Preorder the saviour for AOC economy and is the game in trouble?

Draccan

Am I the only person here who feels this game is in serious trouble?



I have followed it since around a month or two before I joined the forum.



The Friday updates are weak and sometimes a joke. I waited for some hard facts about what this game is. I have seen countless of choreographed videos but hardly any gameplay videos that has made sense.



The graphics look beautiful in the screenshots and official videos. The gameplays from the conventions seems to center around capture the flag and starter areas in alledgedly old builds. Journalists have seen hardly anything to make a qualified and unbiased opinion either for or against.



The NDA is strictly enforced. There is no lifting taking place, I fear. The open beta is not 100% open.



I have made a critical thread in December and one in November about the state of the game. The diehard fans here always try to jump and derail the thread so it is padlocked and thus died down. Nice strategy. There is no way to keep a discussion open.

95% of the defenders are not defending point of views but are namecalling and say doomsayer to all criticism.



I find the PR the last 8 months centered on boobs and fatality moves. I think almost all updates were a joke, info about tarantulas, the crom's balls comic, an unrelevant contest etc etc.



Still 2 months before release I am not wiser than I was in April. In fact, the knowledge I had is disputed now by rumours and innuendo and in some case official or semi official words.

Content is being cut. Every hour I read about new stuff not meeting the deadline.



So if Border Kingdoms is not in the game at launch, how can they playtest, beta and balance this game even??

Legacy quests, how many are there really?



What do I really know about quests? What do I know about the core of the game, the combo system? It seem to change all the time and there is never any STATUS UPDATE. Where are we?



Will there be harsh pvp penalties or not?



What about player cities and crafting and spellweaving? I heard tons about bar brawls and they wont make the deadline...



So what is in? What is not?



Is FC really just putting a sock in all information outlets and are they desperately trying to cover up a failing game. The situation I felt coming and feared is here. The truth is about to leak out from their own information and from the open beta.



I personally have left my guild today. It would be disrespectful to continue on when I have no faith in the game any more. I will stick around and hope the best, but realistically I think I have to wait to 2009-2010 for a potential dream mmo to come out...



Did FC run out of money and just HAVE to release now? It seems like it 2 me. What happened? Why are they rushing it out. Every blind fanboy sheep can see clearly it is RUSHED!



This is NOT about wanting to know every detail. This is not about wanting to know all aspects of the game. But how can I preorder something I have absolutely no idea what is about??



How many instances are there? How many invisible walls? Can I see the play map like with other MMOs still in production?



Why all the secrecy? What are FC hiding?



This might come of as negative, but I dare any DEV, not moderator, but DEV to come on and engage in a healthy debate about the state of the game and PROOF ME WRONG. Give me the reasons I should preorder for 90 bucks for a collectors edition?



What is in the game? What is not? What is delayed? What is a maybe?



FC you promised us the world of hyboria - a brutal mmo? Is it still there?



Let us know !!!



Draccan

A.Blackloch

That's a lot of questions there. I'd like to see someone from Funcom to give 100% honest answers too, not only another thread full of speculations by us users, and a word of info from here and there.

singsofdeath

Quite a lot of questions in there and many questions I believe many of the fans of AoC want answers to as well (such as myself).

 

However, I am a little more relaxed in my point of view. The strict NDA enforcement is nothing we haven't seen before and I can live with that more than I can live with supposed Beta-leaks and rumors that are regularly posted here and elsewhere.

 

I am hoever hoping for a major newsfix once the FanEvent has gone down and I do hope Avery will bring back a whole bunch of news that we can chat and be happy about.

 

I wouldn't say the game is in serious trouble. I am curious and a little worried myself about all of this, but I'm not overly concerned that the game will totally suck or anything like that. So I wait for more info and in the meanwhile, read a lot of books. ^_^

Draccan

singsofdeath

did u do that starwarsy drawing (avatar) yourself?

singsofdeath

I wish i could draw that well. ^_^

 

No, the avatar picture was done by Sayda. The art can be found on the deviantart-page. I don#t have the link handy right now, but you should be able to find it easily...once deviantart comes back on-line. <.<

alakram

mmm too much questions for an unreleased game, just wait till the game comes out. Is the best bet we all do. Wait, observe and judge.

Rubakai

A good post and I completely agree. I will probably buy this game even if there is no more info untill release just because there is nothing of any  value out at the moment.

