DEATH eVADER
Space Core
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2003
- Messages
- 8,142
- Reaction score
- 19
I pre-ordered for friday so hoping to get it in post in the next day or so
DEATH eVADER
Space Core
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2003
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- 8,142
- Reaction score
- 19
I am wondering if there will be advanced mods for this game, example being changing the size and scale of worlds :0
Avoidist
Tank
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2006
- Messages
- 1,242
- Reaction score
- 5
I've got it, I've played it, and it's good. Really good. However, I feel that here I really should express my criticisms rather than just praise it. You should have an idea what to expect, that way you'll be elated rather than mildly disappointed.
I own a low-end computer (I run HL2 just above medium settings if I want a decent framerate), so believe me when I say I'm more concerned about gameplay than graphics. And the gameplay so far:
Cell Phase: I picked carnivore to start with. This basically means that you start of with a mouth, and you eat funny looking red dots. You then gain some spikes, and you bump into some other cells. Once you damage them, they swim away, and you chase them. You then eat the meaty red dots that were formally those cells. You breed, lay an egg, and add more parts to make you more spiky or swim faster. There really isn't that much more to it.
This should take you around 10-15 mins to complete on your first try. You probably won't get bored, but you probably won't be ecstatic either.
Creature Phase: Great in theory. In practice, not that great. Good, but not great.
1) You just came out of cell phase. Your creature begins looking like a cell with legs. Not really what I would call great evolution.
2) All the parts for the creature creator have to be found or earned if you want a decent creature. Collecting parts does not advance the progress bar to get you through the phase.
3) It's an MMO without the M and with 4 attack abilities. i.e. a bit tedious.
4) It lasted around an hour for me, and I would have liked it to take about a third of that time, as that is the amount of time I can see myself having fun with what minimal gameplay there is (for the violent path). Admittedly, you could probably get it done faster if you really wanted to.
I'm not really doing the phase justice, but I certainly don't think it will be anybody's favourite.
Tribal Phase:
Ok, at this point you should probably take note that I have only been able to play about 10 minutes of this phase, as I am presently on my laptop, as it's 11pm, and I don't wish to wake anybody else in my house by playing on the PC.
It's brilliant. Really, really brilliant. If the rest of the gameplay is this good, I am going to enjoy this game for a long, long time.
I'll probably be able to say more in about 12 hours once I've had some sleep and a morning to play some more. 'Till then, remember: Spore is Good.
I own a low-end computer (I run HL2 just above medium settings if I want a decent framerate), so believe me when I say I'm more concerned about gameplay than graphics. And the gameplay so far:
Cell Phase: I picked carnivore to start with. This basically means that you start of with a mouth, and you eat funny looking red dots. You then gain some spikes, and you bump into some other cells. Once you damage them, they swim away, and you chase them. You then eat the meaty red dots that were formally those cells. You breed, lay an egg, and add more parts to make you more spiky or swim faster. There really isn't that much more to it.
This should take you around 10-15 mins to complete on your first try. You probably won't get bored, but you probably won't be ecstatic either.
Creature Phase: Great in theory. In practice, not that great. Good, but not great.
1) You just came out of cell phase. Your creature begins looking like a cell with legs. Not really what I would call great evolution.
2) All the parts for the creature creator have to be found or earned if you want a decent creature. Collecting parts does not advance the progress bar to get you through the phase.
3) It's an MMO without the M and with 4 attack abilities. i.e. a bit tedious.
4) It lasted around an hour for me, and I would have liked it to take about a third of that time, as that is the amount of time I can see myself having fun with what minimal gameplay there is (for the violent path). Admittedly, you could probably get it done faster if you really wanted to.
I'm not really doing the phase justice, but I certainly don't think it will be anybody's favourite.
Tribal Phase:
Ok, at this point you should probably take note that I have only been able to play about 10 minutes of this phase, as I am presently on my laptop, as it's 11pm, and I don't wish to wake anybody else in my house by playing on the PC.
It's brilliant. Really, really brilliant. If the rest of the gameplay is this good, I am going to enjoy this game for a long, long time.
I'll probably be able to say more in about 12 hours once I've had some sleep and a morning to play some more. 'Till then, remember: Spore is Good.
Shakermaker
Party Escort Bot
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2003
- Messages
- 9,246
- Reaction score
- 2
After over 3 years of anticipation I just finished installing Spore. Man, I am sooo excited.
Shakermaker
Party Escort Bot
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2003
- Messages
- 9,246
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- 2
Yeah, over here you can get it everywhere. Localised even.
