A tragedy. Here's some totally epic pics I took of my first game, when I was enjoying it. I've hardly touched the game since then.

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c229/Daftpanzer/Spore_2008-09-08_04-57-02.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c229/Daftpanzer/Spore_2008-09-08_21-16-26-1.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c229/Daftpanzer/Spore_2008-09-08_21-21-43-1.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c229/Daftpanzer/Spore_2008-09-09_20-17-51.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c229/Daftpanzer/Spore_2008-09-09_20-39-23-1.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c229/Daftpanzer/Spore_2008-09-10_19-08-07.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c229/Daftpanzer/Spore_2008-09-10_22-36-09.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c229/Daftpanzer/Spore_2008-09-11_00-45-25-1.jpg

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c229/Daftpanzer/Spore_2008-09-11_01-00-53.jpg

I never did bother to build a space empire after all that...

You have got an awesome graphics card there.

I think Spore kinda cheats on that, at least if you take large screenshots, it seems to add in a load of extra effects that you don't see in normal play. This is on a store model PC that still has its GeForce 8400 GS card, which is a budget model as I understand. I keep meaning to upgrade but I'm kinda scared of the new PCI slot types and making sure I have enough power and stuff :(

Spore was a major disappointment for me.

Here's a brief video I found on youtube a while back that compares the creature phase from the 2005 demo to the 2008 release.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3OG6tv-5II

It's really sad.

There really could be some excellent games on the market if they weren't rushed and dumbed down. IMO games especially for the PC have been declining since around 2000/2001, with a few exceptions of course. There seems to be less and less detail and more shiny things, sad really.

I blame DVD-style cases :)

Anyone remember when PC games came in big-ass boxes?

Seriously, I agree, IMO the evolution of games from 1990-2000 seems amazing compared to 2000-2010.

I blame DVD-style cases :)

Anyone remember when PC games came in big-ass boxes?

Seriously, I agree, IMO the evolution of games from 1990-2000 seems amazing compared to 2000-2010.

Yeah like in the '80s. EA was actually revolutionary then for having games come in old skool record albumns.

So anyways, perhaps Spore was technologically a success, but a total marketing failure?

Other way around IMO :) It seemed to get media coverage almost on par with the latest call of duty.

Well technologically it was success, even in cut-down form. Its just the gameplay and content that were lacking. IMO.

Other way around IMO :) It seemed to get media coverage almost on par with the latest call of duty.

Well technologically it was success, even in cut-down form. Its just the gameplay and content that were lacking. IMO.

But that contributed to it being a marketing failure. Not all failures are caused by lack of effort/funding, but could also be from plain retarded marketing strategy. Example: Demoing an awesome product but not shipping it.

But that contributed to it being a marketing failure. Not all failures are caused by lack of effort/funding, but could also be from plain retarded marketing strategy. Example: Demoing an awesome product but not shipping it.
Don't be fooled by the marketing

Each and every aspect of Spore is exactly as intended by EA

Right down to the consumer reaction to these decisions.

Don't be fooled by the marketing

Each and every aspect of Spore is exactly as intended by EA

Right down to the consumer reaction to these decisions.

Yeah! This way for Spore 2 they can promise to fix everything they did wrong, and thus bring the hardcore gamers back in hoping for the great product they were expecting last time.

It's the same thing CA has been doing for awhile now with the TW series.

Yeah! This way for Spore 2 they can promise to fix everything they did wrong, and thus bring the hardcore gamers back in hoping for the great product they were expecting last time.

It's the same thing CA has been doing for awhile now with the TW series.

Not that I don't agree with you regarding Spore 2, but they're already releasing expansion packs, which as we all know are EA's favourite thing in the world, buy a game and end up spending up to £100 on expansions because the original is :):):):)ing :):):):), and doesn't even include features that were on expansions of previous games in the series, genius.

Also, you can't play 2 expansions at the same time...

You can't? Are you sure?

I got bored of Spore early on. I've mostly played Civ 4 (complete) and SC4 (complete). @ of my all time favorite franchises.

Don't be fooled by the marketing

Each and every aspect of Spore is exactly as intended by EA

Right down to the consumer reaction to these decisions.

True, in a way. I think EA just doesn't give a damn about us anymore, and all they care about is making a game look pretty, but it really sucks. I understand why people buy their games, even though they suck. For one it might be an emotional attachment like for The Sims, or for others it might be because they don't know anything about the company.

Also, you can't play 2 expansions at the same time...

We're still talking about Spore right? Because that only has two expansions and they do work together.

Also, you can't play 2 expansions at the same time...

I think he was talking about spore . . .

I think he was talking about spore . . .

Well then that's just wrong because of the two expansions that exist you can use them together and it would be silly if you couldn't.

I propose that PC games are basically dead from the near future onwards, except for the indie scene. Too many complications and DRM crap.

PC Games are getting worse and worse. The best games are from 2003-2006.

Nah its 1994-1996! :p

Duke Nukem 3D, Transport Tycoon Deluxe, Terminal Velocity, Doom 1+2, UFO: Enemy Unkown, Civilization 1+2, Jane's ATF, Eurofighter 2000, Hexen, Sim City 2000, Worms, Screamers, Master of Orion 1+2, X-Wing, Mechwarrior 2. Those were truly great games... especially if you were 13 at the time :)

Lets see...2003-06 has Fifa 03, 04, 05 and 06, Pro Evolution Soccer 3, 4, 5, and 6, Civilization 4, Rome: Total War, Rome: Total War: Barbarian Invasion, Rome: Total War: Alexander, Medieval 2: Total War, Simcity 4, Simcity 4: Rush Hour, The Sims 2 (and several expansions), Call of Duty, Call of Duty: United Offensive, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 3, Half-Life 2 e.t.c.

