02/19/14

Companion Reading for Rome 2 – Total War

Looking for some more history in your gaming? Want to get the backstory on all those pixels you’re pushing around?

Lloyd Sabin – February 10, 2014

Since I was a kid, I have always coupled my gaming with my reading. I think a lot of people do this, but as I have gotten older, it is rare that I read anything that isn’t directly or indirectly tied to what I am currently playing on the PC. Finally, after years of trying to combat this clear OCD-like behavior, I have given up and am going to attempt to do something productive with this quirk.

This first installment is focused on Rome 2: Total War and what I have read, and will be reading, while playing through my Iceni campaign. The Iceni are one of the stronger tribes located in Britannia and the British Isles. In my current campaign I currently hold all of Great Britain, including Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and have made significant progress in northwest Europe, particularly in Gaul. When not attempting to advance on the front and boost Iceni technological and military prowess, I have read the following title, with a few more on deck.

Imperial Governor – The Great Novel of Boudicca’s Revolt by George Shipway

Imperial Governor is the first title I cracked open for companion reading during my Iceni campaign. The title character, Paulinus, is instantly believable as he describes in detail his work in building up Britannia from a backward, swampy outpost to an integral part of the growing Roman Empire. He is a military man through and through, with little patience for insubordination and even less patience for treachery.

Imperial Governor has some great descriptive writing and paints mental imagery of a dark, foreboding, dangerous Britannia, crawling with hostile tribes. Boudicca herself does make a memorable entrance, but because Paulinus does not view her as anything more than scum most details are left out. This book is focused mainly on the Roman response and does it well, guiding the reader through a dense series of battles as well as providing a good order of battle on both sides, including the Celtic tribes aligned with the Iceni and the Roman legions and auxiliaries involved. There are also vivid descriptions of Roman military equipment, architecture and even food, producing a rich historical backdrop for the conflict.

A good part of Imperial Governor also covers Paulinus’ responsibility to both Rome and Britannia once he has put the revolt down, with little mercy. With almost all of Britannia destroyed, it is up to Paulinus to repair the damage, eliminate any remaining threat to Roman power in Britain, and also protect himself and his career from the subsequent fallout. Also keep an eye out for several historical characters with whom you may be familiar, especially if you enjoy Roman history.

Imperial Governor is a blunt and realistic title that doesn’t mince words, just like Paulinus himself. With a cunning, highly intelligent protagonist, some great descriptive writing and excellent battle scenes, George Shipway’s classic proved to be a great companion piece to my Rome 2 Iceni campaign. If interested, the author’s own life makes for some pretty good reading as well. Imperial Governor was his first novel.

Some other titles that I have on the night stand ready to go for more local color include: Continue reading →

10/20/13

Total War: Rome II – PC Game Review

Developer: Creative Assembly

Publisher: SEGA

Author: Jim Zabek

Et 2, Roma!

Any time a developer creates a sequel they are faced with a challenge that I call great-more-of-the-same. A sequel presents a major challenge to a successful game. The developer needs to capture the essence of what made the original game great, but needs to offer enough new features and content to make buying the new game worthwhile. Too close of a clone of the original will find gamers sarcastically saying “Great, more of the same :/” On the other hand if a sequel is done well gamers will enthusiastically cry, “Great! More of the same!” Of course, the developer has a third choice, that of making a major departure from the essence of the original game, which case it may not much resemble the original at all.

The Total War series is now venerable. The first game in the series, Shogun, hit store shelves a whopping 13 years ago. Since that time battles have raged across computer landscapes as varied as medieval Europe, ancient Rome, Napoleonic Europe, back to the Sengoku Jidai, and now returning to Rome. That kind of tour-de-force must be respected not only for its breadth but staying power. 13 years is a long haul for any franchise. Given the fickle and demanding expectations of gamers, the ability to consistently and successfully deliver financially successful and critically pleasing titles over that length of time puts Creative Assembly in rarified air.

Diplomacy is better than ever. Here a badly beaten faction offers me a small payment in exchange for peace.

Even more worthy of praise is their ability to create titles set in a historical context which does a decent job of capture historical authenticity. No, the Total War games are not historical simulations. But for AAA titles they manage to bring a lot of history to gamers hard drives and please a lot of historical gamers. Perfect they may not be, but sufficient they are.

