Spore!

[Kyorisu]

Wasn't spice a term used in the movie Dune? Collecting spice geysers is a lot like vespene gas in Star Craft. I was expecting a guy to go "I require more minerals! I require more vespene gas!".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(novel)

Also a series of games, movies, tv, etc

 

[Nitre]

Wouldn't it be swell if you could, say, put a marker on a system that has good prices for a certain spice, rather than try to remember their stupid names.

I don't think you can make a note to put on markers, but if you note the name of the planet, then go to the sporepedia, then to space stage, you can find the planet and then click the button on the bottom right, which will make a marker similar to the one on your homeworld point to the planet. Better than nothing i think.

 

[Lucid]

How are the physics in the game? Are there ragdoll physics?

It looks like physics aren't even in the game, the physics for abducting things and throwing them around are very basic, they don't roll around or anything when you throw them.

I remember there being tons of ragdoll physics and the like in the old demos though, back when you could drag dead creatures to your nest in the creature stage and realistically rip the corpse apart and stuff to eat.

 

[theotherguy]

It looks like physics aren't even in the game, the physics for abducting things and throwing them around are very basic, they don't roll around or anything when you throw them.

I remember there being tons of ragdoll physics and the like in the old demos though, back when you could drag dead creatures to your nest in the creature stage and realistically rip the corpse apart and stuff to eat.

Yes, so many features that were taken out of the 2005 build that would have made this a better game.

I'm in tribal right now, and its incredibly hard. After impressing the first tribe, I get attacked simultaneously by 3 others, and die.

Creature mode was rather boring, and difficult. Cell mode was beautiful, but simple.

 

[Sedako]

Cell mode was beautiful, but simple.

I think cell phase was my favorite part of this game. It's like Flow, but with more customization options and neater visuals. It's a shame it was way too short.

 

[Lucid]

Yeah, cell phase was excellent.
Awe-inspiring to look at really.

I liked creature phase too, however simplistic it was.

Tribal phase is my least favorite just because it takes so long to do anything in it.

Civ phase is fun, way too easy, but still pretty fun.

Space stage is probably the most flawed of them all, so much potential to be incredible... but the other civilizations are just too annoying to work with for reasons that have been stated several times already in the thread.
I'm about to just cheat so I can get the planet buster weapon and destroy anyone who complains about ecological disasters, disease, or being attacked.
Since obviously they're too stupid to even exist.

 

[theotherguy]

Civ stage is such bullshit.

I love how you can destroy things with "religious vehicles".

 

[Lucid]

You don't destroy, you convert.
I hate the conversion super weapon, it's a cheap instant win weapon.

 

[hool10]

Yeah, cell phase was excellent.
Awe-inspiring to look at really.
I'm about to just cheat so I can get the planet buster weapon and destroy anyone who complains about ecological disasters, disease, or being attacked.
Since obviously they're too stupid to even exist.

I'm gonna cave in tomorrow after work. After getting their butts raided too much, with me frantically hopping all over the place just to get from point A to B. Of course everybody is in red now. I can finally do what I want now instead of initially SPORE telling me what to do. I can conquer the galaxy with cheat codes. I agree with the first stage the best as well. If you notice, everybody raves about a 2D Pacman game which is the first stage.

 

[Lucid]

Holy crap.
This DRM thing really has a lot of people pissed.

 

[nurizeko]

 

[Stigmata]

Majora's Mask?

 

[Lucid]

Found a possible fix for the annoying raids, attacks, and disasters in general!

i am just copy and pasting from another forum as far as i know credit goes geos to at cheathappens.

You can lower the rate of pirate raids and eco disasters by adding following lines to the end of file preferences.prop located in "User name"/Application Data/Spore/Preferences directory. Just open it with notepad.

universeSimulatorPirateRaidFrequency 100
universeSimulatorPirateRaidAllyFrequency 100
universeSimulatorPirateRaidPlunderFrequency 100
universeSimulatorHappinessDisasterFrequency 100
universeSimulatorBiosphereCollapseFrequency 100

This should lower the rates and if you input 0 instead of 100 it should disable them.

You should also be able to input those lines like cheats inside the game, but you will have to do it each time you start Spore.

Other few helpful lines you could experiment with

universeSimulatorGrobTeaseAttackFrequency (100 by default)
universeSimulatorGrobWarAttackFreqExtremelyAware (40 by default)
universeSimulatorGrobWarAttackFreqVeryAware (80 by default)
universeSimulatorGrobWarAttackFreqAware (160 by default)
universeSimulatorWarAttackFrequency (300 by default)

Edit: Here's more:

geos also has a more permanent solution:

Well it turned out to be not that easy as simply adding few lines. Im not sure if it even works since game rewrites preferences.prop each time you start Spore, sorry folks.

