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HG:L is definitely worth checking out - it's a lot of fun!
killion81
Member UncommonPosts: 995
Negative posts abound. People LOVE to complain, and I honestly believe that a lot of people LOVE to be miserable. Maybe it's just easier to hate everything, I dunno.
This game has come a long ways in a very short time. It is a reality that the game released a few months before it should have, however, they are quickly bringing it up to par. They have fixed almost all of the bugs (still working on a few parts of the memory leak). There will be more bugs in the future, but that's programming and addition of new content. It has always happened and it will continue to happen.
I will say I am a fan of the game. Call me a "fanboi" if you want, I really don't care what you want to think about me. I am a fan of the game because I find it fun. That is, by far, the single most important thing to me when I look at a game. Is it fun to play? With Hellgate: London, the answer has consistently been "yes!". It is getting better and better with little fixes and the soon to be released Stonehenge patch looks sweet.
You will always see more negative posts than positive posts about a game. People that enjoy games often tend to just play them and have a good time. People that have some issue with a game feel the need to voice their opinion. The people with the problems are the ones you see writing "reviews" and straight up complaining, often with very few, if any, facts to back up their complaints.
This game is worth checking out. There are a LOT of people having a great time playing it. I would recommend ignoring the complainers until you have had a chance to try it out for yourself. It IS a fun game. At the very least you should get 20-40 hours of entertainment out of it, making it considerably cheaper than something like a movie or going out for dinner.
Comments
agreed, HGL may not be GotY quality, but it sure is damn fun.
Its a great game till you get to the end of act 5 in nightmare. Enjoy trying to kill level 60 enemies. Seriously, what were they thinking there...
I have to agree with you that yeah its a really fun game and a real blast ! .... but I feel I have to also say that the idea of subscibing to this game is ridiculous,for what is basically a very good single player experience only. I also think more people that have played it come clean and be more responsible by telling everyone to avoid subsribing to it.
Its a very very good single player game and is fun in short bursts and is defo worth the price of the box .
But no no way is it worthy of anyones hard earned cash on a monthly basis, maybe some sort of in game shop system would be more appropriate in this case, and people could choose to buy the extra content or not. In fact I think tis sort of approach would be perfect for Hellgate.
What makes you call this a single player game? You can't play online? I've never once thought of this game as a single player game. It is a very good multiplayer game. With soloing being so inefficient (not to mention extremely boring) compared to grouping, it always confuses me when people talk about solo play. Even if all you wanted to do was grind exp you'd be nuts to do so solo.
I played this game during the preorder beta, and it was a decent title. I will say however that I did not get that itch to play it like I have with other games. In fact, I went so far as to cancel my preorder as I never saw myself actually wanting to play it enough to spend cash on it.
And it's definitely a singleplayer game. I never once grouped, or had anyone WANT to group. The community that I encountered at the time (and I do realize that it was not the release community) didn't even want to answer simple questions.
My only other real complaint was the lack of item differences in terms of graphics. That could be because I only played till like 15 or so, but everything looked exactly the same.
This game was released incomplete, that's just the way it happened. Accepting that, they have done a really good job bringing the game to the "complete" point.
New items are being added in for subscribers. The Stonehenge patch will be the determining factor on whether or not a subscription will be worth the cost. From what I've seen of Stonehenge, it looks awesome.
Although this games alot like WoW (if you deny play both and then read the rest of my message) but the fact that is relies more on twtich combat than the new DAOC Fighting style it was alot mroe playable than WoW. THe only problem i had with it (in alpha) was that the ranged were way too powerful, i could clear out a room faster than with my swordsman (sorry cant remember the names) get more exp w/o taking as much damage. I got further in less time. Just didnt seem like the classes were ablanaced much, soon after release I heard the swordsmen had a damage increase but I havent had the money to check it out.
With the twitch combat and the tight leveling curve it gains for its retro RPG feel this game would be alot of fun to play, the only downfall i really see is its INSTANCED Levels. For an MMORPG To have instances i find it kind of useless AS an mmorpg. But for something thats free monthly, whose to say its not forgiveable?
