The Official Spore Thread

[-T- Member]

It's pretty easy up to the space stage, and from then it does get a little repetetive.

I was slightly disappointed with the "evolution" of the creatures, as I'd thought that you would be limited in size, shape etc based on the path you had already taken, however I found this not to be the case and was able to radically alter my creature after each "mating"

The civilization stage was way too easy also, as soon as you get the air craft, it's basically a formality to wipe out the rest of the cities.

It's a fun game however but not quite what was hyped and with EA and Maxis at the helm I'm sure we can expect a ton of pointless add on packs to futher the game

[Fourjays Veteran]

The gameplay sounds boring.. If you take out the fun of creating your own creatures, etc, how does the game rate? (I'm making a judgment based on the trailers and gameplay previews)

Does it get repetitive?

Taking the creating out of the game is the same as taking the storyline out of an FPS. Remove that and you have mindless shooter that is the same as all the rest.

The Civ stage is the worst for repetition - it doesn't matter what you've done before, or how you design your vehicles/buildings, everything is the same. Compared to the cell/creature stage where what bits you choose have a direct impact on the game play and you see new creatures every single time (which have their own differences). The vehicles/buildings need to have the same sort of effect.

Not played around with Space much yet. Currently working my way through as a carnivorous lizard thing that eats and destroys anything in it's path... if only it's mechs would do something more interesting than shoot the same blob as their buggies.

[undu]

Not played around with Space much yet. Currently working my way through as a carnivorous lizard thing that eats and destroys anything in it's path... if only it's mechs would do something more interesting than shoot the same blob as their buggies.

Space is the same as civ, but, instead of being a god that has instant access to everything in sight, you get confined in a spaceship AND you have to create colonies, build them like a city in civ stage, terraform the planet, fighting entire fleets of spaceships (not an easy thing to do at first) to save your planets and you allies from enemies, travel to the center of the galaxy wich is VERY far away from your homeworld, so you can't defend your planets, save them from exological disasters, etc.

Space stage should have been exploration + planet modification, and less civ stage, maybe some combat but with a fleets of spaceships like yours and not alone, It forces the layer into doing many things at the same time without letting the player enjoy some love from the game :(

[Pseudonym]

As I mentioned earlier, I thought I'd hold off buying to see the DRM situation. Now I'm put off by everyones "reviews" and claims of repetitiveness. Oh dear, what could have been such a good game seems to have been only mediocre.

[mad_onion]

As I mentioned earlier, I thought I'd hold off buying to see the DRM situation. Now I'm put off by everyones "reviews" and claims of repetitiveness. Oh dear, what could have been such a good game seems to have been only mediocre.

tbh i don't really see what they could have done to make the game "good" as you put it. it wouldn't have been anything they could have done in a relatively short development time. the only way to have made each part feel full and like a full game would have been to just bolt five games toghther. the problem with trying to do so much is that you don't do any part of it particularly well.

[Fourjays Veteran]

I think cell and creature are just fine. Maybe improve the AI a little (so others do hunting, etc, rather than just me), but other than that it is fine. Tribe isn't bad either. Civ is where it goes wrong. Units/buildings need stats and need to "evolve" in the same way the creatures did. Then it would be much better as your choice of parts would make a difference.

I am very impressed by the "space simulation" though. By that I mean the planets, etc. Rather than some canned animation, the sun that causes day/night in creature stage, the moon that passes through the sky, are all actually there and orbiting (in the same places visible as in creature) when you get to the space stage.

I have a distinct feeling that some of these "blank spots" are going to be filled with expansions packs.

@Yan - I'd say if you are creative and are happy to see something that is innovative, but not perfect, then go for it. Others probably aren't, but I am really quite tired of the same old games being released with minor differences, so to me Spore, while not perfect, is a breathe of fresh air in comparison.

Also regards the DRM, it is activation on up to 3 computers, not 3 activations. While a hardware change would constitute a "computer", providing nothing changes in the computer, it won't count as an activation. The disc is not required to play either. I've got a support query with EA asking about how it works with the accounts (one account for all computers, or one each). See here for more info: http://forums.electronicarts.co.uk/spore-g...otection-q.html

Edited September 6, 2008 by Fourjays

[Pseudonym]

tbh i don't really see what they could have done to make the game "good" as you put it. it wouldn't have been anything they could have done in a relatively short development time. the only way to have made each part feel full and like a full game would have been to just bolt five games toghther. the problem with trying to do so much is that you don't do any part of it particularly well.

