Interesting insights into the mindset of a person who likes ETW in its current state

[BeenPlayingSinceRTW]

So I was browsing through the recent Amazon.com reviews of ETW ( http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Total-W...DateDescending ) to try and get a sense of whether or not the recent patch has fixed most of the problems, and ETW is ready for me to buy. It seems like the patch results so far have been mixed to negative.

I came across one extremely positive review among a sea of negative reviews... I was curious so I clicked through to see what other types of products had gotten a favorable review from this guy. The other products this person wrote reviews for are very revealing - check it out: http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-...stRecentReview

When I read that guy's other reviews, I gained some understanding about the differences between people who can be happy with ETW in its current form, and those of us who are waiting until it improves.

What do others think?

[Vuk]

ummm...he likes airsoft? So what? Is that suddenly something negative?

[crpcarrot]

umm i dont think anyone is "happy" with the way it is just different degrees of how long they are willing to wait for a patch and those who think it should have been released on time and those who beleive it should ahve been finished first. well if it was not released till "finished" all these argumemnts would be redundant and people would be comlaining of the delay. i dont usually buy games this early during release but fortunately/unfortunately (delete as approriate) i was in the mall and poped into game while waiting for my wife on the day the game was released :P

[Jason X]

What do others think?

i think you should stop starting threads that can only end in flames

[crpcarrot]

i think you should stop starting threads that can only end in flames

why should u flame anyone who just posted his opinion

[antisocialmunky]

I don't htink he intends to but not everyone else is so self controlled.

[Beskar]

The same as to the same standard as Vanilla Rome: Total War. Since I never played M2TW I am not missing much and otherwise its a good game, but yes, there can always beeen improvements and it always can be better so which is why I am looking forward to some of the patchs to fix the bugs and mods to fix the rest.

[johnhughthom]

When I read that guy's other reviews, I gained some understanding about the differences between people who can be happy with ETW in its current form, and those of us who are waiting until it improves.

What do others think?

The idea one persons opinion gives an understanding of everybody who is ok with ETW in it's current state is almost as funny as your one sided "poll".

[Dayve]

I'm happy with it, but then I've been PC gaming for 10 years, and i learned to accept long ago that when a game comes out it comes out buggy as hell and you have to wait for it to improve over time, and that's just the way it is and it can never be changed, so there's no point in whining.

Besides, the game is fairly stable and I've had 2 CTD's since i bought it on the second day it came out.

[Beskar]

Should bar him from this section, he obviously can't comment on the actual game since he doesn't even own it to play to actually give an opinion. He is the type of person who would go on a Jamie Oliver cookbook website and just say all the food tastes bad saying he will only buy the food "in 6 months" when it has apparently improved, even though he has never tasted the food in the first place.

Fact is, he would probably won't enjoy the game in the first place even if he did play and thats not because of the game itself, it would be the grossly overblown the tiniest of things just he saw and he would look for ways to hate it and moan about it.

[Vuk]

It was not him saying that there is something wrong with people (like me) who bought ETW early that annoyed me, it was his insinuation that there is something wrong with liking airsoft toys. :P

[Beskar]

It was not him saying that there is something wrong with people (like me) who bought ETW early that annoyed me, it was his insinuation that there is something wrong with liking airsoft toys. :P

Nah they are fine. But some one actually saying the Sony PSP is better than a Nintendo DS obviously has something wrong with them.

[johnhughthom]

It was not him saying that there is something wrong with people (like me) who bought ETW early that annoyed me, it was his insinuation that there is something wrong with liking airsoft toys. :P

Indeed, what did this guy do that deserves being ridiculed here?

[BeenPlayingSinceRTW]

Should bar him from this section, he obviously can't comment on the actual game since he doesn't even own it to play to actually give an opinion. He is the type of person who would go on a Jamie Oliver cookbook website and just say all the food tastes bad saying he will only buy the food "in 6 months" when it has apparently improved, even though he has never tasted the food in the first place.

Fact is, he would probably won't enjoy the game in the first place even if he did play and thats not because of the game itself, it would be the grossly overblown the tiniest of things just he saw and he would look for ways to hate it and moan about it.

Aren't I entitled to an opinion?

I liked the earlier games (RTW, RTW:BI, M2TW) but it's my opinion that ETW is a beta that got rushed out the door to meet a deadline. When it's production-quality, I will probably buy it.

But I see no reason to kiss CA's hind quarters - game devs should not get a free pass. I'm not the only one who feels this way, just take a look at the Amazon.com reviews of the game.

[Vuk]

Aren't I entitled to an opinion?

I liked the earlier games (RTW, RTW:BI, M2TW) but it's my opinion that ETW is a beta that got rushed out the door to meet a deadline. When it's production-quality, I will probably buy it.

But I see no reason to kiss CA's hind quarters - game devs should not get a free pass. I'm not the only one who feels this way, just take a look at the Amazon.com reviews of the game.

