Been listening to a Roman history audiobook and playing AC: Origins which has a suprising amount of roman stuff in it. Would love to get my legion on, I know Rome 2 was rough at launch and for some time after, but maybe it's gotten better?

Is there a good reason to play this over the original? Or over Attila?

Out of curiosity - which Roman History book have you been listening to?

Rome 2 is a long way from where it started. It is absolutely playable at this point and is a pretty decent experience. It has problems at the end game still and I think that will always be an issue. I played 50 or so hours of Rome 2 and have enjoyed it, but not to the extent that I enjoyed Rome 1. I own Total War: Attila and hear great things about it but didn't get into it myself.

Side note: Paradox just teased a new game "Imperator Rome" which has piqued my interest.

@captain_insano: SPQR by Mary Beard, it’s a super broad overview of roman history but i’ve been enjoying it. For example, I finally learned why the Marian reforms were a big enough deal to show up in Rome 1.

Playable/enjoyable for 50 hours is what i want to hear. Did you try any of the DLC’s? Rob Zacny at waypoint seemed to like the Gaul mini campaign.

That paradox game is definitely interesting. I wonder if it will be more of a classical world simulator or if it will be hyper focused on rome alone.

@mikemcn: SPQR is a decent read, Mary Beard knows her stuff, though I found SPQR to be a bit of a hodge-podge. Once you've finished (I have a million to recommend - I'm a High School History teacher with a Masters in History specialising in Republic era Rome haha), but I just finished "The Storm Before the Storm" by Mike Duncan. It covers an area I am pretty familiar with, but is a really good overview of the beginning of the Fall of the Republic. Would also recommend his "History of Rome" podcast - it's really something. (Also you should absolutely check out "Historia Civilis" on Youtube, one of the best History channels I've come across)

I bought most of the DLC's. They are pretty good because they are self contained and a bit more focused, so it tends to avoid some of the issues of the Grand Campaign's end game, but I haven't sunk too much time into them because I always get distracted by other games.

I really enjoyed SPQR.

I might try and play Rome II again at some point. It was a total mess and a massive bummer at launch, especially after how great Shogun 2 was.

They've generally fixed a lot of the bugs, but they can't fix what is at its core a boring game.