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Phc7006: 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 £
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Andy_Panthro: 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).
Seems reasonnable to me. I'm in the same situation I'd say, that's why I will gladly wait for a Shogun 2 GOTY.

In Amazon's deals, the Empire/Napoleon GOTY is the best value (Empire + Warpath + Napoleon + Peninsula + unit and battle dlcs ) but only if you are interested in Empire's historical background and if your config is solid enough to diplay the game at a good detail level ( fast dual core or quad core , 1gb graphic card >radeon 4770 ,at the very least 4GB RAM ). Otherwise Medieval 2 gold is a very good deal at that price

Rome Gold is currently on sale on steam and you can add Alexander from the same source for less than Amazon's price
Shogun and Medieval 1 actually have intact AIs out of the box unlike Rome and M2 (haven't played Empire and beyond so can't comment). These are really looking dated today, and if you didn't get into them back in their own time they'd probably be hard to get into now. Oh, and they don't work right with many newer nvidia cards, which is why I can't play them anymore :(

As much as I hated Rome (prettier graphics, worse in every other way), my favorite game mod of all time is Europa Barbarorum (for Rome) but definitely don't start there!

Medieval 2 had the same problems as Rome out of the box IMO (bugs, suicidal AI, etc) but has some incredible mods out there that have fixed the worst of these pretty nicely.

IMO Medieval 2 would be the best starting point, as I said I haven't played the newer games so no idea there. Once you get into it and get the hang of things, adding in a mod to fix the issues CA never bothered to is easy as well.
If you are going to buy either Empire or Napoleon, buy the GotY version and get both and all the DLC.
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mlc82: Shogun and Medieval 1 actually have intact AIs out of the box unlike Rome and M2 (haven't played Empire and beyond so can't comment). These are really looking dated today, and if you didn't get into them back in their own time they'd probably be hard to get into now. Oh, and they don't work right with many newer nvidia cards, which is why I can't play them anymore :(

As much as I hated Rome (prettier graphics, worse in every other way), my favorite game mod of all time is Europa Barbarorum (for Rome) but definitely don't start there!

Medieval 2 had the same problems as Rome out of the box IMO (bugs, suicidal AI, etc) but has some incredible mods out there that have fixed the worst of these pretty nicely.

IMO Medieval 2 would be the best starting point, as I said I haven't played the newer games so no idea there. Once you get into it and get the hang of things, adding in a mod to fix the issues CA never bothered to is easy as well.
I agree with this. Med2 is probably the best place to start in terms of a real introduction to the series. Shogun 1 and Med 1 are too old now to play (unfortunately) and the game play mechanics are rather clunky. I love both S1 and M1 to death though. I played through both of them so many times back in the day!
Thanks picking up Med2 + expansion and now I cant decide if I should take Napoleon or Empire....what do you think?
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Detlik: Thanks picking up Med2 + expansion and now I cant decide if I should take Napoleon or Empire....what do you think?
The best edition out there is the GOTY. You get both Napoleon and Empire, their respective expansions Peninsular campaign and Warpath and all the dlc. And if you look around a bit you'll find it for less than Napoleon or the complete empire.

Otherwise, Napoleon is better than Empire but shorter. Empire on the other hand offers more replayability.

edit : for the Goty

current best offers imo

- amazon.co.uk : 13.99 GBP + delivery
- gamesplanet.com , UK site, 24.99 GBP
Post edited March 12, 2011 by Phc7006
They are all exceptional games, just Rome Total War is the best one. None of the newer ones could capture the awesome that was Rome.
I'd go with King Arthur: The Role-playing Wargame, I know it's not a Total War title but it's close enough and I'm a heavy sucker for magic and fantasy.
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Detlik: Thanks picking up Med2 + expansion and now I cant decide if I should take Napoleon or Empire....what do you think?
I have only played the Napoleon demo, so I don't know how good it actually is personally, but I hear from everyone that it is excellent (though how much of the praise is due to it not being full of bugs and bad AI like Empire was when it was first released, I don't know). I greatly enjoyed Empire, especially with some mods to balance the gameplay and add new units and such.

So I think either would be good. As Phc7006 said the GOTY gets your both, so if you have the time and energy to invest in that many games you could do that.
Rome was the best one hands down. It was the pinnacle of the series as far as gameplay. Anything past that suffered from bloat and poorly implemented feature sets.
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wy4786: Is total war in any way similar to the bungie Myth series style of play?
No, they are very different. Myth is smaller scale, doesn't have the tactical map and has a distinct storyline. I would, however, highly suggest getting them (I only have Rome, since that's the only one my computer can run).
Medieval 2 looks fairly interesting, but does it have a sandbox mode? And is there actual city building, or is it civilization-style "choose an upgrade"?
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Runehamster: Medieval 2 looks fairly interesting, but does it have a sandbox mode? And is there actual city building, or is it civilization-style "choose an upgrade"?
Medieval is a fairly open game. You have a number of turns, victory conditions and a succession of missions that bring you bonusses / avoid penalties, yet you're free for all other parameters. So the campaign game is not an absolute sandbox mode , no... but there is no real need for such mode

For the buildings you actually have to upgrade your cities along two paths : military strongholds ( gradually unlock powerful units, strong defense, large garrisons ) or urban centers ( producing wealth, increasing population, mass units, traders, spies...) . It's fairly simple, even simpler than CIV, but you have more incentive to do the choice that fits your style of play. City building is ancilliary to the warfare element....
Rome. Rome is still by far the best balance between features and streamlined, fun gameplay.

(It's worth noting that I play Grand Campaigns and auto-resolve battles, so this is only a valid verdict for the campaign modes.)
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Detlik: Thanks picking up Med2 + expansion and now I cant decide if I should take Napoleon or Empire....what do you think?
well that depends do u want to rule the world or kill the french. personally killing napolean with a cannons early in game never gets old !!