Almost done with the tidepool phase. This game rocks.
Almost done with the tidepool phase. This game rocks.
Gargantou
Companion Cube
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2005
- Messages
- 9,581
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- 9
Please guys, just as a pre-warning, if you post a spoiler, please make use of the spoiler tags..
A guy on another forum spoiled what's at the centre of the universe, luckily I managed to wipe it from my mind but he even got a screenshot etc and posted the console command of how to cheat your way there..
I hate people who spoil shit.
A guy on another forum spoiled what's at the centre of the universe, luckily I managed to wipe it from my mind but he even got a screenshot etc and posted the console command of how to cheat your way there..
I hate people who spoil shit.
OmegaX
Tank
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2004
- Messages
- 1,837
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- 3
Shakermaker
Party Escort Bot
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2003
- Messages
- 9,246
- Reaction score
- 2
Great game so far. Avoidist is right with his criticism, but it's also worth mentioning all the other good stuff.
To illustrate the 4th point:
To illustrate the last point (tags especially for Gargantou since it's a minor spoiler imo):
- The user interface
- The non-condescending user-friendliness
- The sound (esp. the gibberish your creatures talk)
- The graphics / art style
- The random fun
To illustrate the 4th point:
To illustrate the last point (tags especially for Gargantou since it's a minor spoiler imo):
While I was hunting during the creature phase, I heard a humming sound. I saw some of the members of my pack looking up to the sky. As it turned out a UFO was flying over, beaming up creatures all around me:
Shakermaker
Party Escort Bot
- Joined
- Sep 16, 2003
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- 9,246
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- 2
No, you can edit all you want, as long as it's within your budget.
stemot
Companion Cube
- Joined
- May 20, 2004
- Messages
- 3,523
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- 25
Yeah, game still works though, just stupid ****ing scene rules, so yeah, think so.
OmegaX
Tank
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- Oct 9, 2004
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xlucidx at 2008-09-03 00:52 CET:
"Anyone who downloads this better be buying the game afterwards.
MAXIS is one of the few companies that actually deserve our money for their work.
I myself have the Galactic Edition preordered, but I'm just so impatient that I have to play it right away.
That wouldn't happen to be your quote from the Pirate Bay would it? Also public torrent sites suck. Plus there is a much higher chance of you getting caught.
Lucid
The Freeman
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2004
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- 14,878
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- 39
AmishSlayer
Tank
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2003
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- 5,898
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Long impressions incoming:
It took me only 4 to get to the space stage and I was really disappointed throughout that whole time.
-Cell stage is exactly what it looks like. You just go around and eat whatever your creature can. It's pretty short and so far, by far the hardest part (if you experiment with your creation as much as I did). I died 10 times.
-Creature stage consists of either impressing other species in the region or making them go extinct. This entails a series of mini-quests that are generated on the fly: Kill 4 Squiggypoms (then it considers the species extinct) - Impress 5 Googlebats - etc.
-Tribal stage is where the basics of the rts elements come into play. You continue what you were doing in the creature stage, but you design the clothing/armor your creatures will wear, build a few huts when you learn new tech from other tribes by allying/destroying them. Once you control the map, it goes to civ stage
-Civilization stage - This is where an annoying amount of customization comes into play. You design your town hall, factory, recreation center, house, land vehicle, sea vehicle and air vehicle. I designed my own vehicles and a town hall. After I got tired of it I jumped in to play. You spend money building a combination of houses, factories and recreation areas in your city. The positioning in preset spots are what determines how happy your people are (seemingly irrelevant) and how much money you make per min. Once you have your city set up, you just need to occupy some gas mines (which don't seem to matter all that much). Then you mass land/sea units and start taking over more cities. More cities means a larger population cap. Getting 4 cities lets you get your air units. Start massing those and dominate the rest of the planet quickly. Voila...you've beaten the Civ stage.
Now all of these stages are pretty short (the longest time is spent just designing shit if you're like me). The gameplay elements are pretty shallow in each stage. However, I was a carnivore and a militant tribal and civ leader. Perhaps laying waste to every other species, tribe and city was just more simplistic than the alliy methods - but I don't think it'd change that much.
-Now...the Space Stage. I only played this for about an hour, but I can already tell this is where they sunk 80% of their effort apart from all their procedural stuff in the engine itself. This is where it starts to feel like the game is finally engaging you and it almost feels like Freelancer without the plot but with good guidance on how to get started. You start with your ship and you can do missions for your home planet. You start talking to other races, helping some out with tasks, forming trade routes, trading your spices yourself, etc. Other races are pretty pissy about you entering their territory and will start attacking you in space. The only way I know how to actually fight them is to fly down to a planet and engage them in-atmosphere. They keep chipping away at your health otherwise.
