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What, exactly, is so bad about this game?

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Comments

  • AntharaAnthara Member Posts: 75
    Originally posted by Wizardry

    Originally posted by madeux


    Please forgive my ignorance, but I would like some clarification on this issue.
    Those who dislike this game seem to REALLY dislike this game.  There's a lot of passion and hate behind their opinions.  Where is this coming from?
    Is the game really that bad?  Were their expectations simply too high?  Is it all due to early release bugs and a lack of content?  If they started today, would it be better?
    What are it's good points?
    For what type of player is this game ideal?

     

    There anger has no merit IMO.The game is decent enough for sure,i think where it fails is that it does not deliver anything new.The problem is that WOW also copied EQ and delivered nothing new,yet we don't here the same complaining.

    AOC is in a long line of other games,that COULD have been something real special,but it sort of did the normal things and left it at that.Do i think AOC was perhaps rushed out the door?maybe if you think they had planned on more content originally,but as the game was released,it was quite good,nothing really wrong except some pet peeves as to witch i always have a few.

    If you look at the largest subscription game [WOW]what exactly do they do that is any different than AOC?they feed you a carrot to chase,END GAME gear and mounts,really that is quite superficial gaming that takes very little effort and very little manpower to pull off.Raiding is like the most simplistic form of content a developer can create,so if this is what the masses were hoping for or crying for,they need a wake up call,as that is not true gaming.

    Pardon Sir... wow offer END GAME and mounts yes...but have you ever experienced the epic feeling of that end game? wake up dude

  • alakramalakram Member UncommonPosts: 2,301
    Originally posted by madeux


    Please forgive my ignorance, but I would like some clarification on this issue.
    Those who dislike this game seem to REALLY dislike this game.  There's a lot of passion and hate behind their opinions.  Where is this coming from? What I dont like about the game is the armor desing, lack of player housing and the excesive instancing.
    Is the game really that bad?  No is not that bad. Were their expectations simply too high? Maybe just there were wrong expectaions. Is it all due to early release bugs and a lack of content? Probably. If they started today, would it be better? Probably.
    What are it's good points? I like the feeling if the game, the atmosphere. The characters and world desing si really good.
    For what type of player is this game ideal? Couldnt tell you.

     



  • VultureSkullVultureSkull Member UncommonPosts: 1,774
    Originally posted by warty


    You asked the wrong question, should have asked
     
    "What was wrong?"
     
    I am one of the people who felt sorely ripped off at launch, however I firmly believe there is now very little wrong with the game, and if you have to ask, just dont, because none of it will make sense, you'll go "but its there...?" and "its not like that" a lot.
     
    Dont know, dont ask. Just see if you have fun.
     
    For most people around at launch, its too late and that will never change, a shame in many ways but the devs (specific people) did a lot of wrong around launch that you just cant forgive and tbh imo they practically broke the law if not definitely did, outright lies about what was in, etc. But as I said most of what was wrong has been fixed including the very nasty EE. EE was basically what was wrong. Emphasis on the was.

     

    Yes indeed, that is the irony of the situation.

     

    There are a lot of ppls that are so angry at FC for releasing the game in the way it was that they would not come back now and try it again, they say never never never!

     

    Ultimately they are the ones that miss out on a really good game.

     

    It is not as if FC are the first to release a game that is not complete in this genre, maybe their's was a worse relese then some but it was also better than others. And they won't be the last.

     

    This is a fact of this genre and although it is not right, it happens and will continue you to do so. If you can't expcet that games are relased not complete in this genre then maybe it is not for you. For Christ sake, even complex single player games require numerous post-release patches to get them right.

    I remember buying X3 The Threat on PC for £34 took it home and it would not work, i had to wait 2 weeks for a patch before i could paly it.

    I am not saying that you must play a game at release, but i say,  don't hold it against a company that releases early, to the extent that you won't even try the game later, as you are the one that misses out.

    And given there is a free trial you have nothing to lose, besides time, to go and have a look at it again.

  • ericbelserericbelser Member Posts: 783

    Okay, first off I am going to dismiss any complaints with FunCom and focus on the game itself. That said, AoC has the dubious distinction of being the first game where I have ever uninstalled the free trial and walked away before it was over.

    First issue, I am a huge Hyboria fan from way back. It is a universe with a wealth of background. Much like Mythic with WAR, in AoC FunCom delivered the dumbed down, simplified and minimalized version of Hyboria. What could have been a massive amusement park rendered down to one vibrating race car in front of the supermarket.

    The look, I have a very high end system and had everything turned up. However the games "gritty" graphics style just looked muddy and badly done. The animations were terrible, the skins boring and muddied..just awful. Even the nudity, please I was downloading better looking topless chicks on a 1200baud modem.

