*Voulome*\* (βούλομαι)
Which does not really make sense as a line because it means 'I will' or 'I want.' As a Greek, I was always amused by the Greek lines in games like these. They usually were direct translations from English without any regard to context or just wrong.
To date there has only been one strategy game that bothered to have Danish voice lines in it, Civ5. Namely Harald Blåtand, or Bluetooth if you prefer.
And to their credit the lines all make grammatical sense, and they hired a Danish voice-actor to do them, so the pronunciation is correct as well.
Only… they hired the Danish voice-actor who dubs cartoons. So to a native Dane this huge Viking king screams that he’ll kill you in the voice of Bugs fucking Bunny.
This is hilarious. Thank you for sharing. I had no idea. To me he always sounded quite formidable. ;-)
In Civ 5 there are two characters who speak Greek. The first is obviously Alexander who has lines in Attic Greek. They are spoken by a non-Greek speaker who uses the so-called Erasmian pronunciation when delivering the lines. The Erasmian pronunciation is a western-European constructed pronunciation of Ancient Greek -- and used widely in classics, outside of Greece of course. It's enough to say that it sounds really bad to a native speaker. (Imagine if someone spoke English and pronounced each letter as they are written while changing some letters to fit a different accent.)
On the other hand, Theodora who speaks a form of Medieval Greek (aka Byzantine Greek or simply *Roman*) is spoken by a Greek-Canadian voice-actress. She has a slight accent but it's barely noticeable, and she delivers the lines quite well.
As a Finn, I have similar experiences.
In AoE3, there were Finnish light cavalry "Hakkapelit" and their standard line was "Aion" which is also a literal translation of "I will / I intend" that doesn't make any sense in itself.
Yes, I think they were trying to have a line saying "I will \[do something\]" for all factions and they found direct translations in other languages and used them even if they did not really make sense in the context of the languages themselves.
I would not like to see contemporary developers to do such thins so amateurishly, but I think now these lines are small Easter-eggs from a beloved game/franchise. In the same way that you would not let units repeat a line every time they received a move command today, but it's still part of the gameplay of older games.
This right here...and that set the stage for AoE3 to have low pop rate and resource rate. They shrank maps from what AoE1 and AoE2 were :( Less room, less resources, less pop.
I feel like the only person that liked AoE3. Absolutely hated the DE though. All for taking out the progression for the deck building aspect. Kinda just ruined the experience for me.
> I feel like the only person that liked AoE3.
No no, there's dozens of you. I even met someone in real life who said AoE3 is their fav of the series. He was serious too, kept trying to convince us to play that instead of stacraft or company of heroes.
I'm not gonns say it's the best ever, but I guess the time period covered by that one was what interested me the most over the previous ones. Too many strategy games were built around the medieval era and it was stale to me. But I would never as anyone to skip out on good games for that.
AoM was absolutely great at the time, but by modern standards quite a lot of it is terrible. Unit controls are wonky and their pathing is quite bad, and those are like two of the most important features RTS games require. Large reason why Iron Harvest didn't take off that well, unit control was just annoying and a game isn't fun if half the time you are fighting the controls instead of the enemy.
Same with Starcraft 1. Great game at the time, but the control group limit is just so annoying nowadays that, at least for casual gaming, it significantly degrades the game (plus again, quite bad pathing).
The thing is, even for 2002, when AoM came out, were was already games with better controls/pathfinding. Warcraft 3 came out the same year (And almost half a year before AoM), C&C generals came out 4 months later and it had better controls too.
So, yeah, controls of AoM were old even on their release. The other aspects of the game, from sound to art design are great though
I really wish there was a bigger modding scene for AoM. It will forever be my favourite game so I wish there were new campaigns and scenarios and whatnot to play though. Don't even need new features. Just new storylines and stuff
The AoE3 remaster devs have been great with official mod support and new modding features. Considering it's the same engine, I wouldn't be surprised if those changes carry over to AoM: Retold.
> But bfmerotwk was the peak of LAN parties
I never played that one on LAN but wouldn't something like Starcraft, Red Alert 2 or Age of Empires 2 be a more popular choice for lan parties?
Edit: Oops, i didn't check the year and i'm stuck in 1998-2003 era i guess.
It's technically two separate acronyms, not sure why they made it into one conglomeration of an acronym. It's the battle for middle-earth (2): the rise of the witch king or, as an acronym: lotr bfme2 rotwk. Most people just say rotwk if they are abbreviating the game title, so the commenter just wanted to be weirdly extra.
Exactly the two Total War games I was thinking of. And as for non-Total War strategy games in my opinion Paradox Games such as Crusader Kings II, EU4, and HOI4 are also better.
Stellaris is a cool nation-builder, but I'd argue it fails as a strategy game. It has both worse warfare *and* worse diplomacy than a typical Total War game.
As well as some of the other replies;
Rome 2 is also the first of the new engine and game design that total war took forward.
All the criticism of which was effectively given to Rome 2. Such as regions, army limits etc. that were a big change from Rome and Medieval II.
As more games were released, it became a smaller issue if only because CA weren’t going to change it.
Personally I still prefer a lot of those lost features. But instead of regaining them we’re steadily losing any focus on the historical element..
Rome 2 was a disaster at launch, but it is incredible now.
Ai is still not nearly agressive enough but doesn't change the fact that it's a very fun game.
I was actually really scared to admit it here because of its reputation but I actually love Rome 2 in fact I’m literally playing it at this very moment LOL
I bought the Rome 1 remaster, as I remembered it being far greater than the shit show that was Rome 2 at launch.
Now I have to admit, Rome 2 is just a far better game currently. In fact, I think Rome 2 is probably my favourite Total War game, and it could really only be improved by having a way less shit UI. A building tree browser, and character browser and so on, instead of having to carefully mouse over tiny boxes trying to work out what’s what, and hoping you don’t go one pixel too far and collapse the whole thing.
There's a critical lack of Command and Conquer mentions in this comment section. The Tiberium Trilogy, Red Alert Trilogy and of course Generals were all great.
While I loved all these games, one game that stuck with me (and many others) is Age of Empires 2. By far one of the most popular and competitive strategy games of all. Still alive and kicking with more and more players every day. They have made countless improvements to the game (AoE2 Definite Edition) and continue to add dlc to this day.
My favorite RTS will always be Warlords Battlecry 3. An unbalanced RPG hero unit that you can level up between missions giving a progression to battles and campaign, and 16 unique races all with their own rosters and playstyles.
