Vanguard Saga Of Heroes - Player made screenshots released

[Harovan]

Sorry, but you went too far. I'm more than willing to participate in tease-fests like this as long as it's in good fun and below the annoyance threshold. However you stepped over this threshold long ago. I don't enjoy this thread anymore, and I'm leaving it, just like I leave games I don't enjoy anymore. And since this thread is my party, as a good host I want it closed down when I go.

[DrSpike]

Edit: crossed-posted with Ralph. Ralph I'm leaving this as it took me ages (!) and pretty sure you'll see the funny side (and you are the hero!). You know all this is teasing and part of our ongoing friendly squabbles. I actually hope you do play VG, and hope you enjoy it. I also hope you enjoy the dramatisation below.

FWIW for my part I will guarantee in new threads to discuss VG with you in future based on its merits or lack of them, not on the rollercoaster ride that is this thread.

DrSpike



Before the thread closes, I would like to bring to you all, my never seen before production of "the Chronicles of Ralph". Without further ado:

The prologue: After much rejoicing and singing of songs about the messiah Brad, the saviour of teh MMOs, our hero suddenly finds that all was not as he thought. *ominous music plays in background*

...Ralph's hopes are dashed...

Originally posted by Sir Ralph on Jan 7th
However I am not sure if I will play if from release. I'm not even sure if I'll play it at all.

....with more info it gets even worse...

Originally posted by Sir Ralph on 13th Jan
I definitely will not play from the start.

...and he denounces the MMO gods! Rumour has it they are not pleased and vow to take revenge on this puny mortal who has dared defy their uberleetness...

...hurrah there is still some hope for the future (could this change of heart be the foul working of the gods?) - but for now EQ2 takes precedence should our eponymous hero be in an MMO mood, and he remains defiant...

Originally posted by Sir Ralph on 13th Jan
It may still evolve into a good game, but it'll take half a year at the least . I would have accepted a release date of about May or June, but not January. Since the fundamental laws are broken (The Vision and "I depend on nobody, it's ready when it's ready"), it does not have any edge over other games anymore. I may as well return to EQ2 or even 1 when I'll get into MMO mood again.

....days later our hero's resolve begins to weaken, but still it seems the saviourage is still some time away...

Originally posted by Sir Ralph on 23rd Jan
I definitely will play it. Just not from the very beginning. I tired of beta testing, and as far as I can see, the beta will continue for 6 more months.

...but as the days go on his resolve weakens further...

Originally posted by Sir Ralph on 29th Jan
Which is why I intend to play it just then, in a couple of months. I never said it's bad right now. I just think it's not finished yet.

...alas soon our hero's resolve weakens to the point where he buys the game, but he kindly explains why this means nothing...

Originally posted by Sir Ralph on 29th Jan

I ordered it. I had already my moneys worth from the beta and I am not a cheap bastard.

This means nothing, though. A lot of games I buy and put on the shelf the same day. It means "I will play them someday, but not now".

...a few days later our hero has to endure terrible temptation as the gods of teh MMOs trick him into making characters!...

...ever valiant he explains this is not playing...

Originally posted by Sir Ralph on Feb 6th
I created characters to claim my names. Don't know if this qualifies as "playing", but doing this, my client crashed 5 (counted) times.

...he fights back! (could these crashes be the work of a guardian angel such as the renowned prophet DrSpike?) He will not even look for the sources of the crashes, and teh gods may be foiled...

Originally posted by Sir Ralph on Feb 6th
Nah, I didn't even bother to look for the reason of the crashes

...our hero seems to have the upper hand with the aid of the renowned prophet DrSpike...or does he?...he seems confused...

Originally posted by Sir Ralph on Feb 7th
What servers are you folks on, by the way? Not that I'm planning to play soon (shut the hell up Spikey, will ya? )

...our hero thinks he can control the forces wielded by teh gods, but all is not clear. Perhaps DrSpike's efforts are in vain. These are dark times...

Originally posted by Sir Ralph on Feb 7th
Technically I don't play yet. I played HoI2 until now this evening and will be firing up EU3 now. After this I may look into VG briefly (God willing, or rather PC willing ), but that'll likely be a ten minutes show, as always. Log in, patch up, load, crash, and done.

...TRAGEDY STRIKES!!!!one!eleven!!!...

...but still our hero holds on to his sanity and defies the gods! No! I shall not play yet he cries to his Brad poster...