I guess your right, it sounded so "good" because they possibly overstretched themselves. I'm not really sure what I expected but I guess I never considered the nuts and bolts of making all 5 phases so varied with equivalent depth to a single game. I think what I liked was the idea, and hopefully Maxis' IP isn't too restrictive and allows other developers to have a crack at the "evosim" genre.

[DrCheese]

The space age stage is.... addictive at first but then becomes insanely annoying. It becomes near impossible to keep all your allies happy, do missions, defend your planets, attack other planets, build and create cities and so on. The micromanagement is INSANE.

The early stages were nice, but I can't see myself doing them more than once as they got old quickly.

ah well.

[Fugi]

Well it comes out in a few hours so heres a discussion thread, what do you guys think about this game? I have it pre-loaded through EA's downloader so i'll be playing in a few hours ;).

[+longgonebn Subscriber²]

I also have it pre-loaded in EA's Downloader, and looking at the countdown. Though it will be ready at 4AM my time, so I wont play till awhile after.

Can't wait.

[SuperJediMedia]

I don't know if the Galactic edition is worth getting?

$30 Bucks just for some Books/DVDs?

[PT 13]

A bit disappointing, got to space stage in about 3 hours... :| and then the game is just boring...

It is very fun until the civilization stage, where it looks like they just rushed to finish the game up and didn't care about it anymore....

IMO it's not worth the price

The civilization stage is exactly the same as the tribal stage, but with vehicles :|

It was very fun while you could actually control the "creature" you create, but after you control just the car/tank, plane, boat, spaceship... its just not fun anymore.

[Pc_Madness]

I think cell and creature are just fine. Maybe improve the AI a little (so others do hunting, etc, rather than just me), but other than that it is fine. Tribe isn't bad either. Civ is where it goes wrong. Units/buildings need stats and need to "evolve" in the same way the creatures did. Then it would be much better as your choice of parts would make a difference.

+1

I haven't been following the game closely, just the general idea and I kinda got the impression that the Civilisation and Space stages would be kinda like Sim City or Age of Empires ... instead its just.. :( How long has the game been in development for? I can't figure out what they spent all their time on. :\ If you think about it really there really isn't any depth to the Tribal stage either... build up your clan, attack, win.

[clx]

cell stage - short term fun, bit of a laugh

on land - not bad, bit like a grind if your wanting more parts to customise your creature

tribe - fun, if some what limited

city - most fun yet possibly

space - fun for 15 mins... then boring... very boring...

oh, some advice for the time your on land, seek out the rogue creatures. they have ALOT higher hp than standard creatures (although not the 1000 that the BIG guys have, its usualy 200+) and befriend them, they take and give a beating should you need to attack anything. Last night i had a weak creature that high lvls of dance, singing etc, i got 2 of them and only ever had to attack something once before they took it out :)

[-T- Member]

I've almost got the last rank on the space stage, and I agree it's mind numbingly boring at times. Go here save this planet, fight these people. Why bother evolving if they're unable to defend themselves at all from even just one little ship. Nor can they build anything unless you go in and do it. It got really tedious eventually. I kept playing up to this point but I don't know if I care to travel to the centre of the galaxy to fight.

I guess it's back to making penis monsters for one and all

[Fourjays Veteran]

I've played space age for quite a few hours last night. It's more annoying than boring, IMO. I'm just minding my own business, trading with other species and trying to terraform planets and every minute I get "xx planet is under attack". Why aren't they capable of defending themselves? I go to their planet and am swarmed with fighters, yet I'm the sole defender for my home World?

I think quite a lot of people expected Spore to be Spore Cell/Creature + C&C + Civ IV + Civ IV in space. It was a foregone conclusion to me that Spore would be nowhere near perfect. It is a new idea with many clever (and not so obvious unless you looked at the prototypes) mechanics in the background. Games like Civ, C&C, all the FPSs have been being perfected for years. Give Spore a few expansion packs or a Spore 2 and it will be great.

