So this is where CA is taking the series

[Puzz3D]

Studio marketing manager Ian Roxburgh statement about RTW in an interview with GamesDomain Games Domain interview :

"We're genuinely at a point where the player is effectively commanding and participating in a battle scene from films like Braveheart and Gladiator."

and also:

"The work of Ridley Scott has been my personal inspiration for some of the in-game cinematics and movies in the game."


It would appear that the goal of Creative Assembly is to make the gameplay resemble recent movies.

[Admin]

Hello,

This sounds like old days gamers/fans are sold out so to say. I feel this conclusion is drawn too fast.

I don't think I'ld fancy a Braveheart and Gladiator game type either, but it may just mean that it equals the graphical immersion. I do not, never did and never will, see an effort to please the masses as a bad thing if .
Please the masses means sales, and sales means more resources to improve the product.

The if seems to be there, very clearly. The game may not be perfect off the box for fanatic wargamers or history experts, but the toggles, configuration and modding tools are there. I'm very happy to get rid of the unitflags, green arrows and to have restricted general camera by just changing a few things in Preferences.txt (there will be a full GUI in the full game too, no doubt). I doubt the masses will care a bit about these details, this stuff is there for those few who like it. Software can only be splendid when there is freedom for each user to configure it. Big sales are required to make anything of this possible. For all I care, the next game is Pokemon(R):Totalwar.

[Warmaker]

We'll see how much changes will be implemented when the game goes gold. I of course have the opinion that it will not drastically change but I hope for some tweaks to cater to us older Total War players.

If not, and if the game is as easily modable as they say, then I can see the Total War community "addressing" what needs to be addressed... the same way it has always been, especially with Medieval.

[Papewaio]

For all I care, the next game is Pokemon(R):Totalwar.

Hi everyone my name is Papewaio.

I have Pokemon for the Nintendo 64.

Thats the first step right?

Admitting to your peers you have a problem.

Peer support is needed for those who have used such games as this.

[Shahed]

LOL !

Yeap, this is where TW is going.

[Puzz3D]

Well, I agree Tosa. It's not the programmers who are going in that direction. It's the marketing managers, and they are getting their way, so they must be in a very powerful position within Creative Assembly. However, all is not lost because I expect the programmers will make the game modable. As I recall, there have been posts made by CA which said the game would be highly modable. Apparently, making the game modable is not seen by the market managers as hurting sales or you can be sure the programmers would be prohibited from doing it. Sending suggestions to CA on how to improve the game is pointless because the manager is going to throw the suggestions in the wastebasket.

We now have to anticipate that to retain a high level of tactical gameplay in multiplayer we are going to have to play a modded game. That means playing a small fraction of the number of opponents you might otherwise play. Most players will stick with the regular game while the rest will fracture over several mods.

[Admin]

Hello Yuuki,

Hmm, sending in suggestions to the right people can't hurt. And actually, we can't blame marketing either. If they do their job well (huge sales) then all gamers gain too. And to be even more fair, coders can smu.. cough.. in some bits, but making modding a serious part of the game is something different. I'm not sure whether Market managers decide about that, but programmers need permission from the boss(es) to do that.

Modding is a proved 'concept', both here and in other games. The left hand needs the right one to wash both.

Not necessarily Yuuki. The demo shows another level, there's the option to set realism in the demo by changing some configuration, there can be more in the full game and also MP. Possibilities enough.

More people or less people, that's an interesting topic. It's true that different settings could create several camps. That's always been the case anyway: people insisting on playing 60k battles, flat maps and so on.
But I agree, different mods will probably split it up more. The counter effect is that the different styles will attract more people. As long as old/regular players have a pool of say 100 players there won't be a negative effect compared to the old situation. Look at it from another way, would RTW bring in 1,000's of new MP gamers if it was just an improved old style MTW? I fear not, STW/MTW are undoubtely great fun, but not everyones meal.

Absolutely nightcrawlerblue. I've played some 'alternatives', Kraellins mortars spring to mind. Great fun, it had little to do with realism, but great fun.

[Degtyarev14.5]

As I recall, there have been posts made by CA which said the game would be highly modable. Apparently, making the game modable is not seen by the market managers as hurting sales or you can be sure the programmers would be prohibited from doing it. Sending suggestions to CA on how to improve the game is pointless because the manager is going to throw the suggestions in the wastebasket.

Which publisher or developer in the post-Counterstrike era has been adverse to modding? Now, more than ever before, modding fulfills a crucial role within the gaming community.

I have been thinking about this extensively over the past couple of weeks, and I have arrived at the conclusion that the product is no longer the game, but the engine itself. Why else are today's games - almost without exception - released in an unfinished state? Because they are little more than a skin within which to sell the engine to the 10-15 year old "fan boyz" demographic. W00t!!

Today's game is now little more than a means to an end. The engine, and the distribution thereof, is that end.

To support this thesis, I would point to the sheer number of games suffering from intolerable imbalance issues in their "from the box" state, a notable case in point being the hideously biased Command and Conquer: Generals. I can not think of a better example of an atrociously imbalanced game built upon a breathtaking graphics engine.

I would also draw attention to the widespread release of modding tools to the general public by the developers. Bethesda Softworks provides perhaps the best example of this practice in packaging their Elder Scrolls Construction Set with Morrowind.

Developers and publishers survive, of course, upon the revenue from their games as they come "from the box," but I am now utterly convinced that they regard their games as secondary to their engines. These engines are their gifts and tributes to their core fan bases, and I believe that the Rome: Total War engine is Creative Assembly's magnificent gesture of gratitude to us for our continued support and patronage.

I look forward to modding it into oblivion and back!

A.

[nightcrawlerblue]

the next game is Pokemon(R):Totalwar.

Actually that might be pretty cool if done right...