I propose that PC games are basically dead from the near future onwards, except for the indie scene. Too many complications and DRM crap.

I propose you're incorrect. I think DRM will become less and less prevalent, because developers will realize it's useless, and does more to make their customers angry than stop pirates (after all, pirates tend to break any DRM ever in a day or less). Also, there's more possibilities with PC games than there are for consoles.

Actually, I agree with Daftpanzer on that one. Note your list west india man; your list mostly consisted of repeating continuations and expansions of the same few all-right games.

There's a reason why I personally play Red Alert rather than Red Alert 2 or 3. Because the later part of the series suck. The problem is that the businessmen running the computer industry know what sells the best and therefore blindly invests in the same old stuff without leaving open space for innovation; and that's why indie games are often surprisingly fun, and more importantly even more fun than big-time corporate game designers. The investors don't want to change what usually sells; that's also why I don't buy games anymore... I only buy good oldies. Not the new biggies. Them I crack.

I simply refuse to spend money on those games.

A reason why I do that, though, is that I don't spend any more time than an hour or so on the later big-industry games... They're simply too boring and similar.

EDIT: Also, Daftpanzer, you forgot Warcraft II on that list. :p Much better game than the sequels imho.

Nah its 1994-1996! :p

Duke Nukem 3D, Transport Tycoon Deluxe, Terminal Velocity, Doom 1+2, UFO: Enemy Unkown, Civilization 1+2, Jane's ATF, Eurofighter 2000, Hexen, Sim City 2000, Worms, Screamers, Master of Orion 1+2, X-Wing, Mechwarrior 2. Those were truly great games... especially if you were 13 at the time :)

You can still play TTDX now a days (provided you still have the original disk) with OpenTTD (http://www.openttd.org) and TTD Patch (http://www.ttdpatch.net/)

Though as of recent, I've gravitated towards OpenTTD since they've added in the same stuff as Patch TTD (eg. electrified rails, grf support) as well as contain stuff that the Patch TTD does not have (eg. larger airports, multiple grf support). And OpenTTD is much more portable than TTD Patch (I can put it on my USB Flash stick and play it on any computer without worrying about registries crap)

Lets see...2003-06 has Fifa 03, 04, 05 and 06, Pro Evolution Soccer 3, 4, 5, and 6, Civilization 4, Rome: Total War, Rome: Total War: Barbarian Invasion, Rome: Total War: Alexander, Medieval 2: Total War, Simcity 4, Simcity 4: Rush Hour, The Sims 2 (and several expansions), Call of Duty, Call of Duty: United Offensive, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 3, Half-Life 2 e.t.c.

Thoes are the only ones that stand out for me. Though Sim City 4 is more challenging than Sim City 3000, it does have the ability to add content to the game itself where as it's predecessors it's hardcoded (exceptions: landmarks for SC3k, and building graphics for SC2k w/ SCURK).

Half-Life 2 (and it's episodic episodes) stand out for me as well as mods for the game (Smod, Fortress Forever, etc) as well as Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead 1+2 (I have Counter Strike: Source and Day of Defeat: Source, but I only used those in Garry's Mod.

Best gaming years are whatever years during which you were 15-19.

*cue 17 years old posting about how he is into "old school games" and how I am wrong just like this kid in high school who's so proud of schooling everybody about Pink Floyd*

PS: I know you're there, but you're not gonna post NOW are ya? mah!

I admit I would rather play Sim City 4 than SC2k. But I'm all nostalgic for that time period. Even though I was always having to fiddle with sound card settings and config.sys and autoexec.bat, and I could only fit about 4 games on the hard drive at a time, despite all that, it all seemed so much simpler back then.

IMO there was an amazing progression in games from early 90's basic platformers to things like Duke3D, just five or six years later. Like by 1999 I was playing entirely new kinds of games compared to what I was playing in 1991. Whereas today I mostly play the same kind of things I was playing in 2001, just with updated graphics and capabilities.

Which is why it frustrates me that Spore is somehow not all that fun to play. Like it was a new kind of game and should've been awesome :confused:

You can still play TTDX now a days (provided you still have the original disk) with OpenTTD (http://www.openttd.org) and TTD Patch (http://www.ttdpatch.net/)

@CivGeneral I really like OTTD! I haven't kept up to date with it recently, but I had a lot of fun with that when I first found out about it. I know that every so often I'll be tempted back to try and build that perfect rail network. I find the online play fun too, I'm amazed how well that works.

EDIT: Also, Daftpanzer, you forgot Warcraft II on that list. :p Much better game than the sequels imho.

For some reason I never had warcraft II at the time... I did have the original Warcraft on a 486 PC with no sound card, it was still fun :)

I'd just like to add that as of a few days ago, you no longer need Transport Tycoon Deluxe to play openTTD (http://www.openttd.org/en/news/110). Just download the "nightly" version and use openGFX instead. I've been using openGFX and nightlies for a while, so I don't know if it is the default yet.

Best gaming years are whatever years during which you were 15-19.

Or earlier. My best gaming years were probably age 8-14. The real magic kind of went away after that.

On topic, I think Spore was an abysmal disappointment. My expectations for that game were very high indeed, and it turned out to be a rather dull experience.