You are perfectly entitled to your opinion, and to an extent I (as someone who owns and plays the game) share the opinion, but you still have not told us what insight we were supposed to have gotten by looking at his other reviews. What exactly was so bad?

[BeenPlayingSinceRTW]

You are perfectly entitled to your opinion, and to an extent I (as someone who owns and plays the game) share the opinion, but you still have not told us what insight we were supposed to have gotten by looking at his other reviews. What exactly was so bad?

Three words: Lowest Common Denominator.

From his other reviews, it would appear that he is about 13 years old. He's not looking for a complex game - he doesn't care about the passive AI. He probably hasn't played any of the other Total War titles so he doesn't know what he's missing. He's not concerned with the historical context. He's not looking for any depth. He probably already had a Steam account so he could play Half-Life or Left for Dead. He's a 13-year old fanboi. (Not that there's anything wrong with that) Give him some great graphics and effects and he will be happy until the next game of the week comes along.

He is who CA were targeting with this release of the game - the Lowest Common Denominator. In fact, I'll bet if enough people like that kid go out and buy the game in it's current state, it will never get patched to a level of quality comparable to the other TW titles... Why should CA opatch it, when that kid is going to be bored with the game in a month, and downloading something new into his Steam account?

[hellenes]

Three words: Lowest Common Denominator.

From his other reviews, it would appear that he is about 13 years old. He's not looking for a complex game - he doesn't care about the passive AI. He probably hasn't played any of the other Total War titles so he doesn't know what he's missing. He's not concerned with the historical context. He's not looking for any depth. He probably already had a Steam account so he could play Half-Life or Left for Dead. He's a 13-year old fanboi. (Not that there's anything wrong with that) Give him some great graphics and effects and he will be happy until the next game of the week comes along.

He is who CA were targeting with this release of the game - the Lowest Common Denominator. In fact, I'll bet if enough people like that kid go out and buy the game in it's current state, it will never get patched to a level of quality comparable to the other TW titles... Why should CA opatch it, when that kid is going to be bored with the game in a month, and downloading something new into his Steam account?

Youre forgetting that CA had stated just before RTW came out that they are targeting 10 years olds as their new customers.....you should understand that youre buying the license to use their ENGINE....not the game itself which is not design for you....
Thanks god I hate the era...back to M2TW+mods for me...

[Vuk]

Three words: Lowest Common Denominator.

From his other reviews, it would appear that he is about 13 years old. He's not looking for a complex game - he doesn't care about the passive AI. He probably hasn't played any of the other Total War titles so he doesn't know what he's missing. He's not concerned with the historical context. He's not looking for any depth. He probably already had a Steam account so he could play Half-Life or Left for Dead. He's a 13-year old fanboi. (Not that there's anything wrong with that) Give him some great graphics and effects and he will be happy until the next game of the week comes along.

He is who CA were targeting with this release of the game - the Lowest Common Denominator. In fact, I'll bet if enough people like that kid go out and buy the game in it's current state, it will never get patched to a level of quality comparable to the other TW titles... Why should CA opatch it, when that kid is going to be bored with the game in a month, and downloading something new into his Steam account?

Not necassarily. I know lots of adults who love airsofts. And seriously, how have ANY of the Total War games not treated history like a floormat? I do not think that Empire does it any worse than the others. Also, while you are right that the casual, young gamer is likely who they are trying to please, you overlook the fact that many Total War veterans bought and like the game as well. (adult Total War players at that) Myself, I was dissappointed.
You saying that because one person, you are making the rather unsupported assumption is an uncaring casual gamer of a young age, likes the game, that everyone who likes the game is imatture and young is about as valid as me pointing to any single Total War veteran who bought and loves the game. A single case says nothing about the whole in this case. For that reason I do not agree with you and think that you are being rather unfair.

[MadKow]

I'm 42 years old, and am fairly happy with the game as it is. I've been playing games, namely strategy games, since the days of the ZX Spectrum. They were never perfect. Never. I still had fun.

The only thing that makes me say "fairly" is the fact that the latest patched introduced CTD's in my stable installation, so in order to fix some people problems, they messed with some that didn't had any. I got over it by doing the workaround provided somewhere else (patch file rollback).

Since no one here can guess how stable the game will be on the OP computer, it's impossible to tell if it is a good idea for him to purchase it or not.

Now for the flame part: i don't think it's good idea to call someone a 13 year old (as if it's a bad thing in itself) when you act like a 16 year old (which i personally think is a poor age to have and everyone should skip).

[Tsavong]

So he said

This game is defenitly worth $50.00. It has great replay value awesome interface sweet graphics and super good campaigns.

And from that and the other short reviews he has written you conclude he is the Lowest common denominator, a term is used figuratively to refer to the "lowest"—least useful, least advanced, or similar. Seems quite an offensive to say to me.

