posted
and my stupid security program blocks the sporepedia. Nooooooooooooo How are my money obsessed trader species going to bother other players now?
Posts: 1574 | Registered: May 2008
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posted
Yes he could. Australia's early release is to blame, as well as some stores selling it earlier than they were supposed to. I've played it as well. It's alright.
Posts: 349 | Registered: Jul 2006
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posted
Yeah, I've heard it isn't that great. It doesn't live up to the hype that has been building for five years.
Posts: 1287 | Registered: Apr 2006
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posted
I knew from the early demos that it was going to be heavy on ambition, and probably low on the actual delivery. It's such an expansive concept, but that also makes it a difficult one.
For instance, I'm familiar with the group of people who were involved in the music side of the game. I don't know the key players personally, but they are all involved in the programming community for Max/Msp, and my former teacher knows them and has done workshops with them in Berkley. If you know anything about that programming environment- it's so *freaking* open ended that one could accomplish virtually anything imaginable. They were using it to generate sound according to player input, and the program is great for evolving and interactive sound environments. However, the program is also one that deals in such ornate complexity, that I've often found it keeps me running around like a dog tied to a cannon ball- what you're doing is always two steps away from a potential problem, and you never really get centered, if that makes any sense at all.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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quote:You can get to space in about four hours of game time. It's really not all that good.
One of the things I've heard about it, actually, is that the space game is the core of the game, and quitting when you reach space is basically like choosing not to play the actual game.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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quote:You can get to space in about four hours of game time. It's really not all that good.
One of the things I've heard about it, actually, is that the space game is the core of the game, and quitting when you reach space is basically like choosing not to play the actual game.
I don't get the comment unless I said I didn't play space somewhere. You can get to space in four hours. It is really not all that good. It's a bastard hybrid of MOO and Elite but I've already played that sort of game before, thrice, and Spore reduced all the prior portions of the game, previously megahyped, down to a brainless distraction before the main course.
Maybe I'll like it better in a replay when I get into the excellent content sharing system but this game's popped the hype bubble pretty massive.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
So far the only games that have ever lived up their hype to me are Half-Life 2 and Metal Gear Solid 4. I say they live up to the hype I had for them because I've never, ever expected a game to be perfect; so naturally those two games still had some weak points, but I didn't mind it.
You're asking for pain if you ever expect perfection. Set realistic standards and savor those times when you're blown away
On that note, I find Spore suffers from some repetitiveness issues, and I wish there weren't "phases" at all; rather, that the game just transitioned a bit more slowly, and fluidly. I guess I wanted it to not feel so forced. Still, I'm enjoying it.
Can anyone recommend Civilization 4 or something similar that you feel is amazing? Just curious.
Posts: 349 | Registered: Jul 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Elmer's Glue: Yeah, I've heard it isn't that great. It doesn't live up to the hype that has been building for five years.
It would have to cure cancer to live up to the hype that has been building for five years.
quote:Originally posted by T:man: I dun care I jus wanna no how to fix my stupid firewall.
So what program provides your stupid firewall? Is it just the built in Windows Firewall, or Zone Alarm, or Black Ice Defender, or something else?
quote:Originally posted by Saephon: Can anyone recommend Civilization 4 or something similar that you feel is amazing? Just curious.
Stardock's Galactic Civilizations II has also been very well received, especially with its expansions. And it's a point of pride that Stardock doesn't cripple its users with intrustive Digital Rights Management.
Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by T:man: I have the game. I have CA security center.
I don't have internet right now so.....
Do you have some sort of hub/router that would permit more than one computer to access your internet connection?
I will freely admit I'm not an expert on CA's firewall, but my guess looking at their website is that you would go to the "Personal Firewall" segment of the security center, then look for Spore under the "Application Control" tab and see if it's possible to enable it for Internet access.
EDIT: Link to the instructions for enabling applications under CA is here:
quote:It would have to cure cancer to live up to the hype that has been building for five years.
