some issues with the DS2 demo

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Been playing the DS2 demo for a couple hours, and I've noticed a handful of
things that I don't like about the game. At least one of them has been
beaten to death, buried, dug up, beaten again, boiled in oil and dumped off
the side of a mountain on this group, so I'll try to keep it short.

1. The so-called "game saving" system. Picture this: You've been playing
the demo, and have destroyed 3 out of 4 towers. Suddenly realise that you
need to be up early the next morning, so you save the game. The next day,
you start up the game, looking forward to another hour or so of mindless
monster bashing. You hit the "continue" button, and find your character in
Eirulan, *NOT* where you'd initially saved it. So you go and teleport to
the nearest activated teleporter to where you'd saved, and end up slogging
through 20 minutes worth of previously seen (very pretty) scenery to get to
the point where you should have been from the get go. The winner who
implemented this "feature" should be tied up and forced to spend a weekend
alone in a room listening to SteamKILLER rant. Either that, or forced to
fix every bug and security hole in every version of Windows ever made,
whichever is more cruel and unusual.

2. The beaten-to-death "hold down right mouse button to attack, then
repeat for next monster" combat system. This one's apparently fixable.
There are 2 options for DS1 style combat in the Game section of the Options
dialog, but they're greyed out in the demo. Way to go, GPG. Annoy your
customers, and give them no recourse.

These two wouldn't bother me to much except that they were ripped straight
from Diablo 2, my absolute *least* favourite game ever released for any
system since the Atari 2600. Yes, the PoS ET game was better in my opinion.

3. The voice acting. It's so bad it makes the original game look like an
Oscar contender by comparison.

Just my personal opinions, of course. Your mileage may vary.

 

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"Paul Fedorenko" <pfedorenko@look.ca> once tried to test me with:

> Been playing the DS2 demo for a couple hours, and I've noticed a
> handful of things that I don't like about the game. At least one of
> them has been beaten to death, buried, dug up, beaten again, boiled in
> oil and dumped off the side of a mountain on this group, so I'll try
> to keep it short.
>
> 1. The so-called "game saving" system. Picture this: You've been
> playing the demo, and have destroyed 3 out of 4 towers. Suddenly
> realise that you need to be up early the next morning, so you save the
> game. The next day, you start up the game, looking forward to another
> hour or so of mindless monster bashing. You hit the "continue"
> button, and find your character in Eirulan, *NOT* where you'd
> initially saved it. So you go and teleport to the nearest activated
> teleporter to where you'd saved, and end up slogging through 20
> minutes worth of previously seen (very pretty) scenery to get to the
> point where you should have been from the get go. The winner who
> implemented this "feature" should be tied up and forced to spend a
> weekend alone in a room listening to SteamKILLER rant. Either that,
> or forced to fix every bug and security hole in every version of
> Windows ever made, whichever is more cruel and unusual.

This is exactly the way Diablo 2 worked. The reason for this is so that you
can level up you character with respawned critters in case you can't handle
the critters that you haven't encountered yet very well. It's not really a
deal breaker because the teleporter pads are pretty close together.

> 2. The beaten-to-death "hold down right mouse button to attack, then
> repeat for next monster" combat system. This one's apparently
> fixable. There are 2 options for DS1 style combat in the Game section
> of the Options dialog, but they're greyed out in the demo. Way to go,
> GPG. Annoy your customers, and give them no recourse.
>
> These two wouldn't bother me to much except that they were ripped
> straight from Diablo 2, my absolute *least* favourite game ever
> released for any system since the Atari 2600. Yes, the PoS ET game
> was better in my opinion.

Wow. If you hate D2 I really can't see why you'd like DS2 any better.

> 3. The voice acting. It's so bad it makes the original game look
> like an Oscar contender by comparison.
>
> Just my personal opinions, of course. Your mileage may vary.

I thought the voice work was decent. Nothing special but it was far better
than just reading text, and not "painful" like some of the recent foreign-
made games, such as Cops 2170. Talk about bad voice acting. Go play that
game and then come back and tell me DS2 has bad voice acting. I double dare
you.


--

Knight37 - http://knightgames.blogspot.com

Once a Gamer, Always a Gamer.

