Metal Reviews

Supposedly the AI is really stupid in Rome II.

GTA V is too popular or mainstream for anybody here to enjoy.

Getting my copy this afternoon after work.

Haven't gotten in far enough yet to judge the AI, but from what I've seen it isn't as bad as they say it is. Yesterday I was attacked by a skirmisher-heavy Thracian force and they stopped just within range to start pummeling my Macedonian pike blocks, and the warbands only charged in when I started flanking with my cavalry. That's already better than Shogun 2 where - when on the attack - the melee units would charge while the archers were still shooting at you.

But here's to hoping for broad Steam Workshop support soon.

Not me! Waiting to borrow/steal it off my brother, who had it on pre-order...

On a nostalgia kick otherwise; GOG.com had a sale on at the weekend, grabbed Thief 1, 2 and the first Deus Ex for under £10 in total for laptop play. Magical...

I'll probably download GTAV, steal a car, crash it, then uninstall it like I always do.

Why waste your time installing it in the first place? Just so you can say you played it? Not trying to be a dick here, serious curiosity.

Just picked up my copy. We'll have to do a bank heist online sometime. The online mode looks awesome.

Just kidding, wont be installing it. But that's what I did with GTA IV, installed it, drove around for a while and crashed, then realized that I could not be bothered to do quests, so I uninstalled it.

Good news on the tactics, but my biggest concern is that the game will mirror Rome I on the campaign map. Especially that ridiculous pharaoh Egypt nonsense always swallowing the entire East. I hope the factions are drastically rebalanced, or a mod emerges that maintains the original flavor of the game (Europa Barbarorum was impressive, but more complexity than I wanted).

Pretty much every faction now starts with just one or two regions, at least from what I've seen, and most of the successor kingdoms have a mass of satrapies as a buffer zone between them. I'm in turn 27 and I haven't had any messages of major factions being destroyed, heck, Rome hasn't even conquered all of Italy yet. Overall the campaign AI seems mediocre, but the level of balance between factions is holding up well.

Thanks for the info Karma. I recall Egypt had several extremely wealthy provinces in Egypt proper as well as in the Levant: seemed to grant them an unassailable early advantage. Limiting everyone early seems a lot more balanced. Given that the campaign AI seems mediocre, are you playing on normal or an advanced setting currently?

Normal, I rarely play on higher difficulties in TW games. It's to do with some kinds of decision-making when you're in a faction's territory, mostly... I've seen some clever stuff here and there, such as an army bypassing my approaching force by taking to the seas and landing it behind me (if the game had a logistics chain system I'd have been fucked) but also plenty of depleted stacks that just pointlessly throw themselves at my walls or armies instead of going to lick their wounds. Overall the AI is a mixed bag at the moment, both on the campaign map and in battles (just had an army in fortify mode be attacked by a roughly equal Dacian force, lost 80 men and killed about 2000) but the game is being patched heavily and I guess mods can provide even better fixes.

A diamond in the rough, at this point.

I got my copy of GTA V now

Based on your observations, I think I'll wait for the inevitable sale, but I also expect patches/mods to improve things eventually.

Amazon still hasn't shipped mine.

Wow I thought the Amazon orders were shipped early

I guess the Christmas sales would be a good time to pick it up. By then most flaws will have been ironed out and a couple of free factions added in, and they'll slice at least 25% off the price.

I bought and replayed Deus EX and the whole Thief trilogy a year ago. Still, fantastic games, despite being 15 and 13 years old. They sure don't make them like this any more.

I've never actually played the third, will check that out when done with the first two...

If you like Thief then Dishonored should be up your alley.