lesson after pre-ordering Rome II that DLC+CA=proceed with caution, because it could either be good, or absolute crap like beasts of war.
Wooow the realism xD Hahaha I get chills as I see how much this DLC captures the epicness and same ferosity as the 300 Movie! Wow. 00:15 and out xD Really captures the realism and high end graphics CA was going for xD Bwahahaha!
I hate how people are like BIGGER ROSTERS, BIGGER ROSTERS, but really... are you going to pick that unit that looks different but statistically worse? Or are you going to spam the better one, you're going to spam the better one and completely disregard the rest. I've noticed throughout my playthroughs of campaigns with a lot of unit packs, I tend to not use 90% of the added units because I just go for the best. So why would you want a bigger unit roster if you're most likely not going to use said units anyways. Just food for thought...
I just wish I could get a mod or something for the vanilla game to add more provinces/make the ones we have smaller. add some new factions too. Guess it's not possible like in Shogun 2?
Really, if they had just put Sicily and Southern Italy on the map I would buy it. Really ridiculous some of the historical over-sites CA makes. I think the mods have been carrying their games for years now--the mods with goals of history and realism are the only reason I play them.
What???? Seriously??? Then what is worthing 15 euros on that? They said they added 12 wonders of ancient greece. Parthenon is one of it and they did'n include it? OMG
To Those That Think Wanting More Units Is Because People Don't Care About The Historical Accuracy Of TW: It's Not That People Don't Care About Historical Accuracy It's That Literally Every Faction Has The Same Units. There Could Be A Few Limited Recruitment Units That Represent The Elite Of That Faction But No. Sparta Has Better Hoplites, Persia, Macedon And Thraike Have Completely Different Units And Everyone Else Has The Same Generic Roaster. I Like Historical Games For The Possibility Of Alternate History And The Cool Aspects Of Every Faction. But In WOS Playing Athens Feels No Different Than Playing Any Other Generic Faction And There Is No Culture Conversion. I Usually Play With Extra Playable Factions Because I Don't Like That Roaster So I Use Persia But It Would Be More Fun To Burn Greece To The Ground If There Was Culture Conversion And A Few Different Units For Majors Like Athens.
Funny how loads of people on the forums nagged and nagged for CA to release a Peloponnesian Wars DLC, and then proceeded to whine endlessly about how fights between hoplite phalanxes are just a long grind-out. Perhaps they should have nagged for something a bit further down the timeline?
If you like this dlc or if you dont like it, i highly recommend everyone to try the mod called HELLENIKA which is a mod absolutely for wrath of sparta. Its the best mod for total war i played so far and its a total overhaul, it adds many units all of them historical accurate and many changes to the campaign .. everything based on reality and history. Search for it on steam workshop and if you decide to download it make sure to read the guide and manual so you can play it properly.. steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=656921464
i was honestly really disappointed when i bought it and saw i didn't get any new factions or units and personally the way the navy works in the campaign gave me several bugs and i had several occurrences in sieges where the ai wouldn't move at all. As Sparta I won in 72 turns, it would have been less but my allies decided to fight causing me to have to concur them myself. It's definitely not worth $15 I'd say $7 being nice
+Nathan Kingdara You need the Greek States Culture Pack The wrath of sparta campaign adds units and stuff to sparta + athens not present in the grand campaign or custom battle.
+DarrenTotalWar That kind of shit is sad to hear, guy buys an expensive dlc to play the greek factions and then finds out he bought the wrong expensive dlc and has to buy a slc that should have been given for free
Great game but indeed some more variety in units even mercs would be nice. And agents are even worse then they are in regular rome 2. It breaks the game.
I am kind of upset that you're not going to say "hot diggity damn" for this review.. but i like the intro tho.Reminds me of caligula wanted to wage war against Poseidon.
You said nothing about the Failed Diplomacy- its too easy to make military allies with sparta and athens.I won both campaigns on Very hard on turns 54 and 50.Its soo easy to win..... I just did it in 5 hours for each campaign....Borring Steamroll.The Ai cant manage the new(old) Reruitment Sistem from Medieval 2 .......... Sparta with walls.... another Fail. Athens is a generic city, not the Historical City with the Acropolis from the Grand campaign..... About the Agent spam - go play the Grand Capmaign on very hard when doing the This is Total War achivement.....you will see the True nightmare
I found diplomacy frustrating. I couldnt make any client states except for Persia when they still had like 6 regions. I left it out because it just felt weird, sometimes there was cool betrayals and alliances, other times there were absolutely pointless wars and breaking of trade. Basically same as Rome 2, so no change from what I could see.
