User blog:High Prince Imrahil/The Most Underrated Mod

I was playing a few Total War games the other day, and I came to an interesting conclusion: I like LotRTW more then TATW.

For those of you that aren't familiar with the Total War series, TATW is short for Third Age: Total War, a popular mod for Medieval II: Total War. A far less popular mod is Lord of the Rings: Total War, a mod for Rome I: Total War.

"But Imrahil!" I can already hear you saying "LOTRTW is for Rome I, that means it has crappy graphics!!"

And yes, I will openly admit that TATW has better graphics. But that's pretty much all it has going for it... outlined below are the four main reasons I like LOTRTW better then TATW:

BETTER CHARACTERS: I mean seriously, have you ever PLAYED TATW's Fellowship campaign? It sucks! They can't even allow you to control individual characters! Instead you have to control entire regiments of Aragorns and balrogs, which is not only non-canonical, but downright idiotic. LOTRTW, on the other hand, has excellant characters, each with their own graphics and AI. You can control individual heros like Aragorn, Gandalf, and Legolas, leading them around the battlefield to fight and encourage troops.  CANON-ORIENTED AI: Seriously, TATW doesn't even try. They just throw us the Med:II AI and and tell us to deal with it. This leads to some very rare yet interesting situations such has elven factions being at war with eachother, and Isenguard making alliances with Rohan. LOTRTW has really excellant AI, crafted especially for LOTR factions. IE when Minas Tirith is under siege, there's a special "beacon-lighting" script that causes Rohan to try and send reinforcements.

HISTORICAL BATTLES: This is one of the main reasons I LOVE this mod, and one of the reasons I loath TATW. TATW only has like three battles, none of which even take place during the War of the Ring. LOTRTW, on the other hand, has a really awesome set of historical battles, including Pellannor Fields (My personal favorite), Helm's Deep, The Last Alliance, The Destruction of Isenguard, and many more.  VOICE-ACTING: Except for a few orc sound effects, TATW is void of custom-voice acting. LOTRTW, on the other hand, has some really fantastic voice acting, custom-made for various factions. "Men of Gondor, defend the walls! The enemy has pulled up siege towers, and we cannot let them through! For the White City!!" calls a fairly realistic Gondorian advisor "Blast! The flithy orcs have breached the gates! At them, dwarves of Moria! Baruk-Khazad, Khazad-menu!" shouts a dwarven advisor. The voice acting isn't quite as good as the vanilla game, but its pretty dang close, and a heck of a lot better then what TATW has to offer.

Those are the main reasons. And I simply can't believe how underrated LOTRTW is, especially compared to TATW. I will warn you, however, that LOTRTW is slightly more film-oriented then TATW, but only slightly. I would completely reccomend it to any LOTR fan.

Lord of the Rings Total War

Third Age Total War