So, this just came out and it's getting some pretty good reviews. I've not actually played any of the Total War games before, I'm thinking about picking this one up from Steam but I'm not really sure what to expect out of it gameplay wise. Has anyone picked this up yet? Any impressions to share?
Empire: Total War
- Thread starter Arrqh
- Start date
Not yet. I pre-ordered the game and UPS tells me I get it today. I'll let you know in a day or so what I think. I've been looking around the Total War forums in the meantime. People so far seem pretty impressed.
I haven't picked it up yet, I won't have any time to play for the next few weeks so I'm just waiting to get it for my birthday. I did play the demo, though, which featured both a land and naval battle, both of which were exquisite and very fun.
I can say more about the Total War franchise as a whole, however, as I've been playing since the original Medieval came out back in 2002. The series combines a campaign map, where you are able to build up the infrastructure and trade of your empire, engage in diplomacy, and conquer territory, with the ability to play real time battles on a massive scale. Both sides are very fun and designed to make you feel like you're actually fighting in a real-world situation, especially the land battles, which are won through real tactics and more by breaking morale than necessarily killing. There have been a lot of changes in the franchise, of course. The first two games, Shogun and Medieval, used a Risk-style campaign map where you could only move armies from province to province and battles only featured sprites to represent the soldiers. It got a massive upgrade for Rome when they switched to more of a Civ-style map where you can move your armies around the map and take advantage of terrain more easily. The units were also finally rendered in 3D. Medieval II took Rome's upgrades and refined it and, in my opinion, was much more entertaining than Rome ever was. Empire appears to be in the same vein as the last two but is making a lot of big upgrades in some areas, it would really probably be best just to read up on the features.
By the way, the demo is available through Steam if you're interested. It's a pity they don't have a campaign demo, but the battles are entertaining.
I can say more about the Total War franchise as a whole, however, as I've been playing since the original Medieval came out back in 2002. The series combines a campaign map, where you are able to build up the infrastructure and trade of your empire, engage in diplomacy, and conquer territory, with the ability to play real time battles on a massive scale. Both sides are very fun and designed to make you feel like you're actually fighting in a real-world situation, especially the land battles, which are won through real tactics and more by breaking morale than necessarily killing. There have been a lot of changes in the franchise, of course. The first two games, Shogun and Medieval, used a Risk-style campaign map where you could only move armies from province to province and battles only featured sprites to represent the soldiers. It got a massive upgrade for Rome when they switched to more of a Civ-style map where you can move your armies around the map and take advantage of terrain more easily. The units were also finally rendered in 3D. Medieval II took Rome's upgrades and refined it and, in my opinion, was much more entertaining than Rome ever was. Empire appears to be in the same vein as the last two but is making a lot of big upgrades in some areas, it would really probably be best just to read up on the features.
By the way, the demo is available through Steam if you're interested. It's a pity they don't have a campaign demo, but the battles are entertaining.
I can tell you that all Total War games are great. They try to be realistic, so don't expect an easy game, but they're lots of fun. The time period is pretty unique and the tactics are very different from games of the past, so it might be a different experience. But I expect it to be worth the investment, especially if you're interested in the time period.
Speaking on the franchise in general - It has the the depth of Civ, but with a much more tighter focus, since you don't go through "eras". The combat is also much slower, but more interesting. It will take new people a while to get used to the pivot camera that the game insists that you use though.
That said, it could be completely different now. Naval combat, for instance, is a new addition that may change how combat works in the game.
That said, it could be completely different now. Naval combat, for instance, is a new addition that may change how combat works in the game.
I did try the demo, but the lack of the actual campaign made it pretty uninteresting to me... I tend to care more about that sort of stuff then the battles themselves!
I've been all over this game all day. I've been a fan of all the Total War games to date and this is almost certainly the best one yet. Its so vast that all the detail is pretty overwhelming to begin with.
The biggest addition, the sea battles, are a bit hit and miss. They look and sound incredible, but are kind of hard to control. This has come out in a lot of reviews and I'm inclined to agree. The Developers say that it is largely because naval tactics are very new and unfamiliar to most players, and I do think that is partly it.
Everything that was Total War has been either expanded - diplomacy, trade, building etc or streamlined - recruitment, research, religion. The land battles look and sound as good as the sea battles and there are a lot of new tactics due to the 18th Century style of warfare. Your troops can now garrison buildings, take cover behind walls, all that stuff you'd think they'd be able to do.
The biggest addition, the sea battles, are a bit hit and miss. They look and sound incredible, but are kind of hard to control. This has come out in a lot of reviews and I'm inclined to agree. The Developers say that it is largely because naval tactics are very new and unfamiliar to most players, and I do think that is partly it.
