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Total War: Warhammer 2 Lttp. Why did no one tell me this was sooooo good?

Total War: Warhammer 2


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I picked up TW:W2 off of a recent Steam sale a few weeks ago. I've never played the series at all despite having a buddy badgering about how good Shogun 2 was years ago. I have to say I'm very impressed. Combining Diplomacy, Real-Time Strategy, and just Tactics to take over the world in Mortal Empires has been such a great great time.

I'll say the game is very intimidating if you are a new player. There's just plain a lot to learn in regards to race relations, diplomacy and trade(even trade routes), not to mention just how many goddamn little control nuances there can be with the keyboard and mouse. I must have started the Vampire Count Mortal Empires campaign over at least 3 times, realizing how many mistakes I was making by not building certain buildings in specific parts of the map. It's just a ton to take in. I'm currently in the middle of a Vampire campaign and am having a blast discovering how differently they play compared to the High Elves.

Graphics are incredible, the game looks fantastic and having a horde of zombies shambling towards a group of elves while they are slowly dieing off to arrow shots but unable to hold back the impending tide feels like watching a movie sometimes. Then to have a pack of Direwolves or Blood Knights flanking and just running through a group looks so impressive with the bodies flying around everywhere. Animations and npc models for both normal units and GIANT monster units all look great considering the scale of these fights. And the scale it's what is so impressive.

Fighting off thousands of Skaven(rat men) as a vampire while you are casting spells on the battlefield and raising the dead right behind enemy lines can be so exhilarating considering how quickly the tide of battle can shift. Your basic tactic for most battles is have a good box and engage your enemy while moving another group for flanking. Though, that strategy works better with Elves and Dwarves as they have bows and guns, where as the Vampire counts have no ranged combat but can send giant bats to keep ranged units busy until you can move your shambling horde. It's easy to have a plan fall to shit in the middle of a fight though and trying to panic recover can be very pulse pounding.

The sound of thousands of units fighting is way better than I expected and sounds like it should. Music could be more memorable, but it's fine in the "not-in-your-face" kind of way.


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The Map


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The map is HUGE. There's so much territory to conquer and potential new trade allies all over. On top of Chaos Armies random spawning and Vampiric/Skaven corruption potentially weakening your lands over time as well. There's a lot to do. If you can make your armies strong and big enough with enough WarLords around, you can confederate other territories, gaining ALL their property and responsibilities without actually having to have a fight, so paying attention to diplomacy can have a huge impact if you know how to use it effectively. I find myself going into a new territory, trying and hopefully making peace with a few of the border nations and focus my attention on one or two nations, slowly spreading corruption as a vampire and spreading across the lands like I'm Covid-19. The game scratches an itch that just makes you want to do "one more turn" before bed and then it's 5 a.m. You want to see how other nations will respond to what you've done. It's very addicting.


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Controls


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This is still the biggest point of contention for me. The controls in this game are something else. It's a lot like ARMA in that aspect in which there's a ton of nuance to how you can form your army, how you can form them up(even locking in formations), how you can assign waypoints or draw out lines for them to follow, how to shift them while holding the left ALT key. There's just plain a lot of control that it's super confusing at first learning things. Left clicks while holding shift, control, or ALT all do different things, right click on the mouse along with those same modifiers do other things too. You can have your army run or walk(and that matters too as they can show up to a fight tired) There's just so much and even after 60 hours in a few weeks, I still don't fully understand the controls. Though I am learning pretty well. The controls seem really great, there's just SOOOOOOOO much shit to learn, on top of remembering which units are more effective against others and the best way to form your army in a fight based off of what your army consists of. There can be a ton to it.


Overall


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I can't believe how deeply I've fallen into this game. It's crazy fun and I haven't even finished it. 60 hours in and I feel like I kind of know a decent amount about The Vampire Count, High Elves, and Dwarf factions, but that's nothing considering there's still like 4 more races I've yet to fight, along with 20+ more WarLords to discover. My Dad came over and we had a few drinks and started a Dwarf campaign and played for almost 5 hours straight. We haven't done that in a long time. I've never played a Table Top RPG, but this feels like a modern take on what I'd expect those things to feel like. I can't wait to restart and pick a new race and starting location and just see how it all plays out. I feel like this game has a ton of replay value. I've still yet to finish the Eye of Vortex campaign as I've been addicted to trying world domination as a Vampire Count in Mortal Empire.


