The Official Spore Thread

By Minifig
in PC Gaming

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Grand Master

Fourjays Veteran

Posted
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Posted (edited)
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.

It was said a while ago that Spore would run on the same as Sims 2. Which makes perfect sense and you can tell the engine is essentially the same.

The Sims 3 looks to be a new engine and appears similar to the original Spore demo in respect to everything "flowing" better as well as the graphics. So it makes sense to me that a "Spore 2" may come in the future using that engine. Hopefully not too far away because it looked very, very good.

Additionally, maybe they wanted Spore on as many PCs as possible the first time, in order to get everyone "on board" before pushing forward? Kind of like how Sims 1 was in 2D.

My system is considerably less than that and I wouldn't even consider mine "mass market for families".

Edited by Fourjays
Grand Master

»X«

Posted
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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.

I have to echo these thoughts. It just felt so quick. The only stage with any apparent depth is the space part. However that's from one extreme to the other. All the micromanagement bored me almost straight away.

Its a good game, but I think its a distraction. Its far from game of the year.

Experienced

solardog

Posted
Posted
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!

This reminds me of something. Swap out Spore and replace with Project Ego/Fable. I was going to grab this today, but this sentiment seems to be pretty common...I may be rethinking.

Veteran

Morgan

Posted
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You know I've got to agree with the quote in the above post. I too remember seeing that demo (or one of...) and wow, I was just so amazed by it. It really looked like it had a lot more depth. I was thinking about it today, and it would be a MUCH more amazing game if it actually had some online game play, and it would definitely add a lot more replayability (is that even a word) to the game. I mean, how much fun would it be to team up with 2 or 3 other friends, and play against other people all over the world. I have no idea why they didn't add such functions to the game.

I mean, sure it's fun for the first maybe 2-3 times you run through all the stages, but with no social interaction between live people, it can get rather boring...

I feel like this game needs to be put back into the oven and cooked for another year unfortunately. This game had so much potential, but not enough follow through which is too bad...

Oh well, at least it came with an awesome art book!

Grand Master

Fourjays Veteran

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I think the problem with Spore is that they've been unable to decide how to make it "playable" and "accessible" while applying it to evolution. The mechanics behind are brilliant and what I saw of that video looked to me more a "sandbox" then a game.

I'll try and use the Sims to explain - in the Sims you have your neighbourhood, in the neighbourhood are families and in the families are Sims. The neighbourhoods are totally separate, but the families within the neighbourhood are separate until you make them interact. Likewise, while the Sims are grouped in families, they are indeed individuals. You can play as one family, or another. You are fairly free to be who you want, when you want and they constantly age. As the family grows old, you start playing as the one that was just a baby at the start. In that way it is a continuous game - it won't end until you want it too. Alongside this, you have a sort of mini-game - fulfilling their needs and aspirations.

In comparison, in Spore the neighbourhoods are the galaxies. The family is the planet and the Sims are your creature. The problem being that unlike the Sims you can't switch from one planet to another, or from one creature to another. You are stuck with what you start with and therefore it has to come to an end. Not a big problem in itself - many games have a start and an end. The problem is that the gameplay is still designed for a continuous game like the Sims, and it just doesn't suit a start and end game.

It's like they've tried to merge the clever mechanics they've made, with the simple short-term gameplay of the Sims and the style of an RTS.

I hope that sort of makes sense, struggling to explain what I'm feeling about Spore.

Experienced

solardog

Posted
Posted
I think the problem with Spore is that they've been unable to decide how to make it "playable" and "accessible" while applying it to evolution. The mechanics behind are brilliant and what I saw of that video looked to me more a "sandbox" then a game.

I'll try and use the Sims to explain - in the Sims you have your neighbourhood, in the neighbourhood are families and in the families are Sims. The neighbourhoods are totally separate, but the families within the neighbourhood are separate until you make them interact. Likewise, while the Sims are grouped in families, they are indeed individuals. You can play as one family, or another. You are fairly free to be who you want, when you want and they constantly age. As the family grows old, you start playing as the one that was just a baby at the start. In that way it is a continuous game - it won't end until you want it too. Alongside this, you have a sort of mini-game - fulfilling their needs and aspirations.

In comparison, in Spore the neighbourhoods are the galaxies. The family is the planet and the Sims are your creature. The problem being that unlike the Sims you can't switch from one planet to another, or from one creature to another. You are stuck with what you start with and therefore it has to come to an end. Not a big problem in itself - many games have a start and an end. The problem is that the gameplay is still designed for a continuous game like the Sims, and it just doesn't suit a start and end game.

It's like they've tried to merge the clever mechanics they've made, with the simple short-term gameplay of the Sims and the style of an RTS.

I hope that sort of makes sense, struggling to explain what I'm feeling about Spore.

Thats a good explanation from what Ive heard. I'm still on the fence...seems innovative, yet I see myself burning out on it very quickly. The demo of the creature creation is very addictive, I tend to loose myself in that alone.

Grand Master

+longgonebn Subscriber²

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Thats a good explanation from what Ive heard. I'm still on the fence...seems innovative, yet I see myself burning out on it very quickly. The demo of the creature creation is very addictive, I tend to loose myself in that alone.

I stopped playing the Creature Creator within a day, got boring fast. Though this full game has more to it, I will probably finish it in a couple days. Will I go through another round, not sure.

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