The "Why Napoleon?" Blog, by Mike Simpson

[Fisherking]

No I didn't bring over the text...

just the link.

http://blogs.sega.com/totalwar/2010/...-mike-simpson/

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

To anyone who hasn’t played its predecessors, Napoleon is the best TW we’ve made, and a great way to get in to the series.

Well yes, because they haven't played any of the predecessors. The actual validity of that statement remains to be seen.

[Beskar]

Well yes, because they haven't played any of the predecessors. The actual validity of that statement remains to be seen.

"This game is the best! if you haven't played any of the others!"

[A Terribly Harmful Name]

Sounds like another of these stunts to get people over to a most likely unsuccessful product.

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Sounds like another of these stunts to get people over to a most likely unsuccessful product.

Maybe not so much that as just unnecessarily defensive. People have different preferences for a time period - it seems like a logical extension from Empire, and even those who don't like the time frame should be able to see that. Furthermore, it's a little late to sell us on the period, isn't it? I'd much prefer something like "the strategic AI is better and here's how", or "we've made infantry staying in a cohesive line a bigger priority for the battle AI".

[A Terribly Harmful Name]

Maybe not so much that as just unnecessarily defensive. People have different preferences for a time period - it seems like a logical extension from Empire, and even those who don't like the time frame should be able to see that. Furthermore, it's a little late to sell us on the period, isn't it? I'd much prefer something like "the strategic AI is better and here's how", or "we've made infantry staying in a cohesive line a bigger priority for the battle AI".

I actually like the period. I would pay gold to get a game which encompasses European warfare from the Spanish Succession all the way to the Revolution, but ETW is just too much of a let down. It's crappy, buggy, unrealistic - name whatever unflattering thing you can get on your head.

Back in the early days of 2009 there was a whole gigantic amount of hype here and in TWC about the release, the game, the demo, and so on. All of that is lost and nobody is lifting a finger save for a few who could somehow stomach ETW and like it.

[Fisherking]

To be fair, the game is not bad at all. Sure it took them six months to get most of it ironed out and there are still a few bugs but it is not a bad game.

It may even be a good game after the upgrades that NTW adds to ETW but that remains to be seen, doesn’t it?

[Owen Glyndwr]

Look at the bright side: At least we won't get random AI DoWs, right?

[Durallan]

I'm not going to put any assumptions or expectations of napoleon total war, and see what happens. I did that for dragon age and thats one of hte best games I've played so, see how napoleon total war is, it just better not crash is all XD

[antisocialmunky]

I wouldn't be surprised if it is a much better TW than ETW. The TW expansions are usually just more polished versions of the original with a bunch of little extra doodads.

[Beskar]

Napoleon is using the skeleton structure of ETW, so it should hypothetically be on par with the current stability of ETW.

[Ratwar]

It really sounds to me like Napoleon is going to be what Empire should have been. I mean, releasing it less than a year later about 4 months after the last patch for E:TW... They didn't have time to change much.

[Megas Methuselah]

Napoleon is using the skeleton structure of ETW, so it should hypothetically be on par with the current stability of ETW.

I really hope you're right, Besk. In all honesty, though, I just want that damn map editor.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Anyone want to bet on how many months after the launch they release a patch and boast they're no longer ashamed to give it away to their friends?

Five, for me.

CR

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

I wonder if they encourage their friends to buy DLC...

[antisocialmunky]

Well, Mike said he didn't give his buddies ETW so no.

[NimitsTexan]

Eh, if they had just programmed the AI to (a) target historical enemies first (so Poland does not keep attacking Austria) and (b) aim for limited war objectives and accept peace, they could have made ETW do alot of the things they claim they need NTW to accomplish.

[Crazed Rabbit]

But such programming is beyond the ken of mere mortals! To accomplish such feats of code, to have gazed out from where no man has ever climbed, to construct such an elaborate mechanism that no human has seen before, they would have had to sell their souls to the Lucifer, prince of darkness himself!

