Did you enjoy the demo? [Archive]

Jacque Schtrapp

08-29-2004, 17:04

I voted for 2. - the overall impression was very good and the things I did not like (e.g., speed, confirmations of selected units) are things of which I am confident that they will be remedied in the final release (e.g., more options to alter speed, switching confirmations on/off).

I totally agree. I enjoyed it because it gave me a taste of what is to come. Is it perfect? No, however, I seriously doubt a "perfect" demo is really all that high a priority on their list of things to accomplish this close to the release of the actual game.

The extreme outburst of negativity that has accompanied the demo has been the true disappointment. It seems every pundit at the Org is ready to don sack cloth and ashes over a simple demo rather than wait a mere four or five weeks to make an informed decision. ~:rolleyes:

Shahed

08-29-2004, 17:20

I thought it was a good demo.

son of spam

08-29-2004, 17:40

I loved it for a demo, mostly because it had all those cool mods to go along. Good job modders ~D

Sjakihata

08-29-2004, 17:41

I think the overall impression was fairly good, however, things like unit speed (not killing) and some formation issues (like you have to order your men in single line (shift+1) in order to drag them).

But I voted #2

Basileus

08-29-2004, 18:16

just came back from a long vacation and im installing heh hope its good..

Mr. Juice

08-29-2004, 19:45

The more I play it the more I'm liking it. Some things I had to adjust to, but as I am, I'm getting more hooked. I didn't think it was possible, but I want R:TW more than Half Life 2. I also really want to re-install M:TW, but the installation disk and my CD key got lost somehow in my latest move. :cry:

Pruneau

08-29-2004, 20:05

I like the demo. I am very curious to see what became of the strategy game, but I'll have to wait for that.

I do agree that the feeling is a bit different than in M:TW, a bit less control, but still I think that we should wait for the final version. This is, after all, only a demo.

I have read a lot of remarks about the englsih accents, but that must be something for native English-speakers, because although I hear there is a difference in accent, it does not disturb me. And I prefer to understand the commands, even if it does slightly reduce the immersion.

Anyway, the latin orders in M:TW have an english pronounciation as well, did not sound like how we learned latin in school at all. I suppose it's how it is pronounced in english speaking countries, after all it is a dead language.

So, I voted 2.

andrewt

08-29-2004, 20:12

I have a lot of complaints on the demo but nothing that's too difficult to fix. And as some people here pointed out, some of the problems might only be demo specific, either features that were cut out to make the download smaller or because CA didn't choose a good battle for the demo. I voted for 2 as well.

Sjakihata

08-29-2004, 20:13

Anyway, the latin orders in M:TW have an english pronounciation as well, did not sound like how we learned latin in school at all. I suppose it's how it is pronounced in english speaking countries, after all it is a dead language.

Exactly, didnt sound at all like latin, sounded like something from a bad movie about the roman empire from the 60s. Not latin.

Red Harvest

08-29-2004, 20:20

I voted 3. There are more issues than I anticipated from toying around with it. Some of them could be challenging to fix. There are some problems with the "feel" (UI and gameplay) relative to STW and MTW. It did definitely get my interest up so it succeeded on that score.

Hurin_Rules

08-29-2004, 21:20

I had mixed feelings. I kind of felt like I had a date with a supermodel: it was gorgeous but hollow. The battle moved WAAAY to fast to be historically accurate-- this really annoyed me. It didn't feel like I was really fighting the Battle of Trebbia; it felt more like I was playing Warcraft III.

As to the Latin, yes, that was annoying as well. Latin is a dead language but we have a reasonable idea (from ancient grammar manuals and from palaeographical evidence) how it was pronounced. It wasn't like you hear it in RTW.

I hope the full game is better.

Barkhorn1x

08-29-2004, 21:23

The more I play it the more I'm liking it. Some things I had to adjust to, but as I am, I'm getting more hooked.

Yea, same here.

Barkhorn.

The Blind King of Bohemia

08-29-2004, 21:34

The Roman generals voice, its sucks! It sounds like a american, man! I would have prefered an accent, italian-esque one at least.

