The Official Spore Thread

[morphen]

EA is a moneymaking monster.

I bet their internal policy is; buy up/take over, milk the concept for all it's worth ( 2003 version, 2004 version, 2005 version, 2006 version, 2007 version and so on), then kill it, just to bring it back 3 years later, when everyone has forgotten about it, then milk it some more.

I bet if EA left Crysis / Crytek alone, so that they could have given the game another 2-3 months of optimizing and programming, we wouldn't have needed to patch it just to play it :p On the other hand, if EA had left them alone, we might not have seen the game for another half year, due to cash flow problems (or at least so i heard).

[morphen]

And even if you do not like a single publisher that is owned by EA, the mere existence of such a big competitor in the field encourages other publishers, who you do like, to make better games. Competition is good for the consumer.

That is just what is wrong with EA, there would be no competition, if EA were to run things.

they put out sequel after sequel, with minor changes to graphics and/or story,

they buy up/take over companies, and re-release their earlier games, with minor updates under their "brand".

EA has become too big for it's own good. It's all money for them, and that has become a problem.

I don't argue that they have done much for the gaming industry, but like when they pushed Crytek with

Crysis's release, I would gladly have waited 2-3-4 months if it meant I didn't have to apply a patch just to make it playable.

[Si_]

There was a day when EA was a well respected developer/publisher. A day when they treated developers like rock stars, giving them billing on the cover rather than no-name disposable monkeys. A day when they actually cared about the quality of their games.

It's a shame that because their ruthless path of destruction through the industry has led them to have such colossal profits they think it's the way business should be done and as such what gamers want :(

Really what people need to do is stop bitching about EA and vote with your wallets.

[clx]

Good for the customers! EA need to have there eyes opened!

drm is more of a problem for real customers than it is pirates and this just goes to show that.

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

There was a day when EA was a well respected developer/publisher. A day when they treated developers like rock stars, giving them billing on the cover rather than no-name disposable monkeys. A day when they actually cared about the quality of their games.

It's a shame that because their ruthless path of destruction through the industry has led them to have such colossal profits they think it's the way business should be done and as such what gamers want :(

Really what people need to do is stop bitching about EA and vote with your wallets.

Pretty much hit the nail on the head right there. It's the only way to make them realise they can't just turn out sequel after sequel. Unfortunately it won't ever work on a wide scale because there are always people willing to buy the yearly increments of their favourite sports title no matter what :blink:

[bobbytomorow]

Is there a retarded comment of the day feature on Neowin? Where would I nominate this post?

EA has done plenty for gaming. Some of the best games out there would never have been possible if EA had not bought their publishers and provided them with the additional funding they were struggling for. And even if you do not like a single publisher that is owned by EA, the mere existence of such a big competitor in the field encourages other publishers, who you do like, to make better games. Competition is good for the consumer.

If no one else, then I'm sure that EA has done more than you have for gaming.

Yeah sorry i don't like constant rehashes and sequels. I also don't like rushed software because EA is cracking the whip. And I especially hate in game advertising and or software bundled with misleading DRM. Its funny to actually find someone sticking up for them. They are implementing this crap on us and instead of siding with your peers you side with EA?

Why don't you do me a favour and name one good thing that EA has done for pc gaming in the past 5 years. Seriously, aside from the botched ports and them taking sports away from us what have they done that would warrant you sticking up for them?

ps-referring to my comment as "retarded" is not only insulting but also grotesquely bigoted

[Raa]

I think people would be slightly happier if there was an ability to "deactivate" a copy. I purchased Alone in the Dark and I installed it to 2 of my pcs, then uninstalled it to get back my activations. If more software had this ability, that at least, would be a better compromise. (I still hate the DRM idea though)

[Kushan]

The real irony is that the DRM didn't do a bloody thing to prevent piracy. It was on torrent sites days before it's official worldwide release, complete with a crack that meant you never had to deal with the silly DRM rubbish. Once again, the pirates get the better deal.

I quite like spore, I want to buy it, but I simply do not want that DRM rubbish on my machine. I've decided to wait until EA releases a patch that removes it or the price comes down far enough that I feel it's worth it, due to the added inconvenience of it all.

As for EA, while we can all agree that they're money-grabbing bastards, you have to admit that Spore wouldn't exist if it wasn't for them. Not many people would (or have the ability to) give Will Wright free reign for so long to do what he wants.

But don't worry, their reputation is really starting to get to them and believe it or not, EA is making a half-assed attempt at fixing it.

[Beastage]

At least the customers are finally showing some protest... tho they should have avoided the game all together.

To be honest, Spore is a poor game anyway... maybe 10yo kids will find it good.

I find it short, boring, repetitive and I just can't figure out what taken then so long to make it.

[Barney T. Administrators]

Threads merged

[OPaul]

So far, after playing up to the Tribal stage, I'm a little disappointed in the fact that you really spend no time in the first 2 stages at all. And those 2 stages don't actually seem to have any effect on the rest of the game, besides your overall look.

[Kushan]

So far, after playing up to the Tribal stage, I'm a little disappointed in the fact that you really spend no time in the first 2 stages at all. And those 2 stages don't actually seem to have any effect on the rest of the game, besides your overall look.

Actually every stage affects the next stages quite a bit (sort of). If you look at your history, you'll see that you get categorised at each stage (i.e. carnivore, herbivore, etc.). Just at the bottom of each category are some attributes that you get at the later stages. For example, during the cell stage because I was a carnivore, I had the "Roar" ability in the creature stage. But you get abilities and traits for every stage in each preceding stage.

A bit tenuous I know, but it does affect it all.

For me, I thought the game was a bit repetitive and boring up until the space stage. Once I got to this stage, I started to really really enjoy it. That is, until it crashed on me and I lost 2 and a half hours worth of progress.