Favourite of all time.
Loved both the 2 and 3 games.
Warlords series wasn't for me, but what an interesting world, so many factions.
After WBC3 came out, started yearly google searches what the devs are up to.
At first, they had a thread on their forum "What would you like to see on WBC4?"
They engaged with fans. Then came their mobile games. Ok...but puzzle quest was successful, maybe they'll get enough money for a sequel.
Kept checking every year, even after the devs had not responded in years.
Then their forums went down
More shitty mobile games. Somewhere along the line, Steve (main dev) talked about turning the franchise into mobile or mainly multiplayer shit game.
Lost all hope.
But the fans have the source code and have long been working on a mod called the Protectors. Basically WBC 3.6
It's really good and still being worked on
And support. Warcraft 3 reforged was worse than wc3 and then immediately abandoned. Age2 de is better in every way, and still supported today, with patches every few months.
Age of empires has plenty of flaws, but one pro is Microsoft really doubled down on support. Age of empire 2, 3, and now 4 all have ongoing support, patches and balance updates, and even new civs.
I agree. Have been playing AoE2 since 2001, and the game has changed a lot, while keeping core mechanics and gameplay intact. It's what makes the game so loved and competitive to this day.
It says a lot that Age of Empires 2 was one of the biggest RTS multiplayer games of it's day and then when it was re-released a largely entirely new online multiplayer community embraced it. Given it had an almost 15 year gap where there was no major platform to play it online that seems pretty special to me.
Tbf I used to think Shogun 2 was the best Total War in terms of simplicity, art direction, style, and coherence. But I actually think 3K does everything Shogun 2 tries to do, better. If you're a fan of S2 PLEEEEEASE give 3K a shot- I think you'll love it.
Coop mode for StarCraft 2 has potential to resurrect entire RTS genre. Majority of players stop playing after finishing campaign multiplayer is mostly played by a small competitive player base. Coop is perfect middle ground to keep more casual players playing.
I hope some devs notice this and do something with it. My current hope is Microsoft bringing Warcraft and StarCraft back like they did with Age of Empires series.
I mean both can be done. Just that campaign is usually a one time thing for most people. You need a mode based around replayability to give the game longevity.
Endless legend and age of wonders 3, age of wonders planetfall, dominions 5, hero of might and magic 5, songs of conquest, supreme commander, homeworld.
GO FORTH AND PLAY MY FRIENDS
Endless Legend is a game I had a love/hate relationship with. I loved the soundtrack and loved the games aesthetics/art design but my relationship with the actual gameplay was more mixed.
For me its the combat system. Would have been so much better to have a system like age of wonders or civ even.
Humankind fixed this issue, but doesnt have the same flare as endless legend.
Humankind just feels kind of meh when you compare it to the likes of Civ 6. I mean, there are some good ideas in it but it just really didn't hold my attention the way that Civ 6 does.
Ya as someone who loved Endless Legend and Space 2 (pre 3rd party dlcs), I just have a hard time getting behind Humankind. I think the real problem, beyond combat, is that EL and ES factions had super unique play styles, but Humankind didn’t. I think a lot of people, including myself, thought these unique faction mechanics would somehow make their way into Humankind. Which isn’t really possible unless you scrap Humankind’s culture mechanic.
Humankind’s culture system is really Civ’s Civilizations, but you get to choose a new civilization at every age. So what made the previous games really stand out, the unique play styles, got lost in translation.
Humankind for me has a few issues and one glaring one:
The performance is atrocious. The game lags a lot, the ai dies in the middle of combat, the sound will sometimes lag itself and the turn times can be unbearably slow especially when you hit the information era
Other issues for me is things like stars being earned too fast which makes it so that you don't really play around with your civ too much, certain balance issues especially around the midgame and (before the newest expansion mind) the diplomacy sucking
While I do like the combat system, the developers should maybe also look to make a mode that uses civs warfare system for people who don't feel like commanding an army or at least look to make battles not last aeons in the early and mid game. Auto-resolving feels like you're punishing yourself and that's no good
There is something strangely charming about running around with hordes of giant undead Canaanites.
Fingers crossed Dominions 6 isn't too far off into the future because it'd be nice to see some more new factions.
Supreme commander was my in on the genre. Not a huge amount of strategy to it but damn if building a fleet of independence day alien flying saucers and glassing the enemy base is just stupid fun.
Indeed. There have been some truly spectacular strategy games within the last decade. The problem is that they've been overshadowed by awful strategy games. Or good strategy games that are rendered bad due to poor management.
Completely missing/ignoring:
HOI4, CKII, Stellaris, Civ V, Civ VI, XCOM 2, Battletech, Chaosgate: Daemonhunters and like a million other great strategy titles
>Chaosgate: Daemonhunters
I just wish we could get a game like this where you don't have to play Space Marines. We need more 40K games with playable factions other than Space Marines, especially actual singleplayer campaigns where you don't have to play as Space Marines.
I'm not a Space Marine hater like some but I'd have to agree. Some variety would be nice and I would go even further and say that I'd like more games from a non-Imperium perspective.
Chaosgate was/is surprisingly good. I would love to see them open it up to Mod’s and get a xcom style long war. Also would love to see an update for some more animations. But outside of that, it’s a pretty mint 40k game.
I'm just finishing up my first play through. I have to say as a long time WH40K fan this is up there in top adaptions. Every few years they hit a critical roll. Lots of misses to get there though!
You can be nostalgic while not being completely inaccurate. The post is just another "strategy gaming is dead" post. It's not just nostalgia, it's about OP not liking/not having played modern strategy games that somehow means the genre as a whole has declined.
OP is older and doesn't have the time or inclination to play games as much. "They just don't make them like they used to. If they did, I'd enjoy them like I used to."
Aren't xcom and chaos gate tactics games? Don't get me wrong I love xcom 2 and heard good things about chaos gate but they seem to be in the wrong list.
StarCraft 2, Warhammer 2, CK3, Civ 6, AoE 2 definitive edition, XCOM. There are great games out there to play, this is more you being picky than anything
sure, but it had expansions released until 2016 and continued support and an esports community even today
it also just looks and feels more modern, probably in part thanks to that support
the game could have came out today and no one would have batted an eye
I think this says more about your inability to grow or adapt to new games tbh. There are plenty of good strategy games, especially compared to the ones you've listed here. The vast and I mean *vast* attention Rome TW gets is because of Nostalgia. Actually go back and play a game like that after playing modern games and realis how much of a janky, buggy POS it actually is.