 

However, it is true the lack of information is worrying. Some will say this is Funcom's way and they dont want to release and info. Even so at this point close to release they should start saying what is in, what makes the game good, what the core gameplay is etc etc just to advertise, and i cant think of any real reason why they are not apart from them not really knowing either at this moment. At this point everyone should expect a not 100% finished game, Funcom dont have a chance with everything they are pulling out at the last miniute. This is not really a bad thing in terms of content which can be added, but if the gameplay is not finely tuned or everyone gets in and finds the guild PvP system unfinished or the PvP in general unbelievably unbalanced then I will be disappointed and Funcom will have alot to answer for.

 

I hope, for my sake and everyone else bored stiff with lack of decent MMO's at the moment, that I am proved wrong.

HelloKirby

If the game is in trouble and is rushing then they just won't receive as  high as a score in the reviews.  The anticipation for the game is very highand if they ,dare I say, canceled the game things would get very ugly.

But Age of Conan is probaly doing fine, if not nothing can be done but watch.

Xasapis

At this point it doesn't really matter if the game is good or bad (or how we percieve it. Only the release version matters. I bet even the beta testers can't really tell you how polished the end game will be, what will make it in the gold version and what will be omitted.

I hope both AoC and WAR turn up to be good alternatives to the MMOs out there (although I was hoping for a sience fiction or wastelands MMO). No real reason to get excited about them before the launch though, we usually make the mistake of raising the expectations too high.

howardb

All those questions will be answered before the release. You can call the open-beta whatever you like, but fact is they will open up the game for a lot of people. Enough that the truth will be set free anyway. The NDA will be lifted - wheather Funcom wants it or not - and people will start answering questions on forums such as this.

I don't really care anymore. There's so much whining over trivialities. If they cut a few features I couldn't care less. If people feel they shouldn't buy AoC because there's only 12 classes and not 14 or that all the end-game content isn't finished at release, but will be when people reach end-game. Well then don't buy it.

I know however that you're doing yourself a great disservice, because there isn't anything better on the market either now or in the foreseeable future - WAR included. Disclaimer: Yes that's a totally subjective observation and others might disagree and that's allowed.

You're of course entitled to being critical. You're entitled to holding Funcom to their hype. You're also entitled to your own opinion, but look at the MMO market anno 2008. If AoC deliver 75% of it's hype how can  you not buy it? If on principles you decide to not buy AoC because it didn't deliver everything it promised, well then more power to you. Me? I'm gonna have a blast in Hyboria. And when I hit lvl80 the Border Kingdoms will be there waiting for me.

Antarious

I'm not what I'd consider a die hard fan.. but I'm just not getting that feeling.

/shrug

Can't say why.. just that I'm not.

Personally I think its great they are having a strict NDA...   Almost eveything you've mentioned as a negative I see as a positive.

Games used to be a suprise.. you didn't know much about them when you entered the world.  Now I feel you know to much... most of the time the mystery is gone before you even pay for the game.

We'll see I guess... I pre-ordered AO and lived through that launch.  Of course I didn't have most of the problems other people did.

I've actually been getting more excited not nervous.. heck I just pre-ordered my collector's edition.. /shrug

 

If it sucks it won't be the first game that did... and it won't be the last.  I just figure I'm willing to try it..

(btw I pre-ordered Horizons.. to give you an idea.. and played it for 3 or 4 months lol .. even with the porn company that did the billing back then).

 

Kemplar

Funcom would be wise to note other games that have rushed their releases. Sure you can cut content and features if you’re getting close to the deadline, but it will do you no good to patch it in if your first impressions have cost you a player base. Take Vanguard for example. That may be an extreme example but an example nonetheless. It's really time for these game developers to take note and stop trying to pilfer off bullsh*t to us gamers. We're a little bit smarter than you think. On another note, we gamers shouldn't be so quick to give these guys our money. We're almost as bad as a cheap whore, tossing our money at every P.O.S MMO that comes along. We're helping to fueling developer’s decisions to release crap. We need to be a little more reserved with our money.

howardb

To answer a few questions here's some breaking news from the official forums. The information is gathered from the community event in Oslo this weekend. Thanks to aequitas for translating from German.