    Combat: Whoever decided that we should have to use the exact same combo/button system as other MMOs, but also play "Simon Says" chasing idiotic arrow pushing around should be taken out back and beaten.

    Horribly linear and scuplted game/zones: terrible pathing, no freedom to go anywheres. Invisible walls and 10ft wide "zones"...just pathetic. Only being able to climb at climbing points etc.

    Excessive instancing - this one has been beaten to death all over...terrible idea.

    I never even got to find out if PvP and Crafting are as bad as people say they are.

     

     

     

     

  • VultureSkullVultureSkull Member UncommonPosts: 1,774
    Originally posted by ericbelser


    Okay, first off I am going to dismiss any complaints with FunCom and focus on the game itself. That said, AoC has the dubious distinction of being the first game where I have ever uninstalled the free trial and walked away before it was over.
    First issue, I am a huge Hyboria fan from way back. It is a universe with a wealth of background. Much like Mythic with WAR, in AoC FunCom delivered the dumbed down, simplified and minimalized version of Hyboria. What could have been a massive amusement park rendered down to one vibrating race car in front of the supermarket.
    The look, I have a very high end system and had everything turned up. However the games "gritty" graphics style just looked muddy and badly done. The animations were terrible, the skins boring and muddied..just awful. Even the nudity, please I was downloading better looking topless chicks on a 1200baud modem.
    Combat: Whoever decided that we should have to use the exact same combo/button system as other MMOs, but also play "Simon Says" chasing idiotic arrow pushing around should be taken out back and beaten.
    Horribly linear and scuplted game/zones: terrible pathing, no freedom to go anywheres. Invisible walls and 10ft wide "zones"...just pathetic. Only being able to climb at climbing points etc.
    Excessive instancing - this one has been beaten to death all over...terrible idea.
    I never even got to find out if PvP and Crafting are as bad as people say they are.
     
     
     
     

    So in other words you don't like the game.

    I could proceed to take up your points one by one, but that is not fair as these are your opinions of the game.

    The combat for example, "chasing idiotic arrows", is how you view it.

    I have found that after playing AoC i find melee combat in other games complete boring, in AoC i am in charge of each swing of my sword and as such each encounter with any trash mob requires my attention.

    In other games i have a set skill rotation, for example "auto attack, apply bleeding wound, weaken armor" repeat until mob dies.

    On to the next mob, repeat and so on. An elite mob may require a different skill rotation.

     

    However in AoC to maximize my damage i need to pay attention to the mobs shielding and apply skills that hit him where it hurts the most. This is not absolutely necessay and does not apply to spell casters.

     

    But that is my take on the combat and why i like it over auto attack found in other games.

  • ericbelserericbelser Member Posts: 783
    Originally posted by VultureSkull


    So in other words you don't like the game.



     

    The OP was asking "what was wrong with AoC" - so I addressed that. It's not all about poor decisions or past experience with FunCom. Nor is it just about the bugs which riddled AoC on launch. There are a lot of deliberate design "features" of AoC which turned off players who otherwise would have played. I was a natural recruit, as I said, being a hyborian fanboi from about age 10 on you would be hard pressed to find a more likely potential player...but the game was just very badly done. (Obviously that's an opinion, but one shared by everyone I know directly who has tried the game)

     

  • Ahh, if only AOC delivered the goods that I paid them for upon launch. I paid extra for the CE just for the buddy passes I never got. They stole my money, never delivered on what I paid for, and had a horrible game at launch. I think I'll be staying away from funcom forever.

  • El_LionEl_Lion Member UncommonPosts: 154

    I understand if people were so disappointed at launch that they will never come back.

    I started 3 days ago because I heard the game evolved in the positive way, and I'm enjoying it.

    About what could be bad, I can't really say it after 3 days. It's a game on it's own, thats for sure!

    I like it. The graphics are the best I have ever seen immo. Creazy.

    Eaglix

  • S1GNALS1GNAL Member Posts: 366

    The reason i stopped playing was the ignorance showed by Funcom during the beta and first 2 months after release. It was frightening and made me run quick back to Blizzards World of Warcraft again. All the lies and hype, the corrupted GM's, credit card frauds, instanced & claustrophobic world, static movements compared to WoW (remember the glide movement when in siege combat?), stupid fatality animations where you could do nothing, fun first time but gets old, combat system was a turn off duo to the way you had to wait 5 sec or more to finish some combos (very slow, too much focus on the arrows), bad customer service (if you left the game after waiting 12 hours for in-game help petition, your ticked was gone when you logged back in)... 