 

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"Knight37" <knight37m@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns96B3C554D7B9Fknight37m@130.133.1.4...
> "Paul Fedorenko" <pfedorenko@look.ca> once tried to test me with:

>> These two wouldn't bother me to much except that they were ripped
>> straight from Diablo 2, my absolute *least* favourite game ever
>> released for any system since the Atari 2600. Yes, the PoS ET game
>> was better in my opinion.
>
> Wow. If you hate D2 I really can't see why you'd like DS2 any better.

I *want* to like DS2 because I liked Dungeon Siege so much. Dungeon Siege
was what Diablo 2 *should* have been in pretty much every way, but wasn't.
Making DS2 more like D2 is a step backward the way I see it. The reviews of
DS2 (small number, based on pre-release versions, I guess) all say that the
game's got a really good story, and is much less linear than the first one,
but I can't get past the game saving issue. I can deal with the way the
game deals with combat. No game's perfect. But they couldn't have made the
effort to let you save the bloody game properly? I hate backtracking.

Ok. End of rant. I return you to your regular scheduled programming.

Never heard of "Cops 2170."

 

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Paul Fedorenko wrote:

>
> 2. The beaten-to-death "hold down right mouse button to attack, then
> repeat for next monster" combat system. This one's apparently fixable.
> There are 2 options for DS1 style combat in the Game section of the Options
> dialog, but they're greyed out in the demo. Way to go, GPG. Annoy your
> customers, and give them no recourse.
>

No, they aren't greyed out in the demo. They are greyed out until YOU
ARE IN A GAME. They don't work if you go to options from the main menu.
Start a game, press ESC and go to Options. You can then turn them on...

 

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"Smart Feet" <smartfeet@yourshoes.com> wrote in message
news:qEaMe.83843$zY4.46973@tornado.ohiordc.rr.com...
> Paul Fedorenko wrote:

> No, they aren't greyed out in the demo. They are greyed out until YOU ARE
> IN A GAME. They don't work if you go to options from the main menu. Start
> a game, press ESC and go to Options. You can then turn them on...

You're absolutely sure about that? I'm pretty sure I was playing the game
(not at the main menu) when I went into the options screen. Doesn't
matter... It's a minor issue compared to the other one I was kvetching
about.

 

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Paul Fedorenko wrote:
> "Smart Feet" <smartfeet@yourshoes.com> wrote in message
> news:qEaMe.83843$zY4.46973@tornado.ohiordc.rr.com...
>
>>Paul Fedorenko wrote:
>
>
>>No, they aren't greyed out in the demo. They are greyed out until YOU ARE
>>IN A GAME. They don't work if you go to options from the main menu. Start
>>a game, press ESC and go to Options. You can then turn them on...
>
>
> You're absolutely sure about that? I'm pretty sure I was playing the game
> (not at the main menu) when I went into the options screen. Doesn't
> matter... It's a minor issue compared to the other one I was kvetching
> about.
>
>


I would bet your life on it! <g>

 

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"Paul Fedorenko" <pfedorenko@look.ca> wrote in message
news:VW9Me.6545$7R.299607@news20.bellglobal.com...
> Been playing the DS2 demo for a couple hours, and I've noticed a handful
> of things that I don't like about the game. At least one of them has been
> beaten to death, buried, dug up, beaten again, boiled in oil and dumped
> off the side of a mountain on this group, so I'll try to keep it short.
>
> 1. The so-called "game saving" system. Picture this: You've been
> playing the demo, and have destroyed 3 out of 4 towers. Suddenly realise
> that you need to be up early the next morning, so you save the game. The
> next day, you start up the game, looking forward to another hour or so of
> mindless monster bashing. You hit the "continue" button, and find your
> character in Eirulan, *NOT* where you'd initially saved it. So you go and
> teleport to the nearest activated teleporter to where you'd saved, and end
> up slogging through 20 minutes worth of previously seen (very pretty)
> scenery to get to the point where you should have been from the get go.
> The winner who implemented this "feature" should be tied up and forced to
> spend a weekend alone in a room listening to SteamKILLER rant. Either
> that, or forced to fix every bug and security hole in every version of
> Windows ever made, whichever is more cruel and unusual.
>

I vote for SK rant.

And I have no problems with the save system. I've already been used to D2's
save system.


