Can CA recover from Rome 2 ?

[Metallistic]

It is not over yet, so I would ease up on the doom and gloom talk.

[jamreal18]

Hope they make the game epic like in trailers... For example, the teutoburg trailer, its the best trailer for me.. Hope to play rome 2 like that trailer....

[nigelnire]

Hope they make the game epic like in trailers... For example, the teutoburg trailer, its the best trailer for me.. Hope to play rome 2 like that trailer....

Id like to see Elvis Presley play the Oddesy arena in Belfast theres about as much chance.

[Lord Dakier]

Its not so much can CA recover from this because although the game isn't amazing I enjoy it more than I do Napoleon, Shogun and RTW.

If anything I hope the forum can recover from this mass moronic influx we've had of late. Never expected to see people in these forums come out in droves to attack not complaint but attack CA devs verbally. Personally I might just leave these forums as I'm done with seeing people slate a game which is no worse than Empire when it came out.

[Metallistic]

Its not so much can CA recover from this because although the game isn't amazing I enjoy it more than I do Napoleon, Shogun and RTW.

If anything I hope the forum can recover from this mass moronic influx we've had of late. Never expected to see people in these forums come out in droves to attack not complaint but attack CA devs verbally. Personally I might just leave these forums as I'm done with seeing people slate a game which is no worse than Empire when it came out.

Aye, way too many ragers in comparison to people who have something of worth to say. Mark my words - more and more of these "the game is broken beyond repair" bafoons will be doing a complete 180 with each upcoming patch.

[Sun Jetzu]

Aye, way too many ragers in comparison to people who have something of worth to say. Mark my words - more and more of these "the game is broken beyond repair" bafoons will be doing a complete 180 with each upcoming patch.

I completly agree.

[Falconiano]

Aye, way too many ragers in comparison to people who have something of worth to say. Mark my words - more and more of these "the game is broken beyond repair" bafoons will be doing a complete 180 with each upcoming patch.

This.
For me patch 2 already fixed almost every issue, what I want to see fixed now is just Siege AI and AI upgrading units.

[stackero]

Aye, way too many ragers in comparison to people who have something of worth to say. Mark my words - more and more of these "the game is broken beyond repair" bafoons will be doing a complete 180 with each upcoming patch.

Well, the difference between people like you and 'bafoons' like me; is you already like a large part of the game and believe CA has only a short distance to go to 'fix' the game.

The "bafoons' like me who believe that R2 is boring and unfinished both on the tactical and campaign level believe CA will need a much greater distance to go, say to the moon and back before it reaches playability.

There's that word again, 'playability'. That's really the chasm between the two groups; different strokes for different folks.

But we 'ragers' also believe CA used deceptive marketing to sell R2, so our confidence in CA going far enough for R2 is low, to say the least.

I don't hate R2, I want to play it without getting bored. I see the great potential R2 has, so I do hope CA proves us wrong, big time wrong, a complete 180 is what I want, or at the very least take R2 far enough so modders can work their magic. I can dream.

Good Gaming




"An oppressive government is more to be feared than a tiger."- Confucius

"All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us...they can't get away this time"
- Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, USMC

[Totalheadache]

Well, the difference between people like you and 'bafoons' like me; is you already like a large part of the game and believe CA has only a short distance to go to 'fix' the game.

The "bafoons' like me who believe that R2 is boring and unfinished both on the tactical and campaign level believe CA will need a much greater distance to go, say to the moon and back before it reaches playability.

There's that word again, 'playability'. That's really the chasm between the two groups; different strokes for different folks.

But we 'ragers' also believe CA used deceptive marketing to sell R2, so our confidence in CA going far enough for R2 is low, to say the least.

I don't hate R2, I want to play it without getting bored. I see the great potential R2 has, so I do hope CA proves us wrong, big time wrong, a complete 180 is what I want, or at the very least take R2 far enough so modders can work their magic. I can dream.

Good Gaming

well said take a +rep!

Perhaps mods should introduce warnings for people on this forum who use words like "whiners/ragers". I find their diatribe or agenda does nothing for threads expect attempt to flame or bring the thread down. I'd also say then fanboys should be banned as well....

[Jeebum]

Aye, way too many ragers in comparison to people who have something of worth to say. Mark my words - more and more of these "the game is broken beyond repair" bafoons will be doing a complete 180 with each upcoming patch.

