When did Creative Assembly become a symbol of evil?

[Graphic]

Well said mate. I've had the same feelings for several weeks. The hyperbolic ranting that goes on in games forums is pretty depressing. It really puts me off bothering being part of a community when the slightest problem is a 'gamebreaker', and the slightest sign of enthusiasm is subject to a gruelling browbeating.

I think the most depressing is the seeming lack of ability to appreciate what it takes to produce a game like M2TW. In all my 30 years of video gaming (I began on the Atari 2600 VCS, hence the screen name) I've seen a lot of advances. Games then were smaller in data size than your average WP document today (though they still had bugs ).

If only people could appreciate that with the levels of complexity we have now, that there are inevitably going to be glitches. Pointing them out, being a bit irritated by and/or suggesting work arounds to the community - fine. But piling the pressure on an already hard-pressed developer with rants of 'gamebreaker, blah-blah...' and 'my hard-earned cash, blah-blah...', seems tant amount to bullying. Who would ever bother to be a game developer again?

There seem to be too many people on these kinds of forums with a wildly distorted view of what it is to produce a game.

Nicely put. Agree 100%.

I didnt think the £29.99 i paid for MTWII was worth it though, It made me very angry that i had to change my hole PC make up just to suit one game

I was running M2TW on my previous machine at 1.0, just barely, BARELY, meeting the minimum specs, and I didn't have to change anything about my PC settings or hardware. Are you sure you met the system requirements or didn't have some huge problem on your end?

[Satyr]

Quite frankly, the anger was even more intense after Rome was released. There was even a campaign to smear RTW on Amazon. The problem is that the same problems exist in the game 2 years later so someone has made a decision that decent AI is NOT important in the Total War games. I am sure that it is a monetary decision and comes down to the fact that out of the hundreds of thousands (millions yet?) that buy the game, only a few are serious enough about the game to care. The average noob only spends a few weeks/months playing and just wants to win so a crappy AI is an asset.

I have only encountered 2 strategic game developers that really care about their AI and they are Firaxis (Civ4) and Stardock (Galactic Civ2). CA just isn't one of those companies that puts the time and resources into creating a challenging game. They were when they started, but they haven't been in a long time. When you realize this, and that they probably have valid monetary reasons, you will realize that it is time to move onto other company's games if an AI is actually important to you. I know I have.

[SpencerH]

Quite frankly, the anger was even more intense after Rome was released. There was even a campaign to smear RTW on Amazon. The problem is that the same problems exist in the game 2 years later so someone has made a decision that decent AI is NOT important in the Total War games. I am sure that it is a monetary decision and comes down to the fact that out of the hundreds of thousands (millions yet?) that buy the game, only a few are serious enough about the game to care. The average noob only spends a few weeks/months playing and just wants to win so a crappy AI is an asset.

I have only encountered 2 strategic game developers that really care about their AI and they are Firaxis (Civ4) and Stardock (Galactic Civ2). CA just isn't one of those companies that puts the time and resources into creating a challenging game. They were when they started, but they haven't been in a long time. When you realize this, and that they probably have valid monetary reasons, you will realize that it is time to move onto other company's games if an AI is actually important to you. I know I have.

Just to be clear to those who werent here. It wasnt a smear campaign. We have every right to put our opinions onto amazon about the items listed there. I actually bought RTW at Amazon and felt quite OK about posting my opinions of it. Certain CA members here did get a little "miffed" though.