I loved Shogun, skipped Medieval, played Rome but didn't get hooked by it (good game but I'm not a huge fan of Roman era), skipped Empire. Napoloenic era is my favourite historical period, so that plus the fact I skipped ETW means I'm really enjoying NTW. But if you got bored with ETW then I don't think NTW brings anything hugely new to the table, other than polish, buffed graphics and refinement (I hear ETW was very buggy, NTW seems very stable) plus an improved multiplayer part of the game. But you can't beat a mass cavalry charge headlong into the cannons for a bit of fun (just as well I wasn't a real general back then)!