Kalypso listens to Community Feedback

[Bumbajack]

Dear Folks,

we just would like to let know you that we as Kalypso are carefully reading all the community comments here and also in our forums.

We are working on an update/patch to fix the major problems, such as:

- Server & login problems
- Trade Balancing
- Graphic card issues
- etc.

However, we are some kind of overwhelmed by the many negative reviews because many people apparently expected a different game.

We released many gameplay trailers, Twitch streams or Let's plays to explain that we are trying create a new type of game mixing up new ideas with elements of grand strategy games, economic simulations, etc. which was not only communicated by ourselves, but also by the global press through previews.

All people here at Kalypso and at the developer Gaming Minds are passionate gamers and we love to make games we want to play ourselves - and we play Grand Ages Medieval with fun even if we know that the game has its weaknesses which we have detected and on which we are working in due course. Please also know that many many people worked on this game for more than 2 years with all their heart.

Kalypso will also not charge the community for any smaller DLCs for Grand Ages Medieval.
We have - like many other publishers - learned our lesson and won't monetize on smaller updates and improvements in the future. However, once the game is enhanced and updated, we may develop a big expansion pack for Grand Ages Medieval (similar to Tropico 4 - Modern Times) if the community wants to have it and is willing to pay for it.

In the meantime, we can only ask you to stay objective in your criticism and trust our word that we are doing our best to fix bugs and to enhance the gameplay. If the game really doesn't meet your taste or expectations at all, you can always get a refund from Steam according to Steam's refund policies.

We are also happy that there are many people out there who really like the game and who also wonder about the mass of negative vibes and reviews here as well. With all respect we can only ask those fans many of Grand Ages Medieval to further support us here in the forums with a positive, objective review or comments on Steam and appreciate any support for the product's favor.

Thank you for your continuous understanding and support.

Kind regards,


The Kalypso Management.

[Varv]

Awesome, this is what we need. The thing is, there's only one way to start the game, which makes replayability, not that great.

[Bumbajack]

Originally posted by Rumpelsiltskin:

Awesome, this is what we need. The thing is, there's only one way to start the game, which makes replayability, not that great.

Thanks - lets see what we can do… thanks also for your support!

[Ghimel]

Great post. I love the game. People will make the game into what they want to justify buying it, and if it turns out they gave themselves the wrong expectation, they'll just blame Kalypso instead of themselves. Life goes on.

[JPT]

That's a wise words Bumbajack, I have been playing many of Kalypso games, for very long time, since the sins of the solar empire, so when ppl buy from Kalypso they should have known what to expect ....
The general problem of this 'super fast communication era' is that now ppl can speak up without a thoughtful thinking, I do not know maybe I'm just conservative .... and yes I'm old, been playing PC with commodore apple back day long long time ago ....

Yesterday the forum full with ppl saying how anxious they have been waiting for the final release
And the day after that bunch of negative commentary
Do you really can rely on those kind of ppl?

[The_Shoe_Salesman]

Bumbajack, the idea of the game is great, but for many players, myself included, there isn't enough content to motivate the player. Particularly, if you're playing alone with the AI, the game feels so flat and repetitive. There nearly no sandbox feeling in a... well... sandbox game.

The map is too big for the options you have. If there would be region specified and more goods, it would be so much better. I miss the personalization, because every region is nearly the same. Give the classified regions special goods, so you've a motivation to get a city there. Spices in Arabia, ivory in North Africa and so one. Then you could add more rare ressources (gold, silk, glass, amber, furs, silver, pearls and many more). I know, this could be overthrow the interface and some players, but it would add so much more depth and would personalize each starting region.

I could write a really big wall of text of suggestions and if you're really that interested to hear the feedback, I will do it. And if that's not enough, I would like it to help in another way, it's possible. This game deserves success, because the genre is nearly dead, but currently, you're on the false way. This game is more or less balanced and created for MP in my opinion (Paradox did the same thing with EUIV, but reverted a little bit back the last time, because they get so many negative feedback) and I have the feeling, that the team did the same mistake here. The majority is playing games like this in the SP. And that should be the first focus. And in the end, it shouldn't be a big problem to balance the game, even with specified goods, because, these goods would be more or less luxury goods and would be sold in the other regions, which would add their goods into your realm. This would also open the door to cooperation. Currently, there's no point in cooperation.

I really like the idea behind the game, but it's just too little content for it's size. :(

[Anndy578]

is there any ETA on when we might see an update? the biggest thing i've run into so far is really just server issues

more info would also be nice so we can see exactly where money is coming and going. i was looking at the screens earlier and noticed i was losing a huge amount on civilian units upkeep but it doesn't mention exactly what that is. i'm assuming it's traders in which case the upkeep seemed pretty massive compared to my income and worse yet those traders were complaining that they needed even more room which if i gave to them would make me lose money

also have to second the content issue. i do enjoy the game but it feels pretty loney just sitting with my villages watching traders do their thing. we need more ways and reasons to interact with the AI and other players

[Whitman]

As mentioned we're looking in those issues and will work on patches/updates. But please understand that we can not give an ETA of those meterial. First we have to carefully evaluate the feedback before we can announce a timeline.

[Saroodai]

I hop you bring cultures model for the player, for example I start play in baghdad and I wish the buildings have Eastren models and also the trader and all ..

[Mark Sleith]

A better tutorial, especially on setting up trade routes, should be your top priority for the campaign. Up to and including a warning that a route is "bad" and an explanation of the coloured circles (I'm presuming orange is bad, yellow is average and green is good). Quite enjoying trying to figure stuff out for myself but is getting rather frustrating in the campaign.

[Dimunyasha]

хотелось бы кнопку автопоиска выгодных торговых маршрутов у торговцев) а не каждого как малютку тыкать носом куда ему бежать.

[[SnF] Flare Charger]

Will this game ever get steam workshop support?

[Mikado]

I'll sink more hours into it before looking at anything like a review. Given what I watched and read before hand I was under no illusions about what I was to expect ingame.

I have mainly played the campaign, I get the impression that there is alot of influences drawn from several board games and pc games sewn into the fabric of this game (and even the style of the campaign in fact!) which could give it quite a significant niche compared to other titles.

Maybe in the future there are more commodities and specialist commodities including a larger range of military unit types and possibly siege options that work with diplomacy too? If it is at all possible even a random map option to procedurally generate a new "europe" map to play on instead of "real world" europe.

I also felt this game could spark even a Grand Ages: Classical spin off too which would be nice to play in the ancient world as well given all the work done with the ruins and tales every where.

So far, apart from a couple of mysteries I'm trying to work out with the ui and mechanics (which is usually half the fun of learning a game anyway), an annoying ruin of eternal savage animal spawning and some sort of invisible bandit camp that my scout cannot find it's been a quite a fun game!

[Bumbajack]

Hi All, thanks for the very constructive feedback so far. We would definitely like to collect all suggestions and need to to find an objective way to do so after the weekend. Keep you updated.

[Nataliya]

Originally posted by Mark Sleith:

A better tutorial, especially on setting up trade routes, should be your top priority for the campaign. Up to and including a warning that a route is "bad" and an explanation of the coloured circles (I'm presuming orange is bad, yellow is average and green is good). Quite enjoying trying to figure stuff out for myself but is getting rather frustrating in the campaign.

This sums up my biggest issue atm

[Varv]

It would be cool if instead of send troops for diplomacy, there was a diplomatic unit. Also, if your leader was a unit, and could actually be like a General, or even a scout, that would be awesome too.