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Joker II		#41	[url]	[-]
Posts: 2855 11/04/09 12:04:35 Taisho	yakaspat wrote: SenseiTW wrote: emperor77 wrote: is the battle AI blog coming any time soon? That is indeed a topic that Mike will discuss in a future blog. No problem, it's only been nine months since I bought the game, maybe I'll be able to play it with a working battle AI in another nine months. Funny how the "commercial reality" struck ETW and not the other games I'm playing. Maybe CA should consider a new publisher after this debacle. Seeing they're owned by SEGA and therefore are a part of SEGA, I very much doubt this from happening, only thing that could happen is that several of the employees at the Horsham studio would start their own company and create a similar type of game ! If it's not written in their contract that they are not allowed to of course.
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shireknight		#42	[url]	[-]
Posts: 10282 11/04/09 14:13:02 Administrator	Joker II wrote: yakaspat wrote: SenseiTW wrote: emperor77 wrote: is the battle AI blog coming any time soon? That is indeed a topic that Mike will discuss in a future blog. No problem, it's only been nine months since I bought the game, maybe I'll be able to play it with a working battle AI in another nine months. Funny how the "commercial reality" struck ETW and not the other games I'm playing. Maybe CA should consider a new publisher after this debacle. Seeing they're owned by SEGA and therefore are a part of SEGA, I very much doubt this from happening, only thing that could happen is that several of the employees at the Horsham studio would start their own company and create a similar type of game ! If it's not written in their contract that they are not allowed to of course. Funnily enough I was just thinking this myself a few weeks ago, it's not a one way street anymore with publishers able to order developers around as they see fit. Both Bullfrog Productions and Westwood Studios have proved that if their publishers push them too hard then the major players are quite capable of just quitting and starting new companies, companies that can be successful in their own rights. Anyhow enough about discussing CA, this thread is about Mike's blog so can we get back on topic please
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Mandelus		#43	[url]	[-]
Posts: 144 11/04/09 14:17:36	Well, sometimes I'm not sure if everyone really understand the Blog's .... most comments have nothing to do about the words he wrote and even sometimes native English or Americans (I'm not, I'm half German and Polish) seems not able to read his words or interpret told things into the opposite thing as it was written .... However, the pressure on the games market is high and there was no game really free of bugs, also with this reason of arket pressure. To make money with the game as their product is normal, but here we have another problem. When a game is released with problems, they need to be fixed with patches, no doubt. But when patches make things more worse for no minority of players or even cause bugs, then the question is allowed "who on hell makes the quality management?!" When f.e a player was still pleased with the game, no crashes and only the common problems and bugs as everyone has (and not even 1 mod installed) and then after the last patch he all ways had in 1 hour 6 crashes, the question about qualities is serious as of the reasons! His configuration of the PC is surely not the reason, because 1 day before everything runs all right! Also in this term it is the question why on hell is after a patch suddenly the older video card driver necessary instead of the actual? I'm not talking about no name cards, I'm talking about NVIDIA! Also I must ask, which blind fold guy has tested the patch or does anyone test it, when after a patch were suddenly the battle obstacles invisible? However, I'm playing TW games from the first hour on and I'm also much pleased with ETW now and finally they gave us a good game. But this game is not finished and needs further patch support. There are still problems and bugs in the game needed to be fixed. Only as one of many examples shall be named the unrepairable walls of the forts and fortresses. So please hang on and don't stop support now of economic reasons, ETW is not finally ready! P.S. And please inform the people by an open word, that the system requirements are now serious higher than at the release! Last Edited By: Mandelus 11/04/09 14:24:44. Edited 2 times.
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Tansu		#44	[url]	[-]
Posts: 228 11/06/09 02:14:43	I concur with Shireknight, this is a thread about the blog. We have enough threads allready discussing these other issues. You all have a nice week-end now:)
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erasmus777		#45	[url]	[-]
Posts: 236 11/06/09 07:23:24	Tansu wrote: I concur with Shireknight, this is a thread about the blog. We have enough threads allready discussing these other issues. You all have a nice week-end now:) Considering half of Mike's blog was about CA's financial situation--which is a subset of Sega's financial situation--discussing CA and Sega is entirely "on-topic."