But apart from that, also with the elephants being overpowered, i'm really liked it ~:cheers:

frogbeastegg

08-29-2004, 21:38

Not very good, but I think Rome will be better. The various mods felt much better than the original but many niggles remained; the game didn't grab like the previous installments and it just felt very...meh. The full version will fix some issues, but the ones which remain will be quite important. I'm waiting for reviews.

TexRoadkill

08-29-2004, 22:28

The demo was decent. I can't wait for the game to come out.

I liked the STW demo the best. It gave you a good taste of the game in a balanced fight. The MTW and RTW demos were to one sided and don't really give you a chance to experiment with tactics very much.

A.Saturnus

08-29-2004, 22:32

As to the Latin, yes, that was annoying as well. Latin is a dead language but we have a reasonable idea (from ancient grammar manuals and from palaeographical evidence) how it was pronounced. It wasn't like you hear it in RTW.

What we hear in RTW is English. The comments about latin were directed at MTW.

MiniKiller

08-29-2004, 22:40

I liked it, but improvments can be made. I like some things (besides eye candy) better than mtw and stw like the general being able to rally troops, cant recall any time fleeing troops would rally themselves w/o some help, still would be nice to click on those fleeing units though. Then there is some things I dislike but eh still getting this sucker :knight:

Colovion

08-29-2004, 22:51

It was good, but there are still some problems to deal with. I never expected a perfect demo, but it gave me what I wanted - my own personal look at the game engine and interface and see how it all looks and feels. The actual demo itself and the way it taught you things in the tutorial battle were rather well done, but I believe a larger and more advanced tutorial would be very welcome, to show people how to start having true tactics and be able to control a full 20 unit army and various basic tactics like that.

Overall it was very good and I enjoy the mods that have been already spawned from it. Good job CA, just a couple issues to deal with and you'll have a solid gold package.

King Azzole

08-30-2004, 00:24

Loved it. #1 all the way gets my vote. Just wish there was more blood and some gore.

hundurinn

08-30-2004, 00:54

I voted for #2. I liked it very much but there is always room for improvements.

cugel

08-30-2004, 01:53

I voted 4. There are some real problems with the interface to begin with. I also hope that in the released game, you can pre-organize your army as in MTW (you can't in the demo). Yes, there's a strategic game to come, which we haven't seen but the tactical interface is less intuitive and more kluncky than MTW. The graphics are, of course, much better than MTW, but that is a limited draw for me.

Also there's a lot of lag on my system. I don't know if I'm going to get this game. Probably hold off and see what the comments are.

Problems noted: What happened to the unit outline when you drag and position units? now there's just these annoying little blue arrows. There's also an annoying lag when I try to select the unit cards. The cursor seems to drift (this is with the game paused, so I don't see how there could be any reason for system lag). I think there's something wrong here.

I couldn't tell. Is the lag before units begin to execute orders intentional, or is it just my system? I could live with it if it's supposed to be that way, but I'd like to know.

I installed the mod so that I could play as the Romans. After 3 games, I got wiped everytime. I gave the Carthiginians 3 War & Armored War Elephant units and they just crushed my infantry every time. When 1 elephant unit finally ran amok, it ran right through my line routing my units, which was pretty funny.

I liked the way the elephants toss men into the air like leaves!
~:smoking:

Overall, it seems like the controls on MTW were better. I get the feeling the designers changed things just to change them without making them better.

I wish they would wait a bit to release the game in order to fix these things, but I can't see them altering basic things like the interface at this point.

lancer63

08-30-2004, 06:15

I voted 2. I rerally liked the demo though I have played both battles only once. Will have to get used to the new views and agree that there is room for improvement but I for one will absolutely buy the game.
When I first tried the MTW demo I was bewitched by it and didn't understand why some STW veterans were complaining about it. Now after almost 2 years of continually playing MTW I find some things strange or uncomfortable about the new game. Don't like the green arrows and the white flags are definetly annoying. Command board feels funny and the phantasmagoric aura around selected units should go imho. But I'm pretty sure out there is some noob dude or dudette saying "where have you been all my life bade?" as they try out the demo and aren't bothered by those things at all.
I know I'll like the game a lot. And maybe the things that bother me now wont be so important later as I learn the ropes.
Good demo. Wish there was more of it.

