Originally Posted by ItsTheSheppy
Much like the gentleman before who gave us such a beautiful example of missing the forest for the trees, here we see a pristine example of a straw man.
I never said that. If you intend to use my words, the 'quote' button at the end of my posts should suffice.
I don't care if Battlefield sold 50 million copies. Hell, as long as we're having fun with numbers, let's say it sold 100 million. Not that any of it matters, because all that proves is that 100 million people wanted to play Battlefield. And the nice thing is, if those people want to play Battlefield, there's a game for it. It's called Battlefield. You may have heard of it; it sold 100 million copies.
My concern (note here how I'm citing opinion) is that when you provide a product that is "almost like X but with a twist" then you're setting yourself up for, if not a disaster, than a slow, lingering failure. You may capture some initial attention from people saying "dude, try out PS2; it's just like the BF we know and love, but it's in SPACE with LASERS!" but your actual retention is going to be the biggest issue. What keeps those players from just wandering back to the genuine article when the differences between the two start becoming intolerable for those who rely on the type of gameplay match-based military shooters provide? Planetside is VERY different, and I have a hard time believing SOE stands to steal any market share from the Coddlefield universe.
So what are we left with? Well, we have the people like me who will buy into anything with Planetside written on it. Only, I stopped playing the Coddlefield games for a very good reason; quite a few of those reasons are rearing their ugly heads in these Q&A sessions and gameplay demos. I haven't touched it, so I have no direct experience to ground my feelings, but I can tell you that it has me feeling grim.
What you're targeting, when you model your game after another, is a very specific crowd of people. Folks who are into huge global sci-fi shooters like Planetside, and gritty military match-based shooters like Coddlefield. My feeling is that SOE is overestimating the amount of overlap there really is, there.
All that said, I am also bemoaning the trend in game development we are seeing with every new release of games being steadily dumbed down. Compare the newest Deus Ex to the first. Compare the newest Elder Scrolls to Morrowind. Compare ME3 to ME1. In every sense you see that the newer properties are sacrificing complexity for a more glossy, streamlined experience that while instantly more gratifying, seems to carry generally less impact than the older titles.
Or maybe you welcome the new age of 'shinier, simpler, less complexity'. In which case you and I are of completely different breeds, will probably never come to an agreement, and I weep for the death of what I once loved.
|
Look, you are probably right, we won't ever come to an agreement. However you fail to realize that SOE is a company that aims to make money, both to pay it's employee's and to fund further growth. The game needs to make money.
Your position that the game should be less streamlined, less shiny, more complex only fails to make the game more accessible to a larger audience. You want and love "niche" games. Games like EVE, Dwarf Fortress, PS1 even.
Niche games have their place. They are fun, exciting, and immerse you in ways that make you seem creepy when you crawl out of your cave 2 days later. However, these games do not draw the crowds that PS2 seeks to draw and needs in order for the game to survive and not become the wasteland that PS1 is.
This is the big picture for Planetside 2. It's been stated by Higby and T-Ray in nearly every interview. PS2 has to set the bar for what an MMOFPS is. To do that it has to trump your standard FPS's by taking their bar and pulling it up to a massive scale.
Your "forest" or whatever you call your fantasies only exist in your head. And I have to address this because you and the bittervets and rosy eyed nostalgia lovers like you, will kill this game and poison the community, alienating people who don't agree with you.
2012-03-27, 01:42 PM
Threaded Mode