Rome 2 Patches, Hotfixes, Betas and Such (patch 17 live!)

[Vuk]

You know, I actually believe them. Often times greedy publishers will try to get developers to rush games out unfinished. That does not absolve CA of responsibility though. It is them making the game, and it is their responsibility to say 'no' to SEGA and not release them a working build to publish. It is their responsibility to demand more time to at least make sure that the game is in a working state before releasing it, even if it is not perfect. People expect the publisher to be unprincipled (they always are), but the developers should not be.
Grow some backbone CA. It is your reputation that is gonna take the hit, and if no one buys your next games, it will be you out of a job. Stand up for yourselves and your fans.

[AntiDamascus]

You know, I actually believe them. Often times greedy publishers will try to get developers to rush games out unfinished. That does not absolve CA of responsibility though. It is them making the game, and it is their responsibility to say 'no' to SEGA and not release them a working build to publish. It is their responsibility to demand more time to at least make sure that the game is in a working state before releasing it, even if it is not perfect. People expect the publisher to be unprincipled (they always are), but the developers should not be.
Grow some backbone CA. It is your reputation that is gonna take the hit, and if no one buys your next games, it will be you out of a job. Stand up for yourselves and your fans.

Does CA own the rights to Total War still or can Sega or someone else just hand it off to another developer to make?

[Sigurd]

Well... that's it. I can't get any further than with my Roman campaign (at 226 BC). Every time I fight a battle I can't get back to the campaign map. I am thrown out to the main menu and the most recent saves (made several) will do the same. I can load older saves, but it kinda defeats the point when you just can't progress in the game. I even loaded an older save and didn't fight a single battle, just stayed in the campaign map and moved past 226 BC to 225 BC.. but as soon as I fight a battle (able to finish the battle), I get thrown out to the main menu when loading the campaign map.

Anyone experienced anything similar?

[Lemur]

I opted-in for the beta patches, but here's the question: If I leave Steam on all day while I work (which I tend to do), how will I know if/when the beta patch is applied?

So I sit down at my desk, and I open up the library window in Steam, right-click on the Rome II app, and ...

... derp.

What do I check?

-edit-

Oh, interesting, I am no longer in the beta program, and it's not even an option anymore. The beta dun gone.

Only option is a code field for "private betas."

Anybody else checked this?

[Spoonska]

Would be sweet if someone maintained a thread that listed all patch changes old and new ;) .

[Lemur]

Would be sweet if someone maintained a thread that listed all patch changes old and new ;) .

All of the patch 1 details are here, along with placeholders for the next two patches.

[Spoonska]

I meant ... on....the .org... You know what nevermind. I'll see myself out.

[CaptainCrunch]

...If I leave Steam on all day while I work (which I tend to do), how will I know if/when the beta patch is applied?

In the upper right corner of the main menu the build number should change no? We're currently at V1.0.0 6858453644.

[Suraknar]

Bahhh....

The game has a few missing elements compared to previous ones but I think it is very playable and fun, and I am sure the rest will get irond out with patches post release. CA will not let the quality of the series that we have all come to appreciate go down.

And I think it is not worth it to be making a big fuss about it. Constructive Critisizm yes, but fussing will not serve any purpose.

Just my two cents :)

[fallen851]

You know, I actually believe them. Often times greedy publishers will try to get developers to rush games out unfinished. That does not absolve CA of responsibility though. It is them making the game, and it is their responsibility to say 'no' to SEGA and not release them a working build to publish. It is their responsibility to demand more time to at least make sure that the game is in a working state before releasing it, even if it is not perfect. People expect the publisher to be unprincipled (they always are), but the developers should not be.
Grow some backbone CA. It is your reputation that is gonna take the hit, and if no one buys your next games, it will be you out of a job. Stand up for yourselves and your fans.

It might have been Sega asking CA how much time they needed for Rome II, and CA stating "we need X amount of time." Sega then provides that amount of time and creates their yearly budget with that in mind. CA can't finish it in time (I mean, how often do contractors finish on time... rarely...) and Sega says "no extensions, you told us you needed X amount of time and we gave it to you." Game gets released as is... in this case the blame lies solely with the developer.

Either way, it was a poorly managed by one or both parties and the result is an unfinished game. A company that has a reputation of releasing superior products soils it very quickly when they release mediocre products. In fact, releasing mediocre products is first step that many great companies take that ultimately leads to their failure. Rome II still has a lot going for it though if CA commits to the patches, and does more than fix bugs with them.

Finally, and I don't know if CA was responsible for this or Sega, but the marketing department had way too much money for all the fancy videos, that could have gone into more coders, artists, ect... those buffoons in rally point were a complete waste.

[gedingradski]

Finally, and I don't know if CA was responsible for this or Sega, but the marketing department had way too much money for all the fancy videos, that could have gone into more coders, artists, ect... those buffoons in rally point were a complete waste.

- fallen851

Couldn't agree more. Waste of time and money and I think the over-hype kind of worked against them considering how disappointed many people are. They built up the expectation and grossly under-delivered.

This trend of releasing half-finished games and then fixing it via patches is a transparent money grab, which I think is even more on the nose after their boasting of how RTW2 pre-sales out performed the STW2 pre-sale. Yay... they made so much monies... congratulations?...

I hope it gets better, but I'm not holding my breath. EBII will probably be out and updated before this thing ever gets good ;-)

[quadalpha]

Their marketing materials actually lowered expectations on here, being the smart forum and all.

[Myth]

Look guys, everything that is not right in Rome II can be fixed with patches, so I'm feeling very confident. Lusted is an ex modder, he is one of us, the unwashed gamer masses. Paying attention to community feedback and lots of after sales support will get the game to the level it needs to be. Much better than Jay Wilson's "I FELT THIS IS THE WAY DIABLO IS MEANT TO BE PLAYED SO STFU AND GIVE ME MONEY!"

[ReluctantSamurai]

Look guys, everything that is not right in Rome II can be fixed with patches

This is am not so sure about

I'm not a programmer type so I don't know if things like unit blob in melee combat, or the apparent lack of a meaningful family tree, and of course the brain-dead AI, can be fixed with patching. I'm surprised you've made no mention of the capture-the-flag fiasco...if that feature is not removed from field battles, I'm afraid you will never see any R2 AAR's from ReluctantSamurai

[The Stranger]

"Rome Wasn't Built in a Day"

But Rome 2 was...

[fallen851]

This is am not so sure about

I'm not a programmer type so I don't know if things like unit blob in melee combat, or the apparent lack of a meaningful family tree, and of course the brain-dead AI, can be fixed with patching. I'm surprised you've made no mention of the capture-the-flag fiasco...if that feature is not removed from field battles, I'm afraid you will never see any R2 AAR's from ReluctantSamurai

If not patches, perhaps expansions?

All I can say is, I'm really looking forward to EBII regardless if Rome II pans out.