Empire: Total War

[GreenLanturn]

First, I don't have this game, but I am considering it as a purchase. I have heard some good things and bad things about this game, and I'm not convinced either way. Having played only Rome: Total War from the same series I can say that a new Total War would be fun, but I've heard about some sad bugs that kill this seemingly amazing game.

From what I've heard about this game the battles have been ramped up (in a good way), and the political/city management aspects have been dumbed down (I use that in a negative light). The addition of the sea battles looks interesting, but that alone won't have me sold on the game.

Graphics are of little concern to me, I'm am just fine using the lowest settings, but some reviews have said that even the low settings cause problems. Also, there is some odd compatibility issue with Navidia graphics cards? (I'm not sure about the reliability of this, but I'm using a Navidia card so it matters alot to me. )

Can anyone clear up these problems I've read? Or attest that this game is solid and a true step up (both militarily and politically) from all the other Total War games?

Some after thoughts: The political/city management was said to be simplified, it was some reviews that made it sound dumbed down while others made it sound like it was changed for the better (meaning fewer mindless tasks and more time doing what mattered to your economy).

Also, feel free to use this thread like any other games thread, I left the title nonspecific for that reason.

[dragonfire9788]

Okay, let's start. I bought this game about a couple of weeks after it came out, on Steam. I believe that the game requires Steam to play, retail or download, so just a heads up. I personally love this game and think it is better than the others. (Except maybe Shogun and the first Medieval, probably because the AI was really good).

As you have stated, the game's battles have been revamped. You can garrison in buildings, build your own fortifications, and a ton of other stuff. Sea battles aren't very important but then again, they have have in the Total War series. They're rather hard too. Yes, the political/city developement has changed for the better and has been simplified. There are many more options when dealing with diplomatic relations and politics in the home country.

When I bought the game, I didn't have any bugs or crashes. I heard a bunch of other people did and I know that the company released a bunch of patches for it. So, I don't think there are as many bugs as there used to be. Steam should keep the game up-to-date on the patches.

I, too, use an Nvidia card and didn't have any problems when I played it.

Overall, fun game, worth the buy. I think patches have taken care of most of the bugs and if there is anything you don't like, I think there are a few good modifications for it floating around the Internet.

[GreenLanturn]

It's good to know about the Navidia card, it was probably just some unique mistake made by that person, or random spam.

I had never heard of Steam before your mention of it. After a quick search I learned a bit, but is it free (specifically for updates)? After a Wiki check I found that Steam's main purpose for this game was to aid updates and multi-player.

I'm glad to know that the game wasn't released with an over abundance of bugs, and that it is for the most part an upgrade from Rome: TW.

In Rome I often ran in a circle around my enemy to force a draw when I was at a gross disadvantage, I feel like I could abuse that tactic because the AI wasn't to bright. Has the AI improved past this sort of tom-foolery? I bring it up because you mention better AI in past games, which seems sort of odd; if you could explain that more, I'd be very appreciative.

Basically a new post EDIT: After a few hours of tinkering (Ya, I'm a bit slow), I have downloaded Steam which is quickly losing my favor because it doesn't work with FireFox. I'm so glad I saved IE in a place I could find it easy. I'm starting the free demo download for Empire: TW which is 2 hours 15 minutes... for a demo... Wow, night time.

Edit: 2 hours... It's been 15 minutes and I'm at 55% finished! I suppose I really like Steam for the Demos, but I like having a hard copy of my games. Just feels safer.

[Uprising]

Try the demo first. I tried the demo and didn't like the game much. I'm a huge fan of Rome and Medieval, but this one felt a little different. Not my cup of tea.

[GreenLanturn]

Alright, I've had some sleep and plenty of demo time and I'm putting this game on my good list.

Graphics: The game played fine on my laptop, and ran even better on low settings. I don't mind the low setting because it looks decent itself, and only things far away look crappy (which you won't be looking at anyway).

Game Play: Though I could only demo the Battle portion of the game, what I saw had changed was certainly a good thing, regiments of troops were easy to turn and navigate, switching formations mattered, terrain played a big roll (but that doesn't mean high ground is an auto win), and the AI seemed smart enough to me. They actually dropped some spikes to counter my cavalry charges (which is why I think I lost my first fight), and spread themselves out to minimize my cannon fire.

The Ship battles are definitely hard to fight, if you lose sight of the wind and your sales go slack you lose quite a few things (oars come out the sides, so you lose position, speed, and cannons as your men focus on other things). That, and the interesting life bars (1 bar for each side of the haul and 1 for all your sales) will take some getting used to.

I'm giving this game a go in my book! I'll come back and fill in my thoughts on the full game after I've played it.

[GreenLanturn]

Some follow up on this game:

The game itself looks wonderful, the graphics are dazzling, and the strategy and game play are very well done.

The battles are actually mentally tiring, I played 3-4 in a row and really needed a nap. I think that shows how in depth this game can actually be played. I found myself pausing alot to adjust my troops because the enemies plans had changed. Sea battles didn't feel right, I didn't feel like I had the control to actually maneuver my ships around where I wanted them.

Outside of battles the game is a turn based game. There were many things added since Rome (the only other one I played). Now there are upgrades and taxes for different class levels in a town... etc, etc... The economics of the game have evolved in a big way, and I liked it.

Flaws? This game bugged my computer. If my computer went to sleep and I came back to it I couldn't open any programs (a simple restart fixed this, but it also eliminated menus from appearing so I had to hard boot).

End result: I uninstalled the game after beating it once. This was very tiring, so I didn't really enjoy the game simply because of the odd bug it has given my computer.

Since deleting it, I haven't seen any trace of the bug.

[habs1009]

This is an amazing game(I'm not too hard to please).The only thing wrong with it is that I can only open it through steam(which only shows up some times).I don't like how you can't get super rich like in Rome but it makes it harder so...

[GreenLanturn]

Originally Posted by habs1009

This is an amazing game(I'm not too hard to please).The only thing wrong with it is that I can only open it through steam(which only shows up some times).I don't like how you can't get super rich like in Rome but it makes it harder so...

Really? If you have more than a few things on that bar over there, there should be an arrow you can click to bring more things out (Steam should be there). Also, you can pin Steam to your desktop like a regular program, though I don't remember how I did it.

[habs1009]

Originally Posted by GreenLanturn

Really? If you have more than a few things on that bar over there, there should be an arrow you can click to bring more things out (Steam should be there). Also, you can pin Steam to your desktop like a regular program, though I don't remember how I did it.

I know but it only shows up like once or twice in a couple months and sometimes random things disappear off the toolbar.

[GreenLanturn]

Originally Posted by habs1009

I know but it only shows up like once or twice in a couple months and sometimes random things disappear off the toolbar.

Weird, maybe you got a different kind of bug than me.

I looked around online for a solution to the problems I was having, but all I came up with was that most of these problems are different (needless to say I didn't get a solution).

[habs1009]

Originally Posted by GreenLanturn

Weird, maybe you got a different kind of bug than me.

I looked around online for a solution to the problems I was having, but all I came up with was that most of these problems are different (needless to say I didn't get a solution).

Yeah it is kinda messed up.I hate how the battles take so long to load.

[braveheart101]

Sorry 'bout the thread-o-mancy, but what, exactly, is steam? I really want to ge this game, but I dont want to have to buy any other programs just so it will run on my PC.