Total War: Rome II

[Phildo]

I've played the campaign enough now that I've encountered the extremely long delay in between turns that people are complaining about.  It takes a ridiculously long time to work through all the AI's turns.

[Speedy Cerviche]

So the AI is apparently a mess? barely functional from what I've seen.

Shame on CA if true, this is why I never buy their games at release anymore.

[ShenMolo]

I was still playing a modded version of Shogun II last night.

That's the best things about these games, the mods make them playable for years and years.

Even if they suck balls at release they only get better and better.

Downloading it right now.

[Paelos]

Supposedly the patches are already rolling out.

http://www.videogamer.com/pc/rome_ii_total_war/news/total_war_rome_2_patch_live_now_second_patch_coming_next_week.html

Notes:

[satael]

The Horrors Of Total War: Rome II (from SA). Since I haven't played the game myself I don't know how accurate the article is but I thought it was pretty funny.

[Phildo]

Seems like the last patch actually made the game perform worse on my PC.

[Ashamanchill]

This new patch has made it so I can't even load up the game on my pc now. You know what, fuck this game. It's a joke.

Edit. I actually blame myself on this one. I knew this game would be shitty, based on the nonsense me and a buddy went through with SHogun II vis-a-vis Steam. But I went ahead and bought this on release anyways 

[calapine]

My issue aren't not the bugs that can be patched out - they are almost expected with Total War - but some game design decisions.

The UI looks soulless and gives a detached feeling. Instead of giving the feel to control cities with actual buildings one clicks on click on abstract icons. The harbor is an anchor symbol. Improved Harbor is Anchor + roman II. Wee...existing.

No family tree. No seasons that change the look of the map, but instead 1t=1y.

Overall the game feels too streamlined.

[calapine]

CA already is being "sorry":

Hi everyone and thanks for your attention.

We just wanted to reassure you that we do know it’s an extremely annoying and frustrating time for some of you at the moment and we are working around the clock to sort out those issues that you are having. The first patch has just gone up - it's not trouble-free we know and are fixing with a hotfix, but there will be another next week and every week after that till the problems are gone.

At the moment it may seem that the changes are slight, but they aren’t the only ones we are working on currently and bigger changes are happening now for future patches.

If you are having a problem, it is totally unacceptable and a big deal for us, please know that we are spending all our dev effort on fixing outstanding issues.

I realise in our rush to do that we haven’t updated you on the situation, so if you are interested, please read on.

Scale of launch issues
First and foremost let me say that if even one person has a problem running the game we would want to fix it, this is why we’ve set up 24 hour support and if you post in the support forums you will get an answer or discover a solution that’s already posted for your issue.

I appreciate that it doesn’t help to know this if you are somebody having an issue, but the vast majority of people are running the game without problems. At the moment we are seeing 2% of people playing reporting a technical issue. Let me be clear, that is 2% too many and we will be helping them into the game and working very hard to make sure they get the best possible experience.

To these people we are really very sorry that you are having problems, we really want to get you enjoying our game, please do take the time to post your issue in the Support Forum if there isn't a fix for you available in there already.

Technical Issues
ROME II is a big and complex game and, especially on PC, we are always conscious of the wide variety of different combinations of hardware out there and, while we do test extensively before launch, it is clear that we have failed some of you and we will look at the way in which launch games in the future. Again, I know this is scant comfort to you if you have a set-up that is not performing well, but we do intend to fix your specific problem – whoever you are and whatever it is - as soon as we can.

Many issues have been alleviated by the workarounds and system tweaks posted about in the Support Forum, please do head to this thread as your first port of call http://forums.totalwar.com/showthrea...support-forums, if your issue is not solved by stepping through these solutions please do post your issue in the Support Forum and one of the team will get back to you.

Gameplay Issues
If you have concerns on the actual features and mechanics, like gameplay balancing and AI behaviour, we do want to hear about them. As mentioned before launch we absolutely intend to support ROME II post-release with plenty of content, further development and comprehensive balancing through-out – and no I’m not thinking of DLC you have to pay for. We have already planned for some very interesting stuff and we wanted to do that with advice from the community.

Please do keep posting your concerns, our code team are focussing on tech issues to get people playing, but our design teams are very aware of your concerns and are already looking at ways to add further options and rebalance aspects of the game.

You will see our community team dropping into threads to ask questions, please do chat to them, but even if you don’t see a response please do know that we look at the forums every day here and do appreciate what you have to say.