Originally posted by Sir Ralph
I managed to play Vanguard in the last 2 days about 2-3 hours each

I still don't know if I'll be able to play it for long, I'm pretty much forcing myself to load it up despite of all the frustrations about bugs and crashes, but I have the hope that it's getting better. My opinion is, that it has potential to become a good game, but it isn't finished by a very long shot. I still hesitate to recommend it to people who haven't been committed to the game for as long as I do.

...the will of the gods is but hard to resist, and our hero is drawn to playing despite his problems...

...but it seems that Ralph's guardian angel may have triumphed!...

Originally posted by Sir Ralph
Played to the 10th crash today. 3 hours. Gained almost a level. Completed many quests. Died once because of own fault and 4 or 5 times because of crashes. This is not fun. I cancelled my account. Should the crashes cease before the month expires (I will keep trying), I will renew it, otherwise Vanguard is history for me.

Now for the rest of the day back to quality games that don't crash. Like Civ4, HoI2, EU3 and pretty much every other.

...but our hero still tries to play...perhaps the will of teh gods is just too strong for him?

Originally posted by Sir Ralph on Feb 12th
I don't think it's the memory, I ran multiple checks from boot disks with 2 different tools and there was no error in half a hour. I won't touch my memory just to test things, I'm glad it works and don't want to screw it up. I have a GB and that is ok to play at "Balanced", except perhaps for well populated city zones like Tursh. But outdoors I'm having 35-45 fps, and in dungeons 25-35 in a full group, and that is good enough for me. The only thing I definitely can't do is swapping to the desktop, because pretty much everything else has been moved to the swap file. Also, it takes ages to quit the game, for the same reason. But I can live with that.

I'll write some more impressions for the not-yet-playing later, my workmates are calling for my assistance.

...and finally, as always, the gods get their way...

Originally posted by Sir Ralph
Vanguard is a wonderful game.

Epilogue: our hero, humbled by the gods, still professes his independence. Perhaps he will still wait 6 months as he shouted to gods mere weeks ago? It seems not, and wise observers such as the prophet DrSpike and the courtier Con predict dark dark times ahead. The only hope for our hero now is a game SO POWERFUL that even the gods themselves are powerless against it. Does such power exist in the world? Some say not, but legends abound....

...but that, my captive audience, is for another story.

[Harovan]

You forgot these:

Originally posted by Sir Ralph
By the way, don't take anything I said above for pure gold. I tend not to plan the usage of my spare time so far ahead. It represents my mood at the moment. It can change anytime. I may play it next week. Or in 3 months. Or never.

Originally posted by Sir Ralph
I said that playing it in a few months is based on my momentary mood, which may however change anytime. That's the spirit of "mood", right. Reading comprehension, Spikie, reading comprehension.

If I feel strong cravings to play MMOGs next week I may play it even then, since to start yet another game wouldn't make much sense as I'm planning to play this game anyway. This is unlikely, but may happen.

The other extreme is, that my MMOG mood will never return. That'd probably mean I won't play it at all. This is just as unlikely, but not impossible.

A rough estimate, or call it the golden median, says that I'll play it in a few months, three, five, six, something like that.

Selective quoting for the win. Is it the method of proof you need to receive a British PhD? I wouldn't take you as room cleaner with this skewed logic.

You lost a friend. Get over it. And get lost.

[DrSpike]

Well that's a shame. Perhaps you will reflect more later.........either way I'll ask Rah to lock this as per your earlier request.

[Harovan]

I did so already, long ago.

And after cooling down a little, let me say that I still respect you as a poster. But I won't allow you "friendly squabbles" anymore, since you obviously can't tell where the fun ends. Just like I will restrain myself from teasing you. If you have something to offer that challenges my intelligence instead of insulting it, and if you stop talking like a broken record, go ahead.

[Asmodean]

Hmm - reading this thread over and over again, it is hard for me to see where Spikey had "fair warning" that you were taking such offense to his "friendly banter".

Aren't you coming down a little hard on teh man??

Asmodean

[Harovan]

I was calling his troll in post #223 (Jan 30!). The "Sigh!" in it should also clearly show how I feel about that subject. And that is not the only sign I gave. Concerning "fair", I gave him full two more weeks to cease and desist, which he preferred not only to ignore, but used to raise the level of annoyance to a value I'm not ready to take anymore. Talking to a wall or a broken record is not fun, either.

[Skanky Burns]

http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/comic.php

[rah]

Per multiple requests, this thead is toast.