Creative Assembly Survived, But SEGA Holds A Gun To Its Head

[@revanlord05]

This is what happens when a company called "Creatively Assembly" isn't assembling something creative.

[@V4Now]

...😎 YYYEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAHHH!...

[@theopposite-22]

"Creative assembly"

[@JamesterXC]

🤣so true lol

[@julianfull280]

They tried with hyenas, but it apparently was just another fortnite clone and that's whyit failed lol, so you are right sir

[@dmitriyrasskazov8858]

They make same thing over and over and over again. They let them do a short breath in form allowing them to make one horror game, but then back to rts mines. Seriously at this point even warhammer feel bland, like whole universe full of fantastic creatures, yet it games feels bland and generic, like a gum that was chewed for 5 hours.

[@cullain3967]

Every CA problem can be laid squarely at the feet of executives, both from CA and from SEGA, being out of touch, greedy and too focused on short term monetary gains over solid long term growth, SEGA doesn't just get to dump blame for everything on CA as their priorities were just as screwed up as any of the people in charge at CA...

[@Nehfarius]

Plus, we all know how good SEGA is at decision-making. Need I remind everyone why they fell out of the console business~?

[@julianfull280]

it's like when you just keep recruiting and battling but don't upgrade any buildings in any city.... no long term solid basis for growth

[@Nehfarius]

@@julianfull280 That strategy can be effective...for a time. Until your troops are outpaced by your foes, or until you are put on the defensive.

[@mcmarkmarkson7115]

Hm their community manager Grace also created some problems. Then they promoted her upwards after she failed at her job.

[@julianfull280]

@@Nehfarius Exactly. And that moment came to CA when people got mad over Shadows of Change.... They were caught outnumbered, insolvent, and their Sega masters almost decide to cut down their vassalized non-profitting arses to pieces. And it can still happen.

[@WelcomeToDERPLAND]

The Total war budgets compared to the hundreds of millions poured into Hyenas is fucking disgusting...

[@1992zorro]

Hyena's was basic money laundering

[@sacobelens]

You are so right.

[@asideofsalt.6645]

@@WelcomeToDERPLAND who was hyenas even for???

[@TheToby121]

​@@asideofsalt.6645just a generic shooter with cosmetics in lootboxes. A low effort cash cow.

[@PlainDoll]

​@@asideofsalt.6645 invisible, mythical modern audience, obviously!

[@MrAdamArce]

Total War fans did what many other franchise need to do and put their entire beloved franchise to the fire. Either value your customers or fail and go away. They chose to finally start putting a bit more value into their customers. Still needs more, but it's great to get FLC back, proper updates, and dlc sold as a package or in parts as the players wanted are all great steps. Hope they keep this as the base standard going forward from now on

[@Neutral_1zed]

Cue Ubisoft literally burning to the ground, expected to bankrupt in 2025 after they said: “You need to get comfortable with not owning the game” I suppose they got comfortable with not selling any

[@youyou01101]

AND PLEASE NO MORE BORING HISTORICAL GAMES, pharoh was extremely unappealing to me even tho its part of my culture, we want medieval times, musket era or ww1, anything else will kill the studio, 40k and star wars would be interesting but they have to do them properly

[@julianfull280]

Paradox fans need to do the same.

[@AP-hv9ll]

@@youyou01101They desperately need a new engine. Those take years and shame on them not starting in earnest five years ago. Could be done already, but the idiots (the shoe fits,) chose heyenas instead.

[@williamcadman6333]

I haven’t bought a new total war since Britannia. The war hammer fantasy stuff doesn’t appeal. The historical stuff since then including Britannia has been a failure judging on what others have said. I’m happy to keep playing attila

[@MarktheRude]

4:11 Meanwhile Medieval 2 Total War, game released 18 years ago, is still outperforming it by pulling 5000 players a day.

[@Lem0nsquid]

Thanks to mods that know what they are doing and making the best of total wars janky mechanics and “mod support”

[@benfromthesewers1688]

Also there's huge portion of pirated and CD users. Wouldnt be suprised if theactual numbers are twice as high. Modders often run into issue of having to deal with users of CD and pirated versions, rofl. Also there's huge belorussian, russian and ukrainan modding community! They have their own equivalent of mod total war center.

[@SpiceCh]

False equivalence - total war warhammer is on the Xbox game pass and epic games store too. You don't have to he numbers for those

[@scrollexdestiny]

@@SpiceCh ok like 30 more dudes

[@SpiceCh]

@@scrollexdestiny you really want that to be true so badly

[@RumpelGameSkin]

A fair bit of the negativity towards the recent WH3 dlc is because it came with an update that reworked how monstrous/large units dealt cleave damage, which itself felt completely untested and resulted in many cases even up to tier 4 monstrous units losing to tier 1 infantry very handily, that has since been reverted though, but many issues still remain.

[@Zuginator]

But I think happened as someone who's worked in software development. They tested it against all of the new units. They didn't test it against old units, because there's a lot of units in that wouldn't be on the priority.

[@changer_of_ways_999]

To be fair, they fixed it over the weekend. It isn't nearly as bad as before like the start of Warhammer 3 where major bugs persisted for months. Now that they have these short term hot fixes like a normal company instead of only updating with a DLC drop is definitely a huge boost for the future.

[@Duranous.]

I can fault them for not testing enough but I can't fault them for all the effort they've put in qol recently. However, it was not a great time to release, hopefully they can put out their .1 patch sooner than later. Overall, we need more QA but it's hard to deny the overall health of the game is much higher now. And glad they were able to react faster then before to glitches.

[@darokdeed]

@@Zuginator not even that the bloodbeasts a new unit was mid to bad but got good to amazing after the fix.

[@RambleOn07]

CA comes across as a company that only hires people that hate their customers and games.

[@rocketman3285]

Every total war that comes out removes several of the features the previous one had that were the reason I played to begin with. Im not interested in a company that backsteps 10 steps every step they take.

[@williamyoung9401]

I think during Covid these Corporate hounds all thought we'd be inside forever and they could turn us into living slot machines (via live-service) for them who would never leave the house. And when that didn't pan out and life returned to "normal," now all of these studios and developers they bought are getting laid off. Instead of making good games, some of them are giving up completely on the idea, humans and all. Don't pivit; just give up...

[@hippieyoda1993]

They do that so each version will retain some mechanic that people will specifically buy that game for.

[@RigobertosTacoShop]

That’s my biggest issue with the warhammer tw’s. It’s a far cry from the historical ones; not because they aren’t historical, but because they are vastly differently mechanics and gameplay. It’s gone too arcade like. I can’t stand it, get that one unit hero slop out of my total war!

[@RisenOswald]

@@RigobertosTacoShop you mean how lords/agents work, as a single unit?

[@Zdravdrat]

​@@RigobertosTacoShop yeah, played TW3 and across two campaigns on VH/VH difficulty i had to fight 2 battles before winning both campaigns, incredibly fast for my liking... and fans of modern tw titles tell me that the game is too complex for me and thats why i dont enjoy it, but i dont feel that Medeval 2 or Rome 1 was less complex.

[@rwagingsloth9528]

im still pissed about the TW Shogun 2 dlc expansion "Fall of the Samurai" being made into it's own standalone game at a price HIGHER than it was as a DLC despite there being no changes made other than no longer requiring the base game. from 25$ to 35$, one of the most blatant money grabs in gaming.

