and my stupid security program blocks the sporepedia. Nooooooooooooo How are my money obsessed trader species going to bother other players now?
Posted by Lanfear (Member # 7776) on :
It's not very good. Sorry to burst your bubble. Over ambitious on all accounts.
And so each phase plays like a little mini game that doesn't amount to a whole lot.
Posted by T:man (Member # 11614) on :
blah blah blah blah i'm still getting it.
Posted by Lanfear (Member # 7776) on :
don't blah blah me. I've played it.
not legally.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
Not even God could play it illegally if he wanted to.
Posted by Saephon (Member # 9623) on :
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.
Posted by Elmer's Glue (Member # 9313) on :
Yeah, I've heard it isn't that great. It doesn't live up to the hype that has been building for five years.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
You can get to space in about four hours of game time. It's really not all that good.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
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.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
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.
Posted by rollainm (Member # 8318) on :
That's what I'm most excited about, really. The interaction with other players' creations.
Posted by Sean Monahan (Member # 9334) on :
So, was it released with a DRM implemented?
Posted by T:man (Member # 11614) on :
I dun care I jus wanna no how to fix my stupid firewall.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson:
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.
Posted by Saephon (Member # 9623) on :
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.
Posted by Tstorm (Member # 1871) on :
Oh, I can recommend Civ4 because it's amazing... Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
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.
Posted by Nick (Member # 4311) on :
Maybe it's not living up to the hype, but is it worth playing?
Posted by T:man (Member # 11614) on :
I have the game. I have CA security center.
I don't have internet right now so..... Posted by Elmer's Glue (Member # 9313) on :
I'm just gonna take a shot in the dark and say you do have internet right now.
Posted by T:man (Member # 11614) on :
Not on my gaming computer.
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
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:
[ September 07, 2008, 10:44 PM: Message edited by: Sterling ]
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
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.
Posted by K. E. Spires (Member # 11743) on :
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.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
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. :/
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
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.
Posted by T:man (Member # 11614) on :
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. > Posted by Nick (Member # 4311) on :
quote:Originally posted by Blayne Bradley: something was pooped from a gay clown.
How descriptive.
Posted by MightyCow (Member # 9253) on :
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.
Posted by manji (Member # 11600) on :
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?
Posted by MightyCow (Member # 9253) on :
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.
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
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.
Posted by manji (Member # 11600) on :
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.
Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
anyone here gotten Spore Origins?
I'm thinking of getting it for the iPhone and wondering what it's like.
Posted by Threads (Member # 10863) on :
I will not buy the game because of the absurd DRM that it uses.
Posted by Selran (Member # 9918) on :
I simply don't understand the appeal of this game. What is so great about it?
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
It's a toy. Some people like toys, and others prefer games. The most successful interactive entertainments usually contain a bit of both.
Posted by MattP (Member # 10495) on :
Anyone try the iPhone Spore game yet?
Posted by T:man (Member # 11614) on :
Hee hee hee Mighty Cow I killed an epic creature in creature stage it had 5000 hp.
Shot alot of spit and threw sticks, works much better than tanks with big with religious speakers.
(i saw another one flying off a planet through space, is that supposed to happen?)
Posted by Sean Monahan (Member # 9334) on :
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.
Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
quote:Anyone try the iPhone Spore game yet?
What am I, chopped liver?
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
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.
Galactic Edition ftw.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
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.
Posted by MightyCow (Member # 9253) on :
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.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
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.
Posted by Saephon (Member # 9623) on :
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.
Posted by MattP (Member # 10495) on :
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.
Posted by Puppy (Member # 6721) on :
Hey, we're sharing our Spore identities over in Blayne's thread, in case you're curious I want to see some jatraqueros' creations!
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
I got bored fighting the grox while dealing with the One Ship Army And Pals Space Stage Game and quit playing.
I .. you know, i would have never believed someone if prior to game launch they told me spore would have minimal replay value.
weh.
my friends are already selling their copies.
wehhh.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
With three activations, buying a used copy of Spore seems like a bad idea.
Posted by scottneb (Member # 676) on :
I've experienced more crashes in this game than just about any other I've played. Once I got done with the cell phase and tried to go to land the game would ALWAYS crash. Upon looking at my registry, I found that the EA Download Manager was spiking the processor at exactly the same time so I shut it down and haven't had a crash since. It's such a fundamental flaw that I'm really surprised the game launched with it. Although we're talking about EA here, so nothing is surprising anymore.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
Think of it this way, tom:
The activation limit doesn't matter that much. You still have two shots at the game's legit use and even if for some reason you blow out both those remaining activations, RELOADED had this game cracked to hell and back even before the street date.
