I bought it on the night of release (Steam Version), and I must say it was one of the worst purchase I have made in years. Not only it has all the bugs people mention so far, there is one particular thing that I consider game killer:
Idiotic AI.
Either the word idiotic was made in the beginning of the time speficially for the day this game is released, or we need to come up with a new definition for the word else it would be an insult to all the idiotic things in the world. That's just how bad it is. I'm a big Seige Battle player, and Seige Battle is next to impossible to play from all respective, doesn't matter whether it's player or the AI, or whether you playing Attack or Defense it does not matter at all. For the AI I don't understand what kind of logic they're using for movement, as for me, I don't understand why my units doesn't seem to do what I ask. A more detail break down that I posted on another forum:
uh, I'm unimpressed. All the AI problem from Rome and Mediaval 2 come back in full force.
The AI army still have this obsessive passion for reforming and nothing else. I pushed an enemy army out of the province capital because through the entire battle they do nothing but reforming their formation.
They try to take my province once, and OMG it's the worst seige battle I fight yet. First, the deployment phase sucks, in previous game although you don't see their army you still know the direction they coming from, and your army by default is already facing them. Here, the AI deployed my army to the north wall and once the battle started it showed their army is on the west.
Redeployment is a mega pain in the ***, I swear I don't know how "MY" unit move at all. The path finding for AI is absolutely horrid. There is even one instance when I order them to switch wall and they some how use the enemy rope to get out side the wall, then run back through the main gate, and of course ******** open it in the process. Oh yeah, and I think my wall unit fire or not to fire not base on my order, but randomly depend on their mood.
The enemy AI is just about as insulting stupid. Once inside, their unit pleasantly match toward the town square and sit there and don't give a damn to the fact that I already put two row of musketeers on two side and making them a cheese sanwich. They just ... sit there, take casualty, then march out back to the gate and replace with another squad. They don't even bother to turn back and face me, so yes, my squad is shooting at their "stand still" back. What more, some squad prefer to run around my outer wall instead of attacking. When their cannon put 2 holes on my wall, instead of get in and attack, their "pike" unit decide to do a Hula dance around my wall, then stop and "stand still" at one of my closed gate and let my unit shoot them at their pleasure. In fact, after my unit out of ammunition I decide to charge them through the gate the enemy is standing in front, it's like the pike unit just wakes up from their eternal slumber or something, instead of go through the now open gate they made a detour back through the two holes they made ealier like they just discover about it now ... in my disbelief.
And improved Campaign AI my "BUTT". They're still as stupid as they ever were. I keep having small province countries declaring war on me despite the fact we're friendly - indifferent toward each others. Not only that, why the hell a country with a "weak" military power want to declare war on a country with "terrifying" military power. And no, it's not like they're exploiting me or something since I squish them in just one or two turn.
So far, except naval battle, I'm very unimpressed. No, I'm pissed.
