I refuse to pay for something I cant keep. I'm sorry, if the packs were like, 50 cents or something, and you could get 30 a month for 15 bucks (i.e., the price of a MMORPG), then that would be a new influx of cards every month, which is kinda like "leveling up"... it always bothered me that I could spend 5 bucks or 5000 bucks and not have anything to show for it if they just up and closed shop one day. At least with a MMORPG you're only paying X amount a year, MAX, and its more of a "service" as opposed to a "product".
"Perhaps I'm too demanding in my definition of "best" but I'd submit that any project, no matter how ambitious, would have to produce something before earning this kind of distinction."
I dunno, didnt DNF get some sort of "best game" award in like, 98, 99, 00...
Remember that scene in the bazaar with the sword wielding Arabian dude, you know, the one who wants to slice Indy open like a frozen tauntaun?
Well, in the original Indy just blasts him with his pistol, however, in keeping with the whole "harrison ford shoots second" motiff, Spielburg has decided to let the sword guy swing at him.
This has the undesirerable side effect of Indy losing his left hand, which has been digitially removed and replaced with a walkie talkie. Years later in the fourth movie, Indy is replaced with a slightly (okay, an extremely) sexier version of himself as a woman, and must engage her in fights that involve her wrapping her legs around him that would leave most contortionists in wheelchairs, slightly before judgement day occurs...
oh, wait, wrong overdue sequel with a star way too old for the part...
I mean, gee... This sounds like some corny Saturday morning cartoon plot...
"reveal your secret or face my wrath!"
Now all we need is for them to declare that they have an army of fanatical zealots devoted to the cause of bringing their plan to frutation, i.e., Linux on the X-box...
For what its worth, about 3-5 weeks ago Q-3PO one of the lead developers (I think I forget all their positions) had to come up with a list of "whats the point of the game" because so many people complained that there was nothing to do.
The list included....
learn the game so as to not look like a newbie. master your class visit all the planets do a theme park on every planet (theme park = mission generated by someone like "jabba")
there were others, but (and this is quote from the Beta boards)
"in a product designed for my amusement, I shouldnt have to go looking for fun."
Lets start with the Good, because there are Good things about this game.
1) Its pretty. The graphics are very well done for the most part, for a while you will really feel like you are "on a Star Wars planet".
2) I've never played MMORPGs prior to this, but from what I hear, the character customization blows the others away. I was fairly impressed when I got to choose my toons eyeshadow and nose size.
3) It sounds good. The blasters sound like blasters, Stormtroopers talk ('move along') as you walk by, jawas chatter.
Now the Bad.
1) Its not Star Wars. Its EQ in Space, only there is no Space, so its basically EQ with Wookies. Let me clarify. When I think of Star Wars, I think of sweeping adventures, romance, intrigue, blaster fights that get my heart pounding, SPACE. The battles in SWG are bland, and consist of little more than spamming you're best special attack until the creature is daed. The thing that bothered me most was that the Brawler (hand to hand) had more varied moves than the Marksman (pistol, carbine, rifle user). I found that I actually used 3-4 moves with the Brawler and just Bodyshot 2 (yes, thats the actual name of the attack) with my Pistoleer. Combat consists of fighting enemies such as "diseased Nunas", "tusk cats", crazed butterfly like things, ape like "squalls", and swooperless swooper gangs. You could pop off one of the gang members and the rest of them would generally just stare at you. Weee...
2) Roughly 90% of the world that isnt in a city is random. Compeltely random. It changes almost hourly, based on mission spawns, and rarely changes "back". Not very immersive, I'd say.
3) No loot (well, very little). Very little incentive to go out and fight stuff, other than XP. Well, if thats my sole motivation, then why bother? I mean, I could kill a womp rat 1,000 times 10 feet out of town and level up or I could walk 45-60 minutes to get to one bigger creature (more often more than 1 bigger creature) that I have no chance to take and get about 10 more XP points. Okay, so its not quite THAT bad, but there is little incentive to go out and hunt, after the first "I just want to see it" hunt.
4) Classes not finished. Classes such as the Commando were not properly tested because resources crafters needed to make thier weapons werent avaialable in the beta. That means they will probably be totally unbalanced, which puts them in with the other classes. Note there were hundreds and hundreds of topics about the Medic class having severe issues (any of you who buy this game, go medical forage and tell me if you can make a StimA) and they were never addressed.
5) Its not very innovative. Right now, we're already looking at one expansion (space due 0-18 months from now) to provide features that should have been there since day one, vehicles. Its just a MMORPG, with a Star Wars skin. If I wasnt in town, I would have never known I was in the Star Wars world. Except for the Womp Rats and Dewbacks, there were very few Star Wars feeling moments in the wild.
