Also a point that is overlooked in a lot of reviews but I consider to be a major plus. You can save your game at any time. I find that especially important in tactical turn based games where battles can sometimes take over an hour or so.
It's possible to speed up the combat speed of the AI within settings. You can double the speed at which the AI takes its turn, which might alleviate the frustration arising from siege battles.
For me it was mostly an issue in Alesia, the other battles were more manageable in terms of AI numbers. The catapult AI I also found frustrating, to the point that I would usually just skip the catapult turn so at least I did not have to wait for those animations…
Loving this game. Currently about halfway through Africa. As a bonus you can get my boys Titus Pullo and Lucius Voerenus from HBO's Rome as Praetorians.
In my current playthrough I have refreshed over and over and they have not appeared. I am so sad. But more importantly, they are in because they are some of the only named centurions named in history.
Just finished this game 2 days ago and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I dunno if it sold well or not, but hopefully it will so THQ who now own the Expeditions IP will decide to make more. I went back this month and played Conquistador and Viking and the devs improved on every aspect from one game to another and Rome is the creme of the crop. Does it have some problems? Sure..I would say so in terms of not enough side quests and animations (even on 2.0 speed) being too slow which turns combat down to a slog sometimes, but as an overall package I didn't really encountered any bugs and the fully voice acted narrative really helped a lot.
I discovered this game and fell almost in love with it. it mixes things I like: combat per turn ALA Baldurs Gate 3, a pretty good story (so far, I'm playing on Act 2), companions that are interesting, and a historical background that I love (Roman Empire, come on). All in all, I really recommend this, and I still haven't finished it.
After watching your 'top games you reviewed in 2022' vid and seeing this at the top of the list, I'm going to buy it while it's on sale. Ave Imperator!
I generally used the catapults as area denial rather then for killing and used them to herd enemies to where I wanted, then rained fire pots down on them.
Yeah same here, but you can still get kills if you are careful about it. Use fire to block off escape routes > Use scattershot to knock down trapped enemies > Use rocks to kill knocked-down enemies. Not overly reliable, but I managed to kill two different bosses this way. If nothing else, the fire shots are great for saturating the areas where enemy reinforcements are coming in, making them burn themselves on their approach. I honestly wish the game gave you more fire ammo.
Damn man, you're on fire, I've been playing pretty consistently since launch and put 56 hours into the game so far and only just started Act 3. Definitely been loving it and can't wait to see what the next game from these devs is.
@@stinky_nut_blast The studio will be disbanded, but Expiditions lead developer is staying with THQ and will very likely start a new studio to continue it. The IP is owned by THQ so it seems very likely if the game sells enough.
I don't comment on your video often but you sure are in another league than the false gaming journalist that review games they didn't play. Always good to see your work.
@@j.r.w.devisser6030 man, I've had that experience too... it's like they saw the trailer and made thier review off that. Omg, so much fun. I've seen ppl do that off the reviews of other ppls content, such as the news..... also, on destiney 2 I see ppl making videos on what other ppls takes are on what the weapon Smith has available.... my 6th sense is pretty close
It's crazy how much content you are putting out man...its kinda criminal :), some people would spread this for weeks. All the best to you man, I'm happy to see your channel growing day by day.
This game was so awesome to play through as a woman. Everyone is like "yeah, women obviously aren't suited for combat this is ridiculous" but you're such an unstoppable badass that everyone is basically like "well, obviously you're the exception." Julianne Caeser was absolutely hilarious, and the story was very well done.
@@t.t6294 It was only minor differences that would not matter like a small limit for strength cap. If the game really took gender in account, it would be different from what we got.
@@t.t6294 In a RPG there are gameplay changes when it affects the story. The part where they "acknowledge" gender is just there as a flavor because if they really acknowledge then there would be no female in the group to start with. Womans in Rome did not have a first name, that tells what would happen if they acknowledge gender. They also ignores the characters ethnicity so no surprise they would also ignore gender in game.
Really good review. The only point I don’t share with you are the sieges. For me the sieges were the highlights of the game because they gave me the feeling, that there is a real war going on and not just a team of six people taking a city.
Alesia was a bit of a grind due to the sheer volume of enemies, and poor balance meaning one of my teams didn't have anything interesting to do (the allied soldiers were easily handling the enemies in that theatre). Apart from that, the sieges were indeed great. They had a really epic feel to them.
The catapults were mainly for area denial. The best use of the catapults were to force enemies out of cover, and deny them places where they received bonuses, like the high ground. Also if you locked enemies into combat, you could target the area behind them with fire lowering their morale. If you use the catapults effectively the enemy spends more time freaking out and fighting themselves, and you can just go and mop up
This was great! Thanks so much Mortismal, you answered all my questions and then some. I'm for sure picking this game up. It's already on my wishlist. Thanks again.