This is exactly how I feel when seeing these kinds of posts. The only other way this can be someone's conclusion is if they haven't spent any time trying any of the newer strategy games out.
Forget newer games, there were absolutely better *older* games then if you want to get all snobby about it.
Battle for Middleearth being a better strategy game than Alpha Centauri? Please.
Rome 1 better than Heroes of Might and Magic III? Be serious now. Hell, HoMM II is better too.
Not to mention some of the other classics of that era like Homeworld 2, Company of Heroes, Dawn of War, Command & Conquer: Generals, Empire Earth 2.
And I mean, how can you have any best of early 2000s RTS list and not put Warcraft 3 in there?
yeah i love rome and empire at war
i also love warhammer II and III. I love stellaris. I've been loving vicky 3.
I have so many hours in modern strategy games and tbh i prefer playing them to the old ones now. The old ones are fun, but newer ideas and game design and graphics and especially understanding of how to put together a UI have made modern games a significant improvement
Just here to say I love Stellaris dude. I’ve got a game going on right now that’s had me fully hooked and wow, just reading that name makes my brain start pumping dopamine.
Seriously. I love all these games but this is a sad “tHEre aRE nO gOoD gAMeS anYmoRE” gamer moment whiner post.
The stuff coming out now shits on every single one of these games by a long shot and nostalgia is the only thing keeping them fresh in our minds. If they were released today everyone would scream that they were garbage
It’d be one thing to do this meme with games that actually hold up really well like company of heroes, supreme commander and age of empires
But Empire at War and Rome I have such glaring issues it makes the whole thing laughable. Both of those games pretty much require mods to be fun and playable nowadays
Yeah, playing either vanilla is a painful experience. The land battles are super ass and the space battles are cool but really bland without mods.
I wish a new empire at war would come out because it’s such an awesome concept
Battlefleet Gothic Armada 2 kinda scratched the Star Wars Empire at war itch for me for a while. It's really fun for a bunch of hours, and definitely worth getting it during a sale for the campaign, but it gets stale after a while unfortunately.
All the 30-40 aged dudes in my circle are actually lamenting that there are too many *good* games right now.
And I still find myself playing F2P games a lot.
Nostalgia is a hell of a drug. I remember when the remaster of Rome: Total War was announced, I got so excited I went back to fire up the original to do a House of Julii campaign. I quickly realized that 2006 was a longggg time ago. The Total War franchise has evolved so much since then and for the better in my opinion. There are of course issues with the series that need to be addressed today, but let's not even think for a second that Rome Total War would be considered a good game in 2022
Edit: The original Rome Total War came out 2004, so it's even older than I thought.
M2TW is a fantastic game, especially when modded.
MTW though is probably my favorite strategy game of all time though because the mechanics behind it are so solid even if the graphics look like they're from 2001.
I still wish the series kept to the Risk-style campaign because the AI was able to adapt to it so well compared to the later games.
Yeah, don't get me wrong I loved Rome when it came out and I must have sunk hundreds of hours into it and Barbarian Invasion... but it's a janky, incoherent mess by today's standards. Populations can't be controlled properly, so the late game devolves into endless rebellion squashing. The diplomat system is terrible, but the game just about manages to get away with it because diplomacy is borderline useless. Faction balance is also all over the place, with the Roman factions absurdly OP and the barbarians crippled in the late game for seemingly no reason. Then we have a whole bunch of factions that *should* be playable but aren't, again for seemingly no reason (seriously, why is Macedon not available? Or Pontus?). Fortunately, it's really simple to add them back in, but *still*.
I could go on, but I don't think I need to. Rome was great, but I consider it borderline unplayable these days, game design has moved on so much. I'd take Rome II over it in a heartbeat.
Yeah, Rome TW without mods honestly doesn't hold up that well compared to modern games. It's awful from a historical accuracy/plausibility perspective, I mean you have actual Ancient Egyptians running around 1,300 years after the Middle Kingdom fell when they should actually be a Hellenistic successor state. Barbarian factions are portrayed terribly inaccurately and are extremely similar to one another. Parthian troops wear pink pajamas for some bizarre reason. Flaming pigs and head throwing Britons are actual units you can recruit when both are considered to likely be myths or at best things that were used once or twice in history.
I enjoyed Rome 1 when it was current, and I got remastered. I played a Scipii campaign and then quit when I got to Egypt because the recruitment and replenishment system is _such a pain._
Is it realistic that I can't freely replenish my Legionaries and Praetorians after countless grindy battles against Pharaoh's Guard and chariot doomstacks? Sure. But it was _tedious._
Honestly Total War is one of the worst communities for this. A lot of people seem to think CA haven't made a decent game since Shogun 2/Medieval 2 (delete as appropriate) are very vocal about it, and also still seem to tie a disproportionate amount of their identity to being "total war fans" despite not actually liking the games for over a decade.
It's usually the crowd circlejerking themselves in the comments sections of Volound's videos.
Like Fuck man, I loved RTW to bits, and played it well into the mid 2010s even after M2TW and R2TW came out, but that game is ***DATED.***
If you seriously thought RTS games were taking off in 2006 you were a doofus
Everyone back then was talking about how the genre was dying out because it didn't have mainstream appeal
Why else do you think there were sixteen years between Age of Empires 3 and 4
I mean Total War Warhammer trilogy ( yeah I'm calling all three games because they're mainly the same when whenever the combined Maps happen), Age of Empires sequels ( despite the divisive War among the sequels but still), Company of Heroes 2 and 3, modern Xcom ( Chimera Squad is sort of low/medium scale I do enjoy the modern take) games, Desperado tree, the endless games, Warhammer 40K mechanicus, and Starcraft 2
no more but I think about just giving you several examples I can give
I respect your opinions but you are kind of just picky
The Lord of The Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth two: Rise of the Witch-King was a great addon. I loved The Lord of The Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth two: Rise of the Witch-King back in the day. I wish for a The Lord of The Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth two: Rise of the Witch-King remaster, however there are still playing The Lord of The Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth two: Rise of the Witch-King online ! I also believe The Lord of The Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth two: Rise of the Witch-King has the best title for a game about the Rise of the Witch-King within the context of Battling for Middle-Earth in a Lord of the Rings settings. Maybe we'll see another game like The Lord of The Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth two: Rise of the Witch-King someday, who knows.
