Concerns

[tgb]

I've been following this game closely since it was announced, since WWI has always been under-represented in wargaming. In addition, I really enjoyed Guns of August, and wanted to see what Ageod could do with trench warfare. What I have seen on the forums in the 24 hours since release goes a long way to curbing my enthusiasm for this title.

1)By all accounts this is based on a very complex board game. Fine. I had no problem with the Europa Universalis series from Paradox, I climbed the learning cliff that was Empires in Arms, and every year or so I take another stab at tackling The Beast (WitP). But this ships with a 23 page manual. WTF? And to further compound the felony, by all accounts, the tutorial is an inscrutable POS. The excuse over at Ageod is that the board game rules are so complex, it was too great a task to come up with a manual that covered them. Again, WTF??????? If you can reduce the EiA rules into a manual for a computer game, you can do so with this.

2) There are numerous reports of lock-ups and crashes. This happens with any new release, and I understand why. But there are also reports of the A.I. hanging for 5 or 10 minutes per turn on machines way above minimum specs. And the answer from Ageod? "Don't play that scenario. Try a different one. And while you're at it, deactivate your anti-virus programs and firewall". Uh, WHAT???????

Sorry, fellas. Until I see a demo that convinces me this game is worth the $50 (assuming you price it as Ageod is), accompanied by some documentation that actually clearly lays out how to play the game, I'll be holding off.

Best of luck with this title.

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: tgb
1)By all accounts this is based on a very complex board game. Fine. I had no problem with the Europa Universalis series from Paradox, I climbed the learning cliff that was Empires in Arms, and every year or so I take another stab at tackling The Beast (WitP). But this ships with a 23 page manual.

It is indeed a complex game, just like BOA2 and AACW, however the copy we are putting on sale today comes with a 52 page manual. Where did you hear that the manual was only 23 pages?

2) There are numerous reports of lock-ups and crashes. This happens with any new release, and I understand why. But there are also reports of the A.I. hanging for 5 or 10 minutes per turn on machines way above minimum specs. And the answer from Ageod? "Don't play that scenario. Try a different one. And while you're at it, deactivate your anti-virus programs and firewall". Uh, WHAT???????

I can't really speak to that, since AGEOD in this case was in charge of development and primary testing. However, in our internal pre-release testing, we did not have hangs or crashes. Also, AGEOD's post-release support is excellent, so I expect that if anything did get through their testing, it will be fixed quickly.

Regards,

- Erik

[tgb]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

ORIGINAL: tgb
1)By all accounts this is based on a very complex board game. Fine. I had no problem with the Europa Universalis series from Paradox, I climbed the learning cliff that was Empires in Arms, and every year or so I take another stab at tackling The Beast (WitP). But this ships with a 23 page manual.

It is indeed a complex game, just like BOA2 and AACW, however the copy we are putting on sale today comes with a 52 page manual. Where did you hear that the manual was only 23 pages?

Erik:

That was posted by someone who downloaded it yesterday via an Ageod pre-order. The same poster who is now (out of necessity) writing a .pdf tutorial.

Don't get me wrong - I'm still interested. But Ageod has had the game available since yesterday, and I have yet to see a positive post on their website from someone who has played the release version. All I've seen are problems, and the Ageond "solutions" like "Well, maybe it just doesn't work in that scenario - try a different one".

tgb

[Erik Rutins]

tgb,

Understood, I can only say that our release comes with a 52 page manual and that AGEOD will support this game, as they have their other releases. With the game only being out for less than a day now, I think a little patience is in order while they sort through the reports their getting and come up with solutions.

Regards,

- Erik

[Marc von Martial]

The manuals are probably just at different sizes.

The script I got from AGEOD for layout was formatted in DinA4, I made the Matrix versions layout based on the standard DVD booklet size.
Page count does mean nothing until you know what format the manual is in [;)]

But as Erik said, our is 52 pages "DVD sized". That makes you able to compare it to other Matrix Manuals.

[CptHowdy]

have to agree tgb. i was looking forward to this and am currently waiting for the demo. i see quite a few posts that mention the same problems that great invasions had such as the mouse cursor flying around the screen. i mean come on why do i have to go messing with game files to get a freaking mouse to work, i dont do that with any other games. i also cant believe that the beta testers didnt catch some of this crap such as some tooltips still in french, poorly implemented tutorials that lack adequate information. they did aacw and BoA right, why not this? me thinks this was game was rushed just to meet the nov 11th anniversay. keep beta testing for me boys, ill check back when the support/troubleshooting forums die down.

[elmo3]

ORIGINAL: CptHowdy

...they did aacw and BoA right, why not this? me thinks this was game was rushed just to meet the nov 11th anniversay. keep beta testing for me boys, ill check back when the support/troubleshooting forums die down.

Pretty sure AACW and BoA were designed by AGEOD, but this game was not. It's not the same game engine as those games from what I've read. They are only the developers and I guess that makes Matrix a reseller in this case. Still I agree it does look like it was rushed to meet the 11/11 deadline. Apparently the boardgame rules are posted at their web site now for what that's worth.

