Hi everybody,
I was just wondering which Total war series game you consider best? I want to use the sale that steam is having but I cant decide which title I should buy.

From the ones I've played, Medieval 2.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that I haven't played any Total War released after that game.

Both Medieval 2 and Napoleon are very polished and well worth the pittance commonly being charged for them these days. They're essentially games which fix the problems found in games that immediately preceded them. Namely Rome and Empire respectively.

That said, neither really comes close to Empire's scope. It's not a perfect game and shouldn't be your introduction to the series due to its scope. But now it has been fully patched up it shouldn't be ignored. You won't get the same experience with any other Total War.

Napoleon is, to date, the most polished one. It's quite short compared to Empire, Medieval or Rome, but it's a damn fine game. If your config can cope with the ultra graphic level, there is nothing in the other titles like the thunder of field artillery, the hurrahs of Russian elite regiments or a charge the Imperial Cuirrasiers. And the naval battles are quite a threat too...

Medieval is the most complete, at least if you get both the game and its kingdom expansion. It has more than decent graphics, a solid gameplay and fetaures campaigns that will accomodate all styles ( from early middle-age where contact warfare is of prime importance to early gunpowder era ).

Rome, together with its Alexander Expansion has a special appeal to me because of my personnal in Ancient History. It's the older title widely available and shows its age. Still, remains more than enjoyable.

They are all very solid games nowadays,so I would go with your personal historical preference.

My favourite was Empire, but I haven't played Napoleon.

Would folks suggest it would be a good deal to get that "March to War" pack on steam?

It's quite a saving, and you get Empire, Napoleon, Rome, Medieval 2 and Shogun 2...

As someone who hasn't played one before, I'm not sure if I should go for it.

Would I be better off just picking one (such as Rome or Empire?) instead?

It's a good deal. But keep in mind that you don't get the exceptional Kingdoms expansion for M2 or any of the DLC for subsequent games. But you can always buy those in a later sale if you're interested.

Well if I had that kind of money I wouldnt hesitate for a minute :) . I was more thinking about buying just one title (maybe two).

So what is best for someone who never played Total War series before?

Of the two I recommended Medieval 2 is the most straightforward.

Starting from beginning of TW (Shogun) seems reasonable to me (but make sure that you don't have hardware issues). You can get S: TW cheap (so if you are disappointed - no big deal), STW has excellent atmosphere and if you like it - you will also enjoy later, more polished TW games.

Yeah, but that's just it. You might as well just get the more polished modern efforts that have learned from the mistakes they've made in the past. There's absolutely no reason to get the first two games anymore. Not least of all because of the technical issues that could stop you playing them altogether.

There's no story to these games. You're not going to have less of an experience playing the later games if you haven't played the first few.

On Amazon.co.uk, you can get

- Medieval total war gold, including the Kingdoms expansion ( and that expansion is imo worth more than the game istelf ) for 6.94 £
- Empire / Napoleon GOTY ( Empire + Napoleon + all DLCs , that's much better than on steam ) for 13.99 £
- Rome complete, including Barbarian and Alexander ( and Alexander is quite a great expansion too, although a bit short ) for 9.49 £

Wait a bit for Shogun 2, there will be dlcs, expansion, etc... You mean in the steam sale ? Rome gold for 2.5€ is great value. Or medieval 2, but the Kingdom expansion ( not in Steam's offer ) is much more interesting than Rome's Alexander (2nd expansion, also not included, but the 1st, larger expansion is ) .

Seems like Amazon is the proper port of call, although I expect I'll start by getting one of them (rome perhaps). I have far too many games unplayed to start buying too many more (even with good sales prices).