I found diplomacy frustrating. I couldnt make any client states except for Persia when they still had like 6 regions. I left it out because it just felt weird, sometimes there was cool betrayals and alliances, other times there were absolutely pointless wars and breaking of trade. Basically same as Rome 2, so no change from what I could see.
Also if you got military allies and the AI wants to trade with you it can voluntaraly become a Client state only because it wants to trade with you..... so eazy and borring when manupolitating the Ai
Played very hard with Sparta. Every battle exactly the same.. Same A.I tactics, same A.I troops. I know it's Greece but shit they could of spiced up the campaign map with cool map features or made historic events...it takes real skill creative assembly to at least make the campaign interesting rather then recycling old content and expanding the Greek Peninsular. Not worth $15 Australian at all.
to be honest they dont need change the graphics but on the AI, design and gameplay, on the battles. The campaign ai can have a simplified CK2 or civ ai just improve on the battles really the game looks good but the ai is terrible. The darthmod is great but i wish the next game will make the ai better to where you need the darthmod. I'm just being optimistic though.
Holy fuck the agents i had 1 army rebuilt 5 times to go and kill that town south of athenai i literally moved it out one time and over 500 troops instantly died from agents i was like nope nope then i found the agent and attacked it 5 times with different agents she killed 3 of mine and wounded 1 and the other was unsuccesful wtfffffffffffffff
I don't get it. Historical accuracy is what I think makes this DLC campaign the best of all Rome II DLC campaigns. This map is extremely detailed and has a nice 12 turns per year system. Furthermore, people keep complaining about the unit rosters when it is near perfectly historically accurate. So I guess total war players barely care about historical accuracy and want really unrealistic units in the game? I think the only problem is how overpriced the campaign is, but if you get it on offer its well worth the price, unless players continue whining over unit rosters and how "boring" the campaign is.
SoupofCan true
Thank you! I fear that future Total Wars will drop historical accuracy in favour of what gamers consider “cool”. Now, I quite love history and like Total War because it’s sort of a way to re-enact the past, and I think a sizeable proportion of the TW fans are like me, just people who like history and want to recreate it. But increasingly these reviews are made primarily by gamers who are more in for the gaming aspects of TW than the historical re-enactment aspects. So far I think TW has kept a nice balance between gaming and historical values, but I fear that this balance will soon be broken if gamers that wouldn’t mind playing unrealistic games in favour of gain more influence on the Creative Assembly
If you like this dlc or if you dont like it, i highly recommend everyone to try the mod called HELLENIKA which is a mod absolutely for wrath of sparta. Its the best mod for total war i played so far and its a total overhaul, it adds many units all of them historical accurate and many changes to the campaign .. everything based on reality and history. Search for it on steam workshop and if you decide to download it make sure to read the guide and manual so you can play it properly.. steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=656921464
SoupofCan totally agree
Alvaro Gomez Vivas and it turns out you’re disgustingly accurate. I know I’m late, but that prediction was spot on
Sure there's a lack of unit diversity but what can you expect when it's a DLC set in classical Greece?? I really enjoyed this campaign to be honest as it's one of my favourite eras from history. Not including Syracuse was a miss though
Yeah, syracuse was a bid deal at the time
I actually don't mind the lack of variety. After all, pretty much all Greek warfare was hoplite-based. It would have been nice to see units like the Sacred Band of Thebes, or chariots for Persia. Persia could probably do with some hoplites too, as they had mercenaries.
There's a game called 'Hegemony Gold: Wars of Ancient Greece', which covers a larger area than 'Wrath of Sparta', and is set in the period of the Peloponnesian Wars to the death of Phillip II of Macedon, with some different and very interesting gameplay. I'd recommend it to anyone who didn't like 'Wrath of Sparta' (and even those who did). And yes, Persia has hoplites, and Thebes has the Sacred Band.
