The Great Total War Shilling Operation

Total War is kept afloat in 2021 by a fleet of shills supporting an over-extended marketing budget tasked to stretch the achievements of underfunded studios making games that reliably fall short of offerings from their predecessors from over a decade ago.
The playlist for this critique series:
• Total Decline: A Total...
The genuinely video:
• MrSmartDonkeyLP "Genui...
Back when he was actually genuinely:
• Donkey's Rants - Total...
The first time someone was honest about the Rome: Demastered UI:
• Trying To Not Cry Over...
The stream where I noticed the botched sound and terrible UI immediately:
• Rome Wasn't Remastered...
The video of noticing no noise while marching:
/ 1004832619
The Advertising Lullaby:
• George Carlin - Advert...
The Cody Bonds doublethink:
• A Super Serious Talk a...
Warhammer 3 situation summed up:
• Warhammer 3 is showing...
The pre-order bonus announcement video that got ratiod 1 to 10 in 2015:
• Total War: WARHAMMER |...
#shillfluencers #justshillthings #tossashillingtoyourgrifter
0:00 Context
4:40 Shilling for kickback
12:00 Rome: Remastered's Example
20:00 False promises and exaggerated claims
23:00 Never worth it
26:00 Warhammer 3 repeating history
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[@Volound]

the poll is here if youre yet to vote: kzbin.infoUgzkEKp4m3JtKI9wZ1R4AaABCQ and remember to comment down here and not in the live chat. comments here last forever.

[@Saif-vh2bj]

My love for you lasts forever

[@Arrow-Odd]

Hey Volound, I didn't comment on the poll cause I've never preordered anything in my life, so I've got no real anecdotes of my own experiences, however now that I think about it, my brother preorders a good amount of games, with the most recent one being cyberpunk, which he stopped playing after a few hours. I keep telling him to just wait for the games to come out, but he prefers to get them as early as possible: maybe cause of hype, and liking previous games from the company/trusting them to make quality products. He's usually a logical person, but these decisions feel like they're guided by emotion possibly, idk

[@Comradcommodore]

We gonna get a video on what just happened to Three Kingdoms down the line good sir ?

[@21Arrozito]

Never ever pre-order, the pre-order exclusive dlc is never worth it, and the discount is never worth it. It will always be able to get AAA games like these a lot cheaper if you just wait a couple years after release they go on sale regularly with bigger discounts. They'll usually have the game more or less fixed by then. I didn't buy Rome2 till a steam sale 2015, got it for $11 USD and it was the 'emperor edition' or whatever that retroactively reinserted some of the DLC back into the game. It was also """"fixed"""" by then as well

[@jurgenhuisman5756]

Since discovering your channel you have quickly become one of my favourite channels

[@amulet2350]

I remember when Legend got early access to Thrones of Britannia and was just able to completely rip the game apart mechanically so CA blacklisted him.

[@MasonDixonAutistic]

Never played on release, but got tricked into buying it in a sale after the 'Steel and Statecraft' update, and the campaign map systems were just pure Numberwang. This character has 4/10 loyalty to me: +3 loyalty from one trait, +2 from another trait, -5 from yet another trait, +3 from being family, +2 from holding an office and -2 from my faction leader having less of a certain other stat. This numerical spaghetti, adds nothing!

[@lolasdm6959]

he had to apologize and cave in to get back in their favor again.

[@GAMA830]

this happened to republic of play too, he's an ex community manager at CA and he's blacklisted

[@lolasdm6959]

@@GAMA830 his reviews are pretty honest

[@GAMA830]

@@lolasdm6959 ye i watch him on occasion

[@countmarkula1993]

Idk why Volound has to point out that we're being scammed and lied to, I mean what a bully right...? lol

[@ntluck1592]

I know right? How could he hurt our feelings like this??! He should have left us in our dopamine induced coma :)

[@jessemacaspac443]

yeah its not like humans are entitled to money

[@snubbles9991]

I know such a bully, saved me money ...but muh poor feelings tho ;(

[@frackitos]

Bullies used to steal your lunch money, now they make hour long videos trying to convince you not to buy rotten apples from the sleazy lunch lady

[@matthewnickolas4706]

@@dimas3829 but he wasn't wrong then either lol. 3 kingdoms is literally being patched SHARPLY in the direction volound's critiqes were pointing

[@The_Crimson_Fucker]

Statement: "This game's going to have a great modding community" Translation: "You're going to have to fix and finish this one yourselves." Statement: "Streamlined" Translation: "Less is less but you're going to get even less than that." Statement: "Cinematic experience" Translation: "This game will require you to turn your brain off and do nothing for hours straight because we couldn't be bothered to implement functioning mechanics." Statement: "It just works." Translation: "It doesn't." Statement: "X is an " Translation: "They're on to us, deploy the human shields!" You get the gist.

[@tramico96]

As long dead TotalBiscuit once said..."WE NEVER PRE-ORDER! NEVER!!!"

[@sineupp]

I genuinely support this sentiment. R.I.P TB

[@akiramasashi9317]

He really was the hero we need but didn't deserve.

[@ColasTeam]

John's dead and its consequences have been a disaster for the gaming industry

[@robertdeforest9682]

He also refused to cover SEGA content tldr because they were so shitty, he was such a legend

[@bradleydixon2776]

I get what you were saying, but try using "as the late TotalBiscuit" instead of "long dead".

[@wizardcat7654]

See when Devin said he was genuinly disappointed. I know he was telling the truth

[@remonvanvugt9108]

Yeah the guy is a honest chad, he saved me from buying the re-master

[@rickysavage9557]

I hope manorlords turns out to be amazing. We need some competition in this genre. CA is getting very complacent.

[@rickysavage9557]

@rimacutem of Alsvartrsmiðr thanks for the info! I never heard of it until you told me! I definitely check it out!

[@notgoddhoward5972]

@rimacutem of Alsvartrsmiðr Honestly, the fact that it's not Paradox publishing it actually gives me some hope it will be good.

[@zulazhar1259]

It is infact an amazing game

[@barnsleyman32]

i'm looking forward to this video as much as i'm GENUINELY looking forward to future entries in the total war franchise

[@Volound]

[@notgoddhoward5972]

@@YeetThyBaby Genuinely

[@Vaessen13]

Genuinely

[@prs_81]

You're the only creator in this community that chose to live with his eyes open. Thanks!

[@MelkorGG]

21:07 To explain my side, I have been talking about Remasters for these games for almost 2 years, I think. For me to talk about Med 2 Remastered after the announcement of Rome 1 Remastered was not marketing that game, it was just me doing what I do. In fact, that video was more me explaining why it may not happen. I've even talked about Total War games expected going as far as 2030. Not marketing, just a discussion on theory and patterns.

[@safarfsaf]

The idea that you think total war will be around in 8 years is marketing in and of itself.

[@CompetitivelyAwesome]

​@@safarfsaf Eh I thought the same eight years ago in September 2013 thinking TW was fucked. But now I'm a warhammer fanboy so who knows what 2029 will look like haha.

[@DLockholm]

Dude. Just. Stop. Nobody is going to believe the diarrhea you write there, at least not on this channel (thankfully). So do us a favor and stop justifying the unjustifiable. At leats do it for your own inner peace.

[@MelkorGG]

@@DLockholm What? No one is going to believe that a Medieval 2 channel is going to cover Medieval 2? Or are you saying no one is going to believe that I have covered speculation videos before. (I can provide proof I have made videos before if needed). What do you mean on justifying. I am a Historical Channel that talks about Historicals. What is so unjust there?

[@DLockholm]

@@MelkorGG You conveniently just ignored that you said that your videos about future remakes or future games are not free marketing but speculative theories. You forgot to add links to your Nexus store with 100% profits during this week for Warhammer 6. Just saying.

[@dontbetrippin4575]

Looking at that Rome 2 Cinematic makes me cry that game had such potential

[@Volound]

high hopes that were clearly all abandoned. they bluffed and then they couldnt even remotely follow through.

