Medieval 2: Total War Q&A - The First Details on Medieval 2
Project director Bob Smith reveals some of the first tantalizing details about the newest Total War game, Medieval 2: Total War.
Saying No to Clone Wars
GS: Will we see the same factions and kingdoms that we saw in Medieval, or will there be any notable new additions? We also understand that the game will now extend past Europe's borders into the New World and the Holy Lands. How will this be handled in the game? Will everything still be on one map, or will there be separate maps to cover these different areas?
BS: The Americas are to be included on the same map. Sailing across the Atlantic will take a few turns, though, and will only be possible later in the campaign. There'll be a historical event that unlocks technology that will allow factions to travel across the Atlantic, around the time that people started suggesting that the world might be round.
GS: The early screenshots look pretty amazing, and we're seeing details that we didn't see in Rome, such as some variation in appearance so that units don't look like armies of clones. What other graphical improvements can we expect, and will this require any significant increase in computing power to appreciate the game?
BS: Removing the clone armies that we've seen in previous Total War games and other real-time strategy titles was one of our priorities when it came to enhancing the engine. We're very proud of the results. Each troop model is now constructed from a variety of heads, bodies, and limbs. On top of this, there are also multiple variants for shields and weapons, too. The engine combines these elements to make each man far more individual and so that each unit of men looks, as well as behaves, like a realistic group of soldiers. Armor and weapon upgrades are also evident when you look on your units in battle. Overall, this enhanced individuality for the soldiers ramps up the realism and immersion of the huge battles to new levels.
Elsewhere in the engine, we've made some major improvements when it comes to the rendering of settlements in the game. It wouldn't be Medieval without vast, monumental cities and castles, and we set out to do them justice by ensuring that we represent them in-game in a far more realistic manner than ever before. Cities and castles will be built around the environment, incorporating cliffs and slopes in their layout. This not only makes for a far more realistic representation of settlements, but also introduces new layers of strategy when it comes to siege situations. This new system also includes per-pixel lighting effects and localized damage, so what you hit is what you break.
We've also made huge progress when it comes to combat animation. The thousands of motion-captured animations we've captured have allowed us to create some superb new action out on the battlefield. Sequenced attack combos will allow individual troops to string together devastating moves that can swathe through opponents. Attack failures and defensive moves have also been added so that a strike is deflected when blocked successfully by a defender. This makes the combat feel more solid, thanks to the direct cause-and-effect visual feedback. You'll see these moves being executed all over the battlefield, and as soldiers are struck down, you'll see those remaining continually scanning their surroundings for their next kill. These features combine to make the huge scale battles so much more realistic and immersive, whether you're zoomed in on the front line or scanning the battlefield from a distance.
The textures in Medieval 2 are done to a much higher level. In general, the texture resolution and polygon count is at least double those of Rome. As for the impact this has on the minimum spec, the game will ship around two years after Rome, and as technology has progressed, the minimum spec will be higher. However, as with previous games, everything is scalable, so it'll be possible to scale down the most system-hungry effects. You certainly won't need a monster PC to run the game, and there are already games being released with higher min specs than we're targeting.
GS: Naval combat was abstracted very heavily in Medieval and Rome, to the point where the computer automatically generated battle results whenever hostile fleets clashed. Will we see that same level of abstraction in Medieval 2, or will naval combat be fleshed out a bit more?
BS: Creating full-scale 3D naval battles is a massive task; creating them to the standard we'd want to achieve for a Total War game is an even bigger one. Consequently, we decided not to embark on such a task this time around. Naval combat will be handled similarly to the system employed in Rome but polished and tweaked.
GS: Will the multiplayer gameplay in Medieval 2 still be restricted to being able to battle other players? We know that one of the impediments to creating a fully multiplayer campaign game is that, by Creative Assembly's calculations, it would take years to play an epic game from start to finish online.
BS: A full multiplayer campaign is certainly an idea we've discussed, but the time it would take to play out a full game to completion would seriously affect the number of players who could commit themselves to such a game mode. With this in mind, it makes far more sense for us to spend our time developing features that'll be enjoyed by a larger numbers of players. Having said that, we do have some exciting plans for multiplayer battles. We can talk about these in more detail in the months ahead.
GS: Finally, what's going to be new for Total War fans in Medieval 2? We'll have amazing graphics and intense battles, but how will the game evolve the series in terms of gameplay?
BS: Medieval 2 raises the bar for Total War games right across the board--in the campaign, the battles, and the multiplayer. There's no doubt that this will be the greatest Total War experience ever. There are new factions; new units; new unit abilities, including the opportunity for archers to place spikes to impale onrushing cavalry; and new siege weaponry, including cannons that can be put to work on the new, more-spectacular sieges, which will involve stripping away layers of defenses. Plus, of course, there will be improved artificial intelligence on both the battlefield and the campaign map.
Talking of the campaign map, there are new agents, improved diplomacy, and improved trade, as well as a host of new buildings added to the tech tree; new sabotage and espionage options, with full assassination movies so you can witness the cold-blooded killing or bungled attempts firsthand; a new system of religion, which will see players having to manage their relationship with the papal states, embarking on crusades commissioned by the pope, or turning their back on him and plotting to place their own pope in power; and the new settlement system, which will undoubtedly make for a more engaging and deep campaign game.
Then, of course, there is the discovery and invasion of the New World, battles with the Aztecs, the new multiplayer options, new historical battles, and lots more that we just can't reveal right now.
GS: Thank you, Bob.
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