Rant about SWG and EVE

[Darth Viscera]

I am sick to death of games like Star Wars: Galaxies and EVE Online: The Second Genesis. The problem is that I just don't care.

The object of the games are to gather up resources, and then to gather up additional resources, and to continue gathering up resources until the game's Senior Event Producers (a guy or girl sitting in an office in Reykjavik, Iceland as is the case with EVE, with a cup of coffee in hand, dismissing game ideas on the forum as fast as they can be produced) think up something to do other than gather up resources.

I couldn't care less about mining for 1,000 units of megacyte or sampling for 1 million units of steel. What am I going to do with it? There's no bloody story, no sense of urgency, no conflict that requires your immediate attention. They just toss you into the middle of nowhere with a shovel and tell you to start digging, so to speak.

I've brought this up with a developer already, and have yet to hear back on it, but military missions should be huge part of the game. You should be able to start your character as an enlisted man in the Rebel/Imperial armed forces, and immediately emerge into an exciting situation. In Galaxies, in the case that you chose to be an Imperial character, you would arrive by shuttle into an Imperial city that is besieged by rebel forces. Your teammates could be both NPCs and other PCs who chose the Empire, and every time a PC would log in, that person would take the place of an imperial NPC. You'd have to fight a desperate battle to keep the rebels out of the city, and if you lose, you have to evacuate to another planet that is still held by the Empire and prepare to defend what you still have, or prepare to attack a rebel-held city or planet. As an Imperial Soldier, you'd be fighting to defend the Empire, as a Rebel Soldier, you'd be fighting to overthrow it.

Artisans, marksmen, medics, etc could still play the game the way they are now, but cities would be watching in fear that theirs could be the next to be attacked, and the town could declare their allegiance to either side.

EVE Online is basically a huge mining simulator, and is therefore mindnumbingly boring, and with what I've seen of Galaxies, it's only slightly better. There is nothing enthralling about gathering resources!

[Jedi Master Carr]

SWG is more than gathering resources. If you want you can become a smuggler, Merc or Bounty Hunter and never do that kind of stuff. To me there is a lot more to it plus they seem to be working on new ideas all the time though nothing major will be added before the expansion pack I think.

[Darth Viscera]

As fun as being a Merc or a Bounty Hunter sounds, it'll never live up to the idea of being right smack dab in the middle of a really big, interactive, ultra-fluid war.

[Morgan Evanar]

Visc, get planetside. Its like Tribes on some kind of illegal juice with craploads of people.

At least thats the word on the street.

[imported_Grev Drasen]

Originally posted by Darth Viscera
As fun as being a Merc or a Bounty Hunter sounds, it'll never live up to the idea of being right smack dab in the middle of a really big, interactive, ultra-fluid war. That many people in one area at the same time would be too laggy for enjoyment.

[Sylos'delka]

DV, you need to first join the Imperial or Rebel Faction. Then go off and fight in a battlefield with all the other Rebel/Imperial.
Dude, you gotta give it time. And the point of the mining is to sell it or make something out of it.

No, SWG is not a fast paced game. Its a Role Playing Game.
There will be battlefields, with Stormies, Rebels, AT-STs, etc running around blasting each other, and they might someday have them at the cities. But right now, the Devs are not working on In Game Events, they working on the Player Cities, the Vehicles, and the mounts right now.

Edit: If you want to Get Planetside go ahead. It just not something I would pay to play. The Beta was fun, but it was not fast paced. CS, DOD, BF1942 are faster paced then it.
Its the lack of vehicles and weapons that get you. And the weakness of some of said weapons.

Example: 30 Reaver missiles it takes to destroy a MAX.
Pulsar Rifle, the projectile goes so slow, you can literally step around it.

[Morgan Evanar]

There will be battlefields, with Stormies, Rebels, AT-STs, etc running around blasting each other, and they might someday have them at the cities. But right now, the Devs are not working on In Game Events, they working on the Player Cities, the Vehicles, and the mounts right now.In other words, this game was released incomplete and you can't have all this stuff that should have been there in the first place, until then, you can hunt rats and make crafts.

Oh yeah, the devs also forgot about network infastructure. Silly devs.

Tribes was great, vechichles a great game do not make.

[Pilot Akito]

A good game will have 3 things

1)Fun, no additional scripting added. (Unless the community does it.)
2)Something that no other game has
3)Set up enough that I can run it on a computer without upgrading out of the box.

[Morgan Evanar]

3)Set up enough that I can run it on a computer without upgrading out of the box Why? I don't see why anyone who wants to play a PC game shouldn't at least have a GeForce 2 MX.