I liked this DLC the most out of all. I have never experienced your agents problem and other noteworthy bugs, and managed to finish the game in a couple of days and about 82 turns with Sparta. I really don't feel the unit rosters are a problem. I'm still kind of used to Shogun were things were pretty much the same. I feel like this is different than the usual Rome II, as I have to use other methods than just better units to win my battles. I liked the campaign map as well, especially the amount of detail and islands that are in there. I do feel like there could have been a bit more unique units and features, but still a very enjoyable experience overall. Just my opinion and experience though, of course, opinions and campaign gameplay is random and different for everyone.
Totally agree, I can only go by the experience I had and my opinions, it wouldnt surprise me that many out there may enjoy this. The campaign map itself is beautiful, I probably shouldve said that but Im sure people can see it for themselves.
and I liked the simplicity of shogun 2, but each clan felt different and had specialist units.
Land battles as I said could be fun, just over time they became repetitive and the agent problem only occurred for me around turn 100 when tey mustve all ranked up, maybe I was just slow to expand :P
Very first time that my island is in a Total War game ! It's good but they focus too much on Sparta since they know it will sell due to 300 movies.
A lot of people complained about battles being too short and now they're complaining that they're to long.... Really guys.... Really? Also people constantly compare the Hopkins warfare in Rome 2 to that of Rome 1. Whilst Rome 1's pike phalanx was fine, it's hoplite phalanx was pretty inaccurate, that's not to say Rome 2's phalanx is 100% accurate, but Rome 2's is much more accurate. And historically hoplites in this period did tend to fight barefoot.
Man, I was really looking forward to this DLC. After WW2, the Peloponnesian War is my favorite era of military history. Disappointed there is no Syracuse, disappointed there is no real unit diversity, and apparently many other issues you pointed out Darren. Here's to hoping that somebody mods this, and soon....I need my fix haha.
I did like that they added the Athenian long walls though.
What other units would you like to see? The Greeks at that time were mostly relying on hoplites not swordsmen or cav.
The only complain about units that I have is that you can't recruit Thracian warriors as mecenaryes.
Adding the Athenian long walls was the least they could of added.
Thanks BVG! But yeah to those saying what do I expect, it's all hoplite, well Shogun 2 was all one general army composition too, but had diversity among their ranks. More unique units to each faction at least each playable would be nice. Why not add a unit with just 80 men that are elite? Why not add a real high tier unit that costs a huge amount of upkeep or initial cost because their armor is good. Why not add different breeds of horses around greece in different provinces that allow recruitment of different cav units. People that say it's all one type of fighting are correct, but labelling everyone as 4 different types of hoplite is frankly insulting to the time period.
DarrenTotalWar The only faction that had different hoplites than the rest of the factions was Sparta and Sparta already has different hoplites.There are no other units to be added in this DLC without screwing historical accuracy.
Why should they add different breeds of horses? This would screw HI even more. I don't get why people expect good cav from Hellenic factions. Greece is a hilly, rocky and arid area unfited for horse breeding. The only place that had good cav was Thessaly and they already have a special unit of horses.
People complain about not having historical accuracy and realism in the game but when they do finally get it they complain about it. Personally, i liked this campaign.
hoplite warfare isnt well represented by rome 2s battles. i love the setting and the factions, but they need some diversity either in diplomacy or units. 13 units between 15 factions is just bad.
DarrenTotalWar I completely agree that 13 units for 15 factions is bad, but in Shogun 2 all factions shared the same units. Why did it work there?
TheSviskekompott They made the factions play out and feel diffrently, here the factions are basically the same one but ith a diffrent name...
No, they had the same units for all factions in shogun 2 except one or two factions with unique units. This is identical to the Wrath of Sparta campaign with all factions having the same rosters except one or two factions with unique units. Similar to Wrath of Sparta, some factions in shogun 2 were better at sea and some better at land regarding specific traits. Shogun 2 being a full game and not a DLC had completely identical unit rosters and everyone was fine with it because it was more or less historically accurate. Same applies with Wrath of Sparta, having mostly the same units for accuracy purposes but for some reason now everyone is mad about it. But for some reason shogun 2 felt "different" whereas when Wrath of Sparta has identical units and a limited roster like shogun 2 it becomes "Bad". Sorry if i am coming off aggressive but i am just a little confused by certain people's stance on it all.
