Post by Harkovast on Oct 20, 2017 8:21:08 GMT
Right, so you may have noticed me and Canuovea trading what amount to Total War Warhammer conspiracy theories as we poor over every scrap of information we can get regarding Warhammer 2.
Now the game is out, and I've played it, what is my verdict?
It's really, really good!
A big criticism I heard is that its more like an expansion on the original than a whole new game. To this I respond "And that's a problem why?"
Warhammer Total War 1 was one of the best games in the total war series, so it seems a pretty solid foundation to build on.
What's more, the reason this one being of the same mould is good is that it means the two games are compatible. Later this month they are planning an expansion to let you play a super campaign that combines the maps from both games, if you own them both. To me, the ability to play the two games against each other seems like a big plus. A a fan of the table top game it's based on I want to play with the whole warhammer world at once.
The campaign structure in this one has you running aroudn trying to complete magic rituals, while trying to disrupt your enemies rituals in kind of a global race. It was created to avoid Total War's usual pit fall that once you get near the end of the campaign it becomes a formality. IN other games in the series your nation is so powerful by this point you can't be challenged in a serious way, so you just have a time consuming slog to march over your remaining enemies.
Warhammer 1 threw in a chaos invasion to spice up the late game, but I think this one is the first serious success in tackling it.
Even as I closed in the victory I was having to counter enemy attempts to complete their rituals (they got ahead of me a couple of times in the campaign which was quite nerve wracking!) as well as invading forces that spawn to stop a ritual.
There are even some interesting plot twists...about which I will say no more...which is another big first for a total war game.
Warhammer 1 gave the game a more narrative feel than previous total war entries, with heroic quests and heroes being a big feature, so its cool to see that being taken further now.
The campaign map is really interesting and more varied than before. I think settlement numbers wise it might be slightly smaller than the map in part one, but the ig divides between areas, wildly differing terrain and range of enemies made it feel like a much bigger setting. As well as playable factions, the races from the first game show up as NPC empires here, to give you wide range of opponents battle. The compatibility with the first game is again a huge help here as there is obviously no way the developers could make so many brand new minor factions from scratch!
The playable factions this time are way more wild and strange than in the last game, with loads of really interesting mechannics on the battlefield and on the campaign map. The Dark and High Elves are the most normal, but steps have obviously been taken to make each feel very different. The High Elves are manipulative and elite, while the Dark Elves are sadistic and brutal, getting stronger the more slaughter they cause on the battlefield and the more slaves they take in the campaign.
The other two factions are lizardmen riding dinosaurs, led by magic toads and evil ratmen mad scientists.
Yeah, a bit odd then!
Faults in the game...
There is still no naval combat. Not that we were expecting it, but this absence is more noticeable here than the first game as there are more oceans to sail on. Just auto resolving can seem a bit weak, especially when a big army gets ambushed at sea and there is basically nothing you can do about it.
The one new addition I found lame was treasure hunting. Now when you go to a ruined settlement you can choose to do a little "Choose your own adventure". You get a little blurb and then choose an option (like you meet a monster and you can choose to fight it, run away etc). This sounds cool on paper but the problem is...the results are pretty random. They can be good or bad. So it feels less like making a meaningful choice and more like picking a random number. If I have no idea what the options mean, its barely a choice at all.
One time I needed more cash so I did a treasure hunt. I found a weaopn s cache and picked the option to sell them. Turned out the weapons were low quality so it hurt my reputation and caused me to LOSE money on all my trade deals.
This shows how a bad result could fuck you over.
One time i got a good result of extra unit replenishment for the army....but the army was nowhere near the enemy so it was a total waste of time.
They had something similar to this in Rome 2, and it didnt' work there either. Its fun at first to read the little story and choose your response, but once you realise whats happening it feels meaningless. The chance that it can back fire left me basically ignoring the option.
What amusing though, is that for all the text I've spent complaining here...this is an option you can just ignore. Once i realised I didn't like it I just didn't do treasure hunts anymore and that was that.
So really its a minor thing, its just a shame to see a new mechannic not pan out.
Other than that, I think its a really solid game that gives fans more of what they loved along with loads of cool new additions that really builds on the previous ones.
