Spurred on by Gus' unceasing praise of the game -- especially in conjunction with the Stainless Steel mod -- I purchased Medieval 2: Total War (including the Kingdoms expansion) yesterday afternoon as part of the Steam sale. I grabbed both the base game and Kingdoms as a single package for $6.24. Score!
Excited, I fired it up...and uninstalled the game after less than ten minutes. I've already been refunded for it.
I'd forgotten -- until now -- how enraged I was that CA arbitrarily locked out all but 5 of the playable factions by forcing you to play & win a campaign first. After enjoying the original Medieval Total War (which had 12 playable factions in the Grand Campaign -- 15 if you had the Viking Invasion expansion), this was a huge middle-finger to the player, not to mention a kick in the balls.
So nope, not gonna happen. I flatly refuse to accept such meaninglessly constricting parameters. Call it a Berserk Button (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BerserkButton) if you want, but that sort of ass-hattery sets me off.
I don't care that there are plenty of mods (including Stainless Steel) that unlock all the playable factions from the beginning. The point is, I shouldn't *have* to resort to a mod for that.
I also don't care that it's only $6.24. I didn't support that bullshit then, nor do I now.
What's worse is that not only does this remain one of the dumbest design decisions I've ever personally encountered, there was never even a good reason for it. I vaguely recall CA spouting some lame explanation about how unlocking the other playable factions was the player's "reward" for winning a campaign. ::) What a bunch of rubbish.
But....... you were just about to add the mod anyway
I get the anger but surely you've only inconvenienced yourself here
How have I inconvenienced myself? Uninstalling the game took only a few seconds, as did submitting my request for a refund (which was granted within an hour). And I still have tons of games thar provide me with hundreds of hours of fun.
I'm no worse off than I was before. The only thing I've lost is a little time, and perhaps a bit of pride (due to having forgotten a major reason why I'd refused to buy M2TW in the first place).
Surely you bought it because you wanted to play it?
Now you're not
See - you could be hours into a misty legendary game by now expanding the Teutonic Knights across Europe
And you know you'll fold eventually!
I know where you are coming from, Martok. I would have felt the same way under similar circumstances. :knuppel2:
You could use this small fix to unlock all factions : (also available for Kingdoms at the link)
http://www.twcenter.net/wiki/HowTo:Unlock_All_Factions#Medieval_2_Total_War
Medieval 2 Total War
1. Go to C:\Program Files\SEGA\Medieval II Total War\data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign.
2. Open descr_strat.txt with notepad.
3. Copy the unlockable factions to playable. Save the file and close it.
Another simpler method is to go in the main M2TW directory default path:- C:\Program Files\SEGA\Medieval II Total War & open medieval2.preference.cfg file with notepad and scroll down to the bottom of the file and place this command in red:- [misc] unlock_campaign = true
Personally I hate any game that I have purchased where content is LOCKED until you achieve some goal (besides player progression type things) the developer wants you to.....paid the full price of a game, I should be able to play all the content as I see fit. Certainly understand they want to make it a challenging and rewarding experience, but I typically never achieve most of the goals so that limits my ability to play all the content for the full price I paid. Never understood why they couldn't make it an option so that people who enjoy that stuff can use it, while others not locked into it.
With that said, a ton of games do this so nothing new...seems like a lot of the newer games go this route...
I felt the same way years ago when I got SoW:Gettysburg. It had quite a lot of battle scenarios but they were locked out, forcing you to play and beat them in a specific order, one at a time. Luckily, someone early on created a patch that opened them up to play in any order you wanted.
Well that said I'm more annoyed with the "we'll give you 4 starter races / factions but then you need to but the rest" world of dlc CA (and everyone else) has gone.
I'll still play the games but I'll bitch incessantly about the practice too.
Quote from: Grim.Reaper on December 24, 2017, 06:37:38 AM
Personally I hate any game that I have purchased where content is LOCKED until you achieve some goal (besides player progression type things) the developer wants you to.....paid the full price of a game, I should be able to play all the content as I see fit. Certainly understand they want to make it a challenging and rewarding experience, but I typically never achieve most of the goals so that limits my ability to play all the content for the full price I paid. Never understood why they couldn't make it an option so that people who enjoy that stuff can use it, while others not locked into it.
With that said, a ton of games do this so nothing new...seems like a lot of the newer games go this route...
