The ETW Anticipation Thread!

[Sir Beane]

This is a thread for us to vent about how much we want to play ETW, see a demo, etc. I noticed this kind of thing was cropping up a lot in other threads, so it's best to give it an outlet.

This thread is also known as the 'Polemists wants a demo' thread.

[Monk]

This is a thread for us to vent about how much we want to play ETW, see a demo, etc. I noticed this kind of thing was cropping up a lot in other threads, so it's best to give it an outlet.

This thread is also known as the 'Polemists wants a demo' thread.

Massive text incoming.



Kidding aside I'm very much looking forward to ETW now that I am certain i'll for sure be able to play it. I'd love to see a demo too, but making a demo takes extra time away from the devs. So CA, please. Make a demo if you can, but not at the expense of the game's end quality. If you gotta choose between further AI testing for bugs and a demo then here's one fan that votes for more testing!

[Polemists]

Okay, firstly as if one thread can contain my DEMO desires ha


Come with me, on a magical journey.

The decade, the ninties, the games are plenty, CA still owns itself, and the world of gaming is taking off. There is a mystical magical creature known as , "The Pre Order". For a mere five dollars, (Which then could buy a gallon of gas) you can get a cd full of videos, screenshots, wall papers, and yes..a demo.

Demos were a magical thing, I remeber romes demo against carthage, seeing the elephants, laughing, playing with friends. Even the cheesy history channel rtw engine tie in series just to excite us.

Then came the dark times, when companies were forced to offer nothing with a pre order and rather demand higher rates for vaunted things known as "Collector's Edition" "Special Edition" games. The pre order 5$ was credited towards your purchase, but the extra 10-20 for Collector's and special editions were not.

Demos died, becoming fewer, as more and more companies took the mindset of "It's done when it's done."

No longer did developer want a fun easy way to let players have a small taste of the magical world before release. No longer did small demo givers have outlets.

Fileplanet ruled all, and the darkness began




Thus.....I want a demo, to have fun and return back to the good times :)

[Andres]

M2TW had a demo.

I for one sincerely hope ETW will have one too

[Sir Beane]

Your magical journey saddened and depressed me. Truly these are the dark times of the Third age. The mythical demo is long lost amongst a sea of marketing hype and DRM controversy.

Where now the demo and the beta? Where is the game we were playing?

Where is the file and the download and the happy tears flowing?

Where is the hand on the keyboard, and the monitor glowing?

Where is the battle and the campaign and the death count growing?

They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow;

The days have gone down on the demo, behind the hype into shadow.

Who shall savour the smoke of the digital town burning?

Or behold the glory of the Total War series returning?

Please CA, have mercy on these poor souls.

[Polemists]

Seriously, two battles in a small file should not drastically delay a release date, common CA, if THQ the guys who did a Dirt Biker game can do a demo with no impact, so can you

[Sir Beane]

This thread has six views and five replies. That must be some sort of record for postcount to views.

I'm looking forward to Empire more than any game for a long, long time. The only other game I anticipted this much was Oblivion, and that stopped as soon as I found out Bethesda went and dumbed things down compared to Morrowind.

Do you think if we threw a load of money at CA headquarters it would make them work faster?

[Polemists]

CA is probably sitting around a desk right now thinking

"How can we stop that Polemists guy from constantly taking up The Guild forums posts and making us not look like a awesome company"


ONE ANSWER CA

DEMO

[Sir Beane]

CA is probably sitting around a desk right now thinking

"How can we stop that Polemists guy from constantly taking up The Guild forums posts and making us not look like a awesome company"


ONE ANSWER CA

DEMO

Sniper rifle and/or poison.

I'd be careful, they probably have geisha.

[Polemists]

I'd be careful, they probably have geisha

So i'm going to be seduced by a attractive japanese girl in era clothing?

BRING IT ON CA



They can take our money, they can take our bandwidth, by they can never take our desire for a DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Sir Beane]

So i'm going to be seduced by a attractive japanese girl in era clothing?

BRING IT ON CA



They can take our money, they can take our bandwidth, by they can never take our desire for a DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Seduced and then stabbed through the eye with a hairpin/garroted with lute string/killed by bladed fan before anything fun can happen.

Of course if CA had the more traditional, less stabby version of geisha it might explain why we haven't seen a demo yet...

[Polemists]

True....maybe that does explain it......it'd explain why Jack is the only CA member I ever see....and why he only answers questions on Steam


When we all know,, the TRue question....is DEMO

[pevergreen]

This isnt an official CA website or forum, so they have no real reason to come here.

[Sir Beane]

This isnt an official CA website or forum, so they have no real reason to come here.

The fact that they still do, and even answer questions we ask, is evidence of how great the people at CA are. There are not many games developers where you can directly speak to those involved in making the game.

[Polemists]

This is true, and they would be even GREATER

if we had



A



DEMO

[Sir Beane]

The funniest part of Polemists enthusiasm is that when we finally do get a demo we probably won't see him again for weeks. He'll be glued to his chair, palying the battles over and over, imagining what the real game must be like... or maybe that's just me.

[Martok]

I'd love to see a demo too, but making a demo takes extra time away from the devs. So CA, please. Make a demo if you can, but not at the expense of the game's end quality. If you gotta choose between further AI testing for bugs and a demo then here's one fan that votes for more testing!