6) Get ready to hoof it. It takes about 20-40 minutes to get from town to town (or town to mission, one way) if you dont take a shuttle, and at the moment there are no land vehicles (and shuttles dont go everywhere). So you hit autorun and point.
I wont go into the roleplaying features, because we could role play here if we so choose. Roleplaying, while part of the game, is only part of the game as much as the players want it to be.
SWG was a huge disapointment, I look forward to WoW.
subscription rates are closer to 15 a month. They offer packages that allow pay more months up front, get a discount, all the way down to 12.00 a month for 1 year.
However, there are flaws with this game... look for a post further down...
Not that I disagree completely, but have you WATCHED the "movies"?
My old SNES (NES even!) had cutscenes better than that... I'd say that BioWare went cheap, but the fact of the matter is, you CAN replicate them (instructions at nwn.bioware.com) for homemade modules, so I guess its just "showcasing" the feature...
Okay, if I remember correctly verizon fought the fight and lost, and is now forced to hand over internet logs or whatever of individual users. I assume (key word, assume) this is only for the people that use Verizon as an ISP, right?
And people stay with them.... why?
I mean, isnt it time to get a new provider? If everyone left, then maybe they'd fight the fight again...
So, do we need to build the academy to get the stim pack upgrade? and do we need to wait for an expansion before the beings in charge decide that medics are actually needed?
Its just developers saying that they refuse to remap the game keys just to accomodate a one button pointing device (I refuse to call it a mouse) in the year 2003.
FYIW, I LIKE the mac, and have gamed on one before, and would LOVE to own one (I play mostly Blizzard games, which are now released concurrent).:)
The last 3 cards I have purchased have been by NVidia, 2 G3's 32 megs and a G4Ti4200 64 meg. I recently built a new rig, and after months of comparing the latest and "greatest" Nvidia cards to the 6 month old 9700 pro, there was NO contest. The 9700 pro "pwnz" everything the GFX can throw at it. I'm a little dismayed by this, seeing as NVidia's driver support is outstanding compared to ATI's.
My advice if you dont want to spend too much on a vid card: buy a 9500 pro, its light years beyond the 9600 pro, and AFAIK, discontinued.
Suspect goes by the name of "Winnie the Pooh" which he received because he smears feces all over his victims after he murders them. Suspect keeps company with the likes of a bouncing self proclaimed "thug" named "Tigger" and a small yet crafty mastermind of evil "Piglet".
Suspects should be conidered armed and dangerous. If seen, please contact Detective Christopher Robinson.
We advise the public to keep all Honeypots safely out of sight and or smell.
Now all I can think about is that damn game that made everyone crazy... No, not Pokemon Super Orange Deluxe Mega version 2.6, the game that you Wesley and that Engineer chick were hitting it off... Damn she was hot... it wasnt every week that the "hot chick" was closer to your age (as a pre-teen) ya know?
Slips on headset. Imagines putting disk in whirlwind. Has slight Reloaded Orgasm.
Ahh, weren't mid 90's "State of the Art" Special Effects great?
Slashdot Mirror
I refuse to pay for something I cant keep. I'm sorry, if the packs were like, 50 cents or something, and you could get 30 a month for 15 bucks (i.e., the price of a MMORPG), then that would be a new influx of cards every month, which is kinda like "leveling up"... it always bothered me that I could spend 5 bucks or 5000 bucks and not have anything to show for it if they just up and closed shop one day. At least with a MMORPG you're only paying X amount a year, MAX, and its more of a "service" as opposed to a "product".
"Perhaps I'm too demanding in my definition of "best" but I'd submit that any project, no matter how ambitious, would have to produce something before earning this kind of distinction."
I dunno, didnt DNF get some sort of "best game" award in like, 98, 99, 00...
" the Legend of Zelda is available on Animal Crossing, and Metroid is available on Metroid Prime."
Huh?
What?
Where?
How?
Really, how? I'd buy AC if I could play Zelda on the GC...
**Spoiler from the Downloaded Kazaa Version**
Remember that scene in the bazaar with the sword wielding Arabian dude, you know, the one who wants to slice Indy open like a frozen tauntaun?
Well, in the original Indy just blasts him with his pistol, however, in keeping with the whole "harrison ford shoots second" motiff, Spielburg has decided to let the sword guy swing at him.
This has the undesirerable side effect of Indy losing his left hand, which has been digitially removed and replaced with a walkie talkie. Years later in the fourth movie, Indy is replaced with a slightly (okay, an extremely) sexier version of himself as a woman, and must engage her in fights that involve her wrapping her legs around him that would leave most contortionists in wheelchairs, slightly before judgement day occurs...
oh, wait, wrong overdue sequel with a star way too old for the part...
