Empire Total War DEMO - Friday
- Thread starter noobfactorNF
- Start date
noobfactorNF
Veteran X
I'll be honest. Im a little dissapointed by the demo.
The camera feels aqward and sticky, not fast and responsive like M2:TW
The animations are decent, not ground-breaking. The game takes FOREVER to load a level or to Accept Video Graphics changes.
I would like more time or variation in Troops. Maybe I need to play the full campaign so I know how to construct a decent Army and of what troops.
I dont know how I feel, mixed results. More dissapointed than thrilled for the Release.
The camera feels aqward and sticky, not fast and responsive like M2:TW
The animations are decent, not ground-breaking. The game takes FOREVER to load a level or to Accept Video Graphics changes.
I would like more time or variation in Troops. Maybe I need to play the full campaign so I know how to construct a decent Army and of what troops.
I dont know how I feel, mixed results. More dissapointed than thrilled for the Release.
I thought the naval combat was very cool. Lot of room to micromanage the ships. They have firing arcs that show their range and they move realistically. You can play with a large number a settings on each of them from how their sails are set to having cannons hold fire to perform a full broadside on your command. There are 3 different types of shots (round shot (hull damage), chain shot (sail damage), grape shot (kills the sailors) and they all have different ranges and their own uses depending on what you want to do. You can also board ships to capture them so you can keep them after the battle.
Ships seem to be able to take on a few negative effects like they can catch on fire or start taking on water. I was disappointed that there didn't seem to be anything I could do to try to help the ship combat these effects though (for example maybe telling them to drop anchor and start trying to fix the problem instead of continuing to sail around shooting at things).
The naval combat overall feels a lot like the naval combat in Pirates!, but a little more in depth and you can of course control multiple ships.
Ground combat seems to be appropriately 18th century with troops lining up and shooting at each other. One of the major changes to basic range units is that they now have an overlay that shows their firing arc and range. I was pretty disappointed that when I had them in a row of 2 that the first row didn't kneel down after firing so the back row could fire over their heads. Artillery seem a lot more interesting than they have been in the past. And of course there are still cavalry units.
The graphics are everything you'd expect from a Total War game. Everything looked great especially in the naval battles. Seeing ships slowly sink (and when I saw slowly I mean it's very slow, it takes a few minutes for one to fully sink) to seeing the little men jump off the ship when it's sinking and futilely treading water.
Biggest downside are the load times are horrendous. It was taking me about 2 minutes to load a battle. This would be acceptable if it was a one time load but in an actual campaign there would probably be a few hundred battles. Once it got in game it ran smooth even on highest settings though. I assume lowering the settings would lower the load times so that might be necessary if you want to play a campaign.
Edit: That ended up being a lot longer than I meant it to be.
Ships seem to be able to take on a few negative effects like they can catch on fire or start taking on water. I was disappointed that there didn't seem to be anything I could do to try to help the ship combat these effects though (for example maybe telling them to drop anchor and start trying to fix the problem instead of continuing to sail around shooting at things).
The naval combat overall feels a lot like the naval combat in Pirates!, but a little more in depth and you can of course control multiple ships.
Ground combat seems to be appropriately 18th century with troops lining up and shooting at each other. One of the major changes to basic range units is that they now have an overlay that shows their firing arc and range. I was pretty disappointed that when I had them in a row of 2 that the first row didn't kneel down after firing so the back row could fire over their heads. Artillery seem a lot more interesting than they have been in the past. And of course there are still cavalry units.
The graphics are everything you'd expect from a Total War game. Everything looked great especially in the naval battles. Seeing ships slowly sink (and when I saw slowly I mean it's very slow, it takes a few minutes for one to fully sink) to seeing the little men jump off the ship when it's sinking and futilely treading water.
Biggest downside are the load times are horrendous. It was taking me about 2 minutes to load a battle. This would be acceptable if it was a one time load but in an actual campaign there would probably be a few hundred battles. Once it got in game it ran smooth even on highest settings though. I assume lowering the settings would lower the load times so that might be necessary if you want to play a campaign.
Edit: That ended up being a lot longer than I meant it to be.
noobfactorNF
Veteran X
Land Battles-
I find it hard to see what Unit you have selected, also what unit's are taking-damage.
I dont like how friendly AI will not auto fire when in range, but facing the wrong direction.
Also, why dont the front row's volley fire? They should be firing a shitload of rounds, but the first and second ranks only reload when done, they dont run to the back of formation and let the next rank fire.
I think they need to update the Firing-Distance and Field of Fire overlay, its barely visible.
I find it hard to see what Unit you have selected, also what unit's are taking-damage.
I dont like how friendly AI will not auto fire when in range, but facing the wrong direction.
Also, why dont the front row's volley fire? They should be firing a shitload of rounds, but the first and second ranks only reload when done, they dont run to the back of formation and let the next rank fire.
I think they need to update the Firing-Distance and Field of Fire overlay, its barely visible.
I ran everything maxed on my c2d 3ghz with an 8800gt and 2gb of ram but that was just the tutorial, I'm sure when there's tons of shit on the screen it will need some tweaking
Hurricane Harold
Veteran X
I might have to buy this one. I skipped on Medieval 2 because my computer wasn't up to snuff, and I couldn't get into Rome. I may give this a shot though.
Also, it looks awesome. 8800 GTS, C2D E6600, 4GB 800mhz RAM, and it runs on high with the fancy settings on (though DoF off because it looks stupid).
Also, it looks awesome. 8800 GTS, C2D E6600, 4GB 800mhz RAM, and it runs on high with the fancy settings on (though DoF off because it looks stupid).
didn't like the SP land battle at all
feels more like im watching/waiting than actually doing something
i think the guns and unfamiliarity wtih units is the big dif...in medieval/rome its obvious whats going on, my swordmne are under attack by ______
in this i have no idea whos attacking what etc
feels more like im watching/waiting than actually doing something
i think the guns and unfamiliarity wtih units is the big dif...in medieval/rome its obvious whats going on, my swordmne are under attack by ______
in this i have no idea whos attacking what etc
Graphics are great and everything ran like butter on max settings on my Q6600 @ 3ghz 8800gtx2, 2 gigs of ram, but like everyone else already mentioned, load times are really really slow.
It takes some getting used to how to move organize your units, but once you do it's pretty fun and intense. And to whoever asked, yeah cannonballs bounce.
It takes some getting used to how to move organize your units, but once you do it's pretty fun and intense. And to whoever asked, yeah cannonballs bounce.
Yes. Civilization minus the research aspect, plus the very in depth battles. You can usually completely skip the battles if you want, but they were the main reason I enjoy the series.
Whereas I've found that the total war series is never in depth enough
paradox games > total war
Dimmesdale
Veteran X
The land battles seem slower than MW:2 since your units have to stand back and fire instead of charging right in. I'll be fine with it so long as the AI is much improved. The MW:2 AI was horrendous.
Hurricane Harold
Veteran X
Apparently they added research to this one...
