Spore

TimberWolf · Post by **TimberWolf** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 2:23 pm

Post by **XMEN Gambit** » Fri Jun 20, 2008 8:03 pm

http://www.spore.com/view/profile/X_Gambit

<a href="http://www.spore.com/view/profile/X_Gambit"><img src="http://www.spore.com/css/blank.gif" width="448" border="0" height="40" alt="spore.com"/></a>

<embed width="448" height="180" bgcolor="#000000" src="http://www.spore.com/flash/csa_widget.s ... -thumbnail" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" scale="showall" name="latest-creatures" />

Post by **XMEN Gambit** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 4:07 pm

ARRGH.

Spore will apparently use a SecuROM internet activation method. You're allowed three activations, then poof. No more install. This is a post about Mass Effect, and Spore is supposed to be the same way. Both are games are from ScruYou, er, EA.

http://consumerist.com/tag/mass-effect- ... -it-period

Spinning Hat · Post by **Spinning Hat** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 4:26 pm

Argh.. I HATE it when people think that's the best way to protect their contenet.. I'm all for Copyright laws, and protecting your work, but what If I have 3 hard drive failures? I have to go spend $50 so I can continue to play my game? Pfffft. :p

BlackRider · Post by **BlackRider** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 8:41 pm

Things like that are a complete deal breaker for me.

Post by **XMEN Gambit** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 5:56 pm

A funny.

http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20080703

Post by **XMEN Gambit** » Mon Jul 28, 2008 8:52 pm

Ok, I saw a post where the three-activations thing can be reset - you basically call them and get a new code. Guess that makes me feel a little better. Eh.

Found a really good interview with one of the developers. He's the hard-core RTS specialist.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3 ... pores_.php

TimberWolf · Post by **TimberWolf** » Wed Jul 30, 2008 10:55 am

Such protection isnt as much of a deal breaker as the crap that was on X2. But I hope they dont make it a back breaking process to reset the 3 installs. But I dont think I will use them up very fast. Still looking forward to the game. Have to decide which version to buy, the normal copy or the one with the bonus materials in it for $10 more.

Post by **XMEN Gambit** » Sat Sep 06, 2008 8:11 pm

More than $10 more, I think. 50 vs 75 or 80...

I think I'm probably going to pick it up on the way home from work tomorrow, then I'll be playing like mad. If you need me, IM me on XFire. BTW, I notice a few folks on XFire playing tonight already. Heh.

TimberWolf · Post by **TimberWolf** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 10:16 am

I dont know if I can afford to buy the game when I get back in 9 days. Have to be careful as the last quarter of college starts in just over 2 weeks. Will have to buy some basic things for the apartment Im sharing with 2 others. If I can I will buy it before going to campus, but otherwise it will probably be Thanksgiving or Christmas before getting it. Im so looking forward to playing it and making everything in my mind.

Post by **XMEN Gambit** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 4:40 pm

Just got home with it, installing now and watching football (Dallas @ Cleveland).

This thing has got an ugly EULA on it. I'd advise reading the darn thing.

BlackRider · Post by **BlackRider** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 6:08 pm

Oh, I didn't know it was out... time to check some reviews.

oh, a little OT... but the more I see all these other copy protection methods, the more I love Steam.

Post by **XMEN Gambit** » Sun Sep 07, 2008 10:22 pm

I really resisted Steam at first. That's why I didn't play HL2 for so long after it was out. But if you're going to do the internet validation thing, Steam is the best example of how. This EA thing is just yuck.

I'm going to shut down now. I've just advanced into the City (or Civilization) phase. So far I pretty much agree with the reviews I've seen. This is a really neat thing. It's a really simple game, but a really neat... thing. Goal-oriented creative tool? You can see my critters and building in my sig-thing above. I've run into several critters created by others in the "wild" already.

And amazingly, I don't feel let down after the hype. They've really not made much of a secret about how it all works. It's not buggy, it looks like the screenshots and preview videos (and creature creator), and it behaves like the devs said it would. (So far.) That's kind of astonishing in and of itself. If I've got to pick a nit, it would probably be that the camera controls are not intuitive for me. They're just a little different than I'm used to. Certainly not a show stopper. My real gripe is with the copy protection and the EULA.

** update **
So I've played for a couple more days. Yesterday I got to the space phase and fumbled around with that a bit. Today I was exclusively in the space phase and trying to manage everything. This space phase is a whole other ball of wax... You have to create and manage colonies, defend them from pirates, ally or conquer other space empires, explore a huge galaxy, and so forth. And there's no fleet to command so you have to do it all yourself! Quite involving. Disclaimer: I have the difficulty set to medium rather than the default of easy.

Still not disappointed in the game. Sure, it was overhyped, but it delivers what it promised. And the space phase at least really feels like a game and not a claymation workshop.

TimberWolf · Post by **TimberWolf** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 3:27 am

Gambit, I can see on your Spore page that you have designed with a dark theme to your vehicles.

Ive read that you can only have one design for each of the vehicles for each city, is that true? Or is it just just one design for each total? What is conquering the world like? From what Ive read you either sent vehicles that project religious holograms over the enemy city to convert it, or dominate their economy, or blow them up, but you cant mix the three.

What does your home planet look like? Any way we can get some pictures of it and your cities?

Post by **XMEN Gambit** » Wed Sep 10, 2008 8:13 pm

Will see what I can do for the pics.

Each city is economic, religious, or military based, and produces vehicles of that type. It can produce three classes of vehicles: land, sea, or air. All vehicles of the same class created by a particular city share a design. I just happened to give all of my vehicles the same color scheme; it's not required. Vehicles of all classes can be used for trade or war, and it that way they're a lot like tribe members from the tribal phase.

Conquering the world is not too difficult or complex. You can fight (military or religious "conversion") or you can buy them outright, if you are friendly enough with that city and have the dough. There's a touch of a puzzle game in this phase in the way you arrange your cities with houses, factories, and entertainment that affects how happy and productive your cities are, and how many vehicles they can support. This puzzle thing carries over to the space phase.