This Total War Expansion has NO RIGHT Being THIS GOOD

I have always loved a good Total War expansion the reasons are many but a great expansion combines the best of the base game with awesome new mechanics or time periods altogether and of course a true Total War expansion is nothing without a completely new and focused map many of these aspects come together in one of my favorite Total War expansions of all time namely the age of Charlemagne expansion for Total War Attila and I'm going to tell you exactly why that is the first make sure to subscribe to the channel and share which Total War expansion is your favorite down below and don't forget to leave a like and perhaps even join our Discord Channel why Total War Attila gave us a deep dive into late Antiquity and arguably the earliest days of the medieval period age of Charlemagne does a rare thing indeed by not simply taking place in a slightly different time period but a long 400 years after the base game perhaps unsurprisingly age of Charlemagne takes place during the time of the man himself the great Frankish King who would come to unify both Francia and Germania into the one and only Holy Roman Empire the Roman era is now far behind us with virtually nothing at all left of said culture other than the inheritance of Christianity and the longing for Roman greatness we do begin in frankiest infancy however with the country itself being torn in two and vultures everywhere attempting to stop Charlemagne in his tracks but even though the Frankish Empire remains small at the start of this campaign does not mean the Charlemagne expression is without ambition if you found the Tillis original map to be of a smaller scale then Charlemagne's is likely to please you as this is arguably the law largest map of Western central and southern Europe we've ever received in this Medieval World the British Isles are still fought over by various factions vying for power and the Vikings hailing from Scandinavia are never far away in Germany several kingdoms and duchies are seeking control of the land but Eastern Invaders in the form of Raiders must be paid attention to if one wishes to come out on top closely linked is Italy a peninsula no longer unified by one Empire but divided into several smaller and larger Powers including both the new hegemony of the kingdom of lombardia while the Eastern Romans once again seeks to regain control from their foothold in Sicily sadly and to migrate personal woe the Romans are not themselves playable which is such a shame honestly because it would partially allow us to experience that faction's development since the Attila campaign itself in Iberia Christian kingdoms must contend with the mighty Emirate of Cordoba whose religion and Military might never ceases to threaten Europe and Christianity itself this entire geopolitical theater ultimately sets the stage for the main event Charlemagne and Western Franca itself located smack down in the center of all of this part of what makes this campaign so much fun is that number one because of its focus and number of powerful factions at the beginning it doesn't take long before Things become intense two each faction is equipped with their very own missions and long-term campaign goals Charlemagne is for example tasked with uniting the Frankish lands and becoming the true Frankish King with a series of events portraying this rise to power as Mercia in Britain it's possible to unite the various provinces and form the Kingdom of Wessex features like these are some of my favorite in strategy games because they really help to portray and symbolize your own Journey sandilo a major letdown is that there are no real faction Banner changes here and no real tangible changes either like new mechanics units technology or buildings which does put a significant damper on the formation of new kingdom title speaking of buildings however an aspect I simply adore about Charlemagne is the overhaul of the UI including the building icons even though I strictly speaking do tend to prefer the realistic style of attila's building icons Charlemagne as an artistic Flair that I cannot help but love it's partially because of the authentic look of it all as these icons just fit that medieval time period so well based on drawings and paintings from that era UI changes are in my opinion crucial to provide an expansion or a time period at vital sense of immersion and especially as it aids in making the expansion feel different from the main game despite its highly stylized UI the icons remain descriptive and realistic rather than abstract and for me that makes the entire difference I personally load the turn so many games take from the realistic depiction of buildings to the more abstract look most recently seen in Warhammer 3 which is also partially why I love the UI so much in that new strategy game nights of honor to The Sovereign in this back then Charlemagne does a great job in differentiating itself not just from the base game Attila but sets a unique example when compared to the entire Total War franchise as there's nothing that looks quite like Charlemagne now it's no secret that the base game Attila campaign is horribly optimized as I'll keep stating over and over until it's fixed but for whatever reason age of Charlemagne runs so much better I don't know if it's because of the way the terrain is made the amount of factions or whatever the facts are facts this campaign is Pure Performance Bliss compared to