The cool thing is, you can go off and terraform planets, set up new colonies, set up more trade routes, build an empire, form alliances with some empires, go to war with others - all the while you're essentially completing smaller objectives or achievements (which the game has) that earn you badges (139 total). Every time you get one of these badges, new equipment and items will unlock for you to buy for your ship. You unlock shit like fireworks to impress races, decoys, repair kits, interstellar engine upgrades, energy upgrades, weapons, terraforming items and more.
THIS is where the meat of Spore is. Don't be surprised to be underwhelmed by the first 4 sections of the game when you play. I've only played the space stage for like an hour, but I can see it going on for a very long time before I get tired of it.
Cliffs:
-First 4 stages are kinda meh, easy and short
-Space stage feels like Freelancer but with the potential for empire building
It took me only 4 to get to the space stage and I was really disappointed throughout that whole time.
-Cell stage is exactly what it looks like. You just go around and eat whatever your creature can. It's pretty short and so far, by far the hardest part (if you experiment with your creation as much as I did). I died 10 times.
-Creature stage consists of either impressing other species in the region or making them go extinct. This entails a series of mini-quests that are generated on the fly: Kill 4 Squiggypoms (then it considers the species extinct) - Impress 5 Googlebats - etc.
-Tribal stage is where the basics of the rts elements come into play. You continue what you were doing in the creature stage, but you design the clothing/armor your creatures will wear, build a few huts when you learn new tech from other tribes by allying/destroying them. Once you control the map, it goes to civ stage
-Civilization stage - This is where an annoying amount of customization comes into play. You design your town hall, factory, recreation center, house, land vehicle, sea vehicle and air vehicle. I designed my own vehicles and a town hall. After I got tired of it I jumped in to play. You spend money building a combination of houses, factories and recreation areas in your city. The positioning in preset spots are what determines how happy your people are (seemingly irrelevant) and how much money you make per min. Once you have your city set up, you just need to occupy some gas mines (which don't seem to matter all that much). Then you mass land/sea units and start taking over more cities. More cities means a larger population cap. Getting 4 cities lets you get your air units. Start massing those and dominate the rest of the planet quickly. Voila...you've beaten the Civ stage.
Now all of these stages are pretty short (the longest time is spent just designing shit if you're like me). The gameplay elements are pretty shallow in each stage. However, I was a carnivore and a militant tribal and civ leader. Perhaps laying waste to every other species, tribe and city was just more simplistic than the alliy methods - but I don't think it'd change that much.
-Now...the Space Stage. I only played this for about an hour, but I can already tell this is where they sunk 80% of their effort apart from all their procedural stuff in the engine itself. This is where it starts to feel like the game is finally engaging you and it almost feels like Freelancer without the plot but with good guidance on how to get started. You start with your ship and you can do missions for your home planet. You start talking to other races, helping some out with tasks, forming trade routes, trading your spices yourself, etc. Other races are pretty pissy about you entering their territory and will start attacking you in space. The only way I know how to actually fight them is to fly down to a planet and engage them in-atmosphere. They keep chipping away at your health otherwise.
The cool thing is, you can go off and terraform planets, set up new colonies, set up more trade routes, build an empire, form alliances with some empires, go to war with others - all the while you're essentially completing smaller objectives or achievements (which the game has) that earn you badges (139 total). Every time you get one of these badges, new equipment and items will unlock for you to buy for your ship. You unlock shit like fireworks to impress races, decoys, repair kits, interstellar engine upgrades, energy upgrades, weapons, terraforming items and more.
THIS is where the meat of Spore is. Don't be surprised to be underwhelmed by the first 4 sections of the game when you play. I've only played the space stage for like an hour, but I can see it going on for a very long time before I get tired of it.
Cliffs:
-First 4 stages are kinda meh, easy and short
-Space stage feels like Freelancer but with the potential for empire building
highlander
Newbie
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2006
- Messages
- 4,281
- Reaction score
- 0
I'm still not hyped for this game. :|
I don't hate the idea or anything, but just meh.
I don't hate the idea or anything, but just meh.
Narcolepsy
Newbie
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- Sep 13, 2003
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- 1,715
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- 0
I still really want this game, but it really does seem like they purposely sabotaged it for hardcore gamers in trying to not intimidate anybody. It wouldn't have been that difficult to add depth - other games have done it and had much less development time than Spore - but they purposely left it out.