Speaking of which, this game has some funky DLC. To get the "Mortal Empires" campaign, which essentially is a "take over the world" mode, you have to have Total War: Warhammer 1. When i bought TW:WH2 a good number of people online said that buying the first game was important for access to "Mortal Empires" in Warhammer 2 as you'll get a bunch of the base races from that game to play as well, and I really wanted the Vampire Counts as I was in the Halloween mood at the time. Half the DLC on Steam is free, the other half is payed, I've yet to pay for ANY of the DLC unless you count just buying the first game. Which tbf, you probably should as Mortal Empires is so goddamn fun. I'm looking forward to picking up Tomb Kings, Norsca, Vampire Coast and a few more minor ones the next time they go on a sale. You can fight ALL the races in the game, but you can only PLAY as the ones which you own, and between Warhammer 1 and Warhammer 2 base games, there's still a lot on offer, Skaves, Lizardmen, Greenskins, High Elves, Empire, Brettonia, etc.

Overall, I'm extremely impressed with this game. It ALMOST makes me want to go and check the other Total Wars, I got Troy on Epic when it was free, still yet to play it. And I know I own Shogun 2, but from what I've read, people have said because of the Warhammer license that Creative Assembly has a lot more room to make more unique classes and units because they aren't limited by real-world limitations. I got to say, they've nailed this game and I see myself spending a lot of time playing it. Hell, I could see my Dad and I playing this shit together for years to be honest. He's a huge fantasy nerd and this game is right up his alley. Not to mention the HUGE amount of mods that can make minor or major changes to the game and with integrated Steam Workshop, it's been pretty easy to mod and I've yet to have issues. Really thankful for mod support as it'll extend the life of the game indefinitely.

I really hope we get news of a Total War: Warhammer 3 soon, as it now has my eye going forward. And if you have a casual passing interest in strategy games like I do, then maybe check it out if it's on sale, if you are willing to put some effort into learning all the nuances of the game you could be in for something very rewarding. Or if you haven't played Mortal Empires in a long time, maybe give it another go, apparently it got some pretty significant updates in 2019.



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All pics were random googles as I've been too busy playing the game and forget to take pictures while playing.
 
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IDKFA

I am Become Bilbo Baggins
Amazing game in one of the best game series in history.

Combine Total War: Warhammer 1 and 2 for the biblically epic Mortal Empire campaign. It's basically both games stitched together. Say goodbye to free time after that.

Can't wait to see all three games combined when TW:W 3 comes out. I bust a nut just thinking about how damn amazing that's going to be.

After I've busted a nut over Warhammer, I'll then make love to my wife to wash the taste of nerd out of my mouth.
 

mcz117chief

Member
I am currently going through a Wood Elf campaign on very hard, a fun game for sure. However, Shogun 2 and Fall of the Samurai is still the best in the franchise. If you think the controls are good in Warhammer then after playing Shogun 2 you will think they are garbage. There are so many things done better in Shogun. You have much finer control of your armies, you can change the entire army's formation with one click and the units will rearrange themselves, you can order the army to maintain formation and advance 10 paces etc. you can even appoint an ai general to help you manage huge fights, you got incredible naval combat with some of the most impressive explosions I have ever seen, you can even call in naval artillery if you fight near a coastline with ships in range. The battle animations are insane in that game! Units actually duel, they parry, deflect, roll, block, grapple, injure, execute each other...just pick two units and watch them zoomed in, it looks like For Honor but on a grand scale. Then you also got things like family, incredibly funny and gruesome assassination cutscenes (like ninjas stumbling over sleeping soldiers or hiding in barrels) and, if you play Fall of the Samurai, you will see Japan slowly transition from a medieval country to a modern one, even the music changes. All in all, Warhammer is very fun, but Shogun 2 is out of this world incredible.
 

mcz117chief

Member
Also, I don't see how they can make Warhammer 3 without going to the past. Archaon the Everchosen blew up the entire planet. The continuation of Warhammer is the Age of Sigmar. So they can either ignore canon completely or make the game in the past, like the good 'ol Magnus times or even further the time when Sigmar was smashing ork heads.
 
