The (Old) Official ETW Criticism Thread

[Weehamish]

Ive not even seen the game or played it but didnt bother purchasing it. I looked at Age of empires 2 > Age of empires 3 and figured the same thing would happen and it did.

100's of medieval units to choose from (age of empires 2/MTW2)

Gun , Cannon , Horse to choose from (age of empires 3/Empires)

Keep total war games pre 1600's

I agree on this 1, with melee combat you cant really go wrong, I dnt see how any of my troops lived when im standing 2 foot infront of the enemy unleashing a volley on me :\

Even mark of chaos has better shooting style combat then this

Why did they rush such a great title??

[PreussensGloria]

weehamish is just trolling because this game isnt 100% perfect in his eyes.

not only in his eyes - a lot of people aren't confident with a lot of things like Steam, game crashes, vexatious marketing policy (lots of special units are restricted to pre-orders of different sellers, others to the special edition! SO even in the Special edition you don't have all units - that's crazy), the lazyness in design and research of the different factions (especially the clone armies) and least but not last the rush of the release.

Not 100% finished? Even 60% would be exaggerated (keep the clone armies, the number of playable factions and the AI in mind).

[MAGNUS454]

Yeah can't agree more with the original poster more, this game is a total pile of dogger, the AI is a moron, the graphics are well tedious, the sea and land battles are like an adult fighting a three year old in a boxing ring. The AI does the usual suicidal charges just like in earlier charges, just get line infantry on hold on 2 files of men and stand there lol and boom you shoot the ai while he stands in front of u and just like rome send cavalry around the back..its ok the ai wont stop you and just charge the rear = victory after victory after....yawnnnnn time for me to go to bed...

[Megasalexandros]

I would agree 100% with the units problems there is NO variation at all, and it is disturbing, i would agree also with the steam problems and this ridiculous marketing tricks ,with extra units that you have to pay for , etc.
I also reckoned that the musket sounds are not good at all when they are off the same time.
But i keeping that apart the game is greatly playable with great graphics and very good gameplay

[Otherside]

im not even going to get started with half the rubbish you said but for the clone armies part each nation has something unique in the units side but alot of the main units, cannons and line infantry are the same why???

because thats the way it was each nation had line infantry which dressed in pretty much the same uniform, it will be good for mods to create unique area units but thats about it.

each type of nation has different units e.g turks are different to europeon, i really think your imagining how different the units in other TW games where most of MTW2 units miltia and knight where all the same for each faction.

[Ritterlichvon86]

I'm just annoyed that it loads a white screen for my buddies savies. and the game doesnt run with media player or firefox in the background. maybe it's using codecs from the system for sound / videos / whatever.. I want to listen to flogging molly while my red coats lay the indians

[Matte979]

How I see it, the base is there and works great. I like the campaing map as it removes most of the the boring sieges from previous games. The economic model (Province income and trade) is excellent in my opinion and add research and the diplomacy and its far superior to the old total war games.

I really like the land battle even if the AI could be improved, this period had very similar armies and with future mods the diverse countries will be a joy to experience. Dont compare it to for example stainless steel, that mod focused 2 years to diversify the game.
CA had 2 to create the whole game. We will have incredible mods in 2 years.

Is it perfect now, but the foundation is way way better than previous total war games and the out of box experience is actually very enjoyable compared to Medival 2 mediocre experience.

With time this is going to be a classic. Tons of provinces are overrated and just make the game turn into a work.

[XiombargDei]

i agree that ETW is a step backward from other TW games.
what i hate the most is the cartoonish graphics on the campaign map. and all units are the same/ factions have no spirit.

[Prof]

i agree that ETW is a step backward from other TW games.
what i hate the most is the cartoonish graphics on the campaign map. and all units are the same/ factions have no spirit.

Well...then go back to the 18th century and tell the generals to give their units a more individual touch. Also there is lots of variation.

[MightyHealthy]

I completely disagree with everyone taking potshots at this game.
ETW is very different sure, but a step backward? your kidding. There are DEFINATLY some bugs and issues that need to be ironed out, but for everyone that ACTUALLY played during the release of RTW and M2TW , the bugs their where terrible, just as bad. and in RTW case, for me far worse.
the AI and Unit Pathfinding being the huge issues.
If you dont have a PC good enough to play, even if it does scrape through and reach syst reqs, the game was NEVER going to play that well.
And this argument that all the units look the same, of course they do, its the 18th century, most military doctrines where starting to become uniform. But to say "oh no the british and the french look similer!!!!" is um... OF COURSE THEY DO! but do the Prussians and the Turks. um no.