What he said - it's like buying a Ferrari & discovering you can only use the first two gears until (by someone else's measure) you're deemed to drive well enough.
In fact, I don't think Martok went far enough, I think the designers should be given vasectomies until WE decide they're fit to have kids & allow their "faction" to progress to the next level. See how they like it.
Merry Christmas everyone!
It's one of the greatest strategy games ever made. You're cutting your nose off to spite your face, Bro. This is an issue that ultimately has no impact on game play.
Regardless, I guess your few dollars can no doubt be better spent elsewhere.
Coffee spew - jh agreed with me
Agreed this one is a good one and worth the minor work if you want to play those other factions....you don't even need the full mod to do it, literally would take seconds one time.
***Instructions to Unlock***
Medieval 2 Total War
1. Go to C:\Program Files\SEGA\Medieval II Total War\data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign.
2. Open descr_strat.txt with notepad.
3. Copy the unlockable factions to playable. Save the file and close it.
Another simpler method is to go in the main M2TW directory default path:- C:\Program Files\SEGA\Medieval II Total War & open medieval2.preference.cfg file with notepad and scroll down to the bottom of the file and place this command in red:- [misc] unlock_campaign = true
Medieval 2 Total War Kingdoms
Britannia Campaign
1.Go to C:\Program Files\SEGA\Medieval II Total War\mods\british_isles\data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign.
2. Right click Descr-strat.txt and take it off read only or edits will not stay.
3. Open Descr_strat.txt and copy the factions under unlockable and nonplayable to playable. Congrats you have unlocked all factions for the Britannia Campaign. Save the file and close it
Americas Campaign
1. Go to C:\Program Files\SEGA\Medieval II Total War\mods\americas\data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign.
2. Right click Descr-strat.txt and take it off read only or edits will not stay.
3. Copy all factions under unplayable and unlockable to playable. Congrats you have unlocked all factions for the Americas Campaign. Save the file and close it.
Crusades Campaign
1. Go to C:\Program Files\SEGA\Medieval II Total War\mods\crusades\data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign.
2. Right click Descr-strat.txt and take it off read only or edits will not stay.
3. Copy all factions under unplayable and unlockable to playable. Congrats you have unlocked all factions for the Crusades Campaign. Save the file and close it.
Teutonic Campaign
1. Go to C:\Program Files\SEGA\Medieval II Total War\mods\teutonic\data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign.
2. Right click Descr-strat.txt and take it off read only or edits will not stay.
3. Copy all factions under unplayable and unlockable to playable. Congrats you have unlocked all factions for the Teutonic Campaign. Save the file and close it.
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on December 24, 2017, 07:21:31 AM
It's one of the greatest strategy games ever made. You're cutting your nose off to spite your face, Bro. This is an issue that ultimately has no impact on game play.
Regardless, I guess your few dollars can no doubt be better spent elsewhere.
^ This. I love you Martok, but I think you made a poor decision on this one. I mean,
you were about to install a mod that unlocks the factions anyway.
I get the spirit of your post, but in this case I think you made a mistake.
Its a pretty hard stance he took for a mere few dollah. :coolsmiley:
Luv ya, Martok!
lol, I guess that is what we call a "Rage Refund" :notworthy:
Weird, I don't remember having to unlock factions in MTW2, has it always been that way? Or is it just the Kingdoms piece.. I played a lot of the vanilla game, really loved it, but thought it got outdated by the later releases. I did buy the full package at a steam sale a year or two ago (after owning the base game on disk), but again really didn't play too much due to the newer version. I do remember playing a cool Lord of the Rings version though.
Honesty, I actually like the unlock concept.
Bear in mind though, I tend to suck with choices, second guessing myself, also like the feeling of working towards something
Quote from: Hofstadter on December 24, 2017, 09:45:04 AM
Honesty, I actually like the unlock concept.
Bear in mind though, I tend to suck with choices, second guessing myself, also like the feeling of working towards something
Which is OK....but I just wish the developers would include an option to turn those off for the people who don't....best of both worlds.
lol.. all this TWM2 talk, made me figure, I should install on my laptop, since there should be no problem running it! :coolsmiley:
Quote from: jamus34 on December 24, 2017, 06:54:54 AM
Well that said I'm more annoyed with the "we'll give you 4 starter races / factions but then you need to but the rest" world of dlc CA (and everyone else) has gone.