[@cfehunter]

It's older than dlc being the standard. It was released as a standalone expansion, which really wasn't unusual at the time.

[@willl676]

It was already standalone then, the issue was them trying to rebrand it as a Saga game, which it never was.

[@kolpere1625]

Kinda ironic being the best total war game about XIX warfare lol. And yet, it was really cherished by the community. An overpriced great expansion, but still great. But then they thought they can do the same in the following years. To me the shittiest thing im still pissed at the day are half of the attila dlcs, specifically the viking and slav dlcs. Unforgivable.

[@SimuLord]

"Standalone expansions" used to be a lot more common back when there was still a lot of resistance to digital distribution and PC games were still sold in stores. Now that digital is pretty much the entire PC market, it's no longer necessary to convince retailers to carry something that requires people to own something else (the old boxed expansion packs.) One of my all-time favorite games is a standalone expansion, namely Mount&Blade Warband. That would've been DLC for the OG Mount&Blade if it hadn't come out in 2010.

[@triumphant39]

But it was actually good. It added alot to the game, and in my opinion it totally changed alot of the game. Likely your bitterness over a perceived injustice (which wasn't that bad anyways?) ruined your ability to enjoy that expansion, which was imho better than what people are now praising, pharaoh dynasties.

[@ArcturusMinsk]

This really was the year of blind incompetent leadership for the Video Game industry.

[@vinceb8123]

@@ArcturusMinsk you misspelled "decade" there ;)

[@blockmasterscott]

Like Vince said, it’s “decade”. All of entertainment from movies to games just went downhill with the DEI initiatives.

[@RigobertosTacoShop]

@@vinceb8123thanks, I was about to say lol

[@WelcomeToDERPLAND]

Feels like its been that way for awhile to be honest

[@ArcturusMinsk]

@@WelcomeToDERPLAND yeah, but until recently it's resulted in below average sales, now, it's terminal.

[@danilooliveira6580]

the sad part is that CA is basically the only company making games like this, and it's only possible because they have been building the necessary tools and assets for decades. so if CA goes under, it's possible that we will never see another Total War-like game, because it would be too expensive for anyone else to try.

[@flake.tv.]

I mean no, there's plenty of devs that make adjacent games already like Mount and Blade or Manor Lords. CA is entirely replaceable in this genre IMO, I just don't think the Strategy genre is big enough for another dev to bother while the niche is filled.

[@markwatson8714]

Not really, plenty have tried over the years. CA are as much the problem as anything else; much like Firaxis with Civ, the main difficulty for a competitor is nothing to do with development and everything to do with the fact it's a niche, limited market with a well established franchise that naturally tends to rob the oxygen from any challenger before they get a chance to establish themselves. In that sense CA going under would likely be a good thing - there'd be plenty of devs willing to take a shot at filling the gap, and a corresponding burst of innovation in the genre as a result.

[@danilooliveira6580]

@@markwatson8714 yes, but more likely they would make something with a much smaller scale. the only reason CA can churn out Total War games so fast is because of their tools and huge library of assets, something no one else has. that is the real reason why there is no competition, because no one else have the resources to make total war games that plays and look as good as CA's games, even if it ends up being a better game overall. it would cost way too much. but you have a good point, if CA disappears then maybe it will give space for spiritual successors in the future, even if they are not as good as CA's games, they wouldn't be competing since CA wouldn't be making games anymore.

[@klausernstthalheim9642]

you forgot King Arthur and his successor King Arthur 2

[@changer_of_ways_999]

Life finds a way. If a gap in the market is open, people will fill it eventually. Steam is full of "spiritual successors" that were better than their original. If the original Total War series is gone, competitors would actually have an easier time since the demand would be even higher and the old guard competitors wouldn't be stealing the spotlight City Skylines, Path of Exile 2, Planet Coaster, there's no reason another team can't crack the total war code.

[@ASHFAR578]

Just listen to customers and youll survive. Its that simple.

[@lowbearful]

you have a lot of conflicting opinions on how warhammer should be balanced and designed so it's more than just listening. you have to decide what will keep people interested overall. wh3 is a very complicated and expansive game with many factions and unique systems behind them, so even small changes can have a knock-on effect on everything else, seems like a nightmare to handle from a dev perspective honestly

[@ASHFAR578]

@@lowbearful at this point they should just cut off hist tw fans opinions since they will never be able to satisfy them with this title. lets hope for medieval 3 or something. and its obvious to me since their code is spaghetti they probably will never get sieges and ai right. might as well go all in on expanding roster and adding missing factions. at this point its all about roleplaying as your favourite leader and painting the map. maybe thats just me

[@Bloodlyshiva]

Except customers, being people, don't know what they want, and are contradictory.

[@roguewasbanned4746]

⁠@@ASHFAR578yeah how about roleplaying your favorite leader and painting the map with a decent game? How hard is that to ask for.

[@roguewasbanned4746]

@@BloodlyshivaI can quite coherently tell you what total war needs bud. And it’s really not hard to understand what other people want either.

[@ericm5315]

Honestly, CA deserves it. Bad C suite. Very bad. They need to update their engine and fix their tech debt.

[@GoalOrientedLifting]

Theyre harvesting what theyve sown. I will never buy a game from em again. Ive gotten my ultimate total war game, im not getting another

[@chubbyninja89]

Screw you, they don't. I'm sick of idiots trying to talk like CA is worse than the likes of EA or Activision, when it's clear as day that they're nowhere near that level of scumminess. And screw the selfish morons who try to get mad because CA dares to sell DLC for their games, as if they have to give all the stuff they make away for free. But what makes it worse is how said idiots don't understand the major part that Sega has obviously played in such things.

[@predatitor4183]

Like paradox, that group of maniacs have more dlcs that social life.

[@homosapienze]

The original games had massive innovation with every release, then the smooth brains took over

[@npcknuckles5887]

Same with the skyrim engine

[@ronanwaring3408]

We've been asking for medieval 3 for ages and were still waiting.

[@LordVader1094]

We only won a temporary victory. People thought CA had cleaned up its act after Rome 2, but 2024 proved otherwise.

[@SpiceCh]

2024 was the best year for total war since 2018

[@Graun]

@@SpiceCh LOL

[@the0glitter]

@LordVader1094 2023 proved otherwise. They're trying a bit in 2024, but they're still not there yet.

[@MasonDixonAutistic]

@@SpiceCh CA brand-ambassadors have been saying the same thing every year since 2013, and CA has yet to fart out a single TW game that's even close to FoTS. They haven't a clue what they're doing and the marketing still pretends that the games are just the same, when anyone with any game-sense can see the mechanics have been dumbed-down to the point that every interaction is meaningless.

[@jasonroberts743]

When I purchased Total war Warhammer 3 in 2022, I was absolutely appalled that I basically paid $60 for what amounted to or felt like a beta test(because of how buggy it was) , and only 25-40% of the game being ready at launch, while waiting 7 months for immortal empires, and then the rest of the game being split up into DLCs. Not similar games, but when Elden Ring released shortly after, how amazed I was that it was the full game, full experience, yes still having some issues and bugs, but it was the full game, I didn't have to wait years to enjoy the full game.

[@Zuginator]

Yeah I've been playing Total War since Total Warhammer 1 and the the some of the historics. I was really surprised that people were surprised that it was buggy when it launched.

[@flake.tv.]

