History YMMV / MedievalIITotalWar

** Heretics, especially high-piety ones. Can be useful to train priest's piety (or assassin's skill) if you bother to do so, but they generate religious unrest and WILL make your cities rebel if you don't care about them. Getting rid of the repeated heretic appearances soon becomes a chore.

* ThoseTwoGuys: Those two knights/guards who always chase down your assassin after he fails.

* WhatMeasureIsANonBadass: Sparing captured soldiers gets you chivalry points. You can then order a massacre in a city (which can give you dread), but doing so reduces squalor, increases profit, and lowers disorder. This trope comes into play because town will then get tax and population growth bonuses from being run by a "chivalrous" general. That's right, you can spare a few dozen soldiers and slaughter thousands of civilians and still get called "chivalrous" by the peasants.

* TheScrappy:

** Milan as an ally isn't very well liked either. Thanks to their ChronicBackstabbingDisorder.
** Russia is arguably the least liked playable faction in the game. Russia's starting capital, Novgorod, is hugely isolated and surrounded by rebels, and it will be a long while before you encounter another faction - likely Poland, not a particularly challenging early game adversary. The vast distances between cities ensure you are also clicking through turns waiting for your armies to move from place to place, and in addition, they are the only faction besides Byzantium to not have the Crusade[=/=]Jihad mechanic (and in contrast to Russia, Byzantium has a crazy start where it is attacked from all sides by powerful forces). You will be stuck for things to do until the Mongols arrive.
* ScrappyMechanic: Unlike ''Rome'', there is no way to change your Faction Heir in this game. Presumably it was done for historical accuracy, with the computer typically selecting the oldest son of your Faction Leader if one is available. (If not, his next oldest brother is typically chosen.) This can lead to scenarios where a greedy/corrupt/disloyal governor of a backwater territory is named heir over his much more qualified brother/cousin who is a loyal conquering general. Your only option at that point is to send your undesired heir off to battle as part of a UriahGambit (and hope against it turning into a SpringtimeForHitler situation where surviving makes him even harder to kill in the future.)

* ThoseTwoGuys: The knights who always chase down your assassin after he fails.

* AwesomeMusic: The whole damn soundtrack counts for this trope, being regarded as the height of Jeff Van Dyck's work as composer for the Total War Games. Though two standouts are "Duke of Death" and "Crack Your Head With A Tabla".

** Missile cavalry. Especially the ones with armor-piercing and a good defense rating. Jinetes, Dvor Cavalry, Mongol Heavy Archers... pick your poison.

** [[DiscOneFinalBoss The]] [[BornInTheSaddle Mongols]] are [[HomeFieldAdvantage scary as hell in the open field]], and are hard to beat back. However, [[AchillesHeel once they hit your cities or a defended bridge, their horse archers are just cannon fodder for your]] [[AntiCavalry spearmen, archers, and crossbows]], therefore playing the trope straight. [[DemonicSpiders The]] [[WarElephants Ti]][[JackOfAllStats mu]][[MacrossMissileMassacre ri]][[FirearmsAreRevolutionary ds]], [[FinalBoss on the other hand]]...well, they[[SubvertedTrope do NOT play this trope straight]]. [[ClimaxBoss AT ALL]]. There are a couple ways to [[BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame defeat them at their own game in the field]], but all require locking down [[GetBackHereBoss their]] [[HorseArcher archers]]. [[OhCrap And their cavalry]]. [[FromBadToWorse Lots and lots of cavalry]]. If you want to attain victory by [[VideoGameObjectives taking and holding the Holy Land]], [[ThisIsGonnaSuck prepare for a rough time]], as the Timurids may just be [[ThatOneBoss the hardest enemies you'll face in-game]].

** The Mongols are scary as hell in the open field, and are hard to beat back. However, once they hit your cities or a defended bridge, their horse archers are just cannon fodder for your spearmen, archers, and crossbows. The Timurids on the other hand... there are a couple ways to defeat them at their own game in the field, but all require locking down their archers. And cavalry. Lots and lots of cavalry.

*** In the ''Crusades'' campaign, a Catholic army under the command of Frederick Barbarossa appears after a few decades, consisting of several fully-stacked, well armed and fanatical German troops led by a ludicrously talented general. After a few turns of marching toward the holy land, rampaging through Byzantine lands... [[RealityEnsues Frederick drowns attempting to cross a river in his armor]], shattering their morale and causing the remaining crusaders to return home in disgrace, [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration which is also what happened]] [[RealitySubtext in real life]].

*** In the ''Crusades'' campaign, a Catholic army under the command of Frederick III Barbarossa appears after a few decades, consisting of several fully-stacked, well armed and fanatical German troops led by a ludicrously talented general. After a few turns of marching toward the holy land, rampaging through Byzantine lands... [[RealityEnsues Frederick drowns attempting to cross a river in his armor]], shattering their morale and causing the remaining crusaders to return home in disgrace, [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration which is also what happened]] [[RealitySubtext in real life]].

* OnlySixFaces: Your generals and agents are given a rather small of avatar portraits.

** The game is set in the 1100s with a playable Catholic faction having the option to call for a crusade to retake Jerusalem (especially in the ''Crusades'' campaign) which effectively makes it a RealTimeStrategy adaptation of ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven''.
** The ''Britannia'' campaign of ''Medieval II'' is essentially the unofficial ''Film/{{Braveheart}}'' video game right down to the Highlanders (including the one in the main menu) as Mel Gibson William Wallace lookalikes only with a lot less ArtisticLicenseHistory than that film.

** The game is set in the 1100s with a playable Catholic faction having the option to call for a crusade to retake Jerusalem which effectively makes it a RealTimeStrategy adaptation of ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven''.

** The game is set in the 1100s with the playable faction having the option to call for a crusade to retake Jerusalem effectively making a RealTimeStrategy adaptation of ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven''.

* SpiritualAdaptation: The game is set in the 1100s with the playable faction having the option to call for a crusade to retake Jerusalem making a RealTimeStrategy adaptation of ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven''.

* MemeticMutation: Milian's [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder random betrayals.]]