I'll still play the games but I'll bitch incessantly about the practice too.
Yeah, I'm admittedly not thrilled about that either (with the Warhammer TW titles). On the other hand, I'm not sure it's quite the same situation.
CA devoted a lot more resources to the playable factions in the Warhammer games, making them genuinely unique with their own gameplay mechanics. In contrast, the factions in the various historical Total War titles generally play the same way (with the exception of certain nomadic/"horde" factions).
In essence, the number of playable factions in the Warhammer sub-franchise compared to those in the historical games are a case of "quality vs. quantity". It's still a nice racket CA/Sega has going, but I can see there being at least some justification for them getting away with it. (Which is why I didn't mind purchasing Warhammer TW, although I did wait for a sale price -- I wasn't going to fork over a full $60.00 for it.)
Quote from: Toonces on December 24, 2017, 08:19:04 AM
Quote from: Jarhead0331 on December 24, 2017, 07:21:31 AM
It's one of the greatest strategy games ever made. You're cutting your nose off to spite your face, Bro. This is an issue that ultimately has no impact on game play.
Regardless, I guess your few dollars can no doubt be better spent elsewhere.
^ This. I love you Martok, but I think you made a poor decision on this one. I mean, you were about to install a mod that unlocks the factions anyway.
I get the spirit of your post, but in this case I think you made a mistake.
You guys may very well be correct. As I said, though, this is definitely one of those things that sets me off; it's a principle about which I'm quite stubborn. :P
Quote from: Tuna on December 24, 2017, 09:05:00 AM
lol, I guess that is what we call a "Rage Refund" :notworthy:
Weird, I don't remember having to unlock factions in MTW2, has it always been that way? Or is it just the Kingdoms piece.. I played a lot of the vanilla game, really loved it, but thought it got outdated by the later releases. I did buy the full package at a steam sale a year or two ago (after owning the base game on disk), but again really didn't play too much due to the newer version. I do remember playing a cool Lord of the Rings version though.
Yep, it's always been that way.
Unlocking factions during game play doesn't upset me. But having to pay extra through in-app purchases WOULD enrage the piss out of me. It's one of the major reasons I don't do iOS games any more; it seems 90% of them are in-app purchase enabled and then it's shite like "Buy 1000 In Game Currency for 1.99" or something stupid like that.
Quote from: BanzaiCat on December 24, 2017, 02:21:55 PM
Unlocking factions during game play doesn't upset me. But having to pay extra through in-app purchases WOULD enrage the piss out of me. It's one of the major reasons I don't do iOS games any more; it seems 90% of them are in-app purchase enabled and then it's shite like "Buy 1000 In Game Currency for 1.99" or something stupid like that.
Didn't EA try that with SW: Battlefront
Yup. As do some other devs, too. The whole "pay to play" thing pisses me off to no end, as does doing a game but in regular, deluxe, enhanced, superior, platinum, goldilocks, or whatever the F, editions.
If I buy a game I want it to be complete.
I totally understand DLC down the road, but the damned base game needs to be playable from the get go.
Quote from: OJsDad on December 24, 2017, 02:24:39 PM
Quote from: BanzaiCat on December 24, 2017, 02:21:55 PM
Unlocking factions during game play doesn't upset me. But having to pay extra through in-app purchases WOULD enrage the piss out of me. It's one of the major reasons I don't do iOS games any more; it seems 90% of them are in-app purchase enabled and then it's shite like "Buy 1000 In Game Currency for 1.99" or something stupid like that.
Didn't EA try that with SW: Battlefront
pretty much. Freemium model in AAA full price game. Frakkers.
Paradoxes fetish for tiny scroll boxes, little info windows and minute buttons.
This is not good.
BIG IS BETTER.
Ho Ho Ho HO HO HO!!!11!! :P
Martok you asshole! How is even possible to do that?
LOL, you win bruddah. :hug:
Quote from: BanzaiCat on December 24, 2017, 02:40:19 PM
If I buy a game I want it to be complete.
I totally understand DLC down the road, but the damned base game needs to be playable from the get go.
Amen, brother.
Quote from: Ian C on December 24, 2017, 03:04:35 PM
Paradoxes fetish for tiny scroll boxes, little info windows and minute buttons.
This is not good.
BIG IS BETTER.