Warhammer 3 was bad at launch for sure, I bought it played the campaign once then played Mortal Empires in 2 for the next year or so. It's a lot of fun now that is if you are a big Warhammer fan or a Total War fan but the 4x elements are still pretty lacking. I hope when CA finally get around to making TotalWarhammer 40K we can maybe have diplomacy that's better than Declare War or Declare War in 5 turns

[@CommanderRedEXE]

We had the full game at launch lmao. Mortal and Immortal Empires were ALWAYS and CLEARLY marketed as free, Post-Release updates. They were both delivered upon exactly as promised. Every paid DLC has been extra lords, while all the gameplay changes are added alongside in free updates for all. Yes, there are some bugs and glitches, but those exist in literally EVERY Total War title. People complained Rome Remastered was a "not good enough remaster" despite being far more than what most companies would do. Also your ER example hurts you. It literally launched with most storylines unfinishable and many gamebreaking bugs and was so poorly optimized it took MONTHS to be truly Playable on PC for the majority. It was a hot mess of a launch people give too much slack to.

[@gitrekt-gudson]

@@CommanderRedEXE CA isn't gonna sleep with you bro. No need to shill that nonsense so hard.

[@theStamax]

@@jasonroberts743 at least they have now dropped the pretense that IE isn't the actual game and stopped making updates for the original 'campaign'. But yeah... They've still got a long way to go to even come close to twwh 2 in it's hayday. There's sadly a really good chance that they'll 'finish' the game long before that happens.

[@loiu657]

A total war 40k sounds cool in theory, but it would be extremely hard for them to execute. Honestly I would rather they go back to the Napoleonic or Colonial period and give us a new gunpowder warfare game. Do something they know and did well, and regain some positive publicity for the total war franchise. Further, total war inherently doesnt really work in settings like ww1, or 40k where squad and individual movements are a massive factor. Total war is more about formation warfare, which honestly really died out after the 1870s. Maybe a Victorian Age total war? That would be interesting. Either way we need a historical total war game with large formational armies again, im sick of being force fed heros and small trash units to fill the roster.

[@lt.danicecream]

@@loiu657 the problem with those time periods is that the armies are so generic. Like Empire and Napoleon

[@loiu657]

@lt.danicecream armies are generic. Its how you use them that is the fun part.

[@lt.danicecream]

@loiu657 it makes faction or nations not matter to me. If there is little to no difference in them, i will not have a different experience. Rome TW, if i played Seleucids, i had a totally different play style and experience then if i play the Gauls.

[@thomashawkins6154]

@@lt.danicecream honestly good point 👍

[@James-sk4db]

@@lt.danicecream that is one of the reasons Warhammer has so much fan support, because each race has very different play-styles. The only prior game that had such was Attila, with the hoard factions (which I still have never completed a campagin of).

[@piedpiper1172]

Refunding the difference in price to early buyers is a shockingly based move on their part. They actually put their money where their mouth was on that apology.

[@sync380]

@piedpiper1172 no it wasn't. They did the math and determined a refund would cost less than developing DLC nobody would buy.

[@adamkenyeres9036]

They did a huge free update so You are wrong

[@christopherhayes1369]

OK but all the drama aside, immortal empires in WH3 is an incredible game/experience for anyone who loves the WH setting

[@AP-hv9ll]

I finally bought WH3, via the holiday sale bundle. (I don’t care about the recent crappy dlc.) This pretty much has my 2025 set. Maybe even 2026.

[@jamescooke7243]

It is by far the best experience you can get in a total war game if you like fantasy.

[@kitno6415]

Even if you are not into wh but like fantasy it is great. I have like 1k hour but it has A LOT of issues

[@RigobertosTacoShop]

@@jamescooke7243I’d rather play med 2 lord of the rings. Now that’s a fantasy total war with some hair on its chest!

[@lucifer0247]

WH3 is by far the best strategy game that's out there

[@fudgin7778]

CA is progressively getting their s*** together but the road to recovery is still long. They burned many bridges with paying customers. I used to buy all new DLC for TW:WH day-one, no questions asked. After this year's shitshow I'm getting much more stingy with my money.

[@Alpha-1812]

As someone who used to work at Sega but left long ago.(I am even credited for the original Alien Isolation) I am somewhat glad that things are turning around. That said I still have doubts regarding the decision makers. I remember thinking Total War Arena has no future when it was still in the alpha stage, for the record I believed it was a game that was impossible to monetise without causing major uproar. I always felt they lack the guts to pull the trigger when it comes to these sorts of things. Can't really say anything about total war these days since I am not a big fan of Warhammer Fantasy and I do not own any TW post Rome 2 but I will definitely jump in when they do release either a 40K Total War or a sequel to one of the OG Total War, i.e Shogun, Rome, Medieval or Empire.

[@Mason1968PL]

Regarding Arena, there are many games these days monetised without selling any power and there should be a decent potential for unit skins and such. They also made it with Wargaming who are masters of cramming a lot of monetisation into their games without pissing most people off.

[@Alpha-1812]

@@Mason1968PL Well that was back in the closed alpha, there wasn't even a whisper of wargaming part of the project back then. The plan at the time was to make certain units only obtainable through real money.

[@hippyjoe]

Arena was such a good concept, its a shame it was put down

[@tjbonzai87]

I think the main thing with Total War team now is ensuring the next gen engines good. If theres a solid foundation where its easy to code and they can develop a competant AI then there is no reason why the next 3-4 games can't be a success

[@dundun3687]

They were seeking a highly experienced graphics programmer I believe. Sounds like they are maybe trying to improve or make a new engine, which I think is needed at this point.

[@brianhouston5368]

Medieval III, Rome III, or Shogun III for the next historical title, or bust. Give the historical fans what we want, put in a decent effort to produce a true next-gen TW game, and Creative Assembly will have a huge hit on their hands. But they can't fake it. They can't produce less of a game than we got 15 years ago, while charging far more for it, and choosing to keep all the money made for executive bonuses or shareholder payouts rather than investment in their products, and expect to succeed. CA just needs to make refined, next-gen versions of their most popular games, and if they do that, they have a good template for success.

[@kapixniecapix3869]

AND do not dump warhammer 3 until its complete for anything else, otherwise they can loose both type of custommer. Honestly if executives made better decision we could get hisorical game, next fantasy game and warhammer support. They choose to make a concord like game isntead.

[@CommanderRedEXE]

Let's be real. They could make any one of those but y'all will still never touch it. Given the complaints against Pharoah Dynasties, people will just complain the exact same problems about engine, diplomacy, and battles and not want the very game they asked for. This is the same community who claimed campaign with more than two players would NEVER sell or be worth it. Oh how wrong that sentiment was in many ways.

[@changer_of_ways_999]

The fact that the team Sofia that worked on the Saga games and Pharoah are now on DLC duty instead means no more crappy spin off historical titles, which is good. That means only TRUE main series historical titles from now on.

[@CommanderRedEXE]

@changer_of_ways_999 Except Sofia are the ones who made all the improvements everyone liked. The main team is the one who produced basically all the dlc to date. How can you then blame Sofia for things the main team have done? ToB was WIDELY loved, and made by Sofia. Y'all just don't like the bronze age but can't admit THAT is why you hate Troy/Pharoah Dynasties. Sofia didn't decide to split the games as they were. Sega and main CA did. Seriously. A little research goes a long way. Blame the right parties.

