Rome 2 is being hammered by Amazon's customers

[B. W.]

To see the Amazon reviews, click on the link and scroll downto the review section. The customers there give it 2.5 out of five stars. Thiscomes to 5 on a range of ten, but to be accurate one of those five star reviewswas there even before the game was launched:

http://www.amazon.com/Total-War-Rome-II-Download/dp/B00CMSCV32/ref=sr_1_1?s=software&ie=UTF8&qid=1380243089&sr=1-1&keywords=rome+2


It’s starting to become very clear that Rome 2 is failing in many ways no matterwhere you look. It’s true the game incorporates some very good advances, but atthe same time leaving out the very things that made the game enticing and fun.What CA has done is the equivalent of launching your boat into stormy watersand leaving the drain plug out. The very thing that you must have to stayafloat.

The BAI and CAI will no doubt be improved. However the veryfundamentals of the game such as the UI and building tree are somewhathard-wired into the games’ core. Everyone here knows (and has read ad nauseum)that there are other issues as well.

Things like the city of Rome itself having only five building slotswhile lesser cities have six, show that short cuts were taken when the game wasassembled. The explanation given was that only coastal cities have that sixthslot available for ports. And not being able to build roads. A Rome without the ability to build roads?

In my opinion what Rome2 needs is a re-launch after some major modifications. The TW series is notsomething that is going to appeal to a broad audience and the people that CAshould rely on to spread the word of TW’s magnificence are the very people theychose not to listen too (their fanbase) with the obvious result.

I’ve already given one opinion here on this forum and it wasquickly drowned out by many others so I admit I’m being a little boring here,but I also state like many others have that I paid my $60.00 and didn’t getwhat I was promised. So there, I’m guilty of rabblerousing and I admit it.

I really like this series and I sincerely hope CA does whatit needs to do to straighten this mess out.

Edit: alQamar asked if I would add this to the OP:

please add to the OP http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...on-s-customers:

in EU countries all amazon users will have the rights to return the game (mostly within 6 weeks after shipment EVEN it was opened / registered / used):

here are some GOOD reasons

- false advertising
- bad performance even you met the sys requirements or even exceed them by far

---
Just a sidenote:
I can tell you Amazon will do a full refund according to consumer laws! They will not even care to contact Steam for deleting your game.


If you want to get back after patching is done have a look on this OP, which is still valid

Do not hesitate do return the game. The more do that amazon will not file this as "single events" but complain at SEGA! Be sure, amazon will refund SEGA as publisher and not writing off the missed money in their books.
You will not harm them, but show them you were not willing to accept poor quality and broken games.

[Humble Warrior]

Indeed. Few games of this type has taken such a battering as RTW2. Check out the Uk site it`s just as bad or are they the same? The customer does not hold back what he thinks.

The Flags was the main criticism there, but people are still unhappy with what they`ve got overall.

[Jackal2233]

The reviews there seemed more balanced and objective than on metacritic. I'm surprised actually...

[daelin4]

Most of those people just paid CA to fix a game they may no even enjoy afterwards.

[Quickening]

I remember the same thing happened with Empire, but back then it was mostly because it was the first Total War game to require Steam. Ah, meeeeeemorieeeeees <3

[GnaReffotsirk]

CA: How far will you go for ROME?
Customer: How about you CA?
CA: How far will you go for ROME?
Customer: Just as I thought.

Actually, I was waiting for an anti-piracy excuse from them, but it never came. Lol.

CA: Well, we released the game at this state to discourage piracy. With the game being updated weekly, pirates will never get a hold of a stable game.
Customer: Well, you got my money. Who's the pirate now, bob?
CA: Oh, did I mention we now have a completely new Siege AI?
Customer: Yup. And torches burn down gates too. Caesar had to build that wall, eh? Stupid Caesar.

[Mikbro]

It's real simple, stop buying their games for a couple of years, let them do some serious work on them. Then start buying them again with the "this is your last chance you have attitude"

[curs3]

While reading some of the reviews, I thought of making this.

[Quickening]

Thanks. You nearly caused me to choke to death on a mint

[nameless]

So Diablo 3, Mass Effect 3, GTA 4, and all of those other games with similar 3/5 stars on Amazon means nothing to you? Why is it that when Rome 2 gets ratings on questionable sites where people like to bandwagon jump it's called "Game is dying" yet when the other games have similar outcomes nobody says anything about it? What makes Rome 2 so special? So far none of you people have been able to give any sort of explanation for it. Hell Diablo 3 has 10x the reviews and it's rated even LOWER than Rome 2. Hell even Civilization 5 has a 2.5/5 star rating and people rave on about how great that game is and it has 3x the Rome 2 reviews.

[Yojimbo]

So Diablo 3, Mass Effect 3, GTA 4, and all of those other games with similar 3/5 stars on Amazon means nothing to you? Why is it that when Rome 2 gets ratings on questionable sites where people like to bandwagon jump it's called "Game is dying" yet when the other games have similar outcomes nobody says anything about it? What makes Rome 2 so special? So far none of you people have been able to give any sort of explanation for it. Hell Diablo 3 has 10x the reviews and it's rated even LOWER than Rome 2. Hell even Civilization 5 has a 2.5/5 star rating and people rave on about how great that game is and it has 3x the Rome 2 reviews.

