DM Client planned for same day as NWN2 release

[Volourn]

No comments about that; but I'm use whatever PrCs they have planned for are locked down or shall be shortly...

[Judge Hades]

In this late of the development cycle it should be.

[alanschu]

Sounds like Josh was brought in to make all the hard decisions.

[Darque]

Well... that sucks

[kirottu]

Sounds like Josh was brought in to make all the hard decisions.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Mr. Sawyer

[Cantousent]

Sounds like Josh was brought in to make all the hard decisions.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Yep, and take all the heat. He's accustomed to being the guy with the bright red target painted on his chest. hahaha

[Judge Hades]

And he does it so well. He is good at making the hard decisions and making them work.

[Volourn]

Though no one has blamed him personally. At least I haven't. At least in this case, there are tons of other PrC to choose from still though it sucks for druid fanboys. thankfully, I am not one, and only a small minority plays druids espicially the first time through!!!!!!

 

Hehehe!

 

P.S. In this case, you could tell it's a decision he didn't want to have to make...

Edited May 19, 2006 by Volourn

[Judge Hades]

I think the only time I played a druid was when I made a halfling Druid/Wizard and I had 2 panthers with me and I would change into panther as well.

[Llyranor]

You and your fetishes.

[Dark_Raven]

"Western civilization is coming to an end because we don't get games in jewel cases anymore."

 

Yeah, and I also believe that we'll all be living in caves soon.... all because the DMC isn't in the box.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No jewel cases!?!! Its the end of the world as we know it.

[Dark_Raven]

I think the only time I played a druid was when I made a halfling Druid/Wizard and I had 2 panthers with me and I would change into panther as well.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Your mind scares me. :ph34r:

[Magnum Opus]

I mean, this is a compromise.  Sure.  Still, are you saying it would be better to delay the game some months for a feature that's available for immediate download?  Better yet, should they put the DMC in a future expansion pack?

 

After all, isn't that exactly what happened with the multiplayer component for Civ 3?

 

Yeah yeah.  Western civilization is coming to an end because we don't get games in jewel cases anymore.  It's not that I don't have sympathy about the DMC, but it is available for download.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I could understand the "compromise" mentality if the DMC were coming out a month or two after the initial release, and if the news had come just a couple weeks before the game goes gold -- those lengths of time imply to me that they just can't meet their target deadlines in any way shape or form, and that there are still serious, time-consuming issues left to deal with, so it has to come down to one or the other. However, how long is it until this game's released (serious question, there: I don't really know when the game's due)? One month? Two? No firm release date yet? And we're only talking a delay of a week or two: the time it takes to replicate the game and ship it. They're planning for a delay of only two weeks. To me, that's suggests either extremely poor planning on someone's part, or someone's running a little guinea pig experiment. How much of this crap will consumers really accept? How much more can they be conditioned to accept? And tangentially, can we make them happy to accept it?

 

'Cause that's the response I'm seeing in this thread for the most part. A few rumours later and the board monkeys are more than happy to buy a product off the shelf, and an incomplete product no less, if they still get their DMC more or less right away, instead of three months off.

 

All I see this doing is lowering the bar yet again -- And I do see it as one of the causes in the decline of PC gaming (if not Western civilization :D): it's just too much work. People who are looking for an hour's casual entertainment aren't going to want to go through the hassle of downloading this and that and the other thing just to get the game they already bought working. Pop in the disk, install the game, and go. Not pop in the disk, install the game, and be directed to such and such a website so that you can jump through a few hoops for the rest of the game.

 

Do I personally want the DMC? No. But if I get the game, I'm going to end up paying for it anyway. I accept that. If the product I buy contains things I don't want, I'm prepared to suck it up and just pay for it in order to get those parts of it that I do, because they're telling me it's a package deal: in this case, OC, Toolset, DM client. That's what they're telling us the game consists of (isn't it?), and when I go into the store to pay the already-marked-up price, that's what I expect. That's what I demand. I expect them to sell me what they say they're selling me, in short. Will have to read the box to see just what they're marketing the game as being, but that's the impression I've got right now. OC, Toolset, DMC. Just like NWN1.

 

Only now... whooops. You'll have to come to us to get part of the game you paid for. That, IMO, is what stinks. Because internet access costs money, and it costs me time to download things. Essentially, they're making me pay to get the game I already bought, spending time and money for a product I should already have by any standard marketplace procedure.