Ah, Spore, what you could have been...
Cpt Tenacious
Tank
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2007
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- 2,232
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- 1
Anyone have video of like, someone going through the cell stage.
EDITED
EDITED
OmegaX
Tank
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2004
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- 3
That would be hours long. lol
Narcolepsy
Newbie
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- Sep 13, 2003
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- 0
Just from hearing from people who have actually played it I know that it could have been more - BUT that won't stop me from being first in line on Sunday.
French Ninja
Newbie
- Joined
- Jan 8, 2005
- Messages
- 2,177
- Reaction score
- 2
Hopefully, I can get it before Christmas.
Gargantou
Companion Cube
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2005
- Messages
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- 9
Been playing it for 24 hours now, it's as good as I expected, not as good as it could have been.. Violence etc has been heavily toned down which disappoints me immensely, hopefully someone will find a way to mod it in.
Also, the loading times between the different 'zones' dissappoint me too, I get 4-5 sec loading times switching between planet and star system for example, and this is with 2 gigs of RAM.
Also, the loading times between the different 'zones' dissappoint me too, I get 4-5 sec loading times switching between planet and star system for example, and this is with 2 gigs of RAM.
Lucid
The Freeman
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2004
- Messages
- 14,878
- Reaction score
- 39
This is quite possibly the best game that I've played all year.
The 3 year wait was well worth it.
The only things that peeved me a little was how quickly it all flew by, cell stage took me less than half an hour to beat, creature phase took me an hour to beat, tribal stage was a little longer because it basically consist of tons of trial and error... probably took me about 4 hours to beat, civ stage took me 2 hours to beat.
Just got the space ship now, but I need sleep so I'll continue onward later on tomorrow!
Also, just because they were over fast doesn't mean they weren't fun... I had a damn good time playing through the stages and look forward to playing through them again when I get the actual game.
Once again, this game f*cking rules ass.
I was also a little disappointed at the lack of gore but quickly got over it, the game is just so charming and captivating.
The 3 year wait was well worth it.
The only things that peeved me a little was how quickly it all flew by, cell stage took me less than half an hour to beat, creature phase took me an hour to beat, tribal stage was a little longer because it basically consist of tons of trial and error... probably took me about 4 hours to beat, civ stage took me 2 hours to beat.
Just got the space ship now, but I need sleep so I'll continue onward later on tomorrow!
Also, just because they were over fast doesn't mean they weren't fun... I had a damn good time playing through the stages and look forward to playing through them again when I get the actual game.
Once again, this game f*cking rules ass.
I was also a little disappointed at the lack of gore but quickly got over it, the game is just so charming and captivating.
Gargantou
Companion Cube
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2005
- Messages
- 9,581
- Reaction score
- 9
xlucidx, you should check out the gamespot forums.. A bunch of people are whining calling Spore an overhyped p.o.s., apparently they were expecting every phase/stage to be like it's completely own self-sustaining game...
DEATHMASTER
The Freeman
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2005
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- 12,752
- Reaction score
- 151
i cant seem to even try spore. Concept sounds good but even then I feel I just can't be arsed.
Lucid
The Freeman
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2004
- Messages
- 14,878
- Reaction score
- 39
xlucidx, you should check out the gamespot forums.. A bunch of people are whining calling Spore an overhyped p.o.s., apparently they were expecting every phase/stage to be like it's completely own self-sustaining game...
Didn't bother me that much, the Space Stage more than makes up for it.
Holy shit, there's so much to do.
Trading, fighting, exploring, colonizing... I'm somewhat overwhelmed.
I love MAXIS... they've never made a game that I didn't like.
Also, the Gamespot forums are full of idiots. Spore deserved every ounce of hype it got.
It should totally get GOTY.
Gargantou
Companion Cube
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- Jan 6, 2005
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- 9,581
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- 9
xlucidx, you should check out the gamespot forums.. A bunch of people are whining calling Spore an overhyped p.o.s., apparently they were expecting every phase/stage to be like it's completely own self-sustaining game...
Kyorisu
Tank
- Joined
- Apr 17, 2004
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Is it just me or is everything up until space just easier if you're rambo and kill everyone? Impressing creatures? Bah be impressed as my creatures ram a horn through your skull. Tribes? Wait for another tribe to send a few units over kill them, heal, rape other tribes now weakened town. Civ? More spammage and then fire the missiles. Seemed like too much of a chore to go about it the other way.
Nibwoddle
Newbie
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- Jan 30, 2008
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