Thank you for reading,

Mike Simpson

[Tannhauser]

For a fucking change I managed some self control and haven't bought this.  Actually playing Rome TW1 right now.  I guess it helps that I'm not a huge TW fan.  When it drops in price and is patched six ways from Sunday I'll get it.

[Dark_MadMax]

I never buy TW games on release. they take a while to get into playable state albeit TW2 seems to have reached new lows in this regard

[kildorn]

I never buy TW games on release. they take a while to get into playable state albeit TW2 seems to have reached new lows in this regard

Rome 2 is just designed poorly. Empire was the lowest point of "seriously, this thing is supposed to function?"

[Paelos]

I had heard nothing but bad things about the actual performance, bugs, and other things from a close friend of mine in beta. He told me in no uncertain terms not to buy the game at release, because as a huge TW fan I would have.

He was right, of course. This thing is a mess right now. I've really REALLY hated the moves they made away from cities and the building UI. That was one of the things that made you feel like you managed an empire. Your cities couldn't usually build everything, but they could focus on cavalry, or melee, or archery, or spies, etc.

The fact they got rid of family trees is just shocking to me. I await the mods and a drop in price. In the meantime I'm still playing Medieval 2.

[Pagz]

Was playing this co-op, was fun until we had a weird de-synch where my ally started a battle and was waiting for me to click participate or spectate, however on my screen their armies weren't anywhere near each other and because I wasn't getting the popup we couldn't progress further. Reloading didn't fix this error so hopefully our next game we can get past turn 11, where 50% of our time playing was waiting for all the a.i turns to finish  .

[jakonovski]

. Empire was the lowest point of "seriously, this thing is supposed to function?"

I have fond memories of AI cavalry units standing still while artillery trains charge my line.

[Teleku]

I had heard nothing but bad things about the actual performance, bugs, and other things from a close friend of mine in beta. He told me in no uncertain terms not to buy the game at release, because as a huge TW fan I would have.

He was right, of course. This thing is a mess right now. I've really REALLY hated the moves they made away from cities and the building UI. That was one of the things that made you feel like you managed an empire. Your cities couldn't usually build everything, but they could focus on cavalry, or melee, or archery, or spies, etc.

The fact they got rid of family trees is just shocking to me. I await the mods and a drop in price. In the meantime I'm still playing Medieval 2.

Yeah, I made the mistake of pre-ordering.  I had hyped myself up for it since they did such a great job with Shogun 2 (IMO, obviously) I thought they had returned to form, and were now remaking my favorite total war game.  Not only is the AI a mess, but the game runs like shit and looks way worse than Shogun.  The UI sucks, and they dumbed the whole damn game down.  No more multi faction Roman Republic being commanded around by a senate, with eventual all out civil war gangbang.  Just one faction.  No family line.  For fuck sake, Shogun 2 had family lines! 

How is there such a massive difference in design philosophy and programming ability between these two games?  WTF happened?

Though on the town building thing, you still had to specialize in Shogun 2.  You were limited by the plots of lands pretty heavily, so you had to decide what each city would specialize in.

[Megrim]

Hey, uh, does anyone know where I can pick up Shogun and Medieval, the original games? I was hoping that Steam would have them, but it turns out to not be the case.

[Dark_MadMax]

How is there such a massive difference in design philosophy and programming ability between these two games?  WTF happened?

competent people could have left and/or working on another projects. very premature release could also be a large factor ( I heard a lot of bad things about empire, but I bought it recently and its quite decent game as of 1.6 patch,  with many flaws but nothing fundamentally broken except sieges)

[calapine]

Another  : tin foil: reason might be that CA is officially considering porting Rome 2 to next-gen consoles.

[Paelos]

Another  : tin foil: reason might be that CA is officially considering porting Rome 2 to next-gen consoles.

Take it back.

[Paelos]

Patch 2 is out, with more bug fixes:

[Ceryse]

Looks like field battles still have the flag of stupidity, though, so still not going back to play it yet. That, coupled with the UI and sheer lack of 'something' (soul., I guess?) just makes the game tedious and unfun to play.

That and my game went from no performance issues and no crashes at all, on max settings, to crashing every 20-30 minutes since the first patch.

Honestly, Rome 2 would have been a great game -- if it had been the very first entrance into the Total War series. But this late in the series they should know how to make fun games and avoid retarded design decisions.. and yet they get further and further away. Shogun 2 was a step towards the right direction. Rome 2 is several steps back. I'm not worried about having pre-ordered the game; I'll eventually get enough play out of it. It is, however, the last CA game I'll be buying, however, for more than a couple bucks during a Steam Sale.