I 100% agree with your catapult thoughts, as for tactical items. I will say why on Normal/Easy, in regards to tactical items, the enemy does not use javelins or bandages as much, they use torches every single battle multiple times. The number of times your units are set on fire in a single battle is astronomical.
Yep, they love torches, caltrops, and Greek fire, when they have it. To the point that not including Syneros or someone with Cure in every battle is a self-nerf. And probably a lethal one.
I really enjoyed this game much more than I thought I would. I liked Conquistador back when it came out, but felt Viking was a huge let-down and I wasn't super interested in the time period, so I was a little apprehensive about buying this one, but it turned out to be one of the best games I've played in years. It took me a little under 50 hours to get through, and it left me wanting more, which rarely happens. Especially with longer games, usually I want things to start wrapping up at around the 20-hour mark at the latest. Funny to hear you didn't enjoy the siege battles since they were the absolute peak moments of the game for me. The catapults were a bit of a disappointment for sure, but once I figured out they are meant more for area denial than damage, they didn't really bother me. The legion battles are (were? I think they have changed them since release but not sure how) honestly too easy, the idea behind them is cool IMO but the execution is kind of boring.
Started recently with E. Conquistador and I'm having a blast. Love the well writen story and the way the game deals with loss in battles. Can't wait to try Viking and Rome
Great review. The first line of your summation is my feeling: Very surprised at how much is actually in this game. And how well most of it is done. I expected XCom2 in the Classical Era. But it leans far more heavily into the RPG side than XCom did, without sacrificing any of the tactical or strategic depth. The Legion battles are slightly disappointing. Because even if you are a terrible tactician, since there's no time limit, you can just meat grinder your way to victory. But they're not Deadfire ship level bad. Color me strange, but I was thinking the Crusade battles from Wrath would be a better system, perhaps with a capture the flag mechanic added to emulate taking the opponent's camp. But it's a nitpick. And they're not entirely without charm. I'll add my dissent to the siege battles. I enjoy the challenge of them. It reminded me some of the Retaliation missions in XCom2.
You should play the previous ones too, Expeditions Viking and Conquistator were pretty decent as well. And as always, thank you for the awesome and fantastic review.
romancing her in particular didnt seem to do anything special beyond the nod to a historical anecdote, but if you install her as the queen of Egypt she comes to your defense in the trial if you went that route
I enjoyed the game quite a lot, I only wish we spent less time managing the legion and conquering sectors and nodes. It became a chore rather quickly. I loved the narrative side of it, the companions, the characters we met along the way, the story, it felt like a true CRPG, I wish it was more focused on that and less on the legion management part.
You mentioned playing as a woman changes alot of the dialogue, wich i find pretty interesting. Would you recommend playing as a woman for the first playthrough? Wich gender did you think had more interesting writing? Also, are all romances for all genders or are they bioware-style?
Good show sir! check out the other 2 expeditions pls would love to hear what you think of them =) and yeah the legion battles don't offer much.(On the Catapult note, i got Mithrithades once he spawns on a one shot by a luckt catapult shot...was amazing hahaha)
So there is not much about skill upgrading the individual characters that u get? Or what about the loot system. Is that nonexistent? I really enjoyed a game called Gladius so im looking for a game similar.This keeps popping up as a similar. Anyways thanks for a good review 🙂
They were listening to you I think. The legion and siege battles were altered significantly between patches 1.3 and 1.41. They still have some of the grind you mention, but significantly less. :)
@@coldmedicine yeah. I wasn't going to comment on that. But oh well, here we go. I'm pretty resistant to "woke" propaganda in games. Especially when it's done as obvious pandering/lecturing. This. Ain't. It. Both female characters are given good reasons to be in your party. One of them is 100% optional. If your PC is female, you have to accept the Greco-Roman view of women and fight for every scrap of respect. Is it 100% historical? No. But it's a valid view of the perspective of the time. And it's quite clear you're the exceptions. Not the rules. You have a Mauritanean as a companion. An ex-gladiator. Again, 100% valid historically to be in the game. None of these characters lecture about how dismal their plight is. Or how evil Rome's view of women or blacks are. Even when Julia says she chafes under the expectations. She isn't casting blame. She's discussing her experience. In story, it makes perfect sense. You take whatever lesson you want from that. Or none. Is it pro-equality between genders, sure. Is it woke? Meh. Maybe 10yrs ago.
Lol the catapults AI is *so annoying*! Thank you for pointing that out, and it's definitely not just you. Absolutely loved that game - some edges can be polished but it's a blast to play and the price tag these days is very generous.
