Personally, I'm not enjoying my time on the battle map as much as in RTW. I don't have a definitive reason why though. The animations, character interaction & greatly varied models in a single unit should in theory make it more immersing during a battle - but I'm just not feeling it in the same way as I did with RTW. Perhaps in time It'll grow on me more....
However, the campaign map is a very different story. The new campaign style easily makes this game, in my opinion, the most cerebral strategy game in recent years. Personally, I'd say the advances in how the diplomacy system works put it on a par with - if not actually above Civ in terms of depth. It appears that the whole thing has been greatly improved in terms of the Campaign Map AI. No longer will a faction attack you, begin to lose horribly and then refuse a ceasefire even when they are on the brink of extinction. Now, if you smash a warring faction militarily or they bankrupt themselves through a war of attrition, you can bet they'll be begging on your doorstep in a few turns trying to broker a ceasefire - at which point you can swindle them out of any florins they happen to have left - or bag a few of their settlements if they are desperate enough
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In all the previous Total War games, I've enjoyed diplomacy but thought it rather simple in ways. In M2TW the wealth of factors influencing how diplomacy works have been upped considerably. For example, your relationship with the other faction, ( seemingly dictated by whether you've warred with them, or have shown generosity / greed within your past diplomacy etc ), your religion, relationship with other allied/neutral/enemy factions, skill/traits of the agents in question and I'm sure a whole wealth of other factors I've not mentioned can all influence how your diplomatic relations proceed....
Furthermore, all of the other areas of the campaign have been seemingly expanded upon. Ransoming & executing prisoners has been re-introduced from the original MTW and Princesses are now usable as agents again.. The new addition of Merchants adds an appealing monetary slant to how you can play through the campaign ( buying out merchants from other factions etc.) Assassins & Spies feel better - the system of using them is certainly more satisfying when the game shows you videos of your agent's escapades as previous TW games have done.. And, that's without even mentioning the new systems of how the Papacy & settlement type ( City / Fortification) work within the game - which are too extensive to mention here...
All in all, a massive new dimension of depth has been introduced to the TW series & in my opinion that makes it a worthy successor to Rome which also introduces some of the previously lost elements that featured in the original MTW.
Plus, some of the options that are now available are just fantastically fun, such as catapulting bits of rotting cow carcass over Castle walls before you charge the gatehouse or using the Islamic equivalent of a Nebelwerfer to obliterate an oncoming wedge of Crusading Knights... Over time, such novelties and potentially historically uncommon sights within the game may wear thin - but I'll NEVER get tired of being contracted to assassinate the French King by his own son so he can usurp the throne - only to follow it up by having the same assassin bump off the newly crowned King as well in the following turn
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Some previous problems are still present within the series... The battle map AI is still about as intelligent as Captain Nolan at times - having the strangest of notions to stand still with their backs to a rain of arrows & quarrels or deciding to charge all their lightly armoured cavalry frontally into your best pike wielding troops... but these niggles seem minor when compared with how much of a joy the campaign map is to play and the fact that online players aren't as stupid as the AI ( well, in most players' cases anyway
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Anyone who is a fan of the TW series or likes challenging strategy games should get this - it is definitely a much more worthwhile game than Rome, or any of the previous Total War games come to think of it...