> 2. The beaten-to-death "hold down right mouse button to attack, then
> repeat for next monster" combat system. This one's apparently fixable.
> There are 2 options for DS1 style combat in the Game section of the
> Options dialog, but they're greyed out in the demo. Way to go, GPG.
> Annoy your customers, and give them no recourse.

read carfully what's on the screen. It says "This option is only available
in the game" (or something like that). Just access the option WHILE you are
in the game and it will be available. The reason to have this is to have the
option tied to each characters (if you and your brothers/cousins/friends who
played on the same machine may have different prefferance about the auto
attack)


>
> These two wouldn't bother me to much except that they were ripped straight
> from Diablo 2, my absolute *least* favourite game ever released for any
> system since the Atari 2600. Yes, the PoS ET game was better in my
> opinion.
>
> 3. The voice acting. It's so bad it makes the original game look like an
> Oscar contender by comparison.
>
> Just my personal opinions, of course. Your mileage may vary.
>

there is another issue, during my 4 hours of playing the demo, there are
some occasions that the game would minimize itself for no reason. It
happened about 5~6 times accross the 4 hours play.

 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

"Choykw" <Newsreader@Newsgroup.com> wrote in message
news:43015116$1_1@news.tm.net.my...

> read carfully what's on the screen. It says "This option is only available
> in the game" (or something like that). Just access the option WHILE you
> are in the game and it will be available. The reason to have this is to
> have the option tied to each characters (if you and your
> brothers/cousins/friends who played on the same machine may have different
> prefferance about the auto attack)

I've looked at that option more closely, but if I admit that you're right,
I'd end up owing "Smart Feet" my life because of losing a bet. So in the
interest of self-preservation, I'm gonna have to stand my ground and say
it's greyed out...

> there is another issue, during my 4 hours of playing the demo, there are
> some occasions that the game would minimize itself for no reason. It
> happened about 5~6 times accross the 4 hours play.

Probably a coincidence, byt my machine rebooted while I was playing at one
point after playing for about 3 or 4 hours...

 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

I played about 25% of DS1 and thought it was moderately entertaining
single player, and much better multiplayer (despite the problems with
saving), but by no means was it anywhere near as good as Diablo 2. I
feel that DS2 will be much better than DS1 but probably still not a D2
quality game. I really wasn't all THAT impressed with D2 either, until
after LOD came out, and D2LOD was superb.

 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

On Wed, 17 Aug 2005 16:10:56 -0400, Paul Fedorenko wrote:

> If Blizzard had made D2 more like DS or possibly Icewind Dale,
> they would've had a vastly superior product on their hands

Compare the number of sold D2 units to the number of sold DS units. Over
five years after release, Diablo II and its expansion are still readily
available and can be found in many stores. The conclusion? Had Blizzard
made D2 more like DS or even the cumbersome IWD, D2 would have never turned
out to be so very exceptionally successful.

But that and all those technical comparisons aside, what matters in the end
is the subjective experience. I experienced D2 as a fun, fast-paced,
extremely replayable, diverse blast, and DS as a linear, mind-numbing,
boring drag.

M.

 

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On 18 Aug 2005 08:06:15 -0400, Nick Vargish <nav+posts@bandersnatch.org>
wrote:

>Smart Feet <smartfeet@yourshoes.com> writes:
>
>> No, you should definitely add "in my opinion" to that.
>
> Diablo Dungeon Siege
> ------ -------------

>*Areas must be explored Areas are all narrow pathways

Marginally correct. There are a few secret areas in the standard DS
campaign - in addition, the multiplayer map doesn't suffer from the
limitations.

Also, Diablo 2 levels still look linear eneugh ovon though thay are
randomly generated. Experienced players tend to know how maps are
generated, such as potential locations of knomn dungeons.

>*Many options in combat Click on enemy until dead

This is incerrect - in Diablo, you still had to click on an emeny to make
an attack. DS only requires clicking to retarget or to change attack type.

>*Several classes with different Totally classless
> play styles

Why should this be a factor in saying which game is better? Thus is
comparing apples and oranges, and also declares that skill based RPGs (stat
gain by assigning exp or by practicing a skill.)

