Armchair Dragoons Forums

Wargaming => Pre-Gunpowder => Topic started by: Martok on August 19, 2022, 07:06:00 PM

Title: Medieval Total War
Post by: Martok on August 19, 2022, 07:06:00 PM
While I don't play it nearly as much as I used to, the original Medieval Total War remains one of my favorite games ever -- probably only behind Birth of the Federation, in fact.  It's one of those "special" games that has a permanent spot -- both on my hard drive, and in my heart.  :dreamer: 




So it was with a sense of bittersweet nostalgia that I received this email yesterday: 


Quote
(https://i.imgur.com/xgkk9zi.jpg)

Dust off those spears and long bows, it's time to revisit Medieval times. This week we're celebrating 20 years of Medieval: Total War! (oh my, has it really been that long?) A game with infinite replayability, there's never been a better time to build an army, crush rebellions, declare war, and conquer the medieval world!


To get us into the spirit of the times, check out this historical analysis on the Siege of Antioch from Kings and Generals as well as this excellent video from Terminator with a retrospective on the game and its legacy:






Be sure to stick around over the next few days for more Medieval: Total War content, including live streams and sponsored content from creators. See our schedule below:


(https://i.imgur.com/Dm31r2z.jpg)



Title: Re: Medieval Total War
Post by: Martok on August 19, 2022, 07:08:17 PM
(Oh yes, and the game is on sale for just 99 cents until August 22:  https://store.steampowered.com/app/345260/Medieval_Total_War__Collection/) 




I will admit, I do find it kinda cool CA still pays lip service homage to their older games on occasion, even if it is for mostly self-promotional purposes. 

It'll also be interesting to see if they use the anniversary as an excuse/springboard for further announcements -- such as Medieval 2 Remastered, or even Medeival 3.  Goodness knows there was already enough clamoring for both before, and this has only fanned the flames. 


Title: Re: Medieval Total War
Post by: Gusington on August 19, 2022, 08:08:20 PM
Also one of my top five all time PC games. But I don't see a springboard to anything new yet. I wish I did.
Title: Re: Medieval Total War
Post by: Sir Slash on August 19, 2022, 11:04:42 PM
Can't be 20 years since that game first handed me my first butt-whipping. Or my most recent butt-whipping, that was about a month ago. I once tried the hiding-behind-the-bush trick to slip-out of the house late one night. Didn't work for me either. One of the truly great games of all time.  :notworthy:
Title: Re: Medieval Total War
Post by: Undercovergeek on August 20, 2022, 02:50:13 AM
Can't be 20 years since that game first handed me my first butt-whipping. Or my most recent butt-whipping, that was about a month ago. I once tried the hiding-behind-the-bush trick to slip-out of the house late one night. Didn't work for me either. One of the truly great games of all time.  :notworthy:

I’m no tactical genius so it can’t be just me - apart from  medieval I’ve never lost a game of TW - I love the franchise but boredom in the map and the game length requirements have defeated me long before the enemy

But medieval did kick my ass and I’m wondering if that’s because it was before the introduction of castles and siege battles - each battle was straight up open field warfare and there was nothing more nail biting than hoping your mercenary Nubian spearmen would hold against the incoming charge
Title: Re: Medieval Total War
Post by: Sir Slash on August 20, 2022, 10:20:03 AM
I won Long Campaigns as Spain and HRE, and short ones as France and England, remember you had to win a short campaign in order to unlock all the factions?  :doh:  Loved them all.... except for the Inquisitors. I hated them.  >:(
Title: Re: Medieval Total War
Post by: Staggerwing on August 20, 2022, 02:14:35 PM
(Oh yes, and the game is currently on sale for just 99 cents:  https://store.steampowered.com/app/345260/Medieval_Total_War__Collection/) 

It says min requirements are Vista or Win7? I could swear I played the game on a Dell 4300 with WinME when it first came out, though it's possible I'd just upgraded to XP. IIRC, Vista didn't come out till 2007. Was the version on Steam remastered for later OSs?
Title: Re: Medieval Total War
Post by: Gusington on August 20, 2022, 05:24:28 PM
The unlocking faction thing was in Medieval as well? I only remember that in the original Rome: TW.

I definitely remember winning some Medieval campaigns but not a lot of them. And I got my arse handed to me in MP playing as the Byzantines against LongBlade's Turks :/
Title: Re: Medieval Total War
Post by: Martok on August 21, 2022, 04:00:28 AM
Well I found Terminator's video to be disappointing:  It seemed to me he could've/should've spent more time discussing MTW and the game's development history, impact, etc.  Instead, he spent the majority of the video talking about Medieval 2, a possible future Medieval 3, and medieval mods for other TW titles, particularly 1212 AD. 

I get that he was probably trying to make the point that all of those things were ultimately outgrowths of MTW's success/influence, but it still left a bad taste in my mouth.  It's like I watched a video of an elderly person's birthday party, where they were basically ignored by their adult children the moment they were done blowing out the candles on the cake. 




On the flip side, we have this interview with some of the CA staff discussing MTW's anniversary and how it came to be (ignore the clickbait-y headline):  https://www.techradar.com/features/total-war-medieval-3-is-something-we-will-do-creative-assembly-reveals


I still adore the first Shogun Total War, but I admittedly forget sometimes just how limited it was in some ways compared to its successor.  For all that both games were made on the same engine, it's pretty remarkable how much greater in scope MTW was.  And when you read how informal CA's structure still was at the time, it's all the more remarkable what they achieved. 


