Info about A Total War Saga: TROY:

Official game description:
  
In this legendary age, heroes walk the earth. In an act that shocks the world, audacious Paris, prince of Troy, elopes with the beautiful queen of Sparta. As they sail away, King Menelaus curses her name. He vows to bring his wife home – whatever the cost.   
Fight to save or conquer the kingdom of Troy as one of eight iconic heroes, including the infamous warrior Achilles, noble protector Hector, wayward prince Paris and vengeful king Menelaus.   
Lead an army across the fabled lands of the Aegean, recruit special units inspired by creatures of Greek myth, and charge into battle against ferocious foes.   
Build your empire through strategy, statecraft, diplomacy and all-out war, as you conquer this vast and striking recreation of the Bronze Age Mediterranean.

Release date: Sep 2, 2021

Categories: Turn-based Strategy, Resource Management, Diplomacy, Historical Simulation, Mythological Elements, Faction Management, Campaign, Unit Management

Feature scans:
- MTX: score 90; verdict: Predatory Monetization; summary: The game is heavily criticized for its aggressive monetization practices, including Day-1 DLCs, excessive and overpriced DLCs, and essential content locked behind paywalls. Players feel that significant portions of the game are stripped out and sold separately, making the base game feel incomplete. The constant promotion of DLCs and the necessity to purchase them for a full experience further exacerbates the frustration among users.

- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Visually Stunning and Atmospheric (weight 0.74): The game is praised for its beautiful graphics, atmospheric soundtrack, and visually appealing design. The campaign map, unit designs, and overall art style contribute to an immersive and aesthetically pleasing experience.
- Diverse and Unique Factions (weight 0.72): The game features a variety of factions, each with unique mechanics, abilities, and playstyles. This diversity adds replay value and allows players to experiment with different strategies and approaches.
- Engaging Mythological and Historical Blend (weight 0.71): The game successfully blends historical and mythological elements, offering a unique experience for fans of Greek mythology and history. It features mythical creatures, heroes, and a narrative inspired by Homer's Iliad, providing a rich and immersive setting.
- Innovative Resource Management (weight 0.71): The game introduces a unique multi-resource system that adds depth to settlement planning and economy management. This system includes resources like food, wood, stone, bronze, and gold, making strategic decisions more complex and engaging.
- Mythical Creatures and Heroes (weight 0.63): The inclusion of mythical creatures and heroes adds a fantasy element to the game. Players can hunt and tame legendary beasts, and the mythical units add color and variety to the gameplay.
- Beautiful Campaign Maps (weight 0.61): The campaign maps are beautifully designed and interesting, offering a visually appealing and engaging setting for players to explore and conquer.
- Improved Diplomacy and Trade (weight 0.39): The diplomacy and trade systems are streamlined and easy to use, offering a more robust and engaging experience. The bartering system and alliances add depth to the gameplay, making it more strategic and enjoyable.
- Challenging and Engaging Gameplay (weight 0.38): The game offers a challenging and engaging experience with a focus on strategic coordination, alliances, and expansion. The AI provides a good challenge, and the gameplay mechanics are well-balanced and enjoyable.
- Optimized and Well-Performing (weight 0.31): The game is well-optimized, running smoothly on various hardware configurations. It features consistent framerates and fewer frame drops during large battles, making it accessible and enjoyable on both high-end and low-end computers.

Common complaints:
- AI and Diplomacy Issues (weight 0.97): The AI in the game is frequently criticized for being overly aggressive, breaking treaties, and declaring war without reason. Diplomacy is often described as shallow, broken, and meaningless, with AI factions being unresponsive to negotiations and alliances frequently breaking.
- Combat and Unit Problems (weight 0.9): Combat is criticized for being basic, unfluid, and lacking in tactics or strategy. Units are often described as bland, repetitive, and lacking variety. Additionally, there are issues with unit formations, animations, and pathfinding during battles.
- Lack of Content and Depth (weight 0.82): The game is often criticized for lacking content, depth, and variety. Players find the game to be repetitive, boring, and lacking in long-term planning and satisfaction. The lack of cavalry and naval battles is also frequently mentioned.
- Game Balance and Difficulty (weight 0.8): The game is often seen as unbalanced, with minor factions being overpowered and declaring war too frequently. The difficulty is also criticized for being unbalanced, with strong garrisons and constant wars making the game frustrating and less enjoyable.
- Graphics and Visual Style (weight 0.69): The graphics and visual style of the game are criticized for being too cartoonish, outdated, and simplistic. The animations are often described as poorly executed and unnatural, detracting from the overall gaming experience.
- Performance and Technical Issues (weight 0.62): The game is criticized for having performance and technical issues, such as frequent crashing, long turn times, and poor optimization. These issues make the game less enjoyable and frustrating to play.

Gameplay feedback:
- Historical and mythological setting (weight 0.28): The game is set in Ancient Greece and Troy, focusing on the conflict between these historical factions. It includes elements of Greek mythology, providing a rich and immersive setting.
- AI behavior issues (weight 0.28): The AI in the game has been noted for its nonsensical and repetitive behavior, particularly in battles and diplomacy. This affects the overall gameplay experience and can lead to frustration.
- Multiple game modes available (weight 0.26): The game offers various modes including Historical, Mythical, and Truth Behind the Myth, providing diverse gameplay experiences. These modes cater to different player preferences, from fully historical to mythological fantasy.
- Diplomacy and trade systems (weight 0.18): The game features diplomacy and trade mechanics, allowing players to manage relations and resources. However, some players find the trading system lacking or nonexistent.
- Unit variety and combat (weight 0.09): The game offers a wide variety of units and combat mechanics, including different unit types and battle tactics. However, some unit animations are considered outdated.
- Mythos mode and DLC content (weight 0.07): The Mythos DLC introduces mythological creatures and events, adding more factions and unique gameplay elements. This mode is full-on fantasy and provides a different experience compared to the historical mode.
- Campaign and replayability options (weight 0.07): The game offers various campaign options and replayability features, allowing players to experience different outcomes based on their choices. This adds to the game's depth and longevity.
- Resource management system (weight 0.05): The game features a multi-resource economy, including Food, Wood, Stone, Bronze, and Gold. This system adds a layer of depth to the gameplay, requiring strategic planning and management.
- Historical mode and missions (weight 0.03): The historical mode is grounded in reality and features epic campaign missions based on historical characters. These missions provide historical context and a more realistic gameplay experience.