Great, well-informed review! I very largely share your opinion on the game. Fun, ambitious, and worth the price, with a few obvious flaws. 1) The legion "battles" are extremely underwhelming. For a major element of the game, they lack any depth or excitement. The animations don't seem to reflect the choices you make. The whole thing is a few dice rolls. They are more or less impossible to lose unless you're trying to lose, and even then you might win. The loot at the end is underwhelming, esp in the context that your army just took a major settlement. Maybe the devs had a better plan for this mechanic and failed to implement it? 2) The catapult mechanic is poorly implemented. To be fair, your issue @Mortismal that the enemies "know where the shots will be" is true for the player as well. We get that highlighted red area with pin to alert of catapult strikes, I'm assuming enemies have the same knowledge. If we got to point and shoot the catapults in one turn they would be crazy OP, so I get why they did this, but it does render them largely useless or even detrimental to the engagement. I learned to use them as area denial weapons, or ignore them. 3) You don't mention that the archers are stupid OP by the mid-late game. The "Barrage" skill is insane, esp when paired with the upgraded "Inspire" that restores cooldowns. By the end my archer was wiping entire groups of enemies on her own (Hard difficulty.) It is fun, but also game-breaking in an otherwise fairly balanced combat system.
I love this game, already hoping for a sequel: Expeditions (of) Alexander the Great A game like this but with the story of Alexander, would be great. You could even fight elephants in India... Or horse archers from Hindu Kush.
I really liked the demo for this, so much that I went back and played Vikings. I'm about halfway through that, and I'm really liking it. Based on the demo, Rome made lots of qol improvements, and I do like the setting even more. I plan to get Rome when it goes on sale.
I'm one of those who pre-ordered Total War: Rome 2, played it a lot over the years, but ultimately felt it was lacking. I'm more than happy to have epic scale siege battles! Siege battles are meant to be long and drawn out. I wouldn't have them any other way. Can you save in the middle of battle though? I can see how a 2 hour plus long battle would be a problem if you had to stop playing in the middle.
I enjoyed the turn based combat a lot. It was fleshed out enough to be enjoyable for most fights but a couple were tedious. I had to reload a few saves and try different ways to approach the fight (more so in the early game, less in the mid/late game) and I love that. The crpg elements you can tell weren’t worked on much but the turn based combat compensates for that. What I don’t like is siege battles and everything from alesia until the end of game. Even the post game is annoying. It takes way too long to do anything for late game and it’s frustrating when the game doesn’t end when it should and you get tldr stories of characters who are not relevant at the time the game finishes. We know what happened, we played it… we don’t care about whoever ends up ruling Africa or how mithridites decided to end his life
Hey Mortym, have you looked at Disciples: Liberation? I'm curious what your thoughts would be on that game, if it is something you're interested in. Seems like what I imagine a TRPG to be like
I was gonna do a sponsor video for it, but a few days before it was supposed to be done the developer/PR company got weird about it and wanted to approve everything in the video etc, so I dropped out and gave it a wide berth
Great review! This game was a surprise hit for me as well, but I am a bit of a roman fanboy. I feel like if it had a few more months in the oven and a little bigger budget for some more features it could have been really great and easily worth a 60 dollar triple A price tag. It's obvious some heart went into making this.
The catapults do seem a bit pointless. Enemies do seem to know where they hit, and so do you. I get the idea of avoiding a luck based mechanic. But this could have been better. Perhaps with making use of the cover system.
I don't like it when difficulty settings just pump enemy HP, making them total bullet sponges on higher settings. I think something like this would be better: -Story mode. A button to just auto-win any combat at any time. Otherwise, just like "Easy." -Easy. You're +2 to hit, enemies are -2. (or whatever numbers make sense in the game's ruleset). Enemy AI is slow to react and sometimes makes really poor decisions. -Normal. +0/-0. Enemy AI is average to react. Will usually attack whoever is closest and/or whoever just did damage. -Hard. You're -2, enemy is +2, AI is quick to react and anticipates. Can and will concentrate fire on the weakest party member. -Git Gud. You're -5, enemy is +5, AI cheats.
Will you do Dying light 2? I am kind on the edge about this one..(as for Rome i'll take in on sale). Really enjoyed the first one but this one seems to be more of a sequel than something new.
The fact that trpgs often have different objectives is pretty funny considering how fire emblem echoes and three houses are almost completely consisting of route maps.
I agree. Overall I found the game very enjoyable for its semi authentic intentions and its fullness of actual good content. And good for at least 2 to 3 plays
I loved the game, It surprised me quite a lot, but as a italian i wanted to share a fun Little fact. In Italy we study quite a lot of Roman history, we study latin as well. I don't know who assisted the gaming studio on history facts, but someone told them that in latin V is pronounced U. Actually this is pretty rare, hearing "salve" (a greeting Italians still use) as "salue" all game has been extremely cringe. (This Is the same for words like "ave" or "vale")
Eh sì, a scuola ci insegnano la pronuncia ecclesiastica, in realtà gli sviluppatori hanno fatto un buon lavoro nell'implementare la pronuncia classica che al giorno d'oggi è ritenuta la più credibile
Really enjoy your vids lately but its very sad, that you never advertise GOG on these kind of games. They handle the classics really well, are always DRM free and you even can dl the whole game without a launcher and really own it. Would be nice to see them supportet, if possible.
