Feeling Disenfranchised With Your Favorite Franchise Hurts
2 years ago
| 374
I think it’s so funny that CA does this shit right before Manor Lords early access might come out. Brother you’ve got a strong competitor coming right for you and you are throwing all your fans away at that very moment, that’s some special business decision making skills right there.
2 years ago | 25
I love how they talk about inflation so they raised their prices on their game but I doubt they raised the pay of their employees.
2 years ago | 9
I fully agree with you Pilps. SHAMEFUL DISPLAY! I have lost faith in CA and Total War many years ago, but those last months have been very harsh for us, their old game's playerbase. The way they have "patched" all their older titles (from Empire to Attila) fucking the mods compatibility, adding bugs and removing the multiplayer text chats really killed the very little hopes I still had for this franchise. Thanks you Pilps for bringing up this situation and for being one of the great voices of the old TW fanbase, a fanbase that have been denigrated by all those "new TW bots" for way to much time.
2 years ago | 53
Yeah I'm done with the series too As a fan who got into the series with medieval 2 and played almost every single game it just hurts man seeing how dilutional the company is and how total war was going downhill. I hope they realize how they butchered a masterpiece
2 years ago | 26
I've just read a man's pure, unadulterated-thoughts. I wholeheartedly agree. I've been playing Medieval 2 with the Third Age LotRs mod; really good fun (There are now a few thousand Dwarves in Moria).
2 years ago | 16
My face when they ported the fots rifle sounds to napoleon In the most recent update 💀
2 years ago | 6
This reminds me of fallout 76 and Bethesda except they actually improved their game
2 years ago | 9
People asking: “Med 3 when? It’ll save the franchise” like it won’t be absolute crap if current CA makes it
2 years ago | 39
That’s not even mentioning that the historical fans repeatedly asked for Medieval 3 or Empire 2 and they went with BRONZE AGE EGYPT! A time period where 75% of what will be included can’t even be historically confirmed.
2 years ago | 28
You know what’s great about this? It’ll give us time to appreciate the community more. This has given me more time to look into the modding community for games like Medieval II, and it’s amazing the level of effort people will put in FOR FREE to make a fun experience. I just wanted to take the time to highlight two of my all time favorite Medieval II mods (other than Stainless Steel, of course): The Italian Wars, made by one fucking dude to cover a highly detailed area from southeast France to the Balkan coast all the way south to North Africa. It has entirely handmade units and extremely unique campaign features like condottieri, an Ottoman invasion, and setups for important battles like Pavia. I’m usually skeptical of mods that cover very specific periods, but this one is just beautiful. There’s 1648, which covers the entirety of the 30 Years War. It’s a bit difficult to get into with its recruitment system, but I makes for a really fun pike and shot campaign centered around navigating the extremely confusing religious and political cacophony that is the 17th century HRE.
2 years ago | 15
Honestly, I think you've definitely made the right call, because not only CA but a lot of other companies are devolving into this mad spiral of greed where they see that an already overpriced and underdeveloped product still sells (somehow) and they just say "well, let's see how far we can take this", to the point where a game gets criticism for being released with nearly no bugs and in an actual good state (see Baldur's Gate 3) because "you can't ask this from us game devs". My brother in Christ, when the Total War titles from a fucking DECADE ago manage to have much more passion and depth in their mechanics and gameplay with less resources and funding than now, how is it hard to just not be so greedy for more money all the time while leaving those actually passionate for TW in the dust? There's probably some team members at CA that actually give a shit about the franchise but if the higher ups see a big fucking dollar sign waved in front of their face, they WILL grab it because eUgH inFlATioN. Stop supporting these cash factories and support those with actual interest in delivering something the fans will love and support instead of crawling behind a soulless husk of a franchise. Edit: typo
2 years ago (edited) | 208
Thanks for bringing this up I was not aware of it. I'll just keep getting my fix from divide et impera or europa barbatum 2.
