I always loved fighting the mongols and Timurids with late game units and leveled up generals. Pretty rare for a game to actually have a good challenge in the late stages!!
Indeed, what a grand time. Also liked fighting them as the Rus with their gunners. Gunners on the walls as the Mongols tried to breach with their elephants?! Hilarious! And bloody!
Yes it is! Roleplaying with your generals, crusades/jihads and my favorite thing, upgrading the armor/weapons on the units actually changes the in battle models to reflect it. Edit: Not to mention the modding scene.
Ah Medieval II: Total War, still an amazing game. And yes, you can still change the files to unlock almost all factions. You can't unlock Aztecs, Mongols, or Timurids cuz you just lose
Actually, you can unlock the Mongols and Timurids by editing the files, mainly to give them a starting settlement but also some other changes. It's not as hard as you may think :)
Such a nostalgia trip! I used to play it a lot with the Kingdoms Grand Campaign mod, which added almost all units and factions from the expansions to the base campaign. Definitely recommend to give that a try if it's still around!
The graphics may be dated, but what makes battles special is the way units behave. Each soldier goes through random idle, walking / running and attack animation loops, which have different duration. They start acting on orders as soon as the loop they are in is finished. As a result, each soldier within a unit acts at his own pace and compensates to not lag behind the unit when an order is issued. This brings a sense of individuality for each unit you command. Additionally, unlike every other Total War since Shogun II, units don't slaughter each-other within seconds and maintain their spacing during combat - those behind wait to replace the fighting line of their unit. This makes battles drag on and that brings a sense of struggle to the whole battle - it feels like there's a lot at stake. Every single release since then, except Shogun 2, has fallen short of this design and it feels like you're commanding flocks of birds around, with how unnaturally AI-ish the soldier movement is. Medieval 2 is probably the only game in the Total war series that has great melee and missile sound design. Look up videos of people shooting medieval bows and crossbows and then go back and listen to the shooting sounds in M2 - the melee metal on metal, missile on metal and missile release sounds are so visceral and pay homage to how devastating those weapons are. And of course..same as the previous example, the sound design has fallen short in every other title since Shogun 2. People still play it decades later because of how well it is made. Even if you get tired of vanilla, there's so many excellent mods to try that you can play it on and off for another decade.
You might want to try Shogun 2 again then. That game, along with Attila, has the fastest time to kill of any TW game. Battles in Warhammer, for example, last WAY longer.
Not to mention that we got the 4 (!) kingdoms campaigns for the price of one, and they were added rather unceremoniously. Today, each of these would be released separately, with much fanfare and at a steep price (see: AC Mirage).
I’m going back and replaying the historical Total War games so I’m happy to see some Medieval 2. I’m playing it for the first time in years once I finish my Rome Remaster campaign.
@MCSorry Excellent, thanks for the recommendations. Another quick question. Whats your opinion on Empire and Rome 2? Are they as bad as everyone says they are, or should I also give them a try?
a fun medieval 2 fact is that they released it with bugged code so diplomacy became impossible after you declared war once. Occupying a city or castle gives you worse negative reputation than executing it. Easy to fix tho but CA never did
I can attest to that. I started with Spain playing defensively and only ever invaded the Moors at first, after which France Portugal and practically every other European country declared war on me soon after. Now at turn 150 and I have taken all of Europe and Africa and have every other faction at war with me apart from Papal States and the Turks (for now). You can forget about diplomacy in this game it's broken (Rome 2 felt way better), just trade and rely on yourself to conquer the world!
I wonder how this kind of game progression would be received today. What if in TW: Warhammer, you had to play a campaign with Karl Frans or Tyrion to unlock the other lords and factions. Back in the day, I liked it as it gave replayability and a sense of progession but I imagine that it would cause a revolt in this day and age 😅
@@affugter Yeah, that's the hard part. I would probobly not have the time to unlock everything either these days. Add that I play with mods for Warhammer when I play. But dang I miss the sense of accomplishment when I got to my Germany, Greek or Selecuide campain in Rome TW as a young teen. :-P Perhaps an unlocking system where you can unlock 1-3 factions by choice and then get more for every finished campain... Then I am sure people would find ways to work around for those that really need or want to just like Medieval and Rome.
