This game is an insulting embarrassment

from PolMach Forums

It's disappointing enough that this sequel is lacking in new features. Stardock had four years to add something, anything, to expand and improve on gameplay. And there were no shortage of useful and reasonable suggestions: primaries, debates, third parties, a map editor. Heck, they didn't even take the obvious route of harnessing user-generated content -- even a rudimentary way to share custom candidates, maps, and scenarios could give this game significantly more replay value.

But no, TPM2012 actually takes away content from the last game. The historical campaign? Gone. The European, Civil War, and Drengi scenarios? Gone. Most of the old candidates? Gone, gone, gone. Oh, and the Steam integration makes it impossible to play a LAN game against a friend or yourself unless you buy it twice (not happening).

But hey, it's got a few new bobbleheads! And a few more text entries in its issues database! And a coat of shiny on all the buttons! Too bad those are the most trivial and non-essential aspects of the game.

I'm not a hater. I loved TPM2008 to the point of hacking together my own custom scenario, pre-ordered the sequel months ago, and was planning on writing a big post promoting the game for a fairly large and politically astute web community I'm a part of. If it were at all an improvement rather than a cash-grabbing step backward, I would. But this isn't even worth pirating.

I'd love for some actual meat to get added to the game's bones in a future update, beyond dead-simple stuff like tweaking the issues matrix (something I, a programming novice, was able to do myself in my free time). But honestly, if Stardock couldn't add anything meaningful in four years, I don't see them adding anything in the next few months.

6,378 views 4 replies
Reply #1 from PolMach Forums Top

If the game were a totally new product, this would be excusable.

 

But the game is literally just the same as 2008, but with less content. Like I said in another post, they could have literally taken a copy of TPM2008 and added the new candidates and updated the issues/data and it would be a better game.

Reply #2 from PolMach Forums Top

I think you need to understand the ideas that are clearly surrounding the release of this game, and think you should maybe actually read the things that stardock have said themselves about this game.

YES, It is a cut down version of 2008, to an extent that anyone could have edited themselves, I myself have created an entirely new game from the 2012 version, with a new map and pretty much everything changed (A UK Version, rather than US). Stardock themselves said that they decided to focus the game on the presidential election rather than fantasy elections, but the game is by no means closed off to people who wish to add new elections, such as myself.

The decided to do this so that they could afford to spend less time on the new game, and release it at a lower price. The reason for this is, that PM2008 was somewhat of a cult game, a game that had a small community around it, where as having the ability to re package it and sell it on steam gives the company a new platform to get their game out to a larger community; and considering the game has been on the steam frontpage for over a month (on mine) now, shows the exposure they are getting from the induction of steam.

Yes, it would have been nice to get some new features, but this game was clearly not a priority to stardock, a company that are releasing many very strong games. I don't think there is anything wrong with re packaging the game to sell it to a wider audience.

If you read what stardock said about the game before buying it, you may have been put off, or you may have felt like supporting this developer.  As I said, I've read a few times that "We decided to focus on the presidential election". You can't blame a developer for telling you what a game is, and you ignoring it.

Personally I think maybe they were caught slightly off guard, not intending to make a 2012 version, and then not creating what they really WANT to create, which suggests to me that there may be more content added in the future. Taking into account also that there is clear modding support in the files and the steam entry is set up to support possible DLC.

Be patient, Enjoy the game, and post constructive feedback rather than unhelpful rants. 

Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from PolMach Forums Top

Well, redarrow114, I don't think the rant was unhelpful. It was a legitimate concern and voice of disappointment. And let's be honest, Stardock isn't the best at getting their messages out.

That aside, I do think a community of like-minded individuals like ourselves is really what can make this easily-accessible and editable tool a lot of fun! I like that your tutorials are starting to see the light of day here, and I really appreciate that a new modding section (or edited modding section) will further increase our enjoyment of this game.

Personally, I can't wait to see your Europe and I myself am working on a "United States as seen by the rest of the world" kind of scenario to be something of a companion piece to the former Europa scenario.

Love the passion of you both; now let's continue to get our resources organized so we can all enjoy and benefit from each other's ideas and good work!

Reply #4 from PolMach Forums Top

Agreed :) I have just put a new tutorial up, on changing party information, soon to come will be editing issues then changing the endorsements. I will at some point be doing a Mapping tutorial, but if you need any help with anything, send me a private message and I'll do what I can. I've changed pretty much everything in my game, and I'm currently building the Map.