Volourn Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 "Just because the masses did not buy the games does not mean the the games themselves were bad, nor does it mean the company was bad." Wrong. They ar ebusiness. They failed. If they were successful, they'd still be in business or at least be able to sell the company for millions of dollars so they can retire in style instead of making MMORPGS for an employer thats crewed them previously. HAHAHA! Don't blame the masses for Troika's failures. It is Troika's JOB to make people to WANT to play their games so they can stay in business. Period. DWARVES IN PROJECT ETERNITY = VOLOURN HAS PLEDGED $250.
Tigranes Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 Troika *did* design some good trolls, though. Let's Play: Icewind Dale Ironman (Complete) Let's Play: Icewind Dale II Ironman (Complete) Let's Play: Divinity II (Complete) Let's Play: Baldur's Gate Trilogy Ironman - BG1 (Complete) Let's Play: Baldur's Gate Trilogy Ironman - BG2 (In Progress)
Slowtrain Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 Most of the studios that designed worthwhile games did go out of business: Troika, Sir Tech, Microprose, Looking Glass... There's no shame in being included in that list. Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that.
Dark_Raven Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 "Just because the masses did not buy the games does not mean the the games themselves were bad, nor does it mean the company was bad." Wrong. They ar ebusiness. They failed. If they were successful, they'd still be in business or at least be able to sell the company for millions of dollars so they can retire in style instead of making MMORPGS for an employer thats crewed them previously. HAHAHA! Don't blame the masses for Troika's failures. It is Troika's JOB to make people to WANT to play their games so they can stay in business. Period. They did make games that people wanted to play. They just sucked when it came to looking after their finances. Hades was the life of the party. RIP You'll be missed.
Krookie Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 What's Troika? They were the turrets you could use in Gears of War
Dark_Raven Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 Troika Games. Hades was the life of the party. RIP You'll be missed.
Kelverin Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 Only played one of their games. TOEE and it was only playable after a bunch of amateurs got a hold of the thing and "fixed"it, otherwise it was a bloody mess out of the box, seemed they got the fate that was coming to em. Despite that I have heard good things about their other games and might try them if I ever run out of the other games I have. J1 Visa Southern California Cleaning
Volourn Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 "They did make games that people wanted to play." Not enough. The problem with Troika is they made games for a niche market (which I'm included in) yet their games were pushed/marketed/price as top tier games. "Troika, Sir Tech, Microprose, Looking Glass..." I do believe that most of the other companies you mention actually had bonafide hits, and in fact were sold to alrger companies. That's completely different than completely crashing out ala Troika. Troika did such a poor job they couldn't find one publisher to finance future products even as Troika tried their best to get them. Troika had no idea what theyw ere doing, and failed to successfully market their games - even the good ones - so that's why they no longer exist. That's a failed company. You cna't get more fail than that. DWARVES IN PROJECT ETERNITY = VOLOURN HAS PLEDGED $250.
Dark_Raven Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 Only played one of their games. TOEE and it was only playable after a bunch of amateurs got a hold of the thing and "fixed"it, otherwise it was a bloody mess out of the box, seemed they got the fate that was coming to em. Despite that I have heard good things about their other games and might try them if I ever run out of the other games I have. You have to play Bloodlines, their greatest game. Just make sure it patched though. Hades was the life of the party. RIP You'll be missed.
Deadly_Nightshade Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 Just make sure it patched though. With only the 1.2 Patch from Troika. After one play-through you can try either the "Unofficial Patch" or the "True Patch." Both of those have some elements that I would have preferred to have been left out, but of the two the "True Patch" is the much better one - in fact, I will go so far as to say that the other mod patch line is complete **** for the most part, breaking more than it fixes. "Geez. It's like we lost some sort of bet and ended up saddled with a bunch of terrible new posters on this forum." -Hurlshot
Dark_Raven Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 The True Patch is the one I prefer. Hades was the life of the party. RIP You'll be missed.
Enoch Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 Meh. I haven't played Bloodlines, but I avoided it specifically because I played both Arcanum and ToEE, and regretted purchasing both.
Volourn Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 "You have to play Bloodlines, their greatest game. Just make sure it patched though." Nah. That's Arcanum. BL is good; but its horrible combat brings it down. DWARVES IN PROJECT ETERNITY = VOLOURN HAS PLEDGED $250.
thepixiesrock Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 Yeah like really, there are two kinds of people on these forums. People who play vampire games and people who don't. Which kind do you want to be? Lou Gutman, P.I.- It's like I'm not even trying anymore!http://theatomicdanger.iforumer.com/index....theatomicdangerOne billion b-balls dribbling simultaneously throughout the galaxy. One trillion b-balls being slam dunked through a hoop throughout the galaxy. I can feel every single b-ball that has ever existed at my fingertips. I can feel their collective knowledge channeling through my viens. Every jumpshot, every rebound and three-pointer, every layup, dunk, and free throw. I am there.
Hurlshort Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 I kind of have to agree with Volourn a bit (which is always scary.) Troika was mismanaged terribly. They aren't in the same league as Sir-Tech or Microprose.