Or, apparently, work at Paradox.

CR

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

To be fair, Paradox hasn't solved blobbing completely - but their map is so much bigger that it's much less of an issue.

[edyzmedieval]

Well, for one, the Imperial Edition is way better than what Special Forces had...

[gollum]

Originally posted by Fisherking
To be fair, the game is not bad at all.

To be fair, the game sucks beyond description. That is until we get the new "best tw ever".

[Fisherking]

To be fair, the game sucks beyond description. That is until we get the new "best tw ever".

Perhaps you might care to elaborate?

What are all of these game breaking issues that you feel are still in the game?

Unfortunately, NTW is no longer due to bring any upgrades or fixes to ETW but that is another issue.

They are working on another patch and the last DLC did fix a few minor problems...at least one...but general statements without any facts or something other than just a broad general opinion make your statement seem like sour grapes.

I know you well enough to know that you have something more specific in mind and I would like to hear it.

[edyzmedieval]

There is already another update planned for ETW.

But anyways I'm curious about ETW and how it is going to work out. I hope it wont be as bad as ETW was in the beginning...

[gollum]

I have been more than specific for the reasons why i dislike the game, dislike it enough to have rid of it after the last patch already.

It is not lack of elaboration that makes you say what you say, but the fact that we both strongly disagree, each on his own equally valid grounds imo. We disagree because we have different standards and because we judge diffrenetly what is good and what is not.

On these grounds, this (liking or disliking the game at its current state) is a matter of opinion and please dont try to discredit mine simply because you happen to disagree with it. You are allowed to find the game not bad, and i am equally allowed to find the game terrible. If you "know me well enough", you should well know why by now.

[Beskar]

"This game is the best! if you haven't played any of the others!"

Some one stole my message!

Comment # 15

“To anyone who hasn’t played its predecessors, Napoleon is the best TW we’ve made, and a great way to get in to the series.”

Yeah, because if you played the predecessors, you will know that it isn’t.

Posted by WeLoveMike on January 14th, 2010 at 9:35 pm

[antisocialmunky]

One has to feel sorry for Mike Simpson in that the franchise he started 10 years ago has failed to live up to everyone's expectations 10 years down the road :(

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Maybe if they were trying desperately to fix the franchise. :/

[JeromeGrasdyke]

One has to feel sorry for Mike Simpson in that the franchise he started 10 years ago has failed to live up to everyone's expectations 10 years down the road :(

Well, his position has its pro's as well as con's - not everyone gets the chance to helm a franchise as big as Total War long-term and leave their mark on it. The games may not have lived up to everyone's expectations, but each installment in the TW series has its own character and charm, and none of them are dreadful by any stretch of the imagination, though I'd agree that ETW is probably the one that had the most rough edges at release. But then, it was also significantly more ambitious than any since Rome, there was a lot of new tech in it.

I may yet walk down the road to the local HMV and buy a copy of NTW for old times' sake ;)


Edit: someone's going to have to remove the CA tag from my profile, as the reset doesn't seem to have worked, and I moved on from there some time ago.

[Fisherking]

It is good to hear your point of view.

With the CA tag I would try TosaInu. If he can't fix it I don't know who would. ;)

[Madoushi]

Well, Empire taxes my PC to the limit, so picking up Napoleon probably wouldn't be a hot idea.
Also, Napoleon seems a more focussed, constrained game than the wide-open Empire, which is somewhat less appealing to me
I loved Rome, and initially I was pleased at not having a Pope breathing down my neck, though the campaign AI made it seem much more constrained, as there was no longer such a thing as a secure flank, money was tight, and simply expanding in the wrong direction can ruin your game.

Anyway, the thing I liked about Empire was it was wide open. With no Pope or Roman Senate to get in your way (and a decent campaign AI), alliances come and go, but it doesn't seem random. You can expand in any direction, overseas, fight a neighbour or across the map.

Personally, I'd like a Rome II, though I know it's not going to happen.