With nearly 200 hours in this game, the most of my library, I'd like to make a few points; We must first go back to Shogun 2 and Empire/Napoleon, however. All of these titles were nearly broken upon release, something Rome II bashers are quick to forget when lambasting the state of Rome II when it was released. Today Empire and Napoleon are very playable, though they do require mods to shine, while Shogun 2 Vanilla is a damn near perfect game in terms of AI and Graphics with mods only improving on these. Bearing this is mind, it is not surprising that Rome II was fairly unplayable when it was released, but since that time CA has put out a plethora of patches along with DLC that do add to the base game (Ceasar in Gaul and Hannibal at the Gates), which has done much in improving the AI as well as optomization. In its current state (June 2014) the Vanilla game is playable, but certainly not at its prime, which is where mods come in. If you truely want to have a great game you must download one of the more fleshed out mods (My preference is Divide et Imperia, arguably the most extensive and wll done mod). These mods take the stunning graphics that Rome II is capable of, improving them and fixing historical inaccuracies, and combines them with a greatly enhanced Battle and Campaign AI to create an enjoyable Total War Experience.

Buy on a sale.

With nearly 200 hours in this game, the most of my library, I'd like to make a few points; We must first go back to Shogun 2 and Empire/Napoleon, however. All of these titles were nearly broken upon release, something Rome II bashers are quick to forget when lambasting the state of Rome II when it was released. Today Empire and Napoleon are very playable, though they do require mods to shine, while Shogun 2 Vanilla is a damn near perfect game in terms of AI and Graphics with mods only improving on these. Bearing this is mind, it is not surprising that Rome II was fairly unplayable when it was released, but since that time CA has put out a plethora of patches along with DLC that do add to the base game (Ceasar in Gaul and Hannibal at the Gates), which has done much in improving the AI as well as optomization. In its current state (June 2014) the Vanilla game is playable, but certainly not at its prime, which is where mods come in. If you truely want to have a great game you must download one of the more fleshed out mods (My preference is Divide et Imperia, arguably the most extensive and wll done mod). These mods take the stunning graphics that Rome II is capable of, improving them and fixing historical inaccuracies, and combines them with a greatly enhanced Battle and Campaign AI to create an enjoyable Total War Experience. Buy on a sale.