For those who want to try another solution and not scared of editing core game files you might try this:

download Link full 5mb version

Go to your game directory and locate file called spore_game.pakage inside data folder and make a copy of it somewhere. Then go to your user directory, locate spore folder and inside it folder called "Games" make a copy of it aswell.

Open Splview that you previously downloaded, select tools, select "unpack DBPF" and find your spore_game.pakage, wait till it unpacks it, then you'll see a folder inside spore Data directory called Spore_Game, inside it you'll see thousands of files, one you need should be called SP-_CHT-024A0E52-00000000-658B0AB2.txt it should be around 276kb.

Open that file and locate

property universeSimulatorPirateRaidFrequency 0x031e7620 float 600
property universeSimulatorPirateRaidMinTime 0x031e761f float 300
property universeSimulatorPirateRaidDefendedRatio 0x031e7621 int 500

property universeSimulatorPirateRaidAllyFrequency 0x039620a6 float 600
property universeSimulatorPirateRaidAllyMinTime 0x039620ae float 300

property universeSimulatorPirateRaidPlunderFrequency 0x0397a072 float 600
property universeSimulatorPirateRaidPlunderMinTime 0x0397a073 float 300

property universeSimulatorWarAttackMinTime 0x031e94b7 float 100
property universeSimulatorWarAttackFrequency 0x031e94b8 float 300

property universeSimulatorHappinessDisasterMinTime 0x04f3b63e float 100
property universeSimulatorHappinessDisasterFrequency 0x04f3b63f float 300

property universeSimulatorGrobTeaseAttackFrequency 0x031e94b9 float 100
property universeSimulatorGrobTeaseAttackMinTime 0x031e94c0 float 300

property universeSimulatorGrobWarAttackFreqExtremelyAware 0x031e94c1 float 40
property universeSimulatorGrobWarAttackFreqVeryAware 0x031e94c2 float 80
property universeSimulatorGrobWarAttackFreqAware 0x031e94c3 float 160
property universeSimulatorGrobWarAttackMinTime 0x031e94c4 float 60


property universeSimulatorBiosphereCollapseTime 0x04488192 float 600
property universeSimulatorBiosphereCollapseFrequency 0x044881a3 float 300

replace all values with higher values to lower the frequencies of attacks (yes it seems that the higher the value is the lower actual attacks/disasters are)

Now save it, go back to splview and select Pack DBPF from tools menu, then pick any file inside Game_Pakage directory in first menu and type spore_game in the save file name in second menu. Wait till it finishes packing. Now just replace spore_game.pakage inside data directory with one you just created. Be sure that you have actually done a copy of it before replacing file.

Proly youll have to delete your save games and start completely new game. Anyway im not responsible to whatever damage you can do to your game and you might not be able to use sporopedia if you modify any of your game files.

For those who wondering there are other different options, including spaceship travel radius, tools, ai behavior and others.

 

[Narcolepsy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/05/arts/television/05spor.html?pagewanted=1&sq=spore&st=cse&scp=2

Here's an amazing New York Times review that perfectly sums up the two faced genius and failure that is Spore.

 

[Cpt Tenacious]

Do you guys think they will ever patch the game to make Space fun? I really want them to.

 

[Lucid]

It's EA, they're probably going to fix it in an expansion pack and charge you $30 for it.

 

[nurizeko]

Correction: They are going to try and charge me ?30 for it but fail because I already downloaded the free user created mod which makes Spore the sexy piece of software it was always meant to be.

 

[Bakurei]

Just played the game till the space age, and few missions on the space age.

Why do I feel like the whole game feels pretty damn incomplete? I mean feels like I'm playing some early beta or something. Now it just feels like Space Rangers 2 done wrong :/ Not that Space Rangers 2 was perfect.

 

[Paulaner]

Holy crap.
This DRM thing really has a lot of people pissed.

The same for Bioshock, the same for Mass Effect. Dragon Age will not be different. The thing is becoming old.

 

[Jintor]

Got to Civ stage. The game so far feels... really superficial.

Fun, but superficial.

 

[Tyguy]

I've only played up until the creature phase and im slightly confused...is it better to befriend the majority of species you come into contact with or, like I've been doing, sending in my pack of velociraptor type beasts to destroy everyone?