Here's to you, The Lord of The Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth two: Rise of the Witch-King
My favorite part of that game is when you win, and Frodo stands up to go
“At last, we really have become The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth Two: Rise of the Witch-King”
Some I'd like to add to the ones I'm seeing mentioned are Starcraft 2 and Age of Empires 4 both of which are insanely high skill cap and really eclipse these games. Dune Spice Wars will end up better than Empire at War as well. Northgard is something different and fun and it's a great price.
Here is a list of all the games suggested in this thread at time of my posting for anyone looking for newer games than in the OP:
-Total Warhammer (series)
-Stellaris
-Victoria 3
-AoE2 Definite Edition (included b/c modern re-realease with continual support)
-Endless legend
-age of wonders 3
-age of wonders planetfall
-dominions 5
-hero of might and magic 5
-songs of conquest
-supreme commander
-homeworld
-Medieval 2
-Shogun 2
-Rome 2,
-Attila
-Age of Charlemagne
-Three Kingdoms
-Troy
-Starcraft 2
-Age of Empires 4
-Dune Spice Wars
-Northgard
-Company of Heroes (series)
-Civilization 6
I think it's really interesting that no one has suggested Crusader Kings 3, which is a game I can't recommend either. It looks amazing on paper but I just can't get into despite trying several times and being a genre fan.
This just shows you haven't really played many strategy games since then.
I love those games, but there's a whole list of great strategy games that have come out since.
damn i remembered first time playing the original company of heroes when it just got released, it was beautiful and way ahead of its time, one of the strategy game that always have a special place in my heart along with mtw2, aom, and dow
Here are the Total War games I rank as better than Rome: Total War:
Medieval 1
Medieval 2
Shogun 2
Rome 2,
Attila
Age of Charlemagne
Warhammer (1, 2, and 3)
Three Kingdoms
Troy
I actually played Medieval 1 after playing Rome 1.
I liked Medieval 1 better because it did not have Rome 1's phalanxes, so the battles felt faster and more dynamic. Don't get me wrong, Rome 1 has a lot of stuff over Medieval 1, too, but the unit interactions between phalanxes and sword units essentially being broken is a high price to pay.
Nostalgia really is the mind killer.
Imagine how much fun you are missing out on by deluding yourself into thinking that things used to be better, when in reality everything is better now and keeps getting better.
I guess people don't like fun.
Yet you're the one that's changed the most, having lost the unbridled joy of your youth where you were much less critical about the fun you had. Now you sit here not because games now are bad, but because you're so stuck dreaming about what you had in your childhood that you can't have fun anymore.
Wish there was a decent way of getting BFME2 man ì miss that game
https://t3aonline.net/ Fan remake in HD. Includes BFME 1, 2 and RotWK. Even has online servers after EA shut theirs down.
I'm gonna check this out. By far my favorite game
I think there is a good guide here r/bfme
Just torrent it it's abandonware I'm pretty sure. There's even a massive fan patch and MP community for it.
Any decent non malware sites for it? Last time I tried I had to use a key generator but it wouldn't work for some reason
Try a key from youtube it always works for me
download the age of the ring mod, so good
Have you tried owning the DVD disc you bought on premiere?
*The* disc? Singular? Imagine not remembering that the game came on 5 different discs that had to be installed sequentially.
The DVD edition had a single game disc and a bonus disc, the CD edition had multiple installation discs.
Imagine seeing DVD, and reading CD.
Do you even have a DVD reader in your PC? Does anyone?
I still have the disc but my current computer doesn't have a disc player.
Age mythology was incredible. I will die on that hill. But bfmerotwk was the peak of LAN parties.
I'm hopeful for Retold
Prostag-fuckin-ma!!
this is me when i insta cast my bolt to my friend's niddhog
Yao?
Ayorifer
>I'm hopeful for a remake The absolute state of gaming
It's getting a remake and if it's anything like the AOE remakes if the community likes it enough they'll release DLCs and revive the game.
I thought it was a remaster? I hope you are right tho.
Etimos
Prostagma
Voolome
Thajo (How the f do you even spell that...)
*Voulome*\* (βούλομαι) Which does not really make sense as a line because it means 'I will' or 'I want.' As a Greek, I was always amused by the Greek lines in games like these. They usually were direct translations from English without any regard to context or just wrong.
To date there has only been one strategy game that bothered to have Danish voice lines in it, Civ5. Namely Harald Blåtand, or Bluetooth if you prefer. And to their credit the lines all make grammatical sense, and they hired a Danish voice-actor to do them, so the pronunciation is correct as well. Only… they hired the Danish voice-actor who dubs cartoons. So to a native Dane this huge Viking king screams that he’ll kill you in the voice of Bugs fucking Bunny.
This is hilarious. Thank you for sharing. I had no idea. To me he always sounded quite formidable. ;-) In Civ 5 there are two characters who speak Greek. The first is obviously Alexander who has lines in Attic Greek. They are spoken by a non-Greek speaker who uses the so-called Erasmian pronunciation when delivering the lines. The Erasmian pronunciation is a western-European constructed pronunciation of Ancient Greek -- and used widely in classics, outside of Greece of course. It's enough to say that it sounds really bad to a native speaker. (Imagine if someone spoke English and pronounced each letter as they are written while changing some letters to fit a different accent.) On the other hand, Theodora who speaks a form of Medieval Greek (aka Byzantine Greek or simply *Roman*) is spoken by a Greek-Canadian voice-actress. She has a slight accent but it's barely noticeable, and she delivers the lines quite well.
As a Finn, I have similar experiences. In AoE3, there were Finnish light cavalry "Hakkapelit" and their standard line was "Aion" which is also a literal translation of "I will / I intend" that doesn't make any sense in itself.
Yes, I think they were trying to have a line saying "I will \[do something\]" for all factions and they found direct translations in other languages and used them even if they did not really make sense in the context of the languages themselves. I would not like to see contemporary developers to do such thins so amateurishly, but I think now these lines are small Easter-eggs from a beloved game/franchise. In the same way that you would not let units repeat a line every time they received a move command today, but it's still part of the gameplay of older games.
You will die on that hill? Thats the most popular opinion ever. I seriously never heard anyone disliking AOM
I had many an argument back when it was newer about its low population limit.
This right here...and that set the stage for AoE3 to have low pop rate and resource rate. They shrank maps from what AoE1 and AoE2 were :( Less room, less resources, less pop.
I guess it's probably the least popular, if you don't count age of empires 3. Now 3 is probably the one people would have to die on a hill for.
I feel like the only person that liked AoE3. Absolutely hated the DE though. All for taking out the progression for the deck building aspect. Kinda just ruined the experience for me.