This game is tedious. And the siege of Alesia always gave me a stroke. I have never seen a CRPG with more unfair combat than this game. CONSTANTLY outnumbered and two a degree, the fights became lengthy a slog and a chore. I would literally save mid rounds, to save time.
To be fair, you also know where the enemy catapults will hit, there's a marker on the map that tells you. It's only fair that the AI would also know unless you want to be randomly OHKOd by catapults too. It doesn't make logical sense that either you or the enemy would be able to sense incoming catapult rounds but it's better then only the player knowing and the AI not knowing.
I'm a bit disapointed by your review, i was expecting more than that. Especialy the character you can recruit , you can't recruit many of them , so little that i f you have a pacification, you can't have them in the camp utilities . the refresh is broken , and you kep on getting the same ones. The do feel like an after thought, and you can't change there skill and to get ride of one ,you need to kill him . Each section has a fun specific fight or pacification, but there is way too many . having a second legion is pretty much useless because you can't progress if you don't pacify the regions. The game tried to go deep , but they rushed too many part of it , so it's very boring . Once you know enemies can dodge catapults, you narrow there space , than they can't run , but yeap those part were realy annoying, especialy since you can't loot all of them, so yo u get no rewards for hours spend . Expect unique items, others are boring , too many have the same characteristics, and choising only 3 was bad . the story has some great moments and a lot of k ones. For me the game had to be smaller but more refine , it could have been a diamond, but a bit too much filler.
I was undecided, but after watching your review I decided to get Expeditions Rome. Generally, I find games that tries balancing historic facts with artistic leeway never fares well. They should either go all out one way or the other (I'm looking at you Battlefield V and the WW2 female soldier with the prosthetic arm!). When you try to please everyone, you most often end up pleasing no one.
Also a point that is overlooked in a lot of reviews but I consider to be a major plus. You can save your game at any time. I find that especially important in tactical turn based games where battles can sometimes take over an hour or so.
I did not know that thank you.
exactly steve jackson
There are modes where you cant.
It's possible to speed up the combat speed of the AI within settings. You can double the speed at which the AI takes its turn, which might alleviate the frustration arising from siege battles.
Yes and no, it does help, but reducing the wait time from 5 minutes to 2.5 is still super slow
For me it was mostly an issue in Alesia, the other battles were more manageable in terms of AI numbers. The catapult AI I also found frustrating, to the point that I would usually just skip the catapult turn so at least I did not have to wait for those animations…
Loving this game. Currently about halfway through Africa. As a bonus you can get my boys Titus Pullo and Lucius Voerenus from HBO's Rome as Praetorians.
I'm sold.
This has swayed me to purchase!
To be fair, Titus Pullo and Lucius Voerenus were specifically named in Caesars actual writings.
In my current playthrough I have refreshed over and over and they have not appeared. I am so sad. But more importantly, they are in because they are some of the only named centurions named in history.
Just finished this game 2 days ago and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I dunno if it sold well or not, but hopefully it will so THQ who now own the Expeditions IP will decide to make more. I went back this month and played Conquistador and Viking and the devs improved on every aspect from one game to another and Rome is the creme of the crop.
Does it have some problems? Sure..I would say so in terms of not enough side quests and animations (even on 2.0 speed) being too slow which turns combat down to a slog sometimes, but as an overall package I didn't really encountered any bugs and the fully voice acted narrative really helped a lot.
I discovered this game and fell almost in love with it. it mixes things I like: combat per turn ALA Baldurs Gate 3, a pretty good story (so far, I'm playing on Act 2), companions that are interesting, and a historical background that I love (Roman Empire, come on). All in all, I really recommend this, and I still haven't finished it.
After watching your 'top games you reviewed in 2022' vid and seeing this at the top of the list, I'm going to buy it while it's on sale. Ave Imperator!
I generally used the catapults as area denial rather then for killing and used them to herd enemies to where I wanted, then rained fire pots down on them.
Yeah same here, but you can still get kills if you are careful about it. Use fire to block off escape routes > Use scattershot to knock down trapped enemies > Use rocks to kill knocked-down enemies. Not overly reliable, but I managed to kill two different bosses this way.
If nothing else, the fire shots are great for saturating the areas where enemy reinforcements are coming in, making them burn themselves on their approach. I honestly wish the game gave you more fire ammo.
Damn man, you're on fire, I've been playing pretty consistently since launch and put 56 hours into the game so far and only just started Act 3. Definitely been loving it and can't wait to see what the next game from these devs is.
I've red, it's the last game before the studio gets disbanded. Sorry.
@@stinky_nut_blast The studio will be disbanded, but Expiditions lead developer is staying with THQ and will very likely start a new studio to continue it. The IP is owned by THQ so it seems very likely if the game sells enough.