Besides, there is nearly no chance that Maxis is going to maintain the current draconian DRM. It has gone over as poorly as could be anticipated. Posted by MattP (Member # 10495) on :
Whoa. "There are no customer reviews yet."
Guess someone did some cleaning up.
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
Bad move by Amazon.
It seems to me that the executives at EA are deeply stupid. The game can be illegally copied by people willing to do it. Meanwhile, legitimate paying customers have to put up with intrusive and (reportedly) buggy DRM measures.
What's difficult about the decision? Make *buying* the game the lower-hassle option, fer cripes sakes.
Or am I missing something? Are there many thousands of casual pirates who will be forlorn and defeated because of this DRM junk?
Posted by manji (Member # 11600) on :
Perhaps the DRM measures were never meant to be used to combat piracy. Perhaps, they're paving the way for Microsoft's subscription-based operating system. Make customers get used to online activation and so forth.
Posted by MattP (Member # 10495) on :
quote: Are there many thousands of casual pirates who will be forlorn and defeated because of this DRM junk?
Probably. Enough to offset the people that don't buy the game, or who won't buy the next game because of it, I don't know. One would guess that someone has "run the numbers" and has decided that it's a good idea.
As for me, I would not have bought the game if not for the fact that my 10-year-old daughter had been mowing the lawn through the summer to earn the money for it.
Posted by MattP (Member # 10495) on :
quote:Originally posted by manji: Perhaps the DRM measures were never meant to be used to combat piracy. Perhaps, they're paving the way for Microsoft's subscription-based operating system. Make customers get used to online activation and so forth.
Yeah. It feels like an attack on the First Sale doctrine.
Posted by scifibum (Member # 7625) on :
"One would guess that someone has "run the numbers" and has decided that it's a good idea."
Yeah, I'm sure they think there's a net positive effect, but I wonder if it's based on accepting the DRM software company's sales pitch - a belief that people really *can't* work around it.
Lots o' many people are aware of BitTorrent and cracked software. It seems to me that if someone wants the game without paying for it, they are more likely to try to download it than to borrow their friend's installation media. However, I don't have any evidence that it has worked this way in the past.
Anyway I guess I'll satisfy myself by not buying the game and hoping they notice. Posted by lem (Member # 6914) on :
I was going to buy it because it looked like this is the exact type of game I would like. I won't be buying it now.
Entertainment is not THAT important to me. There are lots of other non-intrusive forms of entertainment out there. Hell, I am thinking about making a full conversion to Linux anyway.
I have already been using it as a dual boot at home, as has my 4 year old on his computer.
Posted by Sean Monahan (Member # 9334) on :
quote:Originally posted by MattP: Whoa. "There are no customer reviews yet."
Guess someone did some cleaning up.
I'm not sure I'm seeing the same thing. Or they put all the reviews back. I see 2217 reviews, 2017 one-star.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
They put the reviews back, yeah. They say they got purged by accident.
Posted by T:man (Member # 11614) on :
Has anyone else talked to steve?
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
quote:Originally posted by MattP:
As for me, I would not have bought the game if not for the fact that my 10-year-old daughter had been mowing the lawn through the summer to earn the money for it.
Dude, it's only 50 bucks... that's kind of messed up.
I remember my parents "letting" me earn money by detailing their cars for 10 bucks. It used to take me like 3 hours... and now I realize that for the job I was doing, I could have charged 50 or more.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
Yahtzee's review was on top of things.
Posted by Ginol_Enam (Member # 7070) on :
quote:Originally posted by scottneb: I've experienced more crashes in this game than just about any other I've played. Once I got done with the cell phase and tried to go to land the game would ALWAYS crash. Upon looking at my registry, I found that the EA Download Manager was spiking the processor at exactly the same time so I shut it down and haven't had a crash since. It's such a fundamental flaw that I'm really surprised the game launched with it. Although we're talking about EA here, so nothing is surprising anymore.
How did you do that? I'm having the same problem....
Posted by T:man (Member # 11614) on :
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
I have CA security center.![[Frown]](frown.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)