 

[Jintor]

I eat everything. It's so much easier.

 

[Tyguy]

so from what i've been reading, you can't just reach the space stage and explore? I was hoping to go planet to planet destroying species and taking it over independence day style

 

[Lucid]

You can but it feels constricting with your allies constantly bitching and moaning about stupid things that they should be able to take care of themselves.
And how your own planets basically come under attack every 10 seconds.

 

[Sir Phoenixx]

Correction: They are going to try and charge me ?30 for it but fail because I already downloaded the free user created mod which makes Spore the sexy piece of software it was always meant to be.

Link?

edit: I'm playing through the game, currently in the creature stage and every time I change something on my creature and save it, the game automatically uploads the new variation to my Spore page without prompting me if I want it uploaded or not, and I've looked and didn't see an option to turn it off. How do I get it to stop doing that?

 

[AJ Rimmer]

I've only played up until the creature phase and im slightly confused...is it better to befriend the majority of species you come into contact with or, like I've been doing, sending in my pack of velociraptor type beasts to destroy everyone?

Doesn't matter one bit. The creatures that are hostile towards you to begin with give more DNA points if you extinct them, the others give more points if you befriend them. That's pretty much it.

Also, yeah, the game is really superficial, really superficial and very non-replayable, the two things I definately did not expect it to be.

 

[DEATH eVADER]

Do you guys think they will ever patch the game to make Space fun? I really want them to.

I'm expecting a copule hundred mods to solve the problem of the space game.

Imagine being able to upgrade your city turrets (alas Tower Defence) to deal with enemies more appropriately

 

[Tyguy]

approximately how long does it take to go from the creature phase to the next? Im starting to get bored with finding new species, killing them, and repeating.

 

[DEATH eVADER]

approximately how long does it take to go from the creature phase to the next? Im starting to get bored with finding new species, killing them, and repeating.

The bar running across the bottom should give you an indication

 

[Lucid]

Creature phase took me about an hour to beat, nearly every stage took me an hour or two to beat.
I'm holding off on playing the space stage for now, it's impossible with the constant attacks and shit.

 

[Kamikazie]

I got about 3 1/2 hours into the space stage, then started over with a better/faster/stronger species.

 

[Stigmata]

Thanks to this thread, I no longer want Spore.

Clear Sky will do.

 

[soulslicer]

I lol'd heavily..

http://www.amazon.com/Spore-Mac/dp/B000FKBCX4

Look at the rating

 

[Tyguy]

dammit....how can it go from one of the most anticipated games of the year to....this?

 

[Lucid]

The project was overly ambitious but it was MAXIS so everyone believed that they couldn't possibly screw it up.

But, I'm sure EA had some part to do with it.

 

[OmegaX]

The majority of those amazon reviews just say "won't buy it with DRM". They haven't even played it. Just complaining about some bullshit that doesn't even effect the game.

 

[KagePrototype]

As wonderful as the content creation and sharing options are, the one consistent complaint I've seen is that the gameplay seems to have been 'dumbed down' for the sake of appealing to a more casual audience. Was it?

"I'd say that's quite accurate," Wright told me. "We were very focused, if anything, on making a game for more casual players. 'Spore' has more depth than, let's say, 'The Sims' did. But we looked at the Metacritic scores for 'Sims 2', which was around 90, and something like 'Half-Life', which was 97, and we decided - quite a while back - that we would rather have the Metacritic and sales of 'Sims 2' than the Metacritic and sales of 'Half-Life'."

And one way of getting there is to present a narrower range of options than a hardcore player might be expecting?

"Yes," he said. "Part of this, in some sense was: can we teach a 'Sims' player to play an RTS [or Real Time Strategy game]? ? I think the complexity we ended up with was toward that group."

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/09/07/will-wright-reacts-to-crtical-spore-reviews/

/shrug

 

[Kamikazie]

Sellout. I think they should have made another Spore if they were going to take that route.

 

[knut]

LOL STUPID CONSOLES.

Wait...

 

[DEATH eVADER]

can we teach a 'Sims' player to play an RTS [or Real Time Strategy game]? ? I think the complexity we ended up with was toward that group

To be fair, the micromanagement of the 'sims' games mean, for me anyway, RTS' games are a cakewalk

Go figure

I'm hoping they figure out a patch that allows you to be an Omnivore at the cell stage. I thought that by stealing a piece I would be able to find Omnivore parts in creature stage, but all I found were Herbivore parts (what I started out as in cell stage)