Roman refugees...

[PlayerHOI]

Prepare for the arrival of the broken heart refugees, it is an incredible time when a Paradox game comes out more stable than a game by The Creative Assembly.
Luckily for me I didn't rush to buy Rome 2 as I've noticed its total garbage from the previews and my PC can't really handle it :happy:
More money for Paradox, yay!

 

[TehJumpingJawa]

I abandoned the CA camp back when Empire was released, though it took a while before I found the joys of CK2 & Paradox grand strat!

In the end my choice between EUIV & Rome 2 was an easy one:

EUIV had a demo -> I played the demo (to death!) -> I bought EUIV (though Zavvi are so damn disorganised it hasn't arrived yet...)
Rome 2 didn't have a demo, and had what I consider to be manipulative pre-order DLC -> I didn't buy Rome 2.

I'm not sure who was more naive; EEDAR for publishing their erroneous 'demos hurt sales' findings, or publishers for listening to them.

Here's my layman findings.... not releasing a demo promotes piracy. Who knew?! /facepalm.

 

[Agnitio Ex Mach]

Well I pre-ordered Rome 2 and I guess I'll let you guys know how well it plays after a patch or two, but this may make it or break it for me in the TW series since I'm already on the fence with their pay to unlock factions aspect. It's a break from day one if they don't make the DLC campaigns unique from the other ones.

IMO the biggest issue, the crashes, is hardly surprising. The graphics engine on top of the processing required for each individual unit would require a damn supercomputer to play flawlessly.

 

[Holy.Death]

I'm not sure who was more naive; EEDAR for publishing their erroneous 'demos hurt sales' findings, or publishers for listening to them.

If demo hurt sales that means the game isn't good enough. I bought CK2 and EU4 because of a demo.

 

[Sardoniscorn]

I went against my better judgement and did the very rare thing for me (poor student) of buying a physical copy full-price.

I feel so incredibly ripped-off.

 

[LordofTurtles]

Demo's do hurt sales

That is, if your game isn't endlessly replayable

Also, this makes me slightly too happy

 

[TehJumpingJawa]

I went against my better judgement and did the very rare thing for me (poor student) of buying a physical copy full-price.

I feel so incredibly ripped-off.

Don't feel bad; we all make bad purchases once in a while

My personal confessions to full price day-1 turkeys...

Empire: Total War
Star Trek: Legacy
Galactic Civilizations 2
Civilization 5 (fortunately my pre-order was delayed, giving me opportunity to learn how bad it was before I broke the box seal. Returned for a full refund.)
:edit:
Wow, almost forgot these two:
Diablo 3.
Civ4: Colonization

I know... some of these are considered classics by many. No accounting for taste

 

[Lord Finnish]

Rome 2 didn't have a demo, and had what I consider to be manipulative pre-order DLC -> I didn't buy Rome 2.

EU4 also had pre-order DLC. Though they were perhaps closer to pre-order bonuses than DLC given that they were pretty small things like event and unit packs.

 

[Jak9090]

I knew itd be a steaming pile of shit, CA sold out long ago after medieveal total war 2

 

[LordofTurtles]

EU4 also had pre-order DLC. Though they were perhaps closer to pre-order bonuses than DLC given that they were pretty small things like event and unit packs.

The difference between good and bad preorder stuff is this:

Does it add gameplay or "open locks" to access locked content?
BAD

Did it need significant coding investment?
BAD

Is it purely cosmetic?
GOOD

Was it made by teammembers who are not coders, and can not help with the Q&A, polishing and marketing?
GOOD

 

[Sardoniscorn]

Ok, Paradox, right now is the time to announce your Rome II. Seriously. You need to do it.

There are a lot of pissed off people on all the Total War forums. The disappointment is so great it can probably be seen from space.

You can make them yours. Dazzle them with promises of a Rome game which isn't flashy, superficial shlock and they will follow you to Hades itself.

Seize this opportunity.

 

[Mixxer5]

I'm heart-broken (after R2 release), so I'll just say it shortly:

it's terrible

 

[fathead12man]

It really is terrible.

 

[wildbillhdmax01]

[video=youtube;VdpIENG0Y2k]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdpIENG0Y2k[/video]

I was going to pre-order too. Good thing I didn't.

 

[Fede248]

Yes, I don't trust Creative Assembly anymore.

 

[mocoman2001]

i was a rabid ca fan starting with rome, and ending with ntw. I thought empire was the best when it comes to campaign map, but medieval 2 was better in combat. When napoleon came out i could not get into it. The art style of shogun annoyed me. I do not plan on getting rome 2 in tell its on a big sale in steam.

Than one fateful day i saw eu3 was on a huge steam sell. i tried hoi3 before that but was to much for me to get a grasp on. So i figured id give it a try and i fell in love. It had every thing i wanted out of a civ or tw game, with out the things i did not like. Pluss it came package with more detail than i thought could be possible while still being accessible.

i spent a total of 666 hours on eu3. I stop at 666 and waited for eu4 to come out for the sake of keeping it at 666 ;p

 

[Jos de trol]

We all knew it deep down, some of us simply have not yet all optimism crushed out of their living souls.... not me though.

 

[TehJumpingJawa]

Looking back at this video made me realise where the game went wrong.
Some producer up the chain somewhere (perhaps in Sega?) who had no understanding of what Total War games are supposed to be about, must have been continually pressuring for 'more spectacle'.

This translated into highly scripted set pieces (almost in the vein of recent modern military shooters) and visually impressive battle scenes (where the player is little more than a spectator).

Usability, playability and strategic depth all fell by the wayside.

This would also explain the soullessness of the game; if the developers were being directed away from creating what they felt they should be making, they'd find it extremely hard to inject the necessary personality and character into it.

 

[smeggy]

Well this is hopefully a place and time some (more) will learn not to pre-order. Never. Not merely because of the money, or you supporting lazy dev aholes, but mainly to avoid that disappointment when you installed it and want to have a nice Friday evening.

 

[wildbillhdmax01]

[video=youtube;SGFcUWzzO-8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGFcUWzzO-8[/video]

Now with land ships!