So when do you think ETW will be stable and ready for me to buy?

[BeenPlayingSinceRTW]

Clearly from the huge volume of complaints and reported bugs, ETW was released before it was ready. Right now, ETW has only two stars on Amazon.com ( http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Total-W...ews/B0018YXM3Y )

So I'm glad I waited and decided not to buy initially.

But when do you think the game will be okay for me to buy?

[johnhughthom]

Wheres the option for it being playable now? Sure there are issues, I still enjoy the game in it's current state though, no game has kept me away from EB longer.

[Beskar]

People complain and moan about everything and anything, that's life.

One person gave the game one star as they changed what they did with generals.

In fact, the game now is currently less buggy and more options than RTW vanilla. Even after the patchs.

[Monk]

ETW has bugs and problems just like every single TW game in recent memory. But are there any game-breaking bugs that make me want to ring up CA's office and shout "THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!"?

No. Not from what I have seen. The only huge glaring flaws the game currently as (imo) is the pathfinding on the campaign map (which leads the AI to be unable to execute naval landings) and the occasional lobotomy of the AI on the battlefield leading them to do some really stupid things. Obviously there are many minor tweaks needed here and there, scuffs of the paint job on an otherwise fine vehicle, but the two gnarled fenders and broken tail lights really need looked at, and they will be by all accounts.

While the game isn't perfect and suffers from some major bugs, I wouldn't call it unplayable by any stretch of the imagination. Of course if you wanted to wait a week or two for the next patch before buying I couldn't fault you either.

Me? I'm enjoying myself.

[Veresov]

When someone asks a reasonable question why do people try to snow him into buying a game that has a high probability of not even running on his PC? Maybe to make him suffer?

I am referring to the THOUSANDS of posts on the developers website in the Technical Support forum from people that can't run the game, have constant CTD's, white screen of death, etc.

My personal recommendation is not to buy this game in its current beta form. Wait for the patch that fixes both the gameplay and the technical issues. Empire wasn't playtested well and has more technical glitches than its previous titles.

[A Very Super Market]

Because unhappy people are more vocal than happy people. Most of us who have little problems do not think of making a thread to praise CA. Just a little justification, though I agree that the game is rather unpolished.

[Grumfoss]

I want to say that I find the game very playable....yes there are bugs/glitches but these are not really spoiling my enjoyment of the game.

I really just wish I had more time to play as I only get in a couple of hours a night. The patches will help solve a lot of the problems. The developers will never be able to make a game that pleases everyone as machines are different bugs will always exist. That is why so many developers have moved away from the PC gaming market to create games for consoles as they are much easier to program for.

[pevergreen]

Wheres the option for it being playable now?

+1

Biased poll.

[Zatoichi]

What no Gah! option? Consider this a vote for Gah!

I'm enjoying it warts an' all. I'm sorry for the folks who are having severe problems - I'm one of the lucky ones I guess - but we have no way of knowing how many people are able to play and enjoy it compared to those who are having game ending problems.

Wait or buy it now, it's your time and money after all - I'm glad I got it on release, I've already had hours of fun. That said, I'm looking forward to patches too, this game is set to get even better.

[Merak]

were is the option for halle berry?

seriusly i think the game is stable now even though i have had CTD:s but it should be stable within 2weeks

[antisocialmunky]

Mine work fine at max settings. But I guess I'm fairly lucky.

[LittleGrizzly]

Isn't this one far better than the release of RTW and MTW2 (less sure on latter) yeah there are some problems but i think CA have made a big improvment and should be congratulated on the fact, the game would quite likely be very runnable for you... the main killer for me at the moment is the ai's inability to invade by sea

[BeenPlayingSinceRTW]

+1

Biased poll.

Poll is not about "playability". Poll is about "stability" and when game will be "worth paying for".

No bias, just asking a fair question.

[Beskar]

It's fine enough now. The game is fairly stable and looking to get improved. No real point waiting months for something you want.

Could always see it as play now, get the practise in and improve then come back to it later.

[Darth Venom]

Poll is not about "playability". Poll is about "stability" and when game will be "worth paying for".

No bias, just asking a fair question.

It isn't fair because the answer to "Is it stable enough?" and "Is it worth paying for?" is "HELL YES!!!"

[BeenPlayingSinceRTW]

The game is fairly stable and looking to get improved.

You have hit the nail right on the head.

ETW is not "stable" yet, it's only "fairly stable". And there is definite room for improvement, with major issues related to saving games as well as the AI. Why should I pay for a game that hasn't been finished yet? The boards are full of threads started by people who played ETW for 30 or 40 turns only to find that their saved game files were corrupted due to a bug.

Why should I pay money to be a beta tester?

I would rather wait until CA have finished work on the game.

[quadalpha]

This seems to be exactly the kind of inflammatory thread we don't need; it was only ever going to divide opinion and not provide any possible objective answer.