2 years ago | 3
"Our company is spiraling with corporate greed! SHAMFUR DISPRAY" -custom voice lines coming to Cathay this fall
2 years ago | 2
Every day that passes and the more I see stories like this about Developers, the more I start to believe we've swapped with a different dimension where everything is just backwards.
2 years ago | 1
There have been so many youtubers, not just you but others showing so much love to the classics such as Shogun/Med 1, Rome, Medieval 2, hell even Empire is getting a lot of love lately! We don't need these fancy new games, there are countless amazing mod experiences for each of these games that enhance and make the games even better.
2 years ago | 3
Lets hope Manor Lords turns out to be great as the Demo did a while back though fighting wasnt part of it back then. The developer has however shown to be sticking to his word, so my hopes are up :) Until then, ill be sticking to shogun2 and rome 1
2 years ago | 6
I hate that I agree with you. Feels like cutting off a limb I've been growing since Rome:TW when I was a kid...
2 years ago | 2
Pilps
My opinion on Creative Assembly's / Total War's official response to the price controversy for their Warhammer 3 DLC.
Their response here: www.reddit.com/r/totalwar/comments/15tocnj/ca_resp…
Honestly, let it die.
The series is beyond redemption at this point & without it tanking into the ground they won't learn their lesson.
Eventually a more passionate group of developers will make their own TW type game & implement all the things the fans have wanted since Shogun 2.
Throwing out an ultimatum and a threat to stop development and support on your product if you don't buy your DLC?!
Always a great way to sell your game. What could go wrong? At least EA had the balls to flat out say "Don't buy our game then!", CA can't even muster the courage to be straight up with their opinion.
Creative Assembly is run by SEGA who know nothing about Total War. And the developers that made the good games left with Shogun 2, being done and even before that. I wish that they made up a new studio and started a similar game with the same skills & passion compared to current staff at CA & Total War.
2013 to 2023. From R2TW to W3TW. A decade of CA diligently showing us how to butcher one's own franchise. And no amount of pity will redeem the bots in the "fandom" who are still defending this shit show.
A company that threatens they will literally STOP DOING THEIR JOB in fixing a product you paid for! Because you won't cough up more money for them, for DLC that is over half the price of the actual fucking games original selling price?!? 150% INCREASE?!?
They say if you don't accept the price increases for DLC, this could potentially make them have to stop development on Warhammer III and even cancel full development of the Total War series. Are you serious? Are you seriously going to try and guilt trip your consumers & fans that you will loose your jobs and your franchise will cease to EXIST?!
If any of you are gullible enough that thinks that's true here's just a few basic facts about Creative Assembly.
Estimated Revenue & Valuation
Creative Assembly's estimated annual revenue is currently $248.9M per year.(i)
Creative Assembly's estimated revenue per employee is $305,355
Employee Data
Creative Assembly has 815 Employees.(i)
Creative Assembly grew their employee count by 8% last year.
Poor, poor CA! Having such hard times, however they will survive. Oh the humanity!
No, they're not going to go fucking under if you don't buy their DLC. They are a hundred million dollar company with steady revenue. Of course they are lying about increased costs. It's just pure corporate greed.
Creative Assembly has had 8% growth with $248.9M Revenue.
Source: growjo.com/company/Creative_Assembly
Check page 18 on the Full Accounts PDF in this 2nd link here: find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk…
Shows all their profits from the previous Tax Year. They made £7 Million in profit. You not buying their overpriced DLC is not going to make Total War stop development on Warhammer III. They are lying and it is emotional blackmail.
Oh and just for the icing on the cake. No, they are not running out of money. In June. THIS YEAR IN 2023. Because amongst their rising costs, the actual fucking UK Government gave them extra funding to move on from their perch as a 'start up' company. Yeah.
Here is the official words from the UK Government's Department for Culture, Media and Sport:
"The UK video game sector is booming, and we're maximising its potential even further
Today we've announced £5m extra funding for the UK Games Fund, which will help companies like CA Games go "from start-up to scale- up."