[@dontbetrippin4575]

@@Volound you can see units taking cover behind barricades, the map was so good and realistic rapresenting a portion of the walls of a huge Metropolis that was Carthage. And look at what we got 🤦‍♂️

[@anomonyous]

​@@VoloundWhat's the point in following through? They already got the money anyway. And there's hordes of braindead morons who'll buy anything, regardless of quality. Just get a bunch of even bigger and greedier morons online to say it's super amazingly cool and awesome. And make it sparkly, cartoony, colourful and shiny. And bingo. You've got normie money.

[@PainfullySubjective]

i've only recently discovered this channel and i can't believe how complacent i've become with my consumption of video games related content. seeing a content creator that actually has standards, who encourages being aware of the privilege of having an audience, being accountable to it, who abhors pre-ordering and calls out bad actors in both developers and content creators isn't a breath of fresh air, it's a fucking oxygen mask! Keep up this noble work, Volound! I know it's difficult and frustrating and one hell of an uphill battle but it's fucking worth it! Keep educating people, keep calling out the behavior. Your work is an inspiration!

[@beetheimmortal]

"voLoUNd iS jUSt a hATeR anD a tROlL" -Total War shills probably

[@notgoddhoward5972]

If anything Sega and CA are the trolls, and they have been doing a little trolling since Rome 2 Actually Sega has done a sizable ammount of trolling over the years with Company of Heroes and Dawn of War as well being turned into a complete joke.

[@notgoddhoward5972]

@Green Deity One of the first games and first things that got me into history was a CoH demo disk in one of those old time magazines from the early 2000s. I still enjoy playing that game from time to time. Great music, great gameplay, no historical revisions - just pure game design and love for the player experience from the developers. I doubt any of the people who worked on that masterpiece are even close to Relic and Sega now.

[@DragonballBlack]

I will never forgive what they have done to 3 Kingdoms. I game that I recently have fallen in love with. I blame Warhammer 3 for this.

[@Volound]

you should make a video about that shit meng. i remember you saying a few times that you actually liked 3K and now this happens. its disgusting. the people that "side" with them and defend them and their games are always the ones that get shafted the hardest.

[@brunolins3859]

blame c.a

[@ivanthehighman177]

I see Blackscape everywhere.

[@Account.for.Comment]

I grew up with stories of the three kingdoms. i could not care less about the Japanese Sengoku. But Shogun2 armies felt larger, the game is much more immersive and more beautiful. TW3K are uglier, its armies are smaller and its generals sound like anime characters who can't stop opening their mouth. Ancient Chinese armies are often hundred of thousands in size. In the novel, a battle can have over 1million combatants. They got a leading historian to help with Shogun 2. Dynasty Warrior is more true to spirit than this. Then I played Warhammer and then I realized. The most disappointing for me for total war used to be that the most historical battles lacked immersion. In 3K, every battle lacked it.

[@DragonballBlack]

@@Volound it’s dropping soon I talk about the entirety of Total War in 2021 You should drop a video too! I would love to hear your thoughts on this even though you arnt the biggest 3K fan

[@wizardcat7654]

Pre ordering IS terrible. You can do what you want with your money. But, the consumer can talk with their money and they don't think to use this power.

[@Volound]

its the only power you have, and you have exactly as much as you should expect to, and people relinquish it freely. ludicrous.

[@wizardcat7654]

@@Volound people love to relinquish any power they have. Id say its a pandemic for humanity. For any meager promises of protection, happiness, safety ect. We just give it all up

[@ashholiday123]

@@wizardcat7654 Looks over at the response to the pandemic.... Yup, the illusion of security is chosen over freedom nowadays, bloody disgusting.

[@a_goblin22]

cant wait for this, that move with total war 3k is so scummy, absolute moles.

[@starwarssith54]

Okay, so CA is basically 'suffering' the same problem as the vidya industry in general - corporatization. Everything is a bottom line. Everything is about maximizing profit - not just earning a profit, but MAXIMIZING it. And due to the majority of Total War players being, well, lowest common denominator...hell, the majority of players in general being LCD, well, you can maximize the profit much more easily by pushing out a cheap game. A lack of developer protections (no unions, lack of industry regulation) and the corporatization make it so the priority is using cheap marketing to sell things.

[@notgoddhoward5972]

I've said it many times. Wee need developer studio unions on an international level so the publishers can go fuсkthemselves with all this marketing bullshit.

[@jaspervanheycop9722]

There's lot's of corporatised entertainment industries, like film, but none are as bad as games. As much as it pains me to say this as a socialist, corporations aren't the problem here, the consumers base is. Film would never get away with pre-orders or say, releasing movies that are essesntially unwatchable, but the gaming industry does because people STILL pre-order and will not refund outright broken games but wait on patches.

[@epsilon3821]

Regulations only lead to monopolizing/concentration of abused power. The real answer to all this is competition. CA started out as something truly competitive and broke strategy genre expectations in the early days because of a desire to do something different. Manor lords, if not for sure something else, will come along and force total war to compete because there is increasing demand and the bad practices can never be hidden forever.

[@epsilon3821]

@@jaspervanheycop9722 I very much agree. On another note, I want to suggest to you an african american author who was a socialist in his youth. His name is Thomas Sowell, a specialist in the history of economic thought and a Marx scholar, and his wish was to convince socialists of today how economies work. He is a very old man now in his 90s, so if you have time please give him the light of day and consider one of his old books Basic Economics. There should be free pdf on it. There are also many clips of his interviews on his insights on youtube. Just sharing this to fulfill the wish of a great man about to leave this world.

[@ascendedbro1828]

@@jaspervanheycop9722 What are you talking about? Most of the movies totally suck these days in comparison to old ones. Film industry is extremely corporatised and they made a tradition of producing dumb movies with pretty graphics and lots of shills praising it in the internet. Just take Tenet for example. Absolutely dumb and stupid movie. How does this shit have such ratings? Of course there are good movies from time to time just like with games but they are few. I stopped visiting cinemas because most of the time there are only dumb, unwatchable movies there with pretty graphics.

[@10Tabris01]

I pre-ordered exactly one game: Rome II. I learned that lesson *really* fast

[@Volound]

that was the last time i ever pre-ordered a game. i also pre-ordered colonial marines not long before. were it not for doing youtube and wanting early coverage.. no way in hell would i have bothered.

[@tzardnickolasthelitromanov]

The last game I truly, blindly, pre-ordered was Fallout 4.......that shook me into realising this shit.

[@anomonyous]

Never pre-ordered before. It's not a thing we did before the internet either, where I live. It's weird AF to me. American hypercapitalist abusive shit. Closest thing I've done is support small projects. Like Ashens' films. But that's just free support, anything gained is extra, and nothing's expected. Or Patreon. Or a few Early Access games. But every time, I paid for something, I paid to give back to someone, support them, or for the current state of a game. There were hopes it would turn out great, and sometimes it did. But I don't really regret any that didn't because I still enjoyed them. I don't do Early Access anymore though. It's become a cancer. The only thing I really regret was Spacebase-DF 9. I didn't buy that completely of my own accord.

[@Danieldsamaral]

I've been saying for years that influencer culture is a cancer to gaming and life in general. I get brigaded by fanboys everytime I even bring this point up. Glad to see that you acknowledge it as a problem Volound.

[@blondequijote]

It’s like the bs popularity contest of high school spread across sectors of society to pressure all of us to be good little consumers nd take what they give us.

[@Comradcommodore]

R.I.P Three Kingdoms Total War....I hardly knew you Pour one out for the homies who had faith CA could fix TK and make it good Shameful dishplay

[@biohita]

Oh don't worry, they will make another game based on the same period. They are gonna milk it. It sold really well in China. So forget anything historical or a medieval 3.

[@STRZB001]

Awesome comment, comment is awesome. I was always hoping for a “China version” of Shogun 2. But. Fuck my ass and call me sally bitch.

