History YMMV / RomeTotalWar

** The [[https://rtw.heavengames.com/albums/July2012/HM_Pic1_EI.jpg Eastern Spearmen unit]] rapidly attained (and still keep) the nickname of "Pajama Warriors," due to their incredibly garish color scheme. They are also loved ironically for easily being the single worst unit in the game, sometimes losing to PEASANTS.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The soundtrack is full of fantastic music with pounding drums, menacing strings, and (of course) OminousLatinChanting which sounds like it came straight out of Gladiator.

** "Gods, I hate Gauls. My grandfather hated them too, even before they put out his eyes. Did you think I'd be out here on the frontier without good reason. Yes, Rome needs a strong frontier. No, Rome does not need unwashed barbarians at her gates. So thats why I'm here, the leader of the Julii, to bring order to stinking Gauls. Revenge, that would be good too. This war against the Gauls wont last long, and when it's done, I got plans. This is all about Power, Power in Rome. Going down that road means dealing with all my rivals. The Senate, the Greeks, those Carthaginian elephant riders, The Skipii and the Brutii families too. After all, the man who controls Rome rules the world, and one day, I will be emperor."

* NintendoHard: Playing the ''Barbarian Invasion'' campaign as the Western Roman Empire. You start off almost completely bankrupt, are beset on all sides by powerful enemies gunning for your territory (including the borderline GameBreaker Huns), and merely hitting the "End Turn" button comes with the significant risk of half your territory rebelling. This one is at least [[TruthInTelevision historically justified]], since the collapse of the Western Empire is precisely what allows for the [[TitleDrop barbarian invasion]] to happen. Even ''Total War'' veterans consider it one of the greatest challenges in the series.

** Cataphracts. They are LightningBruiser units with very few counters. While they are the slowest horse cavalry units in the game, they are still much faster than any infantry and their FoeTossingCharge is second only to ''elephants'' in damage. Thanks to their heavy armor, they can even stand up to all but the most elite spear infantry in protracted melee combat as well. Thankfully, they are a high tier unit in the tech tree, they're very expensive, and they can only be recruited by Parthia and Armenia, so you likely won't have to face many of them in a typical campaign. But when you do, expect an extremely difficult battle. Then you realise the Seleucid Empire can also recruit them, and back them up with all of the might of a Hellenic power. Thank god the Seleucids usually die early

** Cataphracts. They are LightningBruiser units with very few counters. While they are the slowest horse cavalry units in the game, they are still much faster than any infantry and their FoeTossingCharge is second only to ''elephants'' in damage. Thanks to their heavy armor, they can even stand up to all but the most elite spear infantry in protracted melee combat as well. Thankfully, they are a high tier unit in the tech tree, they're very expensive, and they can only be recruited by Parthia and Armenia, so you likely won't have to face many of them in a typical campaign. But when you do, expect an extremely difficult battle.

* GoodBadBugs: It's possible for assassins in ''Rome'' to assassinate '''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM-tO0AOE1c themselves]]'''. And yes - [[LuckBasedMission they absolutely can fail to do so]].

* AngstWhatAngst: If you choose to exterminate the populous of a city you've just captured, roughly 2/3 of the population will be killed. However, the city will then be ''happier'' as a result than they would have been if you simply occupied it. This is because overcrowding is no longer an issue, and since that is one of the main sources of unhappiness, the remaining populous will be happier.

* WTHCostumingDepartment: A common reaction when facing off against a Parthian army for the first time. Never in the history of warfare has there been a more glorious display of the colour pink.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Tends to get this reaction from players who were introduced to [[Franchise/TotalWar the series]] by one of the later games. ''Rome'' was a critical and financial hit when it was released, and really set in motion many of the best aspects of the series that were built upon by the games that followed. However, the [[GangUpOnTheHuman still-primitive]] [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder diplomatic system]], [[SuicidalOverconfidence Suicidally Overconfident]] campaign AI (even on higher difficulty settings), and the [[AIBreaker easily exploited]] [[ArtificialStupidity battle AI]] tend to turn a good number of players off who are used to the sophistication of later games in the series.

