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Expeditions: Rome

mTk

mTk

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Brought to you by the Devs who did Expedition: Vikings & Expedition: Conquistador. Except it looks like they had a much larger budget for this one as the graphics are upped a couple of notches.
I really like Rome based games, but find most of the 4x types to be a bit tedious and much too complicated for my taste.
The other Rome games that emphasize combat are almost all RTS games and I really dislike those.
What I do like are Rome games that are TB'd and RPG games in general. Guess what I found!
This looks to be right in my wheelhouse as it has enough 4x to keep me interested w/o tiring me out trying to figure whether I should increase wheat production or maybe raise a few more pigs.
After that they've inserted a really good looking RPG game into the era without over doing it, but enough to satisfy my itch for finding new armor or leveling up my warrior.
You can buy it now for a $20 discount but cannot play it as there is no EA right now. The full version will be available 01-20-22 so you'll just have to enjoy your savings until then.
I almost never buy games that haven't been released (having learned that lesson the hard way) but I'm pretty excited about this one and I trust this dev.
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https://store.steampowered.com/app/987840/Expeditions_Rome/
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Just found this demo so, cool.
 
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OK, played about 2 hrs (for me and I'm reeel slow) and the game pretty much looks as advertised. That's a very good thing.
The art work is a bit amazing. A little too much actually. The amount of detail can actually be a little bit distracting when you are just walking around. Not sure I can call
that a complaint, but it is something I've not really felt before.
Controls all work well and intuitively, particularly the zoom, scroll and free camera. If you've played games of this genre you can pretty much get a jump start on this one.
There is a LOT of visual detail that is initially a little overwhelming. LOTS of little icons and symbols to try to figure out, but as I get more familiar with the UI it is all starting to
fall into place.
I'm playing on difficulty 2 o/o 4 and just completed my first real quest and it was tense. I came close to dropping down to "easy" but realized I had misread the quest objective
which was to kill 7 guards. I was under the impression I had to kill all of them (and probably could have ) but something like 10 came after my 5-person group.. Whew. (Note to
self: Read the instructions noob!)
I'm thinking about restarting and changing my character to Soldier. I have one in my party and he is the tank and only one with a shield talent. I really need another. I should
research characters before I do that as there is practically no info about details I've seen so far.
Anyway, this looks like a winner. :geek:
 
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Well, that's disappointing! No! Wait! Not the game, the fact that I ran out of playing time off the demo file.
Here's a tidbit for you. Up until you complete the final battle that puts you in charge of the Island of Lesbos play on easy difficulty. The reason is that all of that time is
taken up as a tutorial and there's no reason to have to replay anything while learning the game. Difficulty level can be changed mid-game. I will probably bump it up to
medium when I can play again.
I did do a restart and made my character a "Princeps" (tank) as brute force is kinda my style. Plus I think a 2nd tank in the group makes all the difference with another
shield available to counter enemy archers, of which there are a lot! And they are nasty. And they can get in the way of bad guys trying to poke holes in your squishees.
Some of the tutorial was a little clunky and I'd have liked some things explained a little earlier than they were. In the end I think I know what's going on.
Of interest is that when you gain Legate status and command the legion (waay too early realistically) some legion battles are text driven. Have not seen that before in this
genre. I liked it and think it works well.
Don't worry about building stuff, crafting or trying to improve equipment as that just won't happen during the tutorial play. although you will get an idea how it's done.
It looks like the party you start will be the same through out the game except on occasion where you get NPCs added/subtracted for specific quests.
Of interest is earning experience. You don't earn any by killing wolves or stabbing giant frogs. Experience is earned by completing quests. Period. Neat.
Looking forward to 01-20-22. :geek:
 
With a bit of time on my hands I rolled a couple of more characters. Wanted to get some SA on what the others would feel like playing.
While I still think the tank will be the easiest way to play, and win, I'm going to pass as it would be awfully boring to spend my entire time standing
around protecting the other squishies from taking damage.
So, I looked at the light infantry genre. It looks promising as they are fast and have a lot of skill options. The tutorial doesn't give them enough time to
really show their stuff, but I think they would be my 2nd choice for fun factor alone.
Didn't want to play the medic as that would be even more boring than the tank. The team starts with a medic and I don't think the team has any serious
need for a 2nd one.
So, what's left? The archer. Archers are long-ranged death and the enemy has a lot of them. The best way to kill archers is with counter-archer fire. Until you can
gain arrow superiority the battle will always be contested. Plus, two archers can be very effective in keeping the enemy from getting too close. That's important
since I am finding the the enemy has always outnumbered me by a substantial amount in most battles.
So, an archer I shall be.
Salve!
 
I saw this and passed. I watched the same youtube video by PE on it and decided to buy it. It was out of early access so I'll have to wail another hour for it to be released. It has some interesting and innovative RPG features. It also has a strategic layer.

In the meantime I've been playing Wartales which is in early access and its enjoyable. Once the flesh it out more it should be even better.
 
Yea! Installing ER even as I type.
I'm still waffling about which character to roll. I like the archer for reasons previously stated.
However, as the game progresses I am sure I will see bigger & badder enemies that have strong shields. Shields which just laugh at my arrows.
That only leaves me my one tank, a medic and a light infantry to reduce the shields so my archer can do his death dealing.
Hmm.
Oh, when you DL this give yourself some time as the file is 25GB.
 
I'm rolling as a Princep. I'll armor up and see how it goes. In the similar RPG Wartales one starting choice doesn't have any archers to begin with and I did regret it. In ER you start off with an archer so I'm good.

One thing in Wartales I would love to see implemented in ER is when you strike a killing blow you get a nice zoom in to fullscreen to see the killing blow. In ER you see heads getting sliced off. It would be great to see it up close and personal.

The same designer has made 2 previous games on with Conquistadors and other with Vikings. I may have to check them out.
 
I'm playing on Normal difficulty and just took over warehouse. I notice that your companions can get seriously wounded and incapacitated, but if you win the battle and its over then they are magically uninjured and equipment is in tip top conditions. Am I missing something? In Wartales, you get wounded in battle you have to heal and repair equipment if you can...
 
Your teammates can get beaten up pretty good, but unless they take "serious" injuries and require time to heal they are good to go after the last battle.
I suspect our medic is going to be very busy.
There is no repairing weapons/shields per se in the game. Romans have a lot of both. There is crafting though which you will run into a little bit later. Crafting
will produce better weapons and armor.
Keep in mind you are doing the tutorial and it will all become clear by the time you conquer Lesbos. Another couple of hours of game play.
 
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