[@ilaughatfunnyshit3482]

Tk is such a shit sandwich. Worst i game of all ttw

[@unai_asecas9070]

Damn I wanted so bad a medieval 3 where I could send Joanne d’Arc to fight a duel and use her special healing abilities. Just like it happened in real life 🤓

[@Comradcommodore]

@@ilaughatfunnyshit3482 meh, it had a good foundation with a high ceiling for potential, just need alot of work. Apparently too much that CA didn't wanna try and fix it up

[@EdgarStyles1234]

this is really amazing content, i love how you are calling out a whole system of cronyism with evidence provided, extremely entertaining. Great job Volund

[@Volound]

cronyism is another good word for this kind of shit. thanks meng 👌

[@maximusd26]

this man is a one man legion, he's been doing it for years now, with more seriousness and sources than academic reviews, (maybe he should actually work on that lmao )

[@msyonet]

I was thinking pre order is a good way to support my fav francs until you have convinced me to do opposite with this video. Thanks man!

[@markcollins2704]

Even with games I am extremely hyped for, I work almost everyday they come out. I can't play the game for at least 9 hours after it's out. There is no rush to play on first day unless you are physical only. This gives most players NINE HOURS to wait and see after the game is out if the developer fucked up. That's plenty of time in the internet age to find how messed up the shit is. NEVER PRE ORDER.

[@Volound]

well said. 👌

[@Splicer87]

The UI being significantly worse in Rome Remastered really bothers me. I modified my original Rome: Total War's Preferences file to allow the renaming of settlements. I confirmed with Feral Interactive that even though you can no longer find that Preferences file easily, it is apparently still in the Remaster. They then told me that their changes to the UI would still not allow me to change the names of cities in game without the use of either permanently changing the names of the cities manually, or using a console command. This blunder (as well as a few others) make this UI not as useful or fun to use. I adapted after nearly 60 hours of playing because that's how long it took to grasp this Interface. I think it's finally time I start making my own content on this stuff. I'm very familiar with how Rome and Medieval 2 function, and it bothers me that they focused on the UI rather than the actual gameplay.

[@tzardnickolasthelitromanov]

And even with all of it, they *still* failed and fucked up the Ui, lmao

[@Splicer87]

@@tzardnickolasthelitromanov Most of my issues with the UI have been fixed at this point. Yes, there is a bit of a learning curve, but I’m mostly fine with the systems now.

[@Claudiustheimmortal]

It looking like the community is really getting sick of these practices after they've basically announced they will be dropping Three Kingdoms so they can milk the fanbase by slapping a full price tag into their next product (basically another Napoleon, Attila title), I've now decided to wash my hands of total war, which means I wont be buying another one of their products again. Well done Volound, for all the commitment and hard work you've put into calling this company out, all they have done is justify every bit of criticism you have spoken against them, and now more and more of us are becoming what am calling Voloundpilled.

[@Volound]

voloundpilled lmao thanks meng 💪 you can come back to total war when they come back themselves with a good game.

[@akiramasashi9317]

@@Volound I'll still be playing Shogun 2 and Medieval 2 until that time. Med 2 actually has a 3 Kingdoms mod that's better than the actual 3 kingdoms game.

[@Heldermaior]

In my job, if I am meeting with a client and he takes me out to an expensive steak restaurant, I have to check with HR before hand if this is a conflict of interest and if I am allowed. If I get caught accepting an expensive dinner (higher than 80 pounds / 100 dollars) without checking first I will get fired and sued and if I am found guilty of accepting a gift in exchange for signing a contract or something like that, and we are talking of theoretically an 81 pound meal, I could go to jail. Being flown somewhere and living for a few days at the expense of a company with which you do business with without disclosure would probably mean having a few Sicarios hunting for my head XD (of course not). Being a youtuber sure is different...

[@derrickbonsell]

I think I'm going to report Donkey's video for violating KZbin's ad guidelines. Maybe it's not technically a paid promotion, but effectively it is.

[@maxmagnus3793]

With the disappointing initial reveal of Warhammer 3 there is such a disconnect to how it's being covered by the various TW youtubers. Glad you're stepping up to push back against the Shills' Grand Armada. Btw as a Warhammer fan I've switched into playing the Call of Warhammer mod for Medieval 2 - and it's so good. So refreshing to see hero characters no longer be ridiculous single entities but rather very vulnerable humans. My first battle I lost one of my characters by using his bodyguard to help storm the gate in a siege battle. It really took me back to your video on single entities.

[@Iceman96051]

Lorewise that's how it is. Men can become and are one man armies. Also yeah, there's some insanely janky and unbalanced things in that mod but it is still pretty well done for sure.

[@maxmagnus3793]

@@Iceman96051 I know the Warhammer Fantasy Battles tabletop game and the lore quite well and happen to disagree. 99% of the time characters would be placed inside units to be effective force multipliers and fight enemy characters in 1-on-1 duels. Yes, they would have 3 or so hit points versus the single HP of a standard soldier but they would not by themselves have the HP of 50-100 infantrymen like in TW: Warhammer. Yes, there are certain exceptions, but that's really only when you count in monstrous characters, normal foot or mounted characters could not solo entire regiments - they would get killed or run away due to combat resolution. When the lore talks about a legendary character's martial prowess they are either talking about their 1-on-1 dueling skills or how strong and impactful they and their retinue are on the battlefield. Unless they were on a monstrous mount it would be very very strange for any character to just take to the battlefield without a retinue of their best and most trusted warriors. In the lore at least. In Total War characters have HP comparable to a monster and a much smaller hit box so they do just fine for now. That's what I think should change, or there should at least be an option to change it.

[@Iceman96051]

@@maxmagnus3793 Agree to disagree I suppose. I quite like having the armies focused around what the leader brings, I think baseline they are fairly balanced but they can definately get to the point of just being able to solo entire armies in campaign. The baseline stats feel kind of about the same as most hero characters from other RTS and such when you compare them side-by-side. Most baseline lords would get decimated in a 1v1 versus a strong monster or elite AP infantry. It's only with the buffs in campaign where they can hit the point of soloing armies. They are kind of implemented the same way as most other RTS too. Would be nice if they implemented the feature you are talking about but I honestly really don't foresee that. Warhammer and 40k both kind of come across a bit as power fantasies for certain things and characters, I mean really, pretty much all media does. Guess it's something I'm used to here, I guess maybe I just consider their health "plot armor".

[@maxmagnus3793]

@@Iceman96051 I can respect your argument. From my side its kind of the opposite where I'm used to the idea of heroes always being with a squad or retinue, both from older Total Wars, from military history and from the tabletop games

[@Dumdumdoogie]

I feel like a lot of TW fans treat CA like it's a small time game developer. I know I used to do this until Rome 2 was released.

[@Volound]

yeah i had someone say this elsewhere on this comment section. had to inform them theyre the biggest dev in the UK and possibly also the entire EU.

[@GAMEOVER360xXx]

@@Volound isn't Ubisoft the biggest european developer?

[@Volound]

@@GAMEOVER360xXx thought they were canadian. yep.

[@ineednochannelyoutube5384]

@@Volound Ubisoft is French. Paradox also grew pretty fucking huge, they are Swedish. Dunno if Crytec is still big, but they were German. Oh, and of course you have Gaijin and Wargaming in Russia. But obviously none of these corpos need any help from some small time youtuber.

[@Volound]

@@ineednochannelyoutube5384 dont know what that last sentence is. ive been contracted by bigger studios than any of the ones you listed.

[@TheDarthnoll]

Bro, this hits on so many more levels than even just the Total War sphere. This shit goes on everywhere, it is GENUINELY insane. Great video.

[@wizardcat7654]

Hey, volund I have a question. Have you noticed this trend of developers "killing" their games by stopping updates? Shouldn't the game at some point be "done". So if a company stops releaseing updates Why is it seen as the game being killed and not just being done? Techincally shouldn't the ideal game be one that is fully released, not needing updates, and only recieving big expansions? Oh what am I saying. This is the age of releasing games unfinished and in dire need of those updates. Consoomers that pine for those updates, because the game is never truely done.

