Another "Gem" From Atari

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2003-12-17 07:22am

That's right, Atari does even more to assure it's spot in mediocrity by releasing Horizon's Empires of Istaria, which I foolishly bought myself while christmas shopping last night. (FUCKING CHRISTMAS!!!! GRRRRAAAAGH!) You can be a human (DUH) a Dragon (Yay, the only redeeming thing about this piece of shit), a fiend, complete with little horns, a gnome, (Yay) a dwarf, Half Giant, or a sslisk (lizard guy. Oh yeah, and the lizards are asexual) The game play is so simplistic and one-dimensional to the point of absurdity, there almost ZERO depth to character creation. the graphics are "Eh" It's buggy as all hell, the combat system sucks, and half of the website doesn't work!!! Bollocks to that piece of shit. If you've considered buying it, don't. I'll GIVE you my copy and my account. Seriously. It sucks THAT bad.

(BTW, I made a pretty green dragon named Veeshan, killed about 50 wild pig things, tried to locate a dragon trainer SOMEwhere outside of the main city-thing, the distances in the game are so fucking vast, and the run speed (For dragons at least) is ridiculously slow, I spent about 30 minutes in transit searching...for nothing. I'll stick with anarchy online, Fuck you very much.)

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2003-12-17 11:52am

Thanks for the headsup, Chardok.

Why do game devs INSIST on releasing Buggy Pieces of Shit?! At least id Software has it right: "When It's Done".

Super-Gagme · Post by **Super-Gagme** » 2003-12-17 03:25pm

Chardok I'll take CD and account.

SPOOFE · Post by **SPOOFE** » 2003-12-17 10:45pm

A "half-giant"? Isn't that like being slightly pregnant? Either you're huge, or you're not.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2003-12-18 12:00am

Sounds like that, but I presume it means something like having only one giant parent, not being half the height

Lord of the Farce · Post by **Lord of the Farce** » 2003-12-18 12:29am

Slartibartfast wrote:Sounds like that, but I presume it means something like having only one giant parent, not being half the height

I wonder how that could work... I mean, was it a screaming bloody-murder painful stretch, or was it a didn't-feel-a-thing fit?

More on-topic, IMHO if Infogrames was hoping that using the name Atari would help them with their reputation, they are sadly mistaken. All they've managed to do so far is stain the name.

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2003-12-18 08:17am

LAst night I decided to give the game a second chance. ALl games deserve that, at least. No dice. The gameplay is so simplistic to the point that a reasonably intelligent monkey could do well. The people who play the game are nice enough, though. HEre's one example of the bugg goodness of the game and poor customer support:

Any of you who have played DAoC (Dark Age of Camelot) know how combat skills work: You get an icon, put it in your hotkey bar, and push the icon. *SLASH* *POW* BOOM* *SLAP* special combat skill! Anyway. The skills have a recharge time. For Dragons such as myself its: tail whip-40 sec. bite-30 sec. breath weapon- 1:30 sec. etc. anyway, after just THREE USES oof each skill my hotkeys grey out permanently! I tried everything! Resetting my hotbar, replacing the icon, Making CUSTOM icons, finally I said screw it relogged. YEah, that fixed it. good, so I sent a petition in game. My response? Nothing. a Priority 1 petition affecting gameplay/combat and not a thing. I left my Email address (Like they'll respond) we'll see, I suppose.

But truly, I am REALLY not impressed with this game. I DID, however find out one poorly implemented potentially neat feature though. My Dragon Character is a hatchling. After 15 days (Out of game time counts too.) it becomes an adolescent and gets much larger. after 60 days, an adult and gains the power of flight and new breath weapons. there is also a rumor that after a rite of passage quest and 120 days, you become an ancient dragon, and that is supposed to be uber. Damn shame I won't be around long enough to reap the benefits. c'est la vie. IG needs to just let Atari die, go out with a SHRED of dignity. I mean after The Matrix: Reloaded, and this...I'm simply nauseated at the sheer depths to which Atari has sunk.

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi · Post by **Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi** » 2003-12-18 02:37pm

Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:Thanks for the headsup, Chardok.

Why do game devs INSIST on releasing Buggy Pieces of Shit?! At least id Software has it right: "When It's Done".

To get it out by a certain time, I guess. Either that or they put minimal effort into finding bugs and assumed there weren't any. Isn't that what Atari did with E.T., release a buggy, almost unplayable game do it would be out before the holiday season?

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2003-12-18 02:48pm

Asst. Asst. Lt. Cmdr. Smi wrote:
Einhander Sn0m4n wrote:Thanks for the headsup, Chardok.

Why do game devs INSIST on releasing Buggy Pieces of Shit?! At least id Software has it right: "When It's Done".
To get it out by a certain time, I guess. Either that or they put minimal effort into finding bugs and assumed there weren't any. Isn't that what Atari did with E.T., release a buggy, almost unplayable game do it would be out before the holiday season?

Well bump up the dev schedule so that beta testing is done FOR the Holidays. Don't use your PAYING CUSTOMERS as Beta Testers!!!11