I have to second this. For as much as I'd like a demo -- and I'd really, really like to see one -- I don't want it taking away from CA doing further testing/polishing of the actual game. I'd much rather see Empire be as balanced and bug-free as possible.

[Sir Beane]

I have to second this. For as much as I'd like a demo -- and I'd really, really like to see one -- I don't want it taking away from CA doing further testing/polishing of the actual game. I'd much rather see Empire be as balanced and bug-free as possible.

Thirded. Although if Empire is reasonably far along (and we had better hope it is given the release date) then how difficult would it be to whack together a custom naval battle, a custon land battle and put that up? Since I'm not a developer I don't know, but I would guess it isn't that difficult and we will see a demo soon.

Not soon enough for Polemists however, who might just snap if he has to wait too long. And that won't be a pretty sight.

[GMaximus]

Thirded. Although if Empire is reasonably far along (and we had better hope it is given the release date) then how difficult would it be to whack together a custom naval battle, a custon land battle and put that up? Since I'm not a developer I don't know, but I would guess it isn't that difficult and we will see a demo soon.

Not soon enough for Polemists however, who might just snap if he has to wait too long. And that won't be a pretty sight.

I'd very much approve of a naval battle in the demo, though. Hopefully the battles they do put in the demo (if they make it) won't have much scripted events, because then we'd get to see how well does the fancy new 'smart' AI behaves. Although, CA could just say that it ain't scripted and deviously script it instead...

[Sir Beane]

I'd very much approve of a naval battle in the demo, though. Hopefully the battles they do put in the demo (if they make it) won't have much scripted events, because then we'd get to see how well does the fancy new 'smart' AI behaves. Although, CA could just say that it ain't scripted and deviously script it instead...

If I remember correctly thate last two demos contained historical battles, which had some scripted events.

ETW however has no historical battles, hence the battles they give us will probably be made using the custom battle feature and should contain no scripted events of any sort. I hope.

I really want to see how naval combat works. Land combat has been seen before and can't have changed that much. Boats are fresh and exciting (and I'm a big fan of naval combat anyway).

[Mailman653]

I can't decide between the Steam version and the boxed. My issue is, I think id like my box, but going with Steam its so much more convient and easy (plus no wait time for s&h).

[Sir Beane]

I can't decide between the Steam version and the boxed. My issue is, I think id like my box, but going with Steam its so much more convient and easy (plus no wait time for s&h).

I'm getting Special Forces, boxed. I want the fancy case and map that come with it. Steam is convenient, but you can't put a digital game up on your shelf with the rest of your TW collection. I like seeing the shiny boxes all lined up, even if I dont play many of them any more.

[Divine Wind]

I believe I will be going for the Steam (non special forces) offer. Special units don't really interest me enough in order to spend more money, and if the game gets boring over the next 12 months I would assume that the price will come down for the special forces add-on (plus we should have a shiny expansion pack!).

Oh, and I have edited my signature to join in with the fanatics

[Sir Beane]

I believe I will be going for the Steam (non special forces) offer. Special units don't really interest me enough in order to spend more money, and if the game gets boring over the next 12 months I would assume that the price will come down for the special forces add-on (plus we should have a shiny expansion pack!).

Oh, and I have edited my signature to join in with the fanatics

Good, good, our ranks are slowly growing. Eventually CA must cave to peer pressure!

[ConnMon]

Kidding aside I'm very much looking forward to ETW now that I am certain i'll for sure be able to play it. I'd love to see a demo too, but making a demo takes extra time away from the devs. So CA, please. Make a demo if you can, but not at the expense of the game's end quality. If you gotta choose between further AI testing for bugs and a demo then here's one fan that votes for more testing!

Fourthed(?). Anyways, I definetely would love to see a full, bug-free, smooth version of Empire rather than a demo. I doubt it will be perfect, but It'd better be pretty freakin' close. I'm not saying I wouldn't love a good game version AND a demo

[Megas Methuselah]

I'd make a demo sig, too, but it is too much of a sacrifice. It took months for me to perfect my sig...

On a side, I want a demo.

[bloodshed]

At least they will be releasing a new unit tomm. According to their calender.

[peacemaker]

mmmm i want a demo. While it would be nice for them to spend some more time programming, it shouldn't take too long to make a short demo. Also, I still am kinda worried on how the whole almost-all-ranged-warfare is going to play out, and I'm gonna rely on the demo to see if I really like it.

[Polemists]

Some of you...probably thought I either snapped, chartered a flight, or somehow got the demo...you'd be mistaken.

I was merely gathering my cosmic demo desire like powers, to unleash them yet again.


LET THE DEMO's BEGIN



Of course they are releasing a unit tommorrow/today, they fear the unrivaled power of the mob, they are making a game where the established powers are being beheaded by angry mobs. It is best to listen to one's own advice.


DEMO

[Sir Beane]

Some of you...probably thought I either snapped, chartered a flight, or somehow got the demo...you'd be mistaken.

I was merely gathering my cosmic demo desire like powers, to unleash them yet again.


LET THE DEMO's BEGIN



Of course they are releasing a unit tommorrow/today, they fear the unrivaled power of the mob, they are making a game where the established powers are being beheaded by angry mobs. It is best to listen to one's own advice.


DEMO

It had better be an interesting naval unit. I want to see something with ours or cannons in unusual places. Not just antoerh variation on the frigate.

Maybe if they called the ship H.M.S Demo they could say they released a demo and.... No! Don't give them excuses!