I had played it for days, even it has it's flaws. But I totally abandoned it after finding the Divide and Conquer mod for MED2. For starters it's set in Midle Earth fantasy world and playing with Gondor or Elves against hordes of Mordor was a thril and wastly improved the gameplay by giving the special abilities to generals (which don't die at 50-60 years old, but usualy live until they are slain in battle) and improving the diplomacy and economy...
Rushing home from school to put into practice my grand campaign to invade Iberia as the Moors. Amazing game, so much nostalgia. Game of thrones mod was fun too.
Moors are the best when you know how to utilize their roster. It's always a tough campaign too as typically all the Italian factions gang up on you pretty early. It is imperative to have a solid navy to help sink a fee armies every now and then. I'm at war with 7 factions by turn 25 and they all want Tunis for some reason
Hi Rambler, love your vids! Can I make a viewer request in that can more videos have a Rambler Cam. I completely understand if you don't wanna do this but personally I think your videos are really heightened when your able to visually respond to stuff and use the full breadth of the Rambler reaction. Once again love your vids and completely understand if this isn't possible, I'm happy to watch some Rambler no matter the format 😅
Pavise Crossbowmen from Milan are the best shooter in the game, but Longbowmen get the Timurids/Mongols eraser meaning the stakes. Once I was besieged by two timurid doomstacks, and i had like 2 longbowmen and 3 spearmen units which were damaged, i setup at the final gate so they could only come in from one side, I set up the stakes in a V. I did not think I would see thousands of horsemen die in 3 seconds because the stakes are instakill.
According to Legend (who has recently returned to M2), generals bodyguard is one of the best units in the game. It's heavy cav without needing anything else to get it. 2 or 3 of them in an army together and they can wreck anything that's not a cavalry army.
My only problem with this game is you can expand so quick. kind of takes the rp out then youve conquered france spain and germany in quick succession. I think they just need to add more cities to you spend longer in your home region (england short campaign keeping them in britain and france for example)
Still playing TTWM2 so nice to see you have a quick bash. Yeah, AI usually pops the massed ranks of Scots on to dinghy - theyll be off to a World Cup somewhere.👍
I originally had it on pc back in the day , got it on my phone now , it's abit tricky at first with the controls on the latter but god almighty it's fun! Love setting up massacres on it , 2 units of longbowmen and 1 poleaxe unit defending a fort/Castle against heavy cavalry and a few infantry units... it's magnificent , deploy stakes is ridiculous... Overall The elphants , the cannons , the grand campaign everything is truly magnificent. I don't think I'll ever tire of playing this game! Just like Rome before it! ❤
@@Maesterful You've opened my eyes. All english people sound exactly like grown Stewie. How could I be so blind to not realize england is the only place on earth with no regional or personal variations in the way of speaking. My apologies Mr. Smart.
Im sure it’s still the most played game. I love it still with the mods etc. would love a Wars of the roses mod on Britannia campaign. A detailed one tho like game of thrones with earls and there sigils and own units with colours to there houses, for instance the Percy’s in Northumberland etc but do the same for Scotland and have there own units and sigils and Ireland etc. use a positions of power where if you claim the kingdom you can appoint dukes and name positions like Lord High Steward, chancellor and Lord Lieutenant. Also the church was a massive political force in medieval Europe so have positions like arch bishop of Canterbury. The different houses would give the chance to change history so instead of being one of the powerful houses like York you could be the Percy’s start of a Client state and when you get powerful enough challenge or marry into the royalty. Also add Northern France and Flanders into the mix. There’s loads they could do.
Vanilla kingdoms mod is amazing! Can play as the teutonicborder or an even more challenging Byzantine game beset on all sides w8th enemies. Great game!
I loved it as much as anyone. thousands of hours in it. Cant play it anymore. Lack of quality of life UI features and the abysmal pathfinding make me unable to enjoy it now. Feels bad.