I agree with the first sentence. I wouldn't be so sure about the second. Well, the repairs probably can/will make it better functioning, but what I find as the problem is that the game is not that exciting. It feels quite lifeless right now as so many features are cut out. I especially miss all sort of random events, how the characters felt like they mattered more, the long battle speeches and all that kind of stuff that created the historical atmosphere in the previous total wars. The game feels too much like work now, not a game. I think the CAI and BAI improvements will help only so far.

[Rostam_e_Iran]

Aye, way too many ragers in comparison to people who have something of worth to say. Mark my words - more and more of these "the game is broken beyond repair" bafoons will be doing a complete 180 with each upcoming patch.

The problem is not the bugs and glitches though, it's fundamental. The Engine is basically crap and no patch can fix it and imo since ME2 the series has lost it's "xfactor", it felt special. R2 is just a 5 minute wonder like sedoku.

[alQamar]

The problem is not the bugs and glitches though, it's fundamental. The Engine is basically crap and no patch can fix it and imo since ME2 the series has lost it's "xfactor", it felt special. R2 is just a 5 minute wonder like sedoku.

Yep

[Unchained]

The problem is not the bugs and glitches though, it's fundamental. The Engine is basically crap and no patch can fix it and imo since ME2 the series has lost it's "xfactor", it felt special. R2 is just a 5 minute wonder like sedoku.

The issue here is, they are not going to admit that it is a fundamental failure. Doing so would mean perhaps a year worth of fixes. Internally they're already working on something like Napoleon.

I think that we're going in circles here.

1. The game is has some serious underlying issues that will require a lengthy fix, which probably will not happen. Most veteran players agree that the release is pretty underwhelming.

2. The Warscape engine too has some serious issues. It's disturbing that CA has not been able to incrementally improve and learn from Shogun 2 and Empire. They're not learning the needed lessons. It was just unfit for the type of combat environment present in Ancient warfare.

3. Sega probably deserves a good portion of the blame for likely driving the release date early and pushing the title to a casual audience, or trying to anyways. They are interested mainly in making short term profits.

4. The marketing hype was extremely big and it's likely that they will be trying to pull the wool for the next project. My guess is that they were totally unprepared for the level of hostility that has arisen.

5. Perhaps worst of all, they are not willing to admit the scale of the issues and are silencing the feedback, which is often constructive and well written.

Basically that's what I get the consensus is around here.

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk

[Huberto]

The issue here is, they are not going to admit that it is a fundamental failure. Doing so would mean perhaps a year worth of fixes. Internally they're already working on something like Napoleon.

I think that we're going in circles here.

1. The game is has some serious underlying issues that will require a lengthy fix, which probably will not happen. Most veteran players agree that the release is pretty underwhelming.

2. The Warscape engine too has some serious issues. It's disturbing that CA has not been able to incrementally improve and learn from Shogun 2 and Empire. They're not learning the needed lessons. It was just unfit for the type of combat environment present in Ancient warfare.

3. Sega probably deserves a good portion of the blame for likely driving the release date early and pushing the title to a casual audience, or trying to anyways. They are interested mainly in making short term profits.

4. The marketing hype was extremely big and it's likely that they will be trying to pull the wool for the next project. My guess is that they were totally unprepared for the level of hostility that has arisen.

5. Perhaps worst of all, they are not willing to admit the scale of the issues and are silencing the feedback, which is often constructive and well written.

Basically that's what I get the consensus is around here.

Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk

Good stuff.

Lot's of theories floating around of the "what were they thinking?" variety. But given all the problems with the game not working very well, CA/SEGA had to have known there would be negative reaction. Indeed the PR strategy appears to have been to offer only glimpses of the game to critics and the public before release. And the game itself was widely and substantially discounted as a pre-order, combined with a compelling faction bonus (i.e. Sparta!, Athens). Also, CA/SEGA was counting on the fact that most reviewers wouldn't spend much time with the game, especially it was withheld from them until just before release.

This doesn't address the 'why' part of the question, though. How did CA end up designing such a streamlined, superficial and 'gamey' Total War? It appears that CA is behind the choice of designers and all the game play decisions, but that the genesis of these moves was SEGA's wish to have the series become more popular, and serve as a gateway for some other growth projects, like F2P and the smart phone games.

This is a fundamentally new approach. It is not about building up the TW franchise into a more richly detailed world -- it's about tearing it down into a handful of easy to grasp components that the player can move through quickly in order to experience some cinematic climaxes and be done with it. It is also designed to lead the player to other casual experiences on offer, such as the arena game or the android/ios game.

