Nanman DLC announced.

[zoner16]

Some interviews I think help illuminate various things:

https://www.pcgamesn.com/total-war-t...erview-preview



The references to variety and diversity are definitely something that the fanbase has been complaining about for a while. It's hard to shake the feeling that you're playing the same battles with different costumes in each campaign. Eight Princes was partly skewered on that complaint (as was Thrones), and I think it's something that's stuck with the developers as a mantra: "Make sure every content drop is different!"

It does make sense. With Total War DLC, you're usually not asking for new systems within the base campaign like Paradox. You'll get those with the free patch. You're asking people to pay to get another campaign entirely, rather than just replay on of the ones they already have. There has to be something of significantly unique and desirable enough to justify a purchase.

One of the Youtubers, I think Many A True Nerd, referenced Rome: Total War's unique and out there units as a big reason that game is still so fun, and I have a hard time disagreeing. I don't think my younger self would've bother playing Germania if it hadn't been for the fact that I thought the berserker-spin looked cool, and I barely cared that Egypt was out of date because I loved their chariots. In Warhammer, one of the big motivations for me to keep playing a campaign I'm already dominating is to unlock the endgame monsters/constructs/characters and have fun watching them go to work.

I don't necessarily think that the fanbase is demanding fantasy in everything (well, there are some that are), but I do worry that the amount of variation and spectacle that is being demanded is going to keep compelling CA to make detrimental concessions in everything they do out of fear of being perceived as "too much like the other thing." I'm reminded of the Rome 2 debacle that was intrinsically related to the push for "cinematic" experiences, with an absurd amount of choreography and post processing effects that had a horrible impact on gameplay and performance. This doesn't really feel any different, but the sacrifice here is historical grounding and balance.

Once they run out of well known legendary literary traditions to draw on (there aren't that many), what do they do next? Even Warhammer content creators want a Medieval 3, but that's not exactly backed by a fantastical epic that can be used as a sourcebook. Is there enough "spectacle" in medieval europe to drive sales, or is it now too mundane to exist on its own merits?

[PikeStance]

Do these DLCs actually sell ? The few TW players I know in real life ignore them completely. So do I.

Broadly speaking, the total war franchise is agonizing as far as my little personal circles goes. Witout putting the commercial success since R2, it feels like something has definitively broken down with TW whenever I ask to real life friends what they think about the latest TW game. And to make it clear, I am not asking history nerds (I happen to be that person among my friends). Rather I am asking people who don't are familiar with history and don't overly care about it.

Warhammer was a fun game and the favorite release since a long long time. This had less to do with fantasy & dragons but more to do with the fact that the original and some factions in Warhammer 2 are a no non-sense experience. There is a little bit of campaign management. Then some battles. That is pretty much all what you can ask in a TW. In comparison Attila, ToB, Three Kingdoms and Troy are full of BS and non-sense features which punish the player.

Also CA release way too much content lately. Imo they are burning their fanbase just like Ubisoft did with AC before they made a small pause between Syndicate and Origins.

I couldn't agree more! I have about an hour each evening to play if that (by the time I put my son to bed). One time I was so busy picking attributed and other incidentals that an hour into playing I haven't done anything. Mind you, I didn't think about anything. I literally just click on anything. I really didn't care because I think it should be random anyway. If there was a feature where you can actually automate it, I am on it. I don't mind managing my "empire" but micromanaging every person was tedious. R2 wasn't really much better sometimes.

The price of the DLCs is so disproportionaly high, in comparison to their production cost, that they are probably guaranteed to generate a net gain, even if they fail commercially and don't match SEGA's expectations. From the Linked In profile of Stelios Avramidis, we know that the blood pack for Warhammer and the Wood Elves made respectively over 200% and 100% of net profit.

Mr. Avramidis* presents these figures as a total success, but there's a chance that he's hyping the results to promote his bio. Judging from the omission of the Beast Men and the general more lacklusture welcome they received from the community, we can deduce that Beast Men sold less, although that doesn't mean that the expenses surpassed the profits. In my opinion, most DLCs are probably profitable enough, except for the few glaring disappointments. For example, Beasts of War for Rome II was so much ridiculed in the Internet that one week after its release, CA was forced to release a couple of extra units (including warriors dressed as crocodiles) for free, but only for the owners of the DLC. That sounds to me as a typical attempt to strengthen the purchase numbers, after an underwhelming performance on release day. The same conclusion will probably apply for Eight Princes, but Nanman will probably achieve its goal. .....

Personally, no DLC is ever worth its advertised price. I buy everything on sale. My wife will kill me if I did otherwise,..LOL

Some interviews I think help illuminate various things:....?

I do not have a problem with fantasy titles, but they seem to have merged fantasy with historical, but any fantasy in a game means fantasy. I was also irritated that I have been waiting for a China TW for quite some time given the history of China there are many time periods to base the game on. What we get is fantasy, not history. They really do not care about history anymore; just look at their reaction tot he complaints about women generals in R2.

Grand tactician gives me the real battle experience over TW's gamey arcade battles, and give me real campaign mechanic that is more realistic than the sill character building crap TW gives.