JustAnotherGuyOnTheInternet But that's my point, the factions in Shogun 2 were baically the same, but trough good design decisions they were able to make each faction play unique...
I want the speeches form Shogun 2 to come back in Attila total war and videos of the agents and generals. What do you think?
yes definitely. some videos are coming back but not agent ones and i dunno bout soeeches :/
How many armies that they allow in Attila total war ?
Do they allow to build just small units with out general or not ? Like in Shogun 2 !!!!!
Oh by the way i like YOUR VIDEOS SOOOOOOOOO MUCH 😊😊😊😊😊
"nobody wearing anything on their feet" isn't a bug. it's terrible that we probably won't get another dlc like this. CA tried to do a historical campaign and it got shot down by hipsters.
Weird, I asked around and anybody in the know about history said they should be wearing something. Upon some research myself into Spartan hoplites of the time, it said they wore basic sandals. I certainly never heard of barefoot armies before in greek warfare, but who knows, maybe it is a thing, apologies if I got it wrong, but I have researched it, unless my sources are just all wrong.
And I'm as far from a hipster as possible :L
DarrenTotalWar it is CA, of course it isn't going to be historically accurate to a 't.' never said that 5th century b.c.e. hoplites didn't go into battle barefooted (just said the barefoot thing wasn't a bug) there is a famous vase called the Chigi vase, this is where CA probably got their idea for the hoplites.
+ultraboy222 I don't want to start some psuedo historical debate on youtube, but when has CA ever really depicted a historically accurate battle sim? so to complain about CA not depicting hoplite warfare when they never have aimed at a historically depicting any kind of fighting is just being a total war fanboy hipster.
This hipster here
It is historical compared to all their other games and dlc except for Maybe the more modern age ones like Napoleon where there really isnt to much that can be done ahistorical.
DarrenTotalWar Greeks were often depicted barefoot in battle. Although I'm sure it could be debated, to quote Osprey's Warriors of Ancient Greece "One unusual feature noticeable in many representations of Boeotian hoplites is that they wear boots. Elsewhere in Greece hoplites invariably fought bare-footed."
The reason you get the major diplomatic penalty is to reflect history. As soon as one faction became too powerful the others would turn on it. It's what kept the fighting going for so long.
I'm interested to see how the 2D animations play out in Attila, does anyone have any ideas?
Agents are always problematic... I had a lot of small nations spam agent my forces to a halt and had to recall them to avoid losing them completely.
I'm thinking that the Peloponnesian War is a prefect spot to create not just a DLC but a new TW game. With bigger map and adding Magna Grecia area with Syracuse and more cities. I enjoy the 12 turns per year, but I don't like at this DLC the system with the united areas with capital (Sparta-Messini-Pylos-Kythira) you know. It's much better to let the cities free at a Peloponnesian War like Shogun
This has put a hell of a dampener on my hype for Attila.
it pissed me off that Athens didn't have the acropolis. The long walls were cool but this era followed the Golden age of greece. I was shocked because in the base game, you could build the acropolis but you couldn't in Wrath of Sparta
Darren, I think it's really unfair to ding CA on not opening the new factions up in multiplayer. They were extremely up front about that. Acknowledging this fact when the DLC was announced. And it's doubly unfair when another strike against the campaign pack is its lack of unit variety. Like we really need more hoplite fielding factions in MP.
Well I never knew about that and I follow CA pretty closely, thats why I was so surprised. I missed their Wrath of Sparta stream, but other than that, I watched their rally point vid and read about it on their wiki. For the average person, who might just buy DLC or might come across this, they should know, that for the same price as other packs, they won't get the same amount of content really.
And the faction pack does lack unit variety. Fine if you don't think it should be in MP, but in SP, having only 15 units to choose from for the entire 4 factions is crazy! And the fact you play against these same 13 units over and over again is also crazy! More elite units with smaller manpower, maybe some cavalry training in regions with good horses, maybe just more diverse units in general, more pleb like units, some actual tailored Athenian navy units. When you're cutting out 4 sections in your army, artillery, missile cav, sword infantry and shock cav, you need to bolster the others with variety.
Damn, they hopped boats like Nigerians lol
WEEEEEEEE!!!!!!
The battles in DLC were more like Rock-Paper-Scissors.
