Empire Total War

[Syenye]

I picked up Empire Total War yesterday and installed it. It's 16GB. I guess I haven't played PC games in a while, but that seems big. Then I spent 2 hours patching it via Steam. It requires Steam.

I finally got to play it today, and I'm a little disappointed. It looks pretty, but the interface isn't as intuitive as Medieval 2 or Rome. There are also multiple theaters, and I don't have the attention span to watch all of them for activity. I frequently forget what's going on in America or that Britain exists.

Anyone else playing it and having more luck than I am?

[Leonaerd]

I haven't played it.

I thought Medieval II, while ambitious, lost the interactive feel that Rome had. Religion was tedious, merchants were not used to their fullest potential at all.. Generally I feel that the game tried to do too much and it led away from what made Rome so fun: battles. I would slow-mo the spear throws of my Urban Cohorts and watch as any troop formations were decimated. Sometimes I'd cackle audibly. Or I'd take an army of 20 Berzerker units and pillage the world. Even Spartan Hoplites would flee from my tyranny. Medieval II just didn't allow for the same satisfaction, despite the graphical improvements.

[Xouqoa]

I was thinking of getting this through Steam. I liked Medieval 2 quite a lot.

[Keverian FireCry]

This is easily the best Total War Game so far. I played Shogun, Medieval 1, Rome, Medieval 2. I would say my favorite game was Rome, but Empire is the next step up from everything else. This is not like Medieval 2, where it was mostly a graphic update of the previous game. This takes the best qualities of all the Total War games,expands on the best of each, and adds new elements to make it all that much better.

I have to say that I've only been playing it for two days...but I happen to have the flu... and between sleep, tea and chicken noodle soup it's taken up every waking hour. I almost wish I was still sick come next monday, so I could stay homeand play some more.

If you like any total war games, this is a must have.

[Xouqoa]

Yeah, I picked this up and it is a lot of fun.

I (George Washington) led the Colonial Army to victory over a far superior (in numbers only!) French force. It was quite epic.

[cadalano]

i just don't get these games. this is Civ4 as if viewed through a shitoscope. its simple, boring, and slow.. like every other installment in the series. i knew this before i bought it, but i bought it anyway because i'm a whore. a filthy whore that crawled out of Saddam's asshole. Are you happy now, Creative Assembly? are you happy with the monster that i've become? are you SATISFIED, or will you continue to make shitty games with which to rape my soul?

[Fash]

i just don't get these games. this is Civ4 as if viewed through a shitoscope. its simple, boring, and slow.. like every other installment in the series. i knew this before i bought it, but i bought it anyway because i'm a whore. a filthy whore that crawled out of Saddam's asshole. Are you happy now, Creative Assembly? are you happy with the monster that i've become? are you SATISFIED, or will you continue to make shitty games with which to rape my soul?

This is why Cadalano, not Stragi, should have a game review thread.

[Bubba Grizz]

Can someone explain what Steam is in regards to gaming? Also why is it required to have for this game? I don't want to have to subscribe to something else to play.

[cadalano]

steam is a digital software distribution system that is also aspiring to be a multiplayer communications platform (ala X-Box live)

in regards to the distribution portion.. you obtain games entirely digitally through a download rather than going to the store and buying it. Patches are performed automatically. if you do buy a game in a retail store, you can still register it with steam and it will work mostly the same as if you'd bought it on steam... depending on the title.

in terms of multiplayer communications.. it works pretty much exactly like xbox live except some games only support the functionality in a limited capacity.. usually older titles. there's an overlaying menu you can pull up while playing any steam game (or while not playing any games) to talk to friends.. view their status.. invite them to do shit.. and so forth.




as for why its required to play empire? thats just the way they decided to do it... it works for Creative Assembly because patch distribution and multiplayer management is all handled through steam and they don't have to dirty their hands with it. not to mention DRM. They probably also got a good deal from Steam because of the exclusivity.

you may not like having to sign up to play but you'll have to get used to it.. this is the first i've seen a steam exclusive game, but between Games for Windows Live and Steam I'd bet you're gonna be seeing more games have similar requirements as more and more developers & producers turn to existing third-party systems to manage both content (product/patch distribution & DRM) and community. Honestly it will be a good thing in the long run.. because platforms like Steam and GFW:Live are dedicated to these concepts and theoretically know how to implement them much better than a video game developer or producer

[Ashur]

Example: I have a coaster that is a scratched up Half Life CD. I gave up on it working years ago (hence why it became a coaster). I entered the CD key into Steam and it downloaded and installed patched versions of all the games on it.

[Xouqoa]

Steam is a pretty nice (and free!) platform.

[Dregor Thule]

Steam is great. For the PC to gain some ground back vs. the console market as far as gaming goes they need to make it more accessible. A centralized hub service like Steam is totally necessary IMO. I just wish everyone would get behind it instead of splitting the market with different, inferior services.

[Leonaerd]

i just don't get these games. this is Civ4 as if viewed through a shitoscope. its simple, boring, and slow.. like every other installment in the series. i knew this before i bought it, but i bought it anyway because i'm a whore. a filthy whore that crawled out of Saddam's asshole. Are you happy now, Creative Assembly? are you happy with the monster that i've become? are you SATISFIED, or will you continue to make shitty games with which to rape my soul?

I'd wager you didn't like Final Fantasy VIII either.

[Fairweather Pure]

I fucking hate Steam.

[cadalano]

pls elaborate

[Leonaerd]

well ff8 had a very rigorous, depthy system often perceived as boring. i thought it was one of the most complete, balanced battle systems in any game ever made. by the time you got to a high level, squall could be so decked out that his status bar would take less than a second to fill without haste or anything. the total war series, while less depthy in its fighting system, demanded a certain type of rigor in order to dominate by the time the end game rolled around. finally getting the chance to use urban / praetorian cohorts while playing as rome in rome:tw was as rewarding a feeling as anything that a game can offer.

[cadalano]

sorry i meant fair- i never played FF8 or really any of them aside from 7 and 5. but, yeah- one man's rigorous and depthy is another man's boring and slow. rome was better than all the rest but was still never a big deal for me so the nostalgia is not there. Total wars generally don't execute very well in either RTS or campaign mode, imo.. and, with particular regard for the past two in the series, i don't understand why they are often rated so extremely high.

[Funkmasterr]

well ff8 had a very rigorous, depthy system often perceived as boring. i thought it was one of the most complete, balanced battle systems in any game ever made. by the time you got to a high level, squall could be so decked out that his status bar would take less than a second to fill without haste or anything. the total war series, while less depthy in its fighting system, demanded a certain type of rigor in order to dominate by the time the end game rolled around. finally getting the chance to use urban / praetorian cohorts while playing as rome in rome:tw was as rewarding a feeling as anything that a game can offer.

FF8 was the aborted fetus of the FF series. To be fair though, I might not have hated it so much if I hadn't got halfway into the game before I realized I should have been stealing the abilities of the bosses along the way. I quit playing after that realization.

[Bubba Grizz]

I bought it over teh weekend in impulse. I haven't had much of a chance to play it yet though. I hope it is good.

[Kwonryu DragonFist]

16 gig is quite hearty!