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widez		#46	[url]	[-]
Posts: 4 11/06/09 08:44:33	I can understand this "commercial reality" when a game comes out that has maybe some minor bugs and glitches that needs to be fixed with a patch. After all you can't expect a perfect game on release. But just look at the fix list for the patches that have come out for Empire: Total War, especially the first few. There is all tons of crash fixes that made the game ACTUALLY PLAYABLE at all first after a few months after release, and this is without talking about all the gameplay glitches that still exist to this day. I fail to see how this "commercial reality" can be good for business. Sure the publisher cashes in early on the game, but the reputation of the franchise/developer is tarnished. This business strategy really relies on people being stupid and forgetting what happened to them the last time they bought something from the same company. I have bought all the Total War games ever since Rome: Total War but I know I will wait to buy (if I buy) Napoleon: Total War until I have made sure that the game is actually playable and enjoyable (might be months or even years after release i would believe seeing how Empire was handled). I do love the Total War games and I really really want to believe that the Empire-release was a one-time super-crisis move made in desperation from Sega/Creative Assembly. But something tells me this will probably happen again..
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MosheLevi		#47	[url]	[-]
Posts: 366 11/06/09 11:07:05	widez wrote: I fail to see how this "commercial reality" can be good for business. Sure the publisher cashes in early on the game, but the reputation of the franchise/developer is tarnished. This business strategy really relies on people being stupid and forgetting what happened to them the last time they bought something from the same company. I have bought all the Total War games ever since Rome: Total War but I know I will wait to buy (if I buy) Napoleon: Total War until I have made sure that the game is actually playable and enjoyable (might be months or even years after release i would believe seeing how Empire was handled). This is a very good point. I normally buy games I like and want on release day paying the full price. However, in the case of the Total War series I learned my lesson when I bought M2TW on release day and experienced many bugs and issues. I then vowed NOT to buy any more Total War games on release day. When ETW came out I decided to wait before buying it and sure enough I then read that it had many bugs and issues. I then waited until patch 1.4 came out and bought ETW for $29.99 instead of $49.99. If the Total War series didn't have so many bugs and issues on release day then I would have continued to buy the game on release day. Now imagine that there are hundreds of thousands of players out there who do the same and wait until the game is patched and the price falls, and you can see how much money CA is losing by releasing buggy games. People are NOT stupid, and they learn from their mistakes. Perhaps CA should learn from that mistake too….
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irishron		#48	[url]	[-]
Posts: 103 11/06/09 15:10:37	"Commercial reality' to Sega is not the TW gamers that buy it for the franchise. All the hype on gme sites and reviews in game amgazines are not aimed at us. They are aimed at the kid game aisle with mom amd dad's credit card knowing full well when most of therm slam it in the dvd reader and it's a bad game, they give it to one of their friend's and Sega just made a killing $50 a pop. That is commercial reality in the Big Business world. And that dear gamers is exactly what Mike is asying in his blog.