> = Beats
Hoplites>Cavalry>Skirmishers>Holplites however unless the player buffed up the units and know how to maneuver
I noticed they did add the pop-ups with historical explanation to other campaigns, so we've got that going for us, which is nice
Thumbsup for the small 'fail.' popping up in the corner at 0:49. Noticed it from the corner of my eye, but had to go re-watch the part and pause to read it.
So glad I didn't buy this DLC, I was really tempted :/
Same here, but it was not on sale, thanks Gabe!
Grée Antoine You're welcome.
Personally thought Athens was going crazy with its spamming of agents, it didn't cause me to much problem, as in my first and only play through I built my agents up to kill others and would check enemy agents every turn. Athens once razed a settlement which surprised me, I would of liked of seen more moves like that instead.
3:35 i've never seen this animation, can anybody tell me if this is just something that rarely happens or am i missing something? thanks lol
Mikele this happens like 0.1 % of the time
Good review Darren, I agree with a lot of what you said. But why haven't you tried naval battles? They are very much improved, I used to never play them either, but now i play them all the time!
i did play some, they just really annoy/dissapoint me. Its literally a game of bumper cars. usually they tried to nreak the oars of ships back then, and boardin didnt involve jumping 20ft onto other ships. No exuse for it being so bad in Rome 2.
DarrenTotalWar Yeah the boarding is pretty lame i agree, but i like the mix of burning ships with archers and ramming them. They could be a lot better.
I considered buying this mod because the date this takes place is when Egypt was still ruled by itself and not the Persians or Greeks. But the Campaign is only limited to Greece so... Never mind.
15$ more in my pocket for Attila, good review Darren and thank you as I was waiting for it before buying that DLC
All the people are talking about the DLC but HOW THE HELL DO THE MARINES JUMP THAT HIGH!!???
Gravity was much lower in those days.
Dam you Issac Newton for discovering gravity we know to day
I've had fun so far, trying to "role play" Sparta, and following historical choices. However, I agree that the core systems seem broken . It seems like it was done without that much care and depth. Thebes doesn't even have the sacred band. And Thucydides mentions that throughout the war , Both Athens and its allies, and Sparta, evolved to use different kinds of equipement and tactics. So the roster shouldn't be so limited as its portrayed in the game
Listen to Darren, wait and hold onto your money unless you are 100% you will receive quality!
Figures the ancient Athenians would try talking their opponents to death ROFL
Background music is from Rome 1, isn't it?
Your reviews are very good and I hope you keep your critical point of view and don't become a marketing puppet by getting lured by preview versions.
No matter what if you want it historical the rosters will be similar.
Although why not do simpel things like Cretan archers for the Cretans, Thessalian Cav for the, Thessalians and so on.
I think people expected more then partly CA but also partly History could provide.
Unlike most I actualy like slow pased campaigns and battles but I see why most dont.
I think the biggest failure in this dlc is the setting, not their rather good work.
I was the Creator of the Hannibals Invasion Large Empires mod for Hatg and Im considering doing something similar for this aswell.
Thank you for your good review and for reading my random thoughts.
Actually, the Thessalian League gets a Thessalian Hippeus unit. It has slightly higher charge bonus than Theban Hippeus for 2 points less in melee attack than the Thebans.
Thats great but more of it. =)
Great video! pretty much encapsulates my feelings too. They also hyped up the unit rosters... which ultimately didn't deliver.
Also, Have a nice Christmas!
it says 50 new units on their page. I actually think this is just a lie.
It would love it if I could play as the Ionian league on multiplayer and camping..
Do the Persians have chariots or elephants?
Nope. At least I don't think so.
Roxana Darh Can you link to that? Or at least give a name?
Well in shogun the factions had very similar units as well. More in general but apart from elite units they usually had the same units.
I didn't mind that and I think neither did most players. It actually can make for a more simplified game in which strategy is more important than specific abilities of certain units. Enforces the rock papar siccors gameplay you might say.
well, they had sword, spear, archer, spear cav, sword cav and archer cav and each faction had specialist units. Not to mention artillery also. So it really is a lot more than, 4 types of spear unit, 2 types of cav and 3 types of missile.
DarrenTotalWar True, like i said, more in general. Shogun was a full price game, not a dlc as well.