3.8/5 stars, great graphics, fun combat
I bought it for multiplayer.
It was not fit for purpose.
I played it most of the way through on single-player however and it was good honest fun.
In multiplayer, the maps are too small to need more than one player. Players number 2,3,4 and 5 are simply running round a 3 minute map after player one looting the trail of dead bodies he left.
Pretty soon any team decays into 5 players all in seperate instances, doing their own thing.
It's buggy. More time than not, I am unable to interact with the other players. There is a sync error. Either he is standing next to me, but i can;t even see him, or I can't trade with him.
The chat window is horrible and unwieldy to use. Most players never even find it.
There is no team dynamic. Players can all solo every level and every boss. There are no interdependant classes. No group tasks. Teamwork is not encouraged.
There is an additional subscription fee for extra content and a hardcore game mode, when this should all be included for nothing to add additional intrest to an already lacklustre experience.
2 player Tetris proved to have more longevity than this game. I and my friend, (who bought a new PC solely to play this together online), gave up after 6 days.
Sorry but even if they fixed every bug, (of which I have no confidence at all, it was a high budget game with an extended development period of over a year), it will still be a crap multiplayer. The game's design focus was single player, with multi as a secondary concern. Mid way through their development, WoW released and made massive sales and they decided the time was right to capitalise on subscription gaming.
They lost sight of their development aims and wasted valuable man hours chasing a golden goose which has evaded them. People won't subscribe to Single Player orientated games. The designers simply didn't have a clue about what makes for a good online experience.
Well I think the only class that was overpowered was the Evoker because at high level evokers were able to run through things too easily but don't forget you can make many types of builds for each class. For instance you can make a Guardian and make him either defensive or offensive and still be very effective. Though either way, the game has progressed nice and it really fun to play.
InThere is an additional subscription fee for extra content and a hardcore game mode, when this should all be included for nothing to add additional intrest to an already lacklustre experience.
Sorry but even if they fixed every bug, (of which I have no confidence at all, it was a high budget game with an extended development period of over a year), it will still be a crap multiplayer. The game's design focus was single player, with multi as a secondary concern. Mid way through their development, WoW released and made massive sales and they decided the time was right to capitalise on subscription gaming.
They lost sight of their development aims and wasted valuable man hours chasing a golden goose which has evaded them. People won't subscribe to Single Player orientated games. The designers simply didn't have a clue about what makes for a good online experience.
A lot of people find the game quite fun. More and more people are subscribing every day. I'm not trying to change your opinion, but it's poor practice to speak for everyone when you really only represent your own opinion.
Well I think the only class that was overpowered was the Evoker because at high level evokers were able to run through things too easily but don't forget you can make many types of builds for each class. For instance you can make a Guardian and make him either defensive or offensive and still be very effective. Though either way, the game has progressed nice and it really fun to play.
Having a set path on where to go with these classes kinda irks me. Reach lvl 40 to get these 3 skills, get to lvl 75 to level up these things. I dont really see that as very fun. (i am aware there isnt that many levels but level requirements non the less)
I know every game has their own version of this, like even my praise to darkfallonline can be seen with this. You have 100's of skills to choose from, each ranging from 0 to a max level of 100. Once you max something to 100 you can move on to something else, EA: Get 100 swordmanship? Get dual wielding! Also withthe whole get to lvl 35 on your sword skill, but it isnt NEEDED in order to be good or cause a boatload more damage, it just helps.
And i do really like the old dev team from the Diablo Series and i gotta say that It was kinda bringing back old memories of playing diablo II. except in a world i had to explore on the streets instead of from the sky.
Honestly, when I played last about 3 weeks ago, before I reformatted my hard drive, the stations were fairly dead and the only people in chat channels were the "gold farmers" spamming and people complaining about it.
I kept telling people in chat channel to please stop ruining my single player experience and to stop typing...funny but so very true. The game is a single player game, period. Multiplayer was a functionality that was just tacked onto the title as an after-thought. The fact that they throw a subscription plan ontop of that is just a crime.