[@SillySwedes]

Considering that Total Warhammer doesn't even have reload animations for muskets or bows I don't want them to do a new historical title, because it'd be a shallow spreadsheet calculator with hero units

[@StrangerOnTheWeb]

There are only 3 things that I want. Medieval 3, Empire 2 & a 40k game

[@changer_of_ways_999]

Doubt on 40k. I don't think they could pull it off, not with their current engine.

[@feto5310]

@@changer_of_ways_999 either way everyone is sure that they are working on it rn

[@bubrub5564]

@@changer_of_ways_999 People said the same thing about Warhammer Fantasy back in the day. I think with how successful Warhammer Fantasy has been; it's just a matter of time before they make a game focused on its far more popular younger brother. I'd rather have an Empire 2 though.

[@Zergslayer_42069]

@@bubrub5564same, I just hope they make it so population and armies without generals come back

[@michaelmoran2125]

@changer_of_ways_999 they're making it rn should be announced end of next year. Legend of total war talks about it.

[@joema48]

Hood, all deveopers should be held accountable for their failures and know that they are still in business because their customers have made that possible.

[@williamyoung9401]

A lot of times it isn't the developers' fault. It's leadership. It's sucks that an entire team is held responsible for the bad decisions of others.

[@gerardotejada2531]

I can asure you no one wanted to do Hyenas other than the out of touch executives. Devs obey orders, they are employees.

[@joshuabacker2363]

@@gerardotejada2531 Not always, or even often. Devs are as fallible as any business exec and inept ones will make bad games or stick in crap nobody wants.

[@Kyle496]

They've been turning around their image with their recent DLC releases and people are becoming more optimistic. The problem is they keep doing better and throwing all the goodwill they earned in the trash with poor value content and needing to crawl out of the hole they just dug.

[@WhoTookPlockrock]

As a lot of people have said before, this is a pattern for CA. The MOMENT they think they're back in safe waters they tend to immediately revert to all the bad decisions that got them so close to eradication in the first place. But they came closer to it than ever before this time, so we'll see if they've finally learned a lasting lesson.

[@ZCid47]

@@WhoTookPlockrock Apparently they have compromised to improve shadows of change (the worst dlc that they have made in a long time) for a second time by changing Kislev and Tzeench and giving the option of buy the dlc like the last two. That fact really show how disastrous the sells of that dlc must be if even after one improvement they still fell that improvements are needed to help sell it

[@Amadourrr]

this is a tactic CA has been implementing since rome II, which came out in 2013... - Game in bad state or with very poor marketing releases - fixes game slowly - controversies surrounding the development happen (bad changes, overpriced expansions/ dlc's, lack of respect for the customer etc etc...) - people complain on forums - moderators silence forums - CA releases "okay" DLC(s) - people buy into it with high hopes - "thank you CA, we're so back baby" - CA stops developping DLC's for the game - CA fumbles with the next game. Rince and repeat, it will never change. It keeps the customers hoping only to deceive them. i love this franchise, got the fondest RTS memories, but they won't last forever. What's next realisticially? Empire II, Medieval III, shogun III, Rome III? It'd be great, especially with an engine that allows us to field real armies and not the 3000 men battalions since its early days as a franchise. But people want a star wars and warhammer 40k total war game... We have that already, at least the closest to how it could possibly be, Empire At War (2007) and Dawn Of War (2004)

[@Booklat1]

which is why I think the community has accepted Omens of Destruction too easily Khorne was absolutely broken on DLC release and greenskins got a bland rework + one or two unique units (black orcs with shields as DLC content is ridiculous). It's nowehere near as hype as Thrones of Decay, even if they opened a bit of the map.

[@the_tactician9858]

​@@Booklat1 To be fair, ToD was peak content, with a major (and good once balanced) rework for 2 favourite factions and making the 3rd faction somewhat okay too. Omens is a mid DLC, but for other reasons than SoC was such a disaster. Mostly this DLC seems to have been there just to ship something out this year, given how unpolished it is (the trailer alone was a HUGE step down from what they usually do, it felt like minimal effort work). But their next DLC will have to be very good if they want to keep this up.

[@StenWasTaken]

Man I just want empire II total war

[@SpiceCh]

@@StenWasTaken i just want Legend's community to replace their toxicity with constructive feedback

[@dwighthunter6719]

SAME i need empire 2

[@timprice2792]

Does this mean it’s total war on total war?

[@blanck7457]

If they want a WAAAGH! We will give them a WAAAAGH!

[@SpiceCh]

Certain content creators are trying to make a living peddling hate against CA. Unfortunately those content creators are bigger than the ones who are actually positive and optimistic about the game, so they get to dictate the narrative, and third parties like Belular only ever parrot their opinions instead of looking deeper into the community for real answers.

[@Ghaztoir]

Seige, ai, and various bugs in the game still need improvement.

[@troublemakerss]

I was an early buyer for Pharaoh. Its not that there was anything wrong with it. It just wasnt fun. I have sunk in god knows how many hours in Rome, Empire, Napoleon and Shogun 2. They need to fix the complicated mechanics and make this game fun again. Empire had a huge scale. Even that could be fun. Shogun 2 was the absolute peak for this series.

[@ImperialDiecast]

is pharaoh dynasties better?

[@troublemakerss]

@@ImperialDiecast I took a break from newer TW. Its sitting on my steam library. I will pick it up sometime in the future.

[@jussi8111]

all we wanted was a proper medieval 2 remake

[@SpiceCh]

@@jussi8111 bad excuse to frame Warhammer 3 as bad. That's like me framing Cs:go as bad because I wanted half life 3

[@jussi8111]

@@SpiceChnever said warhammer 3 was bad, but it wasnt good either

[@SpiceCh]

@@jussi8111 it's better than Warhammer 2, which Legend almost couldn't stop praising by the end. But he's so deep into the ranting KZbinr space that he can't stop looking for excuses to hate the game these days. Because half his community follows him because he makes up excuses for them to hate people other than themselves

[@Ghaztoir]

Legend is correct.

[@SpiceCh]

@@Ghaztoir He himself said over a year ago that WH3 was better than WH2 but he still rants because his income depends on it. That's the kind of viewer base he has created for himself.

[@changer_of_ways_999]

No more live services. No more crappy spin offs, no more half baked monthly content releases for the sake of it. No more excessive team sizes, budgets, and expectations? Sounds like a win to me.

[@lorenzonemecekcerri7813]

Where's my 30 years war game? I need it.

[@FriendlyNeighborhoodLamia]

You’ve gotta be doing some serious naughty business if Sega of all companies are saying they gave you too much freedom- Sega, known for giving companies like RGG and Atlus literal years to polish their games to a mirror shine, saying they should’ve held the rein closer fuckin christ

[@Duranous.]

To be fair they've been doing great ever since Thrones of Decay and the game is going in the right direction, an actual redemption arc. The path they are on, the communication they've given, the commitment to making big game changing patches and not just dlc. I guess you just need a crazy shake up to make things start working again. It really seems the business/creative leads were getting in the way. It's just surprising because usually these companies don't recover, they double down, or go under. Omens is ok, it's not actually bad (just not as amazing as thrones of decay which was great on many levels), probably a bad release date, don't release beta builds at the end of the year.

[@cal2127]

sega once sent yakuza to abduct a devs sister to keep him from going to nintendo in the 90s. so im not surprised

[@sopek1427]

I wish they fix three kingdom

[@MKfanmomo]

Me too friend, just add the 207 and 220 start date and add lots of unique characters and generals.

