This thread has become too long and unwieldy so it's time to start a new one. From now on, please post your ETW criticism here.
Posted by pann ealier today:
<b>To help clear up the forum, so threads stay on the front page for longer, I'm going to start a series of general threads for common thread topics. Older threads will be left alone, or closed if they're no longer needed, but newer threads will be moved into these general threads.
This is the thread for criticising Empire: Total War. If you want to express your dislike of the game, do it here. However, despite this being a rant thread, there should be constructive criticism only. No CA bashing, as described below.Dear TWC members,
we all share a certain affection for the TW series and this website is mostly populated by people that work hard on different levels from modding to moderating, from informing us to maintaining the servers with the simple purpose to enhance our experience from the games and share our experience. And all that on a purely voluntary basis without any reward apart from the pleasure taken in a job well done.
So, it is sad and disappointing when members are constantly subjected to abuse by posters who have crossed the not so fine line between constructive criticism and unadulterated bashing. We aim to keep an open mind and an open forum for all opinions; however the type of mindless attacks towards the staff, the members and the representatives of the game's producers, that are witnessed every time a new game in the series is about to be published, will not be tolerated and the ToS will be strictly enforced.
Please help us to keep all this fun and simple.
Thank you,
Garb.
</b>
One word will sum up this game after 2 days of playing: UNFINISHED.
It is clearly rushed.
Rome total war & METW2 -> unique armies, larger battles, allowed reinforcements.
METW2 -> got rid of the clone armies
METW2 -> somewhat improved AI
Empire total war -> horrible AI, sometimes they just stand there and die.
-> Return of the clone armies.
-> 12 playable factions compared to the 20-30 in the other two games.
-> No minor countries to play. (Oh ok, INDIA, that's one...... .. .... ...)
-> 3 historical battles? wtf? why even include this in the game? 2 were in the demo... +1 is just a waste of time.
-> 2 turn years for 1700-1800. That's like the first half of Rome total war, that's what it feels like. LAME.
-> Basically...everything summed up, the game just feels unpolished and unfinished, which is sad, considering how great I think the game is. I like it. It's going to take a mod to finish the game because I don't see all the problems being fixed with just patches until a long time.
I told my girlfriend not to buy it and just hold off, sucks because we wanted to play together. Oh well, she'll just play mine I guess.
EDIT: This is after playing it with the 1.3.1 patch with and without mods:
July 12th - 13th 2009
LOL this game is so terrible.
I'm playing as Portugal in 1735 and I control all of western europe, and I never had to declare war ONCE. turn 2 in the game indian factions declared war on me and took my indian settlement, then spain declared war on me, etc. etc. And when I conquered spain, france declared. and when I conquered france, which, btw, only took the marching time of my 1 army (2 turns), took paris and the other french province and won, savoy, netherlands, italy, etc. declared war on me, conquered them, then THEIR neighbors declared war on me.
I conquered swaths of territory with, guess how many stacks of troops. 1. LOL. While I was conquering naples & sicily, united provinces just sat there with a full stack looking at an undefended paris doing absolutely nothing. Wow. At least in Rome you had to defend your provinces. In empire, you don't have to! It's practically the easiest strategy game of all time. Build and win. Because the AI won't kill you. Really, they won't. I've tried.
In fact, I'd go so far as to say this game has absolutely ZERO diplomacy AI scripts and they covered it all up with an auto declare war feature as soon as you get close to their lands so you wouldn't see how absolutely terrible this game is.
In fact, if all the grand campaign is, is conquering the world because the AI suicidally declares war on you every turn if you're next to them no matter how big you are, then this isn't a strategy game, it's a pretty battle sim.
Terrible game. btw, this is my first campaign since release. I played 2 days post release then uninstalled it. Gave it a few patches and...wow..i'm amazed. I tried with and without mods also.
I'd rate this game a 45% at best. Uninstalling again, probably for good until a stainless steelish mod comes out for E:TW. Adieu.
(P.S.: If you want to know how I beat Spain so easily, its because once I took madrid the AI doesnt know how to take fortified settlements! You don't even need to garrison them! just use the 1 group of armed citizens and watch as 3,500 spanish troops aimlessly walk around madrid's walls getting shot at until they all break and run! For added effect, put 3 line infantries on the walls and watch as 3,000 spanish die at the loss of 10 troops. LOL.)
The (Old) Official ETW Criticism Thread
Originally Posted by Kogen