By-the-way, where are you getting your insider knowledge that "more and more people are subscribing every day."? Because everywhere I have read (read: not only on these forums), reviews are fairly accurate in stating: Stay away!
Thought it was F2P online?
You can subscribe and get new content or not pay and not get new content.
Problem is that even the OP says there is 40 hours of fun there. This is an MMO, if it isn't then at the least it should be removed from this site.
I remember people actually petitioned to get this game listed here!
Where are they?
I very much doubt there are more than 30K paying subscribers.
This is the Auto Assault of recent years: too quirky and off-beat. Mainstream players do not get quirky and off-beat. Long term it is never profitable.
HGL tries to carve a new genre; action RPG meets FPS playing online. It tries to be Half Life 2 meets Diablo 2, but fails to be either. It could have been #1 MMOG of 2007, but it wasn't and it will be forgotten about under the weight of Wrath of the Lich King, Warhaammer Online and I predict this is the year we will hear about the next MMO from Blizzard.
No annoying animated GIF here!
Honestly, when I played last about 3 weeks ago, before I reformatted my hard drive, the stations were fairly dead and the only people in chat channels were the "gold farmers" spamming and people complaining about it.
I kept telling people in chat channel to please stop ruining my single player experience and to stop typing...funny but so very true. The game is a single player game, period. Multiplayer was a functionality that was just tacked onto the title as an after-thought. The fact that they throw a subscription plan ontop of that is just a crime.
By-the-way, where are you getting your insider knowledge that "more and more people are subscribing every day."? Because everywhere I have read (read: not only on these forums), reviews are fairly accurate in stating: Stay away!
Go to the HG:L subscriber forum. Every day there are several posts by new people becoming subscribers and satisfied current subscribers. The complainers are always the loudest on the internet. You can say whatever you want with complete anonymity.
There are plenty of people that enjoy the game, they just don't make it their personal crusade to tell everyone how much they like it.
And yet you claim to speak for "a lot of people". I suggest you endeavour to live up to your own standards before attempting to hold anyone else up to them.
The only people I know who own this game have not subscribed, and are not still playing it.
For the record, I found this game fun too. Only not the multiplayer, which was a llama. Pity, because that is what we bought it for.
I am also quite willing to say this in person. And have done to many people. It's not just because I am posting online that I am saying the multiplayer is not much cop. It is because I think so.
It's got a great multiplayer because people only complain when they have anomynity? What are you on about mate? Really?
Honestly, when I played last about 3 weeks ago, before I reformatted my hard drive, the stations were fairly dead and the only people in chat channels were the "gold farmers" spamming and people complaining about it.
I kept telling people in chat channel to please stop ruining my single player experience and to stop typing...funny but so very true. The game is a single player game, period. Multiplayer was a functionality that was just tacked onto the title as an after-thought. The fact that they throw a subscription plan ontop of that is just a crime.
By-the-way, where are you getting your insider knowledge that "more and more people are subscribing every day."? Because everywhere I have read (read: not only on these forums), reviews are fairly accurate in stating: Stay away!
Go to the HG:L subscriber forum. Every day there are several posts by new people becoming subscribers and satisfied current subscribers. The complainers are always the loudest on the internet. You can say whatever you want with complete anonymity.
There are plenty of people that enjoy the game, they just don't make it their personal crusade to tell everyone how much they like it.
Since you mentioned the official forums: go to the tech forum section as well. Plenty of people complaining there about bugs, not being able to start the game, not getting answer from support (aka support system still doesn't work properly) or getting billed wrongly. That's the other side of the coin, and those people don't post there because they are on some crusade. They have real problems with the game. The subscriber forum isn't the only section on those forums you know...
EDIT
Just checked the subscriber forum. It's not all positive there too. These are some topics on the first page of the subscriber section:
'Your player Base is dying FSS!! How much longer will the mods keep us uninformed?'
'can we get more updates from the devs as to whats going on and what is in the works'
'server error = instant kill for hardcore ???'
'No one wants a minigame timer!'