Nah its 1994-1996! :p

Duke Nukem 3D, Transport Tycoon Deluxe, Terminal Velocity, Doom 1+2, UFO: Enemy Unkown, Civilization 1+2, Jane's ATF, Eurofighter 2000, Hexen, Sim City 2000, Worms, Screamers, Master of Orion 1+2, X-Wing, Mechwarrior 2. Those were truly great games... especially if you were 13 at the time :)

You got it!
Add Fallout 1 and 2, Dune 1 and 2, Starcraft, Warcraft, Red Alert, Legends of Kyrandia, Wolfenstein 3D, Europa Universalis, Alpha Centauri, Settlers 2 and I would agree with you. Back then, these were top. You could only dream what the future would bring. Unfortunately.

<post>
There is no single line I oppose in that post. I however, did buy a few new games this decade and most of them suck.

Best gaming years are whatever years during which you were 15-19.

*cue 17 years old posting about how he is into "old school games" and how I am wrong just like this kid in high school who's so proud of schooling everybody about Pink Floyd*

PS: I know you're there, but you're not gonna post NOW are ya? mah!

Interesting thought..shame that it was 1977-1981 when I was 15-19..I know those were definitely NOT the best gaming years I had. That seminal event was the year Civ 1 hooked me.(Been hooked ever since).

Spore *sigh* I thought I was (finally) getting SimGalaxy to follow up Sim Earth. I actually got...interactive silly putty ...in space :(

Well, yes, it suceeded. With all these creations and purchase, it has became a huge market "Success."

But it didn't accomplish it's point. EA took its vassal Maxis by the hand and demanded that it make it a "profit game" with the huge audience (the "Casual" gamers.) Some say that's why Will Wright left. I am one of those people.

Society is now mostly this way. A dollar is better than a smile. Sad, but ultimitally true.

I'm quoting PCG Gamer and myself:

No one seems to think of Spore as what it is:
A great toy.

I can't have fun with it, even as a toy. Its all too fake. What can you actually do?

There are much better 'toys' out there, IMO. I prefer forum games (NESing) to Spore.

I'm quoting PCG Gamer and myself:

No one seems to think of Spore as what it is:
A great toy.

It's a toy in the fact that you can play with it for awhile, then get bored and forget about it quickly.
Sure, with enough imagination you can pretend like what you've done matters, and maybe never leave the creature phase, but come on. There are much better things to do with your imagination than that.

Spore isn't a "great" toy, it's more like one of those Made In Taiwan GI Joe knockoffs you can find in convenience stores for $1.50 for a pack of 6 figures, only it was sold for a price higher than its true worth.

I'm glad this hunk of crap sold less than expected, and became one of the most pirated games of the decade (though Modern Warfare 2 is either about to or has already beaten it.)
Hopefully after this and the crapfest that was The Sims 3, EA might beg Wright to come back and help them release a game that -isn't- the sim equivalent of Daikatana.

A nice toy that is broken thanks to the limited instals the copyprotection program has implemented.

A nice toy that is broken thanks to the limited instals the copyprotection program has implemented.

Deauthorization was implemented, so that problem was fixed. But yeah that probably didn't help it much on release.

I finally got a copy, borrowed from a friend after debating on playing it for years, and I have to say that the first 5 hours were enjoyable. I'm in the space phase now and really like the whole thing. It's not the best but for some reason I'm hooked.

Play 3-4 more games. :(

Yeah, I really liked it the first 2 or 3 times. And suddenly stopped. I mean, really suddenly. I started a new game, played it to tribal stage, stopped, and never ever booted the game again in 1.5 years.

Space stage was my favorite, except for the fact that the game left me absolutely no time to enjoy any of it by badgering me about crap going on all the time.

Yeah, I really liked it the first 2 or 3 times. And suddenly stopped. I mean, really suddenly. I started a new game, played it to tribal stage, stopped, and never ever booted the game again in 1.5 years.

Space stage was my favorite, except for the fact that the game left me absolutely no time to enjoy any of it by badgering me about crap going on all the time.

:agree: Space would have been fun, except you have to do everything yourself, no minions to take care of it . . .

Yeah, I really liked it the first 2 or 3 times. And suddenly stopped. I mean, really suddenly. I started a new game, played it to tribal stage, stopped, and never ever booted the game again in 1.5 years.

Space stage was my favorite, except for the fact that the game left me absolutely no time to enjoy any of it by badgering me about crap going on all the time.

Same for me. Except I have loaded it a couple more times to play around with the editors only.

Personally I think its missing the kind of build-up-everything-over-time-ness like The Sims 2 has. Like say your different races could actually meet each other, with the actual empires you created for them. If evolution had more depth, tribe and civ stage were more under your control, and every planet you worked on was in the very same galaxy, with more interactions...

Needs more 'legacy' play, IMO. Maybe planets should be like households in The Sims, and your species like the different families, with genetics that can continue to change in the space stage, and even interbreed with other races :)

Spore was one of the worst purchases I ever made on a videogame. I played it for 4 hours tops. Had very very little re-play vaule at all. Was fun to create and colour a creature, but my god I could have done that at age 4 with crayolas and a piece of paper. It was just a good concept broken by no difficulty, no replay-ability, no imagination [in the sense of 'just one more game and I'll have cracked how to do so and so correctly'] which is what makes CIV and a lot of other strategy games so addictive. Which is evener odder given that the game was supposed to be about creating the creature of your imagination (back to the crayola for the 21st century I guess).

