A quick positive note about this community and post-release

[Hooahguy]

I gotta say, the qualities of the Org and this subforum really shone through since post-release. If you look on other forums, especially the official forums, there were/are flame wars going on about how CA is the devil and anyone that likes them is just as bad.

But I dont see any of that here, and I find that to be a testament to how great this community is. Kudos to everyone here for being top-notch people.

[Jarmam]

Going apeshit wont fix anything. Besides, it seems the consensus here is that if CA doesn't fix what people have of various issues with the game, the modding community will as soon as they can ^^

[Hooahguy]

Going apeshit wont fix anything. Besides, it seems the consensus here is that if CA doesn't fix what people have of various issues with the game, the modding community will as soon as they can ^^

Tell that to the people on the official forums and the TWC...

[AntiDamascus]

I am new here so I can't say if there is a tonal shift but outside of some dramatic "worst game ever!" stuff it's been fine. Nothing that makes me want to walk away from the forum as it were.

[Ibrahim]

Tell that to the people on the official forums and the TWC...

yeah, they get pretty wild over there....

anyways, the latest release has been a disappointment, but RTW (the first one), is always fun, so I can always go back to it, my mod (which is almost never ending ), and work. (while we're on that note, I could use volunteers for the SYW mod (See signature): it's for the Alex engine of Rome total war, and we are going along, though we could use a full team).

besides, as Jarmam pointed out, I'm sure someone will come around, fix the bugs, and make it worth playing. If not, again, we got the older titles. (though to level with you, this shouldn't really be necessary...)

[AussieGiant]

The official forums have been a write off for about 8 years. Most official forums are. It seems like level headed, realistic people simply don't bother getting all worked up about stuff. That just leaves the ADD type nut jobs frothing at the mouth providing feed back. Even reading that can get you all worked up even when you are pretty relaxed about how things are progressing.

That's why I'm here and have been for ages.

This game is immense, the coding is enormous and they do a great job getting a stable build out at release. Give it 2 to 5 weeks and you will have a top notch game with all the issues ironed out.

That's a good return on investment in my view. Managing your own expectations is the key. :)

[Myth]

.org rules, TWC drools!

[fallen851]

Managing your own expectations is the key. :)

While it is important to remember that you can express a criticism about a product in a mature way, it is also important to remember that if someone is criticizes something, it doesn't mean they aren't being level headed or realistic. None of us would be on this forum or the TWC if we weren't interesting in TW games, and thus we want them to be awesome. The pursuit of excellence is one of the few things in this world you can't denounce from any angle.

For me, I only buy games that rate extremely well in reviewers that actually do a quality job reviewing (PC Gamer for instance).

Thus, I have high expectations for my games. And the majority I've bought and played, including last few (SC2, Crysis and League of Legends) all meet those expectations. Rome II does not. I vastly prefer Rome I, and will continue too play it unless the land battles in Rome II aren't tied to capture points and the game turns out to be as moddable as Rome I was.

While everyone is free to their own opinion, or as Donald Rumsfeld said, if you live in a free society you are free to make mistakes, I do believe strongly that some of you should expect and demand more for your hard earned money. I was lucky enough to get an early beta key for SC2 and SC2:HOTS and both these Beta builds were far more stable than Rome II at release. That is unacceptable to me. It is unacceptable for a game to be released in that state. CA needs to know this, so it doesn't happen again, because it has happened before. Taking a passive approach of "managing expectations" or thinking "we got the older titles" does nothing to fix the problem, and in fact, it exacerbates it. From one adult to another, I found this forum to be far too supportive of CA pre-release, ignoring obvious problems with the game that we saw in videos and reviews pre-release and assuming the would be fixed on release. Those kind of assumptions are something a child would make, given CA's history. An adult would stand up and put pressure on CA to fix them. Worse, these kind of opinions didn't change after release when proven wrong (as an adult opinion would), they morphed into "well you should expect these kind of issues and they will be fixed soon." When Valve releases a game, we don't see these kind of issues.

But of course, we are all entitled to our own opinion. I hope Rome II becomes great, but managing (lowering) my expectations until Rome II meets them is not the way for me to get a good return investment.

If you don't expect much from anything in life, you'll be happy with anything.

[Ignoramus]

The official forums have been a write off for about 8 years. Most official forums are. It seems like level headed, realistic people simply don't bother getting all worked up about stuff. That just leaves the ADD type nut jobs frothing at the mouth providing feed back. Even reading that can get you all worked up even when you are pretty relaxed about how things are progressing.

That's why I'm here and have been for ages.

This game is immense, the coding is enormous and they do a great job getting a stable build out at release. Give it 2 to 5 weeks and you will have a top notch game with all the issues ironed out.

That's a good return on investment in my view. Managing your own expectations is the key. :)

Slightly, OT, but great to see you're still around, AG!