I'd have to say I like this one the most. I've got most of the Total War games and I always play this one over the rest. The most fun is using the cheats and putting difficulty on very hard. Use the Diplomats and give every faction 200k or more. You'd have to say that these games are the best value for money over other titles that can be finished in a few days. You could spend months playing this game, and not repeat any mission during that time.
Med2 is still peak TW. Good engine, units had weight, no weird archery effects, population mattered. And the modding scene is still active. The Ai diplomacy still annoyed the hell out of me. And well York being a tiny "village" is annoying as it was the 2nd largest city in England (bar the harrowing of the North incident)
How is this game still the pinacle of its genre after all these years? I don`t get why no one has been able to build on this game in almost 20 years despite the technology.
*I love longbows*
They won us Agincourt after all
Single-handedly mowed down the French nobility.
I was literally just about to ask you to play a Total War game 😂
Please play more of Medieval 2 , it’s an amazing game
Too bad archers suck in Medieval2. which is why we need medieval 3
I always loved fighting the mongols and Timurids with late game units and leveled up generals.
Pretty rare for a game to actually have a good challenge in the late stages!!
OMG I loved that stage of the game. Especially since in this game the ai would actually attack a fully defended castle! Soooo many epic sieges...
Indeed, what a grand time. Also liked fighting them as the Rus with their gunners. Gunners on the walls as the Mongols tried to breach with their elephants?! Hilarious! And bloody!
Loved...and feared, lol. An actual Horde that was like BORG, moving as one.
The ultimate challenging way is fight them playing the campaign with the Rebels that don't have riflemen and artillery instead of mercenaries!
@@peachypietro9980the mongols didnt have elephants???
Yes it is! Roleplaying with your generals, crusades/jihads and my favorite thing, upgrading the armor/weapons on the units actually changes the in battle models to reflect it. Edit: Not to mention the modding scene.
Vanilla behond and custom campaign mod2 is my favorite mods.
Ah Medieval II: Total War, still an amazing game. And yes, you can still change the files to unlock almost all factions. You can't unlock Aztecs, Mongols, or Timurids cuz you just lose
Actually, you can unlock the Mongols and Timurids by editing the files, mainly to give them a starting settlement but also some other changes. It's not as hard as you may think :)
@@reubenchandy2052really how
@@GeneralChamp91 th-cam.com/video/CRJf2EkiF7g/w-d-xo.htmlsi=fjXrPHfJICAxzi0E
@@GeneralChamp91 That video should explain it. There is a similar one for the Mongols
What do you mean you just loose
Yes please, more Medieval II! It would be awesome to see a whole campaign series.
Such a nostalgia trip! I used to play it a lot with the Kingdoms Grand Campaign mod, which added almost all units and factions from the expansions to the base campaign. Definitely recommend to give that a try if it's still around!
The graphics may be dated, but what makes battles special is the way units behave.
Each soldier goes through random idle, walking / running and attack animation loops, which have different duration.
They start acting on orders as soon as the loop they are in is finished.
As a result, each soldier within a unit acts at his own pace and compensates to not lag behind the unit when an order is issued.
This brings a sense of individuality for each unit you command.
Additionally, unlike every other Total War since Shogun II, units don't slaughter each-other within seconds and maintain their spacing during combat - those behind wait to replace the fighting line of their unit. This makes battles drag on and that brings a sense of struggle to the whole battle - it feels like there's a lot at stake.
Every single release since then, except Shogun 2, has fallen short of this design and it feels like you're commanding flocks of birds around, with how unnaturally AI-ish the soldier movement is.
Medieval 2 is probably the only game in the Total war series that has great melee and missile sound design.
Look up videos of people shooting medieval bows and crossbows and then go back and listen to the shooting sounds in M2 - the melee metal on metal, missile on metal and missile release sounds are so visceral and pay homage to how devastating those weapons are.
And of course..same as the previous example, the sound design has fallen short in every other title since Shogun 2.
People still play it decades later because of how well it is made. Even if you get tired of vanilla, there's so many excellent mods to try that you can play it on and off for another decade.