A real shame, and that's being kind to it.

id have to say that of the problems with spore the ones that cause be to die a little inside whenever i decide to play is:


lack of connectedness: aside from the fact that your creature is carried over, in lessor and lessor ways, the game is almost entirely compartmentalized, this is most evident if you look at how your creature moves in the creator and compare it to how it moves in creature stage. the stages don't feel like your creature is becoming more advanced it feels like your just moving on to a different game using the same characters.

linear game play: the stages all advance the same way; kill it/friend it, repeat. the only difference your choice makes is a few slight forgettable bonuses associated with your decision.

loss of previous abilities: once your done with the creature stage, say goodbye to controlling individuals on a whim, done with tribal stage? say goodbye to infantry. done with civilization stage? say good by to ground combat.


frankly you'd have a more compelling experience from playing a bunch of different games focused on their stage in history than playing spore.

It's a big pile of sh!t with krap sprinkled all over it.

lack of connectedness: aside from the fact that your creature is carried over, in lessor and lessor ways, the game is almost entirely compartmentalized, this is most evident if you look at how your creature moves in the creator and compare it to how it moves in creature stage. the stages don't feel like your creature is becoming more advanced it feels like your just moving on to a different game using the same characters.

This is basically what killed it for me... It made a mockery of any kind of story you tried to make. My happiest memory is being able to visit the same landmarks on my home planet in the creature, tribal, civ and space stages, and take some screenshots. That says a lot really!

frankly you'd have a more compelling experience from playing a bunch of different games focused on their stage in history than playing spore.

Agreed!

Cell: Actually, this stage was pretty fun. Mobile version got it right by only having the Cell Stage, leghtned to take up a good hour or two, not a short coffee break.
Creature: Diablo
Stone: Populous
Civ: Rise of Nations
Space: Galactic Civilizations or Masters of Orion, your choice.

iam still playing cell stage, But the creature stage is boring ,Tribal stage is nice ,civilization stage is much better , space stage is the worst especially with the grox you cant do anything but defend yourself,its quite useless even if there is no grox whats the point of building colonies over and over and over :(

iam still playing cell stage, But the creature stage is boring ,Tribal stage is nice ,civilization stage is much better , space stage is the worst especially with the grox you cant do anything but defend yourself,its quite useless even if there is no grox whats the point of building colonies over and over and over :(

I'd still say Tribal is the worst. You have only -two options-. Dance at your enemy, kill your enemy. That's beyond dumb.

Yeah, tribal is by far the worst.

To the OP- I agree with the second post. It was really dumbed down, and I hate how good it could have been, 'cause I can't have it now! :mad:

I'd still say Tribal is the worst. You have only -two options-. Dance at your enemy, kill your enemy. That's beyond dumb.

You also have: "Kill your enemy by luring an epic creature to their base". :lol:


Maxis really took the "E for Everyone" rating to heart, unfortunately.

Once I saw footage of this game, I knew it was going to become lame and quickly forgotten. Guess I was right.

Its like a good meal, tasty to begin with, but somewhat less tasty once its already passed through you.

Its pretty good. My 10 year old brother loves it. Bittersweet after seeing what it could have been.

After massive anticipation, I thought it was going to be great. Well, the cell stage was great, but it should´ve been a LOT longer, and they missed a couple of stages out in there. Creature stage was good at first, but got boring later. Tribal Stage was pure :):):):). Civ Stage involved too much creating stuff, but it was OK I guess. I never went past the beginning of the Space Stage, it takes way too long to do anything.

I never went past the beginning of the Space Stage, it takes way too long to do anything.

Same here, I did some random exploring to see how far I could get before my ship blew up, but that was it.

Cell was suberb, bit quote short. Creature was the same. Tribal and Civilization stage are simple, easy, and boring. As for space, past the first couple hours, it's endless grind, even against the Grox.

I just want to add my opinion.

Spore is the worst game ive ever bought. Even considering Master of Orion 3.

Its just terrible. Made worse by the fact that it COULD have been so much more than what it is. In each stage you can basically only do 2 things. Ally with everyone or conquer everyone.
There is no other strategy.

The game is so simple a 3 year old could play it. My nephew at 9 years old had a shot of it - was on space stage within about an hour - and after a few hours playing it he stopped and declared it the most boring game ever and asked to play Star Wars Empire at War (which is quite a bit more complicated than Spore).

They took out all the potential, all the cool functions, in order to make the game appeal to "everyone" and instead rendered it utterly bland and boring.
I got talked into getting the Galactic Edition as well. Biggest waste of money ever.

Eugh.

:agree: with pretty much everything in the post above.

I just want to add my opinion.

Spore is the worst game ive ever bought. Even considering Master of Orion 3.

Its just terrible. Made worse by the fact that it COULD have been so much more than what it is. In each stage you can basically only do 2 things. Ally with everyone or conquer everyone.
There is no other strategy.

The game is so simple a 3 year old could play it. My nephew at 9 years old had a shot of it - was on space stage within about an hour - and after a few hours playing it he stopped and declared it the most boring game ever and asked to play Star Wars Empire at War (which is quite a bit more complicated than Spore).

They took out all the potential, all the cool functions, in order to make the game appeal to "everyone" and instead rendered it utterly bland and boring.
I got talked into getting the Galactic Edition as well. Biggest waste of money ever.

Eugh.
Cool 9 year old. Empire at War is a great game.

:agree:

I like EaW/FoC especially since u cant get a shedload of mods for them yay.

But we dont want to get off topic.

Spore sucks. As someone said earlier I think Maxis took the Universal/E For Everyone rating far too seriously and ended up stripping out any of the content that the various groups likely to play this game would find fun.
The Sims folk would play it cos hey its near to sims. The Grand strategy folk would play it cos hey its supposed to be grand strategy. The casual gamers would play it cos hey its really cute.

Everything got taken out and now no one is able to enjoy it. I defy anyone to say Spore is a GOOD game. Not just okay or playable but actually GOOD and enjoyable.