[@NIkolla13]

The modders be like: FIne, I'll do it myself

[@MKfanmomo]

@@NIkolla13 Am thankful for their work, they did a splendid job.

[@sargata3054]

Before finding your channel I rarely listened to gaming industry news. The way you clearly present and analyze the various business, gameplay, and customer elements at play in each story is really interesting and illuminating. You would make a great gaming-focused professor!

[@joncarter3761]

Out of touch executives and a business team led by Rob Bartholomew that had far too much influence is what caused this. Rob especially is blamed for Pharo being full price instead of a cheaper saga price, rushing Total War Warhammer 3 out in a broken/unfinished state and the price hikes of DLC while reducing the amount of content which caused fans to rebel.

[@Redslayer86]

I was heavy into total war, bought every dlc, until the chaos dwarves, I warned everyone not to support it because of the price, that every dlc would be that price from then on. Everyone defended it, then of course the next dlc came out at the same price. I didn't play any total war games for almost an entire year.

[@ConradeVII]

You're a real martyr

[@StoneyKenobi212]

The Endless series is amazing. Hope amplitude survives.

[@darthrevan2081]

Fun Fact Service Games is actually an a American Company founded in Honolulu. Nintendo is a 100 year old company that started as a card company.

[@blecis74]

I’m still annoyed at CA for abandoning Three Kingdoms, it was so good and got better every patch and DLC. There was even a DLC a big one too that was promised, that we never got.

[@talamioros]

Yep, that was the main TW game I was interested in in recent times--and I have all the historical ones except Pharaoh.

[@solastro5595]

Yeah, it was getting to the actual creation of three kingdoms, but they stopped making it 😢.

[@blecis74]

@@solastro5595 I’m hoping although it’s very unlikely that CA goes through a redemption arc where they go back to some of their older games and fix/finish them, 3K needs finishing and Atilla needs fixing

[@Bleiser3]

It had the best diplomacy out of all their games and overall was fun enough to play. It was getting better every patch as you said too.

[@RisenOswald]

Abandoning "old" games is a typical CA move.

[@Zuginator]

If I was Sega though. I would be really upset with myself for not landing the 40K deal before Space Marine 2 came out. Because I bet the 40K IP now cost more money

[@changer_of_ways_999]

It might not have come out yet, but if 40k is in the works, the rights would have been secured years ago.

[@flashyashy1]

Merry Christmas Bellular-Fam

[@Draculara_Victoria]

Huh.. Did not expect a video from Bellular about CA! A surprise to be sure but a welcome one!

[@hunterbarlow1621]

I am representing the historical total war players here: we want a Rome 3 a medieval 3 a Napoleon2 or a shogun 3

[@Arms2]

Empire 2 would be even better than Napoleon 2 imo

[@dwighthunter6719]

Empire 2 is needed.

[@Vikt0rian]

Main thing to keep in mind is that Shadows of Change covered Kislev, Grand Cathay and Tzeentch, all 3 factions were suffering from the release date of Warhammer 3, so when that failed, it was a huge fucking blow. Thrones of Decay was Nurgle, Empire and Dwarves, another 3 factions that had been left in the dust, but here they did the one thing that I had only dreamed of them doing, they took player feedback into account and changed the fundamentals of the older campaigns. While the dwarves do not have anything unique between them, the Empire now does, the dwarves on the other hand got a very robust system that needed a bit of tweaking, but they are now a good solid faction without all the faults they have had since Warhammer 1. Speed forward to Omens of Destruction. People wanted an ogre fix, it came out with bugs that made ogres unplayable, then when they were playable it was pretty clear that their old campaigns were still not anywhere near the quality of other campaigns, why? Because Ogres are a shit faction, people want them to be something they are not. A diverse roster. Khorne has the same issue, not a lot of diversity in their roster, Skulltaker is insane, so is the FLC Arbaal, but Khorne is just very one note, again, not diverse. Greenskins aren't one of the fan favourite factions to play,, so of course it's a bit weaker, and the mechanics for this campaign were a bit sloppy. Overall, the DLCs were a lot weaker than previously, we shall see going forward, but they best fucking believe we are keeping an eye open, even if the haters can still fuck off to their lairs, we have no love for them either.

[@TheKipchak]

All they needed was Medieval II that wasn't a Warhammer re-skin, and that would have bought them a lot of goodwill. What did we get? $100 Million sank into a hero-shooter that never came out. Pathetic.

[@dank_stogie_yooooo]

Selling the DLC's seperately is just a genious way to stop keysellers to sell them for a cheap price, because bundles can only be sold on steam

[@SXZ-dev]

Meh if you're not into Warhammer they left us behind about a decade ago now, the last good Historical total war was Rome 2 and literally THREE goddamn Warhammers since without a SINGLE medieval, shogun or Rome since

[@giorgaras1851]

They prefer making interesting games instead of the next boring historical settings while another company made a game about it already and it's probably better.

[@Dr.AvenVon]

to be fair, 3k was released after rome 2 and if was far from a bad game. and now with pharaoh dynasties, you have another good historic title

[@minutemansam1214]

@@giorgaras1851 So they prefer to make a game in the most generic, boring fantasy setting imaginable instead of interesting historical time periods? You're definitely a young one.

[@giorgaras1851]

@@minutemansam1214 just say you have 0 taste.

[@emrestotheemresto9770]

AI generated PFP

[@virtuian1]

I've been seeing your videos for some time, especially your WOW covergae- but, after this great coverage- finally, I hit that subscribe button. Happy Holidays

[@ii-er2kp]

You know the more I read this comment, the more i think people don't realize the difference between warhammer 40k and warhammer fantasy. And I do not mean only setting wise. Like you people realize that for Warhammer Fantasy total warhammer 1 and 2 (3 was, kinda is?, a mess who are we kidding), were probably the best thing that could happen for warhammer fantasy and its fan, right ?

[@mr-mr-101]

@ii-er2kp ive always been in favor of a 40k game that uses the model of Wargame or Steel Division. 40k TW is going to feel janky despite everyone in the comments braying for it with little thought.

[@joshuabacker2363]

@@mr-mr-101 If they mimicked Epic 40k more than normal 40k, they could maybe put something together in Total War's style, vaguely. But I don't think they'd be able to handle such a stark change very well either.

[@andrei1637]

This world has a management and executive problem. Every other company is going to the gutter because of incompetent management and I can't stop thinking about why we have thus management crysis but I have no answer

[@nicogesellbarrios7956]

Thanks god, we almost could've had "Hyenas" you guys remember THAT project?

[@cal2127]

the real problem is historical games dont map well to the warhammer engine. they need to split the teams into fantasy and historical. they need to go back to rome 2s engine and do a 64 bit rewrite for historical.

[@willichtenstein7071]

Total War: Warhammer Fantasy has maybe a year left before DLC development ends. Everyone is expecting a new branded Total War game to be announced. Partly to know that the studio is safe and will have steady money. Like Star Wars or 40K. So its real disappointing to hear the new game is an Alien Isolation sequel.

[@SpiceCh]

@@willichtenstein7071 that's blatantly fake news. They have drafts for 2-3 years more lined up and will keep going as long as there's things left to add or work on. But you guys just won't stop hating - it's become your identity at this point

[@IHazPeppers]

Merry Christmas Bellular team 🎄

[@MrWonka191]

I wish there was a Napoleon Total War II

[@florians9949]

From what I hear the next released for historical titles are medieval 3 and Empire 2.