What i meant is that i did not mind that most factions had very much the same roster, except for some elite units which did not play that big of a role as they ware usually late game.
The unit selection isn't really what annoys me in this dlc - now that I've played it -, it's what the AI does with it.
What navy battles are fun. I tried them just recently and seem that they were improved a lot. Well haven't tried in this dlc but in the grand campaign. Heck I have defeated ground army fleets with my smaller navy fleet easily.
Yeah, I took on a large fleet of transport ships with 6 biremes or something and just rekt them. It was great, something that should have been in the game from day 1.
Equinox I actually found it now more enjoyable than land battle. Which is weird since normally I hate navy/air battles in any game.l
***** not to mention that they have the speed bonus on sailing. They always did win the auto battles in first patches of the game though. Should also mention that health/damage advantage is greater for actual navy unit.
I just personally love to watch enemy ships getting destroyed from my side rams :D
***** "People also didn't jump 5 meters in the air to board the enemy vessel nor did they return to their ship that way."
Not sure how that visual bug is related to my comment. Shit like that happens in pretty much any game which has a lot of mechanics in them and uses physic engines and 3d graphics.
Darren, what are your top favorite campaigns of the Rome 2 DLCs? I recently picked up most of them that were on sale and can't decide which one to start. Love the videos btw, and keep up the good work!
Still feel that hannibal at the gates is the best in terms of factions they add, the landcapes (hilly iberia, foresty gaul, italy, africa) and the diverse enemies there within.
might do a top DLC vid as i get that question a lot now
i may have laughed for a good 2.... maybe 3 hours, at the "you shouldn't have stabbed the oil" part of this video.
video game glitches are the most satirically hilarious things in all of history.
This was the best DLC to me the only thing i dislike about this is the agents but the agents stunning and all happened to me in all of them
If i want to live out a fantasy of playing as Spartans/300 is it better to get this or the Greek states pack?
Was I the only one to notice that the shields in Rome 2 are all held the same way at a single point, when hoplons should be held by strap and harness (2 points of contact)? Lazy much?
I have see your complains about the agents so i have make a mod for it.
here it is
steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=361023002
I will add more in the future in to my collection.
I'd argue that it's less the lack of diversity that's the problem, but rather the issues stemming from the battle engine. Shogun 2 was very much rock paper scissors, but it's combat was meant to be fast paced action. With Hoplites it's not really meant to be that way, so battles can seem boring. The problem, in my opinion, is that units aren't really s weighty. You don't have units pushing against each other properly, making bulges in the lines, and making the battles feel dynamic. Instead it's more like static lines happening to bump into one another.
For me personally the trade historical for variety was fine. I much rather have historical accuracy.
I feel that if you can't think of any historical units to give a faction to make it diverse...make crap up. It's what they did to some factions in Rome 1. I'd be surprised if anyone believes that 40 berserkers chopping through 200 Roman legionaries is realistic, or that the ivory-clad Middle Kingdom Egyptian elite units rightly represented how Greek Egypt actually was. Rome 1 wasn't fully realistic, but I'm a bit of a history buff and I had fun with it. Realism can be sacrificed for fun, because when you boil things down, war isn't fun in reality. It's horrible. We simulate fun versions of it in fiction. Heck, they can even say right in the unit description "This unit isn't a very realistic portrayal of (insert faction name's) military. It's simply in for variety/balancing/etc."
But really, with CA working hard on Attila, I didn't expect a hearty effort from Wrath of Sparta. I expected the flashy trailer we got, plus the hoplite-saturated roster and simplified battles. It takes work, but it can't be THAT hard to make new units, right? Modders do it all the time, and most of the units are ported from the grand campaign (or renamed for a few of Persia's units) directly, so clearly they could've put more effort in this DLC. I learned my lesson after pre-ordering Rome II that DLC+CA=proceed with caution, because it could either be good, or absolute crap like beasts of war.
Thought they were gonna stab the ocean in the beginning
Good review. The agents where fine though. I played on very hard, too and dont think they where overpowered - it was realistic.
This was gifted to me by a friend that I think is obsessed with Sparta.
+FaceUnreality Wish I had steam friends like that.
