Just bought ...
.... which is supposed to be a marked improvement in many different aspects over E:TW ...
And the shop had a sale on; game was down from RRP£24.99 to £9.98.![]()
Let me know what you think of it.
As I read the review, it's a string of campaigns with limited resources, instead of a grand campaign.
I could have had class. I could have been a contender.
I could have been somebody. Instead of a bum
Which is what I am
I aim at the stars
But sometimes I hit London
Are you going to play the CotC first?
I'd be interested to hear of the differences and whether the battles have become a little more interesting than vanilla ETW.
edit: Not to mention the agents, which were pretty terrible.
I could have had class. I could have been a contender.
I could have been somebody. Instead of a bum
Which is what I am
I aim at the stars
But sometimes I hit London
Yep I'll probs play as the Brits to begin with.
The 3 Napoleonic campaigns I'm guessing are Europe, (P)Russia, and Egypt, which would/should give rise to different landscapes and therefore differing battles.
Not sure if the CotC campaigns will be in those different regions. Will see.
The new attrition feature is interesting. Armies reduce due to disease and harsh conditions.
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Purchased game comes with an Elite Regiment Pack to activate on steam, so at least there are different/unique units.
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*taps fingers* ... still installing ...![]()
I am debating whether or not I should start playing this.
http://www.quakelive.com/
Thoughts?
I enjoy blank walls.
Napoleon:TW
Played several hours so far.
Initial Impressions, particularly in comparison to E:TW:
- Game is a much smoother experience. Campaign map interface is improved.
- Battle AI is improved, but still has flaws. It's not perfect. Enemy still does odd and occasionally suicidal things. But a certain improvement over E:TW.
- Battle experience is vastly improved, and is now really, really fun. Some examples:
- There is now musket flare and cannon flare, which looks so realistic.
- The whole screen shakes and sound thunders if you are close to artillery fire - very cool
- More authentic conditions and occurrences. Muskets jam if it's raining. Cannons can jam and in one situation so far it blew the cannon up in an awesome explosion and cloud of smoke with shrapnel flying up into the air, killing people nearby.
- Cavalry riders can become unseated or shot out of the saddle - you see riderless horses running away from battle - and on a couple of occasions I have seen riders being dragged along with their foot stuck in the stirrup - awesome.
- I reckon there's still a ton of battle detail I'm yet to uncover. Battles are much more involved and thrilling than they were in E:TW. A lot more fun.- Generals make a bigger difference in battle now, particularly to morale. There's a nice new feature which is a li'l pop up window which appears when your general is attacked, which you can click on to take you straight there. This feature may be triggered by other things but so far it is only an attacked general that I've seen.
- Units have more options in battle, which are researched. Things such as fire and advance is very useful and quite cool, when attacking rather than defending. Front line will kneel and fire, second line then move forward, kneel, fire, third line move forward, kneel, fire, then the entire unit charges.
There's much I'm yet to uncover on unit options here I feel, which is great.
- There are more unit types. Most are still your typical three-line musket troop type, but there is a lot more variation than E:TW. More artillery types. More cavalry types. More ship types.
- Game is bigger, and longer. Playing as the Brits for the Coalition, the long campaign is to occupy 60 regions rather than the 40 in E:TW. Game starts in 1800 and is several turns per month, rather than two per year as in E:TW. Campaign map slowly changes as the seasons gradually ebb and flow - very nice.
- Turn end is much quicker - AI's turns happen much faster - which is a relief.
- Game has already crashed twice on me so far, so crashes with about the same rate as E:TW. Not good.
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Soooo .. overall I'm pleased, and can't wait to get back to it after work today. I feel this is what E:TW should have been to begin with.
You're making a compelling case there.
Drat!
I might have to buy it now![]()
I could have had class. I could have been a contender.
I could have been somebody. Instead of a bum
Which is what I am
I aim at the stars
But sometimes I hit London
Revisiting ye olde Age of Empires 3 and it's expansions on Hard difficulty, RTS fun.![]()
The graphics were impressive for their time and attention to detail, I quite enjoyed it, I wouldn't claim it was exactly a step back from AOE 1 & 2.
I would. It was more of a copy of other games with their own setting
I'm happy to report that it's not simply a clone.
This kicks GTA's ass all over the place, it's Rockstar's finest game, easily.
It's much more thoughtful, your actions have long-lasting consequences...the morality and fame rating change the game altogether.
This feels much more real in a way that GTA never did..cops giving up chasing me after a couple minutes after I murdered people in front of them never felt real, the city's population was never realistic (nor possible technically, to be fair)...but this feels real... but I can buy the posse saying screw it after chasing me for awhile, towns have an accurate amount of citizens walking around, etc.
I've never felt more "in" a game world, than here, not even close.
As for the RPG thing, no this ain't one in the traditional sense..no class, no skills, or stuff like that.
But as for replayability, god yes.
Just the morality system alone offers that, but even more is the random events the world works on.
You never know what the hell you're going to run into over the next hill.
Now I understand the Morrowind/Oblivion comparisions, it's that exploration, the never knowing what's going to happen this time.
Even going to the same area over and over, who knows what will be there...it's not even like there are "hot spots" where you know a random event will generate, you just don't know, and that is great.
Even similar random events are not the same, one guy out in the desert wanted a ride back to town...I found another guy later, dismounted thinking I knew what would happen, and he stole my horse
It's just a really, really well done.
That's really one of the big, big things that separate this from GTA...there was never anything happening in the city, just you getting chased by cops...you always knew what was going to be there, same street, same pedestrians, same buildings..yawn.
The story is great, Marston is a cool main character, it feels very real, so far the missions are nicely varied.