[@MrWonka191]

@@florians9949 which ones likely to come first? Please tell me its Empire 2

[@florians9949]

@ I don’t remember this detail. But I think it is Empire 2 and it happens between the Victorian era and WW1.

[@bobthor9647]

Napoleon was great

[@dwighthunter6719]

EMPIRE 2

[@glacoaetius]

I'm still waiting for: - empire 2 - napoleon 2 - medieval 3 It would be also nice to give some love to the multiplayer aspect of the game, and let the competitive community grow.

[@christopheryoung2874]

they could have made all three of those with the money they wasted on Hyenas, plus Shogun 3, too

[@Koyu_Ruh]

Total War: Warhammer 3 players know that the true name of the company is Siege Assembly. SiegeA for short.

[@EmperorSigismund]

With the amount of hype for Manor Lord and Kingdom Come II you'd think Medieval Total War III would be a no brainer.

[@dominicmanester8125]

Their new years resolutions need to be : Never pay for a 'cultural consulting firm' and No more 'Live service' games.

[@quercus3290]

just had to remake medieval total war and everyone is happy.

[@kapixniecapix3869]

The bigest fear that wasnt adress is warhammer 3 lifespan. CA should continue support for this game after they new release. That game is bacically printing money and you can find planty things to add and fix. Unfortunately a lot indicates that they cut it when new game show up or even before. They already annouces some info on it in 2025. Total war warhammer is the biggest game they ever made and probably will in while so if they dump it over for quick cash and cost cut I will dump them forever no matter how good their next games will be. Basically blacklist them for this. Hope I am not alone and we can swing back the suit urge for screwing over their customers again - I want this game finished.

[@Ghaztoir]

They need to fix the bugs and seige mechanics.

[@kapixniecapix3869]

@Ghaztoir This and more, problem is that they cant fix and add everything in only 2 years or 3. Idk something like 6-7 with dedicated team working on it after their next game.

[@taylorsnider5809]

I had no idea of any of this drama... been a fan of twwh for probably 10 years now. Finally could afford a badass pc and have been having a blast. 10 years of waiting makes things so much sweeter. I'm beyond happy with twwh3 and the steam workshop is a godsend coming from console. Dlc is a bit pricey, but from an outsider just stepping into the industry, it's par course. Everything else is like this too.

[@Kolljak]

They are going to have to create a really good Shogun 3.

[@RigobertosTacoShop]

And they still probably won’t add Korea in a THRID iteration of that title. Sigh

[@KingMoogoe]

@@RigobertosTacoShop if they added Korea they would need to add China too.

[@ER-bn4po]

The peak of total war gaming was when you could mod Medieval 2 Total war into playing an alternate-world campaign map, when you still had a TON more flexibility within creating unique family structures etc. Since then its become more and more about DLC and less and less about the simple things that used to make the game great; like the flexibility the games used to have within creating alternate history.

[@tissues2441]

Wasn't really a total war fan but I picked up their warhammer 3 on sale. Really freaking fun but i can understand the criticism

[@SpiceCh]

@@tissues2441 the criticism was fair. The death threats, review bombing and harassment of fellow content creators and anyone trying to appeal to reason and advocating for civil discourse was completely unacceptable. But because it all came from the biggest community in the space, it's their version of reality that gets told instead of what actually happened.

[@Sombody123]

Okay, SEGA, hear me out. Total War: 40,000

[@Exoreya]

i feel that total war warhammer is the best and the worst thing that happend, the best because its just that popular, the worst because the historical games just got a backseat from the community just because warhamme is that big

[@piedpiper1172]

I just wish Warhammer 3 had medieval 2’s cavalry mechanics 😢

[@Mason1968PL]

​@@piedpiper1172 And i'm happy it doesn't. Medieval 2 heavy cavalry was absolutely broken and made infantry even more useless.

[@Dozla78XD]

@@Mason1968PL It is accurate for the time period. They could've made cavalry more expensive to balance it but it's a tough decision

[@Mason1968PL]

@@Dozla78XD It's not accurate. Cavalry kills units way too fast in Medieval 2 (in real life most people would die after the rout already happend, in Medieval 2 most of the unit is just straight up deleted on first impact), it's also not affected by terrain or weather nearly as much as it should be. And regardless of authencity, it makes for terrible, non-diverse gameplay. Every battle with every faction is all just about lining up those cavalry charges, preferably sniping the general on first charge. Also the unit replenishment being limited meant it was required to do it to have any chance against stronger factions, because every infantry fight is going to be a grind which means taking massive loses even if u win, and u will run out of recruitable units eventually. Cavalry doesn't take almost any losses while killing thousands of troops.

[@piedpiper1172]

@ So instead we have incredibly useless cav and infantry cus monsters dominate. I’m all for the cav being weaker, that’s all a balance. I mean the actual mechanics-none of this silly one knight gets stuck on one tiny guy and the unit stats turning around, etc. I’d like all units we use to feel like they do what you tell them to, and to feel fun to use.

[@1Maverick2]

I absolutely adored Total War Arena and I'm so sad they took it away from us here in the states.

[@trauma50disaster1]

well it died in China too. I used to log in over there and play and put thousands into both versions. loved it and miss it. is there anything similar?

[@jamescooke7243]

In their defence, in the last 8 months, they have been much better.

[@SpiceCh]

@@jamescooke7243 Legend's community will never acknowledge progress unless they can take credit for it.

[@Ghaztoir]

Still too many bugs

[@SpiceCh]

@@Ghaztoir you'll never quantify that. You always move the goal posts because the moment you consider the game good you lose your excuse to complain. This in spite of legend already admitting WH3 surpassed WH2 over a year ago

[@MasonDixonAutistic]

How? They haven't changed anything except what they needed to in order to stay exactly the same. CA is not a game company. They are a marketing company that churns out 'parasocial game-purchase experiences' selling square-peg goes in square-hole spreadsheeted trash.

[@mattm7798]

What's more amazing is the total war formula "turn based grand strategy, real time (largely medieval style) battles" has been yet to have been replicated on a AAA budget. So, CA/Sega kind of has this strategy niche all to themselves and so can get away with stuff they couldn't if they were making an FPS or RPG.

[@SomeIdiotLUL]

The issue with pharaoh. The content creators don't like the game. Not gonna lie that influence me in buying it. I'm not a mindless puppet but I tend to find they are typically spot on

[@CommanderRedEXE]

They used to be. I find many have become too judgemental about minor things that don't matter as much because they rely on negativity to keep views coming in. That said I will still see what they say, but also look into more footage than they show as many only show on or two clips in their video and it's misleading. Pharoh honestly got a way worse rep than it deserved imo.

[@williamyoung9401]

Any Developer worth their salt: "I want to make the BEST game possible." Corporate: "I want you to make the cheapest game possible with the BEST marketing budget available. Perception is Reality, after all. We will dictate their perception."

[@hippieyoda1993]

@@CommanderRedEXEnah, it didn’t. The game is fine, people even said the game was fun on release albeit with a few issues. The problem we, the community, have, is that they tried to sell it as a full priced game, when we all *knew* it was a Saga/reskin of Troy. They deserve the backlash they got for that.