A serious question. On my P4 2.8ghz machine with 1Gb of RAM, I can run Spore with little to no in-game loading times (about 1 second in space stage when zooming in/out). It is moving planets on orbits, calculating atmospheric conditions, etc - running what seems to be like a functioning universe with no large loading times. Yet all these big FPSs (the formula for which hasn't really changed last 10 years) require these huge power machines which don't even exist yet... Why? I'd think the universe requires much more computing power than running and shooting. :/

Edited September 7, 2008 by Fourjays

[TruckWEB]

I just got the game, installing it right now.... I just hope it's not as boring as some of you say it is.... $49, I hope it's worth it.

[alphaomegainfinity]

How will this game perform on my 1.5 year old laptop:

Intel C2D 1.73 GHz

2 GB DDR2 RAM

256 MB DDR2 GeForce Go 7600

Vista Ultimate SP1

Anyone please?

[ctebah]

has this been released on the iphone yet? I have heard today (sunday) as the official release date but i can't find the game in the app store.

anyone else have more luck?

[SuperJediMedia]

Those who got the Galactic edition, please tell me if the DVDs and books are Worth $30 bucks?

How long are the DVDs?

[That Guy Veteran]

Thanks for all the seemingly unbiased opinions here, I think I'll give Spore a miss. Besides the reviews from you guys saying it's boring and repetitive, I don't fancy shelling out on Spore: Christmas Extras, Spore: Holiday Pack, Spore: Christmas Holiday Pack etc like EA games try to squeeze out of everyone :p

Nice thread, with some good discussion

[mad_onion]

I've played space age for quite a few hours last night. It's more annoying than boring, IMO. I'm just minding my own business, trading with other species and trying to terraform planets and every minute I get "xx planet is under attack". Why aren't they capable of defending themselves? I go to their planet and am swarmed with fighters, yet I'm the sole defender for my home World?

I think quite a lot of people expected Spore to be Spore Cell/Creature + C&C + Civ IV + Civ IV in space. It was a foregone conclusion to me that Spore would be nowhere near perfect. It is a new idea with many clever (and not so obvious unless you looked at the prototypes) mechanics in the background. Games like Civ, C&C, all the FPSs have been being perfected for years. Give Spore a few expansion packs or a Spore 2 and it will be great.

A serious question. On my P4 2.8ghz machine with 1Gb of RAM, I can run Spore with little to no in-game loading times (about 1 second in space stage when zooming in/out). It is moving planets on orbits, calculating atmospheric conditions, etc - running what seems to be like a functioning universe with no large loading times. Yet all these big FPSs (the formula for which hasn't really changed last 10 years) require these huge power machines which don't even exist yet... Why? I'd think the universe requires much more computing power than running and shooting. :/

yes space just isn't fun.

i also agree that spore could be good but i think it would need a spore 2 as you say. the tribal and civilization stages would need to be completely redone to be like cnc and civ respectively. and i think space is ok as it is just you need to be attacked less!!

if it was actually simulating a galaxy it would take a ridiculous amount of cpu but it's just doing some pretty basic procedural generation right? which does take some cpu but not that much.

the thing with fps games is that they have really high quality textures which need to be loaded into to ram which takes a fast hard disk and fast ram and then when in game you need a fast graphices card to render the environment which spore DEFINATELY doesn't need.

[SuperJediMedia]

Running time of the DVDs? Thanks

[Fourjays Veteran]

How will this game perform on my 1.5 year old laptop:

Intel C2D 1.73 GHz

2 GB DDR2 RAM

256 MB DDR2 GeForce Go 7600

Vista Ultimate SP1

Anyone please?

My desktop PC is P4 2.8Ghz (Northwood), 1Gb, 256Mb 7600GT, Windows XP machine and it runs smoothly with everything at max except the shadows which are at medium. Providing your laptop graphics are supported, it should run fine.

[minimalisticx]

Running time of the DVDs? Thanks

"The Making Of Spore" is just under 30 mins

"How To Build A Better Being" is just under an hour