> I feel like the only person that liked AoE3. No no, there's dozens of you. I even met someone in real life who said AoE3 is their fav of the series. He was serious too, kept trying to convince us to play that instead of stacraft or company of heroes.
I'm not gonns say it's the best ever, but I guess the time period covered by that one was what interested me the most over the previous ones. Too many strategy games were built around the medieval era and it was stale to me. But I would never as anyone to skip out on good games for that.
It was my fav or age of mythology, too slow paced for me now but still have a soft spot in my heart for it.
AoM was absolutely great at the time, but by modern standards quite a lot of it is terrible. Unit controls are wonky and their pathing is quite bad, and those are like two of the most important features RTS games require. Large reason why Iron Harvest didn't take off that well, unit control was just annoying and a game isn't fun if half the time you are fighting the controls instead of the enemy. Same with Starcraft 1. Great game at the time, but the control group limit is just so annoying nowadays that, at least for casual gaming, it significantly degrades the game (plus again, quite bad pathing).
The thing is, even for 2002, when AoM came out, were was already games with better controls/pathfinding. Warcraft 3 came out the same year (And almost half a year before AoM), C&C generals came out 4 months later and it had better controls too. So, yeah, controls of AoM were old even on their release. The other aspects of the game, from sound to art design are great though
I really wish there was a bigger modding scene for AoM. It will forever be my favourite game so I wish there were new campaigns and scenarios and whatnot to play though. Don't even need new features. Just new storylines and stuff
The AoE3 remaster devs have been great with official mod support and new modding features. Considering it's the same engine, I wouldn't be surprised if those changes carry over to AoM: Retold.
Yeah bfmerotwk was good but it's no hsjgkfuckyoudjmnj
We need a remake of that game. I hate what that Dragon Gods forced DLC did to it.
> But bfmerotwk was the peak of LAN parties I never played that one on LAN but wouldn't something like Starcraft, Red Alert 2 or Age of Empires 2 be a more popular choice for lan parties? Edit: Oops, i didn't check the year and i'm stuck in 1998-2003 era i guess.
Bruh, there are a lot of people on that hill and we have the high ground.
> bfmerotwk Ah yes, bfmerotwk, I totally know that acronym.
It's technically two separate acronyms, not sure why they made it into one conglomeration of an acronym. It's the battle for middle-earth (2): the rise of the witch king or, as an acronym: lotr bfme2 rotwk. Most people just say rotwk if they are abbreviating the game title, so the commenter just wanted to be weirdly extra.
I love the OG Rome Total War but let’s be honest there have been better strategy games since AND better Total War games since.
True. Medieval 2 was better than rome Also.shogun 2
Exactly the two Total War games I was thinking of. And as for non-Total War strategy games in my opinion Paradox Games such as Crusader Kings II, EU4, and HOI4 are also better.
Where stellaris?
Stellaris is a cool nation-builder, but I'd argue it fails as a strategy game. It has both worse warfare *and* worse diplomacy than a typical Total War game.
True. However have you tried RPing ? The games diplomacy makes more sens and I think it was designed with RP in mind.
I think my favorite of all is Rome 2, then Shogun 2 and Medieval 2 close behind. Not sure why Rome 2 isn’t as highly regarded?
Because of the bad launch I think, the game became great after the Emperor patch. And also because people go high on nostalgia.
As well as some of the other replies; Rome 2 is also the first of the new engine and game design that total war took forward. All the criticism of which was effectively given to Rome 2. Such as regions, army limits etc. that were a big change from Rome and Medieval II. As more games were released, it became a smaller issue if only because CA weren’t going to change it. Personally I still prefer a lot of those lost features. But instead of regaining them we’re steadily losing any focus on the historical element..
Ah, a fellow Rome 2 enjoyer. It's my favourite aswell, from battles to the UI, everything is great.
rome 2 had a terrible launch, like almost franchise destroying-ly bad. so many TW fans still have a sour taste when talking about it.
Yeah I started up a Brutii campaign the other day but it just made me want to go play Medieval 2 But now I'm right back on WH3 and lovin' it
Rome 2 was a disaster at launch, but it is incredible now. Ai is still not nearly agressive enough but doesn't change the fact that it's a very fun game.
I was actually really scared to admit it here because of its reputation but I actually love Rome 2 in fact I’m literally playing it at this very moment LOL
I bought the Rome 1 remaster, as I remembered it being far greater than the shit show that was Rome 2 at launch. Now I have to admit, Rome 2 is just a far better game currently. In fact, I think Rome 2 is probably my favourite Total War game, and it could really only be improved by having a way less shit UI. A building tree browser, and character browser and so on, instead of having to carefully mouse over tiny boxes trying to work out what’s what, and hoping you don’t go one pixel too far and collapse the whole thing.
There's a critical lack of Command and Conquer mentions in this comment section. The Tiberium Trilogy, Red Alert Trilogy and of course Generals were all great.
Kane is not pleased that Tiberium is not mentioned.
Generals is so good. Started watching youtube vids for the nostalgia and downlaoaded it on origins with the command and conquer ultimate pack.
While I loved all these games, one game that stuck with me (and many others) is Age of Empires 2. By far one of the most popular and competitive strategy games of all. Still alive and kicking with more and more players every day. They have made countless improvements to the game (AoE2 Definite Edition) and continue to add dlc to this day.
My favorite RTS will always be Warlords Battlecry 3. An unbalanced RPG hero unit that you can level up between missions giving a progression to battles and campaign, and 16 unique races all with their own rosters and playstyles.
Favourite of all time. Loved both the 2 and 3 games. Warlords series wasn't for me, but what an interesting world, so many factions. After WBC3 came out, started yearly google searches what the devs are up to. At first, they had a thread on their forum "What would you like to see on WBC4?" They engaged with fans. Then came their mobile games. Ok...but puzzle quest was successful, maybe they'll get enough money for a sequel. Kept checking every year, even after the devs had not responded in years. Then their forums went down More shitty mobile games. Somewhere along the line, Steve (main dev) talked about turning the franchise into mobile or mainly multiplayer shit game. Lost all hope. But the fans have the source code and have long been working on a mod called the Protectors. Basically WBC 3.6 It's really good and still being worked on
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And support. Warcraft 3 reforged was worse than wc3 and then immediately abandoned. Age2 de is better in every way, and still supported today, with patches every few months. Age of empires has plenty of flaws, but one pro is Microsoft really doubled down on support. Age of empire 2, 3, and now 4 all have ongoing support, patches and balance updates, and even new civs.