[@negruvadalamuie5461]

I played Pharaoh, it's quite bad. Wasn't interested enough in it to finish a campaign.. it's not the content, it's not the unit diversity or anything.. I am just bored of the same bad engine with the same issues and no attempts to fix said issues. The AI is still bad, both campaign and battle wise, pathfinding issues are still there, blobs are still there, chariots and cavalry still behave like infantry.. where's the progress in 10+ years? There is none. Just fluff, extra layers of buttons to hide the lack of new mechanics, improvement etc.

[@blackhammer5035]

Pharaoh built off Troy but didn't really work to improve on it.

[@unleashthedog]

“No wonder sega grabbed their axe and started swinging” - best piece of commentary I’ve heard in a long time… awesome scripting

[@superjarri]

I was there when the first Shogun: Total war came out. At the time, it was a revolution to the point of inventing a new game genre. The mix of strategic map and real time large scale battles was something never seen before. I remember me and my friends discussing our battles in our way to school like we were seasoned generals and how even other kids were always listening and making questions, even without ever playing the game, because of the passion we put into that. Shogun was, in my opinion, the best game of the saga for several reasons. To me, every other new release felt like the game was adding were it was not needed, and leaving everything else untouched. More units, bigger maps, more buildings, more animations doesn't mean anything to me. In fact, I think it removes the strategical aspect of the game and makes it a guessing and gambling game, which I hate it so much. In shogun you could learn the units inside out and have a clear vision about how they would react in every situation. Now try to get that with 200 units... Furthermore, the game has been stucked in its core mechanics since forever and when you see what a small studio can do with Manor Lords, you realize how little innovation CA has put during the years.

[@bubbasbigblast8563]

Something I'd like to add: every DLC of Warhammer 2 made money, and probably of Warhammer 1 as well. Warhammer 3 managed to change that because the technical debt built up during Warhammer 2 was never addressed, and CA finally started to fail at hiding that.

[@scrivenerian]

I just hope they survive long enough to make a sequel to Alien: Isolation, though I'm not confident they still have the talent needed to repeat that genius.

[@HoboTango]

5:25 This scene is awesome to look. I kinda wish Total War would recycle itself into its own T.V channel and it would just be big battles of history and Fantasy. And having the lore of Warhammer just play out in movies.

[@echoa110]

Maybe we can finally get Medieval 3, Empire 2, or both. A new game in both of those series are long overdue. EDIT: Wanted to add that they burned a lot of trust with how short they supported 3K.

[@lethn2929]

I'm convinced that even if SEGA wanted them to do it they no longer have the expertise like most studios because they DEI hired like crazy and drummed out anybody who could write code, I also wouldn't trust them for a second to do any of these titles

[@rabidrob4210]

It's funny to me how they were flat out refusing to do a 3rd game of any of their titles, then the moment Warhammer was announced, bam! Trilogy.

[@echoa110]

@@lethn2929 Fair point; we're seeing that problem at other studios...Wouldn't be surprised if CA is in the same boat. It's a true oxymoron how an exclusionary policy has the term "inclusion" in it.

[@echoa110]

@@rabidrob4210 I remember thinking to myself, "Weren't they refusing to do 3rd instalments?" when I saw Warhammer 3. If they no longer have the expertise to make games like Medieval 2 and Empire 2 (as another commenter mentioned), it would be sad, but in a way also hilarious how all they can do is look at the money they left on the table (Medieval 3 in particular would sell like hotcakes!).

[@flo5851]

Waiting room for Medieval 3 Total War

[@patrol2omega]

Being truly honest they did an AMAZING job with Pharaoh Dynasties. There's too much to learn and every culture feels absolutely different from the others making the game challenging and joyful. I didn't care about the critics and gave it a chance which to my surprise was very rewarding. Once again you're going in the best direction CA so don't lose focus.

[@Arms2]

Literally all they had to do was make Shogun 3, Empire 2, or Medieval 3. They just had to pick one and make it to the same quality as 3 kingdoms.

[@ZlyLudekPL]

"loved alien romulus" Jesus we're doomed

[@TheRussian1]

@@ZlyLudekPL for real. That movie was dogshit, same as every recent alien movie.

[@SpiceCh]

@@TheRussian1 "But it had the atmosphere and the references to older, better movies :("

[@zimmerman1031]

CA is the same company that allows bugs to exist potentially the life of the game, as is currently the case with some bugs in Warhammer 3 I have been reporting, and they never fix. They can't even seem to figure it out. It supposedly came with the release of 3 Kingdoms. Basically you can hold down the Left Alt key, select a spot on the terrain with the right mouse button, and then you drag the mouse while holding right click. This allows you to move your formation to a spot, orient the formation in the direction you want them to face, while not actually changing the rank and file of the formation. It stays the same size. This has been bugged out for some time, where it actually reduces your formations in size, rather than leaving them untouched. They can't seem to figure this one out. They also have taken out so much from each successive game, that they barely resemble the past games. In past games you could set units under AI control, so you didn't have to micromanage every unit. They also had set formations you could select to set up your army easily. Or how about different stances for your units? Or how about mounted units being able to dismount from their horses, so they can function as infantry? This has been gone for some time, and it looks like none of it is coming back. If we don't hold them to task, they'll never put back in the same effort they used to put into these games. We're watching the Total War series collapse in front of our eyes.

[@Thugblader92]

Total Warhammer 1 I had a blast. Total Warhammer 2 was simply more of the good stuff. Then before I got my hands on 3, pharaoh was such a disappointment I dodged away in fear. Been playing Shogun 2 on and off this year, still glancing at Warhammer 3 but I simply can't convince myself to give it a shot.

[@SplendidFactor]

Warhammer 3 became great once they included immortal empires campaign, no one really plays Realms of Chaos campaign anymore.

[@avlaus2629]

Same

[@piedpiper1172]

I just picked up WH3 this week after waiting years myself and I have to say, it’s as good as I remember WH1 & 2, but with more stuff. Really happy with it so far!

[@Oddball_E8]

I still remember when modders were telling CA that their primary and secondary weapons damages were switched around (or rather, the code was wrong so damage for primary weapons were taken from secondary weapons and vice versa) and CA kept blaming the modders and saying they were doing it wrong. And then, after like a year or two, they fixed the bug and just pretended like it never happened. I will never trust CA. Ever. EDIT: This was like waaaaay back in Rome Total War, I think.

[@R3GARnator]

The fact they announced the end of blood packs shows that they're learning and listening. And you can tell from the developer interview videos they've been releasing that they are immersed in the community.

[@LordVader1094]

We thought they were learning and listening after they fixed Rome 2, but here we are.

[@Dr.AvenVon]

those developer interview videos are some of the cringiest stuff I have seen in a long time. probably only topped by the videos they released for patches to explain what is in said patches. because apparently people can't read

[@WinterToker]

They need to just go back and make a medieval total war 3 and empire 2 , shogun 3 bring back the good ones!

[@lucifer0247]

Creative Assembly did a really good job this year and regained a hell of a lot good will with all their changes!!? Other Studios should look at Creative Assembly and learn!

[@SpiceCh]

@@lucifer0247 2024 has been the best year in total war since the potion of speed update for Warhammer 2

[@MasonDixonAutistic]

Marketing wins over logic and memory, again. CA remains a shitshow with a fanbase of low standards.

[@Márs-40K]

Time for Empire two, take the time, do it right.

[@Arthur_Grey34]

The way they sell DLC is why I stopped playing total war games. It just feels like they don't add in content that should be in the base game with many of them, when you have day 1 DLC it only feels worse. Warhammer 2 is the last Total war I will likely buy unless something major changes and they make a really good game. I also don't get why they would not make a Medieval 3.

