[jusca]

Miles (and the rest of the guys)

Thank you for informing us and keeping us up to speed. I myself have been fairly critical of the lack of communication regarding the patch considering the past relationship SI have with their customers. You have now restored my faith. :thup:

I think the majority of users here understand the process of fixing bugs, building patches and testing and that it is not a simple science. I am looking forward to (hopefully) getting the patch next week and properly starting to play FM2008!

[retired_2symonds]

Well, feel free to speak for SI, but I'm not sure if the fanbase would be similarly pleased with being described as rabid: "Irrationally extreme", "furious or raging; violently intense", or "affected with or pertaining to rabies". None really much of a compliment imo.

Have you seen this forum lately?

[Fitness Matt]

Originally posted by msteuk:
I'm not sure if the fanbase would be similarly pleased with being described as rabid: "Irrationally extreme", "furious or raging; violently intense", or "affected with or pertaining to rabies". None really much of a compliment imo.

But a very good description of the type of stuff that sometimes gets written on this forum, though.

[retired_pschnapps13]

Originally posted by tedder_road:
Maybe that kind of thing wouldn't be popular and some people might feel it's gimmicky, but when I look at Civilization, another of my favourite long-running series, I see that each iteration produces a game that's way better looking than it's predecessor.

Maybe I'm old fashioned, but I never understood the Civ 4 designers' desire to go 3D. It introduced so many problems (crashes, missing textures, black screens, colour errors), and it wasn't until v 1.63 that the game become playable for more than half an hour or so without using the Harkonnen patch.

It's now a great game, no doubt about it, but I can't see how it can be playable zoomed in close, which is essentially what the 3D allows you to do. Fancy looking? Yeah. Useful gameplay-wise? Not really, because you can't see any of the surrounding terrain, enemy units or nearby cities (to me the essence of the game; i.e. strategic planning). To me, it's really only playable on the last two zoom settings before you switch to the globe view. So to me, it essentially becomes a 2D square-based game that goes to great lengths to render the 2D in 3D. Because it's a strategy game, I think these providing a good overview is much more important than flashy gimmicks. I'd rather zoom out further than in closer

I'd hate to see SI make the same mistake. I sincerely doubt that graphics is their forte. Especially as it took around a year to iron out all the big bugs in Civ 4 - by which time SI would probably feel compelled to receive FM X++. Civ was never about looks, and I can't help but suspect that the move to 3D and dealing with graphics driver idiosyncrasies was an unpleasant experience for the devs. It seemed like a case of biting off more than they could chew. At least they'll have more experience next time I still think Civ 4 looks pretty snazzy, the 3D just doesn't add very much to me and caused loads of unnecessary teething problems.

I know that you weren't proposing a new 3D match engine per se, but I think the above does tie in with the subject of this thread, as it took Firaxis a year several patches to bring Civ 4 up to scratch. At least FM doesn't seem to be randomly crashing all the time... The above arguments about providing a comprehensive overview also apply to FM. And an isometric perspective effectively compresses the on-screen area used by the pitch by half (assuming you display all the pitch on screen at once, which I'd sure hope) - meaning that the pitch effectively becomes twice as cluttered.

Computer games are like women (or men, if that's your thing) - good looking ones might grab your attention on the street, but it's the inner values that determine whether you develop a lasting and meaningful relationship

[retired_jimngallagher]

I don't get how people assume the game will be perfect and bug-free then start moaning on the forums about how SI are evil and they are returning the game THIS INSTANT because there's no patch 2 hours after release.

If I wanted a 700mb patch the day after the game comes out, I'll buy an EA game.

[retired_nedim]

Originally posted by Bjaart:

You are getting a refund because you are a crap manager. Nothing else. Me and many with me are having success with our clubs despite the bugs.
To say you dont enjoy the game because of the bugs are fair enough. Go get your refund. But dont blame your uselessness on SI...

I've played since FM05. I've never had problems like this before. I even went as far to persist playing for almost an entire month, trying different clubs, different players, different tactics, to ensure it wasnt just that I was selecting bad tactics.

[jusca]

Originally posted by Ter:
<BLOCKQUOTE>Well, feel free to speak for SI, but I'm not sure if the fanbase would be similarly pleased with being described as rabid: "Irrationally extreme", "furious or raging; violently intense", or "affected with or pertaining to rabies". None really much of a compliment imo.

Have you seen this forum lately? </BLOCKQUOTE>

Does this mean we can expect 2+ pages of the meaning of the word 'rabid' a la the numerous posts on what 'couple of weeks' means?

[retired_ayron318]

All everyone wanted was some sort of feedback/update on how the patch was going after last thursday's "couple of week" saga. I just don't understand why it has taken up till now but am grateful nonetheless.

[Fitness Matt]

Originally posted by Fieldsy:
<BLOCKQUOTE>Originally posted by Ter:
<BLOCKQUOTE>Well, feel free to speak for SI, but I'm not sure if the fanbase would be similarly pleased with being described as rabid: "Irrationally extreme", "furious or raging; violently intense", or "affected with or pertaining to rabies". None really much of a compliment imo.

Have you seen this forum lately? </BLOCKQUOTE>

Does this mean we can expect 2+ pages of the meaning of the word 'rabid' a la the numerous posts on what 'couple of weeks' means? </BLOCKQUOTE>

Only by those who ignore the word 'community' and try to put their own spin on it as talking about people specifically and being personally offended by it...

[retired_dalcar]

msteuk - "irrationally extreme" and "furious or raging" are pretty appropriate for some of the posts that have been made, both positive and negative!

Tubzinho - People will always vote with their wallets. With everything that's been said on the forums in the last few weeks, you'd thinks sales would have dropped through the floor - they haven't. FM08 is our fastest selling game in virtually every country where we release, in some cases by hundreds of percent.

Have a look at davidj4's post just above - that is a very common reaction that I am receiving from people not on the forums.

We would like nothing more to release a game without any major bugs in it, but we're realistic enough to know that if something slips through the net, we are prepared to work very hard to get them fixed which is a lot more than many other developers are prepared to do. The game is huge in parameters, as things like the Scottish league issue show- it only happens if saved during a small window of time, and exited, and re-loaded, and we do as much as we can to ensure the quality of the game before release.

We're not proud of the issues, and have not ever claimed to be, so please don't put words in our mouths. The game, not fixed, is head and shoulders above the competition, but that does not mean we are happy or rest on our laurels despite this, but strive for perfection.