I get the feeling this game will be very good

now it took me a while to realise that ETW wasn't as good as it oculd be, i was blinded by my love for CA. But i really get the feeling they know they ed up and are aware they are losing fans, I think this game will be very very good. I think its in their priority.

Well they arent building it up to much - If they dont throw it high it cant fall too low

the problem with empire i think was that they added and changed a lot and sega didn't give them enough time to work it out properly plus as that ca guy pointed out in his blog there chief ai programmer left (why didn't you tell us this earlier) well before making this a why is empire terrible thread I'm really sceptic about the release less then 1 year production time is not very eh much but the screenshots and information revealed on the other hand are very interesting

Originally Posted by Ulan1990

the problem with empire i think was that they added and changed a lot and sega didn't give them enough time to work it out properly plus as that ca guy pointed out in his blog there chief ai programmer left (why didn't you tell us this earlier) well before making this a why is empire terrible thread I'm really sceptic about the release less then 1 year production time is not very eh much but the screenshots and information revealed on the other hand are very interesting

if SEGA gave them enough time, I don't think empire would have even hit the shelves yet. There comes a point where investors want to see a return. CA had roughly 4 years from start to finish (inluding a few delays to "polish" ETW: see my sig) and they still could not get it right.

If you want to lay blame: focus on CA and the misleading propaganda. Remember Mike Simpson from CA said he was too embarassed to GIVE this game to his 6 closest friends, but yet had absolutely no trouble selling it to a customer. Think about that.

Originally Posted by Abspara

if SEGA gave them enough time, I don't think empire would have even hit the shelves yet. There comes a point where investors want to see a return. CA had roughly 4 years from start to finish (inluding a few delays to "polish" ETW: see my sig) and they still could not get it right.

If you want to lay blame: focus on CA and the misleading propaganda. Remember Mike Simpson from CA said he was too embarassed to GIVE this game to his 6 closest friends, but yet had absolutely no trouble selling it to a customer. Think about that.

I mainly blame sega because they broke the game for me even harder then ca (okay i didn't get it at release but after 1.2 i think) because of their stupid support wanting me to change a savefileformat and not warning me to delete it which caused bluescreens every 30 minutes well of course ca also gets part of the blame but back on topic I think they will have at least learned from the past and give us a less buggy game with more unit diversity and maybe a bit less stupid ai so we ll see if the game is improved enough compared to empire

Originally Posted by -TopCat-

Well they arent building it up to much - If they dont throw it high it cant fall too low

If at first you don't succeed, lower your standards.

CA lives by that rule.

I think it depends what you're looking for. I'm fine with the shorter time period and the campaign map -- suits a game about Napoleon. From what I've seen so far however, representation of Napoleonic armies and military tactics leave something to be desired. So unless uniforms/units are why you buy TW games, it may be wise to wait and see...

Originally Posted by Huberto

I think it depends what you're looking for. I'm fine with the shorter time period and the campaign map -- suits a game about Napoleon. From what I've seen so far however, representation of Napoleonic armies and military tactics leave something to be desired. So unless uniforms/units are why you buy TW games, it may be wise to wait and see...

It is not a `maybe` but 100% wise to wait and see. Even varied uniforms alone do not a good game make.

One thing i have noticed is that CA, especially our best friend Kieren, are keeping pretty quiet about the game compared to Empires. At least they learned something.

I reckon the blame lies in no single place, but upon the shoulders of many: I imagine Sega probably comes near the top of the list, along with their BAI programmer leaving (though CA I think should share that blame, for not having someone else know enough of what was being done to fill that place, thus relying so much on a single person), the recession probably reduced a lot of what they would have done otherwise (though I don't know how CA fared in the recession, Sega lost quite a lot as far as I'm aware); and since it was CA that developed the game, they ultimately have responsibility either way.

Tbh though ETW for all it's shortcomings, isn't so bad I think; there are a few parts of it which can fairly be called terrible ofc, but they did quite a lot that was new to the TW series (naval battles, technology tree, new economic model, trade theatres, emerging factions, revolutions, anything I missed ^^) and did much of it fairly well. Indeed even the CAI which was unable to even launch naval invasions originally is now pretty good.

NTW will not likely be worse than ETW in many ways (though in some ways for some people it will be, I for example am not a fan of the length of the campaign, or size of the map), and will very likely expand upon ETW in all of the most important ways such as AI, seiges etc, simply due to having a year longer to develop the engine. It is the same engine after all and I think it was inevitable that a new engine, especially a particularly (apparently, i don't know honestly) complex one, would probably have flaws that would need a fair amount of time to fix. Overall, for the game that it is, it seems unlikely to me that NTW will be worse than ETW... for what it is (as in I prefer ETW's campaign length etc but that's not the focus of NTW), if only because it is the second, rather than the first game to be launched using the same engine.

I've edited the thread title for clarification. Please PM me if you have any questions or are unhappy with what I did.

Originally Posted by Eire_Emerald

now it took me a while to realise that ETW wasn't as good as it oculd be, i was blinded by my love for CA. But i really get the feeling they know they ed up and are aware they are losing fans, I think this game will be very very good. I think its in their priority.

From what I`ve seen so far, I doubt it. however, i will watch eagerly to see what people think after the first couple of weeks are over. I never take first impressions because people get over excited when they buy a new game and it takes a while for them to allow themselves to see the flaws, just as in your case and mine.

Funnily enough, i actually look forward to february and have my seat, popcorn and coke on order for the fireworks at release and after.

I am indifferent in feeling as to whether this game is going to be good or not.

I am however feeling very strongly that CA's commercial future depends on NTW, knowing their good (but not excellent) success with ETW, epic failure of proportions with a game like Stormrise and laughable attempt to penetrate the console market back with Spartan: Total Warrior.

I get the feeling the money is finite and lower than expected.

I also get the feeling someone will cook if this does badly.

i am afraid i am one of their es guys, i will but this game when it comes out, i dont care. i am not waiting.

and therein lies the problem. ca can always rely on people like you to buy the game on release or even pre order it.

therefore you'll have lost any privilege to complain about the game if you don't even wait for the reviews. especially after your experience with etw, you should know better.

i highly doubt this is how games become better. mindless consumerism leads to complacency, as anyone who has experience with ubisoft game franchises know.

Originally Posted by johncage

and therein lies the problem. ca can always rely on people like you to buy the game on release or even pre order it.

therefore you'll have lost any privilege to complain about the game if you don't even wait for the reviews. especially after your experience with etw, you should know better.

i highly doubt this is how games become better. mindless consumerism leads to complacency, as anyone who has experience with ubisoft game franchises know.

Sure enough mindless consumerism is a bad thing but you are drawing quite a far out conclusion if you believe people should lose their privileges to complain if they preorder.

Originally Posted by Eire_Emerald

i am afraid i am one of their es guys, i will but this game when it comes out, i dont care. i am not waiting.

And then later it`s "WTF!112! It`s just as crappy as teh Empires! nothing`s really changed! , I`ve been screwed AGAIN!, !!11! Why oh why didn`t i wait and see!?! !"

etc.

I have a feeling it won't be crappy like Empire, CA knows another jack-up and they're finished.

Originally Posted by Eire_Emerald

I think this game will be very very BAD.

Corrected for you

I am just keeping my fingers crossed for it. I like it when the campaign map is focused rather than very large scale.

Oow I miss the propaganda, it was amusing