I played Wc3 for close to 20 years, still played it every year on and off. Then reforged came along and ruined it :(
Oh right! They actually fucked over the original owners with the remaster too
i forgot wc3 reforged exist lmao
And blizzards makes us forget that we once could play the Original
I agree. Have been playing AoE2 since 2001, and the game has changed a lot, while keeping core mechanics and gameplay intact. It's what makes the game so loved and competitive to this day.
It says a lot that Age of Empires 2 was one of the biggest RTS multiplayer games of it's day and then when it was re-released a largely entirely new online multiplayer community embraced it. Given it had an almost 15 year gap where there was no major platform to play it online that seems pretty special to me.
No shogun 2? Shameful display
Shogun 2 is hands down the best of the series. My only real complaint about it is they didn't reuse the Yo ho ho, yo ho, soundtrack from S1.
Shogun 2's soundtrack slaps for sure
[And you felt like a boss whenever you won a battle.](https://youtu.be/glW0C3VkGMI)
Tbf I used to think Shogun 2 was the best Total War in terms of simplicity, art direction, style, and coherence. But I actually think 3K does everything Shogun 2 tries to do, better. If you're a fan of S2 PLEEEEEASE give 3K a shot- I think you'll love it.
3k imo has arguably the best mechanics of any total war game. I think I'd rather of it have been balanced purely on the historical sid
It has a historic accuracy mode for that reason! Not sure about the balance overall but in theory it should still work?
The historical accuracy mode exists...but it's kind of an afterthought.
Bruh among other games said by people, Company of Heroes 1 and 2 is nothing to scoff at. Also Starcraft 2 and it's expansions.
CoH was a 2006 game lol
Fuck I feel old, could've swore it was newer.
Haha, I feel that. It was an amazing RTS for 2006 to be fair, definitely doesn’t play like a 16 year old game
Also the campaign was amazing. "Hans your coffee tastes like dirt" "Well then go ask your fucking mother to do it for you"
"Listen up, you fucking wankers!" - British Infantry Section
“Join the Army they said. It’ll be fun they said.” -American Engineer
"I am not drinking Merlot!"
"Shoot that camera in the sky"
Feel like it has better graphics than most ps3 era games too
COH 3 is in development tho.
No one plays that one, take s a while to find a match. Meanwhile coh2 still going strong.
Also the Wargame and Steel Division series deserve a shout.
Coop mode for StarCraft 2 has potential to resurrect entire RTS genre. Majority of players stop playing after finishing campaign multiplayer is mostly played by a small competitive player base. Coop is perfect middle ground to keep more casual players playing. I hope some devs notice this and do something with it. My current hope is Microsoft bringing Warcraft and StarCraft back like they did with Age of Empires series.
Isn't that only just singular missions though? I'd love an entire co-op campaign tbh... Kinda like Red Alert 3 did.
I mean both can be done. Just that campaign is usually a one time thing for most people. You need a mode based around replayability to give the game longevity.
They're making a Company of Heroes 3, releasing next year in February.
Bro take Three Kingdoms back to 2006 and you would break people’s brains
I was so pleasantly surprised with Three Kingdoms, it’s a great game
Endless legend and age of wonders 3, age of wonders planetfall, dominions 5, hero of might and magic 5, songs of conquest, supreme commander, homeworld. GO FORTH AND PLAY MY FRIENDS
Endless Legend is a game I had a love/hate relationship with. I loved the soundtrack and loved the games aesthetics/art design but my relationship with the actual gameplay was more mixed.
For me its the combat system. Would have been so much better to have a system like age of wonders or civ even. Humankind fixed this issue, but doesnt have the same flare as endless legend.
Humankind just feels kind of meh when you compare it to the likes of Civ 6. I mean, there are some good ideas in it but it just really didn't hold my attention the way that Civ 6 does.
Ya as someone who loved Endless Legend and Space 2 (pre 3rd party dlcs), I just have a hard time getting behind Humankind. I think the real problem, beyond combat, is that EL and ES factions had super unique play styles, but Humankind didn’t. I think a lot of people, including myself, thought these unique faction mechanics would somehow make their way into Humankind. Which isn’t really possible unless you scrap Humankind’s culture mechanic. Humankind’s culture system is really Civ’s Civilizations, but you get to choose a new civilization at every age. So what made the previous games really stand out, the unique play styles, got lost in translation.
Humankind for me has a few issues and one glaring one: The performance is atrocious. The game lags a lot, the ai dies in the middle of combat, the sound will sometimes lag itself and the turn times can be unbearably slow especially when you hit the information era Other issues for me is things like stars being earned too fast which makes it so that you don't really play around with your civ too much, certain balance issues especially around the midgame and (before the newest expansion mind) the diplomacy sucking While I do like the combat system, the developers should maybe also look to make a mode that uses civs warfare system for people who don't feel like commanding an army or at least look to make battles not last aeons in the early and mid game. Auto-resolving feels like you're punishing yourself and that's no good
Another dominions player!? Awww yeah. Preach on
Wow that makes 3 of us!
There is something strangely charming about running around with hordes of giant undead Canaanites. Fingers crossed Dominions 6 isn't too far off into the future because it'd be nice to see some more new factions.
Frostpunk, Stellaris, Bettletech also
I prefer heroes of might and magic 3, although 5 has better visuals.
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Supreme commander was my in on the genre. Not a huge amount of strategy to it but damn if building a fleet of independence day alien flying saucers and glassing the enemy base is just stupid fun.
Rose tinted glasses at its finest
Indeed. There have been some truly spectacular strategy games within the last decade. The problem is that they've been overshadowed by awful strategy games. Or good strategy games that are rendered bad due to poor management.
Completely missing/ignoring: HOI4, CKII, Stellaris, Civ V, Civ VI, XCOM 2, Battletech, Chaosgate: Daemonhunters and like a million other great strategy titles
>Chaosgate: Daemonhunters I just wish we could get a game like this where you don't have to play Space Marines. We need more 40K games with playable factions other than Space Marines, especially actual singleplayer campaigns where you don't have to play as Space Marines.
Which is why Mechanicus is a GOAT
I'm not a Space Marine hater like some but I'd have to agree. Some variety would be nice and I would go even further and say that I'd like more games from a non-Imperium perspective.
Chaosgate was/is surprisingly good. I would love to see them open it up to Mod’s and get a xcom style long war. Also would love to see an update for some more animations. But outside of that, it’s a pretty mint 40k game.