Creative Assembly was founded in 1987 and is the biggest Game Company in the UK. They are not a start up. Absolute scummy practices & borderline illegal.
Meanwhile No Man's Sky announced a new update recently after the already plethora of others before it, seven years after the release! Seven years during which they never charged their customer a single cent for any of their updates or events!
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. The last good Total War game Creative Assembly released was Atilla. After that it’s practices and development has gone down hill time & time again. Fuck you Creative Assembly, Fuck you Total War. Don’t buy their shit, don't accept their excuses, don't be threatened by their threats!
I've decided indefinitely to NEVER BUY another Total War game again. Purely based on the fact how they have handled Warhammer 3 with as much grace. As a blind man with his arms switched round, in a Egg & Spoon race.
It's not acceptable. And you all should not be putting up with it anymore.
I hope Total War: Pharaoh sales plummet. Yes that Bronze Age, Troy reskinned game no one asked for. Which launched teasers and trailers with Troy game assets in it such as flags hoping no one would notice. I wouldn’t be surprised again if factions and features are behind another paywall. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if they make godly units because of all the Egyptian Gods too.
I hope the Warhammer 3 reviews keep getting worse. And I hope this is finally a fucking wake up call to Creative Assembly & Total War that we are sick and tired of their bullshit.
From terrible buggy releases. To updating decade old games like Shogun 2 and purposely removing features hoping fans don't notice. Some mods for Shogun 2 still to this day do not work or are a buggy mess because you moved the mods to your newer total war game launcher. (Hence why I haven't uploaded Fall of the Samurai in a while.) Mods I like just don't work now. They just don't.
Total war since Rome 2 can be described as using a rotting corpse as a puppet that will sometimes accidentally do something interesting, like having a tooth fall out. There's no going back to quality games without a complete rebuild.
I'm tired of it. The way you've handled this controversy and your whole series for the past 8 years since Atilla is the catalyst that I shouldn't buy any of your games indefinitely. I saw it from a mile away your practices will get gradually worse with your Warhammer Games. But fuck, this price stuff with Warhammer 3? Why would ANYONE want to further buy or play anything from you ever again after this?!
And let’s say it’s true. Let’s give CA the benefit of the doubt that they truly need us to give them our money for this DLC.
If they need to sell overpriced stuff to stay afloat then they deserve to drown.
This is just terrible financial management, and what gives a company the right to get away with it? While with a looming recession and financial crises on the way, small business’s have to file for bankruptcy? It’s not right! And their profits prove it’s just not true, at all! They are lying straight to your face!
My eyebrow will rise if Medieval III gets announced. But with current Creative Assembly & Total War Staff and how they have handled the past 8 years, especially Warhammer III I'm 99% sure they will ruin it.
They will honestly ruin Medieval 3 if they do it with current business practices and decisions. Don't be surprised if they cut off parts of Europe behind paywalls and factions at £15 each. Just play the Mod Medieval Kingdoms 1212ad mod for Atilla. Essentially Medieval 3 and infinitely better than anything current CA & TW could ever dream of producing. A mod with development & updates done by fans who actually care about what they are making.
Only real way of enjoying the glory of Total War now, is their older titles which they put a lot more care, thought & love into. Which they are now sadly removing content from with updates. Chat feature? Gone. Modding? Gone or updated to not work. Even on purposely changing game file names to mess with Modders.
A better part of a decade after it's release they rebranded the Fall of the Samurai as a "saga" game and more than doubled its price. Seems even the older games aren't immune from some of their fuckery now. They have increased prices for all of their older titles.
So if you wanna experience their games that are far more polished and historically accurate and have better features. You now have to cough up more money for their greed too!
The only real way of capturing that same passion is through the potential in Indie developers. I know Manor Lords is not 100% based on Combat. But that game has so much more structure, love & care put into it compared to any Total War since Atilla.
I'm never buying another Total War title ever again. SHAMEFUL DISPLAY!
2 years ago (edited) | [YT] | 2,422