Total War: Rome II – To Buy or Not to Buy? That is the Question!

Total War: Rome II finally has a release date!  I tell you, I was excited when I first heard Creative Assembly was going to continue the franchise with another Rome game.  Right now you can hit up their website and pay for one of the two options that they have available; the Collector’s Edition and the standard digital copy.

Collector’s Editions are something game companies do to squeeze your wallet just a little more, and my thought right now is… “To buy or not to buy?”

Pros

I could get the super awesome cool collectors edition that has a whole bunch of stuff in it that looks cool and shows my dedication to the franchise and also support the game I love!

Cons

Well do I really need to spend an extra 100 or so dollars on something I will probably never use, simply because it’s sort of useless?

I figure I should talk a little about each, in case all of you are still scratching your heads in bewilderment.

The standard edition includes the game, and the first DLC pack, “The Greek States.”

The Collector’s Edition on the other hand includes the DLC and the actual game copy.  On top of that the set includes a scaled down catapult that apparently works (yet I am skeptical that it actually does fire and wondering about the strength of it in general).  The game also comes with a cool metal case, as well as a card game that is apparently one they played during the Punic Wars–but again, is it really that or is it some knock off of Go Fish (I have seen companies do that)?  Other than that there is a canvas map to hang on your wall, a play board/box, the dice and roundels to play what looks like some type of board game.

What gets me here is that there is nothing digital in the Collector’s!  In WoW, for example, we get pets–but here there is none of that.  I think adding in some portraits for the online servers or some customization would really make this worthwhile, considering the stuff in it is not all that great.

Personally I want to buy it just because I just want to support the company, but at the same time I really don’t think I need the set, and it will probably join my Cataclysm Collector’s Edition box on the shelf, collecting dust and never be used again!