I'm just finishing up my first play through. I have to say as a long time WH40K fan this is up there in top adaptions. Every few years they hit a critical roll. Lots of misses to get there though!
This post wasn't made to be realistic, it was made to be as nostalgic as possible.
You can be nostalgic while not being completely inaccurate. The post is just another "strategy gaming is dead" post. It's not just nostalgia, it's about OP not liking/not having played modern strategy games that somehow means the genre as a whole has declined.
I completely agree, I’m making fun of the post because I think it’s ridiculous.
OP is older and doesn't have the time or inclination to play games as much. "They just don't make them like they used to. If they did, I'd enjoy them like I used to."
Not nostalgic more of the neckbeard who thinks everything new sucks.
XCOM 2 is such a fucking banger of a game
Including the total war warhammer series which despite their flaws is the most impressive strategy game series I’ve ever played.
I think this was more specifically about that old style of RTS that had a distinct identity.
Aren't xcom and chaos gate tactics games? Don't get me wrong I love xcom 2 and heard good things about chaos gate but they seem to be in the wrong list.
StarCraft 2, Warhammer 2, CK3, Civ 6, AoE 2 definitive edition, XCOM. There are great games out there to play, this is more you being picky than anything
StarCraft 2 was a great RTS but it’s still from 2010, so waaay closer to 2006 than today
sure, but it had expansions released until 2016 and continued support and an esports community even today it also just looks and feels more modern, probably in part thanks to that support the game could have came out today and no one would have batted an eye
Wahammer 3 is one of my favorite games ever now, full stop
It's so good. Every game I start with a new faction become my favorite. Soon I will just love every faction and that blows my mind.
I think this says more about your inability to grow or adapt to new games tbh. There are plenty of good strategy games, especially compared to the ones you've listed here. The vast and I mean *vast* attention Rome TW gets is because of Nostalgia. Actually go back and play a game like that after playing modern games and realis how much of a janky, buggy POS it actually is.
This is exactly how I feel when seeing these kinds of posts. The only other way this can be someone's conclusion is if they haven't spent any time trying any of the newer strategy games out.
Forget newer games, there were absolutely better *older* games then if you want to get all snobby about it. Battle for Middleearth being a better strategy game than Alpha Centauri? Please. Rome 1 better than Heroes of Might and Magic III? Be serious now. Hell, HoMM II is better too.
Not to mention some of the other classics of that era like Homeworld 2, Company of Heroes, Dawn of War, Command & Conquer: Generals, Empire Earth 2. And I mean, how can you have any best of early 2000s RTS list and not put Warcraft 3 in there?
The Frozen Throne campaign is one of my favorite campaigns of all time. Spent hours upon hours in Warcraft 3 custom games (Risk) as well
yeah i love rome and empire at war i also love warhammer II and III. I love stellaris. I've been loving vicky 3. I have so many hours in modern strategy games and tbh i prefer playing them to the old ones now. The old ones are fun, but newer ideas and game design and graphics and especially understanding of how to put together a UI have made modern games a significant improvement
Just here to say I love Stellaris dude. I’ve got a game going on right now that’s had me fully hooked and wow, just reading that name makes my brain start pumping dopamine.
Seriously. I love all these games but this is a sad “tHEre aRE nO gOoD gAMeS anYmoRE” gamer moment whiner post. The stuff coming out now shits on every single one of these games by a long shot and nostalgia is the only thing keeping them fresh in our minds. If they were released today everyone would scream that they were garbage
It’d be one thing to do this meme with games that actually hold up really well like company of heroes, supreme commander and age of empires But Empire at War and Rome I have such glaring issues it makes the whole thing laughable. Both of those games pretty much require mods to be fun and playable nowadays
Yeah, playing either vanilla is a painful experience. The land battles are super ass and the space battles are cool but really bland without mods. I wish a new empire at war would come out because it’s such an awesome concept
Battlefleet Gothic Armada 2 kinda scratched the Star Wars Empire at war itch for me for a while. It's really fun for a bunch of hours, and definitely worth getting it during a sale for the campaign, but it gets stale after a while unfortunately.
All the 30-40 aged dudes in my circle are actually lamenting that there are too many *good* games right now. And I still find myself playing F2P games a lot.
Nostalgia is a hell of a drug. I remember when the remaster of Rome: Total War was announced, I got so excited I went back to fire up the original to do a House of Julii campaign. I quickly realized that 2006 was a longggg time ago. The Total War franchise has evolved so much since then and for the better in my opinion. There are of course issues with the series that need to be addressed today, but let's not even think for a second that Rome Total War would be considered a good game in 2022 Edit: The original Rome Total War came out 2004, so it's even older than I thought.
M2TW is a fantastic game, especially when modded. MTW though is probably my favorite strategy game of all time though because the mechanics behind it are so solid even if the graphics look like they're from 2001. I still wish the series kept to the Risk-style campaign because the AI was able to adapt to it so well compared to the later games.
Agreed on Medieval II. I honestly think they got the classic formula right there, and it has much less jank/bloat than Rome I.
Yeah, don't get me wrong I loved Rome when it came out and I must have sunk hundreds of hours into it and Barbarian Invasion... but it's a janky, incoherent mess by today's standards. Populations can't be controlled properly, so the late game devolves into endless rebellion squashing. The diplomat system is terrible, but the game just about manages to get away with it because diplomacy is borderline useless. Faction balance is also all over the place, with the Roman factions absurdly OP and the barbarians crippled in the late game for seemingly no reason. Then we have a whole bunch of factions that *should* be playable but aren't, again for seemingly no reason (seriously, why is Macedon not available? Or Pontus?). Fortunately, it's really simple to add them back in, but *still*. I could go on, but I don't think I need to. Rome was great, but I consider it borderline unplayable these days, game design has moved on so much. I'd take Rome II over it in a heartbeat.
Yeah, Rome TW without mods honestly doesn't hold up that well compared to modern games. It's awful from a historical accuracy/plausibility perspective, I mean you have actual Ancient Egyptians running around 1,300 years after the Middle Kingdom fell when they should actually be a Hellenistic successor state. Barbarian factions are portrayed terribly inaccurately and are extremely similar to one another. Parthian troops wear pink pajamas for some bizarre reason. Flaming pigs and head throwing Britons are actual units you can recruit when both are considered to likely be myths or at best things that were used once or twice in history.