Attila and if you wanted to play with the tools mechanics but found the game too laggy the nature of Charlemagne is probably the campaign your computer will enjoy the most as is often the case for more focused campaigns however your mileage will vary when it comes to the battlefield the battles of age of Charlemagne do play great that's not the issue but I think some may find a lack of unit variety a bit of a turn off this is of course mostly historically accurate and such no big issue but do be aware that in terms of style these early medieval armies are neither as flashy as the Roman arrow ones nor as heavy as those from the high or late Middle Ages it does find itself somewhere in between I'd say but perhaps on the less intriguing side that being said we do have variety the central European factions are different from the Vikings and of course very much different from the Muslims in the South which poses somewhat more mobile and Cavalry Focus units this fact further adds to the tragedy of the Eastern Roman Empire not being playable as the Romans would certainly have added a lot of flair and a unique army makeup compared to the rest of Europe and for both the campaign and the battle map reasons I just find it so odd that creative assembly put this fan favorite faction on the map but somehow kept us from playing them it doesn't make any sense at all to me and I wish things were different something else I would have loved to see alongside a playable ere was an Eastern expansion of the map all the way to Constantinople I think this would have added a lot to the campaign as the Franks sporting a sort of re-emergent Western Roman Empire Vibe would actually have to contend with a sizable force in the East for a true Clash of civilization I think the fact that the map just ends in the Balkans is rather arbitrary and while I of course understand that Maps must end somewhere this period did see a brewing geopolitical conflict of both physical and spiritual manner in Western Christianity versus Eastern Charlemagne and the pope versus the Emperor and patriarch in Constantinople and to have seen just a bit more of that for example with the inclusion of more Eastern Roman lands would have meant a lot for this campaign and I believe its popularity and Legacy luckily as is the case for most World War campaigns modders come to the rescue and in a lot of ways answer my prayers none of them sadly managed to expand the map to Constantinople yet but they do add much needed flavor to the game faction icon mods lets you spice up your kingdom if you want new symbols once you form these lovely new titles and what's more we're finally able to actually play as the Eastern Romans it's such a thrill honestly to play with these units which haven't really seen the light of day in Total War since Medieval 2 and it even made unique missions for the Romans which completes this package there's a slew of minor but amazing mods like this out there but perhaps my favorite Charlemagne mod is none other than Asia Vikings as you might guess age of Vikings takes us even further into the medieval period after Charlemagne's death and into the true Viking age the north is seeing these Raiders potentially dominate Scandinavia and the British Isles while Central Europe is now firmly divided into the kingdoms of Charlemagne's heirs which all of a sudden remind us much more of how Europe will come to look in the classic medieval period it's an amazing mod you absolutely need to try and it's almost like an entirely new game in and of itself age of Charlemagne is a fantastic campaign with its main shortcomings being a lack of Eastern Roman Empire as a playable faction and the map itself which I wish would extend all the way to the Bosphorus in it offers an exciting take on the birth of medieval Europe and performs better than the main game to boot modders complement the game further and ask that a flavor the campaign sorely needed and as always I am deeply in their debt if only Attila had been marketed a bit better and let's face it performed better so that people would actually want to play it I imagine even more love could have been put into this campaign and the game as a whole and as the map is gorgeous I wish modest would Embrace this campaign further a mod like medieval kingdoms 12 would arguably fit even better on the Charlemagne map for example especially if one focus on more eurocentric affairs and stayed away from the Crusades and the East but for what it is age of Charlemagne is an awesome expansion to Attila and one I'm glad creative assembly dared to make if you enjoyed this video please consider leaving a like and subscribing to the channel as it really helps me out a lot make sure to join up Discord server as well and consider becoming a YouTube member thanks again and I'll see you next time cheers foreign [Music]

Channel: Andy's Take

Views: 195,874

Keywords: total war review, total war age of charlemagne review, total war age of charlemagne, age of charlemagne review, total war medieval 2, total war medieval 3, age of charlemagne, total war early medieval, total war middle ages, total war empire 2, total war napoleon 2, medieval 3 total war, charlemagne, total war francia, total war holy roman empire, total war byzantine empire, theme of sicily, age of vikings, total war age of vikings, total war medieval 3 review, sword meta

Id: VbgAk966dOQ

Length: 9min 54sec (594 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 01 2023