It’s my most played game possibly of all time and certainly of the last few years.

Add up my time with the first game and I would imagine I’ve spent more time on these two games than total time spent on my launch PS4.
 

mcz117chief

Member
It's not.

Warhammer is absolute pleb tier Total War.

Attila is the real chad game.
Yeah, Attila is also a better game overall. The intro is pure fire and the campaign is literally pure fire AND brimstone. The most apocalyptic game I can think of right now and the most badass depiction of that period I have ever seen.
 
The Vortex campaign is bullshit but I really enjoyed my time with the dinosaurs.

Troy has the best battles since Medieval 2. Warhammer feels kind of janky.
 
Yup, it's amazing. I've clocked close to a thousand hours now, which is a LOT for me, and I still haven't touched even half the factions. :messenger_tears_of_joy: The modding community is also quite extensive.

Also, I don't see how they can make Warhammer 3 without going to the past. Archaon the Everchosen blew up the entire planet. The continuation of Warhammer is the Age of Sigmar. So they can either ignore canon completely or make the game in the past, like the good 'ol Magnus times or even further the time when Sigmar was smashing ork heads.

I could be wrong, but I don't think 1 > 2 was a continuous, chronological story. There's really no crossover and the campaigns function independently from each other.
 
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Manus

Member
Get ready to lose your life. Game is like crack.

Just make sure to play siege fights with the Lord of The Rings soundtrack.
 
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I am currently going through a Wood Elf campaign on very hard, a fun game for sure. However, Shogun 2 and Fall of the Samurai is still the best in the franchise. If you think the controls are good in Warhammer then after playing Shogun 2 you will think they are garbage. There are so many things done better in Shogun. You have much finer control of your armies, you can change the entire army's formation with one click and the units will rearrange themselves, you can order the army to maintain formation and advance 10 paces etc. you can even appoint an ai general to help you manage huge fights, you got incredible naval combat with some of the most impressive explosions I have ever seen, you can even call in naval artillery if you fight near a coastline with ships in range. The battle animations are insane in that game! Units actually duel, they parry, deflect, roll, block, grapple, injure, execute each other...just pick two units and watch them zoomed in, it looks like For Honor but on a grand scale. Then you also got things like family, incredibly funny and gruesome assassination cutscenes (like ninjas stumbling over sleeping soldiers or hiding in barrels) and, if you play Fall of the Samurai, you will see Japan slowly transition from a medieval country to a modern one, even the music changes. All in all, Warhammer is very fun, but Shogun 2 is out of this world incredible.
It's not.

Warhammer is absolute pleb tier Total War.

Attila is the real chad game.
I have Shogun 2, and I think I'll probably get to it one day. What do y'all think is better? Attila or Shogun 2?
 

lefty1117

Gold Member
It's all downhill from Warhammer 2 as far as the other Total Wars go. I think Three Kingdoms is really quite good, but there's nothing else that really captures the variety and obvious love of the source material that went into the Warhammer games. It's fcking fantastic. I wish I could smash Paradox and CA together ... could you imagine Crusader Kings 3 with this combat?
 

Tschumi

Member
Love this game hugely, but eventually the gameplay loop feels limited... when i say eventually, i mean, after like 110+ hours of awesome fun. But when you've taken over all the lands RP demands for every race you want to play... yuh...

p.s. yeah, awesome writeup :)
 
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bbeach123

Member
Couldnt get into the series before TW1 after many tried . But thank god for TW1 having the best introduction/tutorial level .

The last time i tried total war is starting Western Roman Empire campaign in Attila :messenger_fearful: .
 

mcz117chief

Member
I have Shogun 2, and I think I'll probably get to it one day. What do y'all think is better? Attila or Shogun 2?
Both are great for different reasons but if you didn't get it from my post Shogun 2 is just legendary in the amount of detail and love put into it.

Couldnt get into the series before TW1 after many tried . But thank god for TW1 having the best introduction/tutorial level .

The last time i tried total war is starting Western Roman Empire campaign in Attila :messenger_fearful: .

