can you believe this PC Games article about Shroud?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Asari, Feb 25, 2019.

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  1. Sid

    Sid Avatar

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    I thought the article was pretty accurate to tell you the truth. The person who wrote it clearly knew what he was talking about and I must lean on agreeing with most of his perceptions of the game.

    Don’t get me wrong, I love this game and yes there are many updates and going forward and patches and such but in the end let’s look at the game in 2019. Sub-par is an understatement. Even in free to play the game barely got their number of players up. The quest system is a complete buggy mess, I still have quests in the journal that have been there since launch. Even reported, some of the bugs have persisted 2 years and counting.

    I understand the nostalgia but of ultimate online fans, I’m one of them, I love this game but there’s only a handful of us left in this “niche” of players as stated by whoever wrote the article. I believe the writer wasn’t being completely negative to the point of being toxic but to be an eye-opener on the game not being what a game should look like in 2019. There are a lot of excellent things in the game such as the lore, stories, etc... but when making a list of pros and cons, the only thing keeping me here is the nostalgia and a love for this world. That’s not enough for a majority of gamers.
     
  2. Vladamir Begemot

    Vladamir Begemot Avatar

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    Take a look at his last 20 "articles" and tell me it's not just straight negativity.
     
  3. Earl Atogrim von Draken

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    Ah, PC Games. Another failed gaming zine. I am not of the fake news faction, don't get me wrong. And the author has some points imo. But pc games and Gamestar and a couple of other print hero's of the good old times have fallen very deep from grace by now. Most articles are copy and paste (and translation) from pages like kotaku and rps. That makes it hard for me to see their opinions as valid. Non the less, the author has a couple of points.
     
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  4. Gia2

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    Even if I still feel interest and joy while playing sota (being said as a retired hardcore old school player), I still have to agree with the review.
    Sota is far from being successful in any way it has been put together and delivered.
    This project isn't successful, profitable or completed. Period. These are pure and cruel facts. Numbers are there.
    Everyone with a mere sense of business can spot this from miles away
     
  5. Jens_T

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    This is not a review of a game but a summary of a multi year development which took many turns and over that lost many supporters. It might have won some others but the article is about the development. With regards to the development - what good parts do you think are missing?
     
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  6. majoria70

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    And of course nothing is over. Even if I might sound negative and rant sometimes. I do still wish for the success of this game. I know the devs are working as hard as they can. They do need help in the form of more devs hired and hopefully changes they have made so far will bring in funding needed to do lots of good things for this game. So as mentioned it is not all gloom and doom for this game.
     
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  7. Jason_M

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    All of them - and by that I mean that many of those decisions were supported and welcomed by many of the players. "Hailstorms of criticism" is repeated because it draws attention, but "large amounts of criticism met with equal or greater appreciation and support by the community" is fairier and more truthful if less attention grabbing.

    I think perception is important here. Whether we agree with his negative criticism shouldn't prevent us from acknowledging that it is just negative criticism. And that's fine - smearing people and companies and communities is the popular thing to do on the internet.

    But it does nothing to benefit the players of the game, does nothing to benefit the game or its company, and is too biased to actually benefit prospective players who need to know the bad and the good.

    So what is the purpose of the article? Click-bait for the website and ego service for the author.
     
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  8. Jens_T

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    The purpose is to describe a KS project which lost most of its original founders, lost most of the people funding the game’s development in the years after and do this on a factual base.
    The game has its fan and small player base that keeps it running for the time. But it started with a “famous” developer, second biggest crowdfunding amount and a strong IP. Now we are at an unknown player base of max a few thousand players. Half of the dev team was let go and the lead Dev is setting up servers, shipping rewards (that are overdue and incomplete) while core features are lacking. That is not a success story and reporting on it is not smearing.
    You might not like it, but it’s valid criticism and news worthy enough given the big start the game had.
     
  9. DavidDC

    DavidDC Programmer Moderator SOTA Developer

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    In twenty years from now are we still gonna say "but the KS was about this and that"...

    Im also a backer of this game and to tell the truth i never read anyting about the kickstarter information cause i didnt care about it. I saw Lord British, i saw Ultima, that was enough for me to understand what kind of game was coming here, a complexe game where i would still learn stuff even after playing for years. A never ending game. And this is EXACTLY what i got. I could care less about the details as long as it continue in this path and you know what, its exactly what the developpers are doing. Sometime slower than other, sometime faster than other, each release bring their lot of ups and down but thats what life is about. Many will die, but many more will be born in this shattered world of virtue and chaos. ;)
     
    Last edited: Feb 26, 2019
  10. Silently

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    still here *g*
     
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  11. Gorthyn

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    In answer to the original thread title. Yes sadly I can believe the article and those who simply dismiss criticism of SOTA past and present do the game a great disservice.