[@Volound]

well they did it with attila. attila is a rome 2 that runs at 30fps, for me. also did it for thrones of britannia. that game was supposed to get lots of DLC and apparently it got canned because of poor sales. abandonware. 3K is abandonware, basically. and yeah i wouldve thought that 3k was "done", but they said they wanted to expand into the north, and also they havent even followed through with their plan to include time periods as their own DLCs. they didnt cap off the game with an actual 3 kingdoms period DLC where it is cao cao, sun quan and liu bei. they didnt even get there. so they obviously abandoned plans because of poor sales, so they are greedy. and now we never get bug fixes either. everyone should refund if they can, and nobody should buy. the game is riddled with bugs that will never be fixed. they are punishing people for not buying DLC.

[@jasonargos110]

@@Volound Poor sales because it was review bombed by toxic gamers. Not a bad game. They did release a patch. game has some nice mods. Attila can still be fixed but there is no money in it for them cause know one plays it.

[@ineednochannelyoutube5384]

Its a result of the live service model, and the death of modding. Fanpatching used to be universal, to fix the last few remaining issues in a game that didnt recieve further updates, and said updates tended to stop after a year or two. The bigger problem is central server upkeep. Ideally every game would have LAN or dedicated server options, but unfortunately.too many rely on central servers that once shut down kill multiplayer.

[@metaflight9495]

A particularly dangerous thing about the rise of influencer-marketers is that since people 'genuinely' enjoy content from them, they'll increasingly tolerate bad games on behalf of the influencer that got them to purchase them, in defense of their buying decisions, in addition to the time and emotion they've invested into a parasocial relationship with a youtuber who they refuse to accept betrayed them. Video games seize being products in of themselves, but tokens of loyalty to the influencers that the video game marketers themselves pick (and therefore signal boost) to hype their products, making the process self reinforcing. If I'm being utterly honest, unless the genre does not make particularly exciting viewing to casuals and/or happens to attractive to a uniquely cynical fanbase (both being somewhat the case with paradox games) that self reinforcing cycle is pretty much unbreakable.

[@Volound]

people would rather sit gaslit and just accept that there is something wrong with them, than consider maybe that they got duped by someone into buying a mediocre game.

[@ineednochannelyoutube5384]

Paradox is no saint themselves. And they have not done too well with their latest releases.

[@epsilon3821]

Hey volound glad u made this video since smartdonkey really could have just stayed silent but instead proved himself to just be a willing slime

[@Volound]

walked right into it.

[@TheWanderingPariah]

Gotta love seeing youtubers using parasocial relationships with their viewers to market for a shitty company. Just... scummy.

[@Volound]

yeah thats exactly what this is. its like a multi-level marketing scheme. telling all their friends on facebook that they dont even know to buy their shitty healing crystals.

[@ineednochannelyoutube5384]

@@Volound Some of it is probably cynical, some of it just naive. I dont think youtube influencer is a job thet positively selects for antisocial traits.

[@deriznohappehquite]

Good point about preordering demonstrating that marketing, not development should get money. If they get your sale before launch, they have done that with marketing alone. The qiality of the hand is irrelevant.

[@Volound]

succinctly put. marketing is one big bluff.

[@Rokiriko]

Go to r/totalwar to see religious cultists have their faith in almighty CA shaken, but still simp for CA's herald, Grace. Anyway, we need competition, so badly, its getting suffocating and unfair, we need a developer with energy for new and wisdom to recognize the good old mechanics.

[@notgoddhoward5972]

Who is Grace?

[@czechpatriot2230]

@@notgoddhoward5972 If I remember correctly she is(or was) CA employee that went after anime mods for 3k or something like that.

[@dyliokhan3946]

Is she that angry gal who’s pissed because of Sexy mods?

[@notgoddhoward5972]

@@czechpatriot2230 Oh boy that was a meme and a half. What time to be alive.

[@Rokiriko]

@@dyliokhan3946 Yup, that one...

[@RomanHistoryFan476AD]

Dear god showing that Rome 2 Carthage siege "footage" Hurts me still to this day, why could we not have that game instead. It fooled younger me a lot we are talking still in secondary school here. Rome 2 was what killed Total war for me, and why I play only the older titles.

[@zarazen433]

Warhammer 3 trailer can be summed with one word meh.....and that comes from a guy who loves first two games. All i saw was reskinned warhammer 2 with "new" monsters and magic.

[@ascendedbro1828]

Exactly what I saw too...

[@Volound]

so theyre failing on all fronts. warhammer... 3k... rome demaster...

[@greyTigerGames]

I enjoyed the first trailer a lot. The second one fell flat on it's face for me and the footage they chose to show off of the new battle mod is just meh.

[@zarazen433]

@@greyTigerGames The footage they showed is pretty disappointing considering the HYPE from the "fans" and CA. Just by looking at units animations and having good knowledge of first 2 games you can see what is a copy of what. The only new and kewl thing is the greater daemon and even something like that can be seen in the 1st game. And that's not the first time they do it in WH1 and WH2 there are units from different factions that are basically copy of eachother with different stats.

[@dawndarklight44]

Total war is a game series I desperately want to be good, having started by playing Medieval 2 and shogun 2 last year, I watch in wait for another good entry, but am constantly shunned away by these demonstrations of shit with sprinkles. When such comes again, I shall buy it happily, but until then, get fucked CA.

[@notgoddhoward5972]

"these demonstrations of shit with sprinkles" The most accurate description of modern total war I have ever seen. It's pretty but it still stinks and I wouldn't touch it with my hands.

[@whywhatwhenwherewow]

Napoleon is quite good. Rome 2 with all the patches is worth grabbing with a good sale price (it can be routinely found at like $15). Empire is not as good as Napoleon but offers similar gameplay with more diverse situations and grander scale maps. I haven't played Atilla but I've heard it's actually quite decent, not as good as Shogun 2 but clearly better than Rome 2. I also got Warhammer 1 on a cheap humblebundle I think, which I find to be kind of a fun change of pace but not the experience I'm usually looking for from Total War, and unfortunately I think they took their success from that and ran with the same gimmicks on all their subsequent releases. Oh and if you haven't played the expansions on Shogun 2 then you should definitely get them: Fall of the Samurai is probably the pinnacle of TW.

[@brre8673]

Ay, I know its our "thing" to hate on Warhammer, but for real, its a lot of enjoyment. Sure, it's not as indepth as many other games, but the battles are just so damn cool. Where else can you find rows of rocket firing missiles raining hell down on a horde of rat men. It's awesome really.

[@smartalec2001]

Rome 2 was the game that finally taught me to never pre-order, and never buy in the first week of release. Never since then, not once.

[@Volound]

there is yet hope for our species.

[@HaHaeTs]

Volound's pinned comment: link to the demonstration of people's opinions in form of vote and comments Pre-order youtube "influencers" pinned comments: link to buy the game or DLC all you need to know about priorities and goals I guess

[@HaHaeTs]

and don't get me wrong, i'm not a Volound fanboy (i even had a salty argument with him about "analogy nitpicking" (and i still think that analogy sucks, Volound!) once), but in his videos you can see his own opinion, while all i see from "influencers" is a huge in-your-face commercial disguised as "reviews"

[@notgoddhoward5972]

​@@HaHaeTs To test a man's character you give him power. Not all of us pass that test. A youtuber/streamer is at the end of the day just the same as you and me. They have to eat, sleep, take care of their kids, and if they have the ability to shill to their audience of young impressionable people who don't know any better is that not worth taking? They don't enjoy theese games, they became their job. You can't enjoy something that is your tedious job for that long, especially when it's such low quality. They see them as a means to an end, not as games and certainly not as art.

[@darkfireslide]

Your previous videos were a service to the Total War community; this video is a service to anyone who plays video games

[@wladyslawderstreiter9078]

cool to see you here ;)

[@darkfireslide]

@@wladyslawderstreiter9078 Thanks!

[@Volound]

@@wladyslawderstreiter9078 dark is a tireless crusader for good games and good gaming. very happy to have him by my side, and was delighted to learn later that he already had a following from his gaming pursuits.

