Marceror

Well, yes, they continue to reuse a particular formula, but it's a formula that is rather awesome and worth repeating. I know their games are less than perfect, particularly at release. But how long has Rome II been out, and it is still regularly being patched and improved. The other day I just got something called Rome 2 emperor edition downloaded for free. I've had my frustrations with CA as well, but unless or until someone can do it as well or better than them, they are going to continue to get my money. I've played every Total War title since the original Rome, and I cherish each and every one of them. Exactly, it's an awesome formula that no other game is able to compete with. So all they have to do is keep making the same game with minor improvements. Instead, you had entirely braindead AI which is willing to sit outside your gates and get bombarded, randomly break their own line, walk into concentrated fire, etc. (MTW2, Empire, Rome 2); a diplomacy screen which might as well not exist since MTW2 and arguably before; increasingly mod-unfriendly game code sucking the life out of a vibrant mod sector which was willing to go to unimaginable lengths to fix their mistakes; and more. I complained but still bought each time, too, until I realised that I had magnitudes more fun with older iterations, which I could still play at any time, and half the time spent playing the new ones was time spent pretending it is a better and not worse game. I don't disagree. But I know that the situation is more complicated than it appears on the surface. A lot of it boils down to the environments becoming a lot more complex. If you look at settlements in Medieval 2, they are all flat. In Rome 2 they are anything but. So the path finding that required for the AI to get siege towers and ladders to the wall properly is miles more complicated than it was in M2. And this problem caused other game mechanics, like AI to break. This was buggy as he'll at release, but on the one hand I'm happy to see them continuing to push the bar. And happy to see that CA continues to support and improve their games over time. Maybe waiting 6 months to a year after release is the smartest move. And yes, these far more complicated maps make modding a lot more complicated. It's unfortunate, but understandable in certain respects.

lol Insightful posts!

Well, yes, they continue to reuse a particular formula, but it's a formula that is rather awesome and worth repeating. I know their games are less than perfect, particularly at release. But how long has Rome II been out, and it is still regularly being patched and improved. The other day I just got something called Rome 2 emperor edition downloaded for free. I've had my frustrations with CA as well, but unless or until someone can do it as well or better than them, they are going to continue to get my money. I've played every Total War title since the original Rome, and I cherish each and every one of them.

Not a companion? Or totally not in the game?

They should have added Forton to the picture, just to piss people off! (I happen to like Forton's appearance, just for the record)

Daddy like.

Weird. It's a public web forum. Just log in with your public web forum account. It's not like he needs to authenticate to Active Directory using a RAS or VPN tunnel... to post on a public web forum, that all the rest of us are posting on without those things.

40+ hours in. So far, not a single crash. Only notable gameplay bug so far is sometimes when I swap my squad members' weapons too quickly, the previously selected squad member will swap theirs rather than the currently selected. A long standing bug, but admittedly, it is much, much less common than it used to be. There are a few inconsistencies in descriptions (i.e. leadership supposedly giving +2% to hit chance per level, but actually giving +1%). Also, after very long play sessions I occasionally get some odd graphical artifacts... black shapes on the terrain. I think it's memory related, as killing and launching the game fixes it. Mind you, I'm only ~35% through the game, so there's chances for things to deteriorate. But thus far, I'm thinking, pretty damn solid for a day one release.

I've gotten used to the RNC, and can navigate without issue. Remember that M brings up the area map. That should help.

Yes, now I have committed myself to fixing all my bugs today, which I will regret Thanks for the update BMac. You know, you could have just said it may take a few days... and if ready sooner surprise us with an "early" release. And if not, have some breathing room to wrap things up. At any rate, I echo the sentiments to take your time and release when you feel it's ready.