    As I posted on another thread there are many reasons why the game population levels remains on its knees and the article sets out quite a few of them.

    If SOTA has any chance of being a success then simply ploughing on making the same mistakes of the past is not the way to get there. Yes some things have improved for the better but they are still hugely outweighed by issues that there appears no intention to address by the Devs and that's a real shame imho.
     
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  12. Jason_M

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    I reckon we just have to agree to disagree. It's an equally valid opinion to say: "backers betrayed" as it is to say "design evolved according to feedback from players, industry economics, and external limitations."

    The author only presents one side of that gulf in perception, which I think was the point. He wants to portray the game as a failure [to some people] and skipping the technically correct bracketed part makes him and people who agree with him feel validated in their opinion.

    As is his right. It's bad journalism, but standards rarely stops that on the internet.
     
  13. Earl Atogrim von Draken

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    I am too lazy to look it up but we have a Gamestar author here that grinded his/her blade in his/her review back in the days. Gamestar and PC Games are essentially the very same E-Zine (which is another problem i have with both, because beside copying stuff from other pages, they copy stuff from each other Oo). Wouldn't be surprised if it was the same author. But it is his/her right to blow his/her opinion into the internet. And as i said: some points are valid.
     
  14. Duke Gréagóir

    Duke Gréagóir Legend of the Hearth

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    Some of us who enjoy single player online are still here. I am one of them. I group up rarely and explore most content on my own.
     
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  15. Duke Gréagóir

    Duke Gréagóir Legend of the Hearth

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    So did I. :) and I continue to as SotA evolves.
     
  16. Sir Frank

    Sir Frank Master of the Mint

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    As am I. Just pointing out that people in this thread talk about two groups, online-multiplayer and offline-single-player, completely ignoring or perhaps not aware that single-player-online was supposed to be a thing.
     
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  17. Drilikath

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    It was nice playing the single player online version, no one bothered you. You never had to worry about siege/spawns getting a target as no one was around to mess anything up for you, was peaceful. You could always switch to multi and play with others or you could just keep on going all by yourself.
     
  18. Janek the Just

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    I'm investing money right now to purchase a town, and explore that aspect of the game. I would not be doing this if I expected a sunset on the horizon.

    There are a wide spectrum of gamers out there, and this particular game will appeal to only a fraction of that population. Of that fraction, many who love the game are frustrated by one limitation or another, be it technical, creative, or otherwise.

    If Portalarium can survive a short moratorium on adding new content, I think the community at large would appreciate a short hiatus to focus on the most common pain points (I'm sure they know what they are). Sweeping away the most widely-criticized issues, and thereby ushering in a wave of new blood into the game is worth not getting my new X, or the ability to collect manure from outhouses, or that new creature or Boss mob as quickly - and may be what is required to allow us to enjoy this game over a much longer timespan.

    I have faith in Richard Garriott.
    I have faith in Starr Long.
    I have faith in Chris Spears.
    (And all the rest of the devs)
     
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  19. kaeshiva

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    Agree. It was really a beautiful system in concept and simplicity.
    An online game with all the perks benefits of being able to play with others, trade, go to events, form guilds, community, make friends, etc....while simultaneously being able to (optionally) remove yourself from conflict, arrogance, egos, griefing, and the other undesirable aspects that often accompany online play. Mind you, if you liked that sort of thing (and hey, some people thrive on conflict) then people of similar mindsets still had the option to play in full-on-multiplayer. It was the best of both worlds.

    I'm less concerned about 'what was promised' and more about 'what works now' - I think the game has come a long way. I think its unfair to hold devs to "promises" made 6 years ago when the entire core game that those promises were made FOR has changed fundamentally to the point where some of them don't even make sense. I think the devs have done well to maintain the spirit of those promises, for the most part.

    There's a couple wrinkly bits, with forced multiplayer scenes being one, it started with shardfalls and just keeps going. The classless system has become classed, but still offers more freedom than most games. But on the whole? I think they've done well to make the most people happy. I wouldn't still be here if I didn't believe in the overall vision.
     
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  20. Spinok

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    Its the best what happened with this game, but you and people like you want to play with 2 friends in solo mod instead of real sandbox MMO. So one of the biggest problem of the game is people like you who don't want to see the big picture, don't want good for the game, they just want good for themselves.
     
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