@@stinky_nut_blast - They continue to deny that the game studio will be disbanded. Even now.
I don't comment on your video often but you sure are in another league than the false gaming journalist that review games they didn't play. Always good to see your work.
Totally agree, great content
@@j.r.w.devisser6030 man, I've had that experience too... it's like they saw the trailer and made thier review off that. Omg, so much fun. I've seen ppl do that off the reviews of other ppls content, such as the news..... also, on destiney 2 I see ppl making videos on what other ppls takes are on what the weapon Smith has available.... my 6th sense is pretty close
It's crazy how much content you are putting out man...its kinda criminal :), some people would spread this for weeks.
All the best to you man, I'm happy to see your channel growing day by day.
Already? Wow! Your channel is a gem!
This game was so awesome to play through as a woman. Everyone is like "yeah, women obviously aren't suited for combat this is ridiculous" but you're such an unstoppable badass that everyone is basically like "well, obviously you're the exception." Julianne Caeser was absolutely hilarious, and the story was very well done.
Thats awesome
I love when games take gender into account. It used to matter in old cRPG but it slowly got removed
@@t.t6294 It was only minor differences that would not matter like a small limit for strength cap. If the game really took gender in account, it would be different from what we got.
@@paulodelima5705 I don't mind no gameplay changes. I just want the game to acknowledge gender in story and when talking to different characters
@@t.t6294 In a RPG there are gameplay changes when it affects the story. The part where they "acknowledge" gender is just there as a flavor because if they really acknowledge then there would be no female in the group to start with. Womans in Rome did not have a first name, that tells what would happen if they acknowledge gender. They also ignores the characters ethnicity so no surprise they would also ignore gender in game.
Really good review. The only point I don’t share with you are the sieges. For me the sieges were the highlights of the game because they gave me the feeling, that there is a real war going on and not just a team of six people taking a city.
same here. Sieges are fun. Catapults kinda lame (atleast you can make firefields with them), but the whole multi-layered battles was pretty cool.
Alesia was a bit of a grind due to the sheer volume of enemies, and poor balance meaning one of my teams didn't have anything interesting to do (the allied soldiers were easily handling the enemies in that theatre). Apart from that, the sieges were indeed great. They had a really epic feel to them.
The catapults were mainly for area denial. The best use of the catapults were to force enemies out of cover, and deny them places where they received bonuses, like the high ground. Also if you locked enemies into combat, you could target the area behind them with fire lowering their morale. If you use the catapults effectively the enemy spends more time freaking out and fighting themselves, and you can just go and mop up
This was great! Thanks so much Mortismal, you answered all my questions and then some. I'm for sure picking this game up. It's already on my wishlist. Thanks again.
I 100% agree with your catapult thoughts, as for tactical items. I will say why on Normal/Easy, in regards to tactical items, the enemy does not use javelins or bandages as much, they use torches every single battle multiple times. The number of times your units are set on fire in a single battle is astronomical.
Yep, they love torches, caltrops, and Greek fire, when they have it. To the point that not including Syneros or someone with Cure in every battle is a self-nerf. And probably a lethal one.
@@shawngillogly6873 Cure is a godsend. I can't imagine not using it.
Finally knocking this one off my backlog and it's really great.
I really enjoyed this game much more than I thought I would. I liked Conquistador back when it came out, but felt Viking was a huge let-down and I wasn't super interested in the time period, so I was a little apprehensive about buying this one, but it turned out to be one of the best games I've played in years. It took me a little under 50 hours to get through, and it left me wanting more, which rarely happens. Especially with longer games, usually I want things to start wrapping up at around the 20-hour mark at the latest.
Funny to hear you didn't enjoy the siege battles since they were the absolute peak moments of the game for me. The catapults were a bit of a disappointment for sure, but once I figured out they are meant more for area denial than damage, they didn't really bother me. The legion battles are (were? I think they have changed them since release but not sure how) honestly too easy, the idea behind them is cool IMO but the execution is kind of boring.
I LOVED the original Conquestigar game. I wast a fan of the Viking one as much but I love romans so ill give this game a go
Started recently with E. Conquistador and I'm having a blast. Love the well writen story and the way the game deals with loss in battles. Can't wait to try Viking and Rome
Great review. The first line of your summation is my feeling: Very surprised at how much is actually in this game. And how well most of it is done. I expected XCom2 in the Classical Era. But it leans far more heavily into the RPG side than XCom did, without sacrificing any of the tactical or strategic depth.
The Legion battles are slightly disappointing. Because even if you are a terrible tactician, since there's no time limit, you can just meat grinder your way to victory. But they're not Deadfire ship level bad. Color me strange, but I was thinking the Crusade battles from Wrath would be a better system, perhaps with a capture the flag mechanic added to emulate taking the opponent's camp. But it's a nitpick. And they're not entirely without charm.