[@wladyslawderstreiter9078]

@@Volound yes, he is a noble lad.

[@akwakatsaka1826]

Could be worse right? I mean TW hasn’t completely become a mobile game YET 😂

[@scholaepalatinae4988]

It seems you missed out 2 mobile titles. :D

[@akwakatsaka1826]

@@scholaepalatinae4988 hey they weren’t exactly mobile games...but they’re going down that road.Tower defence/clash of clans type😂🤦‍♂️

[@Volound]

just give it time 🤣

[@pipsi]

you can pre order games? i always thought "release dates" were for starting our sale stopwatches

[@Volound]

this guy knows whats up.

[@pyrrhusofepirus8491]

Total War Warhammer 3 showing a tower defence, horde mode as its first gameplay reveal is a fucking red flag if I’ve ever seen one. People have been up to their ears talking about how shit the sieges in the game are, how truly terrible they are, they ‘reworked’ sieges so to speak with the forts, which basically amounted to ‘add another layer of wall’. Surely, if improving sieges could one of the biggest selling points of the game, they would’ve put a lot of development time into it, they would’ve gone into it in depth and shown it off, unless... now, I’m not saying they’ve done basically jackshit and don’t care because they know the shills will be sucking their games dick dry either because they’ve made them sign the blood pact. Potentially, when they show off Cathay, then they’ll show off the new sieges, potentially.

[@TeoPerezJRR]

13:40 He GENUINELY dislikes the new UI

[@ineednochannelyoutube5384]

If someone is reassuring you every two words that they are speaking the truth, there is a probably better than even chance that they are in fact not.

[@RepublicOfPlay]

Hey Volound, where are you getting the numbers data from where you drew the graph etc. ? Having worked at CA and other games companies, it’s basically way way off from the numbers I saw. I’d be happy to chat at some point about budgets and marketing spend and game budgets and salaries (without specifics for CA of course, but just in general because this data/specualtion didn’t and doesnt reflect my experience / understanding at all, but different companies are different so maybe that’s why.)

[@Volound]

well i was speaking generally, ive never had any involvement with CA so i wouldnt have any pertinent insider information to be able to do otherwise. i can only speak generally. in terms of CA, i only have what you would be allowed to point me towards to correct me with, anyway. if i thought you might have wanted to, i would have certainly asked and been happy to incorporate your suggestions. if youve worked at other game companies and have different figures you can give, id be curious about what they are and if you could point towards something corroborating, definitely. 10% for immediate pre-orders, 25% for pre-orders generally, 500k for rome 2 pre-orders. anything else i said?

[@RepublicOfPlay]

​@@Volound Well in my experience, the pre-order graph is more like this; Initial bump when pre-orders are announced, ( a few thousand ) and then basically a flatline with small bumps every time a big trailer comes out. Then, in the month leading up to launch, as more gameplay gets revealed, you get a steady incline and then finally, a massive incline in the final week leading all the way up to the hour of release. I don't have the exact pre-order numbers for Total War: ROME II, but I do know that subsequent games broke it's record, and have some insight into those numbers. I'd wager it was around 200K pre-orders, with most of them being the week before. Breaking it down by % isn't something usually done, but I'd reckon 90% of pre-orders are in the pre-launch 2 week period. The game had a concurrent playercount on Steam of 118K so that should give you an indication roughly as to the expectation of pre-orders / day one sales. You are correct in saying that all pre-order spend is attributed to marketing. The best argument against pre-ordering in my view is that you're not supporting developers directly, you're supporting a marketing team. Though that being said, marketing pay money into the development budget to get something made for them (that's the argument against cut content) Discussing it like a cash-injection loan or something is imo misguided. They don't take the money and spend it on something immediately or invest it - it usually gets held and attributed to future budgets, bonuses, and will be invested into something well after the project finishes, usually decided by fiscal calendars. I didn't realize you were talking generally, it sounded factual - you state that 25% of total sales today are pre-orders. I can't find info for that being true - it seems to vary wildly based on the game. Cyberpunk had 8m pre-orders and 13m total sales by the end of 2020. Total War: Rome 2 sold approximately 1 million copies in it's first month, and it seems more in line to say that 20% were pre-orders. BTW I hope you didn't take my comment aggressively or something - I just thought you were giving concrete info and a lot of the info I felt was something that didn't match my experience or some of my friends at other studios. I understand if you don't know anyone in or haven't worked in the industry personally it's mostly speculation, but I do think you should cite a source or be a bit more clear that you're guessing. Happy to chat anytime in a video or something if you ever want to talk TW. I'm not one for writing these long comments, and I don't normally watch gaming videos, but I was told I made an appearance so checked it out! Edit* also 250K wouldn't equate to 10 salaries, especially in USD - it's be more like 4-5 salaries. CA pay into people's pensions, buy hardware and many other quality of life things at a studio that doesn't get included in a salary, but comes with the costs of employing someone.

[@Volound]

game companies are notoriously cagey and secretive about pre-orders and sales. speculation is the best we have, usually. you mention cyberpunk - a massively overhyped game with heavy marketing (extreme pre-orders) and a trainwreck launch that deterred post-launch interest and buying. so you get >50% of total sales being pre-orders at the very extreme end of the spectrum of what we are talking about. i even considered using it for this video because we have actual figures floating around for once, also a great example of why pre-ordering and marketing is cancer. decided against, partly because those numbers are not representative of the industry and would mislead. gave my own instead. 10% at the start if you announce a title with mild anticipation and market it. you describe a piddling number instead. maybe youre right, but theres surely way more than a few thousand idiots ready to pre-order the next total war as soon as a button appears and theres a trailer. if warhammer 3 hasnt had 10% of its total sales by now, then i would be the last person to complain, but i would be surprised. we have proud pre-orderers topping /r/totalwar with 5k upvotes advertising their pre-orderer status. but, maybe this situation is extreme like cyberpunk was. 25% during all of pre-release if the game then launches properly and has follow through. maybe higher, maybe lower. hopefully lower. its halfway to what cyberpunk managed. this page is often the top result for targeted google searches related to this subject: www.scalefast.com/blog/why-pre-order-sales-are-critical-and-how-to-increase-your-pre-order-pipeline/ they handle pre-orders for square enix and capcom. something i would be curious if you could answer would be when publishers receive the money from steam pre-orders, how soon after steam gets the money, do they then receive. if pre-order money can reliably be expected then its as good as pocketed. a liquid dollar is a liquid dollar. if pre-orders get those to the seller earlier, then thats it. 10 studios engaging in the same operation and advancing income by a fiscal quarter for their publisher. free easy money that their competition might not be clamouring for in the same way (they might make actually good games). small edges add up over years. and i thought marketers usually had crap salaries, in an industry that already has low salaries, so thats why i went with 25k. i remember hearing about marketers getting 15K GBP here in the UK sometimes, and it seems like it has always been that way, it scared me away from the industry when i was younger. maybe my estimate of 25k USD was too harsh. you could make a video about this if you really wanted to. if you left the industry and left marketing because you felt like you werent making a difference to the games (i heard this from quite a few people, but maybe this isnt true), then surely youre the perfect vindication of my entire point. and you would be confirming the contention im making - marketing and pre-orders being toxic garbage that hamstrings the games themselves. anyway thanks for the comment, it was interesting. i was actually hoping to be scrutinised on the figures and youre the first to do so. the description of the trend was good and makes sense, it makes me wish i drew a more careful graph now. happy to chat any time.

[@The_Caledonian]

We need Reynold Sanity back!