Deadly_Nightshade Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 (edited) Yeah like really, there are two kinds of people on these forums. People who play vampire games and people who don't. Which kind do you want to be? The former, of course. Edited March 2, 2009 by Deadly_Nightshade "Geez. It's like we lost some sort of bet and ended up saddled with a bunch of terrible new posters on this forum." -Hurlshot
thepixiesrock Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 Well yeah of course. Trainer tip for the rest of us, a good idea is to just agree with the vampire game players. It's best to avoid confrontation with these types. Lou Gutman, P.I.- It's like I'm not even trying anymore!http://theatomicdanger.iforumer.com/index....theatomicdangerOne billion b-balls dribbling simultaneously throughout the galaxy. One trillion b-balls being slam dunked through a hoop throughout the galaxy. I can feel every single b-ball that has ever existed at my fingertips. I can feel their collective knowledge channeling through my viens. Every jumpshot, every rebound and three-pointer, every layup, dunk, and free throw. I am there.
Gorth Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 Trainer tip for the rest of us, a good idea is to just agree with the vampire game players. It's best to avoid confrontation with these types. Yeah, it might come back to bite you VMBL was fun enough the first 2/3 way through, because the excellent atmosphere of the game enabled you to forget the crappy combat. The last 1/3 unfortunately was a long grind of boring combat. Probably about the time they ran out of time/money on the project (just me guessing). Arcanum didn't appeal to me (I don't like steampunk/victorian settings) and ToEE is lying on my shelf waiting to be installed and played. Just trying to figure out which mods/fixes to search for. “He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice.” - Albert Einstein
Tigranes Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 I own Arcanum and Bloodlines, though I'm not sure if I can still find the former CD. I thought Arcanum was brilliant but flawed; combat was interesting with cool stuff, but broken; there were lots of bugs, including 'interface-ones', which made it annoying if you tried to quickly rush past (broken) combat; the main story was humdrum crap until a decent final twist; but the sidequests, the atmosphere, the crafting, the dialogue - all top notch stuff. I tried TOEE when it first came out. It looked horrible; art design, the presentation, the interface, etc, everything just looked B-grade and clunky, so that playing it felt like wading through mud. I appreciated the excellent conversion of D&D rules (though not as much as a pnper might, I guess), but could see no reason to suffer the story and such. Bloodlines I played a few hours with, but my computer wasn't very good yet, so the unoptimised engine *really* screwed with me (HL2 was fine) and the game was really chuggy. Combat was boring and mashy, as well. I don't mind terrible graphics or complex interfaces, and hell I played Gothic 3 at 1.00 so I don't even mind lag, but it's that feeling that everything isn't very solid that I hate. I keep thinking of going back to it, but what few hours I saw of it wasn't this super-atmospheric awesomeness that some people rave on about. It might be the setting - Deus Ex didn't do much for me, either. Let's Play: Icewind Dale Ironman (Complete) Let's Play: Icewind Dale II Ironman (Complete) Let's Play: Divinity II (Complete) Let's Play: Baldur's Gate Trilogy Ironman - BG1 (Complete) Let's Play: Baldur's Gate Trilogy Ironman - BG2 (In Progress)
Slowtrain Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 Small game studios seem to have short lifespans. They either run out of money or get bought up by a larger entity. Or both. I don't think one can say Troika failed anymore than one can say Looking Glass failed. Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that.
Maria Caliban Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 What's Troika? I think it's the word for 'threesome' in Russian. "When is this out. I can't wait to play it so I can talk at length about how bad it is." - Gorgon.
Volourn Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 "Small game studios seem to have short lifespans. They either run out of money or get bought up by a larger entity. Or both. I don't think one can say Troika failed anymore than one can say Looking Glass failed." Sure we can. They failed. By veryd efintion the fact they went of business as opposed to being bought out is prove of this. All companies start small. The successful ones either do well enough to keep exisiting, get bought out for huge sums of money, or actually grow. A failed game company is one that can't make any more games because NOBODY WANTS TO HIRE THEM. DWARVES IN PROJECT ETERNITY = VOLOURN HAS PLEDGED $250.
Slowtrain Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 A failed game company is one that can't make any more games because NOBODY WANTS TO HIRE THEM. *shrugs* I don't think Troika did any worse than some other developer studios in that regard. Sir Tech failed; Looking Glass failed; Troika failed. They all made games and ran out of money so they had to close the doors. No reason to put Troika in a different category. Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that.
Volourn Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 They're failures. DWARVES IN PROJECT ETERNITY = VOLOURN HAS PLEDGED $250.
Niten_Ryu Posted March 2, 2009 Posted March 2, 2009 While I was sad to see Troika go out of business, in retrospective they probably wouldn't have lasted long anyway. They didn't make it in early 2000 so what chance they'd have now when development budgets have gone to even more absurd heights? Bethesda get a lot of heat for going mainstream but they are successful. Bioware balances carefully inbetween mainstream and late 90's type of CRPG. Many hate 'em but their games still sell really well. Troika.. well, I don't think they would have had enough will to change. If any Troika main developers are still in computer game business, they should start to create low budget CRPGs for Nintendo DS and iPhone. Actually **** Garriot, Brad McQuade, Gollop brothers and Currie couple should do the same. There's big money to be made by creating really old skool type of CRPGs (and strategy games). No need for fancy graphics or animations. It'll be just like in the 90's Let's play Alpha Protocol My misadventures on youtube.
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