New CA statement on RII release and future patches (Sept. 11)

[Humble Warrior]

As Andre said, there was a thread already in the Shogun2 forum about what we wnated in the future. CA ignored it.

This rubbish is just more PR to keep people stringing on along so they can sell more DLCs to them. It`s the proverbial carrot to keep people following with their tongues out for scraps hoping for the full meal they are never going to get It`s an ongoing con, I understand now.

Disgusting.

[Noif de Bodemloze]

We will see ... It is easy say than done

[bla21]

Hi everyone,

We’ve just put up a hotfix that significantly improves campaign map frame-rate on a variety of hardware combinations that were getting frame rates less than 15 fps. It took us until Monday to get a case of this happening in the studio, but it was a very simple fix, so we’ve decided to put it out as a single issue patch. This bug was introduced very late in the process, but we absolutely should have found and fixed it before release.

(...)

Holy crap, he actually said that they screwed up.

[Keithzor.]

The campaign map is still lagging for me and I have a very good PC and battles are fine. Why is the campaign map like this?

[SoHungover]

I, for one, have still hope in this game ! Under the BAI and CAI bugs and passiveness there are such great new features and once some glitches are fixed in the graphics this will be such a behemoth of a game.

[RZZZA]

Will these patches all be compatible with older save game files? I don't want to be forced to restart my campaign

[DarrenTotalWar]

Step in the right direction, hopefully it doesn't take too long.

[Killerbee]

You can't ask people for features before you release something... in most cases that is ofcourse. For several reasons :

a. a lot of people would've gone for "just reskin RTW" which is not beneficial to anyone.
b. there's too much diversity between what people want. Some people may like stuff like flaming pigs, other people don't even like it when the spears are 1m too short.
c. people overlook the programming aspect : how easy is it to implement a feature ? Obviously new features and engines cause bugs that need fixing, and they take a lot of time to develop.
d. a game has to be fun. Some people here ask for such a realistic experience that battles would last for an hour (which ironically is still not nearly as long as real-life battles).
e. features need to add to the game. There's a lot of people here complaining about the family tree but quite honestly it hasn't changed my campaigns in the slightest. Given the cost and effort required for new features this is not something you want to overlook
f. surprise element : perhaps a company wants to surprise users with certain stuff. Easter eggs or small little additions that are not noteworthy enough to put in the spotlight during development.

There's probably some more, especially things related to the c/d/e reasons, but that's off the top of my head.

Anyway, I'm really glad with this update, though to be honest I don't get the hate towards their support so far. Do they really need to update every day what they're up to and which thread they did or did not read ? What are we, Twitter meets gaming bugs with CA going all "just noticed I missed a comma in the driver files. didn't do anything though, find out more useless boring programming agony next minute #RomeII"

Obviously, PC problems aren't fixed in a sec and honest question-threads get lost when for every constructive one with a clear explanation of the problem and stuff like DxDiag there are 10 ranting ones whining about the capture points that "cost them an entire army". And have you ever taken a look at the diversity of people's computers these days ? Good luck trying to find a fix that works for HP laptops with AMD GPUs, ACER desktop computers with Nvidia graphic cards (I believe they also use AMD but that's not the point here) and homebuilt ones with all sort of weird out-of-this-earth hardware all in one. Because obviously you can't put up a fix for AMD users and leave nVidia users out in the cold - that's how you get riots and even more 0s on Metacritic.

[donkixot]

I hope that CA know what they are doing

[ShadowMassa]

Well, action speaks louder than words. It's good to know they are willing to fix this hot mess and work with their fan base. I've been saying over and over, this is an make and break situation for this company. The expectations were too high because it's Rome 2, and CA had some good W''s with Shogun 2. Now it's mostly L's with Rome 2 after release. Okay, sure they sold a lot of pre-orders due to loyal fan base, but loyalty and respect diminishes when a fan base is disrespected. Personally, I would like for this to work....

[caratacus]

Sales not going so well then Mike!? You know many at TWC have wanted a dialogue with the Company for years and the modding summit was seen as perhaps the first step towards that. But here we all are after the release of RTW2, wondering whether CA really gives a dam about it's fan base or the quality of it's product for that matter.

Everybody who loves Total War wants Creative Assembly to succeed and be successful, you have a strategy game which is head and shoulders above all others. But you shouldn't become complacent about that position and fail to connect with the hopes and aspirations of the Game's fans during it's development. Quite frankly apologizing and asking for that input after the release of a game which has taken almost two years to develop is not acceptable.

So boys and girls at Creative Assembly... there must be no more ice cream Wednesdays until RTW2 is patched to get it into something that can suitably carry the Total War badge..... OK!!