* GodDamnBats: Missile Cavalry, ''especially'' [[HorseArcher Horse Archers]]. They're the fastest units in the game, are programmed to fall back as soon as an enemy unit approaches, and can shoot at you as they fall back. Expect a [[MarathonBoss Marathon Battle]] whenever you face an army employing many missile cavalry units, as even if you defeat the rest of the army, you'll spend quite a while chasing the missile cavalry units around the battlefield until you're lucky enough to box them in or they run out of ammo and decide to retreat.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Tends to get this reaction from players who were introduced to [[Franchise/TotalWar the series]] by one of the later games. ''Rome'' was a critical and financial hit when it was released, and really set in motion many of the best aspects of the series that were built upon by the games that followed. However, the [[GangUpOnTheHuman still-primitive diplomatic system]], [[SuicidalOverconfidence Suicidally Overconfident]] campaign AI (even on higher difficulty settings), and the [[AIBreaker easy exploited]] [[ArtificialStupidity battle AI]] tend to turn a good number of players off.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Tends to get this reaction from players who were introduced to [[Franchise/TotalWar the series]] by one of the later games. ''Rome'' was a critical and financial hit when it was released, and really set in motion many of the best aspects of the series that were built upon by the games that followed. However, the [[GangUpOnTheHuman still-primitive diplomatic system]], [[SuicidalOverconfidence Suicidally Overconfident]] campaign AI (even on higher difficulty settings), and the [[AIBreaker easy exploited]] [[ArtificialStupidity battle AI]] tend to turn most players off.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Tends to get this reaction from players who were introduced to [[Franchise/Total the series]] by one of the later games. ''Rome'' was a critical and financial hit when it was released, and really set in motion many of the best aspects of the series that were built upon by the games that followed. However, the [[GangUpOnTheHuman still-primitive diplomatic system]], [[SuicidalOverconfidence Suicidally Overconfident]] campaign AI (even on higher difficulty settings), and the [[AIBreaker easy exploited]] [[ArtificialStupidity battle AI]] tend to turn most players off.

* GodDamnBats: Missile Cavalry, ''especially'' [[HorseArcher Horse Archers]]. They're the fastest units in the game, are programmed to fall back as soon as an enemy unit approaches, and can shoot at you as they fall back. Expect a MarathonBattle whenever you face an army employing many missile cavalry units, as even if you defeat the rest of the army, you'll spend quite a while chasing the missile cavalry units around the battlefield until you're lucky enough to box them in or they run out of ammo and decide to retreat.

** Chariots. While they have enough weaknesses to turn them into a GlassCannon, you typically need to specially prepare your army to take advantage of the "Glass" part and they can ''still'' deal a lot of damage thanks to the "Glass" part. Even with an army kitted out to be as anti-chariot as possible, expect a lot of casualties in any battle where the enemy deploys a high number of chariots.

* SugerWiki/AwesomeMusic: The soundtrack is full of fantastic music with pounding drums, menacing strings, and (of course) OminousLatinChanting which sounds like it came straight out of Gladiator.

* CrowningMusicofAwesome: The soundtrack is full of fantastic music with pounding drums, menacing strings, and (of course) OminousLatinChanting which sounds like it came straight out of Gladiator.

* CrowningMusicofAwesome: The soundtrack is full of fantastic music with pounding drums and menacing strings which sounds like it came straight out of Gladiator.

* HollywoodHistory: One of the major criticisms of this game was the portrayal of Ancient Egypt as a Pharaonic, Middle-Eastern kingdom. In reality, Ptolemaic Egypt was was ruled by a Macedonian family and had a Hellenic military organization. Fortunately, this was rectified by Europa Barbarorum.
** In Barbarian Invasion, the character portraits for the Germanic Goths and Vandals portray men who look very Asiatic, like steppe nomads.