There are only 2 games in my life that ive actually wished I hadnt bought and considered a waste of money.

This first was Spore which was appalling. And the second was Empire Total War; steamworks gave me nothing but bother and I object to being forced to install and run a 3rd party program (and be online - before anyone says "you can set it to offline mode" that only works if you are online in the first place to set it to offline mode and offline mode still periodically demands you go back online to verify your game) for a single player game. Its stupid. Stupid stupid stupid.

:agree:

I like EaW/FoC especially since u cant get a shedload of mods for them yay.

But we dont want to get off topic.

Spore sucks. As someone said earlier I think Maxis took the Universal/E For Everyone rating far too seriously and ended up stripping out any of the content that the various groups likely to play this game would find fun.
The Sims folk would play it cos hey its near to sims. The Grand strategy folk would play it cos hey its supposed to be grand strategy. The casual gamers would play it cos hey its really cute.

Everything got taken out and now no one is able to enjoy it. I defy anyone to say Spore is a GOOD game. Not just okay or playable but actually GOOD and enjoyable.

There are only 2 games in my life that ive actually wished I hadnt bought and considered a waste of money.

This first was Spore which was appalling. And the second was Empire Total War; steamworks gave me nothing but bother and I object to being forced to install and run a 3rd party program (and be online - before anyone says "you can set it to offline mode" that only works if you are online in the first place to set it to offline mode and offline mode still periodically demands you go back online to verify your game) for a single player game. Its stupid. Stupid stupid stupid.
Come on, Steam isn't that bad. Why does everybody hate it so much? It's served me well for Napoleon Total War.

Steam is like marmite - You either love it or hate it. I personally love marmite but hate steam. Steam forced auto-updates when you don´t want it to (it should at least ask), is unneccessarly compulsoryin some games, and you need an internet connection, and a username and password you need to remember. And there´s a max of 3 installs. And it might make the game slower (I´m not sure). And some simple mods could be messed up by the auto-updates to an already very heavy game.

Steam is like marmite - You either love it or hate it. I personally love marmite but hate steam. Steam forced auto-updates when you don´t want it to (it should at least ask), is unneccessarly compulsoryin some games, and you need an internet connection, and a username and password you need to remember. And there´s a max of 3 installs. And it might make the game slower (I´m not sure). And some simple mods could be messed up by the auto-updates to an already very heavy game.
Wait, theres a max number of installs?

yup, max of 3 installs per disk. pointless and stupid.

yup, max of 3 installs per disk. pointless and stupid.
What if you don't have the disk? Will it still have that rule for a download off Steam?

you don´t need the disc to play, but you need it to install.

Dont want to get off topic here but I dont hate Steam.

I just dont like it. I wouldnt mind it as a download service or update service ala Impulse if it was like Impulse. Non compulsory and non intrusive. But it isnt.

Its intrusive. You are forced to install it even if you dont need it ie for single player only games. It MUST be online so if you have a gaming rig that you keep offline then you are up a total gumtree there.
The "offline" mode is laughable; firstly you have to be ONLINE to set the specific GAME to offline mode (not the Steam program) and you have to do this for every game you have on on steam, secondly periodically Steam demands you go back ONLINE to repeatedly verify your games as well as download updates.
As someone else mentioned it autoupdates which is a good idea on paper but in reality is a massively BAD idea because sometimes Developers release a patch and inadvertantly break something that worked before ie Bethesda breaking VATs (Fallout 3) in its 1.2/1.3 patch or Bioware breaking the dexterity dependant skills in Dragon Age in its 1.1 (or was it 1.2?) patch. So if this happens you cant roll back to a properly working patch on a steamworks dependant game. You are FORCED to stop playing until the problem is fixed - presuming the developer doesnt do a Bethesda on you "la la la theres nothing wrong here la la la".
The restricted installs thing is nothing new but its a MASSIVELY stupid idea; I mean EA used to do it and they have now stopped. And if EA stopped doing it it MUST be a bad idea because them lot are notorious for not listening to their customer base. Even worse its only 3 installs, EA had 5 on their games (like Spore the game we are obstensibly discussing).
And finally you can not run a steamworks dependant game without running steamworks. And i thoroughly resent being forced to install a 3rd party program in order to play a game. If its a multiplayer game fine. But i want the option, I dont want to be forced into doing it. Thats what steamworks does. Its a complete waste of system resources.
And I am CONVINCED that it caused my CTDs in Empire Total War.

Its the reason I am refusing to buy Civ 5. I wont get it because of its Steamworks dependancy.

Steam sucks. Its a horrible program. And Valve is a horrible company that has pioneered horrible business practices that are unfortunately and frighteningly quickly becoming the industry standard. An example of their disgusting business practices was they tried to bully Paradox Interactive into using Steam as their only digital download service (making all PI games from that point on Steamworks dependant) because PI work with many services including GamersGate; not realising that PI owns part of GamersGate and is not ever going to stop using them.
Thank god there are yet some good developers and publishers (like PI) ARENT going down the Valve route and point blank refuse to. I used to think Firaxis was one of them; you would have thought that they had learned from their partnership with infogrames/atari in dealing with money grubbing monolithic entities but alas they havent.

Actually. Maybe I do hate Steam after all.

And well about Spore. The only thing left to say is while Maxis is going down the releasing generic cash cow game after generic cash cow game route of late; EA's publishing business practices seem to be improving. They no longer wish to be seen as the Satan of Publishing.

There is a limit of installs on Spore. But you can revoke your install using this tool, resetting it to three

http://www.spore.com/patch/deauthorization

Spore still sucks.