[AlexCouceiro]

At least we've finally managed to get a decent and meaningful statement from CA, which is a nice beginning. If CA fully live up to their promises, which I doubt, all players should kindly thank all those one thousand and a hundred "mad angry reviewers" who have been "hysterically shouting" and writing honest late reviews on Metacritic. Those are the guys who will hopefully have this game fixed. If we were to depend on the content fanboys who can only repeat on this forum "Stop complaining whiners" or "Thanks CA for this epic game, God bless you all", Rome 2 would probably forever remain the bad game it currently is, or else very little would actually be done to seriously improve it.

[Ataegina]

its more easy to rage and insult everybody rather than fixing bugs, thats for sure! game have bugs and other flaws, they admit it, they had balls to come to us and make apology and yet we still holding our pitchforks? even modders have an idea in a small scale, when 1 mod works for 5 gamer and doesnt even start to another 5 gamers, and that in a small scale, so game huge like this, making fix to thousand of possible PC configurations well.......... ain't easy or a exact science when theres so many hardware gen (since its evolving too fast) and different architecture depending on the brand.... many variables ...... lets see what the patches does and after we will see if burn CA building to the ground or not.

[TuuSaR]

It would be rather simply to make web page user-polls to profile common opinions and who thinks what over large number of issues. And it would be a lot more scientific approach compared to reading random forum messages.

Yes and I do fear that once bugs, performance and reliability problems have been solved you can forget game design changes. But time will tell, it's a about week since release.

And for pete's sake, why dont they buy any of those problem computers from nextdoor neighbors if they are unable to reproduce crashes in their superduber labs. Some overpaid compensation sum would be peanuts compared to paychecks of senior coding engineers who sit on their thumbs wondering the crash cause on days end.

[stylepoints]

You guys that are saying "YOU DIDN'T ASK US EARLIER" etc. don't understand how making a game works. Every conversation you have had on this forum about features etc. was had by the developers at some point, probably for long periods of time by people whose livelihoods depend on this series. The fact is, these guys want to make their game better every iteration. This means they have to get the product into players' hands and let them actually try the new ideas they came up with. I wasn't thrilled when I heard about the new province system/limited armies/unit cards. After having my hands on them, I can honestly say most of their ideas were great. Some of it still needs work, but the ideas themselves are sound for the most part. If this game was just like shogun we wouldn't be having this debate at all because it would be the same damn game. Whatever reasons they had for their launch problems, it's done now. Help them make this game, and future games, the best of the tw series. The pitchforks aren't helping you, I promise. Act like adults and they might treat you like adults and include you on some design decisions. The way some of you are acting is sickening.

[Hesus de bodemloze]

To be honest i wished they would stop patching the game and reverse every thing back to release date. Why? Because i am not able to play the game any more the patches have done more damage to my game then doing good. I played like until 150 BC with my Roman campaign without any problems CTD's, or what so problem now 3 patch releases lather and i am not even able to load a saved game or continue a campaign. Time to put the game aside and do something else.

[SKSlave]

Humble, you don't speak for everyone so stop acting like you're our spokesperson.There's nothing wrong with capture points. The only time they appear is if there's a naval/land battle which makes sense given the circumstances which people already discussed and the forced march stances.I've never had to fight a defensive march stance battle because I never allow myself to get caught out in the open in enemy terroritory. You shouldn't be using forced march stances like that.And for the record in regards to AI charging capture points, during Caesar's campaigns in Gaul, Vercintegorix during Georgiva attempted a massive charge and ran past Caesar's legions and into his baggage train which would've ended his Gaul Campaign and failed. It was a do or die for them.

I'm sorry, but there's EVERYTHING wrong with capture points. They go against the very fabric of the Total War games - using tactics and strategy to beat your opponent. As it stands, both sides rush a flag as fast as possible and the battle ends in 30 seconds. The "it's a baggage train" argument doesn't do it for me. Why didn't they just model a baggage train then, with their 40% bigger budget?But I'm happy to see some words from CA. It seems they are starting to regret releasing it early. Here's hoping they can right all their wrongs and restore SOME faith.

[StephanVos]

I did not pre-order this game and might pick this up in a steam sale for 15 dollars IF this mess is patched/modded....If I would have paid full price and I would read this I'd say I wouldn't feel all that much better. All wishfull thinking at the moment! CA has apparently no clue what the strenghts of their game series is and so... ask yourself....if you are this clueless then how are you going to fix it. Hate to say it but if CA doe not make a 180 this company and this franchise will disappear, sad but true.

[Greve Af Göteborg]

Acknowledging the problem is the first step towards the solution.

[mutad1]

Yes there was this thread, and I don't think they were aware of that.But don't worry, who's gonna buy any DLC'S for a game in current state?No entertainment, no additional money.If you suppose to believe what they're trying to say, that means to almost redone the whole game.And how in hell they want to do that?

Exactly, this is not a skirmish kind of game and they are stupid.Is the strategy game or who captures flag is winner.Rush to flag and , that all what it takes.All you need is one soldier with Ferrari horse and you're a winner!Really don't see stupidity in capture points?