[Terminus]

I just skimmed the board game rules. DAMN![X(] If they've actually managed to port 90% of the board game onto the PC...[X(]

[leftydad]

Here's a link to the board game rules: http://ageoddl.telechargement.fr/3rdPar ... es_WW1.zip


AGEOD forums say the detailed, lengthy manual isn't ready yet, but eventually will be "emailed free to anybody who bought the game."

thanks, JL

[elmo3]

Well they have that a bit backwards IMHO.  When the game is finished, i.e. the detailed manual is done then I'll consider buying.

[CptHowdy]

ORIGINAL: elmo3

ORIGINAL: CptHowdy

...they did aacw and BoA right, why not this? me thinks this was game was rushed just to meet the nov 11th anniversay. keep beta testing for me boys, ill check back when the support/troubleshooting forums die down.

Pretty sure AACW and BoA were designed by AGEOD, but this game was not. It's not the same game engine as those games from what I've read. They are only the developers and I guess that makes Matrix a reseller in this case. Still I agree it does look like it was rushed to meet the 11/11 deadline. Apparently the boardgame rules are posted at their web site now for what that's worth.

yes i am aware it's a different engine but i am talking about the level of polish and attention to detail that those games had when released. I have AACW and had no problems with the tutorial and the manual was complete to my knowledge(i didnt have to post simple questions on the forums asking how to do stuff). with this game i am reading the tutorial is severely lacking and they asked the guy complaining about it to basically write his own tutorial. heh?

also found this link in the GI forums http://www.ageod.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4526

perhaps it's the same problem since most of the other problems with WWI seem to be carryovers from GI as well.

[elmo3]

OK, wasn't sure if you knew the situation.  And I agree it does not look, from reading the forums, like it measures up to what I have seen in other AGEOD products like AACW and BoA, both of which I own.

[Phatguy]

Sounds like thier download has a bit of a hiccup to it... What about the Matrix one? Any one report problems or do I have to bite the bullet and be the 1st.

[Erik Rutins]

No hiccups that I'm aware of in our download.

[Hanal]

Downloaded fine for me....the only confusing part is that the installer did not automatically want to place the game files in my C:/Matrix Games folder and instead, created a new folder. When I changed it to where I have all of my Matrix games it could not see the folder when I tried running the the game...I figured that I must have made an error and simply reinstalled in the originally programmed folders and it is running fine....I have to also add that some of the initial settings during install were foreign to me, such as the "Security" setting which had three choices, slow, medium, and fast...I just left that one alone at the default slow setting....

I'm still going through the tutorials but so far, it is running fine on my Gateway laptop which has only 1.5 gigs of RAM..not sure if I'll experience problems in a full fledged game but so far so good..........

[Johnus]

I have been closely following the AGEOD forums on this game. I pre-ordered same from AGEOD. From what I gather "downloading" works fine. A number of people are having the game "freeze" or lock up during the AI's processing time and/or experiencing CTDs.

I don't have the problem, so far.

AGEOD says it is working full speed ahead to fix this.

The only other common complaint (and one that I share) is that the pdf manual is a "summary" and this is a very involved game. AGEOD says a full manual will eventually follow.

The game itself really looks like a classic. (And, to paraphrase John Cleese, I ought to know, I have designated quiet a few classics.)

[06 Maestro]

The game is running fine for me even though I only have 1 gig of RAM. It might be partially offset by the raid 0 HD's. The Athlon 3500 is running maxed out during the battles and AI time. The battles are dragging a bit, I'm afraid I will need to bump my RAM. The G Force 7800 appears up to the task.

The game has a lot of depth. I can see already that the instructions should have been a little more in detail, but I suppose someone will have all of the answers soon.

Down load and install were fine, but I had to update my Adobe reader for the instructions manual for some reason-it was time anyway.

Some catchy music is included, BTW-not bad.

So, back to the time of chivalry.

Edit: I was overly optimistic; by turn 2 the game slowed to a crawl. If you can't upgrade to 2 gigs of ram, I would advise not getting this game.

[darrellb9]

I only have 1 gig of RAM, no raid , and a 2.4 mhz P4. It is running fine for me although 2 gigs of RAM would be much better to have.

You have to be patient for the AI at times and there isn't always an alert letting you know it's doing anything which I think has led to some people's frustration. I usually pause the AI while I take my turn which seems to eliminate any mouse hopping or brief pauses although those issues haven't been much of problem for me.

The manual is disappointing, given the depth of the game, but tool tips with fairly complete descriptions are prevalent.

I for one am having fun playing the game

Now back to the W front...

[WallysWorld]

I pre-ordered the game from Ageod and have played through one tutorial and a little bit of the Serbian campaign and have no issues so far. In fact, the only 'issue' I have is that the map is situated sideways as per the norm: meaning east is north or to the top. That's a little bit hard to get used to.

Otherwise so far so good.

[06 Maestro]

I just checked Crucial dot Com for my ram requirements. I was pleasantly surprised; 2 new sicks of 1 gig each for 62 bucks[:)]. A couple of years ago I paid twice as much for half the ram.

3 gigs should get this game going pretty good.