Your thoughts on TWW3 vs TWW2 campaign map

[PJDenton]

Hi everyone.

I know I'm probably nitpicking, but here goes.

Keep in mind that prior to my first steps on the Immortal Empires map of the third game, I played only several Vortex/narrative campaigns on TWW2 (lizardmen, high elves, tomb kings and beastmen, respectively), then went straight to the third game's Immortal Empires campaign map with the lizardmen. So I jumped from jungle to jungle so to speak, in terms of immediate region comparison.
What strikes me from the start, is a kind of "low poly-civ game" vibe with washed out colours.
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad my 3060 ti no longer heats up like crazy on the campaign map at more than 35 fps, so hurray for optimisation (if you have some advice for the second game on that matter, I'm all ears, too). And I've read that people found the map from TWW2 too "noisy", I believe, something that personally never bothered me.
But damn does the current campaign map feel sad. I mean, TWW2 overall map wasn't perfect, but felt so much more... organic, vibrant and gritty? Kinda downgrade here. To me at least.

So, with that said, what do you guys think? I'd very much like to hear your thoughts. Maybe if you find some regions to be better than others? And perhaps some of you have heard from the devs or modders on this matter? Trivial though it may be compared to all the game has to offer, of course.

Thank you and happy gaming

[Seraphiel]

I feel the same.

[MadArtillery]

I haven't actually noticed much difference visually. Even seeing a couple of these threads it just looks like a total war Warhammer campaign map to me.

[PJDenton]

Thank you for your answers.

Originally posted by MadArtillery:

I haven't actually noticed much difference visually. Even seeing a couple of these threads it just looks like a total war Warhammer campaign map to me.

At first I was a bit surprised by your comment, and then I went to take a new look in the game, and I realized that almost no difference struck me on the prologue map, in the frozen wasteland. Also, I think I may have stumbled on one of the threads you mention, which compares both maps for the Altdorf region, and I must say little is lost with the new aesthetic in this region as well.
Being aware of that, and putting aside that I didn't know the Last Defenders started way away from the continent of Lustria, I actually checked the latter in the south and at its center. Well, I'm still baffled by how less vibrant it is. It's hardly the intense, oppressive and beautiful lush landscape of the second game.

So, it would seem that this new cartoony aesthetic works well for some regions/biomes and not others. So far, only the jungle bits really, really bother me, while the rest is ok, I could definitely get used to it.
I can't say if it's some sort of oversight or lesser modelling effort, but the new Lustria is definitely a letdown

[MadArtillery]

Originally posted by PJDenton:

Thank you for your answers.

Originally posted by MadArtillery:

I haven't actually noticed much difference visually. Even seeing a couple of these threads it just looks like a total war Warhammer campaign map to me.

At first I was a bit surprised by your comment, and then I went to take a new look in the game, and I realized that almost no difference struck me on the prologue map, in the frozen wasteland. Also, I think I may have stumbled on one of the threads you mention, which compares both maps for the Altdorf region, and I must say little is lost with the new aesthetic in this region as well.
Being aware of that, and putting aside that I didn't know the Last Defenders started way away from the continent of Lustria, I actually checked the latter in the south and at its center. Well, I'm still baffled by how less vibrant it is. It's hardly the intense, oppressive and beautiful lush landscape of the second game.

So, it would seem that this new cartoony aesthetic works well for some regions/biomes and not others. So far, only the jungle bits really, really bother me, while the rest is ok, I could definitely get used to it.
I can't say if it's some sort of oversight or lesser modelling effort, but the new Lustria is definitely a letdown :meepfail:

Ah, I rarely if ever go anywhere near lustria so would never have had an oppertunity to see a difference there anyway. Infact I don't think I've touched it in my last 10 campaigns or so, maybe more.

[Geary575]

wh2 campaign map was definitely sharper and more detailed, chaos corrupted lands for example looked alot better in wh2

[Imposter]

ME was a work in progress during WH2 and didn't always look pleasing either, that and it certainly isnt as large as WH3 map. It took time for CA to develop their WH2 campaign map too, but it took less time because there are less factions, and less land to work with.

CA just sort of quickly threw in IE as fast as they could to reconcile the issues its original campaign had, as many people weren't wanting Chaos Realms, as much as they wanted a gigantic map to paint... Well people got it, but they expected perfection immediately, and that isn't how it works.

[Zeek]

I like 3's map better because everything isn't a blended mess of browns, grays, and greens like it was in game 2.

[PJDenton]

Originally posted by MadArtillery:

Ah, I rarely if ever go anywhere near lustria so would never have had an oppertunity to see a difference there anyway. Infact I don't think I've touched it in my last 10 campaigns or so, maybe more.

That may explain my initial surprise at your point of view. Thank you for clarifying. And I can't say I've been very far from Lustria during most of my 200h on the second game, so it doesn't help getting used to the new aesthetic, either. But, again, only the jungle bits are a real letdown for me, so far at least. Oh well, at least it might motivate me to play something other than the lizardmen.

Originally posted by Imposter:

ME was a work in progress during WH2 and didn't always look pleasing either, that and it certainly isnt as large as WH3 map. It took time for CA to develop their WH2 campaign map too, but it took less time because there are less factions, and less land to work with.

CA just sort of quickly threw in IE as fast as they could to reconcile the issues its original campaign had, as many people weren't wanting Chaos Realms, as much as they wanted a gigantic map to paint... Well people got it, but they expected perfection immediately, and that isn't how it works.

Thank you very much for your answer, it really helped put things into perspective on the development of the game; I jumped in nearly two years and a half after the initial release, and didn't follow any news (same for TWW2), so I took things at face value, so to speak. Now this new look makes more sense.


And thank you Geary and Zeek for your feedback as well. On reddit I've seen more people relieved by visual clarity (often evoking a mess of colors in W2) than disappointed by the new look.
I know the beauty of the campaign map isn't the main focus, far from it, but in TWW2 it was a sweet eye candy that has really contributed to my enjoyment of the game.

[degumuto_berseg]

TWW2 campaign map looks cool, because ocean and more shores are there

[PJDenton]

Originally posted by degumuto_berseg:

TWW2 campaign map looks cool, because ocean and more shores are there

Now that you mention it, bodies of water and coastline are really part of that (subjective) eye candy aspect of the previous map, both thanks to their details and number/size. Guess it contributes to the new map being less... exotic, perhaps.
Still, it's nice that it's less demanding on my gpu because of it, compared to 2.

[Regnier575]

Visually, I definitely preferred WH2's map

[DerRitter]

100% agree
III's map looks soooo much worse

[DerRitter]

Originally posted by degumuto_berseg:

TWW2 campaign map looks cool, because ocean and more shores are there

not just that, the ground textures and foliage were different too

[DerRitter]

Honestly, WH1 had the best looking Old World map.

[DerRitter]

Originally posted by Zeek:

I like 3's map better because everything isn't a blended mess of browns, grays, and greens like it was in game 2.

now it looks simplistic and cartoonish in comparison