Who do they think they are, Cobra?
I mean, gee... This sounds like some corny Saturday morning cartoon plot...
"reveal your secret or face my wrath!"
Now all we need is for them to declare that they have an army of fanatical zealots devoted to the cause of bringing their plan to frutation, i.e., Linux on the X-box...
oh, wait...
hmm...
Seeing as they SWORE the game was ready to launch.
Another poster hit on a good point, this ISNT a 1st gen MMORPG, this is from the PEOPLE THAT RUN EQ!!
This game SHOULD have came off without a hitch.
And the "well, technically speaking blah blah blah" isnt an argument, because MOST gamers (not all) know only the following...
1) buy game
2) install game
3) play game
4) happy
if you take out step 3, step 4 becomes "gee I wasted my money on this crap?! wtf?! this sucks"
Keep in mind, MOST stores wont let you return an opened MMORPG, because the key is used, so theres no reimbursement from the vendor if its sent back.
Shame on SOE for not having a smooth launch. Its rediculous.
Ahem, KoTOR is SINGLE PLAYER, and there is NO mod making tools.
But you are right, it IS the SWG killer, which is why its released for the Xbox NOW and PC MONTHS from now, at LAs "request".
Clarification... the "coffin" I referred to was my decision to purchase the game or not, not the success of the game.
You're right, it WILL be "successful" if by that you mean "money making"... fun is relative, but I think many people are going to be disapointed
For what its worth, about 3-5 weeks ago Q-3PO one of the lead developers (I think I forget all their positions) had to come up with a list of "whats the point of the game" because so many people complained that there was nothing to do.
The list included....
learn the game so as to not look like a newbie.
master your class
visit all the planets
do a theme park on every planet (theme park = mission generated by someone like "jabba")
there were others, but (and this is quote from the Beta boards)
"in a product designed for my amusement, I shouldnt have to go looking for fun."
Lets start with the Good, because there are Good things about this game.
1) Its pretty. The graphics are very well done for the most part, for a while you will really feel like you are "on a Star Wars planet".
2) I've never played MMORPGs prior to this, but from what I hear, the character customization blows the others away. I was fairly impressed when I got to choose my toons eyeshadow and nose size.
3) It sounds good. The blasters sound like blasters, Stormtroopers talk ('move along') as you walk by, jawas chatter.
Now the Bad.
1) Its not Star Wars. Its EQ in Space, only there is no Space, so its basically EQ with Wookies. Let me clarify. When I think of Star Wars, I think of sweeping adventures, romance, intrigue, blaster fights that get my heart pounding, SPACE. The battles in SWG are bland, and consist of little more than spamming you're best special attack until the creature is daed. The thing that bothered me most was that the Brawler (hand to hand) had more varied moves than the Marksman (pistol, carbine, rifle user). I found that I actually used 3-4 moves with the Brawler and just Bodyshot 2 (yes, thats the actual name of the attack) with my Pistoleer. Combat consists of fighting enemies such as "diseased Nunas", "tusk cats", crazed butterfly like things, ape like "squalls", and swooperless swooper gangs. You could pop off one of the gang members and the rest of them would generally just stare at you. Weee...
2) Roughly 90% of the world that isnt in a city is random. Compeltely random. It changes almost hourly, based on mission spawns, and rarely changes "back". Not very immersive, I'd say.
3) No loot (well, very little). Very little incentive to go out and fight stuff, other than XP. Well, if thats my sole motivation, then why bother? I mean, I could kill a womp rat 1,000 times 10 feet out of town and level up or I could walk 45-60 minutes to get to one bigger creature (more often more than 1 bigger creature) that I have no chance to take and get about 10 more XP points. Okay, so its not quite THAT bad, but there is little incentive to go out and hunt, after the first "I just want to see it" hunt.
4) Classes not finished. Classes such as the Commando were not properly tested because resources crafters needed to make thier weapons werent avaialable in the beta. That means they will probably be totally unbalanced, which puts them in with the other classes. Note there were hundreds and hundreds of topics about the Medic class having severe issues (any of you who buy this game, go medical forage and tell me if you can make a StimA) and they were never addressed.
5) Its not very innovative. Right now, we're already looking at one expansion (space due 0-18 months from now) to provide features that should have been there since day one, vehicles. Its just a MMORPG, with a Star Wars skin. If I wasnt in town, I would have never known I was in the Star Wars world. Except for the Womp Rats and Dewbacks, there were very few Star Wars feeling moments in the wild.
