Game News Rome II media blitz underway

[Trash]

Tags: Creative Assembly; Eurogamer; PCGamer; Rock Paper Shotgun; Rome 2; Total War; Total War: Rome II; Unwavering mod support

Creative Assembly goes all out with their announcement of the latest incarnation of the popular Total War franchise. Total War: Rome II is announced on Eurogamer. Meanwhile there is a preview on Rock Paper Shotgun as well as a developer interview. At PCGamer you can feast your eyes on a video interview. Now, if they only put as much effort into AI programming and QA as in PR I am happy.

 

[curry]

Well, Rome was the best game in the series and Shogun 2 was a minor incline from the previous titles. I'm cautiously optimistic.

 

[Hollywood]

I like diplomacy. And war. But mostly diplomacy.

 

[Wise Emperor]

Meh

Thought it would be about Paradox Rome.

 

[Forest Dweller]

I look forward to replaying Rome, Shogun, Medieval, and Empire over and over again in the decades to come.

Meh. It'll probably be fun but come on CA. Give us a fantasy setting or something cool.

 

[Brayko]

I really hope they do this well.

 

[Untermensch]

Ahhhhhhhnnngggg.......

To use the overused internet meme: I came.

 

[Corvinus]

The lead developer in the video interview tells us precious little about the game. Instead, a torrent of buzzwords emerges from his mouth. "immersive" "unique" "accessible" etc. I bet that Rome 2 will be very nice to look at, but will certainly be less of a game than its predecessor, streamlined for the casual (read: dumb sonuvabitch) player. It will be be a lack of modding support, of course, since it will be too difficult to implement properly, now that the programming has reached the next generation(they actually said something like this when Shogun 2 came out. Pretty incredible, as anyone with at least some experience in programming will tell you). The real reason behind this is that they haven't figured out how to make money from the modders...

I really hope I am wrong, but the is constant these days, at least regarding the so-called triple A titles.

This gets a sincere "fuck you" rating from me.

 

[Infinitron]

EDGY! The game has just been announced FFS.

 

[corvus]

EDGY! The game has just been announced FFS.

Honestly. Unless Corvinus was giving the "fuck you" rating for the announcement and not the game itself. But I'll probably end up playing EUII when it's finally released instead of this. It seems like Creative Assembly is too afraid to use new settings with Total War.

 

[Brayko]

Hey, at least they haven't announced console ports.

Derp.

 

[Infinitron]

Hey, at least they haven't announced console ports.

Derp.

Yet.

 

[GarfunkeL]

EDGY! The game has just been announced FFS.

Considering their track record, I'm ready to support Corvinus here. Fuck CA with a pitchfork. And they are making console ports, they've already admitted to it - as soon as they get the controls "fixed".

 

[Brayko]

And they are making console ports, they've already admitted to it - as soon as they get the controls "fixed".

I'll need a link with some proof.

 

[Infinitron]

Considering their track record, I'm ready to support Corvinus here. Fuck CA with a pitchfork. And they are making console ports, they've already admitted to it - as soon as they get the controls "fixed".

They have said they're looking at consoles, but not specifically for Rome 2.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Let the rage flow:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-03-30-current-generation-cant-cope-with-total-war-says-ca

The current generation of consoles aren't powerful enough to host the Total War series, says developer The Creative Assembly - but it's optimistic that the next generation will be able to, and the Horsham studio has a plan that could see its successful strategy series finally making the jump.
"We've probably always talked about [Total War on console]," studio director Mike Simpson told Eurogamer. "I've always said that there's no fundamental reason why that kind of game couldn't work, but there are various problems that have to be overcome. You can't just take Total War on PC and then port it over to console."
"The current generation of consoles just can't cope - they don't have enough memory, by a large factor. Those technical reasons are probably the only reasons. A lot of people think that UI's a problem, because no one's really done it well before. I don't think that's a fundamental thing - I just think it's simply that no one's really done it very well before. A lot of the games have been ports of PC games without too much thought having gone into it."

