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Three thirds of infantry often fail to engage as only the first lines get into the fray, while ranged units refuse to all fire on people in their line of sight because a pixel of their selection box is intersecting with another unit. The actual units don’t fare much better – thanks to the game using the same math-based battles of Warhammer and 3K instead of the beautiful physics system of Rome II, battles in Troy are a pain to play and even more painful to watch.

For reasons unknown, CA Sofia thought a game all about heroes based on a book all about heroes duelling each other couldn’t benefit from the hero duelling system introduced in 3K, so Troy instead falls into the same boring slog of Warhammer where heroes try to stab each other and miss, with one of them running when routed as the other pathetically fail to land a hit try after try. During battle, they gather rage to execute magic attacks abilities such as debuff of enemy units and special powerful attacks, with an ultimate ability that gives them a temporary super buff but can only be used once per battle. The heroes themselves are an interesting proposition, leading their army in Warhammer/3K style and slowly levelling up and unlock very boring number-based upgrades. Each faction has its unique units, bonuses, and starting locations, in true Total War style, but it feels weird to have a game about slowly conquering the Peloponnesian over 150 turns when the whole gist of the Trojan War was them sailing almost in a beeline towards Troy. The game cleverly allows you to play as heroes from both sides of the conflict, such as Achilles – whose ego affects his entire faction and can never ever lose duels as long as they happen off-screen – and Menelaus – who can recruit units from other Greek factions and magically colonise every ruined settlement not in the fog-of-war – in the Greek side, versus the Trojan brothers, which share a “daddy issues” bar where they must keep their father happy and proud of their deeds. And never mind the actual Trojan Horse – they are just big siege towers shaped like horses because… reasons?Īs a result, Total War: Troy is a bit disjointed. Never mind the Cyclops, he’s just a big dude wearing a mammoth skull as a helmet whose nose-hole makes it look like he has one eye if you squint really hard from a mile away. Never mind the sirens – they’re just beautiful ladies in togas wielding swords. But this is supposed to be a historic title, dammit, so Troy draws the line on the monsters. Yes, there are heroes capable of taking entire platoons single-handedly, and there are gods that love or hate your guts and interact with your campaign/battles, and yes, there are superpowers you can activate mid-battle like magic spells.

Instead of following Three Kingdoms perfect precedent and adding both a fantasy and a historic mode, Troy tries to split the difference. The problem is, the history of Ancient Greece and the Trojan War themselves are very mythological, leaving the developers with an issue – how do you make a historical game of something mythological, especially when you don’t really want to make it realistic? The answer is: you don’t.

Total war saga reddit full#

“Wasn’t Homer stories full of mythological elements? I thought this was supposed to be a historical Saga game.” Well, you are right, my dear hypothetical imaginary person – Total War: Troy is supposed to be a historical game. Helena leaves Melenaus and their nine-year-old daughter Hermione behind, triggering the Spartan King to reach out to his elder brother Agamenon and unite the kingdoms of Greece into a sea-crossing campaign to siege Troy and bring back Helena. As Homer’s Iliad described, Paris of Troy kidnaps Helena of Sparta, wife of the King Melenaus, when the two fall in love with each other. Taking place roughly 12 centuries before Christ, Total War: Troy depicts the Peloponnesian conflict that pitted the kingdoms of Greece versus the might of Troy. And others still, like Troy, try to mix existing mechanics with new takes on the franchise for decidedly mixed results. Others, like Thrones of Britannia, are made by self-confessed non-Total War veterans that try to do completely new ideas and end up repeating some mistakes that were fixed half a decade ago by previous instalments. Some, like Fall of the Samurai, expand on base game mechanics with a never-visited period such as a nigh-Wild West. Total War spin-offs are always a complicated idea.