     

    I could make some pages more with stuff, but lets leave it at what just popped up in my mind right now. In my eyes it all started to go wrong with the game as early as the choice of game engine (upgraded Anarchy Online engine), which just makes the game feel a bit sticky and static. Much of the reason why there are so many instances too. Game developers should learn from this and Blizzard. Create open worlds with fluid movements is a very good sign of quality. It is the first thing I notice when I look at a new MMORPG.

     

     

     

    Just my personal view

  • AmazingAveryAmazingAvery Age of Conan AdvocateMember UncommonPosts: 7,188
    Originally posted by S1GNAL


    The reason i stopped playing was the ignorance showed by Funcom during the beta and first 2 months after release. It was frightening and made me run quick back to Blizzards World of Warcraft again. All the lies and hype, the corrupted GM's, credit card frauds, instanced & claustrophobic world, static movements compared to WoW (remember the glide movement when in siege combat?), stupid fatality animations where you could do nothing, fun first time but gets old, combat system was a turn off duo to the way you had to wait 5 sec or more to finish some combos (very slow, too much focus on the arrows), bad customer service (if you left the game after waiting 12 hours for in-game help petition, your ticked was gone when you logged back in)... 
     
    I could make some pages more with stuff, but lets leave it at what just popped up in my mind right now. In my eyes it all started to go wrong with the game as early as the choice of game engine (upgraded Anarchy Online engine), which just makes the game feel a bit sticky and static. Much of the reason why there are so many instances too. Game developers should learn from this and Blizzard. Create open worlds with fluid movements is a very good sign of quality. It is the first thing I notice when I look at a new MMORPG.
     
     
     
    Just my personal view



     

    Thanks for the frank view (honestly), but I really do feel that all of your first paragraph is out of date now, 10 months on.

    All apart from the instancing and the zones. They are still there, have increased in number and the new ones are often larger (Ymirs) and have more varied content and things going on (TC). For some people they will feel closed in, for others they won't feel closed in if they can see 3 miles ahead if that zone is big enough. Personal preference though isn't it. Fact is you can make a game like AoC and have it all open world and it never will be. If this was the core thing for me would be best to move on and find something that fits the bill more. And I do hope that game is out there for those that can not put up with zones. But honestly again the rest of the stuff you say just is not there anymore, and frankly new people to the game just wont give a toss about the past. Beacuse they will be taking the game head on just as you did at launch and they will have other new issues which won't be the same as the ones you mentioned. Apart from maybe the Zone thing, but again it was apparent though how the design would be from since about 4 yrs ago. Just saying.



  • SortisSortis Member UncommonPosts: 195

    The biggest problem I had with the game was what they called "Jousting" which pretty much made their combat system in that game worthless. I loved the combo/combat system but players abuse it so it makes it less fun for everyone else. I got into the Age of Conan because i'm a Robert E. Howard Conan fan. So having read the books and knowing much about the world I knew that the only way to get a true Conan experience is on a PvP server. Well I can tell you one thing...Conan never jumped around like a damn monkey like 85% of the players do in that game while PvPing. I understand it works but it trivializes the awesome combat system that Funcom put together.

    They either need to take the combo system out of the game because at its current rate it is only hindering players from attacking with abilities faster or they need to adjust it to force players to cooperate with skill in PvP and not just jump around. Massive fights look like the monkey cages at the zoo. Other than that i loved the game for the most part. Although combat and gameplay are HUGE things for me as well as being immersed into the game and I just couldnt do that after reading the books and seeing how people played in PvP. Sadly I had to quit.

  • korat102korat102 Member Posts: 313

    I came within a hairs breadth of downloading the free trial, must admit the game looked good to me but, for some reason, I decided to take a look at their terms and conditions. Seems that if you install the game you are deemed to have given them permission to scan your PC for anything they choose.  All sounds a bit Sony'ish to me so I declined their kind offer...

  • BrawlkingBrawlking Member Posts: 57
    Originally posted by korat102


    I came within a hairs breadth of downloading the free trial, must admit the game looked good to me but, for some reason, I decided to take a look at their terms and conditions. Seems that if you install the game you are deemed to have given them permission to scan your PC for anything they choose.  All sounds a bit Sony'ish to me so I declined their kind offer...



     

    lol, thats all I'm gonna say. Ok I lied... Are you talking about this:

    Computer Information: Funcom may collect and store your internet protocol address. As noted in the Funcom End User License Agreement (“EULA”), we may use this information to remotely check your computer to determine if any “Restricted Software” (as such term is defined in the EULA) is installed or if any necessary software patches supplied by Funcom have been installed

    Thats why you dont want to try a game? I hope you read the EULA and Privacy Policies for other games too then.