[@fahimzahir9587]

I remember the days when you pre ordered because the previous game was exceptional and you knew the developers were to be trusted and the pre order gave you unique contents, strategy booklets, collectors items of high quality and the pre order game then was typically good and enjoyable. Now pre order means...simp for the corporate cronies

[@liofalba]

I feel like I´m in the minority in the Audience here, because I really like TWW2 and am pretty much on board for TWW3, but I still agree with most of the points you make. Your vids made me go back to TWW2 recently, and I still think the campaign is very fun, and battles make for enjoyable - occasionally challenging - experiencies. Still, I feel if a lot of the things you talk about were implemented I think it could lift the game from a good or even sometimes great game, to one of those games that completely blows you away and stays with you for a long time, it might have been that in the past (haven´t played anything older than Rome 2 except Third Age) but it certainly isn´t that now. Should also mention that I´m probably not going to buy any future historical (certainly not the next 3K) without them being much much better than what they´ve been producing lately...

[@oexterminatuso778]

You can still like something and also agree and disagree with someone. For example, I liked one and two, but I also dislike how they seemed like arcadey messes. I like that my favourite characters have representation.. But also dislike how I /know/ it could have been better. It's just opinions. Volound has some I disagree with, but that doesn't mean you can't acknowledge the points he makes even if I disagree with his methods or how he does it sometimes, he's still right. It's debate, now a days people focus less on debating and trying to change someones mind to see their point, and focus more on attacking the individual they see as wrong.

[@brendanworthington3888]

It is perfectly fine to disagree how bad something is or that it is worthless. Tons of people love laughing at horrible horror movies, just don't try to present them as something they aren't. They are so bad they are funny not a top tier comedy movie. The important thing is recognizing others opinions and their points. I don't think TWW2 is a bad game but I do think Volound is very correct about Total War's flaws and how the series is going downhill.

[@emprahsfinest7092]

I agree. I over look a lot of total wars decline and flaws cuz warhammer, but I haven’t bought a historical tw since Attila and I dont think I ever will unless something changes drastically. Poor historical fans might as well give up. Warhammer TW is the only reason I’m still playing tw at all

[@TheOnlyDreadfather]

I'm in the same boat, I get why Volound rubs people the wrong way but I like his shit. That said I would personally never buy a historical TW game (even the old ones) just because history is boring to me.

[@liofalba]

@@emprahsfinest7092 I think if you played Attila context free (without knowing any of the controversy) on a solid 2017 gaming PC you could be like this is a solid game. Maybe you like the aesthetic maybe not, but its certainly better than Rome (WRoman Empire Campaign on Legendary is real good fun). Its only when looking at the ambition of substantially less polished games like medieval 2, shogun or empire that you realize the scope has really shrunk. TWW works for Warhammer, but if you make a historical game like that, it will really not go well at all and you´ll end up like 3K...

[@b1indmailman]

I just hit the Golden Age of Modding comment and I already want to choke someone. The Golden Age of Modding died with Medieval Kingdoms for Attila. The new games modding selection is 90% reskins or units that should be in the game to begin with. Tell me when someone makes a World War 2 mod for Rome Remastered regardless of its stability.

[@Volound]

yeah what a load of complete fucking bullshit that turned out to be. to think people out there actually fucking bought that game because of hearing that nonsense. despicable crap.

[@jasonargos110]

There millions of WW2 games-play those. Total War games are getting less and less moddable cause CA makes it that way and they use 3rd party companies to make their games and those companies say no modding their stuff. So no tools and no mods.

[@b1indmailman]

Someone made a World War 2 mod for OG Rome Total War and its janky and unstable but extremely impressive nonetheless. But it really is a shame how it sounds like they are fighting against real modding. Medieval 2 still has a fairly active modding community.

[@ineednochannelyoutube5384]

And that one still cant change the map. Even though I agree 1212AD is extremely impressive, Medieval 2 still has the superior modding scene.

[@jeck988]

I think donkey “genuinely” wants those 100% profits tho

[@eglspl425]

How can they be both a pre-cancer mass AND incurable/malignant? RIDICULOUS Love your work xx

[@Volound]

the duality of pre-ordering. immediate customer dissatisfaction from buying garbage. long term disaster in worsening games down the line for everyone.

[@alik5972]

I didn't know Kings and Generals' narrator had a channel. Thanks for letting me know

[@rush4in]

He has 2. OfficiallyDevin (abridged campaigns with great sarcastic commentary) and Game World Narrative (where he uploads narrative let’s plays with generally some great writing)

[@Makofueled]

I'm surprised he has the same voice on it. I always thought he was putting it on.

[@sickre]

If you want historically accurate PC games that target niche audiences, then you should be pushing Steam to reduce their commissions for all developers to 15-20%. As long as the commissions are 30% of course developers will target the mass market and multiplatform, since thats the only reliable way to make money.

[@Volound]

also games that sell less copies have worse margins due to steam tiering. i think steam take 30% but reduce it to 15% at a million sales, something like that.

[@Intranetusa]

@@Volound That sounds like the exact opposite of a progressive tax system...taxing the people who make less money at higher percentage brackets than taxing the people who make more money.

[@sickre]

@@Volound so please use your platform to argue for these kind of changes --- but so far no youtubers/media have actually made the link that 30% is bad for gaming. Everyone is just blindly defending Valve.

[@dauntless0711]

@@sickre Angry Joe said 30% is bad for gaming years ago. m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/bZaUfZZjhc16gas

[@apersononlineyes6554]

@@sickre To be fair though, 30% is the industry standard, valve isn't the only one.

[@deriznohappehquite]

Shill for Raid Shadow Legends. Edit: this is an imperative statement. I command you to sell our.

[@Volound]

everyone has their price. some of us just have many more zeroes than others.

[@iancorder6133]

If I might suggest an idea for a video, it‘d be cool to see hear your thoughts on what you‘d like in Shogun III or your ideal Total War game and what you‘d like to see in it. Like mechanics, agents, units, clans, economy and diplomacy ideas.

[@Volound]

im more of a battle kinda guy. real time tactics. and if i was gonna design a game, id want to be getting paid and credited for it ;)

[@ineednochannelyoutube5384]

@@Volound A bullet points list of what you would consider improvements, and best elements of past titles would still be interesting. Curcumstances have conspired that your content nowadays is almost exclusively negative. Yeah, thats the most roundabout way I could find of saying CA is being shitbags. Something more optimistic might be interesting.

[@Volound]

​@@ineednochannelyoutube5384 i already host tournaments that show the very best total war has to offer. i do that every month and it makes your request and perception seem frivolous.

[@ineednochannelyoutube5384]

@@Volound Fair enough. Though you can hardly fault me.for wanting to pick your mind on the topic of game design, when in the context of its degradation you have demonstrated a rather thkrough understanding of it. But as you have made it quiet clear you arnt interested in covering such a topic, I wont bother you with it any further.

[@kheionai8380]

Another awesome and truthful video. Between George Carlin and the 3 piece "Genuinely" I was laughing my ass off.

[@Ioannis_Moraitis]

I never played 3K nor I had interest in it (for me the last truly historical title is Atilla and its "expansion" ToB), but that's outright betrayal. However I have to say that in past years every title had a 2-year life circle, so theoretically they just move on as they always did. BUT, having seen the support to WH2 and the DLCs for Rome 2 (and the patches to fix the game a year after release), what they are doing now is a disgrace. The worst thing is that they announced it in the midst of WH3 announcements, which so coward of their part. They seem to think that noone will care or pay so much attention while Kislev bears are around. Very cheap movement. Now they move on designing basically the same game excluding all the "historical" features (few in number) and goong heavy on fantasy And a final note, Warhammer was and is a curse and a blessing for the franchise. It's a great game I really enjoyed it and I currently have more hours on it than in the historical titles, but I can't play anymore historical titles, it killed the historical titles once and for all as we all feared.

[@changchadchanamdong2668]

3k records was more accurate than atilla lol . low IQ 😂

[@Ioannis_Moraitis]

@@changchadchanamdong2668 In Atilla the generals had a maximum 3 special abilities, or something like that. 3K even in records had too many special abilities and heroes and rpg stuff like that.