[Akka]

Going apeshit wont fix anything. Besides, it seems the consensus here is that if CA doesn't fix what people have of various issues with the game, the modding community will as soon as they can ^^

On the other hand, it shouldn't be the job of the community and the modder to fix the game.
I find it good that there is some feeling of "that's not acceptable". The publishers wouldn't do it if they knew they couldn't get away with it, so in a sense trying to be too "reasonable" is actually a bad thing.

[JeromeBaker]

I wish there was more direct competition with the Total War series. For instance, I am a fan of the battlefield series of games, and while I am not as big a fan of the Call of Duty series, having COD constantly competiting against Battlefield for customers helps to push Battlefield to put forth top effort. Until there is a really good challenger, I dont think we will ever see the "best" product CA could produce.

[Lemur]

I wish there was more direct competition with the Total War series.

I guess I will be taking a very careful look at Europa Universalis IV.

And then there's always the mod love for the older TW games.

Beyond that ... sigh.

Empire [...] is just simply unplayable even with all those mods I've plopped on it.

I dunno, I had many hours of enjoyment with DarthMod and Empire. It's still broken in many ways, but it is, in fact, playable. (Also, I have a particular weakness for the period.)

[Akka]

I guess I will be taking a very careful look at Europa Universalis IV.

EU is a GREAT serie, but it doesn't really compete with the TW one. They have common background theme, but aside that they are polar opposite (EU focus on management, diplomacy and grand strategy with battle being automated and graphics kept to a minimum, TW focus on battles and graphical immersion).

I'm right now having a blast in EU4, but it doesn't scratch my "huge battle" itch like I wanted RTW2 to.

[Jarmam]

On the other hand, it shouldn't be the job of the community and the modder to fix the game.
I find it good that there is some feeling of "that's not acceptable". The publishers wouldn't do it if they knew they couldn't get away with it, so in a sense trying to be too "reasonable" is actually a bad thing.

There is a difference between a "feeling of thats not acceptable" and "hyperbolic mayhem". I have that feeling quite a bit, and have expressed it often. I am just still stoked for the game because of its potential in the hands of competent modders. But I still complain, of course. There are many puzzling decisions made that I am... puzzled by.

If criticism is fair then there isn't (or shouldn't be) a need to make up more or go ballistic in spamthreads. I believe that's what this thread is about.

[nafod]

This community is a more tempered version of other places. I've always enjoyed it.

I started playing TW with Rome, and found the Org while playing Medieval II, although I didn't join until around Empire. I will say Empire seemed to cause a schism in the Org, if not general falling out in CA support in general. Posting activity for Napoleon, Shogun 2 and now Rome 2 is considerably less than Empire or Medieval 2.

While I was disappointed in a lot of decisions for Empire I'd say I generally enjoyed it, especially with mods. However after reading post after post about how awesome it was to play England, and later figuring out that the AI couldn't do naval invasions.......I just couldn't overcome the complete failure that game was. The Org pretty much ran the spectrum of fans at the time. There were: those who could only spit vitriol about CA, those who were generally depressed, those who were hopeful mods could fix it, and those who loved the game regardless. I'd say the extremes on either end were the fewest but generally the most vocal, and at odds with each other.

I sat out Napoleon (picked it up on sale but haven't even played through Italy). Played the heck out of Shogun 2 but really haven't been active in the Org since.

I do miss all the activity....Like Ask the Pizza Guy's total conquest speed challenges and all the guides people used to go to the trouble to make.

[Myth]

This community is a more tempered version of other places. I've always enjoyed it.

I started playing TW with Rome, and found the Org while playing Medieval II, although I didn't join until around Empire. I will say Empire seemed to cause a schism in the Org, if not general falling out in CA support in general. Posting activity for Napoleon, Shogun 2 and now Rome 2 is considerably less than Empire or Medieval 2.

While I was disappointed in a lot of decisions for Empire I'd say I generally enjoyed it, especially with mods. However after reading post after post about how awesome it was to play England, and later figuring out that the AI couldn't do naval invasions.......I just couldn't overcome the complete failure that game was. The Org pretty much ran the spectrum of fans at the time. There were: those who could only spit vitriol about CA, those who were generally depressed, those who were hopeful mods could fix it, and those who loved the game regardless. I'd say the extremes on either end were the fewest but generally the most vocal, and at odds with each other.

I sat out Napoleon (picked it up on sale but haven't even played through Italy). Played the heck out of Shogun 2 but really haven't been active in the Org since.

I do miss all the activity....Like Ask the Pizza Guy's total conquest speed challenges and all the guides people used to go to the trouble to make.

You will be pleasantly surprised then

[The Stranger]

lets turn this thread into a flamewar, just to prove the op wrong?!?

[Lord of the Isles]

lets turn this thread into a flamewar, just to prove the op wrong?!?

Stop trying to fan the flames like ... a fanboy.

[Dodge_272]

I used to like TWC but now it appears it is populated by nationalists and children.

[edyzmedieval]

lets turn this thread into a flamewar, just to prove the op wrong?!?

Stirring up trouble, tsk tsk tsk

[The Stranger]

Stirring up trouble, tsk tsk tsk

you know me :P trouble preceedes me, its not a causal relation, just bad luck :S