German site: http://aoc.gamona.de/index.php?unid=821

AoC thread: http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=52426

 

Servers:

Still planning to have:

- RP PvP

- PvP

- PvE

on release.

On RP PvP Servers you will have slightly adjusted rules on how to behave and player/guild names.



PvP:

-Everyone not in your Group is your enemy. (Perhaps Guild Members will always count as friends – not decided yet.

-All Itemstats have 2 different versions – 1 for PvE and 1 for PvP. The PvP Stats are used for special PvP Equipment. There will be a ranking for pvp experience – you gain experience by killing others and loose exp by dying.

-Every few months, the currently highest ranked ppl will receive a small price (ingame item)

-There will be other CTF Arenas (you’ve seen the one from stygia). The Arena is chosen randomly, not sure if the other Arenas make it into the release version

-Modes : CTF & Team Annihilation still in



Crafting:

- Every Char can learn 1(!) crafting profession

- Right now you’ve got to be lvl 40 to start crafting, perhaps will be changed to 20 – not yet decided

- Professions: Armorsmith, Weaponsmith , Alchemy, Jewelcrafter, Architect

- Crafting lvls are gained by doing quests, it won’t help to build the same thing 1000 times

- Recipes don’t vanish after you used them

- You’ll probably reach max crafting lvl within a few hours

- Almost all Items are available in 2 versions, one version with usual resources and one version with rare resources. Crafted Items are the only items with sockets.

- Sockets come in different sizes and there’s a max of 4 sockets per item

- You can’t remove jewels if you’ve attached them to an Item before

- Most (perhaps all) crafted Items won’t have stats like int or str. The crafted Items define themselves through their basic stats

- Without jewels the crafted items will be weaker than dropped items, if you fight against enemies with special resistances crafted items with sockets probably will be more effective than dropped items

- High lvl crafting items can only be assembled if you’re a member of a guild which owns a guild city and the needed crafting building

- Crafting doesn’t need an anvil or sth like this next to you, you can craft everywhere.

- Crafting itself is completely automatic and there’s no risk of loosing the resources



Guildcities

- there’re 3 instanced zoned (can be copied without any restrictions – no max number of guild cities on one server) so every guild can build a guildcity. Those zones are: Lachleish Plains (Cimmeria), Poitain (Aquilonia) and Purple Lotus Swamps (Stygia)

- A guild needs at least 30 players to start building a city. Some of those players have to be 60+

- You can chose the desired country in the beginning, the instance and the slot are automatically chose by system though

- All buildings need a combination of metal, wood, stone and gold

- In the city you’ll find dozens of foundation stones of different size. A guild member with enough authorization and the profession architect can use those stones and chose the building he wants to be built. After you’ve paid for the building, construction starts automatically.

- The first buliding you have to build always is the keep

- Almost all buildings have different tiers (1-3 or 1-2)

- Upgrading your buildings will raise the lvl of your city

- Walls are also buildings. You can construct an inner and an outer wall (seems to be determined where you build them – not sure though, ? my opinion). Towers and stairs can be built “relatively free”. If you build walls, there’s no way to get past them (so no climbing or walking around them).

- Every player will be able to teleport to the guildkeep. Not yet decided if this ability will have a CD



Harvesting

- there’re 4 basic resources

- every resource is available in (6-8) different tiers (bronze, iron …)

- if you’re harvesting resources, there’s always the chance of finding rare resources of that specific resource you’re harvesting

- resources will be shown on (mini) map

- most resources will be found in the three guild city zones (only few resource spots in the rest of the world)

- at the moment it’s not planned that you’ve got to specialize on one of the resources (everybody can harvest everything)

- next to the basic resources, there are special resources you only receive from specific enemies



Border Kingdoms

- still 9 Keeps per server, if there are some server with a smaller amount of players the number of keeps will be adjusted (for those servers)

- if you want to build a keep (seize a slot/take possession of a slot) you’ve got to have a player city @ lvl 3

- a guild can only have one keep, you’re still able to attack other keeps if you own one though

- the longer you own a keep, the bigger the received bonus for guild members will become

- a keep also can be upgraded but not as detailed as the player cities, the keeps are something like an outpost and not a second player city

- every guild can choose the time when their keep is attackable, there is a minimum amount of time you’ve got to make you keep attackable. The possible attack times depend on the region of your server (Europe vs USA for example)

