First Impressions

[Lord of the Isles]

Very First Impression - in shop

CELLOPHANE WRAPPED BOX! OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY... <- all games create this feeling in me

Next Impressions - on installing

I had a activation code problem for a couple of hours, drove me crazy but partly my fault.

First Worthwhile Impressions - on playing first day

So many little hassles, and a few bigger ones. A small selection:

-- manual too small to be useful
-- deleting save games - not possible in-game, took me an hour to track down where CA saves them
-- cannons need micromanaged - friendly fire - overriding targets I choose - aarrgghh
-- CTD around turn 19, reload repeats CTD, load from earlier save, another CTD at turn 34, restart game
-- tracing a new location for a group move while at x4 speed regularly doesn't work - group sits where they are
-- have mapped Pause key to 'toggle pause' along with the default 'p', but it doesn't work as well, needs 2 or 3 hits sometimes
-- diplomacy offers cannot be minimized so I can go check on info regarding offer
-- stretching out a new formation should use unit frontages proportional to remaining men in unit - this stopped working from RTW onwards
-- no autosaves before current turn?
-- troop movement too fast in battles - only played mods of M2TW for so long I had forgotten the soldiers on speed effect
-- annoyed at trade zone problem till I found evidence in forums it was a bug they are working on
-- had to downgrade graphics driver for nvidia 8800 GTS since recent one may interact badly with ETW

I don't remember so many little niggles in a TW game before, nor so many posts in the fan forums with problems on the first day of a release (though Steam has undoubtedly increased this number). And I could go on. But I won't because of:

Final First Impressions - after leaving computer on first day

AARRGGHHH! MY NECK AND BACK REALLY HURT!

I couldn't believe how sore I suddenly was. Because I'd just spent hours without moving perched awkwardly on the edge of my chair, hands clutching the mouse and keyboard trying to get the most out of my country and its troops, wondering what was going to happen next. So for all the moans and issues I have with the game, that's one day of damn enjoyable gaming (excepting the odd few wasted hours) that I didn't want to end.

So the game clearly has potential. Too early to say whether it will live up to that potential but we'll see. Now you must excuse me: I have to go land some troops and find Mughal Empire territories to conquer. This time, having restarted my game as Britain, I've got there before the Maratha Confederacy has taken over most of the continent.

[quadalpha]

-- tracing a new location for a group move while at x4 speed regularly doesn't work - group sits where they are
-- have mapped Pause key to 'toggle pause' along with the default 'p', but it doesn't work as well, needs 2 or 3 hits sometimes

Those seem to be related problems that happen when you don't have a high frame rate; they are probably due to the game's not having a keypress buffer.