Well, I would have been fine with definitely not living up to the hype, but it kind of sucks that everything prior to space has just been turned into an incredibly simple set of super-easy minigames.
What they distilled the creature phase into was really the most disappointing. It is a flash game for four year olds. A creature emotes at you, you emote back. It's now your ally. Or you press the bite button until it is dead. That's it.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
It sounds a lot like Fable. Fable was hyped in extreme ways. I heard previews and interviews where the guy in charge commented that grass grew back on pathways if you didn't take that path often. Townspeople knew who you were and would spread rumors about you depending on your action. Families grow and shrink in the various towns.
Yeah, Fable was a lot like that, except it had none of that and was a hack-n-slash RPG.
Posts: 4 | Registered: Sep 2008
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quote:I heard previews and interviews where the guy in charge
Molyneux would be his name. Fable was overhyped so badly that he was actually forced to apologize. There's videos of him hyping it and other games like Black and White which are pretty painful to behold.
To the credit of Maxis, they did not pull a Molyneux-level hype bomb. Everything they were doing was hyped conceptually at times where they were essentially considered plausible goals in the production phase. Will Wright probably ended up with two choices: a game that tries the concept poorly, or scales back the concept to workability.
I don't know, though. There's still something pretty disappointing about the way Spore's pre-space phases came out. I can't put it all together in text yet but I'll try later. :/
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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Blayne Bradley
unregistered
posted
First impressions this is an awesome game, my entire experience with the "hype" machine is with Will Wrights demo of the ENTIRE game from flow to moo back 2-3 years ago and the game stayed 95% the same, they cut out the living in water mammal stage but aside from that up to the tribal stage its what I expected and wanted.
The graphics are charming but I'm not too keen on them, it would've been nice to have something more towards the Source engine's level of detail so I can have more spiffy looking starships and towns rather then something was pooped from a gay clown.
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I love it I could play the creature stage for onths withut getting bored. After playing creature for 2 days I just wanted to see the tribal stage so I advanced, andd the tribal stage in my opinion is great, not as good as the creature stage but still very entertaining. I still havent got the computer to hook up tho. > Posts: 1574 | Registered: May 2008
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Cell stage: Pretty diverting for a while, but ultimately gets boring after an hour.
Creature stage: Very fun. I love constantly evolving my creature to see how cool I can make her look. Just a fun bit of creativity, and it's entertaining seeing all the other creatures in the world.
Tribe stage: Meh, it's OK. Putting on the hats and armor is cute, but the gameplay is very simple, and I feel like it's basically a time filler. Certainly doesn't hold up to the other stages, as there's no real customization and very little to do. Feels like a place holder that they didn't bother finishing.
Civ stage: The vehicle and building design is fun, but the RTS gameplay is very simple and not very entertaining. It's too basic to have any strategy.
A giant, nearly indistructable monster randomly showed up in one of my towns, so I had to abandon it because it one-hit all my vehicles and had 3000 HP. From a game play standpoint, that's just stupid.
This stage had potential, just look at the countless RTS games out there. The only fun part is the building though, the combat is just dumb.
Space stage: I've only been in this stage a few hours, but it's fun so far. Flying around is fun, zapping and kidnapping creatures from the planets is fun. Exploring the galaxy is fun.
Not super awesome, but entertaining. I'll have to see how it goes, since I feel like I've hardly gotten into it. So far, so good.
Overall, I'm underwhelmed. It's great to see games being willing to go in new directions, or at least be willing to stretch a little. It could be better, but it's not bad.
Posts: 3950 | Registered: Mar 2006
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posted
What was the rationale for having all the body parts be part of some sort of "gotta catch 'em all" mini-game? I would rather build up currency and apply body parts to my creature as I go, rather than have to go out and search for them as well.
Also, it seems to me that dying doesn't matter one lick, at least in the cellular stage, since the game saves your DNA points and number of body parts found at the moment of death. So, what's the point?
Posts: 339 | Registered: Apr 2008
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Dying never has any lasting effect. It's a very friendly sort of game. It does lend itself to suicide attacks though. As long as you get that special body piece, who cares if you're eaten right after.