I'll add my dissent to the siege battles. I enjoy the challenge of them. It reminded me some of the Retaliation missions in XCom2.
You should play the previous ones too, Expeditions Viking and Conquistator were pretty decent as well. And as always, thank you for the awesome and fantastic review.
80% combat 20% RPG
hello @Mortismal what epilogue do you get when you romance cleopatra? im just trying to see if it has an epilogue or nah
romancing her in particular didnt seem to do anything special beyond the nod to a historical anecdote, but if you install her as the queen of Egypt she comes to your defense in the trial if you went that route
@@MortismalGaming ohh thats unfortunate. thought it was gonna do an epilogue or whatever but thanks man
I enjoyed the game quite a lot, I only wish we spent less time managing the legion and conquering sectors and nodes. It became a chore rather quickly. I loved the narrative side of it, the companions, the characters we met along the way, the story, it felt like a true CRPG, I wish it was more focused on that and less on the legion management part.
I hated the RNG to forge weapons and the combat gets really repetitive.
You mentioned playing as a woman changes alot of the dialogue, wich i find pretty interesting. Would you recommend playing as a woman for the first playthrough? Wich gender did you think had more interesting writing? Also, are all romances for all genders or are they bioware-style?
I can recommend a first playthrough as a woman. The writing was good and I was able to romance one of the female companions.
@@sgt_maurice7680 Nice! Thx.
Damn man even after one video I'd love to sit down and complete some games with you, awesome job!
This company is like old school Blizzard. They released good games they wanted to make and have a ton of fan support.
Good show sir! check out the other 2 expeditions pls would love to hear what you think of them =) and yeah the legion battles don't offer much.(On the Catapult note, i got Mithrithades once he spawns on a one shot by a luckt catapult shot...was amazing hahaha)
You ever look into Viking or Conquistador in this series?
Great to see you getting the recognition you deserve buddy!
So there is not much about skill upgrading the individual characters that u get? Or what about the loot system. Is that nonexistent? I really enjoyed a game called Gladius so im looking for a game similar.This keeps popping up as a similar. Anyways thanks for a good review 🙂
Extremely important historical event. Since we are replacing Cesar can we claim Unicorns exist in Germania?
Are you implying they dont?
@@MortismalGaming Of course not. It is historical fact. Caeser knew so.
I'm trying to 100% it. How do i get the proconsul of egypt/africa achievement. I dont understand why I haven't gotten it yet
@mortismal have you reviewed expedition Conquistador if not why?
How similar is this game to other Expeditions games? I tried Vikings but for some reason I just couldn't get into it. Maybe it's just the setting?
They were listening to you I think. The legion and siege battles were altered significantly between patches 1.3 and 1.41. They still have some of the grind you mention, but significantly less. :)
They're always listening...
Definitely going to pick this up at some point. You should give the other 2 games in the series a go. Curious to hear your thoughts on those as well.
@Our Myth Their Lies Interesting. Care to elaborate on what you mean?
@@Iridium-77-g he means there are women/poc in the party.
@@coldmedicine yeah. I wasn't going to comment on that. But oh well, here we go. I'm pretty resistant to "woke" propaganda in games. Especially when it's done as obvious pandering/lecturing.
This. Ain't. It. Both female characters are given good reasons to be in your party. One of them is 100% optional. If your PC is female, you have to accept the Greco-Roman view of women and fight for every scrap of respect. Is it 100% historical? No. But it's a valid view of the perspective of the time. And it's quite clear you're the exceptions. Not the rules.
You have a Mauritanean as a companion. An ex-gladiator. Again, 100% valid historically to be in the game. None of these characters lecture about how dismal their plight is. Or how evil Rome's view of women or blacks are. Even when Julia says she chafes under the expectations. She isn't casting blame. She's discussing her experience. In story, it makes perfect sense. You take whatever lesson you want from that. Or none. Is it pro-equality between genders, sure. Is it woke? Meh. Maybe 10yrs ago.
@Our Myth Their Lies Gladiatrixes existed. That's historical record.
can you play the game with just a mouse (left and right click)and on screen keyboard ? im paralyzed and can't use my hands
Should be able too
@@MortismalGaming thanks ill probably buy it since it's currently on sale
This is included in this month's Humble Choice Bundle. Just picked it up and gonna check it out!
Lol the catapults AI is *so annoying*! Thank you for pointing that out, and it's definitely not just you. Absolutely loved that game - some edges can be polished but it's a blast to play and the price tag these days is very generous.
Great, well-informed review! I very largely share your opinion on the game. Fun, ambitious, and worth the price, with a few obvious flaws.
