Whenever it's ready...

[Bullethead]

Wow! http://segmentnext.com/2011/03/15/total-war-shogun-2-crashes-freezes-errors-and-fixes/ .... I have to think they have affected their base ...

This sure turned me off. I skipped ETW and NTW because of bad initial reviews, but I figured S2TW would be no worse initially than M2TW (which was pretty good--at least it was playable out of the box), seeings how they'd done it before. So, I don't care what they do in the future, I'm not buying any more TW games.

In playing Jutland I wonder about those crewmen on the AMC's and thought it would be nice if there were more explosion models, but then again .. I really like being able to run a game without even thinking of upgrading to SLI .. I get very good frame rates with my i7 and GeForce GT330M ...and Jutland is pretty stable ..

Thanks for the props. As you say, avoiding problems arising from the infinitely huge set of possible user system configurations is a real nightmare. We don't always manage to cover all bases to start with, but we get most of them and fix the rest fairly soon.

 

[Lempereur1]

I've decided I hate Steam. Shogun 2 arrived in a box today with 2 DVDs. I tried to install from the DVDs and Steam stepped in to take control of the process. About 80% of the way through DVD #1, I had to activate the game via Steam. Once I did that, Steam no longer cared about the DVDs. Installation stopped and Steam shows the game installed, but DVD #1 isn't done and it's never asked to see DVD #2. Instead, my only choice is to download 16 GIGS from friggin' Steam, which keeps saying their servers are "too busy" right now. WTF?

You have got to be kidding me!

Maybe I should use my political connections contacts back to EA and make them an of...

Ahhh ...never mind...

 

[TBR]

Total War started with Creative Assembly as a "niche" product and had gained a wargamer fancore by the time of the original MTW. Rome's very -erm- bad start (it took basically a year to remove the major bugs and "bug free", freedom of the most annoying bugs and AI deficits, was only reached after the SEGA takeover and publication of the "Gold" edition) caused some bad blood in those circles but overall Romes moddability attracted even more wargamers and modders. MTW2 was very much of a letdown since it was left in a state that approximates Rome's prior tor the "Gold" edition, causing quite some stir in the community. When Empire then, despite the prior promises to the community of better access and moddability went into the opposite direction and came out the buggiest TW to date, never reaching even the patched quality of MTW2, they lost very much of the community, Steam lock did add to that.

EA's takeover of the franchise did very much to destroy what fans did love in the series. Basically they were seduced by the level of outreach the TW franchise gained with Rome and forgot the roots of their success. Regrettably, with todays "shiny" addicted younger gamer generation with low attention spans their strategy wasn't that bad of a business move, but that will bite them in the ass longterm with the widespread move of the "oh, shiny!" gamers to console systems.

I for one am glad that SES among others is delivering what we true PC gamers of the first and second generation (those whose first computer games hadn't heard of 3D acceleration etc.) want. SES has shown by its patching behavior that it truly cares for its products and customers and is not willing to sacrifice customer satisfaction and product quality for short term advantages in revenue. Especially considering the shifting of the market I consider this a good long-term business move and others in the industry, such as Cerberus, seem to be moving in the same direction.

You have got to be kidding me!

Maybe I should use my political connections contacts back to EA and make them an of...

Ahhh ...never mind...

 

[saddletank]

I think maybe the "made by wargamers for wargamers" concept is at the heart here. "Les Grognards" is the same deal: years and years of careful development by one dedicated individual producing a superb wargame that will only appeal to (and probably won't even be heard of by anyone but) wargamers.

 

[Lurchi]

I'd strongly recommend holding off on Shogun 2 for the foreseeable future, if not forever [...] 50 devalued US dollars down the drain.........

I am sorry to read that Bullethead! Before that post i was unaware that Shogun has major issues. It seems it was only luck that i didn't have any problems at all with Shogun on my two year old system.

I had major problems with Empire TW in the past though and swore to myself never to buy any of the TW games anymore ... until Napoleon came out. Napoleon was stable right from the start and this convinced me to get Shogun2 right from the start.

The AI may not be the best but what all TW games delivered to me (and i have the whole series) is that they always manage to create an athmosphere of the respective time.

