I have been reading some of the posts complaining about the demo, and it cracks me up. These guys come on and post complaining about the smallest details "hey, Vader has a red dot on his cape", "my atat scratched paint going through the gate". Or my favorite "this game is nothing more than a AOE expansion to make money." Hey guys, WHAT DID YOU EXPECT???? I thought the game developers themselves said that they were using the AOE engine. Did you think they were joking with us? Did you think they had a big conspiracy coming and it was gonna turn out that they developed a new ground breaking game?? Next time, before you spend hours downloading a demo, maybe you should research what its gonna be before you do it. From the reaction of McGeeza and some others, it seems like you didnt know this was gonna be the AOE engine with a few changes. The developers have been very open about this and you guys act like its some big controversy that its similar to AOE. Instead of wasting your time flaming games here, unless you do it in an intelligent way, you should go research these things so you never waste hours downloading a game you never would have liked again.
Exactly. *Nods in agreement*
The complaint comes not from the fact that they used AOE engine but that it feels like all they did is replace the graphics.
To illustrate:
When Valve licensed the Quake (and portions of the Q2) engine from id Software they did not just change the graphics and what the weapons and monsters looked like. The created a whole new skeletal animation system. They rewrote the AI. Create a whole slew of new weapons. When Half-Life was released it bore absolutely no resemblance to Quake (or Quake 2) other than the fact it was a FPS. This goes for many other FPS games out there (Wheel of Time, SOF, Undying, etc.)
Mods on the other hand bear a strong resemblance to the game on which they are based. If you have ever played They Hunger (a mod for Half-Life) you know what I mean. It was a different game but I could tell I was using the Half-Life engine.
I think most of us knew that GB would be using the AOE2 engine, we just didn't think that it would look and feel like we were playing a mod of AOE2.
This also comes down to price. If a developer really take time and stretches the current functionality of an existing engine then they should price it accordingly. But if it is a mod (remember Shrak for Quake) then it belongs in the $19.99 bargin bin.
Now before everyone flames me I am not saying that GB belongs in the bargin bin. In fact I plan on purchasing it when I comes out. But, I hope it is priced relative to the amount of work put into it.
Originally posted by porkins14
Instead of wasting your time flaming games here, unless you do it in an intelligent way, you should go research these things so you never waste hours downloading a game you never would have liked again.
Hehe who needs hours anymore? I think it took me about 15 minutes, I made a sandwich :)
I don't want to flame any one i just wanted to say that i guess i know it would be a lot like AOEII.
I can't say this is just a mod for AOEII. I mean there are new game play featers in this game And of course it is a full game not just the x-pack which wuold have just the campanes and no AI or game engien in it.
Now i am just woundering (because i don't know the answer) how much did the x-pack of AoEII cost????
This is an interesting topi . Although I must say regardless of hwat people nknow about what engine it is using you would think that there is really noting new added to the RTS genre? So what if it uses the AIK engine. The added features more than adds a sense of flare to this supposed MOD. I dont think they just replaced graphics. They added AIR support, The power core thing is very unique. Also the force field generators and cloaking abilities are a few of the the added attractions to this game. Plus its Star Wars!!! Finally an great RTS based on the SW universe. I loved AOK despite its 2d flare. The graphics aren't Quake 3 or any other d based game but it still looks great.
Originally posted by Duncan
This also comes down to price. If a developer really take time and stretches the current functionality of an existing engine then they should price it accordingly. But if it is a mod (remember Shrak for Quake) then it belongs in the $19.99 bargin bin.
Now before everyone flames me I am not saying that GB belongs in the bargin bin. In fact I plan on purchasing it when I comes out. But, I hope it is priced relative to the amount of work put into it.
Well, is a year and a half enough developement time for you? :D They could have pumped out a mod in well under a year, but they really put time and resources into making it different from AOK. Sure, they wanted to take the best qualities of AOK, but they also worked very hard to add their own style and features to make it a whole new gaming experience.
I normaly try to stay away form flaming individuals and I will try to here. If you dont like AOK then this game probably wasnt for you to begin with. Its really funny how people want to say things like "that isnt real" or "that isnt how it was in the movie". The truth is they would probably still get owned and then start whining that the game is too realistic and not fun or arcade enough. I agree with the first poster. And for the people who are graphics whores. :rolleyess
It's not the fact it's based on the AoK engine. It's the fact that some things have been implemented (air power) poorly atm. Mainly the shields and air power. As I said in another thread, speed is life in air power, and it's just wrong to stop and hover and shoot. And I don't see how being in range of a shield generator gives everyone a little personal shield. But I can live with those little things, as I still think it's a fun game.
Muuurgh, As far as air units go it may not be how RA2 was or even how you see it in the movies, but thats just the way it is, if its bothers you that much dont build air units and dont bother with shields. There are many alternatives to those units. They could not do everything "by the book" there could have been limits on what the engine could accomplish. More than likely it was for game balance. Force commander was a game where air units could be used in a similar way to what you are talking about. There was little the defender could do to stop it. No one wants a game dominated by air units, no one wants another FC.
:x-wing:
But my point is why implement them so poorly? Very few people are happy with air power in the game at tech level 3. Maybe with tech level 4 it'll be better, and maybe they'll be better balanced at that stage. When the full version comes out I'll pass my final judgement. And then you'll all know whether the game is a success or not :) jk
The problem is you have to balance gameplay and realism. Yes, a Y-wing would never hover above a target while dropping bombs. However, starcraft uses the same principle with wraiths and it may be the most popular RTS ever. The reason is because it would be EXTREMELY frustrating to attack a target that you made sure is out of range of anti air facilities, only to find your YWINGS blown to bits because the pilot chose to make attack runs. That is very obvious, which is why I dont understand your complaints. Someone with good unit control, can stay just out of range of those towers while attack the base, hoovering allows these people to have well deserved advantage.
So does any one know how the AoEII x-pack cost when it first came out???
It took me exactly 6 1/2 minutes to download the friggin demo, it took me around 2 hours to install the zone software, and have to uninstall it, delete my temporary internet files and cookies, and reinstall the zone software again (3x) until I could finally log in, and that was only good for a day, now the figgin board is set up for the retail release version???? but anyways it is still the best place to find people for an IP game. All in all the demo is a 7.5 out of 10, I think the game will be a 9 or higher "must buy" game, oh yeah JEDI OUTCAST looks sweet in the new PC gamer!