Title: Re: Medieval Total War
Post by: Martok on August 21, 2022, 04:01:20 AM


Also one of my top five all time PC games. But I don't see a springboard to anything new yet. I wish I did.

On further reflection, I'm inclined to agree with you.  CA's time & attention is going to be fully occupied with the release of Immortal Empires and the Champions of Chaos DLC for the immediate foreseeable future.  That alone pretty much precludes any announcements regarding upcoming games/projects, at least anytime soon. 

I don't rule out the possibility of them announcing Medieval 2 Remastered at *some* point in the not-too-distant future (and I'm certain they'll announce that long before they'd ever announce Medieval 3 - heh).  Realistically, though, I doubt we'll see any sort of new game being mentioned until next year. 




I’m no tactical genius so it can’t be just me - apart from  medieval I’ve never lost a game of TW - I love the franchise but boredom in the map and the game length requirements have defeated me long before the enemy

But medieval did kick my ass and I’m wondering if that’s because it was before the introduction of castles and siege battles - each battle was straight up open field warfare and there was nothing more nail biting than hoping your mercenary Nubian spearmen would hold against the incoming charge

MTW/VI definitely has castle/siege battles.  It was actually the first Total War title to introduce them to the series, and one of the major new features touted when the game was being previewed in the media. 


The difference is that the AI in MTW was generally much better than in most subsequent games, a fact that I myself occasionally forget whenever I return to it.  (I'm not exactly a military genius either, and can still lose in this game.)  The combat AI, in particular, is superior to most -- it understands the importance of flanking attacks (and guarding against them), it can employ the "appear weak" defense, and even pull off the occasional feigned retreat. 

On the strategic/campaign side of the game, the AI was not as brilliant.  However, it was sometimes still smart enough to recognize that it couldn't win the battle it was facing, and that therefore abandoning the province and avoiding battle entirely was the better option -- at least that way, the AI didn't needlessly sacrifice its troops.  I suspect that this behavior indirectly contributed towards MTW having a decent number of field battles (since they weren't always/immediately retreating to the capital/castle), unlike many of the later games. 




It says min requirements are Vista or Win7? I could swear I played the game on a Dell 4300 with WinME when it first came out, though it's possible I'd just upgraded to XP. IIRC, Vista didn't come out till 2007. Was the version on Steam remastered for later OSs?

The original game was released to be compatible with Windows 98/2000/ME/XP.  (I had XP on my computer at the time MTW was released, and it was able to run the game with no problems.)  So yes, I imagine the Vista/Win7 requirements must be for the Steam version. 

To be honest, I don't know that the game was ever "remastered" for newer OS's.  I know of a lot of folks have struggled to get the game to play on their PC's, especially with Windows 10.  I've been fortunate enough to not have had that problem, including on my new machine (which has Windows 11), but not everyone has been as lucky.  [knocks on wood] 




I won Long Campaigns as Spain and HRE, and short ones as France and England, remember you had to win a short campaign in order to unlock all the factions?  :doh:  Loved them all.... except for the Inquisitors. I hated them.  >:(

The unlocking faction thing was in Medieval as well? I only remember that in the original Rome: TW.

I definitely remember winning some Medieval campaigns but not a lot of them. And I got my arse handed to me in MP playing as the Byzantines against LongBlade's Turks :/

Sir Slash is referring to Medieval 2.  Both the short/long campaign victory conditions, and the unlocking of factions (gods, how I f*****g hated that), weren't a thing until Rome 1 and later. 


Title: Re: Medieval Total War
Post by: Martok on August 21, 2022, 04:02:23 AM
And on the extremely remote chance anyone was curious as to how I knew what the original game's software requirements were...  Well let's just say that for once, I was able to find something *without* having to dig through a ton of boxes.  :nerd: 


Title: Re: Medieval Total War
Post by: Undercovergeek on August 21, 2022, 05:59:03 AM
I loved the box stuff - shogun and medieval

Was the medieval campaign map still the old chess board style where you picked up your army and moved province to province

I honestly don’t remember castles in the original mtw
Title: Re: Medieval Total War
Post by: Martok on August 21, 2022, 03:48:18 PM
Yeah, the boxed versions of STW and MTW came with the paper manuals and tech trees (for both units and buildings).  It was great.  :D 

Yes, MTW's campaign was the old Risk-style map, just like the original Shogun.  That's one of the things I liked (and still like) about it. 

Castles and castle sieges/battles were a signature feature of MTW, but I can see where you might not remember them.  I suspect a lot of people skipped castle battles, as they could be frustrating to fight. 


Title: Re: Medieval Total War
Post by: thecommandtent on August 21, 2022, 08:01:44 PM
And on the extremely remote chance anyone was curious as to how I knew what the original game's software requirements were...  Well let's just say that for once, I was able to find something *without* having to dig through a ton of boxes.  :nerd:

Wow the memories that just came flooding back looking at those pictures.  MTW was one of my first proper computer games and the nostalgia I have for it is probably unhealthy.
Title: Re: Medieval Total War
Post by: Gusington on August 21, 2022, 10:30:44 PM
Awesome pics, Martok. I think I also have a CD buried somewhere in my house of the Medieval TW soundtrack as well.
Title: Re: Medieval Total War
Post by: Sir Slash on August 21, 2022, 11:14:42 PM
Twentieth anniversary of Medieval 1. Gotcha, not Medi 2. I had forgotten there was a '1'. Makes way more sense to me now.  :doh: