Creative Assembly takes its lumps over Rome 2 camel DLC

The Creative Assembly has faced some backlash over some of its DLC units having previously appeared in pre-release videos, leading the company to issue an apology and explanation for the cut content.

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The Creative Assembly has faced some backlash in recent days over its latest downloadable content for Total War: Rome 2. The Camel Cataphracts and Mercenary Naked Swords units found in the "Beasts of War" and "Caesar in Gaul" DLC, respectively, were both seen in videos of the game prior to release. This has led to accusations that the content was intentionally withheld.

For their part, Creative Assembly says that while the names were the same, the units themselves have undergone significant revisions during the DLC development.

"It's certainly correct to point out that units called Camel Cataphracts and Merc Naked Swords were used in a Let's Play walkthrough before launch," brand director Rob Bartholomew told Eurogamer. "The naming is unfortunate, but these aren't the same units that were then released subsequently as DLC... The DLC we're looking at here are essentially a different version following increased design, artwork and balancing to match the quality of the other units available. The final selection of units supplied in the game were extensive and we felt they represented excellent value."

He said for DLC, it's common for the studio to take another look at units that were well-liked but didn't make the cut. "These were some of the prime contenders," he noted.

All that said, Bartholomew was apologetic, saying that the marketing team should have checked whether the units were likely to be finished for the final game. "Obviously we don't want to feature content that won't be in the game intentionally, especially when it would otherwise be pointless, as in this case where there was a huge variety of other great units to show off," he said. "That's our basic human error and I apologize for letting that through." He also said that the team has put checks in place to prevent these mistakes in the future.

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    February 21, 2014 10:30 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Creative Assembly takes its lumps over Rome 2 camel DLC.

    The Creative Assembly has faced some backlash over some of its DLC units having previously appeared in pre-release videos, leading the company to issue an apology and explanation for the cut content.

    • reply
      February 21, 2014 11:53 AM

      I see this game has a pretty low score, why's that? Looks like another great total war game, I loves SHOGUN 2

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        February 21, 2014 12:06 PM

        Apparently when it was released it was about as playable as X Rebirth.

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          February 21, 2014 12:09 PM

          Internet hyperbole and angry kids. The game was playable, just with a dumber AI and low fps. It's the best TW game in my opinion, but if you like ninjas and ladyboys your mileage may vary.

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            February 22, 2014 8:48 AM

            LOL I assume your remark alludes to TW shogun 2, if so you attempt to be funny falls flat on its face
            a) shogun2 was nowhere near as buggy as Rome2 at launch. Well its a TW game so it wouldn't be a TW without them, but rome2 was just a new low ... not quite x rebirth low but certainly a new benchmark for TW series.
            b) a historic game without historic references would be briliant... (though what ladyboys has to do with anything I have no idea ... as a side note you should know homosexsuality in classical world was not that uncommon)

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        February 21, 2014 4:22 PM

        there's a reason one of the steam tags for Rome2 was "Rome wasn't patched in a day."

        In general, everything that was great about Shogun 2 was screwed over in Rome 2; way too big map, too many tiny groups hating eachother; the (imho fucked up) territory system where you can only build in the main city of a group of assigned territories, rather than have a bunch of small cities to specialize with; diplomacy and especially the AI took a step backwards,.....

        too much of the same, "just bigger" with no real feel for what total war always was. imho.

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        February 22, 2014 11:21 AM

        Because it sucks ass in comparison to rome 1 in almost every way that matters. Many of the battle mechanics are still far worse then the original.

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