Because all three of those games sucked on release?

Diablo 3: non working DRM servers ala simcity. Tons of people couldn't play it.

GTA4: completely broken PC port, nearly unplayable for a long time.

Mass effect 3: rubbish ending that meant nothing. When you have a story that awesome and a character that some people have been using for three games now a great ending is pretty darn important.

Do some research. All three of those games deserved the rating they got. Now its R2s turn to get universally panned for being broken as well.

[krisslanza]

Man for such a terrible game, hard to imagine it's still in the top 10 most played games on Steam... I mean, clearly that means it's a terrible game, right?

Only on TWC.

[Yojimbo]

Man for such a terrible game, hard to imagine it's still in the top 10 most played games on Steam... I mean, clearly that means it's a terrible game, right?

Only on TWC.

I'd wager that rating is still high because its not long after release and a lot of people are still buying, it realizing it sucks and then ceasing playing it.

do you actually own the game?

[Jmonstra]

Because all three of those games sucked on release?

Diablo 3: non working DRM servers ala simcity. Tons of people couldn't play it.

GTA4: completely broken PC port, nearly unplayable for a long time.

Mass effect 3: rubbish ending that meant nothing. When you have a story that awesome and a character that some people have been using for three games now a great ending is pretty darn important.

Do some research. All three of those games deserved the rating they got. Now its R2s turn to get universally panned for being broken as well.

To be fair, Diablo 3 is still terrible

[krisslanza]

I'd wager that rating is still high because its not long after release and a lot of people are still buying, it realizing it sucks and then ceasing playing it.

do you actually own the game?

Because that would logically keep it being played by 10,000-30,000 people at any given time everyday, yeah sure, let's go with that.

And I do. Rome 2 is far better then Shogun 2 in terms of playability, but I don't really care too much for it as Roman time isn't something I have a great interest in. However, it's far better then Rome 1. Waiting eagerly for Medieval 3.

[Jmonstra]

Because that would logically keep it being played by 10,000-30,000 people at any given time everyday, yeah sure, let's go with that.

And I do. Rome 2 is far better then Shogun 2 in terms of playability, but I don't really care too much for it as Roman time isn't something I have a great interest in. However, it's far better then Rome 1. Waiting eagerly for Medieval 3.

I still play it for about 30 minute spurts, subsequently get bored and then shut it off.

Not that I by any means represent a majority, but it's worth thinking about how much playing those people are actually doing, how much they enjoy it and how often they play.

[krisslanza]

I still play it for about 30 minute spurts, subsequently get bored and then shut it off.

Not that I by any means represent a majority, but it's worth thinking about how much playing those people are actually doing, how much they enjoy it and how often they play.

I know the stats doesn't track how long people play but it does track how many people are currently playing. Last I checked, it was around 11000 people. I'd assume people don't play games they don't enjoy. I think I've seen in the few times I checked, up to about 40,000 people playing it one time.

Really, TWC just makes the game sound far, far worse and negatively recieved then it really is. Of course, they'll never stop believing that, no matter what happens.

[Jmonstra]

I know the stats doesn't track how long people play but it does track how many people are currently playing. Last I checked, it was around 11000 people. I'd assume people don't play games they don't enjoy. I think I've seen in the few times I checked, up to about 40,000 people playing it one time.

Really, TWC just makes the game sound far, far worse and negatively recieved then it really is. Of course, they'll never stop believing that, no matter what happens.

It's a pretty small matter to separate the lunatics from people with legitimate problems. And let's be honest, this game's got'em in large quantities. Personally I've tried to play through them but, for me at least, the optimization issues alone make this game unplayable.

[Yojimbo]

Really, TWC just makes the game sound far, far worse and negatively recieved then it really is. Of course, they'll never stop believing that, no matter what happens.

I just had a battle with 1000 horse archers a side end in two minutes and 30 seconds with one side taking 980 casualties the other 180. In two minutes and thirty seconds. Its so arcadish and horrible i find it nigh on unplayable. You spam precision shot or whatever magical unit ability you have and finish battles under three minutes. Three units of spearmen went from full numbers to dead within the first minute.

[Hickz]

I know the stats doesn't track how long people play but it does track how many people are currently playing. Last I checked, it was around 11000 people. I'd assume people don't play games they don't enjoy. I think I've seen in the few times I checked, up to about 40,000 people playing it one time.

Really, TWC just makes the game sound far, far worse and negatively recieved then it really is. Of course, they'll never stop believing that, no matter what happens.

You need to actually analyze the metrics of where it was a month ago when it first released and go from there:

http://steamgraph.net/index.php?acti...=1380168000000

I used to work in software development, and if this is what my game looked like I would be quite concerned. The data does not lie. People buy it on hype/promises/whatever reason play it for a few days, then stop. Setting aside the fact that this might really hurt the franchise by giving it a bad reputation..

The new way to monetize is to sell DLC to exsiting fans. Well that plan does not work very well when people are quiting the game after playing it for one week. There are very serious technical, core design, and gameplay issues with Rome 2 right now. This game was not released in anything resembling a finished state and its going to cost both developer and publisher in the long run.