I feel sorry for anyone that has been having tech issues even when they have a decent enough PC, but for everyone else too lazy to get a job or stave off the KFC for 2 weeks, you could actually improve the PC and gaming experiance your moaning about.

ETW is a different step forward in the TW series. Sure it has issues, but what game these days doesnt have them on release? first big patch comes out next week, then CA are going to be all over the issues of this game. I for one am looking forward to playing this game for a long time, like the rest of the series.

Fantastic game and concept. Cant wait for the modding ideas to start flowing once CA send a toolkit. Regards!

[SmurfDude]

I completely disagree with everyone taking potshots at this game.
ETW is very different sure, but a step backward? your kidding. There are DEFINATLY some bugs and issues that need to be ironed out, but for everyone that ACTUALLY played during the release of RTW and M2TW , the bugs their where terrible, just as bad. and in RTW case, for me far worse.
the AI and Unit Pathfinding being the huge issues.
If you dont have a PC good enough to play, even if it does scrape through and reach syst reqs, the game was NEVER going to play that well.
And this argument that all the units look the same, of course they do, its the 18th century, most military doctrines where starting to become uniform. But to say "oh no the british and the french look similer!!!!" is um... OF COURSE THEY DO! but do the Prussians and the Turks. um no.

I feel sorry for anyone that has been having tech issues even when they have a decent enough PC, but for everyone else too lazy to get a job or stave off the KFC for 2 weeks, you could actually improve the PC and gaming experiance your moaning about.

ETW is a different step forward in the TW series. Sure it has issues, but what game these days doesnt have them on release? first big patch comes out next week, then CA are going to be all over the issues of this game. I for one am looking forward to playing this game for a long time, like the rest of the series.

Fantastic game and concept. Cant wait for the modding ideas to start flowing once CA send a toolkit. Regards!

Good post, you make a lot of sense and I agree with you on everything

Once the rough edges are patched up E:TW will be an instant classic, no doubt about it

[mrmouth]

Well, ok, thank CA for creating a base to build upon. But it will be finished by the community, who doesn't get paid.

Do you think that people at CA actually play M2TW vanilla? Hell no, they use mods, that in all actuality, finish the game. So knowing that, why don't they just go ahead and finish the game, for us? They know what everyone wants by now.

[Otsman]

Greece Total War (1st and 2nd Peloponnesian Wars)


that's what should have happened

[dbgager]

1700-1799 2 turns per year..thats 200 turns.

[Tharros]

I am quite enjoying ETW. I can't understand what all the whinging is about. Yes stuff has been taken away that was in previews TWs but alot has been added too.

My game hasn't crashed yet. Yes there are a few AI quirks but they aren't any different to those experianced in RTW and M2TW.

The OP needs a slap on the back of the head. Every TW game has been like Empire on release.

In regards to modding: You CANNOT compare a mod like SS, BC ect. to an new TW game. Modders are working with things outside of the game engine (content) - where as the devs have to develop the engine as well as all the content.

1700-1799 2 turns per year..thats 198 turns.

And then you can keep plaing after that with no victory conditions.

[Queen Annes Revenge]

METW2 -> somewhat improved AI

[Tharros]

Ah yeah. Do you remember all the AI and pathfinding bugs in M2TW when it was released?

[UniQ]

Ah yeah. Do you remember all the AI and pathfinding bugs in M2TW when it was released?

Holy so bad it was then.... The AI in ETW should be none existant if it's worse....

[TheMantis]

All these apologetics who are defending ETW by saying "Oh, just wait for the patch" or "Wait for the mods! They'll fix it" are the reason why we can't have good games at release. A game should be playable, fun, and have no major bugs out of the box. The Creative Assemblies Defense Force has been enabling CA every step of the way and allowing them to release shoddy products, only to MAYBE patch them six months, even a year later, and let the modders handle the rest. It's absolutely pathetic.

[Tharros]

All these apologetics who are defending ETW by saying "Oh, just wait for the patch" or "Wait for the mods! They'll fix it" are the reason why we can't have good games at release. A game should be playable, fun, and have no major bugs out of the box. The Creative Assemblies Defense Force has been enabling CA every step of the way and allowing them to release shoddy products, only to MAYBE patch them six months, even a year later, and let the modders handle the rest. It's absolutely pathetic.

Um no.

EVERY game (or program for that matter) has bugs on release. How long have you been playing TW games? Becase RTW and M2TW wern't exactly bug free on release either - M2TW was arguably more buggy than Empire was on release.