1) The legion "battles" are extremely underwhelming. For a major element of the game, they lack any depth or excitement. The animations don't seem to reflect the choices you make. The whole thing is a few dice rolls. They are more or less impossible to lose unless you're trying to lose, and even then you might win. The loot at the end is underwhelming, esp in the context that your army just took a major settlement. Maybe the devs had a better plan for this mechanic and failed to implement it?
2) The catapult mechanic is poorly implemented. To be fair, your issue @Mortismal that the enemies "know where the shots will be" is true for the player as well. We get that highlighted red area with pin to alert of catapult strikes, I'm assuming enemies have the same knowledge. If we got to point and shoot the catapults in one turn they would be crazy OP, so I get why they did this, but it does render them largely useless or even detrimental to the engagement. I learned to use them as area denial weapons, or ignore them.
3) You don't mention that the archers are stupid OP by the mid-late game. The "Barrage" skill is insane, esp when paired with the upgraded "Inspire" that restores cooldowns. By the end my archer was wiping entire groups of enemies on her own (Hard difficulty.) It is fun, but also game-breaking in an otherwise fairly balanced combat system.
Top 5 TRPGs you'd recommend maybe? 🙂🥦🦖
I love this game, already hoping for a sequel: Expeditions (of) Alexander the Great
A game like this but with the story of Alexander, would be great. You could even fight elephants in India... Or horse archers from Hindu Kush.
I really liked the demo for this, so much that I went back and played Vikings. I'm about halfway through that, and I'm really liking it. Based on the demo, Rome made lots of qol improvements, and I do like the setting even more. I plan to get Rome when it goes on sale.
hey if you subsribe to xbox pass for $1 first month, you can play this for 30 days for $1.
Great review as always, keep up the good work.
Have you ever thought about reviewing The Banner Saga ?
I'm one of those who pre-ordered Total War: Rome 2, played it a lot over the years, but ultimately felt it was lacking. I'm more than happy to have epic scale siege battles! Siege battles are meant to be long and drawn out. I wouldn't have them any other way. Can you save in the middle of battle though? I can see how a 2 hour plus long battle would be a problem if you had to stop playing in the middle.
hell yeah. i love changing history. subscribed
Thank you, still trying to decide if this is my next conquest haha
I enjoyed the turn based combat a lot. It was fleshed out enough to be enjoyable for most fights but a couple were tedious. I had to reload a few saves and try different ways to approach the fight (more so in the early game, less in the mid/late game) and I love that. The crpg elements you can tell weren’t worked on much but the turn based combat compensates for that. What I don’t like is siege battles and everything from alesia until the end of game. Even the post game is annoying. It takes way too long to do anything for late game and it’s frustrating when the game doesn’t end when it should and you get tldr stories of characters who are not relevant at the time the game finishes. We know what happened, we played it… we don’t care about whoever ends up ruling Africa or how mithridites decided to end his life
Hey Mortym, have you looked at Disciples: Liberation? I'm curious what your thoughts would be on that game, if it is something you're interested in. Seems like what I imagine a TRPG to be like
I was gonna do a sponsor video for it, but a few days before it was supposed to be done the developer/PR company got weird about it and wanted to approve everything in the video etc, so I dropped out and gave it a wide berth
@@MortismalGaming oh damn that's gotta be annoying. Sorry to hear!
Great review! This game was a surprise hit for me as well, but I am a bit of a roman fanboy.
I feel like if it had a few more months in the oven and a little bigger budget for some more features it could have been really great and easily worth a 60 dollar triple A price tag. It's obvious some heart went into making this.
The catapults do seem a bit pointless. Enemies do seem to know where they hit, and so do you. I get the idea of avoiding a luck based mechanic. But this could have been better. Perhaps with making use of the cover system.
Damn, am kinda embarrassed I didn't realize the protagonist is a stand-in for Julius Caesar, guess I'll stop expecting him to turn up alive now LOL
I don't like it when difficulty settings just pump enemy HP, making them total bullet sponges on higher settings. I think something like this would be better:
-Story mode. A button to just auto-win any combat at any time. Otherwise, just like "Easy."
-Easy. You're +2 to hit, enemies are -2. (or whatever numbers make sense in the game's ruleset). Enemy AI is slow to react and sometimes makes really poor decisions.
-Normal. +0/-0. Enemy AI is average to react. Will usually attack whoever is closest and/or whoever just did damage.
-Hard. You're -2, enemy is +2, AI is quick to react and anticipates. Can and will concentrate fire on the weakest party member.
-Git Gud. You're -5, enemy is +5, AI cheats.
I'm glad to know I wasn't imagining the catapult problem, it got so frustrating that I just started skipping their turns completely.
Very nice game! I did not know about this franchise... Thank you for sharing. Could you please do a review of Gloomhaven?
Will you do Dying light 2? I am kind on the edge about this one..(as for Rome i'll take in on sale).
Really enjoyed the first one but this one seems to be more of a sequel than something new.
