If you're looking for the best experience in general in an historical Total War game (as a new player), this is the best choice for you.

I also played Troy, Attila, Three Kingdoms (not so much historical) to understand what it's the best entry for me as a new player of TW and I think is TW: ROME II.
Right now it's probably the most complete game of the series with ton of factions, campaign maps and mods that will give you entertainment for hundreds of hours(I started an Augustus campaign and I feel I'm barely at the middle of it at the moment). If you enjoy multiplayer, the community is considerably active and you will always find a match to play (sadly I always find few land battles, but you can create one if you don't like siege battles).
Any faults? Obviously yes, but only veteran players can deeply understand them.

[i]If you're looking for the best experience in general in an historical Total War game (as a new player), this is the best choice for you.[/i] I also played Troy, Attila, Three Kingdoms (not so much historical) to understand what it's the best entry for me as a new player of TW and I think is TW: ROME II. Right now it's probably the most complete game of the series with [u]ton of factions, campaign maps and mods[/u] that will give you entertainment for [b]hundreds of hours[/b](I started an Augustus campaign and I feel I'm barely at the middle of it at the moment). If you enjoy multiplayer, the community is considerably active and you will always find a match to play (sadly I always find few land battles, but you can create one if you don't like siege battles). Any faults? Obviously yes, but only veteran players can deeply understand them.