- the longer the attack windows are, the easier it’ll be to defend your keep

- the max duration of a siege is 90mins at the moment, if the attackers don’t manage to win, the defenders win

- to attack a keep, you’ve got to “build” a tent in front of the keep (while the attack window is open), guild members of the defending guild receive an ingame msg if the attackers start to build this tent

- there are two ways to capture a keep:

- 1. “partial victory” – the keep is destroyed within 90 minutes, the defenders loose all the bonuses they received before for “holding the keep”, but the defenders don’t loose their battle keep

- 2. “total victory” – all buildings are destroyed within 90 minutes – the winners can take the slot and build their own keep (if they don’t already own another keep)

- siege weapons are constructed in the playfield during the attack, they’ll cost a combination of wood,stone,gold and iron (like buildings), there’ll be (probably) 8 spots for siege weapons

- there are siege weapons spots for the attackers and the defenders

- walls can be destroyed very fast (in a few minutes), so if you’re hiding in your keep, you’ll probably loose the fight

- next to the battle keeps, there’ll be other targets to fight for in the Border Kingdoms (for example towers). The rules for towers are the same as for battle keeps (attack window etc.). Those towers should encourage smaller guilds to participate in the combats of the Border Kingdoms. At the moment there is no limit on how many towers can be held by one guild

- it’s not decided yet if the towers will be upgradeable, if they’ll be, the options will be very small



Group Play

- groups get a small amount of bonus xp for killing enemies

- at the moment there are three different loot options (round robin, master looter and ffa)

- quest items will drop for all group members

- almost all caves and smaller dungeons (the maze, acheronian ruins etc.) will support a “hero mode” to provide a challenging group play experience, because they’re usually made for smaller grps or solo play (don’t muddle this up with real dungeons)



Mounts

- there’ll be a great variety of horses (5-10 different horse and those also in different colours)

- the mounts differ by HP, stamina, speed and mobility

- all mounts are able to attack and do different amount of damage

- many spells can be cast while mounted

- it’ll be possible to be thrown off the mount while engaged in combat

- due to balancing issues the war rhino and war mammoth are almost equal (rhino bit more mobility, mammoth more HP)

- mammoth and rhino still are still planed to be exclusive pre order mounts

- you’ve got to be lvl 40 to buy/use a mount

- mounts are items in the inventory (you can have more than one)

- mount equip will not make it into the release version but the idea still is there (-> addon/patch)

- not yet decided what happens to your mount if you dismount

- mammoths are big … veeery big

singsofdeath

 

Originally posted by Kemplar


Funcom would be wise to note other games that have rushed their releases. Sure you can cut content and features if you’re getting close to the deadline, but it will do you no good to patch it in if your first impressions have cost you a player base. Take Vanguard for example. That may be an extreme example but an example nonetheless. It's really time for these game developers to take note and stop trying to pilfer off bullsh*t to us gamers. We're a little bit smarter than you think. On another note, we gamers shouldn't be so quick to give these guys our money. We're almost as bad as a cheap whore, tossing our money at every P.O.S MMO that comes along. We're helping to fueling developer’s decisions to release crap. We need to be a little more reserved with our money.

You do realize that it's not just the fans who make a game developer release a game even though it's not really finished? You know there's investors and publishers and all that sort of thing, pressuring game developers to release so -THEY- can get their share of profits, regardless of how many things the game may be lacking?

 

 

That said, cutting content in the last few months of development is nothing new in the industry. It has been done and will be done. That's nothing I am too worried about. We will see what AoC is like at launch...I for one pre-ordered it simply because it's the only game that stands out a bit from the crowd of games out there and to be released this year. (my personal opinion. Anyone else is free to differ)

 

Edit: Just saw the new post with the info. THANKS A LOT MAN! This was a neat read. ^_^

howardb

They're translating as we speak. Here's more:

Stealth

- every class is able to use stealth

- there are different elements which determine if a stealthed player will be discovered or not : 1. stealth skill (your char) 2. perception skill (other char/npc ? can also be trained by every char) 3. noise: there’s a difference between a soldier in heavy armour on grit compared to a rogue in cloth armour on grass (just examples) 4. Viewcone: if you’re in front of a player you’re more likely to be discovered than if you’re on the side of/behind a player 5. “light lever”: night vs. day and also shadows of obstacles vs. open field (very complex) ? there’ll be a for the current “light level” added to the interface