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Playing: Final Fantasy Online: ARR, Destiny
Most memorable games for me: UO, GW1, LoTRO
A handful of complainers doesn't represent the whole. There were over 6k people online last night. Do you truly believe they were all having a terrible time? Nonsense. The official forums are full of whiny tantrums just like these forums. Just because the haters post a lot doesn't mean they represent the rest of us.
I truley believe that this game has sold millions of copies and that most people who bought it have neither subscribed nor are actively playing it online.
Now I haven't canvased the world. I can't tell you for sure, I can only share with you my personal experience and my opinions based around this.
If we take for example another comparative selling title released around the same time, Enemy Territory, I can tell you that there is currently 10's of thousands of players online. Or I can give you the example of a much older game that has sold a similar amount of copies since HGL's release, World of Warcraft, which was also billed as the sequel to Diablo and which still has 100,000s or thousands of players currently online and is still outselling HGL.
I do feel that 6,000 players online is more than an adequate number for people to enjoy a decent community. And it is by no means my assertion that no one enjoys the MP. However, I don't especially, and neither does anyone I know. That's not to say we "hate" it, only that it didn't meet the requirements to hold our attention for more than a few days.
It is also true to say that all forums, official or otherwise are always full of complaints. Even games of the highest calibre are flooded with demands for patches, refunds and bug fixes etc.
That is why in my posts I have attempted to describe the shortfalls that has resulted in my unwillingness to play this game multiplayer, (and the unwillingness of my friends), rather than just post messages of "hate". Please be aware that we are not all teenagers who listen to death rock and that for most of us, there are very few things on the planet that we actually hate. For the most part we endaeavour to take as much pleasure as we can from the things around us, especially entertainment packages that we have just spent £30 on.
Try and be objective please, people don't just complain because they hate the world any more than people post their satisfaction because they all work for the company.This game hasn't been remarkably well received. It isn't going to be a big "game of the year" winner. And while it may be enjoyable, there are many more enjoyable titles to choose from if multiplayer is your thing.
You may enjoy it. So may many others, but it has been universally panned both in the reviews and in the bulk of personal feedback given by individual gamers online. There is no conspiracy of hate. The game falls short of excellence.
I just wanted to chime in and say, "well said". Just because someone disagrees with your opinion does not mean that they are involved with the "grand conspiracy".
While I am sure that many people do enjoy the game, it is clear by any of the forums I have read (including the official ones that require an account just to view), that there are a great deal of people who are not happy with the game (be it because of bugs, design, replay value, etc). And while I do agree that any game's forums is just not a good indicator of a game's playerbase and how it feels, it is nonetheless the only one available for other players to see and partake in.
Why am I not happy with the game and the over $200USD I spent on it (pre-order + founders)? Simply because I feel like it did not live up to its promises and just doesn't deliver on the quality I was expecting. To add to this, FSS pulled some of the key subscriber only features, or just gave them to everyone - This made me feel like "bait and switch" and I did not like it. To top it all off, Ping0 (Bill started that company at the same time as FSS) goes and signs a deal with a huge notorious gold farming company - Sure, it is probably for their other title but I am 100% against farming and the support of it; for a company to go do that, regardless of which title it is in support of, condems all their titles in my own opinion (and it sickens me to think my money went to supporting that).
can still find over double that amount of htat companies old game DIABLO II.
(Yes before htey worked at flagship studios most of them worked for blizzard, if you didnt already know that)
They have potential witht he game but I think this game was made to earn money to supply. Im not angered at the players and making fun of anyone for playing it. Im mainly mad that even people with such talent as these guys (THIS IS IF THIS GAME WAS SERIUS AND NOT JUST SOMETHING TO PLANT THEIR ROOTS) wasted it on a game that, although shows more player involvement than some, made something so simple and easy.
I just hope their next title (other than mythos), if an mmorpg. Is going to be alittle more difficult, AT LEAST MAKE THE MULTIPLAYER AMUSING AND REWARDING TO MAKE YOU WANT TO PLAY WITH OTHERS.
Whoever plays, hope you have fun, im still waitin on that game to perk my interest like some of the old school titles did.