Seems like fan opinion is actually a pretty important aspect of determining which bugs are a big deal. Not really, no. Disagree. If the devs spend a lot of time fixing things that the fans don't care about, I'd call that a misalignment of priorities. Assuming the devs don't know what are game breaking bugs is really being the most annoying type of fanboy. Assuming that the devs always know what's most important to their fans is fairly deluded. My only point is fan opinion is an important factor. I'm not saying it's the only factor. You seem to think it isn't even a factor, and that's what I disagree with. I think we can really just draw this back to your whole notion that betas should be gooder. First, this has nothing to do with "betas" in particular. Second, I'm fine with the relative "goodness" of the beta. But thanks for playing.

Seemingly the same goes for Monday and Tuesday. Speculation seems pointless IMO. Maybe it's going really well and they wanted to finish up some new features they hadn't previously planned on pushing out with this build. Or maybe the hard drive with the latest build caught on fire. There's really no way of knowing. Yeah, but half of what we do around here is pointless speculation. Will you take that from us? What will we do with ourselves then?

I enjoyed DA2 for a single run through. I could never bring myself to complete it a second time (though I completed Origins 4 times, twice with the expansion) I expect to play WL2 4, 5, 6... who knows how many times over the next decade or so. So for me while DA2 was a very good game in many ways, WL2 is a truly great game. An instant classic.

Seemingly the same goes for Monday and Tuesday.

Seems like fan opinion is actually a pretty important aspect of determining which bugs are a big deal. Not really, no. Disagree. If the devs spend a lot of time fixing things that the fans don't care about, I'd call that a misalignment of priorities. Assuming the devs don't know what are game breaking bugs is really being the most annoying type of fanboy. Assuming that the devs always know what's most important to their fans is fairly deluded. My only point is fan opinion is an important factor. I'm not saying it's the only factor. You seem to think it isn't even a factor, and that's what I disagree with.

Seems like fan opinion is actually a pretty important aspect of determining which bugs are a big deal. Not really, no. Disagree. If the devs spend a lot of time fixing things that the fans don't care about, I'd call that a misalignment of priorities.

I agree that we can't always understand intent based on actions (or lack of actions). I do feel that bit more communication would be nice, especially when you set an expectation of a patch every week or two, and you're barely hearing anything after the 3 week mark. The whole we only talk when we have good news to share isn't an approach that I'm a big fan of, personally. But really... WL2. Not going to have any time for PoE anytime soon anyway.

don't want to argue for the sake of arguing, in my experience the game is very light on reading or thinking. I surely expected a hell of a lot more from it. on the other hand, it was made for 3 cents, so I guess that's my fault for wanting a new Fallout when they barely had the money for a proper game Light on reading compared to what? You spend a fairly good portion of the game reading, especially if you read all the lore tidbits that are available in the various notebooks and such that you can find. It seems that there is at least as much reading as the IE games had, maybe not quite as much as PST. And a hell of a lot more than you'll be doing in most modern games. Thinking... maybe wasn't the best word choice. What I meant here is you don't get little quest markers telling you exactly what to do and where to go to handle a quest. You sort of have to pay attention to stay abreast of what's going on. But certainly, there have been a number of things I had to think about, and test out to see if I could do it. There was a particular use of Outdoorsmen in Ag Center that took a bit of thinking to figure out. I like when a game has that level of depth. At any rate, again, I do feel that WL2 has a good sense of its own identity.

I always give Rose 3 points in it. It's a small enough sacrifice that will benefit me for the life of the game (I assume).

It's a lot like FT, but FT had better level design for the kind of game they were trying to make. W2 is all over the place, it doesn't know if it wants to be a dungeon crawler or an adventure game I think WL2 is very clear on its identity. It's a post apocalyptic CRPG, and a great one IMO. As for its niche... I guess it fills the "old school" niche. Back from the days when reading wasn't a dirty word, and thinking during a game was sort of expected.

I too think it's absolutely awesome.

They just came up on new servers, and things are actually quite speedy now.

You forgot awareness, the best source of CI. A character with high Awareness, Speed and Int is going to be very strong in combat, assuming a good number of survival points are spent on combat skills.

Josh, yes please!! I would looove to see exploration, trap, lock AND bestiary based XP. I very much hope you will be able to add these elements.

Agreed, shotguns are finally worthwhile weapons to bring along.