[@markwatson8714]

Warhammer 3 did it for me. To this day the only reasonable explanation I can think of for why anyone thought things like the new siege format, the puzzle maps and for that matter the campaign itself was any good involves a potentially lethal dosage of narcotics. Though personally I think they've been taking the series in completely the wrong direction since Empire, so...

[@commisaryarreck3974]

Warhammer 1 already pissed me off with the chaos warriors dlc I pre ordered but that was the final drop for me

[@Arthur_Grey34]

@@markwatson8714 To be fair I do think they needed to change the siege format as forts where kinda mid for me in the second game. I don't know enough about how they work in 3 to talk about them, sad to hear they are worse than what we had in 2. It's sad how sieges are more fun in the older games.

[@markwatson8714]

@@Arthur_Grey34 It's not so much the format itself, it's basically an extension of the tower defence lite stuff they've been playing with since Rome 2, and it worked fine in Three Kingdoms for example. Problem is 3K (and to an extent Rome) had reasonably open town maps. WH3 doesn't, which combined with the janky pathfinding makes them painful to play, but the 'genius' move was making pretty much *every* settlement siege work the same way. Doesn't matter whether you're storming the walls of Altdorf or some random peasant's tool shed in the middle of nowhere. It also does nothing to fix the issue I thought they had with the forts in the previous two games, largely that the maps were about twice as large as would ever be needed. In fact it's exacerbated in 3 since the new systems utilise strategic points on the map, the vast majority of which will never come into play because they're miles away from anywhere the two armies are likely to go.

[@Nicol80145]

Honestly I've been really happy with Warhammer 3. Pricing is fine for me and each lord has a good amount of flavor and personality. I don't expect them to all be as good as Grom or something but they were acceptable. I had no interest in Pharoah, so I saved some money there. Worst DLC so far may be Khorne's part or Tzeentch.

[@spiffygonzales5160]

Total War will never go back to being an empire simulation with in depth battles. Troy, Pharaoh, Warhammer, 3K, all the way back to Rome 2 have proven it. The battles have only gotten more dumbed down, the campaigns less sandbox, and realism is thrown out the window. This is total war now. This is what total war is. If you are a fan of Shogun 1 all the way up to empire the series is never going to be that again. If you are a fan of Napoleon and Shogun 2 maybe you can get something out of it but don't get your hopes up.

[@mcsmash4905]

total war battles only had any modicum of depth when you either modded them , played multiplayer or played with ˝house rules˝ , the ai does not warrant the usage of any tactics other than hammer and anvil which itself is the simplest tactic known to man , when i went from medieval 2 to tw 1 i didnt feel anything different , the same dumb shit that worked in medieval worked in warhammer and i personaly have no issue with the campaigns being less about sandbox because when i play any total war faction i wont go into some random direction instead i would follow the most logical or historical path of conquest ie i wont conquer russia as england in med2 , and while total war had some realistic features it was always a more arcade type of game at its core , and to top all of this off i own every game from rome 1 to warhammer and i like them all , some more than others but like them for what they are

[@giorgaras1851]

Complaining about battles getting less realistic for a Warhammer game is the same as asking for a pizza in a clothing store.

[@spiffygonzales5160]

@@giorgaras1851 It's not a Warhammer game. I couldn't care less about the table top. It's a total war game. And total war Warhammer isn't the only one ruined by it.

[@giorgaras1851]

@@spiffygonzales5160 there are a huge amount of Warhammer games who have nothing to do with the tabletop game.

[@mcsmash4905]

@@giorgaras1851 i dont think thats a good argument even if it is somewhat true , the point i made was that total war at its heart was more of an arcade game with realistic aspects to it , warhammer simply embraces this fully , total war isnt a game that demands significant brain usage in battle (never was)

[@tomayto70]

The turnaround that the Total War fanbase forced Creative Assembly into should be upheld as a gold standard for all fan bases.

[@johnroscoe2406]

We will never get a Medieval 3. For stupid social politics reasons.

[@SamBourgeois]

If Paradox can do medieval grand campaigns, why not Creative Assembly?

[@thedingo6577]

Gentlemen, the Warhammer franchise alone simply cannot carry this studio. My opinion in the choir of opinions is that CA need to do what they do best: Set piece and spectacle battles within a historical context-in a completely new setting with a completely new style of warfare. The Warhammer games prove that CA can do some pretty wild stuff with their engine, specifically where artillery is concerned. I sincerely believe a Victorian-era Total War game with the Franco-Prussian/Crimean Wars (sorta the prologue to WW1 if you don’t know) as the conflicts highlighted. Modern warfare was in its infancy and Napoleonic tactics were running up against more and more accurate artillery, plus they could really highlight the destruction these new weapons were capable of causing. This would be the perfect balm for their problem because it would keep enough of the gameplay new with the modern warfare elements and it would satisfy us historians who have been LANGUISHING recently. Modders and the community can only milk the older games so much, and Dynasties/Pharaohs just never held much interest for me. The Steam and Steel mod is an excellent rendition of this idea on the Medieval 2 engine, and I think that idea with a real budget could be amazing. They need a Hail Mary at any rate, at this point. Anybody else got any ideas for settings they could use? Weirdly enough a Stat Wars one could be the thing that saves them if they can make the right pitch to Disney. Just make it function like a blend of Empire: Total War and Empires at War, and import the hero system from the Three Kingdoms/Warhammer games. Literally that simple, my God, where are the ideas being thrown at CA? The dumpster out back?

[@sterling3843]

WW1 total war would put them back on track. Warhammer mod proved the concept.

[@revanlord05]

Yeah... It'll never happen, buddy.

[@Ravensfriend]

A setting on the Eastern front might work. But without fighting in traditional formations, can we call it Totalwar anymore?

[@sterling3843]

@@revanlord05 I know. :(

[@spiffygonzales5160]

WW1 total war will be a clear and obvious cashgrab

[@sterling3843]

@Ravensfriend Lose formations like the irregulars from total war empire, smaller specialists units similar to skaven. Naval would be fine. Planes more like magic in Warhammer. Plus a lot of building which people may or may not like. That's my idea anyway.

[@amFlea1]

I purchased Pharaoh Dynasties recently to play a co-op game with my brother. We have played and loved so many Total War games, but we hate how every god damn game desyncs all the time. It's so bad in Pharaoh that we can't even get to turn 10 sometimes. If CA fixes that, I'll be happy.

[@f1sherman52]

I just want more DLC for Warhammer 3!

[@williamyoung9401]

Please stop...that's...the problem. 🤑

[@hippieyoda1993]

With each dlc they add, the more all the other systems start to fail. It’s the same with Sims, it’s what happens when you constantly build upon the same game, eventually it becomes sickeningly full and everything stops working as intended or becomes broken/imbalanced.

[@topkekm8817]

I live close to a big CA office and they stopped wearing their staff hoodies in 2023, yet to see one come back again

[@SpiceCh]

@@topkekm8817 no wonder. A certain content creator was inciting his followers by relentlessly ranting and framing CA as something akin to cartoon villains, to the point where his followers flooded the CA staff with verbal abuse and death threats. It was inexcusable. No one should have to endure that kind of bs when their biggest sin was working at a company where the top brass pushed the product out the door before it was ready. And then they had the gall to excuse that behsviour and pad themselves on the back as being the reason why CA changed, as if that's remotely true.