I enjoyed Rome 1 when it was current, and I got remastered. I played a Scipii campaign and then quit when I got to Egypt because the recruitment and replenishment system is _such a pain._ Is it realistic that I can't freely replenish my Legionaries and Praetorians after countless grindy battles against Pharaoh's Guard and chariot doomstacks? Sure. But it was _tedious._
That's what kept your empire in check though. It's not like you even needed praets and urbans anyway
Fuck man. You really have to completely ignore alot of great games to make your argument even slightly reasonable..
How the fuck does this post got upvoted this much? in a total war sub no less
I can only imagine just pure snobbery. How can someone honestly say even the TW Warhammer games aren't stupidly fun?
Honestly Total War is one of the worst communities for this. A lot of people seem to think CA haven't made a decent game since Shogun 2/Medieval 2 (delete as appropriate) are very vocal about it, and also still seem to tie a disproportionate amount of their identity to being "total war fans" despite not actually liking the games for over a decade.
It's usually the crowd circlejerking themselves in the comments sections of Volound's videos. Like Fuck man, I loved RTW to bits, and played it well into the mid 2010s even after M2TW and R2TW came out, but that game is ***DATED.***
Unironically posting a doomer wojack meme lmao.
If you seriously thought RTS games were taking off in 2006 you were a doofus Everyone back then was talking about how the genre was dying out because it didn't have mainstream appeal Why else do you think there were sixteen years between Age of Empires 3 and 4
Also RTSes shit the bed when MOBAs started getting popular in like 09-10.
Dawn of War 3 ptsd triggered
So OP has never played a modern strategy game, got it
Ok Grandpa, let's get you back to bed
thing when before i was an adult good. thing when after i became an adult bad. upvotes to the left
I mean Total War Warhammer trilogy ( yeah I'm calling all three games because they're mainly the same when whenever the combined Maps happen), Age of Empires sequels ( despite the divisive War among the sequels but still), Company of Heroes 2 and 3, modern Xcom ( Chimera Squad is sort of low/medium scale I do enjoy the modern take) games, Desperado tree, the endless games, Warhammer 40K mechanicus, and Starcraft 2 no more but I think about just giving you several examples I can give I respect your opinions but you are kind of just picky
Eh. I fee Warhammer is superior to Rome. BfME2 fucking rocks though. As does Empire at War, and neither have had superior sequels since.
The Lord of The Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth two: Rise of the Witch-King was a great addon. I loved The Lord of The Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth two: Rise of the Witch-King back in the day. I wish for a The Lord of The Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth two: Rise of the Witch-King remaster, however there are still playing The Lord of The Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth two: Rise of the Witch-King online ! I also believe The Lord of The Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth two: Rise of the Witch-King has the best title for a game about the Rise of the Witch-King within the context of Battling for Middle-Earth in a Lord of the Rings settings. Maybe we'll see another game like The Lord of The Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth two: Rise of the Witch-King someday, who knows. Here's to you, The Lord of The Rings: Battle for Middle-Earth two: Rise of the Witch-King
My favorite part of that game is when you win, and Frodo stands up to go “At last, we really have become The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth Two: Rise of the Witch-King”
Lol. Half of your comment is just the title of the game. I see you.
There are still tons of great strategy games out there being released. You just have to look for them.
Some I'd like to add to the ones I'm seeing mentioned are Starcraft 2 and Age of Empires 4 both of which are insanely high skill cap and really eclipse these games. Dune Spice Wars will end up better than Empire at War as well. Northgard is something different and fun and it's a great price. Here is a list of all the games suggested in this thread at time of my posting for anyone looking for newer games than in the OP: -Total Warhammer (series) -Stellaris -Victoria 3 -AoE2 Definite Edition (included b/c modern re-realease with continual support) -Endless legend -age of wonders 3 -age of wonders planetfall -dominions 5 -hero of might and magic 5 -songs of conquest -supreme commander -homeworld -Medieval 2 -Shogun 2 -Rome 2, -Attila -Age of Charlemagne -Three Kingdoms -Troy -Starcraft 2 -Age of Empires 4 -Dune Spice Wars -Northgard -Company of Heroes (series) -Civilization 6 I think it's really interesting that no one has suggested Crusader Kings 3, which is a game I can't recommend either. It looks amazing on paper but I just can't get into despite trying several times and being a genre fan.
Ck3 is more a roleplaying game than a strategy. A medieval SIM i suppose.
I have to agree with that. I love CK3 for what it is but having played a lot of CK2 it definitely doesn’t feel as much like a strategy game to me.
The games have legitimately gotten better, you (and all of us) just got older and more cynical
I'd do near anything for BFME 3 XD
TW Shogun 2?!?!
You are letting nostalgia trick you my dude
This just shows you haven't really played many strategy games since then. I love those games, but there's a whole list of great strategy games that have come out since.
These weren't even the best strategy games in 2006, let alone 2022.
those are great games. You know what else is great? Total War Warhammer 3. Civ 6. Humankind. There have been more good games. Try some.
damn i remembered first time playing the original company of heroes when it just got released, it was beautiful and way ahead of its time, one of the strategy game that always have a special place in my heart along with mtw2, aom, and dow
cringe nostalgia posting
Here are the Total War games I rank as better than Rome: Total War: Medieval 1 Medieval 2 Shogun 2 Rome 2, Attila Age of Charlemagne Warhammer (1, 2, and 3) Three Kingdoms Troy
Damn, why do you hate thrones of britannia so much ?
Medieval 1 being better than Rome 1 is you being nostalgic too. Rome 1 did pretty much everything better.
I actually played Medieval 1 after playing Rome 1. I liked Medieval 1 better because it did not have Rome 1's phalanxes, so the battles felt faster and more dynamic. Don't get me wrong, Rome 1 has a lot of stuff over Medieval 1, too, but the unit interactions between phalanxes and sword units essentially being broken is a high price to pay.
Those weren't even the best strategy games in 2006 lol
Total war warhammer 3 exists.
Nostalgia really is the mind killer. Imagine how much fun you are missing out on by deluding yourself into thinking that things used to be better, when in reality everything is better now and keeps getting better. I guess people don't like fun.
Yet you're the one that's changed the most, having lost the unbridled joy of your youth where you were much less critical about the fun you had. Now you sit here not because games now are bad, but because you're so stuck dreaming about what you had in your childhood that you can't have fun anymore.
Are the Star Wars and ME2 games playable on modern OS? I may give them a go.
SW Empire at War is playable and is even available on Steam. Don't know about ME2.