Everything that was Total War has been either expanded - diplomacy, trade, building etc or streamlined - recruitment, research, religion. The land battles look and sound as good as the sea battles and there are a lot of new tactics due to the 18th Century style of warfare. Your troops can now garrison buildings, take cover behind walls, all that stuff you'd think they'd be able to do.
I think the developers are onto something about the unfamiliarity of naval tactics. On my first attempt at the naval demo, it was basically chaos. I tried guiding each individual ship and it ended up being a massive brawl with lots of maneuvering and blocked firing arcs.
I just tried it again but this time actually bothered to take a look at some of the features. This time I grouped my fleet and put them in line astern. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was extremely easy to guide the fleet this way. All I had to do was click the location and the fleet would move realistically towards it, one following the other in proper naval fashion. It looks like they actually did a pretty good job of setting it up to play out like real naval battles.
The end result was a resounding success. Whereas in the first attempt I had lost two vessels by the end, this time I was able to take advantage of the weatherguage (i.e., being upwind of the enemy) and maneuvered my line around the enemy fleet. Since they were downwind of me, they had a great deal of difficulty coming about and forming a line of their own to meet me. I ended up basically wrapping around their fleet, clustered in one position, while my line wrought havoc on them. I took down 3 ships this way. The rest of the battle got a little hairier because the tail of my line had started to lag behind and, on top of that, I got it into my head to do some boarding. The two ships that boarded took heavy casualties, the rest came out fine. Finished it by taking out all of them, didn't lose a single ship, and even better: it all played very realistically. Ha, I knew reading all those Aubrey/Maturin and Hornblower novels would pay off! I've really got to hand it to the dev team, I am very pleased with the way that turned out and now I'm even more eager to get my hands on the final product.
I just tried it again but this time actually bothered to take a look at some of the features. This time I grouped my fleet and put them in line astern. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was extremely easy to guide the fleet this way. All I had to do was click the location and the fleet would move realistically towards it, one following the other in proper naval fashion. It looks like they actually did a pretty good job of setting it up to play out like real naval battles.
The end result was a resounding success. Whereas in the first attempt I had lost two vessels by the end, this time I was able to take advantage of the weatherguage (i.e., being upwind of the enemy) and maneuvered my line around the enemy fleet. Since they were downwind of me, they had a great deal of difficulty coming about and forming a line of their own to meet me. I ended up basically wrapping around their fleet, clustered in one position, while my line wrought havoc on them. I took down 3 ships this way. The rest of the battle got a little hairier because the tail of my line had started to lag behind and, on top of that, I got it into my head to do some boarding. The two ships that boarded took heavy casualties, the rest came out fine. Finished it by taking out all of them, didn't lose a single ship, and even better: it all played very realistically. Ha, I knew reading all those Aubrey/Maturin and Hornblower novels would pay off! I've really got to hand it to the dev team, I am very pleased with the way that turned out and now I'm even more eager to get my hands on the final product.
Okay, I put a few hours under my belt last night.
As others have noted, the Total War series takes turn based strategy ("TBS") games and combines them with real time strategy battles. It's been a mostly successful meld and I'm a big fan of Medieval 2 Total War and Rome Total War.
But I'm also a huge fan of the Civilization series. A game, if you choose to play that way, can be very complex. One of the problems I've had with the Total War series to date was, while the battles were interesting and challenging, the turn based portion lacked in comparison to Civ. Diplomacy was a bit pale and erratic, and there weren't many choices to make outside of what buildings and units to construct or what tax rate to impose.
My impressions of ETW so far is that has been changed dramatically. All aspects of the TBS portion look to have been expanded and beefed up to the extent that if you were to never fight a single battle yourself - letting the computer "auto resolve" them - that it would still be a very good game.
But luckily, you don't. And as described aptly above, the battle portion of the game is improved and compelling as well.
What I've seen so far, I am impressed with.
As others have noted, the Total War series takes turn based strategy ("TBS") games and combines them with real time strategy battles. It's been a mostly successful meld and I'm a big fan of Medieval 2 Total War and Rome Total War.
But I'm also a huge fan of the Civilization series. A game, if you choose to play that way, can be very complex. One of the problems I've had with the Total War series to date was, while the battles were interesting and challenging, the turn based portion lacked in comparison to Civ. Diplomacy was a bit pale and erratic, and there weren't many choices to make outside of what buildings and units to construct or what tax rate to impose.
My impressions of ETW so far is that has been changed dramatically. All aspects of the TBS portion look to have been expanded and beefed up to the extent that if you were to never fight a single battle yourself - letting the computer "auto resolve" them - that it would still be a very good game.
But luckily, you don't. And as described aptly above, the battle portion of the game is improved and compelling as well.
What I've seen so far, I am impressed with.
My replacement still hasn't been dispatched.
