To buy or not to buy?

[Vuk]

I created this poll for people who have played at least two other TW titles and currently own and have played Napoleon TW.
Please give your reasons.
I voted that it is not worth buying, and this is why. If it was an expansion pack selling at $30-$20 I would say, sure, get it. Even then though, I don't think that there is barely enough to it to make it an expansion.
It is definitely not worth buying as a standalone game. If they included a Grand Campaign I would say, sure, get it, but they did not.
There is very little new, and most of what is new is just fulfilling promises that they made for Empire (and paying $40 for what I was told I would get in Empire ticks me off).
+Graphics are excellent
+It runs better on my comp than Empire did; a very good job from CA here
+New additions to gameplay mechanics manage to add exciting new things to gameplay without ruining the old gameplay.
-There are unfortunately, very few of those. The game is almost Empire exactly.
-The is no Grand Campaign, and after spending a few hours conquering the tiny (boring) campaigns that they included, you will be left with little else to do.
-The game fails to fix even the most basic of Empire's bugs.
-The GUI looks space age. While this may seem small, it is very detracting.


Final Verdict: Is it good? Yeah. Is it $40 good? Not a flying chance in hell.

[antisocialmunky]

Its worth $30 which is what I paid for the Imperial Edition.

[Fisherking]

Buy It

I see it as an expansion too but here is where we differ.

It is highly polished and improved over ETW. While it lacks the scope of ETW it allows drop-in battles that are easy to use and you usually have no difficulty finding someone to take the spot. And that means a different opponent for every battle or just the AI if you prefer.

It is a great game for multiplayer and you get your money’s worth on the first boring Sunday afternoon you use it.

I don’t like the reduced scope so I liked ETW better but this is solid and fun and it makes multiplayer easy for once.


note* all factions are now unlocked and there are a growing list of mods.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=1438

[Devastatin Dave]

A definite buy... Its wonderful.

[gollum]

Whoa, that's some list of mods there Fisherking... something tells me that darth will eat his words and mod the game eventually ;)

[Suraknar]

I will say yes buy it as well.

The Multiplayer aspect of it has made this Game a totally new experience. And I am not speaking only about Multiplayer Campaigns but also Solo Campaigns with the drop in feature, there is not better AI than another Player, battles really take on their own character since each player will think up different tactics in every different battle, the dynamics of which could never be captured in a programmed AI.

I just wish there was a way to have campaigns for more than 2 players, albeit this may take some time since to have more players without waiting for 20 minutes ofr one's turn will require a complete reprogramming of how the game turns function, to make it simultaneous turns for all.

With the same Engine and system, and a turn of 2-3 minutes it could work for up to 4 players though in theory.

The game is well polished and runs very smoothly too, the UI is just wonderful, the color balance the sounds everything is carefully made, I am not even interested to start modding it or look for mods at this time (albeit I am sure I will down the line).

This game is a Classic and a must have for every fan of the series or the genre.

[Skott]

I've played all the past TW games when they first came out but this time I'm going to hold off a while and let the modding community get some improvements going for game play. CA is notorious for releasing bugs in their releases and by bugs I mean very obvious ones that should never ever have gotten past them and their QA teams and NTW is no exception it seems. Also by waiting not only will I get a better game I'm pretty sure there will be a price reduction or sale to save me money. I'm tired of supporting designers and their publishers that live by the 'Just get it out now and we'll fix it later' type attitude which CA is part of unfortunately. Not trying to be mean or preachy but just how I feel. I really enjoy the whole TW series but I just can't let designers and publishers continue getting away with this type of business model so I'll vote with my wallet. This is just my own opinion of course and obviously not everyone will agree with me on it but thats okay. Each to their own and rightfully so. Happy gaming everyone. :-)

[Fisherking]

Yes gollum, the game has been out a whole two weeks and there are 5 pages of Released Mods in that forum.

Also Skott, for once CA released a product with no killer bugs in it. At least nothing we have never seen before.

The biggest gripes are with the spies being able to kill off to many generals and that the Old Guard has a visor on their Bear Skin Hats, that belonged to the French Foot Artillery.

But never fear, there are already mine mods to cure both of those problems and much, much more.

For once CA put out a good product on release.

It is their own fault from past practices if there are a large number of people who are too gun-shy to jump in just yet.

But in the end I think this game could restore a bit of confidence in CA. The game is as good as advertised for once. And I think most people will come around.

It is what ever comes after that I might be cautious of.

[antisocialmunky]

Yes gollum, the game has been out a whole two weeks and there are 5 pages of Released Mods in that forum.