And I don't even see anything wrong with his review Empire has replay value, a easy to use interface and nice graphics even on my 8600GTS.

Oh and I'm not 10 I'm far older.

[PBI]

One could argue the OP is trolling.

I'd be interested to hear what other motivation there is for starting a thread purportedly showing that those who like ETW are immature, in a forum dedicated to ETW.

[Gargravarr]

i think you should stop starting threads that can only end in flames

Fire extinguisher on standby.....

The thing is, everyone has their own opinion. I am another "old" gamer (no offense to those who are saying they are over 20(as I am... by a long way) just phraseology) and, while there are issues at times and I am aware that the games not historically accurate I do enjoy playing it. I also got frustrated before with some of the AI even my own troops panicked and ran at the sight of the enemy having muskets in one battle(that annoyed me a lot!) but in the end it is a game not an historically accurate depiction of the events of the 18th century and should be seen as such.

The simplest way to see it is like these events in a not too dissimilar parallel universe or something and just enjoy the game for what it is a RTS game.

[Vuk]

So he said

And from that and the other short reviews he has written you conclude he is the Lowest common denominator, a term is used figuratively to refer to the "lowest"—least useful, least advanced, or similar. Seems quite an offensive to say to me.

And I don't even see anything wrong with his review Empire has replay value, a easy to use interface and nice graphics even on my 8600GTS.

Oh and I'm not 10 I'm far older.

That is a good point. The wording used implies that 13 year old gamers (I was one once :P) are inferior and something low. Not exactly a polite thing to be saying about people. I know that at that age I was a history nerd, an ammature programmer, and had pretty good tastes in games. I think I would have been quite offended at that statement.

[Quickening]

I'm 25, love hardcore strategy games like Europa Universalis and Galactic Civilizations and I think that Empire Total War is awesome as it is.
Seriously have some perspective. You really think the average buyer is burrowing deep into the stats to see whether this or that is historically accurate, balanced or whatever? They aren't. They're enjoying the game.
It's a shame that there are some people having crashes and what not, but I, and a lot of other people have had no problem at all with the game.

[risker]

I agree entirley. why are people so negative about it when they should be counting yourself lucky it works. my pc makes it bearly works yet i still find it amazing even on low graphics...

[Hooahguy]

ugh... a troll.... go back to the official forums, ok?
also know that most reviewers on amazons are farces.

[Beskar]

If you want the mature and not a 13 year old's opinion, then actually, you have to disregard majority of the whine posts.

I am not talking about legitimate case of a CTD which needs a fix, that is for CA to handle. However, there are a vast majority of whine-posts concerning issues that are either not a bug/not in the game, which are so minor you can wait till its 'fixed' in a game mod, or just because they like whining.

Games are all about having fun. It is not that one faction has a letter e out of place, or that the graphics could be better. I have currently got to the point where the game time compared to initial cost is currently 20p per hour.

20p per hour, you wouldn't even bat an eyelid at it. The fact is, there is still more into the game in it's current state to get more out of it. Then soon there will be all the modifications out for the game, the alternative campaign maps and all these other factors, it will come to the point where the game comes to the point where it will be worth less than 1p per hour for the vast enjoyment I got out of it. Well worth the initial money spend.

[Vuk]

If you want the mature and not a 13 year old's opinion, then actually, you have to disregard majority of the whine posts.

I am not talking about legitimate case of a CTD which needs a fix, that is for CA to handle. However, there are a vast majority of whine-posts concerning issues that are either not a bug/not in the game, which are so minor you can wait till its 'fixed' in a game mod, or just because they like whining.

Games are all about having fun. It is not that one faction has a letter e out of place, or that the graphics could be better. I have currently got to the point where the game time compared to initial cost is currently 20p per hour.

20p per hour, you wouldn't even bat an eyelid at it. The fact is, there is still more into the game in it's current state to get more out of it. Then soon there will be all the modifications out for the game, the alternative campaign maps and all these other factors, it will come to the point where the game comes to the point where it will be worth less than 1p per hour for the vast enjoyment I got out of it. Well worth the initial money spend.

To be fair, there are many honest complaints out there that are quite right. I do not think it is at all fair to brand critiscm of the game as "whining". Sure there is some whining, but there are also a lot of good points made by people who feel that the game is not what they were promised.

[BeeSting]

A good advise.

This will be the last time I purchase a game from Creative Assembly within the first six months of launch and I would advise others to do the same. Not to send a message to CA (though they deserve a swift kick to the junk for this scam), but to save yourself the money and the frustration.

I'd rather wait 1 year. That's about how long it takes for a good mod to emerge.

[lugh]

Indeed, what did this guy do that deserves being ridiculed here?

Uh, he posted something on the internet? That's grounds for flames in the interweb rule book, 17th edition.