[@tomaszmankowski9103]

I'd like to add a word or two. I have 23 years of experience with tabletop Warhammer and quite large experience with Total War games since Shogun TW 1, though missing some more modern titles. I also worked with Total War modding teams when modding was just starting - mainly those with Medieval TW Viking Invasion. Recently I bought a White Dwarf magazine with Steam codes for Warhammer TW 1. I thought why not - my laptop is not that modern, but should handle the game plus they were adding it for free to something I was going to get anyway. I have to admit I am quite shocked how shallow and how poor a warhammer game is Warhammer TW 1 and how little total war is in this Total War. I know that very little has changed with WhTW2 and I doubt WhTW3 will be better. I will say this - old, very old engine of MTW1 had several advantages which allowed recreating rules of tabletop Warhammer easier and (in some ways) better than it is presently done in Warhammer TW - for example with ranged weapons, combat bonuses or morale. I still cannot believe that crossbows in Wh TW are so unrealistic and simplified, or how poorly gunpowder weapons work compared to the tabletop rules and the oldest TW games. In this way the Warhammer TWars are to me more a form of a continuation of old Dark Omen or even Shadow of the Horned Rat games but LESS ambitious because two decades have passed since those first games were made. While I could forgive mistakes made so long ago a lot of has changed when first Total War games appreared. They were ground breaking and offered so many options to use... Right now I think that the best fantasy warhammer game is the MTW2 mod a small but dedicated community is working on. Warhammer Total War is enjoyable but only as a simple strategy game with character progression set in old Warhammer Fantasy setting. It could be much, much better. Take care!

[@sandrothenecromancer6810]

You know the battles are shallow when the best factions have the best auto resolve results so you don`t have to waste your time with long loading screen to fight an AI that will send 2 full stacks at you and are in the process of recruting even more.

[@notgoddhoward5972]

It's a parasitic relationship, like a fungus and a rotting tree. The rotting tree being Total War and the fungus being the youtubers. The decomposition process has begun with Rome 2 and the Tree has since rotted away several times over.

[@williamballangarry2995]

Take it one more step: don’t pre-order, don’t buy the game until it goes on sale a year or so later. I’m going to buy Warhammer 2, when it’s like $20AUD or so. It looks better than Warhammer 1, but I’m not paying the full $90AUD plus $100AUD+ for the rest of the game*. *for the DLC, sorry. Damn that autocorrect.

[@brunolins3859]

why not play botet?it is free and has a more complete experience with the whole map and all factions

[@williamballangarry2995]

@@brunolins3859 thank you so much, had never heard of that before but will definitely be giving it a go.

[@brunolins3859]

@@williamballangarry2995 you are welcome here is a link for the modwww.moddb.com/mods/call-of-warhammer-beginning-of-the-end-times

[@cristianespinal9917]

They talk about the modding potential because they know the only way that game would be good is with some spectacular mod to come out for it. I doubt any will. It's exactly what you say, they're selling marketing. Unfortunately, unless they eventually make a good game, that strategy is only sustainable for so long until people get fed up. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe CA will keep pushing unfinished, ever simpler, more arcadey crap indefinitely and people will keep buying it. Maybe a competitor will release a "genuinely" good game in their same genre and break the cycle. In any case, it was CA with R2TW that taught me never to preorder a game from anyone, and I never again will.

[@Volound]

damn right. never again. and exactly, the fact that they had to talk about modding just shows. rome remastered was completely pointless.

[@jasonargos110]

It is true that Total War games are crap without mods and CA knows this to be true. They depend on the modding community to fix their half assed broken games.

[@joaotome9957]

Volound I think you missed something on your video. When Warhammer III survival Gamemode came out and people when they pre-ordered the Game are basically saying that a Gamemode, thats not even the focus of the Game, is worth 60 dollars. This is an absurd, if the developers had shown a preview of the Campaign, which is the main core mechanic of any Total War Game, then people would be able to say and be more assured that when they pre-order is based on the whole game as whole. Why would the developers focus on this Gamemode for sales because they told us indirectly that the rest of the Game is a Warhammer II reskin, which is not worth 60 dollars but an expansion dlc of 30 dollars. Please save yourself and time from CA, to anyone that pre-ordered... Refund the Game as soon you can. Wait for reviews and wait a few monrhs after release to make sure you have the right purchase for you. Your time is money dont spend it wrong because you made an impulsive decision.

[@ntluck1592]

Took me 10 minutes to connect Shilling Operation to the origin of the word lol. This really is like a Shilling Auction with CA literally paying KZbinrs to give false bids in order to hype up the value of the product. And I use the term product very loosely. Suffice to say that after their latest stunt I have completely lost any faith in the Total War franchise. The only way to battle this messed up situation is for another developer to create a whole new historical franchise that would take away from CA's monopoly on historical strategy games.

[@arcturus64]

33:16 "A trend of exploiting the legacy of a franchise to just milk the absolute shit out of customers" Warcraft 3 Reforged: *sweats nervously*

[@The_Caledonian]

I too missed the sounds of my troops marching with their thundering footsteps. I also recall that KZbinrs couldn't give their opinions on the game when they was live streaming it, Legend comes to mind and a few others.

[@99IronDuke]

Never, EVER, pre order a game.

[@Picassoturtlenumba5]

Did you see Loremaster of Soteks video where he was praising units teleporting through their own barracks? I unfortunately have pre-ordered, I’m not anymore though. After that video where they said that they’re basically making another 3 Kingdoms game at full price, I plan on lifting my support of them.

[@williamballangarry2995]

We all learn our lessons in time haha I pre-ordered Rome 2, since then I pre-ordered Borderlands 3 (massive fan of the series) but otherwise I won’t buy a game until a year after it’s release. If it’s good at launch, it will be good a year later. And by then I’ll just wait until it goes on sale, like I am with Three Kingdoms and Warhammer 2.

[@notgoddhoward5972]

@@williamballangarry2995 Ironically the only big game Pre order I made since Rome 2 is Imperator Rome What the hell is wrong with Rome theese days.

[@F22onblockland]

The past is the past but now you know and are wiser for it. My last pre order mistake was Rome II and I have never pre-ordered a game after. I hope millions of more people also learned after Cyberpunks release.

[@The_Industry]

Ironically, the only warhammer gun unit with reloading animations is a skaven unit with magic sniper rifles

[@chozer1]

That's cool and all but where is your affiliate link to warhammer 3 using the promo code volound?

[@Volound]

i.imgur.com/ALYNOxM.gif

[@youvebeengreeked]

That alpha footage of Rome II is just depressing now. It looks so good there. Maybe in an alternate universe it’s the greatest game of all time, hey. :’)

[@nukesploder]

A very good video Mr volound, it exposes a not so talked about conversation concerning honesty in the franchise that fans and others continue to ignore. The truth deals a harsh but sobering message Excellent quality in narrative and editing by the way. We the fans appreciate your dedication :)

[@freddiesawyer8055]

I realize I have willingly put my head in the sand surrounding CA since Rome 2, but the death of 3K and the manner in which they did it, I finally learned. This video really got through to me Volound, I'm embarrassed that I even watched some of these peoples content!

[@isabellaciella1187]

I genuinely enjoyed this video

[@Armelier]

Gracias Volound por existir! Thanks Volound for exist!

[@camilomayo3855]

Ah yes grammarly corrector here 3 months late. "Gracias Volound por existir!" would be translated to "Thanks Volound for existing!" not "Thanks Volound for exist!"

[@elliotmartin6952]

28:44 I saw what you did there Naughty naughty Pre-ordered Rome 2 when I was 12. Ordered the Greek factions but they failed me there and gave me a tiny credit which I never used because I didn't understand how. Massive let-down, trailer so incredibly misleading. Surprised they've not been sued over it. At least I've learnt my lesson. Love your content, essentially had the exact same thoughts but the detail you go to is fantastic. CA really have screwed the OGs over, not just that but anyone who really cared about what the early games were and what later iterations could've been.

[@Volound]

that was an editing error, lol. ive trimmed it out. was just a couple of frames from a different video timeline. and well done for learning the lesson. you learned it early and learned it well. i was in my 20s. thanks meng. 💪

[@nathandecrom2409]

well allow me to tell you what a sell out is *ehem* "to sell all of the supply that you have of something", example: selling your dignity to a large company in exchange for preferential treatment (you can only sell dignity once *mostly*)

[@hp5864]

Mate I am watching your videos for couple of days now. As a person that has played TW for years I have to say that you are completely in the right. You are nailing it with this. This is no hate this is constructive criticism and CA should be watching this and taking notes.