***** I don't know why honestly. I never talk to him.
FaceUnreality
That must have been really cool but weird at the same time then. haha
***** I even told him I don't want it, so it was nice of him.
Wooow the realism xD Hahaha
I get chills as I see how much this DLC captures the epicness and same ferosity as the 300 Movie! Wow.
00:15 and out xD Really captures the realism and high end graphics CA was going for xD Bwahahaha!
I hate how people are like BIGGER ROSTERS, BIGGER ROSTERS, but really... are you going to pick that unit that looks different but statistically worse? Or are you going to spam the better one, you're going to spam the better one and completely disregard the rest. I've noticed throughout my playthroughs of campaigns with a lot of unit packs, I tend to not use 90% of the added units because I just go for the best. So why would you want a bigger unit roster if you're most likely not going to use said units anyways. Just food for thought...
I just wish I could get a mod or something for the vanilla game to add more provinces/make the ones we have smaller. add some new factions too. Guess it's not possible like in Shogun 2?
Really, if they had just put Sicily and Southern Italy on the map I would buy it. Really ridiculous some of the historical over-sites CA makes. I think the mods have been carrying their games for years now--the mods with goals of history and realism are the only reason I play them.
Lol the hoplites are flying holy shitt
i liked this DLC the most out of all of them
I like the shields, I prefer those kinds of shields then the one you get in vailla rome 2, is there a mod that adds it in?
Are the long walls presented at the battle map? Is the acropolis there too? (In WoS battle map)
MrThongfinder Nope just on campaign and no Acropolis
What???? Seriously??? Then what is worthing 15 euros on that? They said they added 12 wonders of ancient greece. Parthenon is one of it and they did'n include it? OMG
To Those That Think Wanting More Units Is Because People Don't Care About The Historical Accuracy Of TW:
It's Not That People Don't Care About Historical Accuracy It's That Literally Every Faction Has The Same Units.
There Could Be A Few Limited Recruitment Units That Represent The Elite Of That Faction But No.
Sparta Has Better Hoplites, Persia, Macedon And Thraike Have Completely Different Units And Everyone Else Has The Same Generic Roaster.
I Like Historical Games For The Possibility Of Alternate History And The Cool Aspects Of Every Faction.
But In WOS Playing Athens Feels No Different Than Playing Any Other Generic Faction And There Is No Culture Conversion.
I Usually Play With Extra Playable Factions Because I Don't Like That Roaster So I Use Persia But It Would Be More Fun To Burn Greece To The Ground If There Was Culture Conversion And A Few Different Units For Majors Like Athens.
Attila better be good after all of this let-down DLC.
hey of the rome 2 dlcs that you can buy now which do you think i should buy?? this is coming from someone who has bought none so far
hannibal at the gates offers best value for money in terms of gameplay and factions i feel. check my review or others first!
great thanks man awesome to see a fellow Irishman giving it real when its needed :D
How mod did you get for those killing animations?
I agree on the agents part too
They are so frustrating and stupid
you could just kill the agents they send so there agents are always lower than yours, besides that, good review
Funny how loads of people on the forums nagged and nagged for CA to release a Peloponnesian Wars DLC, and then proceeded to whine endlessly about how fights between hoplite phalanxes are just a long grind-out. Perhaps they should have nagged for something a bit further down the timeline?
I wouldnt mind a long grind out if it was interesting to watch. Formation fighting in Rome II sadly isnt what it should be.
Thessaly and Macedonia are mostly plains thats why every battle map in northern greece is a plain
Jesus, those soldiers can fucking jump.
I think I'll buy this when it's on sale, and only for the mods. :P
Why didn't I wait for your review ...
because steam makes it so easy :(
If you like this dlc or if you dont like it, i highly recommend everyone to try the mod called HELLENIKA which is a mod absolutely for wrath of sparta. Its the best mod for total war i played so far and its a total overhaul, it adds many units all of them historical accurate and many changes to the campaign .. everything based on reality and history. Search for it on steam workshop and if you decide to download it make sure to read the guide and manual so you can play it properly.. steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=656921464
i was honestly really disappointed when i bought it and saw i didn't get any new factions or units and personally the way the navy works in the campaign gave me several bugs and i had several occurrences in sieges where the ai wouldn't move at all. As Sparta I won in 72 turns, it would have been less but my allies decided to fight causing me to have to concur them myself. It's definitely not worth $15 I'd say $7 being nice
Do you have any graphic mod installed?