Steam Offline mode: I select "restart in offline mode" and all of my 42 games work offline. End of story. If I'm offline, it tells me "hey you're offline, do you want to start in offline mode" I click yes, all of my 42 games work offline. End of the rebuke story. You do need to be online at least once in the installation, at the beginning. I think there might be settings to do to ensure it works. But if your brain is powerful enough to allow for breathing, then you should be able to figure it out. Bottomline is, if the game doesn't need to update and works properly, you make your Steam stop asking to go online, then it won't go nuts.

periodically Steam demands you go back ONLINE to repeatedly verify your games as well as download updates.

This.

Obviously over-hyped game.

That´s a massive understatement. Also, is there just the cell stage on the internet? If so, where?

Is this what you're referring to? http://intihuatani.usc.edu/cloud/flowing/core.html

no, that´s not it :(

That´s a massive understatement. Also, is there just the cell stage on the internet? If so, where?

They also hyped the creature stage, and the space era. People were like: "this is going to become the ultimate game".

that included me, I was really excited for it. MASSIVE disspointment after the first two games (except the cell stage which was awesome).

that included me, I was really excited for it. MASSIVE disspointment after the first two games (except the cell stage which was awesome).

Count me in as well. I watched a video they made with Robin Williams playing it and thought it would be loads of fun. I never even finished my first game it was such a monumental disappointment. I mean damn, even the very first RTS games had 10x the gameplay, depth, and just plain fun that was completely absent from Spore.

The only thing I thought was actually fun was watching my creatures dance at the campfire with the mexican music playing, and that got old after the first 3-4 times.

Cell stage was fun and probably can't do anything more to enhance it, but EVERYTHING after it can't even be considered a game...just a tech demo maxis can sell because of their fame from the sims.

Yes...I'm upset I wasted $40..:D

FYI: EA apparently isn't giving up on Spore.


Check Q4: 2011 There's a Spore title listed.

http://investor.ea.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=443622


Also this....Darkspore
2ywzuKKAUBk

Clearlly a failure. Not a revolutionary game. Mostly scripted stuff. A kiddie game and a game for people who can't handle real strategy games.

Count me in as well. I watched a video they made with Robin Williams playing it and thought it would be loads of fun. I never even finished my first game it was such a monumental disappointment. I mean damn, even the very first RTS games had 10x the gameplay, depth, and just plain fun that was completely absent from Spore.

The only thing I thought was actually fun was watching my creatures dance at the campfire with the mexican music playing, and that got old after the first 3-4 times.

Cell stage was fun and probably can't do anything more to enhance it, but EVERYTHING after it can't even be considered a game...just a tech demo maxis can sell because of their fame from the sims.

Yes...I'm upset I wasted $40..:D

I hope you learned something from this.:goodjob:

Threads till active on 2nd anniversary of the game. I guess that just says something about the level of disappointment.

Threads till active on 2nd anniversary of the game. I guess that just says something about the level of disappointment.

Yeah. I... I don't think a video game has ever disappointed me that much. Maybe Banjo Kazooie 3, since I was a big fan of 1 & 2 as a kid.
It's like the video game equivalent of Star Wars Episode 1. All that hype, the waiting, and then... you get bad actors, good actors giving terrible performances, a god awful script, and a CGI rabbit that talks like some old timey black face character.

I hope you learned something from this.:goodjob:

Indeed. From now on, if these companies aren't going to release a demo...then I'm going to get the "unofficial demo" to try it out...

Indeed. From now on, if these companies aren't going to release a demo...then I'm going to get the "unofficial demo" to try it out...

I almost did this.
The game leaked a few weeks before release, and I had a preorder on the Spore deluxe edition, so I felt entitled to a "try before I get it since I'm already paying more"... but I didn't.
Not for moral reasons, I think I was distracted by... hahaha, Civ4 actually. It was when I was working on my own mod.

Well it's all been established a hundred times over but they didn't only hype the game. They lied about it. Heck why wouldn't people think that it was a more advanced Beta version - not a stripped Beta version - that became the full game.

There's alot of stuff that went on with two camps fighting each other and the more superficial (spelling?) winning. It's a pitty. Not only because people lost alot of money on something that wasn't worth the CD it was printed on but because the real thing would have been such an amazing experience.


Like many say the minigame of cellstage is the only thing that even comes close to something worth playing and having some replayability but similiar games can be played for free online...

So I don't blame you guys even though it's a lesson to be learned. I bought Doom 3 without testing it for I knew I could trust those guys to make good stuff and seeing the videos/reading about it. You just can't trust EA though. Maxis you could but not EA. Never trust the beast...also never trust satan ;)



BTW: Thx for your signature bro. It seems i won't even be buying Civ 5 even if it came without Steam. The tech trading, developing and choosing of different paths was one of the most fun things. That stuff is just ridicilous. And that's me talking, someone who doesn't have anything against Panzer General 3 syste!

Well it's all been established a hundred times over but they didn't only hype the game. They lied about it. Heck why wouldn't people think that it was a more advanced Beta version - not a stripped Beta version - that became the full game.

There's alot of stuff that went on with two camps fighting each other and the more superficial (spelling?) winning. It's a pitty. Not only because people lost alot of money on something that wasn't worth the CD it was printed on but because the real thing would have been such an amazing experience.


Like many say the minigame of cellstage is the only thing that even comes close to something worth playing and having some replayability but similiar games can be played for free online...