There is a literal shit-ton of stuff to do, not even counting all the random stuff that happens..lots of games to play, blackjack, texas hold-em, etc...jobs to take, horse-breaking, cattle herding, night watchmen, bounty hunter..etc.
It's still early, but it's one of my favorite games ever...and that's just dicking around in a small portion of the starting area.
All other Westerns games are irrelevant next to this, even the decent ones like Call of Juarez, and in my opinion, Rockstar kicked their own ass too as far as GTA goes too...I can't think of why I'd want to play that when I have this.
Well, I highly recommend it, obviously.
My caveat to all this, is I enjoy sandbox games and the Western era, so am colored by that.
Still, can't imagine anyone at the least, admiring what they've done here, even if it's not their cup of tea.
Saw the new Black Ops trailer... it seems Treyarch is gonna finally try to out do Infinity Ward
Is the graphics engine in N:TW or E:TW improved over Medieval 2?
"Son," he said without preamble, "never trust a man who doesn't drink, because he's probably a self-righteous sort, a man who thinks he knows right from wrong all the time. Some of them are good men, but in the name of goodness, they cause most of the suffering in the world. They're the judges, the meddlers. And, son, never trust a man who drinks but refuses to get drunk. They're usually afraid of something deep down inside, either that they're a coward or a fool or mean and violent. You can't trust a man who's afraid of himself. But sometimes, son, you can trust a man who occasionally kneels before a toilet. The chances are that he is learning something about humility and his natural human foolishness, about how to survive himself. It's damned hard for a man to take himself too seriously when he's heaving his guts into a dirty toilet bowl.
The worst job in the world is better than being broke and homeless
Still in Guildwars. Played for 6 straight hours today, thinking I was close to being finished. I did all the main quests I was given at the time, and the side quests. Defended the wall, and figure out the ice cave maze.
Except the ice cave maze leads to another land. Which seems to have just as many quests and missions that I finished in the other land.![]()
As per OG and Ziggy's recommendations I downloaded Portal yesterday, am currently on the final test. What an addictive, funny, and cruel game! I want my cake, damnit.![]()
I could have had class. I could have been a contender.
I could have been somebody. Instead of a bum
Which is what I am
I aim at the stars
But sometimes I hit London
Actually yeah, agents have been crap since Shogun.
Actually, something ive always found useless is the diplomacy side of things. In truth, aside from trade agreements, you might as well just do a "me against the world" in rome or the medievals. Any allies you have will attack you as soon as they can, regardless of your strength or their interests, countries wont become vassalls even if you offer them the entire world. Often you cant make peace with countries for no apparent reason (e.g, i can understand a really powerful enemy thats just declared war and thinks it has a chance not agreeing to peace, but after you just smash two of its best armies, surely it should be ready to consider at least a temp agreement or whatever).
Meh, the whole thing pretty much sucks. Especially the vassalage thing. IVe seen the comp get vassals with way less than i have had, and offered. :/
"Son," he said without preamble, "never trust a man who doesn't drink, because he's probably a self-righteous sort, a man who thinks he knows right from wrong all the time. Some of them are good men, but in the name of goodness, they cause most of the suffering in the world. They're the judges, the meddlers. And, son, never trust a man who drinks but refuses to get drunk. They're usually afraid of something deep down inside, either that they're a coward or a fool or mean and violent. You can't trust a man who's afraid of himself. But sometimes, son, you can trust a man who occasionally kneels before a toilet. The chances are that he is learning something about humility and his natural human foolishness, about how to survive himself. It's damned hard for a man to take himself too seriously when he's heaving his guts into a dirty toilet bowl.
Have really only played a few hours but I'll tell you what I can.
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Not sure on agents - I very rarely use them. Just the odd assassination here and there. So can't comment on borkedNess.
Trade with other nations still functions in much the same respect. Still have naval trade lines which can be plundered.
By hotspots d'you mean sending an Indiaman/Trade ship onto one of those anchor icons to trade?
You no longer have the "trade only" locations with those hotspots in locations around the globe on the campaign map that you had in E:TW. Instead you have them dotted around the edge of the European campaign map.
Mapwise, the European map has more regions but covers less area, for the Coalition at least. It extends east well into Russia, but not as far south as Egypt, nor as far north as Norway. But remember I've only played a short while as Britain for the Coalition.
It seems playing as Nappie () you will venture into Egypt which must give you an entirely new Campaign map. Not sure about Russia, which is another one of the three Campaigns.
Just done a quick search for the campaign map but most game sites are restricted at work. This is the best I can find for now.
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I've been having a rethink on my game. Think I might restart as Napolean, which I guess is really how the game is intented to be played. The Coalition nations are there more for replayability.
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This aspect of the game is improved, and moreso in N:TW. Allies remain allies, and don't seem to just suddenly attack for no reason when you least expect it. Smaller nations will sue for peace if they can see you're about to smash yet another of their cities.
I'm conflicted
On the one hand, I hesitate to buy the game because I fear that after the initial joy of the new settings, the old dreary E:TW will kick in and I will again abandon it after a short while. And I have to dish out 40 Euros for that short experience.
On the other hand I have a TBS itch to scratch.
I could have had class. I could have been a contender.
I could have been somebody. Instead of a bum
Which is what I am
I aim at the stars
But sometimes I hit London
I could have had class. I could have been a contender.
I could have been somebody. Instead of a bum
Which is what I am
I aim at the stars
But sometimes I hit London
No - it was bizarre.
Went to my local Game store (Game is a vid game shop chain in the UK - not sure if they are in Yurp?) - I generally buy games from there as I have a reward card.
They had a number of games with red sales stickers on - including N:TW. Normal price on the box was £24.99 (or was it £29.99 ? - not sure) but they had a red sale sticker for £9.98. So I was happy as a pig in shit with that.
TBH I would have paid the full RRP, as that is what I was expecting.