the best total war game?

[heime2003]

or top 3 that a newbie can enjoy right away

[Teo]

I'd go with a historical setting that you're interested in. All games can be enjoyed by noobs, and you can start on the easy difficulty if you're having trouble with the battles or the campaign, there's no shame in that.

[TonDon]

my list:

medieval 2
rome 2
warhammer 2

[peymanloyal69]

Yes .😭

[Frank Drebin]

Depends on preference.

Medieval 2 (has best Mods and World Domination feeling)

Napoleon (has beautifull Naval Action and Landbattles are Noob friendly)

Shogun 2 with FOTS (Best Multiplayer by far) but without FOTS very hard in MP

Attila (Best Option for Total War Starters that u can enjoy right away)

[Kendji]

In no particular order:
Rome remaster
3K
Pharaoh

It started off good, then gradually went down hill and finally has started to become better again.

[Jarcaddy]

Shogun 2 is still the king
Rome 2 is close behind
Theee Kingdoms is the most unique outside of the fantasy games

I love Med 2 to death but it is old

[MrFox老板]

Three Kingdoms is near perfection after learning curve.

[Aluminum Elite Master]

IMO, Shogun 2 is probably the best recent game.

After that, I'd argue TW:WH2 ended up being quite good (though it was not great at launch).

And in third I'd put 3K. The issue with 3K wasn't the game... it was that the first DLC's had nothing to do with the time-period that players wanted to actually focus on. 3K is funny, because CA stopped DLC for it, but the game itself was quite good and just had minor flaws.

[Myrden]

Pick the era that interests you most imo.

[Aluminum Elite Master]

Originally posted by Myrden:

Pick the era that interests you most imo.

I love S2, even though I prefer the Napoleonic Era.

In stark contrast, I found Napoleon:Total War to be a let down, because the game's scale always felt off. The tech limits of the time hurt the game, because the Grand Campaign should have included more of the Ottoman Empire and given more room for buildings/cities for Austria, Britain, France, etc.

Sometimes, the game made for the era you like is just not well-made, I guess, is the point. And in other cases, a great video-game gets made and it's fun even if it's not the preferred time-period.

[Schnell_Scheisse]

Shogun 2 is still very good. It's showing it's age in a few instances like the battle AI for example,, but it's very immersive and can provide a challenge to the end of the campaign.

[Mayonnaise Smiter]

It depends. If you want to buy a post Rome 2, modern TW to learn the mechanics of modern total wars, then by all means, buy Rome 2 or Warhammer 2, or pick the one that's cheaper.

Older total wars still have very competitive mechanics especially Shogun 2, but comparing S2 to R2 is like comparing apples to oranges at this point. For TWs as old as medieval 2 you will likely want to play mods, but mods are still very competitive.

[Myrden]

Originally posted by Aluminum Elite Master:

Sometimes, the game made for the era you like is just not well-made, I guess, is the point. And in other cases, a great video-game gets made and it's fun even if it's not the preferred time-period.

Completely agree, aye (I'm looking at you, Empire), but if you're just starting out on TW then I think it would make more sense to jump to the era that interests you most - especially if you're approaching it on an RP level. It's probably due to this approach that I still view the abandoned and bug infested Empire as my favourite TW. Such a shame that Napoleon wasn't an upgrade/DLC to Empire.

I'll always come to these games from an RP standpoint because that's how I get so many hours out of them. if I was just in it for the battles I would have got bored years ago playing the same old fights and fighting the same old bugs.

[0zzie]

Shogun 2 & FotS (Top quality Vanilla)
Medieval 1 (classic with sprites though)
Rome & Remastered (The stuff of Legends)

[oOIYvYIOo]

TW Pharaoh

Shogun TW

Napoleon TW