Indeed, SEGA makes it clear in its annual report that online, F2P new platforms etc. is the future and the traditional paid packaged games need to be streamlined (they say into less titles offered, but this approach can be extended to the games themselves).

Simplified, easier, quicker, faster, more iterations of fewer IPs. More platforms and operating systems. Get used to it.

[Mighty_Matt]

I'm so glad I came here before laying out my cash, I really assumed Rome:II would be a critical success amongst TWC who are a demographic similar to myself in terms of what we want from a TW game,

but this:

I'm done with seeing people slate a game which is no worse than Empire when it came out.

Is not a very good advert, since 'Empire' was the catalyst which stopped me from buying Total War games up until now, there was no excuse for that game.

Mark my words - more and more of these "the game is broken beyond repair" bafoons will be doing a complete 180 with each upcoming patch.

It's a possibility but here's an acid test - If I boot up empire on steam now, all updated, will it be playable?

because the last I heard the final patch for 'Empire' was called 'Napoleon' and priced at £39.99 or more - in the face of which brave Sir. Robin ran away, away!

I think what I love most about this endless debate is that one one side you have the people who are having a lot of problems with the game and assume that they're in the majority, while on the other hand you have the people who are happy to assume that for every unhappy fan there are legions of anonymous people who absolutely love the game and so the people complaining are merely an exception to a rule they have no means of proving (or disproving, because there isn't any evidence being given either way.)

Unsupported opinion vs unsupported opinion and both parties are absolutely certain that they're in the right.

I guess peoples 'problems', cover both technical issues the game shouldn't have been shipped with and the nature of the gameplay itself, the latter doesn't require proving because they are personal critical opinions

But among the critics I know which camp I would fall squarely into and an ugly picture if begining to emerge of yet another franchise 'sold-out', to the utter dismay of hardcore fans

People should really get their heads out of their asses. This is just a game. I bought it on preorder because it's just a game, not a freaking business investment that will kill my life savings and force my entire family into indentured servitude.

What is this 'just a game' arguement supposed to be, what about 'just a movie', and 'just a book' - do those not have critics who rightfully pan them when they are ?

Are literiture fans not entitled to criticise an author who lets them down? Why aren't they? What is the problem with being critical?

If it's just not allowed I better retract that hurtful note i sent to Stephanie Meyer.......

All you're proving with such a statement if that you don't care much about games as real media, which in any other dicipline would make you unfit to be a critic anyway, that's why I don't ask the guy handing over my Burger and Fries what he thought of 'War and Peace'.

[♘Top Hat Zebra]

Recover? Recover from what?

This game was hugely successful, at least compared to the other TW games.

[Spartan999]

I am guessing the OP talking about in terms of reputation.

[StupidAlarmClockGuy]

Recover? Recover from what?

This game was hugely successful, at least compared to the other TW games.

This. The Chicken Little attitude that many other hardcore fans have is really off-putting. The game made CA a ton of money, and EA by proxy. It's been a critical success and done extremely well with casual fans. This was an extraordinarily ambitious game and CA has so far done a solid (not perfect, but respectable) job of incorporating bug fixes and other elements in to make the experience a more satisfying one. I think a lot of people got spoiled by Shogun 2, a game that was mostly copy-pasting the same thing over and over and giving it a fancy art style. A great game, but one that was very easy for the developers to produce. This? Not so much. It has bugs, but of course. It's very complicated. So do Bethesda's games, riddled with all kinds of bizarre inconsistencies, but they're well-received too.

[Monroe]

People have been upset with the quality Total War has been giving since Empire. Why did you all preorder? I waited for Napoleon and Shogan 2 until they were $5 on Steam. You preorder or you buy it out the gates after multiple games have been delivered half made than you only have yourself to blame.

[Jonoleth Irenicus]

6666

People have been upset with the quality Total War has been giving since Empire. Why did you all preorder? I waited for Napoleon and Shogan 2 until they were $5 on Steam. You preorder or you buy it out the gates after multiple games have been delivered half made than you only have yourself to blame.

That is of course the way to do it.

Be patient ... wait for independent reviews, wait for the price drop.

But Rome 2 ... it had to be good ? ... they wouldn't muck this one up ?

Shurely shome mishtake.

Some lessons you have to learn repeatedly before they stick.

Any future TW game : no pre-order, just sit & wait (bit like the AI, really).