[Phildo]

A guy I declared war on has one city left, and someone else is sieging it.  Every turn, the other army lifts the siege and immediately resieges the town.  This has been going on for about 40 turns, with my own army stuck squatting there and waiting for a resolution.

[Khaldun]

I think it's pretty clear that they're trying to do this on a shoestring development budget and just coast on the goodwill towards the whole series in order to get box sales early which will then fund the necessary six months worth of patches. Definitely not something any of us should reward with a buy.

[Lemming]

Hey, uh, does anyone know where I can pick up Shogun and Medieval, the original games? I was hoping that Steam would have them, but it turns out to not be the case.

If you're OK with physical media, you can always check out Amazon.  I can't find a US site where you can purchase and download these games, but the EU Sega store has them available for download.

Shogun: http://eu.download-shop.sega.com/buy-download-pc-games/Shogun-Total-War-Gold-511-43.html
Medieval: http://eu.download-shop.sega.com/buy-download-pc-games/Medieval-Total-War-Gold-510-43.html

[Mortriden]

Hey, uh, does anyone know where I can pick up Shogun and Medieval, the original games? I was hoping that Steam would have them, but it turns out to not be the case.

If you're OK with physical media, you can always check out Amazon.  I can't find a US site where you can purchase and download these games, but the EU Sega store has them available for download.

Shogun: http://eu.download-shop.sega.com/buy-download-pc-games/Shogun-Total-War-Gold-511-43.html
Medieval: http://eu.download-shop.sega.com/buy-download-pc-games/Medieval-Total-War-Gold-510-43.html

Be sure to look for the new patches, might even have to be fan based.  I tried to re-install these a year or so ago and Win 7 didn't work well with it.  Lots of CTD's. 

[calapine]

Nomadic Tribes Culture Pack New DLC for Rome that is free until the 29th October. So no reason not to download it really.

New Features:

New Playable Factions – The Roxolani, Massagetae and Royal Scythians each offer a unique new way to experience the campaign, with their own rosters of powerful military units, distinct traits and play styles.

The Roxolani gain wealth from their skills as migrant traders, and as committed conquerors, fight harder when in enemy territory; the Royal Scythians are experts with the bow, and enjoy increased wealth through their high degree of craftsmanship; and the fierce independence of the Massagetae leads them to fight harder when defending their territory, while their expertise in animal husbandry means increased income from livestock.

New Cultural Traits – All Nomadic Tribes benefit from extra recruitment slots in their home provinces, enabling them to raise armies swiftly. They have also refined raiding and looting to an art-form, and their forces gather greater wealth through raiding than other factions.

New Cultural Objectives – The Nomadic Tribes have their own new set of military, economic and cultural victory conditions, as well as sharing a unique set of bonus objectives drawn from the history of The Steppes. Additionally, each faction will have to contend with its unique events and dilemmas.

New Military Tradition – The armies of the Nomadic Tribes can benefit from a unique new military tradition: Nomadic Horde. This tradition increases the movement range of the army, increases its unit morale when fighting in enemy territory and, commensurate with the tribes’ heavy use of horse and rider, reduces the recruitment costs of cavalry units.

[Paelos]

Have they remotely fixed anything?

[calapine]

Have they remotely fixed anything?

I wouldn't know. My plan is to wait out a few more patches and then find the most recommended overhaul mod.

[Paelos]

Our plans are similar. I'm waiting for the Winter Sale.

[Speedy Cerviche]

I don't play it but keep track. They've been patching frequently which has fixed up a lot of the worst crap and made the game decent especially with some of the player AI tweaks. They still plan to keep patching so maybe in a few more months it will be pretty respectable.

Waiting for winter sale would most likely hit a sweet spot of significantly better game and better price.

[Mithas]

This is 25% off on Steam in case someone wanted to pick it up. I think I might still wait until the Christmas to see if it goes on sale again.

[Phildo]

I haven't played it since week 1, have the patches been effective?

[Paelos]

I haven't played it since week 1, have the patches been effective?

I don't think anybody here is actually playing it yet. I might be wrong. Apparently by the notes they are working on Patch #7 (in basically 2 months, yikes). So, it seems like they are committed to not making it suck.

[Teleku]

Yeah, I also haven't touched it since the first two days it was released.  I'm going to hold back and not pay attention until somebody is brave enough to come here and make a post saying its actually kinda fun/playable now.