Posts: 3950 | Registered: Mar 2006
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posted
Seems to me you should have to return to the nest and reproduce before new DNA can be used, if the game is supposed to remotely simulate actual evolution. Which I guess it's not, but that bugs me.
I haven't gotten to play it yet, but am looking forward to it. I don't have huge amounts of time to play games these days, so a relatively simple game is actually more preferable to me right now.
I do wonder how it'll be impacted by the inevitable expansions. Organic "zerg-like" space ships would be cool, as would the ability to unlock genes for psychic powers aka really-dumbed-down Force Unleashed. I also wonder if they'd take the opportunity to flesh out the tribal stage, since that seems to be the biggest complaint.
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008
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quote:Originally posted by Raymond Arnold: Seems to me you should have to return to the nest and reproduce before new DNA can be used, if the game is supposed to remotely simulate actual evolution. Which I guess it's not, but that bugs me.
You have to find a mate to be able to create a new egg and get to the Creature Editor. Most of the mates are at the nest.
Posts: 339 | Registered: Apr 2008
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posted
It's a toy. Some people like toys, and others prefer games. The most successful interactive entertainments usually contain a bit of both.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Threads: I will not buy the game because of the absurd DRM that it uses.
Yes, anyone considering this game should seriously research the consequences of the DRM. It installs SecuROM, which is a copy protection program; it can't be uninstalled, and it has been known to cause system problems outside of the game it's installed with.
EDIT: Customers are apparently tearing EA a new one over on Amazon over the DRM. At the time of this post, there are 1854 reviews, and 1715 of them are 1 star.
Posts: 1080 | Registered: Apr 2006
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What am I, chopped liver?
Posts: 8741 | Registered: Apr 2001
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Blayne Bradley
unregistered
posted
quote:Originally posted by Sean Monahan:
quote:Originally posted by Threads: I will not buy the game because of the absurd DRM that it uses.
Yes, anyone considering this game should seriously research the consequences of the DRM. It installs SecuROM, which is a copy protection program; it can't be uninstalled, and it has been known to cause system problems outside of the game it's installed with.
EDIT: Customers are apparently tearing EA a new one over on Amazon over the DRM. At the time of this post, there are 1854 reviews, and 1715 of them are 1 star.
I currently see no issue with it under Vista. I am not opposed to increased copyright protection measures although I am opposed to installing something without informed consent, especially if it uninformedly screws you over in unintended ways.
quote:I am not opposed to increased copyright protection measures although I am opposed to installing something without informed consent, especially if it uninformedly screws you over in unintended ways.
It's worth noting that this is explicitly what SecuROM is intended to do.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
I wish I would have known about the SecuROM BS before I bought it. I hate that kind of intrusive, sneaky junk that companies think they can get away with.
In other news, I'm starting to get frustrated with the space stage. So far it's all been fetch missions and constantly running back to defend my home planet from annoying hostile aliens who outnumber me a dozen to one.
Posts: 3950 | Registered: Mar 2006
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posted
The DRM is portrayed very unflatteringly as being the next best thing to the Sony rootkit.
Ha ha, ha. Until they relax that stuff, I'll probably hold off on letting it on my personal computer.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
Seeing as thousands of people were downloading the game a few days before it was supposed to come out, I'm having trouble seeing what this SecuRom thing has accomplished. Seems like only the honest customers are being hurt. I've heard some major horror stories about calling up to activate more installations. Some guy said his call was taken overseas and he had to provide excessive proof of purchase.
Posts: 349 | Registered: Jul 2006
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posted
I'll have to look into whether I can use the cracked version online with a legitimate key so I can use my purchased copy without dealing with the SecureRom crap.
Posts: 3275 | Registered: May 2007
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posted
Hey, we're sharing our Spore identities over in Blayne's thread, in case you're curious I want to see some jatraqueros' creations!
Posts: 1539 | Registered: Jul 2004
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