6) Get ready to hoof it. It takes about 20-40 minutes to get from town to town (or town to mission, one way) if you dont take a shuttle, and at the moment there are no land vehicles (and shuttles dont go everywhere). So you hit autorun and point.
I wont go into the roleplaying features, because we could role play here if we so choose. Roleplaying, while part of the game, is only part of the game as much as the players want it to be.
SWG was a huge disapointment, I look forward to WoW.
subscription rates are closer to 15 a month. They offer packages that allow pay more months up front, get a discount, all the way down to 12.00 a month for 1 year.
However, there are flaws with this game... look for a post further down...
Not that I disagree completely, but have you WATCHED the "movies"?
My old SNES (NES even!) had cutscenes better than that... I'd say that BioWare went cheap, but the fact of the matter is, you CAN replicate them (instructions at nwn.bioware.com) for homemade modules, so I guess its just "showcasing" the feature...
Okay, if I remember correctly verizon fought the fight and lost, and is now forced to hand over internet logs or whatever of individual users. I assume (key word, assume) this is only for the people that use Verizon as an ISP, right?
And people stay with them.... why?
I mean, isnt it time to get a new provider? If everyone left, then maybe they'd fight the fight again...
" Phah! Primitives! :P"
::sigh::
Using my portable force-field
I managed to block all the trolls
and hence...I got first post
Ahh, the only thing sadder than a stupid post is the moron who screams "first post" 30 posts in...
Now wheres MY force field?
So, do we need to build the academy to get the stim pack upgrade? and do we need to wait for an expansion before the beings in charge decide that medics are actually needed?
"I hope he didn't forget to carry the one."
But Neo weighs a TON!
"has sold out (or sold his sole)"
Yeah, maybe he sold his soul even...
Whats the point of watching a programmer digitally animate characters for 12 hours a day exactly?
Or is this for the 12 minutes of actual real live people footage we get.
Ep 3 will suck just like Ep 1 and 2. My only hope is that Jar Jar remains a senator until Ep 4...
"But what of the Imperial Senate?"
"The Emperor has dissolved it permanently"
(husband and wife, in living room)
Husband: Blah!
Wife: Blah??
Husband: Blah!!!!
Wife: BLAH???!?
Husband: (moves towards kitchen)
Wife: (Walks towards bathroom)
Husband: (throws trash on floor, plays with stove)
Husband: (sets self on fire)
Wife: (takes shower)
Enter Neighbor.
Neighbor: (to wife) Blah!
Wife: Blah!
Huband: (dead on floor, burned crispy)
Wife leaves, go gets a job.
Its just developers saying that they refuse to remap the game keys just to accomodate a one button pointing device (I refuse to call it a mouse) in the year 2003.
:)
FYIW, I LIKE the mac, and have gamed on one before, and would LOVE to own one (I play mostly Blizzard games, which are now released concurrent).
I get a Rhapsody account free with Speakeasy DSL services...
I still use Kazaa.
LISTEN TO ME. I GET IT FREE. I STILL USE KAZAA.
Why?
Kazaa is easier, its less bullshit, and I get it in 1/2 the time. Oh, and its fricken mp3.
The last 3 cards I have purchased have been by NVidia, 2 G3's 32 megs and a G4Ti4200 64 meg. I recently built a new rig, and after months of comparing the latest and "greatest" Nvidia cards to the 6 month old 9700 pro, there was NO contest. The 9700 pro "pwnz" everything the GFX can throw at it. I'm a little dismayed by this, seeing as NVidia's driver support is outstanding compared to ATI's.
My advice if you dont want to spend too much on a vid card: buy a 9500 pro, its light years beyond the 9600 pro, and AFAIK, discontinued.
I've tried some weird combinations before, but mixing honey with pot never occured to me.
Does it get you a better buzz?
Small, yellow bear wearing red shirt.
Suspect goes by the name of "Winnie the Pooh" which he received because he smears feces all over his victims after he murders them. Suspect keeps company with the likes of a bouncing self proclaimed "thug" named "Tigger" and a small yet crafty mastermind of evil "Piglet".
Suspects should be conidered armed and dangerous. If seen, please contact Detective Christopher Robinson.
We advise the public to keep all Honeypots safely out of sight and or smell.
Now all I can think about is that damn game that made everyone crazy... No, not Pokemon Super Orange Deluxe Mega version 2.6, the game that you Wesley and that Engineer chick were hitting it off... Damn she was hot... it wasnt every week that the "hot chick" was closer to your age (as a pre-teen) ya know?
Slips on headset. Imagines putting disk in whirlwind. Has slight Reloaded Orgasm.
Ahh, weren't mid 90's "State of the Art" Special Effects great?