The Obligatory First Impressions Thread

[rodney727]

People this is not Wastelands or Matrix MO, They do support games. I have been playing TOW for years. The game is not broken, you can play it from start to finish.

ORIGINAL: von altair

Wasteland Interactive makes good games for sure. Problem is, they they don't support games. Earlier release Time of Wrath is a good game, but broken. Doomtrader promised to fix the game at mid. march 2011. Patch never came. If you try to ask something in WI forums, nothing happens in a month.

Thats what you can expect with this release as well.

[von altair]

ORIGINAL: rogo727

People this is not Wastelands or Matrix MO, They do support games. I have been playing TOW for years. The game is not broken, you can play it from start to finish.

You are right on that one. You can play the game from start to finish (with some luck).
However your statement proves that you haven't really played the game and look closer its problems.

I am not going to repeat all those things nor bash this thread as it is not relevant. I just hold and wait
what will happen. Doomtrader just promised a patch and if that happens. Then I am happy.

[stormbringer3]

I'm not a computer geek at all. I'd like a little more info about this DivX player. What videos will not play, just the game introduction? I have bought a lot of PC games over the years and the videos have always played without any third party software required. All my previous Matrix purchases didn't require any special third party software, why is this game different? I'm always worried about these kind of installations because if any problems are created, I will not know how to fix them.
Thanks for any info. 

[Erik Rutins]

DivX is a package of video codecs. It's required if you want to see the intro videos in this game because of how they are encoded, but it is not required for the game itself, which is why it is unchecked in the installer by default.

Regards,

- Erik

[doomtrader]

You can try to run the videos directly from the game folder. They are located in /data/ subfolder.
You are not missing anything from the gameplay experience. Maybe some mood.

[sveint]

I stand corrected, it is not checked by default (I was too fast just clicking though the installation). Still I recommend not installing DivX Plus and instead getting only the codec from somewhere else.

[willgamer]

I installed the divx.

I use full screen.

The screen stays black on startup; music plays.

Played separately out of the game folder, the intro.avi is black screen, the other 2 seem to play normally.

Win 7, 64b.

[Missouri_Rebel]

Well there are 3 intro vids, none of which are playing for me even though I have DivX codec installed. The first (intro) uses the MP42 codec called S-Mpeg 4 version 2. The second one (intro2) uses the dvsd codec and is named DVC/DV Video. The third (intro3) uses the XviD codec and is named XviD ISO MPEG-4.

Not sure why they have 3 videos that use 3 different codecs but they do. Really a small issue IMO as long as the game runs good, which it does.

As far as not supporting a title I don't know whether Wastelands does or doesn't but my experience with Matrix is that they do try to support things from their end. Any company that does not offer decent support for their titles will inevitably go the way of the Dodo Bird, and rightfully so. In other words, they do so at their own peril.

mo reb

[Byeohazard]

ORIGINAL: Missouri_Rebel

Well there are 3 intro vids, none of which are playing for me even though I have DivX codec installed. The first (intro) uses the MP42 codec called S-Mpeg 4 version 2. The second one (intro2) uses the dvsd codec and is named DVC/DV Video. The third (intro3) uses the XviD codec and is named XviD ISO MPEG-4.

Not sure why they have 3 videos that use 3 different codecs but they do. Really a small issue IMO as long as the game runs good, which it does.

As far as not supporting a title I don't know whether Wastelands does or doesn't but my experience with Matrix is that they do try to support things from their end. Any company that does not offer decent support for their titles will inevitably go the way of the Dodo Bird, and rightfully so. In other words, they do so at their own peril.

mo reb

Having almost the same issue here. I beleive the first video that plays is the Slitherine Logo (this is a guess since my screen is black but I recognize the music and have seen it in Panzer Corps) I just click R mouse button and then the developer logos appear and then click mouse again and the intro movie plays fine.
I was'nt excited about Divx (if it isn't broken don't fix it mentality) but installed it anyhow. So far so good.

[duncan007]

Except Divx feature which imo is not the main feature i am concerned about in a wargame, is there any other impression about the game mechanics
and, for those who owned ToW, about improvements to point out ?

[pvthudson01]

No kidding enough with the DIVX already. You either know how to install it or you dont. Lets hear about the game

[Greyshaft]

IMHO ...

1. The reskinnable map and counters are great. I've changed it to look like the old SPI War in Russia from (uh oh...) about thirty years ago and its bringing back great memories without worrying about the cat jumping on the maps.
2. I'm playing Barbarossa as the Russians and even though I sent every unit (apart from a half dozen 'volunteer' speed bumps in key locations) marching east as fast as they could the Germans are still kicking my butt and overrunning too many of my corps. There really is a feeling of death about my position but I'm playing on to see if lack of German supply and General Winter can save me.
3. The fonts and colors on the dialog boxes could be improved. Its hard for my old eyes to read some of the text.
4. Buy it!!!

[gwgardner]

ORIGINAL: pvthudson01

No kidding enough with the DIVX already. You either know how to install it or you dont. Lets hear about the game

Finally.

[Greyshaft]

My tactical air hit the Germans just outside Kiev. The Rumanian Air Force attempted (but failed) to intercept my Sturmoviks yet their fighters still took a loss. What happened?
Did their fighters have a landing accident?
Did their political masters shoot every tenth pilot "to encourage the others"?

I'm not saying this is a bug - maybe its WAD but its curious all the same.

[patchogue]

I'm a bit miffed I didn't read the discount bit...although I did get Time of Wrath free for owning Road to Victory...

[doomtrader]

They were trying to intercept your planes and stop them from performing bombing mission

[Greyshaft]

I know they were trying to intercept my bombers.

They failed to intercept so there was no air combat... so why did their fighters take a loss?

ORIGINAL: doomtrader

They were trying to intercept your planes and stop them from performing bombing mission

[gwgardner]

The 'interception failed' means that the bombers got through to target. They however did engage the fighters. If interception succeeds, the bombers are turned back with no time over target.

[Greyshaft]

ah, I see ... thank you for the explanation

[Greyshaft]

After two months of having my butt kicked by the Axis I've finally struck back! A Rumanian armored division was scouting down towards the Crimea and we managed to cut him off and annihilate him. This will be front page news in Pravda and it also makes me feel a bit better - I lost Kiev this turn. The Germans just blew apart three INF corps and two ARM Divs sitting in fortifications even though I had local air superiority).