So I don't blame you guys even though it's a lesson to be learned. I bought Doom 3 without testing it for I knew I could trust those guys to make good stuff and seeing the videos/reading about it. You just can't trust EA though. Maxis you could but not EA. Never trust the beast...also never trust satan ;)



BTW: Thx for your signature bro. It seems i won't even be buying Civ 5 even if it came without Steam. The tech trading, developing and choosing of different paths was one of the most fun things. That stuff is just ridicilous. And that's me talking, someone who doesn't have anything against Panzer General 3 syste!

Yeah, I think the tech tree was the clencher for me. At first they started to lose me with the lack of individual leaders, since civs and leaders are now one in the same (meaning it'll be difficult for modders to add in leaders.) Then they started to lose me with the 3 DLC civs.
One look at the tech tree though... that kinda sealed the deal. All hope just kinda vanished.
Don't get me wrong. If Civ5 turns out to be better than it looks, I'll buy it. My signature only means that if it -is- what it looks like, they won't be getting my money.

I think that you'll be pleasantly surprised by the PG3 system and it might sway you to buy it. But I hope it doesn't cause the game does look sub-par in other points and for a Steam game it's priced quite high (probably 59 after pre order). The PG3 system allows for more realistic and in depth strategy to be made and will also aid the AI that can't handle stacks very well.

Maxis was trustworthy? They of SimEarth, SimLife?

Those two were both awesome games!

Well, SimEarth was an awesomely looking concept at its time, which totally failed in practice because the gameplay just didn't work. Most of the time I could have spent enjoying the game were instead spent on frustratedly trying to find out how on earth (pun slightly intended) I could achieve anything.

It was the most disappointing game I ever purchased.

Because I expected it to be much more. It's still a decent game, but it was a HUGE dissapointment. My expectations for it were pretty high.

Infact I once thought it would be the best game ever made, and that I would not need to play any other game, like civ. That's how high my expectations for it were..

Is the "People Underwhelmed by Spore" club gathering here? Can I sign up as well? I grabbed a copy of Spore last year and was totally unsatisfied. The game had been out for 2 years already, so I really had no excuse. The idea of creating a new lifeform and guiding it from primordial soup to space, however, was just too tempting. Also, I read a review by a (usually reliable) gaming website that had praised it and gave it a whopping 90 out of 100.

Then the cold, hard reality kicked in. First of all, the aforementioned primordial soup; Someone (or more likely many people) remarked that the first section is basically a flash game, and I have to agree. For example, take this game (http://www.playzgame.com/online-flash-games/Fat-Fish.php), put some cool graphics on it, add a creature customizer and you've pretty much nailed it.

I might have enjoyed the land creature stage, if it actually made any difference gameplay-wise where you place your body parts and how your creature is shaped. Also, exploring the world while collecting DNA was fun...for five minutes maybe. After that it just became a chore.

The tribal stage and the civilization stage were just a bleak copy of, well, Civilization. These phases were so shallow and the options were so limited that I'd rather forget the whole thing.

Finally, there was one huge thing that ruined the space stage for me: awkward combat mechanism. I mean, come on. How long has the video game industry been doing space shooters? Is it too much to ask that they'd get it right?

Anyway, this was my rant about Spore. Just wanted to get it out. I guess the moral of the story is: If you can't test the game yourself, at least watch actual gameplay footage before you buy (these days there's a Let's Play of nearly every game ever out there).

P.S. If I have to say one good thing about Spore, it's probably that it acted as a "gateway drug" to Civilization for me; when I played the civ phase, I found myself thinking: "This is what I've been looking for - only better executed."

If you were looking for grand strategy games, look further than Civ. Great games and all, but child's play compared to the games Paradox is pumping out on a regular basis.

I love Europa Universalis II (not so much III) and HoI2. But of course, Paradox games are limited to specific eras, and in my experience they are much harder work - to learn, to play, to keep updated with patches and mods etc.

IMO: Civ4 complete, with your selection of mods, is unmatched for providing an in-depth game that evolves through time.

Because in all of human history, there were only a handful of countries. Thats my biggest problem with civ, how unrealistic it is.

Well thats true... But if you have a decent comp, you can set up a scenario with a lot of civs on a huge map. Just rarely I find myself playing a truly epic game with world wars and colonies and liberations and revolutions etc (Revolutions mod is a must for me).

I tried playing the Space stage last night and I don't recall it being as fun as it was way back when. I was up until 2am harvesting spice and buying systems and discovering Earth. I suppose I enjoyed myself as random events have been greatly toned down so I'm not constantly racing back and forth between systems.

It's a decent game but there are better ones out there. I play it when I need a break from my other games, but generally it's a little too simplistic for me. :)

The game is a kick in the nads! There I said it! They hyped it before it came out as the ultimate game, and when it came out it was the equivalent of the teletubbies.

The game was overhyped. If it was released as is, most players I think would be like "this is fun/alright/decent" but since it got hyped so much, people hate the game.

Actually, even then, the Tribal and Civilization phases leave a lot to be desired. Going War in Tribal is probably the worst thing you could do; even in all red species, I have to go Peace, if only for that one phase. Civilization... eh, it just doesn't hook me. Fun the first three times after trying each specialty, then it wore off. Vehicle editors are still fun as hell though.

Actually, even then, the Tribal and Civilization phases leave a lot to be desired. Going War in Tribal is probably the worst thing you could do; even in all red species, I have to go Peace, if only for that one phase. Civilization... eh, it just doesn't hook me. Fun the first three times after trying each specialty, then it wore off. Vehicle editors are still fun as hell though.

Actually, going to war was pretty easy. The AI units were always visible on the map if I recall correctly and do nothing but attack you headlong without any regard to tactics.

Tribal and Civilization were weak spots though.