When the original Rome: Total War was released it was a significant departure from Shogun and Medieval. A different development team worked on it, and it brought the series fully into the mainstream with a high-quality 3D strategic map, top shelf graphics all the way around, and excellent gameplay. I still remember being haunted by the musical score as I played, and fun as Rome II has been for me, I don’t think its current music lives up to the greatness of the original Rome. A minor quibble, but I do notice such details and wanted to put that marker out there.

The graphics in Rome II are better than ever.

So when Rome II hit store shelves there was an instant cry among many gamers that it wasn’t the same game. Did Rome II step beyond the great-more-of-the-same category into that dangerous land of unrecognizably different gameplay?

Continue reading →

09/23/13

Strat Chat: Rome II

By Jim Zabek

Playing Total War: Rome II can be a challenge. Although there is an in-game encyclopedia it’s fairly limited when you get into the game. It can tell you What things do, but you have to figure out the Why and the When on your own. If ever a game could use a Strategy Guide, this would be it.

I’m now about fifty hours into the game. It’s 79 BC and this is my first campaign. I’m playing the Suebi, northern European Germanic tribesmen, and I’ve managed to conquer most of continental Europe playing on the easiest game mode. Almost universally (at least on our forums) gamers have concluded that even the easiest game setting for Rome II can be challenging. With fifty hours of gameplay into the game, I’m discovering that it finally is relatively easy to play now. I’ve got a surplus of 50,000 gold in my coffers, am making 13,000 gold each turn, have a surplus of about 50 food, and have several large armies trampling about the continent taking provinces by storm at will.

So how did I do it? With only one game under my belt – and that only half completed by my estimate – I cannot claim to be a Rome II guru. However, with some reasonable success I think I can sketch out some basic strategies that may help folks struggling with the campaign. Because there are so many factions and each has their own building I am making a large assumption here: I am assuming that no matter which side you play, infrastructure plays a similar role. I could be wrong on this. If I am, I would urge folks to discuss it in our forums where we all as a community can learn from each other and improve our gameplay. Again, I’m not claiming to be an expert, just a guy with some time to share some thoughts on what I’ve learned so far. With that, let’s begin.

It’s Not All Total War

For a game entitled “Total War” I have found that Creative Assembly has been particularly good about creating games that go well beyond war. The strategy portion of their games has always been the most satisfying to me, and part of my enjoyment comes from the fact that these games incorporate economic and social aspects of empire building along with the military. Rome II is no exception.

2013-09-23_00002 — Commerce, culture, and agriculture. These buildings are typical of most of my provinces.

Continue reading →

09/10/13

Tuesday Screenshot – Rome II Total War

Marcus Antonius:
And Caesar’s spirit, raging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines with a monarch’s voice
Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war,
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.

Julius Caesar Act 3, scene 1, 270–275

09/7/13

Total War: Rome II – First Impressions

Developer: Creative Assembly

Publisher: Sega

Author: Lloyd Sabin

This Is How We Do It

Here at Grogheads we do things a bit differently. We don’t race to get the latest review of the hottest game up before release day. We have never felt that was the correct way to go about it. So our “First Impressions” piece hasn’t been released in the first 24 hours. It has taken us a few days to reconnoiter the game. Four days of gameplay doesn’t make a review, but it has given us something worth reporting.

We slowly wade into games most of the time, patiently observing, trying out features, taking notes and then ranting and raving like drugged cave men if something is wrong. Which brings me to my first point.

Rome II is here, and there are many people with things to say about it as usual. Below are some of my notes on my first few hours with Creative Assembly’s latest.

Total War, Total Chaos

Once the dust has settled on the release of Total War: Rome II – More Gooder, The Sundering of Wallets, or just Total War: Rome II, for short, the next title should absolutely be Total War: Release Day Antics. I have been playing computer games for 25+ years and have been writing about them for 10+ years, and I have never seen such chaotic division, screaming, ranting, and virtual insanity as I have upon a Total War release – before the game was released. Continue reading →

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Keep Calm and Grog On!

Tag: Ancient