 

[MacGregor]

This sure turned me off. I skipped ETW and NTW because of bad initial reviews, but I figured S2TW would be no worse initially than M2TW (which was pretty good--at least it was playable out of the box), seeings how they'd done it before. So, I don't care what they do in the future, I'm not buying any more TW games.



Thanks for the props. As you say, avoiding problems arising from the infinitely huge set of possible user system configurations is a real nightmare. We don't always manage to cover all bases to start with, but we get most of them and fix the rest fairly soon.

I've read about a dozen reviews and for the life of me I can't find a bad one. Worst I found was 8.9. Where is it you guys found all the really terrible stuff that you would disuade someone from buying this? No new software is perfect. Especially with the vast number of different machines. Where did someone see a bad review?

 

[Bullethead]

I've read about a dozen reviews and for the life of me I can't find a bad one. Worst I found was 8.9. Where is it you guys found all the really terrible stuff that you would disuade someone from buying this? No new software is perfect. Especially with the vast number of different machines. Where did someone see a bad review?

I find the bad stuff about Shogun 2 is not being able to play the game at all. For those who CAN play it, it's apparently pretty good, which is what makes my inability to do so all the more galling.

On 1 of my computers, which is about 1/2way between minimum and recommened system and upon which the demo worked fine, the game installed just fine. However, when I try to play it, right after the splash screen comes up I get a BSOD. There are apparently quite a few folks with this problem. And so far, all CA can say is to have the latest drivers (done) and maybe flash your BIOS (not happening). Meanwhile, they ignore folks who can't play at all and instead work on multiplayer issues, none of which are game-stopping.

On my other computer, I can't even install the game. This appears to be Steam's fault. Using the command line parameter to install from DVD instead of download, I get about 3/4 through DVD #1, and then Steam jumps in saying it has no content servers configured for this game and to try again in a few minutes. WTF?!?!?!? I've got DVDs so leave me the Hell alone until that's done, THEN worry about your damn content servers. Geez. That's been going on for a week and so far Steam support hasn't answered my increasingly irate complaints.

So, OT1H I'm furious with CA for doing something between demo and release that makes the game unplayable on my 1st system and then trying to blame my drivers and even BIOS for it, and OTOH I'm furious with Steam for preventing me from installing the game at all on my other system and ignoring me when I report the problem.

Therefore, I can't recommend getting Shogun 2. I'm not alone in either of my problems, or so I read, so the same things could happen to you. So, do you feel lucky?

 

[By_The_Danube]

I feel lucky. I have this Friday off from work and I feel there's a fair chance of me playing Jutland SP2 by Sunday evening.

just kidding, it will be ready when it will be ready, but sometimes the waiting gets the better of me.

 

[saddletank]

BH, can you uninstall Steam?

 

[MacGregor]

BH, can you uninstall Steam?

When you go to install Shogun, Steam will reinstall right off since it's a protection scheme just like SES is just a bit different.

I can understand Bulletheads frustration. Doesn't matter if a game works on 99% of the computers, if it doesn't work on yours it's a piece of crap and a bad buy.

I have about 18 games on Steam, all of them work great. When my most recent HD death happened I just hooked up to Steam and every game was there for me to install. So I'm very sure I wouldn't have trouble with Shogun2. However, I've learned to wait six months or more before buying a TW title.

Hopefully BH can get things squared away. Flashing the BIOS just might do the trick. Or not.

I'm anxiously awaiting SP 2 meself. Went to buy it cuz of the posted date but was stood up. :OHNO:

 

[FuurinKazan]

Went to buy it cuz of the posted date but was stood up

SHAMEFUL DISPLAY!

(knee-slapping Shogun 2 joke)
BH, you should title your Steam support emails with that phrase..

 

[Lempereur1]

It's ready!
http://stormeaglestudios.com

New StormPowered Game Account Manager
http://stormeaglestudios.com/products/front_end/ses_client_msi.exe

* Run your StormPowered Games from any StormPowered PC

* Play games offline with no need to phone home.

* Auto management of all your Licenses, no need to even print them out anymore!

* Auto restore of your game library

* Anti-theft fail safe Lockout, with auto re-naming of your password and the new password auto emailed to you!

* Timed downloads

Just to name a few new features!