If TaleWorlds had left their Early Access statement at JUST the first paragraph AND charged a reasonable price for an alpha stage game, all would be fine. But TaleWorlds didn't, TaleWorlds went to extreme lengths to say how great the game currently is so they can charge a premium price. The game is currently not finished enough to be enjoyable , rather the current game is extremely frustrating. The current game is a largely a la t skeleton framework with partial flesh out of the pieces. Only with modding is the game possible to be enjoyed, and playing the mod shuffle game is extremely frustrating.
I play almost all the other Early Access games mentioned in this thread, not a single one of those other games tries to mislead customers nor do any of those other games try to charge premium price$ for an alpha stage game that at least 3-4 years from being finished to a gold state.
The first 2 paragraphs from TaleWorlds is where TaleWorlds should have stopped their Early Access statement:
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Why Early Access?
“Early access is something that we are very familiar with: our first title, Mount & Blade, helped to pioneer this method of release back in 2005. By working alongside our community we were able to deliver a unique gaming experience that players still enjoy to this day. These past experiences have taught us that it is vital to bring players in to help us iron out any issues and refine the game by utilizing feedback to bring it to the level that both our community and we expect.
"We are hoping to run a productive and efficient early access for M&B Bannerlord as well. However, due to the nature and scale of game that we have envisioned, there may be various problems or missing features and content during the course of early access."
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The rest after the first 2 paragraph is where TaleWolds starts to mislead people. Note, the last sentence of the second paragraph was omitted. As that sentence is where TaleWorlds is going wrong. That bold sentence is all TaleWorlds needed to say, but NO..TaleWorlds went on at length to explain how the current game is playable and by doing so (along with the 1 year statement) are implying the game is close to be finished.
Just fricking say "There is missing content and bugs". Its not too late TaleWorlds, go back and remove all that other crap and stop misleading new customers.
Pretty sure that 90% of the folks that bought into early access Bannerlord only did so because the playing the previous M&B titles and were itching for another version. TaleWorlds took advantage of this fan base of the previous games by charging too much $ for a game that many years away from being gold status. That is called not appreciating your customers.
TaleWorlds states they are shooting for 1 year, while no one expects 1 year to be accurate...There needs to be ball park...
So let us judge this ball park figure of 1 year by the current progress.
3.5 months have went by since release.
How much missing content has been filled in those 3.5 months?
Maybe 1 item, half way fleshed out with more work to go.
Fact is, the majority of the current game development is big fixing.
This game is 3-4 years away from getting all the missing content in and bug squashing and balancing. Highly doubt all the content mentioned and currently missing will ever get added in because the funding will dry up OR they will release paid DLC to include the content missing... content that was supposed to be part of the original game.
Shame on you TaleWorlds. Most of us are not new to the Early Access world, I certainly am not. The other early access games I play do not mislead people with early access statements implying the game is close to finished nor they charge outrageous price for a no where close to be finished game.
You could apply for a refund anytime - literally just message them. Stop whining and actually do something if you care that much.
Obviously you just want to be a troll though.