You might want to try Shogun 2 again then. That game, along with Attila, has the fastest time to kill of any TW game. Battles in Warhammer, for example, last WAY longer.
Medieval 2 is one of those God-tier games that just stands the test of time. One of those games they literally won't make anymore.
Not to mention that we got the 4 (!) kingdoms campaigns for the price of one, and they were added rather unceremoniously. Today, each of these would be released separately, with much fanfare and at a steep price (see: AC Mirage).
No it doesn't.
Quit being blinded by nostalgia and take off your rose tinted glasses.
I've thought for a long time that you and Legend doing a coop campaign would be PEAK content. Always nice to see the classics on the channel.
Really wished they remastered this game like they did with the first Rome game. Don’t think it’s going to happen but one can dream.
You know, I think every time I played England in M2TW and I sent the starting spy into York, he always died.
I just did and I just died York settlement will never be spied upon😂
Would def watch more of this! I just won a campaign as HRE the other day, had a blast.
You know, unlocking a faction after defeating them or after completing a campaign was so rewarding as a kid, few games did that back in te day
I’m going back and replaying the historical Total War games so I’m happy to see some Medieval 2. I’m playing it for the first time in years once I finish my Rome Remaster campaign.
It’s honestly amazing how well medieval two has held up. AI diplomacy is janky as shit but the battles and campaign is so good
Oh man, I’d forgotten just how much I loved this game and honestly it holds up really well even now. Think it’s time to fire it back up!
Fun fact: As England, you get to hire Sherwood Archers in the green tights.
There alright they archers are.
The modding community for this game during its prime was wild.
I'd say it still is, perhaps even more so!
@@IzzyTotalWar A wild Izzy! Get your pokeballs.
third age Total War was sick☠️
@MCSorry what is the best mod for medieval 2, i havent played this game yet but it is old asf, so i wanna know of any of the good mods
@MCSorry Excellent, thanks for the recommendations. Another quick question.
Whats your opinion on Empire and Rome 2?
Are they as bad as everyone says they are, or should I also give them a try?
a fun medieval 2 fact is that they released it with bugged code so diplomacy became impossible after you declared war once. Occupying a city or castle gives you worse negative reputation than executing it. Easy to fix tho but CA never did
I can attest to that. I started with Spain playing defensively and only ever invaded the Moors at first, after which France Portugal and practically every other European country declared war on me soon after. Now at turn 150 and I have taken all of Europe and Africa and have every other faction at war with me apart from Papal States and the Turks (for now). You can forget about diplomacy in this game it's broken (Rome 2 felt way better), just trade and rely on yourself to conquer the world!
Always has been amazing
Probably the best Total War game
I wonder how this kind of game progression would be received today. What if in TW: Warhammer, you had to play a campaign with Karl Frans or Tyrion to unlock the other lords and factions. Back in the day, I liked it as it gave replayability and a sense of progession but I imagine that it would cause a revolt in this day and age 😅
Would suck for us family scrubs. 😂
@@affugter Yeah, that's the hard part. I would probobly not have the time to unlock everything either these days. Add that I play with mods for Warhammer when I play. But dang I miss the sense of accomplishment when I got to my Germany, Greek or Selecuide campain in Rome TW as a young teen. :-P
Perhaps an unlocking system where you can unlock 1-3 factions by choice and then get more for every finished campain... Then I am sure people would find ways to work around for those that really need or want to just like Medieval and Rome.
I had played it for days, even it has it's flaws. But I totally abandoned it after finding the Divide and Conquer mod for MED2. For starters it's set in Midle Earth fantasy world and playing with Gondor or Elves against hordes of Mordor was a thril and wastly improved the gameplay by giving the special abilities to generals (which don't die at 50-60 years old, but usualy live until they are slain in battle) and improving the diplomacy and economy...
Ah man, nothing makes me happier than seeing you upload some old school Totar War again..
I always play as Venice first so I can blitz and unlock Milan. Then I play as Milan.
Sir Steiner's counterattack when?
Playing the iPad version last year brought back so many great memories. the Ipad graphics are so good
I would genuinely love to see some medieval 2 videos on the channel. Modded or otherwise.