Tortage

- even if it’s possible to reach lvl 25 due to the amount of quests and size of tortage it’ll grow because many beta testers said that they were missing the feeling of travelling, there’ll be some other “trips” for example a trip with a smuggle gang

- you can exactly reach lvl 20 on tortage, if your 20 and still do quests etc. the xp will be lost

- after release there’ll be more starting areas but right now it’s more important to have one very good starting area



Gameplay

- even if your latency is ~500 you’ll still be able to play AoC without any problems. Amongst other things FC uses an invisible “action queue” to ensure this. FC is aware of the concerns of dial up/isdn users and therefore built the engine in a way that let those players also enjoy the game.



Zoning/Travel/World Map

- while zoning you’ll see the your travel path on the world map, the travel path is also your loading bar

- there will be specific loading screens for all regions you’re travelling to (perhaps in the beginning some regions will have the same screen)



Audio

- the background music available for AoC has a duration of ~3hours. In combat the SIM Player will show his abilities (music mixed for combat)

- all music tracks are composed in 5.1 surround sound

- many tacks feature choirs and opera singers



Online Ranking and Database

- there’ll be a online database for pvp and basic server stats, comparable to WoW’s Armory, not at release though



Classes

- SoS got merged with the Stormcaller ? new class Tempest of Set, ToS is a priest only available to stygians, his dmg mostly is electrical aoe dmg

- The more dmg the ToS does, the better his heal abilities become ? counterpart of PoM (the better the healing, the better the dmg)

- Lich has been removed because he felt like HoX (only difference was the undead scheme) there were also problems with the lore, especially in tortage (Acheronian ruins !? ? my opinion)

- The most interesting skills of the lich have been added to the Necromancer class ? necro is able to transform into the lich form (for example) via feats

- Now there are 3 classes of every archetype (3 sodliers, 3 rogues, 3priest, 3 mages)

- Every race has its own specific priest (ToS ? stygia, Bear Shaman ? Cimmeria and PoM ? Aquilonia)





Raids

- raidsize: 4 groups with 6 members each (24 players)

- loot usually will be items ? no tokens

- raidgrps also can have a master looter

- raids will be a big part of PvE engame

- in the release version there’ll be ~20 (!) raidencounter

- those encounters are divided into 8 raid dungeons with different size

- most of the dungeons should be completed in 1-3 hours (if you play good enough )

- there are three “tiers” of dungeons, if you’re not 75+ you shouldn’t even think about getting near the easiest dungeon

- items from the lower tier dungeons will make it easier to survive in the higher tier dungeons (it does not matter in which dungeon of the tier you start)

- raidinstances will have a CD of 7 days (cd is for the players not for the whole guild



Localisation

- PEGI and ESRB already rated the game, USK not yet finished (only for interesting for us poor german players )

- German (therefore also other Europeans ? my opinion) will be able to receive a mammoth/rhino via pre order, the sale partners are being searched and will be announced soon (following days/weeks)

- There’re also fatalities in the german version, some very brutal animations may be eased (don’t start to laugh, I’m going to buy the uk version :P)

- There’ll also be a Spanish localisation, Cm already hired



Spellweaving

- still ingame (omg omg omfg YES ) but it got changed a little bit. Now it works like the melee combo system ? with the correct line of spells you’ll start a spellweave, those will not happen as often as the melee combos and therefore will be a lot stronger

- the possibility to kill yourself and even your team through spellweaving is still planned, there’ll be also other negative consequences

- hell is not in game anymore, too frustrating if a caster went to hell while his grp was still in the dungeon ? they had to wait for the caster to come back



Last but not least

- Release date is fix ? no more delays, the devs are working very very hard to present a preferably perfect product at release.



Greetings from germany

singsofdeath

Thanks again. Hopefully this will satisfy all the people who were complaining and debating if FunCom is hiding a crappy game and whatnot. So much for no Info being released, eh? *smirk*

howardb

I just want to repeat myself: If people want to do themselves a great disservice by not playing AoC because of a few changes, they're perfectly free to do so. There's always WoW.