[@Volound]

thanks for the comment meng. glad i could have been there to articulate what you surely already mostly knew intuitively. thanks for being one of the sensible ones and for the comment.

[@wizardcat7654]

You can't serve two masters. You will love one and hate the other. Is money your master?

[@KvltKommando]

I think pre-orders descend from the era of blockbuster films of popular franchises like Star Wars, think of the Star Wars episode 1 hype and people camping outside in line, and and likewise for apple products, and so on. They saw that the presentation of the audience's hype, whether real or fake, (i.e. "Would you like to pre-order your copy of ____AAA title___ to guarantee your copy on release day?" creating artificial sense of scarcity) and the manufactured fomo was enough to pressure consumers towards not waiting things out even when the product was not in fact finite or limited as with digital products. So for games their strategy has largely been to include unique pre-order only items/cosmetics/etc (artificial scarcity), DLC etc. This pressures the gamer to pre-order any game series he likes because he'd otherwise be missing out on content indefinitely in what could possibly be the best title in whatever series it may be. Particularly in multiplayer titles where you must see other players using these Pre-Order items this is irritating. To go along with that, when there are pre-order items, they are quite often either garish and ugly and seem out of place in the game world, OR, the more frustrating option, the pre-order item is an item that fits in so well with the base game that it feels as though base game content is missing if you do not have it.

[@Volound]

misguided hope, yep thats a big part of it. FOMO - "fear of missing out". absolutely. just look at "collectors editions". everyone that bought the collector edition of rome 2 mustve been considering fucking burning it.

[@DLockholm]

I genuinely loved this video. I genuinely don't understand how KZbinrs sell their opinions, going as far to even contradict themselves and don't feeling bad (or feeling anything at all) after lying to their own community I genuinely think they're a big cancer to the franchise and a cancer in general I genuinely believe CA's TW monopoly is going to end in bankruptcy I genuine believe that the modern game industry is in a dark age I genuinely believe that we need more people like you, Volound. I genuine believe that we really need to use our damn brains and stop supporting disgusting marketing and monopolies I genuinely believe that we need to give OUR money the value it has (a.k.a not paying 150$ for shitty premiums that will have 80% discount in a year or less) I genuinely believe that TW is dead as far I'm concerned. Keep up the amazing work, Volound.

[@taylorturant8567]

My lord that Cody Bonds example is amazing

[@prdalien0]

Voted, and unrelated to this but are you going to make a video about CA dropping 3k like a hot potato?

[@Volound]

only just happened, barely had time to think about it.

[@prdalien0]

@@Volound No rush, looking forward to this video tomorrow anyway.

[@notgoddhoward5972]

Holy shit they dropped it with around 7k daily players? It took Paradox 2 years and 1k players to drop Imperator Rome. Damn, Sega isn't playing around are they?

[@thinkwithurdipstick]

@@notgoddhoward5972 sega needs your shekels timmy, now pay up

[@camilomayo3855]

4:56 So ive just checked the comments on that video and i just found a little observation: almost all comments that mentioned the word "genuinely" as a joke have been deleted, and thats without counting the other comments that were not showned on this section of the video. Just a little observation i found, just saying. Edit: MrsmartdonkeyLP told me that "It seriously hurt my mental state seeing it all so at a certain point I started deleting and banning all new comments of that sort." LMAO

[@QUAKERSATTACKS97]

The Halcyon Days of map-packs bro

[@theflyingkaramazovbrothers6]

That admiral character was wrong in how he dealt with you but to his credit he's in agreement with you on this.

[@theflyingkaramazovbrothers6]

Didn't get to point of video where you highlight his posts. Oops. Maybe he had an attack of conscience

[@Volound]

ill never know, because i cant believe anything he says.

[@sherlockhobbes423]

that moment when you realize Volound is the only gaming youtuber you can GENUINELY trust

[@Volound]

would be a sad state of affairs if true.

[@Celedan]

But I enjoy spending 15 minutes chipping down the health bar of a single unit. You see it makes the combat turn based.

[@thisishuhwow]

I really enjoy wasting ammunition of godlike elven archers with one ratman for 10 minutes, such strategic depth.

[@sineupp]

I don't get why people pre-order games. It kinda makes sense for a youtuber that would benefit from getting access asap. but why would a regular joe throw his money at a product on faith, when we have so many examples of such projects crashing and burning even with "trustworthy" publisher behind them. I'm broke af, but would gladly cut back on some essential expenses to afford a M2TW remaster if one comes out. But NEVER before I have concrete evidence that it's worth the asking price. I could live without having it for 2 days while reviews come out.

[@gavinadams4572]

at least 15 years ago when you preordered a game in game store you got some goodies for preordering lol

[@ethanromao999]

Keep up the good work man, love this sort of content. I've never pre ordered a total war game and don't plan on it. Basically wait a couple months after release because you know the game will be full of Buggs anyways

[@Volound]

thanks for being one of the good ones. if everyone was like you, the world would be a better place for gamers.

[@spooks5780]

I haven’t preordered something in years, I’ve never understood what makes people so willing to part with their money especially after getting burned so many times before which was the major reason I stopped. Games aren’t even fully finished and are still in some level of production when preorders go live, so really you’re paying for the idea rather than a tangible product. Anyway I just happened upon your channel and you have been hooked with the series. I’ve always loved TW but never realized just how backwards it all is and the fact you’ve been ostracized for valid criticism is shocking

[@lesROKnoobz]

You've got some points and some I disagree with. Im subbed for the alternative opinions to what I'm used to hearing. It's good to see criticism of something you typically only hear good things about

[@visibleninja2576]

I've never seen a gaming industry critique turn into an actual BA lecture :D

[@Nicator_]

I'm tingling with anticipation.

[@Volound]

titty sprinkles

[@aude-y8571]

That thumbnail tho

[@anthonydasilva942]

Oh shit here we go

[@idontknow970]

The KZbinrs who defend these games to their audiences on behalf of the developers despite their shady and manipulative behavior are just as complicate in the degradation of the franchise they cover as the developers themselves. Pre order links are as clear an indication of which side of the line they stand on as you can get. The deflection of critique on their integrity by claiming victimization and utilizing the defense of "It's just my opinion. Do I not get an opinion?" is weak and further ousts their ulterior motives. They're opinion is not valid if they are directly incentivized to encourage pre-orders and other demonstrably anti-consumer practices. They lie to you and you like them for it. You fall for their KZbin persona and deem them good and trust worthy. And so, you click their goddamn nexus links and the cycle continues; with you ensnared in the trap offered up to the hunter by the greedy cooperation.

[@Volound]

most of the time when you hear "opinion" or "opinyin" as i like to say it, being said on the internet these days, its always being done in this underhanded, insidious, obsequious and cowardly way. its something people hide behind. massive alarm bells ring in my head every time i see it: m.facebook.com/Volound/posts/1338695989507475

[@idontknow970]

Yeah it's a fall back. It's serves as a type of final line of defense agaisnt whatever half baked garbage they tossed into the conversation. Their "onion" can be picked apart and refuted in every facet across the board and rather than allow it, as well as themselves to face scrutiny or appear incompetent they cower behind the all powerful "onion" defense. As if their drivel has the right to be free from said scrutiny and you're now the fool for having dismantled their point. Or even better, it's used on the offensive; as a counter to meticulously formulated points of contention. Speaks bounds to ones ego if they believe a thouroughly contemplated and weighted argument can be pulled apart because their "onion" says so and nothing more. It's something that hasn't quite sat right with me for some time but hadn't put forth the thought to discern why. Equal parts interesting and disappointing.

[@reorseX]

Major W video, I do not understand how people are not aware that shilling is a real thing.

[@kapitankapital6580]

6:22 okay there Carl Schmitt