Imagine how much it would suck if devs were forced to support the S3 Virge, now, eight years later.

[Pilot Akito]

:|

I'll give you that one, but what I mean is that I don't have to go out and buy a $500 video card just to see the game at medium detail.

[Darth Viscera]

Originally posted by Morgan Evanar
In other words, this game was released incomplete and you can't have all this stuff that should have been there in the first place, until then, you can hunt rats and make crafts.

Nail on the head. I'm tired of buying games that haven't been finished and are still in the development process. When did this start? At what point did developers decide that it was okay to sell games that were only 80% done, with the intention of finishing adding the final pieces of content like 6 months after release?

"In Development" should not appear on the frontpage of a finished product.

[imported_QuiGonJ]

http://www.pricewatch.com/

The GeForce FX5200 w/128 megs of RAM for $62. That would be good enough to get you in and since it's DX9 native, get you in with style.

[Morgan Evanar]

Originally posted by QuiGonJ
http://www.pricewatch.com/

The GeForce FX5200 w/128 megs of RAM for $62. That would be good enough to get you in and since it's DX9 native with no memory bandwith or clockspeed, get you in with a slide show. Fixed.
Regardless, if you game at all, the slowest thing you should have now is a GeForce 2 GTS... and then you should seriously consider a Radeon 9500/9600 Pro. Aim for the middle in PC hardware, its the sweet spot.

[Figrin D'an]

Originally posted by Morgan Evanar
Regardless, if you game at all, the slowest thing you should have now is a GeForce 2 GTS... and then you should seriously consider a Radeon 9500/9600 Pro. Aim for the middle in PC hardware, its the sweet spot.

To Morg to listen... wise in such matters is he.


A 9600 Pro is around $150-$160, I think. That would do nicely, and actually give you some decent product life, rather than being forced to upgrade again in 6 months.

[Darth Viscera]

You figure a Radeon 9600 Pro 128 for $143 would give the best price/performance? I can't find any detailed benchmarks ATM

[Morgan Evanar]

Absolutely. The 9500 Pro is actually faster, but they're dissapearing. ATi isn't making them anymore.

Edit: The 9500/9600 are about as fast as a GeForce 4 Ti4600... until you turn on anti-alaising or ansiotropic filtering. Then it runs up to the 4600 and steals its lunch while dancing the cha-cha.

[Pilot Akito]

Originally posted by Morgan Evanar
Absolutely. The 9500 Pro is actually faster, but they're dissapearing. ATi isn't making them anymore.

Edit: The 9500/9600 are about as fast as a GeForce 4 Ti4600... until you turn on anti-alaising or ansiotropic filtering. Then it runs up to the 4600 and steals its lunch while dancing the cha-cha.

Yeah, I noticed...

Anywho I'll just save my money up for an All-in-wonder or One of the new Geforce FX cards. I should be ok with a Geforce 440 MX for now... unless the TIs come down in price..

[Morgan Evanar]

Do you need to cap TV? If so, buy a seperate card. No reason to get an AIW. The GeForce FX's except for the 5900 don't compete with ATi's product lineup at all, and buying a GeForce 4 is silly since it has no DX9 ability.

[imported_QuiGonJ]

And Visc, I agree on the it needed to be more bulletproof when it shippped, actually. Fortunately, I will be able to express my displeasure to a couple of the Devs next week in San Diego when Jinn Fizz, Gasgano and I attend Comic-Con.

[Darth Viscera]

Yeah, I hope we get some battlefields!

A Radeon 9500/9600 should give better performance than a similiarly price GeforceFX 5600, right?

[Lady Vader]

And Visc, I agree on the it needed to be more bulletproof when it shippped, actually. Fortunately, I will be able to express my displeasure to a couple of the Devs next week in San Diego when Jinn Fizz, Gasgano and I attend Comic-Con.

Give em hell, QGJ!!! :D

But I still like the game A LOT. I know it's got some more workings to have done to it, but I'm patient. :)

[Morgan Evanar]

http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1812&p=12

[Mortaniuss]

Originally posted by Darth Viscera
Nail on the head. I'm tired of buying games that haven't been finished and are still in the development process. When did this start? At what point did developers decide that it was okay to sell games that were only 80% done, with the intention of finishing adding the final pieces of content like 6 months after release?

"In Development" should not appear on the frontpage of a finished product. This is about 85% of the reason why I haven't picked up SWG. The remaining 15%? I have a sneaking hunch that, even if everything was implemented, I don't think it would have much lasting appeal, losing it's novelty in a matter of weeks.