Dead Moroz

08-30-2004, 07:48

Voted 2. The problems for me are:

- Game's speed
- Annoying repeating "We're under attack!"
- Uninformative mini-map
- Some bugs when grouping units
- Bad representation of unit's statistics
- Should be an option to turn off video scenes during battle

Anyway, great job, CA! ~:thumb: :jumping:

Quid

08-30-2004, 08:33

Voted for 2. Minor glitches but overall a good impression.

Quid

Colovion

08-30-2004, 09:15

Voted 2. The problems for me are:Voted 2.

- Game's speed
- Annoying repeating "We're under attack!"
- Uninformative mini-map
- Some bugs when grouping units
- Bad representation of unit's statistics
- Should be an option to turn off video scenes during battle

Anyway, great job, CA!

I'd like to second these. Especially the Bad Rep of the unit's stats and the uninformative mini-map. I mean we're not playing a car racing game where the width and size of a unit doesn't matter and we have arrows that go around a race track. The MTW interface was better - less clutter and more concentration on the battleground as well as lots more control over your troops. I find it annoying to have to keep hovering my mouse over the units to see if they're tired or not as well as that the entire unit Stats is rather confusing at a glance. Maybe it's because it's in a smaller area than MTW's stats were...

I'd also like to add that elephants are way too powerful as they are. :bow:

CrackedAxe

08-30-2004, 09:35

I love it, how could I not? When I consider the games industry as a whole and think about the utter lack of original, intelligent, thought demanding titles out there. When I think about how store shelves are usually stuffed with FPS and bland strategy titles which all seem to be blueprinted from each other, this demo is, and Im sure the game will be; a revelation.

I'm judging it on its own merits, but also in comparison to what else is available, or what else we would have if there was no RTW. So for me, the demo has just made me want the game even more.

fenir

08-30-2004, 10:38

I just voted, no comment.

SpencerH

08-30-2004, 15:31

I voted for mixed feelings, although based on the comments others have made whom I agree with, I could just have easily voted for 2. I was just thinking that I couldnt play the MTW demo or game when it first came out (since I had a 3dfx card) and the STW demo was so far in the past that I dont remember what I thought (aside from I liked it). Any disapointments I have with the RTW demo are mostly based on my own high expectations and wont stop me from buying the game.

Alexander the Pretty Good

08-30-2004, 16:14

After the initial shock of the new stuff in the demo, it was pretty good. The majority of the complaints, such as UI, and unbalanced forces, could be fixed (mostly). Those that can't are not big enough to spoil the whole demo (but should be fixed for the final release). With the mods available, there are many battles to be fought in this little demo.

Overall, I think #2 fit best ~:cheers:

Elmo

08-30-2004, 16:53

Not very good, but I think Rome will be better. Even then I'll need to see some solid patch support before buying it.

MadKow

08-30-2004, 18:39

Not very good but i think Rome will be better.
I never played MTW or STW demos, so i can't compare demos. I found that i really dont care much about an area that took a lot of effort, which was units animation and details in melée and stuff like that.
It looks good enough from affar and should play just as good. Thats all i really ask.
I am sure playin the whole Rome Total War will be much better. I was always a campaign player. I like to grow into the game and groom my armies. A bunch of units slapped together for a quick battle has no emotional attachment... I trust everything will be alright, and i trust the people here to make sure that if it turns out not so good, they will make it great.

dedmoroz

08-30-2004, 19:59

great demo, can't wait for the final game :jumping:

Sir Robin

08-30-2004, 20:07

Took the kids to the pool #2 ~;)

Some things could definately use more tweaking but overall I enjoyed it.

Hopefully the full game will live up to my hopes.