Yeah but its probably gonna take a while
Great review. Thanks. Noticed there was no mention of bugs....weird these days in a new release.
The fact that trpgs often have different objectives is pretty funny considering how fire emblem echoes and three houses are almost completely consisting of route maps.
Mortem bro your work ethic is unbelievable. How many hours do you spend a week gaming and editing these videos?
80ish
Just so everyone knows ,if you subscribe to xbox pass for $1 first month, you can play this for 30 days for $1.
how do you finish these games so quickly lol
also what is your twitch handle?
I havent been on twitch in years really
@@MortismalGaming I thought you mentioned during your Azlanti run that you streamed it, but I suppose you only streamed on youtube?
@@zhelyazkogrudov6476 correct
I agree. Overall I found the game very enjoyable for its semi authentic intentions and its fullness of actual good content. And good for at least 2 to 3 plays
I loved the game, It surprised me quite a lot, but as a italian i wanted to share a fun Little fact. In Italy we study quite a lot of Roman history, we study latin as well. I don't know who assisted the gaming studio on history facts, but someone told them that in latin V is pronounced U. Actually this is pretty rare, hearing "salve" (a greeting Italians still use) as "salue" all game has been extremely cringe. (This Is the same for words like "ave" or "vale")
Eh sì, a scuola ci insegnano la pronuncia ecclesiastica, in realtà gli sviluppatori hanno fatto un buon lavoro nell'implementare la pronuncia classica che al giorno d'oggi è ritenuta la più credibile
You are one of my new favs
Really enjoy your vids lately but its very sad, that you never advertise GOG on these kind of games. They handle the classics really well, are always DRM free and you even can dl the whole game without a launcher and really own it.
Would be nice to see them supportet, if possible.
me : is this game recommended ?
also me 20 minutes later : well yes duuuh.
I'm so glad this game is getting some good recognition!
This game is tedious. And the siege of Alesia always gave me a stroke. I have never seen a CRPG with more unfair combat than this game. CONSTANTLY outnumbered and two a degree, the fights became lengthy a slog and a chore. I would literally save mid rounds, to save time.
I was reeally enjoying this game before encountering a serious bug I can't fix. Hopefully they'll keep patching this little Roman gem
Crassus difficulty is the best difficulty design that I've seen.
To be fair, you also know where the enemy catapults will hit, there's a marker on the map that tells you. It's only fair that the AI would also know unless you want to be randomly OHKOd by catapults too. It doesn't make logical sense that either you or the enemy would be able to sense incoming catapult rounds but it's better then only the player knowing and the AI not knowing.
Julia best girl ❤❤
Loved this game! Also Roman history is just fascinating.
To be fair regarding the AI seeing the catapult hits. You do too
basically, a Dragon Age rpg with a Roman theme, nice.
Nope..
Hey thanks for this video very good . And yes this katapults are so stupid you are totaly right. Sorry for my english :)
Thanks for the spoiler in the beginning. I actually liked that character and now I know he'll die soon.
I like this game cause it's historical fiction, which is great
i disagree about the siege battles. They were amazing.
Only one problem with the game. When its the enemies turn the game needs to speed up
Get the catapult thing. 80s kids who thrashed castles with their cannons. Probably throw their CRT through a window.....
Rampart
wow that's fast I spam multiple reapers late game it's fast but not this fast
Turkey Mentioned
I'm a bit disapointed by your review, i was expecting more than that.
Especialy the character you can recruit , you can't recruit many of them , so little that i f you have a pacification, you can't have them in the camp utilities . the refresh is broken , and you kep on getting the same ones. The do feel like an after thought, and you can't change there skill and to get ride of one ,you need to kill him .
Each section has a fun specific fight or pacification, but there is way too many . having a second legion is pretty much useless because you can't progress if you don't pacify the regions.
The game tried to go deep , but they rushed too many part of it , so it's very boring .
Once you know enemies can dodge catapults, you narrow there space , than they can't run , but yeap those part were realy annoying, especialy since you can't loot all of them, so yo u get no rewards for hours spend .
Expect unique items, others are boring , too many have the same characteristics, and choising only 3 was bad .
the story has some great moments and a lot of k ones.
For me the game had to be smaller but more refine , it could have been a diamond, but a bit too much filler.
You must be one of like 5 people ever to get some of those achievements lol like 0.01% of players is crazy
I was undecided, but after watching your review I decided to get Expeditions Rome. Generally, I find games that tries balancing historic facts with artistic leeway never fares well. They should either go all out one way or the other (I'm looking at you Battlefield V and the WW2 female soldier with the prosthetic arm!). When you try to please everyone, you most often end up pleasing no one.
100% already?? Go to bed.:)) Gruß
neet
The real question though is whether you can recreate the horrific war crimes, disgusting propaganda and overall horribleness of Julius Caesar.
🙄
The game is slow as hell, how come you 100% it this fast.
free comment.