As far as I know every game has either a tutorial mini campaign or tutorial faction. Western Roman Empire in Attila has always been advertised as the ultimate challenge for the Total War veterans, that is why it has a "legendary" starting difficulty, I have never seen that before or since.
 
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Sentenza

Member
They should make a Total War : Middle Earth, instant sell.
Well, there was an incredibly impressive total conversion mod called Third Age for TW Medieval 2.
Of course, by today's standards it's not the looker it used to be anymore.

Also is there a napoleonic wars ?
There is.
it's possibly the most unpopular title in the whole franchise.
Look for Total War Empire and in particular its spin-off Napoleon:

 
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Fun fact: "insider" sources told me that Warhammer 3 is supposed to be closer than people realize.
We are speaking "first months of 2021" close, here.

Interesting. Dlc for wood elf plus one warhammer 2 race supposed to be announced around december. Are they doing a pre order bonus again?

Protip to people interested: dont bother if you arent installing on ssd.
 
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Sentenza

Member
Interesting. Dlc for wood elf plus one warhammer 2 race supposed to be announced around december. Are they doing a pre order bonus again?
Keep in mind that I've been told this in Summer, so it's entirely possible that there may be some unexpected delay on the timeline.
Still, it's supposed to be in its polishing phase and just around the corner.
 
Keep in mind that I've been told this in Summer, so it's entirely possible that there may be some unexpected delay on the timeline.
Still, it's supposed to be in its polishing phase and just around the corner.

Hope you are right. Covid seems to have been delaying their dlc flow.

Btw im deliciousbanchou on steam if people want to talk/play with some easy difficulty scrub in Japan. I have all total wars except britania and titles older than medieval 2.
 

Fbh

Member
I need to give this game a second chance.
Bought it with a completely different expectation about what it was going to be and I couldn't get into it. I was looking for something to scratch that Battle for Middle Earth 2 itch and this just wasn't it.

Most of what I'd seen looked like...well this:
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But from my experience most of the game turned out to be more like:
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But it still seemed interesting. It's more like the whole thing was overwhelming and added to the disappointment that it wasn't the sort of game I was hoping I just moved on to something else.
Will install it one of these days.
 
The day you decide to try, here's what's arguably the best Youtube channel to learn how to play the game properly:

I've been using that channel to learn a lot. MilkandcookiesTW, Colonel Damneders and Italian Spartacus. Have helped me out immensively.

Protip to people interested: dont bother if you arent installing on ssd.

O yes. Probably should have mentioned it in my write-up. Even on an SSD, it's a solid 30 sec. load time or so transitioning to a battle from the overworld map.
 

A.Romero

Member
Amazing games. I've been a fan since the Rome days but I've skipped Empire (I know have in my library but not much interest to play it).

Warhammer was a great addition to the series. It's definitely the best they have done so far.

The only problem I have with this game is time flies. Once I start playing I can go 5 or 6 hours non-stop. I'm always going for that mythical one last turn but then some ass invades a settlement or the Chaos Legions arrive and I just can't drop it there.

Great game.
 
Warhammer has likely forever ruined TW with its single unit hero bullshit.

Looking forward to Medieval 2 with Joan of Arc soloing armies.


Fun fact: "insider" sources told me that Warhammer 3 is supposed to be closer than people realize.
We are speaking "first months of 2021" close, here.

You know if they're adding Ogres?
 

Sentenza

Member
You know if they're adding Ogres?
I know absolutely NOTHING of what will be included. It wasn't a long conversation, just a quick confidence.
Let's say someone threw me a bone and I wasn't in the position to ask for more meat.

Warhammer has likely forever ruined TW with its single unit hero bullshit.
Warhammer has forever ruined Total War with its awesome variety of units.

Going back to "Lancers vs chivalry vs archers vs footmen" will never be enough again.
 
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A.Romero

Member
Warhammer has likely forever ruined TW with its single unit hero bullshit.

Looking forward to Medieval 2 with Joan of Arc soloing armies.




You know if they're adding Ogres?


It would be a step back to go back to plain armies. At least in TW2 and Troy it doesn't feel like they can fight an entire army on their own.
 
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