Just waiting on the PCGamer review next month. ~:)

Puzz3D

08-30-2004, 20:17

I didn't like the gameplay in the Trebia battle due to the unit run speeds. It's interesting that longjohn refused to increase the speed of cav by 10% in MTW, and then in RTW it's 25% faster. The infantry run speed is 50% or more faster. I have no reason to expect RTW demo speeds to change in RTW v1.0 since CA doesn't acknowledge that there is a problem. Changing run speeds means readjusting fatigue rates and ranged unit effectiveness. No doubt single player can be adjusted by the players, but multiplayers are pretty much stuck with the official gameplay.

eldaran

08-30-2004, 21:30

Numero Dos.

The vanilla demo battles were a bit crappy tbh, but with modding, that allows:

1.) New Battlefields,
2.) Weather,
and
3.) The ability to set up troops prior to battle

I was a lot more impressed. As the above things will obviously be part of the full game, i'm very hopeful that, combined with the improved strategic mode, it'll be a great game.

Mr. Juice

08-30-2004, 22:58

What mod are you using to set up your troops before battle?

eldaran

08-30-2004, 23:03

http://www.totalwarcenter.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7123&st=0 All the info for changing to new battle maps, deploying pre-battle etc is in the first post there.

The Marcher Lord

08-31-2004, 00:04

Enjoyed it, but it needs some polishing in a number of areas. I am optimistic that the final game will be good, if not great. Without the incredible modding that quickly saved the day I think the demo, and the lack of feedback from CA (as usual ~:rolleyes: ) on everyones comments, would have turned quite a few players away from this game.

econ21

08-31-2004, 00:32

It's a very good demo - much more substantial (an entire battle) than I was expecting.

Graphically, the zoom-in to melees is very impressive. I like the main menu music too - hope there is more of it in the final game. Zoomed out, I find it harder to take in the entire battlefield - maybe I am just pushing the screen resolution too much for my laptop, but pretty soon things start getting blurry.

I agree that movement seems a little too quick - this, and the difficulty discerning unit types at a distance means that battles soon get hard to follow. Elephants do seem overpowered - their hit points need halving or more than halving. But those things aside, it was clear that this is more of the TW goodness we are used to, with flanking, timing, correct unit match ups etc all being important.

Colovion

08-31-2004, 00:40

If it wasn't for mods I'd say this was a really shitty demo.

Omegamann

08-31-2004, 14:27

Voted 3.
As I was very much looking foreward to getting a roman eara toal war game finaly, I have to say my feelings are realy very much mixed.
Though the graphics are great (I can play smoothly on the highst settings) I cant realy feel immersed in the game.
The controls are to much different from the usual MTW/STW and somehow in 3d the big units on the huge maps look a lot smaler compared to the old 2d units (I played around with modrome so I have already tried armys composed with 120man units)
Though I didnt have to much problems with the unit speeds and killing ratios I do admit its now a lot more difficult to keep in control of a battle (without pausing which spoils the immersion for me)

Elmo

08-31-2004, 15:42

So far only 11% think the demo great. The rest of us feel there is still work to be done. Hopefully CA is listening and will address the issues.

The_Emperor

08-31-2004, 16:07

Let us hope.

Anyway I originally thought the demo wasn't too great but then I played it a bit more and it grew on me in time.

After playing with some of the mods, I think it will turn out to be good.

The whole Trebia battle I initially thought was just really off ... I expected us to be able to have time to deploy our forces, and have a little bit of freedom. (I guess I remembered the TC Trebbia Episode too much, and all the time and space they had)

But all the work was done for us which was very lame, all we had to do was just charge our cavalry in!

All in all I voted for 2 because I think it was a good demo with need for improvement... But the choice of battle and the lack of freedom of fighting it the way you wanted really spoiled it.

It was just too scripted and planned out.

jgp

08-31-2004, 16:11

I thought it was a great percursor of things to come. The terrain and overall imersion factor from the landscape are outstanding.