Also Skott, for once CA released a product with no killer bugs in it. At least nothing we have never seen before.

The biggest gripes are with the spies being able to kill off to many generals and that the Old Guard has a visor on their Bear Skin Hats, that belonged to the French Foot Artillery.

But never fear, there are already mine mods to cure both of those problems and much, much more.

For once CA put out a good product on release.

It is their own fault from past practices if there are a large number of people who are too gun-shy to jump in just yet.

But in the end I think this game could restore a bit of confidence in CA. The game is as good as advertised for once. And I think most people will come around.

It is what ever comes after that I might be cautious of.

This thread should have had price points. As of now there is no way to capture if someone is being cheap or the game is bad.

[vartan]

30 USD for Imperial Edition? What in the world...

The 40/50 USD this game demanded was a waste of money. I feel no replay value and am biased as the era is my least favorite (I don't appreciate the cowardly approach that comes with ranged firepower, as is the case even today, with ammunition of all kinds). Then again, I was open-minded enough to try the darn thing. I am being vague, but the game did not feel satisfying enough. It was in some ways not fulfilling. Perhaps it is the way the campaigns are set up. Each battle seems too similar. Every faction seems to me similar as well, but then again, this is to be expected some, as the wars were fought on the same continent. I don't know really. I suppose the stand-alone didn't really feel like a stand-alone!

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V

[AussieGiant]

I've said before in the "First Impressions" thread that it's a much better product than E:TW. I think they are onto something with the drop in battles. CA's best move now would be to perfect the online campaign technology because it would solve the whole AI issue!!

[antisocialmunky]

I had a gift card and this was the version that hte best buy person handed me(someone was too lazy to update the display and and I found that this 'Limited' version contained all the Steam Imperial Version units). I dunno, the Napoleonic era isn't particularly that intersting to me either but I think the game itself is enjoyable. Hopefully they can as bugfixes will be somewhat minimal. It is a good game, if they had modding support, it would be totally awesome.(WW1 mod with Armenian minifaction?) AI is passable and most game breaking bugs are fixed. Drop-in battles are a very nice feature that hte game should have had since forever.

Congrats CA for finally releasing a respectable product.

[vartan]

(WW1 mod with Armenian minifaction?)

I will slap you.

Drop-in battles are lovely, but I don't see how or why the company would want to try and extend that to multiplayer campaigns. These could take forever to complete, especially when time zone differences are taken into account.

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V

[antisocialmunky]

Yeah, the drop in battles have always made more sense.

Also, what's wrong with paiting the Ottoman Empire that shade of light blue?

[Galain_Ironhide]

For once CA put out a good product on release.

Yes, however isn't NTW kinda a reworked and rebadged Empire? It was a second attempt.

I'm one of those gun-shy types. Plus my computer needs some serious upgrading before I purchase this game or ETW.

[Fisherking]

Napoleon is Empire as it should have been.

Empire was a good game with terrible bugs. Most of those have been fixed and another patch is in testing.

NTW is streamlined and has a narrower scope but it has exultant game play and battles. It is also The Game for any Multiplayer Enthusiasts.

You can run a Single Player Campaign but fight every battle with a human opponent if you choose or play MP Campaigns.

The game is almost bug free. There are a couple of features that I am not totally happy with but that could just be my taste.

I do understand gun-shy. I might still be sitting it out if I hadn’t gotten it as a present but to me it is the best game since MTW.

I think it is the very best of any of their 3d games.

NTW runs on almost anything with dual core and a good graphics card...unlike Empire that was pretty temperamental.

When to upgrade and how much is your choice but NTW is a darn good game.

[Vlad Tzepes]

I'm glad to see people are happy with NTW. It gives me courage - I'm still traumathized after the buggy ETW release. I'll get NTW... at some point.

[Servius]

I haven't responded to the poll since I haven't bought or tried NTW yet, but I wanted to see what players thought. I've bought every TW game since Shogun (though none of the RTW expansions nor that Spartan experiment), and while I think Empire made huge leaps in interface, tooltips, trade, agents, a technology tree, and many other aspects, the Campaign AI and Diplomatic AI were still completely stupid, and in a primarily single-player, turn-based, strategy game, the AI is 60% of the experience.

What I've heard is that the AI is no better than in ETW, the scope is tiny, there's little replay value (because of the limited scope), and it's $40. I might get this when it's $10, or maybe $15 if there's no shipping charge.

[vartan]

I might get this when it's $10, or maybe $15 if there's no shipping charge.

Let me know when pigs fly, k? Sorry. But it really took half a decade before Rome:Total War was transferred over to Steam and sold along with both of its expansions for $9.99 (USD).