| Yeah, it's worth getting. It's better than Rome. However, it has its flaws. For instance, occasionally I'll order a missile unit with skirmish mode on to run away from an advancing infantry unit, which they should be doing anyway. However, neither my move order nor the skirmish mode seems to affect them, and they stand there and get slaughtered. I think skirmish mode might actually confuse them-- I'll see if they do any better with it off. Pathfinding in general is... in need of improvement, and the patch doesn't seem to have helped much.
But there's significant upgrades too. Gunpowder makes everything more fun. It's a lot more fair now-- in Rome, your only serious competitors were usually Egypt, the Seleucids, and the Roman factions, but pretty much anyone can become powerful in Medieval. Diplomacy is actually a viable option... not too viable (especially if you've been at war with the Papal States for 200 years), but you can certainly build alliances to guard your borders when you're too weak to cover yourself at the beginning of the game. Apparently with the patch, the computer is better about honoring alliances... I'll believe that when I see it. However, it did seem to put at least some stock in them even before the patch, enough that they're useful.
I could go on about the specifics, but I'll just tell you this-- I bought the game six months ago and I'm still playing it. I'm finishing up my fourth campaign. (I take a long time on them.) I suppose that's as good a testament as any to the quality of the game.
Can't tell you much about multiplayer, whether it's well-balanced or runs well or anything, since I haven't played any. My connection is probably too crappy, though I haven't tried. |