I just wish my slow ass shitty computer didn't chug so much trying to run it!
Now the game is out, and I've played it, what is my verdict?
It's really, really good!
A big criticism I heard is that its more like an expansion on the original than a whole new game. To this I respond "And that's a problem why?"
Warhammer Total War 1 was one of the best games in the total war series, so it seems a pretty solid foundation to build on.
What's more, the reason this one being of the same mould is good is that it means the two games are compatible. Later this month they are planning an expansion to let you play a super campaign that combines the maps from both games, if you own them both. To me, the ability to play the two games against each other seems like a big plus. A a fan of the table top game it's based on I want to play with the whole warhammer world at once.
The campaign structure in this one has you running aroudn trying to complete magic rituals, while trying to disrupt your enemies rituals in kind of a global race. It was created to avoid Total War's usual pit fall that once you get near the end of the campaign it becomes a formality. IN other games in the series your nation is so powerful by this point you can't be challenged in a serious way, so you just have a time consuming slog to march over your remaining enemies.
Warhammer 1 threw in a chaos invasion to spice up the late game, but I think this one is the first serious success in tackling it.
Even as I closed in the victory I was having to counter enemy attempts to complete their rituals (they got ahead of me a couple of times in the campaign which was quite nerve wracking!) as well as invading forces that spawn to stop a ritual.
There are even some interesting plot twists...about which I will say no more...which is another big first for a total war game.
Warhammer 1 gave the game a more narrative feel than previous total war entries, with heroic quests and heroes being a big feature, so its cool to see that being taken further now.
The campaign map is really interesting and more varied than before. I think settlement numbers wise it might be slightly smaller than the map in part one, but the ig divides between areas, wildly differing terrain and range of enemies made it feel like a much bigger setting. As well as playable factions, the races from the first game show up as NPC empires here, to give you wide range of opponents battle. The compatibility with the first game is again a huge help here as there is obviously no way the developers could make so many brand new minor factions from scratch!
The playable factions this time are way more wild and strange than in the last game, with loads of really interesting mechannics on the battlefield and on the campaign map. The Dark and High Elves are the most normal, but steps have obviously been taken to make each feel very different. The High Elves are manipulative and elite, while the Dark Elves are sadistic and brutal, getting stronger the more slaughter they cause on the battlefield and the more slaves they take in the campaign.
The other two factions are lizardmen riding dinosaurs, led by magic toads and evil ratmen mad scientists.
Yeah, a bit odd then!
Faults in the game...
There is still no naval combat. Not that we were expecting it, but this absence is more noticeable here than the first game as there are more oceans to sail on. Just auto resolving can seem a bit weak, especially when a big army gets ambushed at sea and there is basically nothing you can do about it.
The one new addition I found lame was treasure hunting. Now when you go to a ruined settlement you can choose to do a little "Choose your own adventure". You get a little blurb and then choose an option (like you meet a monster and you can choose to fight it, run away etc). This sounds cool on paper but the problem is...the results are pretty random. They can be good or bad. So it feels less like making a meaningful choice and more like picking a random number. If I have no idea what the options mean, its barely a choice at all.
One time I needed more cash so I did a treasure hunt. I found a weaopn s cache and picked the option to sell them. Turned out the weapons were low quality so it hurt my reputation and caused me to LOSE money on all my trade deals.
This shows how a bad result could fuck you over.
One time i got a good result of extra unit replenishment for the army....but the army was nowhere near the enemy so it was a total waste of time.
They had something similar to this in Rome 2, and it didnt' work there either. Its fun at first to read the little story and choose your response, but once you realise whats happening it feels meaningless. The chance that it can back fire left me basically ignoring the option.
What amusing though, is that for all the text I've spent complaining here...this is an option you can just ignore. Once i realised I didn't like it I just didn't do treasure hunts anymore and that was that.
So really its a minor thing, its just a shame to see a new mechannic not pan out.
Other than that, I think its a really solid game that gives fans more of what they loved along with loads of cool new additions that really builds on the previous ones.
I just wish my slow ass shitty computer didn't chug so much trying to run it!