I do hope some of the unit management of MTW are in the full release as there were some excellent tools available there.

The one thing that made me crazy about STW/MTW was the limited ability to maneuver, always hitting the edge of the map. That does not seem to be as pronounced here.

Overall I am impressed and anxiously await the full release.

Elmo

08-31-2004, 17:18

Nelson

08-31-2004, 17:56

My biggest disappointment with the demo is that no strategic play is included. That should represent at least half the fun of the game and you'd think CA would want to showcase that. Instead they put together something to appeal to the twitch crowd primarily. Perhaps they think that will be the primary market for RTW, and they may very well be correct. ~:(

The earlier demos did not include the strategy game either. The absence of same may be disapointing but it says no more about the target audience than the former demos.

Elmo

08-31-2004, 19:49

Good point. Guess we'll just have to see how the full game plays out.

TCon88

08-31-2004, 21:19

Number 2 for me. I enjoyed it quite alot but like most people i found some annoying factors (green arrows & speed), overall though it was a decent enough demo, just hope the game isnt like it.

Steppe Merc

09-01-2004, 21:17

I voted for four, even though I am seriously losing faith. It's more of I hope it's good, not think it's better.

Jango Fett

09-02-2004, 08:50

i enjoyed the demo, but i enjoyed the mods more!

ToranagaSama

09-03-2004, 03:36

Well, I didn't vote yet, think I'll give the demo one more chance.

Frankly, I'm greatly disappointed. I won't list my complaints in this thread, but sufficie it to say compared to the Shogun Demo, which was a 10!, and Compared to the Medieval Demo, which also was an 8.5, when compared to Shogun.

The MTW demo, wasn't quite the Tutorial that the STW demo was, STW demo's battles were MUCH better! Though, if judged on its w/o the comparison, it'd be a 10, as well.

BOTH demos made me salivate for the game and had an EXTREME feeling of atmosphere and realism.

Unfortunately, the same, IMO, can't be said for the Rome demo.

The Map, discounting the *sprite* tree leaves, is mangificent, though the *water* isn't as impressive as it was in STW, given the improvements in technology.

The Unit graphics, are simply too *cartoonish*, with unrealistic colors and animations. I can imagine and appreciate, the effort that CA put into the engine, but, in today's age, particularly in the age of Far Cry, Doom 3 (, and HL2), the graphics just don't cut it!!!

A couple of years ago, they'd be cutting edge, but the graphics are a couple years behind the times.

Frankly, the old STW sprites, and certainly the MTW units, look BETTER and have MUCH MORE **REALISTIC** ANIMATIONS!!

The demo just didn't give me any *feeling*.

The Interface plainly is a poor imitation of what WORKED. It wasn't broken, why'd they try and fix it? I had no idea they were going to screw around with the interface.

Imagine, if a FPS, went and change the familiar WASD keyboard interface, to RDFG. There's be an uproar louder than an Atom bomb across the Internet!

The rest of my thoughts I'll leave for one more play and another thread, thank you for listening.

:mecry: :mecry: :mecry:

~ToranagaSama ~:mecry:

ah_dut

09-03-2004, 14:59

my main pro. is the interface, too clunky, you can't do turning and such like fast enough, and the game is waay to fast. PLease Ca why can't you not fix what aint broke?

Osbot

09-05-2004, 02:11

Most people actually play FPS with ESDF now.

Kraxis

09-05-2004, 19:59

A #2 from me.

I absolutely loved playing the battles, loved it even more with the mods.

My main gripes are, turning units (I can't number the times I did the old alt-rightclick) and the speed of the units, but I don't especially love the routing flags (too obvious).

In general I get the feeling that I just need to adapt, at least that is my initial thought.
I have been in a semi-hibernation and haven't noticed what people either complain about or love all too much. But I have noticed a few comments on the dragging of a line of units. I haven't had much problems there, I acutually found it very similar to the MTW experience. It was perfect for th modded tutorial battle where you play the main Roman army. I just loved to line my Principes up right behind my Hastati who in turn where behind the Velites.