The Divide and Conquer mod is *fantastic!* You should definitely try it out, Alex!
I'd love to see a continuation of this campaign!
Turning the Welsh into a town will come back to bite you when Portugal shows up to take it, they nearly always do
Rushing home from school to put into practice my grand campaign to invade Iberia as the Moors. Amazing game, so much nostalgia. Game of thrones mod was fun too.
Moors are the best when you know how to utilize their roster. It's always a tough campaign too as typically all the Italian factions gang up on you pretty early. It is imperative to have a solid navy to help sink a fee armies every now and then. I'm at war with 7 factions by turn 25 and they all want Tunis for some reason
Im playing it now.. been fun.... the worst part is the slow response of troops on the field
For me it's the pathfinding and how some units refuse to run especially in a group.
Hearing someone else talk about the Third Age mod for medieval 2 ❤
Trying to jump on that legendoftotalwar successes
It is! I am playing it right now.
"youre not even gonna be able to get it up for my daughter..." = Alex forgetting this isnt Crusader Kings
50% of the video is Alex Fawning over Medieval 2 and I'M HERE FOR IT
With the freecam mod + whatever other mods you love, it is amazing in 2023.
I just love seeing quality historical games.
Hi Rambler, love your vids! Can I make a viewer request in that can more videos have a Rambler Cam. I completely understand if you don't wanna do this but personally I think your videos are really heightened when your able to visually respond to stuff and use the full breadth of the Rambler reaction. Once again love your vids and completely understand if this isn't possible, I'm happy to watch some Rambler no matter the format 😅
I really wanted you to do more things like this.and i am so happy that you did it
RIP Dave
Pavise Crossbowmen from Milan are the best shooter in the game, but Longbowmen get the Timurids/Mongols eraser meaning the stakes. Once I was besieged by two timurid doomstacks, and i had like 2 longbowmen and 3 spearmen units which were damaged, i setup at the final gate so they could only come in from one side, I set up the stakes in a V. I did not think I would see thousands of horsemen die in 3 seconds because the stakes are instakill.
Probably the best strategy game ever made... especially with the DLCS
Sometimes alex sounds like les claypool singing
According to Legend (who has recently returned to M2), generals bodyguard is one of the best units in the game. It's heavy cav without needing anything else to get it. 2 or 3 of them in an army together and they can wreck anything that's not a cavalry army.
Seeing Total war 2 just hit me in the heart, always loved this game!
If you miss the family trees they have it in 3 kingdoms total war
I vividly remember conquering Europe just with half stack of generals and half stack of longbows
Could of edited your mouse settijg to fix the camra speed haha
My only problem with this game is you can expand so quick. kind of takes the rp out then youve conquered france spain and germany in quick succession. I think they just need to add more cities to you spend longer in your home region (england short campaign keeping them in britain and france for example)
That's the reason why I don't have the urge to play a campaign and I am too lazy too mod it ^^
medieval 2 my beloved 💘
Still playing TTWM2 so nice to see you have a quick bash.
Yeah, AI usually pops the massed ranks of Scots on to dinghy - theyll be off to a World Cup somewhere.👍
Wow, that player count is over 100x Redfall's.
Nice to see some Total War videos.
would enjoy watching a continuation of this
My deepest condolences to you Alex, I didn't realise you were from Maidstone.
R.I.P. Dave. He died fighting for King and Country. o7
The tactical AI is SO bad though. Standing outside of castle defenses and just getting blasted. It's a total joke.
I would love to see you play this more!
I originally had it on pc back in the day , got it on my phone now , it's abit tricky at first with the controls on the latter but god almighty it's fun! Love setting up massacres on it , 2 units of longbowmen and 1 poleaxe unit defending a fort/Castle against heavy cavalry and a few infantry units... it's magnificent , deploy stakes is ridiculous... Overall
The elphants , the cannons , the grand campaign everything is truly magnificent. I don't think I'll ever tire of playing this game! Just like Rome before it! ❤
niiiiiiiiiiiiiiice, this game was part of my childhood, thanks alex!