Can't wait to see what Avery has for us.

yayitsandy

 age of conan does sound like it could have potential and i agree its too early to know if its in trouble or not . a lot of people i know now wont buy an mmorpg before a free trial is offered  ( i think vanguard did a lot of damage)  . i proberbly wont rush out and buy aoc ( unless im  lucky enough to beta test it and like what i see ) . i ve had my fingers burnt once to often . unfortunatly most mmorpgs are mediocre at best . i m hoping either age of conan or warhammer will be good but i m not holding my breath .

fingers crossed

eric_w66

 

 

Harvesting

- there’re 4 basic resources

- every resource is available in (6-8) different tiers (bronze, iron …)

- if you’re harvesting resources, there’s always the chance of finding rare resources of that specific resource you’re harvesting

- resources will be shown on (mini) map

- most resources will be found in the three guild city zones (only few resource spots in the rest of the world)

I'm .... worried... about this part. As someone who loves building stuff, harvesting/mining, and exploring, I have a couple of concerns:

These "guild keep zones" as the sole provider of mats, sounds like a lot of competition for them, even if they are instanced. And not very exciting either.

More worriesome though,  is this an open PvP zone? I know the borderlands with the keeps are, but is this the same ruleset as the guild keep zone? And I thought I'd read that if you wanted a BorderLand Keep, you couldn't have a guild keep elsewhere? (talk about limiting).

Sharajat

Awesome changes!  I still want to see how they implimented spellweaving, but at least one thing is good - that hell nonsense is gone.  The first thing I thought was "How awesome is that?!?"  The second was "Oh my god, if I have to wait 15 minutes for that damn idiot to get out of hell while I'm in a group... BAD FEATURE." 

 

howardb

Originally posted by eric_w66



More worriesome though,  is this an open PvP zone? I know the borderlands with the keeps are, but is this the same ruleset as the guild keep zone? And I thought I'd read that if you wanted a BorderLand Keep, you couldn't have a guild keep elsewhere? (talk about limiting).

That's not what I've gathered. I'm under the impression that you can only have one Border Kingdoms property. There's only a set number of properties int he BK. This is done on purpose to ensure there will be rivalry and constant wars for those limited resources. Although you can own more than one property in the BK you can destroy rival keeps.

I was under the impression that the BK is independant of the Guild city in the instanced zone.

eric_w66

I hope so, as if it is limited to one keep, period, a guild would have to be supremely confident in their ability to hold their BK keep or face a giant loss of resources. Makes you wonder if there is a seperate ability planned to "recall" to your guilds BK keep if they have one as well.

howardb

Originally posted by Sharajat


Awesome changes!  I still want to see how they implimented spellweaving, but at least one thing is good - that hell nonsense is gone.  The first thing I thought was "How awesome is that?!?"  The second was "Oh my god, if I have to wait 15 minutes for that damn idiot to get out of hell while I'm in a group... BAD FEATURE." 
 

Must admit I never thought that far. But you can be the toast of the party still: " - the possibility to kill yourself and even your team through spellweaving is still planned...".

Corthagath

 

im still eagerly waiting for sir Avery to rise hes voice and tell us what he has learned in oslo.. and i hope that he has those questions answered but i think there will be few things that cant be said... and as for the mages; you deserved to burn in hell and drink demon piss, why oh why did they have to change this ?

Sharajat

Originally posted by howardb

Originally posted by Sharajat


Awesome changes!  I still want to see how they implimented spellweaving, but at least one thing is good - that hell nonsense is gone.  The first thing I thought was "How awesome is that?!?"  The second was "Oh my god, if I have to wait 15 minutes for that damn idiot to get out of hell while I'm in a group... BAD FEATURE." 
 

Must admit I never thought that far. But you can be the toast of the party still: " - the possibility to kill yourself and even your team through spellweaving is still planned...".

Heh, but then at least you're all setting up again at the same time.  Its not like there's this giant dead time where you're bored out of your skull. 

brostyn

 

Originally posted by howardb
 
I know however that you're doing yourself a great disservice, because there isn't anything better on the market either now or in the foreseeable future - WAR included. Disclaimer: Yes that's a totally subjective observation and others might disagree and that's allowed.
 

Dude, that is just silly to say that. You haven't played, either, and if you have you just broke NDA. Not that I would believe you, mind you.

 

We can only wait and see. The only hype from this game seems to be boobs. Sorry, but I've never really had an interest in animated boobs. I hope its a good game, because this genre is seriously lacking.