 

[Guest]

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bk039@ncf.ca (Raymond Martineau) looked up from reading the entrails of
the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs say:

>On 18 Aug 2005 08:06:15 -0400, Nick Vargish <nav+posts@bandersnatch.org>
>wrote:
>
>>Smart Feet <smartfeet@yourshoes.com> writes:
>>
>>> No, you should definitely add "in my opinion" to that.
>>
>> Diablo Dungeon Siege
>> ------ -------------
>
>>*Areas must be explored Areas are all narrow pathways
>
>Marginally correct. There are a few secret areas in the standard DS
>campaign - in addition, the multiplayer map doesn't suffer from the
>limitations.
>
>Also, Diablo 2 levels still look linear eneugh ovon though thay are
>randomly generated. Experienced players tend to know how maps are
>generated, such as potential locations of knomn dungeons.
>
>>*Many options in combat Click on enemy until dead
>
>This is incerrect - in Diablo, you still had to click on an emeny to make
>an attack. DS only requires clicking to retarget or to change attack type.

Diablo had a handful of spells that were at all useful in combat, the
rest of it came down to hitting it with a melee weapon or shooting it
with a bow, all of which were one click per shot/swing.

>>*Several classes with different Totally classless
>> play styles
>
>Why should this be a factor in saying which game is better? Thus is
>comparing apples and oranges, and also declares that skill based RPGs (stat
>gain by assigning exp or by practicing a skill.)

Not to mention it's fundamentally WRONG.

D2 had the "several classes with different playstyle's and different
skills.
Diablo had "classes" that merely set caps on your stats and affected the
speed with which you used certain weapons, all the "skills", bar one
class skill, were book learned and all of them were available to all 3
classes. (all 7 if you had the expansion and enabled the extra 3
not-quite-finished classes.)

Sheesh I wish people would write Diablo2 and not Diablo when they mean
Diablo2.

Xocyll
--
I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr

 

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"Paul Fedorenko" <pfedorenko@look.ca> wrote in message
news:VW9Me.6545$7R.299607@news20.bellglobal.com...
> Been playing the DS2 demo for a couple hours, and I've noticed a handful
> of things that I don't like about the game. At least one of them has been
> beaten to death, buried, dug up, beaten again, boiled in oil and dumped
> off the side of a mountain on this group, so I'll try to keep it short.
>
> 1. The so-called "game saving" system. Picture this: You've been
> playing the demo, and have destroyed 3 out of 4 towers. Suddenly realise
> that you need to be up early the next morning, so you save the game. The
> next day, you start up the game, looking forward to another hour or so of
> mindless monster bashing. You hit the "continue" button, and find your
> character in Eirulan, *NOT* where you'd initially saved it. So you go and
> teleport to the nearest activated teleporter to where you'd saved, and end
> up slogging through 20 minutes worth of previously seen (very pretty)
> scenery to get to the point where you should have been from the get go.
> The winner who implemented this "feature" should be tied up and forced to
> spend a weekend alone in a room listening to SteamKILLER rant. Either
> that, or forced to fix every bug and security hole in every version of
> Windows ever made, whichever is more cruel and unusual.
>
> 2. The beaten-to-death "hold down right mouse button to attack, then
> repeat for next monster" combat system. This one's apparently fixable.
> There are 2 options for DS1 style combat in the Game section of the
> Options dialog, but they're greyed out in the demo. Way to go, GPG.
> Annoy your customers, and give them no recourse.
>
> These two wouldn't bother me to much except that they were ripped straight
> from Diablo 2, my absolute *least* favourite game ever released for any
> system since the Atari 2600. Yes, the PoS ET game was better in my
> opinion.
>
> 3. The voice acting. It's so bad it makes the original game look like an
> Oscar contender by comparison.
>
> Just my personal opinions, of course. Your mileage may vary.

Can you use the "summon teleport" spell to teleport back to town, then save,
exit, load back up and then teleport right back to where you were?

-- Ken from Chicago

>

 

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Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.rpg (More info?)

"Ken from Chicago" <kwicker1b_nospam@comcast.net> once tried to test me
with:

> Can you use the "summon teleport" spell to teleport back to town, then
> save, exit, load back up and then teleport right back to where you
> were?
>

No. saving the game doesn't save your town portal location.

--

Knight37 - http://knightgames.blogspot.com

Once a Gamer, Always a Gamer.