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Bladerunner		#49	[url]	[-]
Posts: 7 11/06/09 17:01:04	Sorry to say, but imo this blog is just another part of CA advertising NTW. There are no real new informations in it. We all already realize, that ETW is unfinished. Espacially those of us who are into modding. There are so many things that never made it into the game and from which are fragments left in the packs (i.e. a Map-Editor). Mayby not all due to the fact, that CA run out of time. Some seemed to be given up intentionally and i suppose this was in favor to the DLC's. CA made big promises before they release like ETW will be the most moddable TW-Game of all times (if you are an Employee of CA this might be true, but not for modders). And what is left from this? Till this day, there is no word about the Moddingtools they announced to release with the game or shortly after. If you ask about those tools, they just ignore your request. Many important parts of the game are encrypted and not availible for modding. Many modding projects are abandoned, scaled down or lay just on ice. There might be good and understandable commercial reasons for holding back tools, but you shouldn't make promises, if you don't have the intention to hold up to them. Form me, it's questionable, if we will see any Mod-tools at all, as be sure NTW will come up with new DLC's. Additionally there would be no reason to ignore the requests totally, if there is any intention to publish mod tools, even if it is after NTW release - They could just tell us to wait for it. This might also be this so called "Commercial Reality", but it might also become a commercial reality, if sells drop due to unfinished game, the lack of good mods and broken promises. I also don't understand some peoples enthusiasm about having mike tell us about the BAI. Writing about it in no way means, that it will get fixed. He wrote in his previous blog, that 1.5 was the last major patch and i don't think the BAI is a minor...not to talk about all the other flaws and about those people, who are still not able to play the game. So what is it good for to talk about programming and problems, if there is no big patching left to correct them, if not try to tell us, that they are aware of it and all will be better in NTW. It's just advertising for me. They develop NTW at full speed. Which to my information will be stand-alone. Why they don't publish it as an Add-on like Kingdoms or barbarian Invasion or Vikings? Mayby they don't get ETW's problems fixed or NTW will become even less moddable than ETW (new game will make new protections possible). There is just an Uniform-Editor announced (if it doesn't take the same route as the Map-Editor of ETW or the Modding-Tools). There shall be more playing modes in NTW, espacially for MP, but weren't they already anounced for ETW? And what about the MP-Campaign of ETW? Do we get it with NTW release of after it? I though it should be the BETA for a MP-Campaign in NTW, but it seems there is no nearly no time left to Beta-test it...
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irishron		#50	[url]	[-]
Posts: 103 11/06/09 18:12:31	Another piece of commercial reality for Sega and CA to consider is that Unreal has just released for free a deveolpers kit for its franchise. I saw it advertized on Filefront last night. Let Sega match that one.
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Haols		#51	[url]	[-]
Posts: 1033 11/07/09 01:06:00	Bladerunner wrote: Sorry to say, but imo this blog is just another part of CA advertising NTW. There are no real new informations in it. We all already realize, that ETW is unfinished. Espacially those of us who are into modding. There are so many things that never made it into the game and from which are fragments left in the packs (i.e. a Map-Editor). Mayby not all due to the fact, that CA run out of time. Some seemed to be given up intentionally and i suppose this was in favor to the DLC's. CA made big promises before they release like ETW will be the most moddable TW-Game of all times (if you are an Employee of CA this might be true, but not for modders). And what is left from this? Till this day, there is no word about the Moddingtools they announced to release with the game or shortly after. If you ask about those tools, they just ignore your request. Many important parts of the game are encrypted and not availible for modding. Many modding projects are abandoned, scaled down or lay just on ice. There might be good and understandable commercial reasons for holding back tools, but you shouldn't make promises, if you don't have the intention to hold up to them. Form me, it's questionable, if we will see any Mod-tools at all, as be sure NTW will come up with new DLC's. Additionally there would be no reason to ignore the requests totally, if there is any intention to publish mod tools, even if it is after NTW release - They could just tell us to wait for it. This might also be this so called "Commercial Reality", but it might also become a commercial reality, if sells drop due to unfinished game, the lack of good mods and broken promises. I also don't understand some peoples enthusiasm about having mike tell us about the BAI. Writing about it in no way means, that it will get fixed. He wrote in his previous blog, that 1.5 was the last major patch and i don't think the BAI is a minor...not to talk about all the other flaws and about those people, who are still not able to play the game. So what is it good for to talk about programming and problems, if there is no big patching left to correct them, if not try to tell us, that they are aware of it and all will be better in NTW. It's just advertising for me. They develop NTW at full speed. Which to my information will be stand-alone. Why they don't publish it as an Add-on like Kingdoms or barbarian Invasion or Vikings? Mayby they don't get ETW's problems fixed or NTW will become even less moddable than ETW (new game will make new protections possible). There is just an Uniform-Editor announced (if it doesn't take the same route as the Map-Editor of ETW or the Modding-Tools). There shall be more playing modes in NTW, espacially for MP, but weren't they already anounced for ETW? And what about the MP-Campaign of ETW? Do we get it with NTW release of after it? I though it should be the BETA for a MP-Campaign in NTW, but it seems there is no nearly no time left to Beta-test it... I agree a 100% with this. The modding tools, the muyltiplayer campaign, the "brand new multiplayer modes" pretty much everything CA promissed just went mysteriously missing. It would be niceto get something a little more real than just a blog or two talkning about what empire should have been and napoleon will be.
