Which Total War?

[Ruprekt]

I never bothered with this series, but seeing how they're on sale currently at gamersgate. Which would recommend if were only to buy one?

 

[CrimsonAngel]

Shogun 2 or Rome

 

[Trash]

Shogun 2 is rad. Especially with the AI mod. Rome is awesome but kinda old. Medieval 2 is neat but declined in comparison with Rome. Looks hella better and has some awesome mods though.

Shogun 1 and Medieval 1 are also good but don't run well on modern pc's. Empire and Napoleon are shite.

 

[lisac2k]

Shogun 1 and Rome, the latter being richer for a few splendid mods.

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

Shogun 2 is great.
Didn't play Napoleon.
Empire is kinda crappy.
Medieval 2 is a big mess but can be fun, especially if you're in the mood for swords and armor.
Rome is bro as fuck. AI isn't very good but the game is great.
Medieval 1 was pretty awesome but I haven't played it at any point recently so I couldn't tell you how it holds up.
Never played Shogun 1.

TLDR summary: Shogun 2 or Rome. Medieval 2 if you prefer medieval Europe over glorious ancient Romans or god damn horrible Japanese.

 

[Orgasm]

Medieval 1. You basically get to see what created the series: massive unit numbers, retarded AI and multiplayer. Medieval does some things better and some worse than Shogun 1, which would be my second recommendation. And you dont need to see the other installments since they are same shit different skin, sometimes even worse. That includes so called "mods", which are laughable skinjobs and pathetic attempts at rebalancing.

 

[Texas Red]

How does King Arthur compare to TW series?

 

[Multiple Sarcasm]

Rome + BI + mods is my personal favourite and a safe bet to see what the series offered.

Medieval 2 + Kingdoms is also alright, if that setting is more your cup of tea.

I got bored with Shogun 2 pretty quickly, though (even with mods), so can't recommend it as the one game to play to familiarize yourself with the series.

How does King Arthur compare to TW series?

It shares some mechanics (especially, in RT battles), but is otherwise a different beast, as could be expected from a fantasy game (light text quests, char stat raising, magic flinging, etc). Good game.

 

[Konjad]

either Shogun 2 TW or Medieval 2 TW with Broken Crescent mod.

 

[Burning Bridges]

Medieval 1. You basically get to see what created the series: massive unit numbers, retarded AI and multiplayer. Medieval does some things better and some worse than Shogun 1, which would be my second recommendation. And you dont need to see the other installments since they are same shit different skin, sometimes even worse. That includes so called "mods", which are laughable skinjobs and pathetic attempts at rebalancing.

Pretty much this. Only that I think Shogun 1 is better than Medieval. Rome introduced a greatly improved engine but the gameplay went downhill from there.

Shogun 2. does not run on my computer (it makes it reboot). there are many threads about the same problem, some people went as far as flashing their BIOSes to play. The first piece of software in a long time that I just quit. There must be something really ugly hidden in the code.

 

[Marobug]

Shogun2.

 

[spectre]

Nothing new to add here. Shogun 1 and Medieval 1 were pretty cool, but there are numerous issues with running them on modern PCs. Your mileage may vary though, it may actually be playable when you turn off multiple cores and pick the right compatibility mode.

Rome is very good on its own, I would avoid the expansions unless you find some decent mods (and they are aplenty).

Shogun 2 is also prety damn good. You should get a few solid days of gaming out of it, until you'l be bothered by the similarities between the clans.

Medieval 2 may be good with the right mod, but vanilla is pretty broken.

Empire sucks cock, Napoleon is a bit better, but eventualy I guess it just wasn't my cup of tea.

 

[Ruprekt]

After reading up it turned out to be a narrow choice: the first two titles cannot be made to work with recent nvidia cards, Empire is apparently shit and Shogun 2 is more than I'm willing to spend on a whim.

So with the choice between Rome and Medieval 2, and I went for the former because I already have Crusader Kings and I don't need even more buridan's ass in my gaming.

 

[Banterrific]

After reading up it turned out to be a narrow choice: the first two titles cannot be made to work with recent nvidia cards, Empire is apparently shit and Shogun 2 is more than I'm willing to spend on a whim.

Empire is bearable with DMUC (whatever version they're on now) but I still wouldn't get it unless it's on sale

 

[~*´¨¯¨`*·~-.¸-AIN'T]

Only ever really played Rome and Medieval 2 for any length, they're both fun but have some pretty serious flaws that make it so I can't play them too much before getting bored. Med 2 is kinda clusterfucky and diplomacy is broken. Rome I find more fun but the AI is p dumb and the economy system is broken as fuck, and you can make yourself ridiculously wealthy in not very long.

Only ever played vanilla of either though, so maybe some of these problems have been fixed in mods?

 

[Atomkilla]

I don't won't to repeat what someone else said, but, whatever game you chose, check the mods for it. Some of them are pretty impressive. For example, Third Age mod for Medieval II is pretty awesome, if you like LOTR. Best LOTR video game.

 

[Trash]

Be sure to install the Barbarian Invasion for Rome. It offers a whole new campaign during the collapse of the Roman empire. Rome also has a massive amount of mods that are worth checking out. Personally I love the Viking Invasion II mod for the intense campaign it offers when you play as one of the British kingdoms. Hardest TW experience ever for me and it took me awhile to even become convinced that it was winnable as the southern Saxons.

 

[catfood]

After reading up it turned out to be a narrow choice: the first two titles cannot be made to work with recent nvidia cards, Empire is apparently shit and Shogun 2 is more than I'm willing to spend on a whim.

I have managed to get Shogun 1 running on XP using a Geforce 7900 GS. Not the newest card out there, but I'm sure it will work with newer ones as well.

Here's an older post of mine:

FUCK YEAH I FINALY MANAGED TO GET STW TO WORK ON XP!!!

I encountered the freeze (on the campaign map) problem again while playing. I was pretty sure it wasn't the poems (cause they've been deleted). Frustrated, I began to delete entire folders from the Shogun directory containing audio files in an attempt to find the source of the problem. Eventually I was able to force the game not to freeze, and the screen requesting me to insert disc 2 (mentioned in my previous post) came up, much to my relief. After pressing cancel, a message about a new heir being born popped up. This was the root of the problem. As with the poems, I went into the Shogun directory, found the audio files that play during the birth messages (which, oddly enough, were located in the voices --> throne area of the Shogun directory), and deleted them. Problem solved.

http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com/topic/35 ... -XP-Enough

I also disabled movies and the throne room just to be sure. And running in software mode wich makes the screen jitter when I'm scrolling the battle map, but other than that it's all good. :D

I haven't tried Medieval 1 but it can probably be fixed using the same solution.

 

[JarlFrank]

Personally I like all of them, including Empire when it's modded, but Rome and Medieval 2 are the best if only because of the huge amount of mods that exist for them.

 

[palantirion]

Rome and Med2 are considered by many to be the peek of the series. Rome blew every other game outthe window when it came along and was massively popular. Med2 uses basically the same engine but with enhanced graphics - problem is that it really struggles in some areas, even more than Rome (mainly battle pathing issues).

RTW/BI and Med2/Kingdoms do have some good mods, RTW/BI more so in both number and variety. Polished mods for RTW/BI would include Norman Invasion, Viking Invasion II (mimics the old MTW:VI on the BI engine), End of Days (I & II), Rome Total Realism, Fourth Age Total War, Europa Barbaroum and a few others. These are like having a whole new expansion for the game! M2 has less-diverse mods, but that is slowly changing.

I'd go for Rome, with M2 as second...