Apparently Maxis never heard of autosave >_<

[DrunknMunky Veteran]

Yeah it crashes a lot on my laptop and I have no idea why. Been reading a lot of reports that the game is heavy on RAM usage, but everytime I've checked it's been pretty conservative tbh.

Funny thing is, I can continue to play if I ignore the Error Report in Windows for another 10 minutes or so. But it causes my laptop to eventually BSOD (N)

Not had any problems on my PC though, runs at full settings and it's very smooth (Y) The inital load is a little long though, my only complaint.

[Kushan]

It runs swimmingly well on my machine (But I'd be surprised if it didn't, I only built it a couple of months ago and fully intended it to be future proof for a while), seems to use about 800Mb of RAM, I've got 4Gb so I don't think RAM usage is the problem at all. Hopefully EA will patch it soon enough.

[Beastage]

So from what I gather, the game is repetitive and boring?

From my point of view , yes.

I have no idea why this game got delayed so many time.

It also very short and I reached space in about 1 hour, after a couple of space misisons I couldn't bother anymore.

Actually every stage affects the next stages quite a bit (sort of). If you look at your history, you'll see that you get categorised at each stage (i.e. carnivore, herbivore, etc.). Just at the bottom of each category are some attributes that you get at the later stages. For example, during the cell stage because I was a carnivore, I had the "Roar" ability in the creature stage. But you get abilities and traits for every stage in each preceding stage.

A bit tenuous I know, but it does affect it all.

For me, I thought the game was a bit repetitive and boring up until the space stage. Once I got to this stage, I started to really really enjoy it. That is, until it crashed on me and I lost 2 and a half hours worth of progress.

Apparently Maxis never heard of autosave >_<

Really? you liked the space stage?! it feels like some game from early 90s, fun at the time but today... just unsatisfying

[Fourjays Veteran]

I like it all, perhaps except that once you get to Civ what you do has little effect. I would like to have the vehicles and buildings evolve in the same way as the creatures did. Also an "auto manage" option (like in Civ IV) for colonies in space stage. Then I could manage them myself or just do my own thing.

Only crashed once for me since Friday. An auto-save would be nice, but the Sims didn't have it either. I think the idea is so that a casual player can just quit without saving if something they don't like happens. However that could still be done if a "continue from last auto save/continue from my last save" option was added too.

It's a game you either like or you don't.

@Beastage - I would like to know how you got to Space in an hour of play. The cell stage lasts at least 30 minutes. :laugh:

[Kushan]

Really? you liked the space stage?! it feels like some game from early 90s, fun at the time but today... just unsatisfying

Yeah I did, I think that's actually why I liked it as well. I like that kind of game and we haven't seen one like it in years.

[thefonz]

We all know that after a month or so with this when you go online, the only planets we're goign to find are planets full of penises...

How are your "monsters" looking?

i cant settle on one, and keep changing it.

also does anyone else find the 2nd stage tedious?

1) charm/hunt the next nest

2) eat

3) mate

4) repeat

or am i missing a quick way - i want to build my flying tanks dang it!

[Kushan]

That's pretty much it for the creature stage, but there's actually other stuff to explore. There are some really large creatures you can try to charm/hunt as well for extra DNA bonuses.

It took me about an hour to progress from that stage I think.

[Slugsie]

Got Spore at the weekend, and played with it for a few hours. Loved the first two parts of the game, great fun. The third part was basically a re-hash of the original Warcraft (NOT WoW) from 10+ years ago and started to lose me. Pretty much hated fourth part as there is no real instruction on what your doing at the start (i.e. the vehicle you have to design, you're given no idea what it's for until AFTER you've designed it). I've played about 30 minutes of the space section, and it just seems like pure tedium. Having read through some posts on the official Spore forum and what people are complaining about there (pirate attacks, crumbling eco-systems etc, and you having to single handedly fix everything immediately) I doubt I'll enjoy this part either.

I've also just watched the 2005 presentation by Will Wright on YouTube and I can't believe that the game demoed 3 years ago is related to whats just released. That game had so much more depth, and a much greater sense of exploration and an evolutionary 'sand-box'. I want that game. PLEASE!

[+longgonebn Subscriber²]

I haven't played much, section stage only. I have found that from my friends and everyone talking, they are completing the game quite fast. All the talk and hype for this game I thought it would take for ever to complete, yes you can do it over again and in many different ways, but still. Anywho, still quite fun, some are not so great, some are.

[I am Redbeard]

Man am I glad I didn't shell out for this game!

[Fourjays Veteran]

@Slugsie - Just watched that video... seems radically different. Why, if they could do it like that, did they break it into stages? :blink: I can only hope that it is due to wanting it to run on a lower spec PC and a "Spore 2" would be more like that.

[Slugsie]

@Slugsie - Just watched that video... seems radically different. Why, if they could do it like that, did they break it into stages? :blink: I can only hope that it is due to wanting it to run on a lower spec PC and a "Spore 2" would be more like that.

I don't think that's a good enough excuse. That video is 3 years old, so running on high end hardware from back then, which is maybe mid-low end now. It runs fine on my middling system (C2D oc'ed 2.4GHz, 4GB ram, 8600GT @ 1920x1200, Vista Ultimate x64), so most systems from the last 2 years should be more than adequate I reckon.

I think like others have said, it got 'dumbed down'. Great shame as that demo looked superb.

Here's hoping for Spore 2.

[Kushan]

Call my cynical, but I'd expect the "missing features" to appear in a series of expansion packs for the game.

EDIT: Oh looky, Maxis made some of the (Very) early prototypes of the game available to check out: http://www.spore.com/comm/prototypes

How befitting of this conversation.