It's personally not been an issue for me (although I'll probably change my tune on that in ten years, when my eyesight *really* goes down the crapper :buck2: ), but I can definitely understand and empathize with those for whom that drives them crazy.
Matrix/Slitherine gets similar complaints about
Distant Worlds (it'll make you long for Paradox's UI...).
Quote from: Toonces on December 24, 2017, 06:56:05 PM
Martok you asshole! How is even possible to do that?
LOL, you win bruddah. :hug:
Told you, I'm stubborn. O:-)
(Thanks anyway, buddy. That means a lot to me. :) )
Quote from: Ian C on December 24, 2017, 03:04:35 PM
Paradoxes fetish for tiny scroll boxes, little info windows and minute buttons.
This is not good.
BIG IS BETTER.
Didn't you know they're doing DLC spectacles?
It's perhaps everything you said but that hasn't stopped them from doing the same for every release to date...and to boot now you even don't get all the factions until you buy them seperately ala DLC.
Contrary to what others say about The world's best strategy game....ummm....no....not even close. It's not even one that was fully patched to work as intended. Your have to fix those things manually...be it the ugly low skilled princess' the game fails to spawn correctly or the skillless generals....or the game's failure to properly keep track of merchant routes from save to save....still no fix for this. there is a rediculous work-a-round involving moving your capital every save load and back again...but after a few hours in your realise the game is as shallow and repetative as all the others in the line up.
I can't even look at you, Martok :(
Are we suppost to be looking at each other? I thought that was considered, 'intimidating'. ???
Quote from: jamus34 on December 24, 2017, 06:54:54 AM
Well that said I'm more annoyed with the "we'll give you 4 starter races / factions but then you need to but the rest" world of dlc CA (and everyone else) has gone.
I'll still play the games but I'll bitch incessantly about the practice too.
+1
And waiting longer for bigger DLC sale price dips.
Compared to the DLC & micro-transaction milk trucks, having to modify a text file to unlock all factions is cake.
I don't know if I would consider something that can be modded out with a simple .cfg line change to true instead of false is an "arbitrary design decision." If they seriously didn't want the player to play any of the other factions you'd think it would be hard-coded to prevent tampering.
I really wish you would reconsider, Martok. It's breaking my heart you're denying yourself this game.
Pretty sure he said upthread that he had the discs and was just making it easier on himself. It also may have been me that wrote that.
Quote from: MetalDog on December 29, 2017, 05:21:58 PM
Pretty sure he said upthread that he had the discs and was just making it easier on himself. It also may have been me that wrote that.
lol, are these 70's Music contests making you partake in mild altering substances?!!!
Quote from: Tuna on December 29, 2017, 05:49:16 PM
Quote from: MetalDog on December 29, 2017, 05:21:58 PM
Pretty sure he said upthread that he had the discs and was just making it easier on himself. It also may have been me that wrote that.
lol, are these 70's Music contests making you partake in mild altering substances?!!!
No comprende, senor.
Quote from: Tuna on December 29, 2017, 05:49:16 PM
Quote from: MetalDog on December 29, 2017, 05:21:58 PM
Pretty sure he said upthread that he had the discs and was just making it easier on himself. It also may have been me that wrote that.
lol, are these 70's Music contests making you partake in mild altering substances?!!!
More like
major altering substances!
:))
Quote from: Gusington on December 29, 2017, 10:35:35 AM
I can't even look at you, Martok :(
Quote from: Toonces on December 29, 2017, 05:08:32 PM
I don't know if I would consider something that can be modded out with a simple .cfg line change to true instead of false is an "arbitrary design decision." If they seriously didn't want the player to play any of the other factions you'd think it would be hard-coded to prevent tampering.
I really wish you would reconsider, Martok. It's breaking my heart you're denying yourself this game.
I appreciate what you guys are saying, I honestly do. And I find it oddly heartwarming that you're arguing so vociferously in favor of me giving it another go. Thank you for that.
However, when it comes to gaming (as in life), there are some lines I simply won't cross, and this is one of them. It's similar to why I refuse to purchase/play Ubisoft games due to their nefarious Uplay DRM crap. I just can't do it.
Quote from: MetalDog on December 29, 2017, 05:21:58 PM
Pretty sure he said upthread that he had the discs and was just making it easier on himself. It also may have been me that wrote that.
That would be yourself who said that, good sir. :)
Damn. I guess Tuna was right then ;)