 

In this case, it's just a useless DMC; if Bio's stats are correct, only a miniscule percentage of the people who buy the game will use it, and I'm certainly not planning on doing so. What really sucks about this is the notion that they're actively planning for a delay in the core content of their product, shipping an incomplete product to stores and expecting people to pay (full price, I'm betting -- I truly doubt that we'll see any sort of price reduction because the product is incomplete) for something that could have been complete but for a delay of the length of time it takes to press up copies of the disks and ship them to stores. What's that, two weeks? Not months, not years. Weeks. Software development is skipping deadlines constantly.

 

This game has all the hallmarks, from development to publishing, of a bargain bin game for me. Paying first-run prices for a game that isn't even all there yet? Forget it. When the pubishers manage to get their act together and deliver a complete, finished product, then I'll see what they're offering. Not before.

 

Who knows, though? Maybe they'll market the DMC as bonus content for that initial first run. That'd put an even shinier spin on the situation: they've developed this whole other aspect of the game, just for gamers... for FREE! Wow! Just gloss over the fact that it was supposed to be there all along and people will lap it up.

 

Shoddy business practices coming into play here somewhere. There's information I have yet to see/understand before I make up my mind on the issue completely, but from what I've seen so far... unimpressive.

 

 

Ahhh, don't mind me. I'm just in a cynical frame of mind these days.

Edited May 19, 2006 by Magnum Opus

[kirottu]

The game is due september, Magnus.

[Cantousent]

Damn. I don't have time to respond to your most excellent rant, Magnum. I just couldn't help posting to say I appreciate it. hahaha

 

Anyhow, I'll save my counter-rant for later. Actually, I don't really have a counter-rant, although I don't see things quite so grimly as you.

[Magnum Opus]

That's all right. I don't really expect too many people (read: anyone) here, of all places, to agree with me :D. You guys all seem to be pretty dedicated gamers; I'm a periodic one at best, basing my game buying firstly on whether I've got the hardware for it (instead of buying new hardware for games), and secondly on the whims of what's popular in the industry at the time, and whether that happens to coincide with what I'm looking for in a game (which seems to be pretty atypical to begin with). I had a great time with the IE games, and that led me to the Fallouts that had come previously, but games like those are the exception rather than the rule.

 

Right now, I'm in the "the game industry (or at least the PC end of it, which is the only part relevant to me) is turning out nothing but the same-looking forumlaic action-oriented crap that my hardware could barely support even if I WAS interested in playing a game like that" part of the cycle, so it's not surprising that I'm looking at things with a pretty jaded eye. :D

[Judge Hades]

I think the only time I played a druid was when I made a halfling Druid/Wizard and I had 2 panthers with me and I would change into panther as well.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Your mind scares me. :ph34r:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Why?

 

What is wrong with three panthers tearing apart a hill giant then feasting on its entrails?

[Dark_Raven]

I think the only time I played a druid was when I made a halfling Druid/Wizard and I had 2 panthers with me and I would change into panther as well.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Your mind scares me. :ph34r:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Why?

 

What is wrong with three panthers tearing apart a hill giant then feasting on its entrails?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I was refering to the halfling druid/wizard.

[Judge Hades]

Whats wrong with a hafling Druid/Wizard? No one ever suspects a halfling being able to rain fiery death while unleashing nature against them. :D

 

HALFLINGS RULEZ!

[Dark_Raven]

Halflings are good for being thieves

and cannon fodder.

[Cantousent]

Yeah, but they don't even make the best thieves.

[Dark_Raven]

Yeah, but they don't even make the best thieves.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

But they are most excellent as the other I mentioned.

[Judge Hades]

In PnP the best adversary I came up for the PC group was a halfling. That halfling tore them up and always was able to get away if things went against her way. It was hilarious. Halfling Wizard with Reduce Person, Fly, and Improved Invisibility makes her next to impossible to hit, then she had a nice array of wands of fireballs, lightning, and stinking cloud.

 

4 out of the 6 PCs died in that fight because they just couldn't hit a lone Halfling Wizard. HAHAHAHA!

[Darque]

Halflings are only good for one thing.

 

Bait.

[Judge Hades]

You know, I would love to get you guys in a game and have you go against some halfling adversaries. We would see who would be in the grave and who would be dancing.