Spore is alright if you play it for a few hours and then lock it up for a long time. I bought it right when it came out, and was so utterly disappointed that I left it to rot under a stack of books for 2 years. I found it the other day and played it over the weekend. It was decent fun at first but grew boring VERY quickly. Now I have to avoid it like the plague for another two years or I'll start hating it again.

I bought Spore a few days ago, and I think I'm already over it. It would have succeeded more if EA made it appeal to EVERYBODY, not just the causal gamer.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8372603330420559198&ei=QBvNSN6FGoLOrgLDv-jXAg&q=Spore#

I would have loved to play that game...

The game is a kick in the nads! There I said it! They hyped it before it came out as the ultimate game, and when it came out it was the equivalent of the teletubbies.


I agree they made it seem like it was going to be this great indepth game and it just felt like the Fable of the simulation world. It had a lot of bark but no bite.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8372603330420559198&ei=QBvNSN6FGoLOrgLDv-jXAg&q=Spore#

I would have loved to play that game...

You have no idea how many times I played that video. Heck, even my avatar is from a Spore fansite before Spore was released. Then it came out and the fansite died because the game was so much less than we'd hoped. Turned out waiting for the game was better than actually playing it.

You have no idea how many times I played that video. Heck, even my avatar is from a Spore fansite before Spore was released. Then it came out and the fansite died because the game was so much less than we'd hoped. Turned out waiting for the game was better than actually playing it.

I didn't wait for the game as long as you really hardcore guys did, I just bought the game a while after it was released. Now I found the video and was like, "Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? This could have been a good game!? Oh man..."

Without even having seen this video I dreamed about actual skeletons (instead of a chain of lumps) and creatures that had to be somewhat realistic.

I agree they made it seem like it was going to be this great indepth game and it just felt like the Fable of the simulation world. It had a lot of bark but no bite.

We should sue them...

Snippet about killing removed. That's not allowed, even if joking.

You have no idea how many times I played that video. Heck, even my avatar is from a Spore fansite before Spore was released. Then it came out and the fansite died because the game was so much less than we'd hoped. Turned out waiting for the game was better than actually playing it.

Probably the same website - one user (Hydromancerx) had all of these cool creature designs and stories behind them. The 'CivStage' version of his creatures (and the stories behind them) were really well done. More fun than the actual game! :lol:

I see the GS (besides the one support thread) doesn't have a post within the past 3 weeks.

I bought Spore a few days ago, and I think I'm already over it. It would have succeeded more if EA made it appeal to EVERYBODY, not just the causal gamer.

I believe they suddenly decided to make a game for EVERYBODY, but their image of who everybody is, is a seven year old kid.

It looks alot like the gamedevelopers where sidestepped by the buisness men trying to duplicate the succes of sims, and in fact destroying what would have become a graeat game if they had let the people with talent and knowhow make the decisions.

This reminds me of the movie buisness with studio executives who are so obsessed by making a profit that they produce the usual hollywood easily digestable poo for a wide audience over and over again. Thinking out systems Like the abhorrent test audience that are shown the movie before it comes out and if they happen to be to dumb to "understand" the movie , the movie is dumbed down.

With mob rule, how does anyone expect art to develope to new heights?

But then the buisnesspeople do not see it as art but an other way to make money.

I believe they suddenly decided to make a game for EVERYBODY, but their image of who everybody is, is a seven year old kid.

It looks alot like the gamedevelopers where sidestepped by the buisness men trying to duplicate the succes of sims, and in fact destroying what would have become a graeat game if they had let the people with talent and knowhow make the decisions.

Nope, no business men necessary to water down the original concept. There were two camps among the developers already, "Science Camp" and "Cute Camp". Will Wright states that the end product struck a "nice balance" between the camps (see here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_Spore#Gameplay_changes)), but basically the Cutes won. Why this happened is a matter of speculation, but personally I suspect that the Science Camp devs simply didn't find a way to make their grand design actually fun to play. The repeated delays in development, the changes of major game elements even in the late stages of development, and the hiring of Soren Johnson in a pretty late stage as well, are all pointers that the original design had (unfortunately) failed, and that the devs scrambled to make it work _somehow_. Concentrating on the Cute Camp was then the easiest way out since it allowed them to focus on looks and accessibility while simplifying the non-working gameplay.

That's just my personal theory of course, you'll find others in the Spore forums. :)

I believe that a lot of people, including myself would have found the game thrilling if only the evolutionary stage would have been reasonably realistic.

Nope, no business men necessary to water down the original concept. There were two camps among the developers already, "Science Camp" and "Cute Camp". Will Wright states that the end product struck a "nice balance" between the camps (see here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_of_Spore#Gameplay_changes)), but basically the Cutes won. Why this happened is a matter of speculation, but personally I suspect that the Science Camp devs simply didn't find a way to make their grand design actually fun to play. The repeated delays in development, the changes of major game elements even in the late stages of development, and the hiring of Soren Johnson in a pretty late stage as well, are all pointers that the original design had (unfortunately) failed, and that the devs scrambled to make it work _somehow_. Concentrating on the Cute Camp was then the easiest way out since it allowed them to focus on looks and accessibility while simplifying the non-working gameplay.

That's just my personal theory of course, you'll find others in the Spore forums. :)

Put like that, it's a likely theory. That being said, I'm not sure how they considered the "cute" version to be fun. It doesn't seem like much more interactivity and "fun" than the 2005 features video.

Every time I look at that old Spore Video, I imagine that there will someday be a game worthy of that dream. Spore succeeded as a simple and usable creativity engine, but failed as an epic simulation of all life and civilization. :(