Performance notes:
- Optimization and performance (weight 0.17): The game is generally well-optimized and runs smoothly on various systems, including older machines. However, there are occasional reports of crashes, FPS issues, and graphical bugs.
- Crashes and freezes (weight 0.1): Some players experience frequent crashes and freezes, particularly after short play times. This can significantly disrupt the gaming experience.
- Pathfinding and AI issues (weight 0.08): Players report significant problems with pathfinding and AI behavior. Units sometimes slide through each other, stay still when ordered to move, and the AI takes an unusually long time to conduct turns.
- Long turn times (weight 0.07): Players report that ending turns and AI turns take an unusually long time, which can be frustrating during gameplay.
- Frame rate drops (weight 0.04): There are notable frame rate drops, particularly on the global map and during large battles. This issue is more pronounced in the late-game campaign map.
- Loading times vary (weight 0.03): Loading times can be fast on some systems but are reported to be long on lower-end systems. There are also issues with the game minimizing during loading.

Recommendations:
- Mythos DLC enhances experience (weight 0.33): Several reviews mention that the Mythos DLC significantly improves the gameplay experience. Some reviewers even suggest that the game is only worth playing with this DLC.
- Worth buying on sale (weight 0.32): Many reviewers suggest that the game is worth purchasing, especially when it is on sale. They recommend it for fans of Greek mythology, historical strategies, and the Total War series.
- Consider older or other titles (weight 0.32): Some reviewers suggest playing older versions of the game or other titles like Warhammer 3 for a better experience. Recommendations include Odyssey, Wooden Horse Siege, and Rome 2.
- Recommended for specific audiences (weight 0.31): The game is recommended for fans of historical strategies, Greek mythology, and the Total War series. It is also suggested for historians of tactical RTS and those interested in Ancient Greece.
- Not recommended at full price (weight 0.3): Many reviews state that the game is not worth the full price and should only be purchased during a sale. Some reviewers find the gameplay tedious and repetitive.
- Mods improve gameplay (weight 0.3): Reviewers recommend playing the game with mods to enhance the experience. Specific mods like Gods of Olympus and Heroes of Troy are mentioned for additional characters.
- AI and gameplay issues (weight 0.29): Several reviews mention issues with the AI and lack of depth in gameplay. The campaign AI is described as frustrating and nonsensical.
- Good entry for new players (weight 0.02): The game is recommended as a good entry point for new players looking for short engagements and an introduction to the franchise.

Other player notes:
No miscpoints

Emotions:
- Disappointment (weight 0.36): Players are disappointed due to a variety of gameplay issues, including a lack of narrative impact and faction variety, repetitive and shallow combat mechanics, and numerous bugs. The game's high price tag, lack of content compared to previous titles, and the constant push for DLC purchases also contribute to this sentiment.
- Frustration (weight 0.31): Frustration stems from broken AI behavior, unbalanced gameplay mechanics, and frequent game crashes. Players also report issues with the game's difficulty, lack of strategy, and repetitive tasks, leading to a tedious and unsatisfying experience.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.09): Players find satisfaction in the game's solid mechanics, enjoyable gameplay modes, and appealing graphics. The variety of gameplay options, attention to detail, and modding capabilities also contribute to a positive experience.
- Excitement (weight 0.09): Excitement is generated by the game's mythological elements, engaging gameplay, and beautiful graphics. The introduction of mythological creatures and events, as well as the opportunity to interact with Greek mythology, adds to the thrill.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.08): Players enjoy the game's fun and engaging gameplay, unique faction mechanics, and the blend of historical storytelling with mythological elements. The audiovisual presentation and solid foundations of the Total War series also enhance the overall enjoyment.
- Enthusiasm (weight 0.03): Enthusiasm is driven by the game's unique features, engaging campaign, and improved systems. The focus on Greek mythology and the introduction of the mythological campaign are particularly exciting for players.
- Appreciation (weight 0.03): Players appreciate the game's historical significance, ambition, and immersive atmosphere. The game's optimization, graphics, and soundtrack are also highly valued.
- Anger (weight 0.02): Anger is caused by broken AI behavior, poor game mechanics, and design issues. These problems lead to a frustrating and unsatisfying gaming experience.
- Nostalgia (weight 0.01): Nostalgia is evoked by the game's connection to Greek mythology and music. Players with a personal history and connection to Greek mythology find the game particularly evocative.
- Joy (weight 0.01): Joy comes from the positive gaming experience, enjoying victories, and the overall visuals and gameplay. Players find the game to be a fun and rewarding experience.
- Interest (weight 0.01): Interest is piqued by the game's unique mechanics for characters like Achilles and Hector, as well as the variety of game modes, including Historical, Truth Behind the Myth, and Mythos.
- Boredom (weight 0.01): Boredom sets in due to the lack of action and strategic options, making the gameplay repetitive and unengaging after the first campaign.
- Disgust (weight 0.01): Disgust is a result of the poor game quality, which leads to a disappointing and unsatisfactory experience.}