  • korat102korat102 Member Posts: 313
    Originally posted by Brawlking

    Originally posted by korat102


    I came within a hairs breadth of downloading the free trial, must admit the game looked good to me but, for some reason, I decided to take a look at their terms and conditions. Seems that if you install the game you are deemed to have given them permission to scan your PC for anything they choose.  All sounds a bit Sony'ish to me so I declined their kind offer...



     

    lol, thats all I'm gonna say. Ok I lied... Are you talking about this:

    Computer Information: Funcom may collect and store your internet protocol address. As noted in the Funcom End User License Agreement (“EULA”), we may use this information to remotely check your computer to determine if any “Restricted Software” (as such term is defined in the EULA) is installed or if any necessary software patches supplied by Funcom have been installed

    Thats why you dont want to try a game? I hope you read the EULA and Privacy Policies for other games too then.

     

    I do indeed and while they all have clauses saying that you agree not to use things that automate input like bots, etc., there's a world of difference between agreeing not to do something like that and having to install software that scans your PC and reports back home. If they don't trust me not to cheat then I don't trust them not to misuse such software.

  • qbangy32qbangy32 Member Posts: 681
    Originally posted by madeux


    Please forgive my ignorance, but I would like some clarification on this issue.
    Those who dislike this game seem to REALLY dislike this game.  There's a lot of passion and hate behind their opinions.  Where is this coming from?
    Is the game really that bad?  Were their expectations simply too high?  Is it all due to early release bugs and a lack of content?  If they started today, would it be better?
    What are it's good points?
    For what type of player is this game ideal?



     

    I enjoyed my time in AoC.

    It had/has problems but I've seen much much worse in other fledgling MMO's over the years.

    WoW broke the mould though and the newcomers to the genre expect the same quality when a new MMO gets released, unfotunately what Blizzard does with it's games is rare in the industry, but not the only one to do so.

    Ppl have long memories and still remember and can't let go of the debacle that was AO, very much like SWG, those ppl you really should ignore as you won't get any idea of what the game has to offer, just alot and I mean ALOT of negativity.

    The game has a free trial, whats there to lose in giving it a try, if you don't like it you haven't paid anything out so your in a win win situation.

    My reason for leaving AoC, well if I was to tell you that I have 15 other MMO icons sitting on my desktop right now, that should give you a good idea, I like to mix it up alot and move from MMO to MMO once I've done all the content I can, then I come back when a few content patches/expacs have settled in and go at it again.

     

  • BrawlkingBrawlking Member Posts: 57
    Originally posted by korat102


    I do indeed and while they all have clauses saying that you agree not to use things that automate input like bots, etc., there's a world of difference between agreeing not to do something like that and having to install software that scans your PC and reports back home. If they don't trust me not to cheat then I don't trust them not to misuse such software.



     

    LOL, I think your taking it a bit far there man, but if thats how you feel dont ever play a game that uses PunkBuster, because it scans any file that is run while you are in a game that uses it, as well as all the memory processes that were running before the game that uses it was started, so... Good luck :)

  • qbangy32qbangy32 Member Posts: 681
    Originally posted by korat102

    Originally posted by Brawlking

    Originally posted by korat102


    I came within a hairs breadth of downloading the free trial, must admit the game looked good to me but, for some reason, I decided to take a look at their terms and conditions. Seems that if you install the game you are deemed to have given them permission to scan your PC for anything they choose.  All sounds a bit Sony'ish to me so I declined their kind offer...



     

    lol, thats all I'm gonna say. Ok I lied... Are you talking about this:

    Computer Information: Funcom may collect and store your internet protocol address. As noted in the Funcom End User License Agreement (“EULA”), we may use this information to remotely check your computer to determine if any “Restricted Software” (as such term is defined in the EULA) is installed or if any necessary software patches supplied by Funcom have been installed

    Thats why you dont want to try a game? I hope you read the EULA and Privacy Policies for other games too then.

     

    I do indeed and while they all have clauses saying that you agree not to use things that automate input like bots, etc., there's a world of difference between agreeing not to do something like that and having to install software that scans your PC and reports back home. If they don't trust me not to cheat then I don't trust them not to misuse such software.



     

    So what your saying is that so long as you don't know your being snooped on then your ok with it? just because the company announces and places it in their EULA your not going to try the game?

    Well thank heavens none of our governments would ever ever snoop on our activities, isn't that right mister MI6 bod currently monitoring the web =).

     

  • tarkin1980tarkin1980 Member Posts: 229

    My problem with AoC had nothing to do with FunCon lying, missing features or bugs. My major gripes were with the stuff that were actually IN the game. I haven't played a more linear game since Super Mario Bros. Heck, it's even more linear because in SMB you can at least CHOOSE warp zones lol. AoC is nothing more than a line of counter-strike maps full of hand-holding and getting shoved in the right direction. That's why I couldn't stand AoC.

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