During reviews I have no mods, this video is very old though and the hame has recieved patches since
when DLC doesn't contribute anything to the main campaign that's a bad thing for total war games. Warhammer trilogy fixed this issue.
im gonna buy it anyway. so i can play as the minor factions like pre alexander makedonia!
This is what we've come to expect from CA: mediocrity!!! These fools can't do it anymore!
+Chalkaspis Shogun 2 FoTS was much better...
No sacred band unit for the Boiotian league? >angry
Ill still get it for the mods and To support CA and Attila
Never stab the oil Dx
The ancient Greeks fought barefoot, it wasn't a bug. DLC was still crap with that said.
+SlipSloop No they didn't.
This review pretty sums it up
Thx
how come i cant play as athens or sparta even when i still got wrath of sparta
+Nathan Kingdara You need the Greek States Culture Pack
The wrath of sparta campaign adds units and stuff to sparta + athens not present in the grand campaign or custom battle.
+DarrenTotalWar That kind of shit is sad to hear, guy buys an expensive dlc to play the greek factions and then finds out he bought the wrong expensive dlc and has to buy a slc that should have been given for free
+mikey robinson :(
Can you get it for free
glad im not the only one who quits because of annoying agent spam
love how people in the classical era could simply fly from ship to ship; why bother with boats? ;P
Great game but indeed some more variety in units even mercs would be nice.
And agents are even worse then they are in regular rome 2. It breaks the game.
I am kind of upset that you're not going to say "hot diggity damn" for this review..
but i like the intro tho.Reminds me of caligula wanted to wage war against Poseidon.
You said nothing about the Failed Diplomacy- its too easy to make military allies with sparta and athens.I won both campaigns on Very hard on turns 54 and 50.Its soo easy to win..... I just did it in 5 hours for each campaign....Borring Steamroll.The Ai cant manage the new(old) Reruitment Sistem from Medieval 2 .......... Sparta with walls.... another Fail. Athens is a generic city, not the Historical City with the Acropolis from the Grand campaign.....
About the Agent spam - go play the Grand Capmaign on very hard when doing the This is Total War achivement.....you will see the True nightmare
I found diplomacy frustrating. I couldnt make any client states except for Persia when they still had like 6 regions. I left it out because it just felt weird, sometimes there was cool betrayals and alliances, other times there were absolutely pointless wars and breaking of trade. Basically same as Rome 2, so no change from what I could see.
I found diplomacy frustrating. I couldnt make any client states except for Persia when they still had like 6 regions. I left it out because it just felt weird, sometimes there was cool betrayals and alliances, other times there were absolutely pointless wars and breaking of trade. Basically same as Rome 2, so no change from what I could see.
Also if you got military allies and the AI wants to trade with you it can voluntaraly become a Client state only because it wants to trade with you..... so eazy and borring when manupolitating the Ai
Only if Macedonia was available
So none of the new units or factions feature in skirmish or MP?
CA are getting stingy lately.
ty dude u just saved me £10.
I use a mod to get rid of agents
Very good review ... I just think you were talking way too slowly ... lol
Played very hard with Sparta. Every battle exactly the same.. Same A.I tactics, same A.I troops. I know it's Greece but shit they could of spiced up the campaign map with cool map features or made historic events...it takes real skill creative assembly to at least make the campaign interesting rather then recycling old content and expanding the Greek Peninsular. Not worth $15 Australian at all.
It was fun for a bit
9:30 min barry alen the flash is incoming :P
showcase more units
to be honest they dont need change the graphics but on the AI, design and gameplay, on the battles. The campaign ai can have a simplified CK2 or civ ai just improve on the battles really the game looks good but the ai is terrible. The darthmod is great but i wish the next game will make the ai better to where you need the darthmod.
I'm just being optimistic though.
"Nope. Not immortal." lol
Holy fuck the agents i had 1 army rebuilt 5 times to go and kill that town south of athenai i literally moved it out one time and over 500 troops instantly died from agents i was like nope nope
then i found the agent and attacked it 5 times with different agents she killed 3 of mine and wounded 1 and the other was unsuccesful wtfffffffffffffff
One CA employee doesn't like this video.
12:00 darren they only Want to get warm :(