Mount and Blade Bannerlord currently has my attention, the slightly more modern Total war =P
I feel like I'm listening to grown Stewie from Family Guy hahahah
Because he's English...?
@@Maesterful You've opened my eyes. All english people sound exactly like grown Stewie. How could I be so blind to not realize england is the only place on earth with no regional or personal variations in the way of speaking. My apologies Mr. Smart.
@@FernandoLXIX You're most welcome, glad to be of service
The new historical title, didn't do it for many people, Alex.
I play this currently, with or without mods it’s amazing.
Also revisited recently, and it holds up. However microing the merchants not so much.
Wanting to kill the King of France is the most British thing ever😂
Just bought the game in 5h it's done i'm so exited to play a total war game for the first time :)
Im sure it’s still the most played game. I love it still with the mods etc. would love a Wars of the roses mod on Britannia campaign. A detailed one tho like game of thrones with earls and there sigils and own units with colours to there houses, for instance the Percy’s in Northumberland etc but do the same for Scotland and have there own units and sigils and Ireland etc. use a positions of power where if you claim the kingdom you can appoint dukes and name positions like Lord High Steward, chancellor and Lord Lieutenant. Also the church was a massive political force in medieval Europe so have positions like arch bishop of Canterbury. The different houses would give the chance to change history so instead of being one of the powerful houses like York you could be the Percy’s start of a
Client state and when you get powerful enough challenge or marry into the royalty. Also add Northern France and Flanders into the mix. There’s loads they could do.
More please! Would love to see different factions
Yesterday just started to play Stainless Steel mod. Its so good and fun.
I have always been suprised the never made a Medieval III still, hoping they'll give it the Rome Total War treatment
Hoping for Med3, Empire2 and Rome3 by the end of the decade 👍🏾
this game is on sale right now on Steam
Thanks for this review of Total Diplomacy Medieval Peace 2
yes, especially with both the Kingdoms and Vanilla Mods.
Vanilla kingdoms mod is amazing! Can play as the teutonicborder or an even more challenging Byzantine game beset on all sides w8th enemies. Great game!
I loved it as much as anyone. thousands of hours in it. Cant play it anymore. Lack of quality of life UI features and the abysmal pathfinding make me unable to enjoy it now. Feels bad.
::peasant kills the french king::
Historian: "And then Hugh, our glorious general, rode out and killed the french king in single combat!"
I'd have to say I like this one the most. I've got most of the Total War games and I always play this one over the rest. The most fun is using the cheats and putting difficulty on very hard. Use the Diplomats and give every faction 200k or more. You'd have to say that these games are the best value for money over other titles that can be finished in a few days. You could spend months playing this game, and not repeat any mission during that time.
I just picked this up a couple days ago! I love the ambience and music, but coming from Rome 2 its taking me some getting used to.
The Greatest Total War Player
Glad to see his title hasn't been forgotten
Total war without blood looks so strange
Med2 is still peak TW.
Good engine, units had weight, no weird archery effects, population mattered.
And the modding scene is still active.
The Ai diplomacy still annoyed the hell out of me.
And well York being a tiny "village" is annoying as it was the 2nd largest city in England (bar the harrowing of the North incident)
One of my all time favorites. Stil hoping for a Medieval 3 or maby a Remake of some kind
The Stainless Steel Mod is basically a remake.
@@TotalyRandomUsername kinda but stil hoping for a official😊
I always considered Medieval II as a training program for my personal good manners.
great fun alex
This game is an good one, please play it more
Where is that thumbnail art from?!
Yessss Alex an absolute banger this game 🎉
old but gold
do a full series with this campain
I would def love more total war!
gotta try out the divide and counquer mod
Pls do a full playthrough
Best game of the total war IMO. Amazing . Medieval 3 would be a dream, take my money
Yes it is. M2TW is among the absolute best of the TW franchise and turn based strats as a whole.
How is this game still the pinacle of its genre after all these years? I don`t get why no one has been able to build on this game in almost 20 years despite the technology.
You can still do it by changing the code just did that today.
I could watch a entire campaign on youtube