[BeenPlayingSinceRTW]

It isn't fair because the answer to "Is it stable enough?" and "Is it worth paying for?" is "HELL YES!!!"

Obviously, you are entitled to your opinion.

But a quick look at the responses to the poll and to this thread shows that you are in the minority - most people do not feel ETW is stable yet. Take a look at Steam's ETW forums or the official Total War forums. Many, many, many people are having problems and are anxiously awaiting the next patch in the hope that it will fix their issues.

It's a legitimate question to ask, and CA are not being forthcoming with the information, so it makes sense to ask here.

[BeenPlayingSinceRTW]

This seems to be exactly the kind of inflammatory thread we don't need; it was only ever going to divide opinion and not provide any possible objective answer.

That's balderdash - 25 people have voted on the poll. We are getting some good objective data here. Where's the divisiveness?

[PBI]

You have hit the nail right on the head.

ETW is not "stable" yet, it's only "fairly stable". And there is definite room for improvement, with major issues related to saving games as well as the AI. Why should I pay for a game that hasn't been finished yet? The boards are full of threads started by people who played ETW for 30 or 40 turns only to find that their saved game files were corrupted due to a bug.

Why should I pay money to be a beta tester?

I would rather wait until CA have finished work on the game.

Well if that is your question I would say probably wait for the expansion, I believe in past games that generally represents the final official patch for vanilla, i.e. the point where CA "finish working" on the game.

But I'm afraid if you are waiting for the game to be completely stable, you will be waiting forever, nothing ever is these days. All the previous TW games do still have stability issues from time to time and ETW is not going to be the exception (EB, for instance, crashes on me roughly once every hour but I rarely hear it described as unplayable). The best one can hope for is for it to be stable enough to be playable, which many people would argue it is. Remember to keep saves from previous turns and you should be able to avoid most of the repeatable CTDs.

[rajpoot]

Yup, nothing is perfect, I don't think they've fixed all the bugs in M2TW even now......the one I'm talking about is not so much a bug but more like a glitch......every time you kill a Native American general the message says 'Saracen' or something like that.

[CookieRawr]

I've had two ctds in my British game, and a few freezes whilst clicking on a naval port with ships in it still, I was playing it with Unit size set to Ultra. In my new Prussian game I lowered it to Large army size . It seems alot more stable and doesn't freeze as often.

[peacemaker]

Yes, the game has many bugs. It's still playable and is most definetely worth it. Within the next few patches, they'll start fixing the bugs but until then, PLAY! It's a great game and deserves your time

[Heinrich VI]

you are better of waiting until the potentially gamebraking bugs are fixed. might save you alot of frustration. i know some people are not affected by the various CTDs and corrupted saves - lucky few...

py personal experience with ETW so far is:

prussian GC m/m 1769: doomed due to CTD upon pressing endturn
france WC h/h 1755: doomed due to freeze during swedens AI turn
spain GC vh/vh 1722: doomed due to a corrupted save (auto- and quicksave)

[quadalpha]

Point is, you might be more likely to see people with complaints here than people without.

[Relic]

People like to complain. I'd say BUY IT NOW if the option was there.
What people fail to realize is that it's IMPOSSIBLE to release a game without bugs. After all, this one has less than previous TW titles did.

[Heinrich VI]

i have to disagree with this. many people seem to forget how buggy f.e. MTW 1.0 was. it CTDed quite frequently maybe even more than ETW. RTW had the potentially game breaking save/load bug and the missile stats used for melee bug but it atleast was quite stable. M2TW had the disheartening passive AI, 2-handed weapon, shieldbug and no naval invasions (only counting major bugs i remember) but it too was quite stable. and so far only MTW and ETW forced me to abandon campaigns due to corrupted saves or constant endturn CTDs! (not counting crashes due to mods)

[Fisherking]

Just go buy the game!

And if you can’t get past a bug now and then, then wait for the Gold Edition…

[Vlad Tzepes]

The game is great, I really love it. Despite all it's problems, I would go buy it again. Eventually a patch will come and sort out some of the game-breaker bugs and it will make ETW stable. Until then, I just pretend I'm in training time (trying to be optimistic and not to think about how CA took my money for an unfinished product).

On the other hand, people here say other TW titles were unstable while in 1.0 version. I'm sorry to say that, but none of the others forced me to abandon even one campaign. Ever, from Shogun onwards. In ETW, I already had to drop 2 and it looks like the third is going the same way...

Other people don't seem to have any problem. Lucky b***rds

Are you a lucky person? Then go for it!

[Skott]

You can play it now and have fun but if you are wanting it as bug free and as stable as possible I'd say 6 months. If they dont have all the kinks worked out by then then CA wont ever have it worked out. I should point out that CA has never ever had a totally bug free game even after all the official patches. IMO it will be the modders that take this from an okay good game to a really good or great game. Just like they did for RTW amd M2TW. That is just my opinion though.