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Jajf		#52	[url]	[-]
Posts: 322 11/07/09 05:50:39	Why doesn't CA post anything in the update thread anymore? It's been 3 weeks since their last post and I'm eagerly awaiting news regarding the MPC and an acknowledgement of the problems with the BAI (melee bug).
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iblewafuse14		#53	[url]	[-]
Posts: 1791 11/07/09 08:16:35	There you go, your wishes have been answered. http://shoguntotalwar.yuku.com/topic/53425?page=5
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Sasu		#54	[url]	[-]
Posts: 754 11/07/09 08:24:57	I knew it. CA listens to Jajf, can't argue with that...
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Jajf		#55	[url]	[-]
Posts: 322 11/07/09 09:59:45	Sasu wrote: I knew it. CA listens to Jajf, can't argue with that... My viking avatar intimidates them brits, Arghh burn, plunder, kill!!
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Bladerunner		#56	[url]	[-]
Posts: 7 11/07/09 19:17:00	Nice post, but it doesn't contain real informations. "I can confirm that the latest code went out to our Beta Group last night" - fine, but this still does not say we see it before NTW "we are making good progress in testing" - hey you told us month ago, how much fun you already had with testing the MPC, so this progress can't be very big.. "Additionally, I can confirm that our Battle AI blog will be posted next week" - even more needless talking since 1.5 was the last major patch? Nothing about they rethink their decision and make more patches to correct the BAI...
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Haols		#57	[url]	[-]
Posts: 1033 11/08/09 02:16:26	Bladerunner wrote: Nice post, but it doesn't contain real informations. "I can confirm that the latest code went out to our Beta Group last night" - fine, but this still does not say we see it before NTW "we are making good progress in testing" - hey you told us month ago, how much fun you already had with testing the MPC, so this progress can't be very big.. "Additionally, I can confirm that our Battle AI blog will be posted next week" - even more needless talking since 1.5 was the last major patch? Nothing about they rethink their decision and make more patches to correct the BAI... The only explanation I can see for this is that the grand total of people working on the MPC testing is 2, and they work part-time. One on the morning the other on the evening, so they do1 turn each day. Either that or the MPC have some serious complications, they have sson spent a year on it, they started way before the release after all.
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Dionysius the Mighty		#58	[url]	[-]
Posts: 4881 11/08/09 02:52:15 Administrator	Or, you know, it could be that CA have moved from in house testing of the MP campaign and handed it over to their community beta group.
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Bladerunner		#59	[url]	[-]
Posts: 7 11/08/09 06:59:05	i assumed it's out to the community beta group, but as this is no small issue to test, i think it will need a month at minimum in beta. This means beginning or mid of december, before we see it. NTW (for which the MPC in ETW is meant as beta) is supposed to be released in February, which most likely means that developing ends about a month before in january. This leaves mayby a month for public beta. Might work out as long as there are no flaws and bugs, but if there need changes to be made, they got problems and most likely start patching NTW quite early or have to tell the Customers that they deliver the MPC by update SOON after release....
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erasmus777		#60	[url]	[-]
Posts: 236 11/08/09 09:41:54	Haols wrote: Either that or the MPC have some serious complications, they have sson spent a year on it, they started way before the release after all. It had major complications. It was originally designed so that a player could take control of any faction at any point in a campaign. The thinking was that way a friend could join and leave you at any time. That didn't work and the whole thing had to be redesigned from the ground up.
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