My honest question : Is the new release Rome 2 fixable?

[Charlesmartel]

Hello total war community, this is my first post and off the top I must say I appreciate the work and support that you as a community do with the Creative Assembly games. I am an older guy and have been playing these games passionately from when Rome Total war was released. I have witnessed a decline in the standard of game experience since that epic game was released but found comfort in the superb work that passionate modders like yourselves did in optimising the ever increasing flawed offerings that C.A. was producing. ( I'm am also an avid fan of Darth Mod and would beg that fellow and the brilliant team he associates with to come out of retirement and save this mess of a game if possible.) My question is fundamental and as I am not a modder need the wisdom of you folk who are. Can this game be fixed via mods? If no is there any possible chance that C.A. might realise the error of their ways and change some actual game designs to fix it themselves? Have they ever done so in the past? Might it be possible for C.A.to open all security codes to allow the modding community to fix the game themselves without actually having to embarrass themselves by admitting that this is the worst game they have ever released? In all honesty the only redemptive aspect of this game is the graphical beauty. Both the campaign and battle modes are incredibly sub par to any of the previous releases. I fully understand the grief of the community as I had embraced the marketing propaganda that was spoon feed us for the past year or so that Rome 2 was going to be the real deal. I feel duped by C.A. like a guy who has just been sold a lemon of a car but was convinced he was driving a rolls Royce off the car sales lot! I would really appreciate any feed back. Please do not get into a flaming war, just give me your honest perspectives, Thanks a lot.

[Coleus]

Of course. If they could fix Empire, they can fix Rome 2 TW. It's not as bad as people are making out. Obviously I'm upset that the game was essentially not ready for release, but there are still elements of the game that are top notch. Give them time!

[Charlesmartel]

Thanks for the quick reply and the ray of hope in your positive comment, both are appreciated.

[Vilkas09]

It is hard to imagine how modders can fix all terrible game design problems in near future. It will take a lot of time, few years maybe.

[Deathcake]

I think it depends a lot on how much info can be garnered from and modified in the schema or whatnot that they are all currently checking out. I am not a modder myself either, but from what I understand they are currently going through the databases and schema related to that to find what can be changed and how, but nothing too major will be done in the short term because of stream of incoming CA patches which may or may not change stuff that the modders are working on, so they are just investigating primarily at the moment, and doing little bits and pieces like the current range of mods that are more tweaks than anything, but they sure help the game for me. I am sure bigger and more comprehensive mods will be on the way in the coming months, certainly re-skins, unit packs, unit changes, stat changes, etc etc.
Can there be something on the order of the classic RTR or the equally aplaudable Third Age? Only time will tell really. My hopes are high, modders blow me away with their dedication and commitment to quality, and skill at doing what they do.

[Coleus]

Thanks for the quick reply and the ray of hope in your positive comment, both are appreciated.

You're welcome - I think there is much to be positive about in terms of the new game. I can see why so many are upset but the game can (and, in IMHO, will) be saved. Welcome to the forum, by the way!

[Praetorian_BGX]

@Coleus - They never fixed Empire.

[Charlesmartel]

As long as the game is fixable I find comfort. In truth my favourite C.A. game is Empire ( with the Darth Mod installed) and it was indeed a broken game when released. That said Rome 2 seems to me to be worse? This may just be a flawed perspective viewed through the eyes of disappointment but they have removed almost all of the battle features that made these games brilliant. I am upset that the guard mode is no longer available for units. Cut scenes seem absent, Generals speeches, the burning down of gates without siege equipment, naval battles nerfed. I actually loved Empires/ Napoleons naval warfare etc. Battle speed... No sorry I do not wish to rant on but C.A. had so many fantastic aspects to their game that they seem to have simply removed. I'm in grief!

[Aenima]

My question is: what can be fixed and what ​can't?

[Tullaris]

Empire is still not fixed. That game is still broken. Mainly the campaign AI is just too stupid.

[Gnufan]

I don't think the game will ever be fixed, sorry

[FireElemental]

No. Only if they can recall there product like in car industry. But they can polish it like previous games.

[Greve Af Göteborg]

Modders can mend it, CA can fix it. Will modders mend the game? yep. Will CA fix the game? Unlikely.

[AstroCat]

Actually I do think the game will be fixed, but that's for me. I can't say if it will be universally "fixed" for everyone. But for me, from where I see it the game is totally fixable and I look forward to tons of fun from the game. Heck even with all the problems, and yes it does have problems, I'm having fun with it now.

[Jester]

everything is fixable if someone is really willing to do so.


now the question is....

How far will CA go for Rome II ?



: P

[Efix]

everything is fixable if someone is really willing to do so. now the question is.... How far will CA go for Rome II ? : P

They must be punished!

[UndrState]

everything is fixable if someone is really willing to do so.now the question is....How far will CA go for Rome II ?: P

Now that was damn funny. And to the point.

[Wolfgrin]

@Tullaris - You hit the nail on the head. The brain-dead AI is why I quit buying Total War games after Medieval 2. SEGA keeps touting features to market their games, but never give CA the time or funds to fix the core problem that keeps them from being playable as real games. But, @ Charles Martel (do your friends call you The Hammer?), there is hope. Even the pathetic Medieval 2 became a blast once mods like Darth's and Stainless Steel came out. The thing to keep in mind is that SEGA has essentially turned this franchise into a series of toys. None of the big players want to make a decent strategy game anymore, because fourteen-year-olds buy the games and they want toys. Such a shame.

[craziii]

the question is more like how far will sega allow ca to go? pass tw games, once broken, are never fixed. ctds will get fixed, but gameplay bugs/annoyances will never, ever be fixed. I will love to be proven wrong.

[Modestus]

I believe it is not.

Did not buy this game because I knew it would fail and I knew it would fail because of the game engine.

RTW1 had problems there is no doubt about that but it was built on an engine that was designed to at least try and mimic the warfare from that period MTW2 was built on the same engine and had essentially the same type of warfare you can criticize both games and they both have there problems but they had a foundation and onto that foundation many years later you have many great mods.

There was a change with Warscape and it was more the just the fact that it was a new engine there would also be a change in how a game would be made, how CA would approach the problem of creating their games.

I believe they wanted an engine that would function more like a production line in a car factory, parts could be added or changed depending on the game, what period of history did not really matter because the intention was that you could simply change some of the production tools and churn out a new game.

The danger with this approach is that you may need to simplify your product to fit in with the requirements of the production line, units end up being clones of each other, animations are reused for units that really require there own animations so on and so on, as John Ford so famously said any customer can have a car painted any colour they want as long as its black.

RTW2 is now testing this approach of game design to its utmost and its failing, the AI is failing because its being asked to perform tasks that were never required in ETW or Shogun2.

In combat units are now expected to maintain some sort of formation but instead there is a tendency for units to form blobs , you can trace this back to ETW. There is no more hiding behind a 100 metres of open ground and firing muskets you must now make contact with the enemy, no more walking up a wall you must now climb it with ladders.

RTW2 is just another version of ETW\ Shogun2 a mark III if you will that has rolled off the Warscape production line but wearing different clothes and it appears to be crap.

I would even go so far to suggest that Warscape is not even about Warfare it is only a construction kit for the developers to create the appearance that your on a battlefield. there is nothing under the hood here folks, nothing that we could recognise as a tactical warfare engine, nothing.