Terrible pathfinding in towns

**Kralizec** · 05-26-2007, 14:19

Well, in 1.5 (or was it already 1.3?) units occasionally spread out across hundreds of metres for no apparant reason. Sometimes when a unit is fighting, you see men moonwalking backwards while pretending they're being hit by invisible weapons. Add some pathfinding issues in settlements and some other bugs that were there since 1.0, and 1.5/6 is still by far the best functioning version of RTW IMO, wich is saying something.

However:

Originally Posted by bovi

I suppose they thought gameplay issues could be fixed later, when they saw what the most people were reacting to. I find it odd that some of the items discussed here have not been fixed throughout the patches, though. There are workarounds to all the problems of course, and they're not gamekillers, but still very noticeable.

For stat/cost ballancing this approach is okay, but it's not limited to that. When I purchase a game I don't think I should have to wait months for a patch that will remove the siege bug, save/reload, horse archer bug...and so on.

Looking at some of the posts in the MTW2 forum it seems to be even worse for that - completely passive AI, 2-handed weapons not attacking at all due to an animation bug, and so on...in a finished product?

EDIT: fixed quote tags

**Ludens** · 05-26-2007, 15:16

Krazilec, that quote is from bovi, not me.

**bovi** · 05-26-2007, 15:28

As Blacksnail put it in another thread concerning the amount of bugs in shipped products:

This was the most recent game I could find without bugs.

People are perfectly willing to buy bugged games to get them early. Therefore, publishers are pushing developers to release early. If everyone returned every game with bugs there would be no games with bugs. Then again, there would be no games.

**blank** · 05-26-2007, 16:49

Originally Posted by bovi

If everyone returned every game with bugs there would be no games with bugs. Then again, there would be no games.

that doesn't make any kind of sense. Are you telling me a professional developer team who work on the game every day are not able to fix even the major bugs? Then i wonder how the hell they could make the game in the first place

Yeah, sieges might be nightmarish in RTW, but i at least expected them to be fixed in M2TW. Then i found out that they are exactly as bad in M2, and the game also slows to a crawl. My humble suggestion is to stop making expansions and FIX the f*****g game first, but what do i know

**Kralizec** · 05-26-2007, 17:04

Small bugs are inevitable and I can accept that. They're not the point, though. Stuff like the passive AI bug and the 2-handed weapon animation bug are the marks of a beta version, and beta versions should not be shipped out to stores.

Originally Posted by bovi

People are perfectly willing to buy bugged games to get them early. Therefore, publishers are pushing developers to release early. If everyone returned every game with bugs there would be no games with bugs. Then again, there would be no games.

There's the problem. RTW was a learning experience for me. I didn't get RTW until the 1.2 patch was out for a pretty long while, but 1.3 & 1.5 were a long time away. To be fair I wouldn't return a game for the load/save bug alone but I wouldn't be willing to pay a full 50 bucks for it either (wich I didn't)

If people had higher overall standards about what they expect for their money, developers would gladly spend another 3 months hunting down the largest of bugs, knowing that it would earn them more money.

**bovi** · 05-26-2007, 21:17

The sense is that if everyone returned games that had a bug, no developer would recover their costs. Which are legion. Of course they are able to fix the bugs. But it costs a lot. Cost-effectiveness is the watchword here.

**neoiq5719** · 05-26-2007, 22:11

Originally Posted by bovi

The sense is that if everyone returned games that had a bug, no developer would recover their costs. Which are legion. Of course they are able to fix the bugs. But it costs a lot. Cost-effectiveness is the watchword here.

And doesnt it cost any money to start working on patches to fix screw-ups too?
So why didnt they just do it before the release of the game and not after, u sound like by the time CA finished the game, they didnt have a single pound left in the bank.Come on is just a matter of serious work, planning and above all proffessionalism for me.

**Watchman** · 05-26-2007, 22:37

Originally Posted by neoiq5719

And doesnt it cost any money to start working on patches to fix screw-ups too?

Maybe, but at that point the game's already in stores and making money right ? The longer the pre-release developement takes the longer the firm is just losing money, after all.