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-03-30-inside-the-creative-assembly

The first of which is Total War Battles, an iOS game that's coming out later in April. "It's actually really interesting, says Simpson. "We started off wanting to do something on other platforms, and iPhone and iPad in particular were interesting. But if you look at Total War and look at those platforms, you think you can't do that, you can't do the same thing on there. It's not like you can just port the game on to a screen that size - it won't work.
"So we basically had to reinvent the whole thing, and come at it from a different direction. We looked at the platform and thought, what can the platform bring, what can it do really well - and then take some of the colours of Total War - things like the real-time battles, and some element of deeper strategy behind that - and immersing it in some kind of historical context. We rolled that up with the platform to come up with something new and different, and that's what we've done.
"It's a different thing - it's the kind of thing you'd play when you'd normally play an iPhone game. It's not a heavyweight Total War experience."

 

[GarfunkeL]

Bah, sure. They first make Rome 2 and use the profits from that to make iOS and console versions.

 

[Infinitron]

I don't really understand the anti-CA angst. Yes, of all the companies making realistic strategy games, Creative Assembly are the most "mass market-oriented".

But, as I've said before, if the Total War franchise represents the dumber part of your genre, then I'd say your genre is in damn good shape. Talking about CA the same way you talk about Bioware or Bethesda is overkill.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Yeah true but I wish they had went the other way. Plus, each game seems to be dumber and simpler than its predecessor. If they've only kept the level of Shogun1/Medieval1 but noooo...

 

[Brayko]

Urge to kill is now rising. I like how they say "We can't just port it over to consoles as is" which means they're gonna design the games with consoles in mind in the future and they're gonna be dumbed down shit-turds like the ilk that comes from BethBio. With the new Xbox coming out which is strongly rumored to be 6-8 times more powerful than the current gen we can assume that their next game after Rome will be their first multi-platform title. I shall enjoy Rome 2 as their exodus title.

 

[Forest Dweller]

Talking about CA the same way you talk about Bioware or Bethesda is overkill.

We talk about CA the same way we talk about Bioware and Bethesda?

 

[Corvinus]

Don't get me wrong here, Rome: Total War is actually one of my favourite games. I just can't stand moneygrabbing bullshit dishonesty (which the said video was full of ), and then there's the fear of them doing what "all" the other major game companies are doing; as already covered, dumbing down shit to appeal to the intellectually challenged. That is very likely to occur, so that's why I gave it such a prestigious rating. I sure do hope I'm wrong, though, but chances are, I will not be.

We talk about CA the same way we talk about Bioware and Bethesda?

Actually we can't talk about them that way at all! They aren't guilty to including lots of immersive gameplay and tasteful rape sex yet! But just you wait! I bet we can "zoom into the battle to explore the human drama (a centurion collargrabs a carthaginian soldier)" and watch "unique, deep storytelling (your men 'romancing' the women and children of a captured city)" soon enough...

 

[MetalCraze]

I don't really understand the anti-CA angst. Yes, of all the companies making realistic strategy games, Creative Assembly are the most "mass market-oriented".

But, as I've said before, if the Total War franchise represents the dumber part of your genre, then I'd say your genre is in damn good shape. Talking about CA the same way you talk about Bioware or Bethesda is overkill.

CA is more like Activision and Valve. Repackaging the same game every year for a decade without any advances.
Hey the formula sells as it is, why change anything?

 

[Infinitron]

CA is more like Activision and Valve. Repackaging the same game every year for a decade without any advances.
Hey the formula sells as it is, why change anything?

If it's a choice between stagnation and decline, then I prefer stagnation.

Although I'm not sure what you're talking about re: Valve, how are Portal, LFD and TF2 "the same game"

 

[MetalCraze]

If it's a choice between stagnation and decline, then I prefer stagnation.

You are not of a very high opinion of Creative Assembly yourself are you?

Although I'm not sure what you're talking about re: Valve, how are Portal, LFD and TF2 "the same game"

Think harder, you are almost there