GAMESPOT preview

[MarkG]

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/previews/0,10869,2864668,00.html

[ravagon]

Interesting. Not a bad preview but then gamespot doesn't give out bad ones very often.
It seems as though most of the important content (ie: AI) was speculation however - Most of the phraseology referring to the AI's performance uses "should" or "will" - ie: They didn't try it out or weren't able to.
[I wonder if they had that E3 demo too ]

Fingers crossed anyway.

[TCO]

Not that much in the preview. I was amazed at how much time they spent talking about the development cuts, etc. Seemed like they were more describing the process of making the game (and presumably repeating some QS/IG explanations), rather than the content of the game.

That's a little freaky to be honest. They need to get it together...

[moomin]

Yeah, more fluff there than usual. One does wonder what they're trying to hide.

Anyway, browsin' thru' the shots, I took a look at the spy screen and my heart fell... I just _loved_ the Moo2 abstracted spy system where you put in the research, selected the target and forgot about it. Well, would've been nice if you could have targeted special technologies as well, but that's basically it. Now it seems you have to hand-hold ever single spy Pax Imperia fashion. I hate it already.

[Xentax]

To my knowledge, you don't HAVE to hold your spies' hands; you can set high-level goals and let the AI handle the details.

Of course, that was the design state as of quite awhile ago, and things may have changed since then. Don't lose hope though...

[wmtrexler]

The preview stated that you can let the AI do the work. Reading through the preview I am encouraged to be hopeful.

Of course the proof is in the playing.

[Tuberski]

Most of the screenshoots I looked at were pretty encouraging. For example, I saw the diplomacy screenshot. Not only do you choose your reply to the diplomat, you also choose the "tone" of your answer. Just adding that shading changes diplomacy.

[Master Marcus]

Aaaahhh.....let the AI do the work, let it partly manage your empire, etc...... of course we'll need that in order to play the game at a reasonable pace, but now the IFPs are gone ( at least as they were planned originally ) so they need to boost a clever AI. I'm still optimistic and have no doubt about the design - however I'm also realistic about the hard challenge the team has to tag along with the AI and "balancing the unbalancing elements". The preview is vague, though "politically correct". The changes and the cuts are parts of the business, and today's capitalism in the video games industry is a revolution killer, almost an ambition killer. It's a paradox. There's still hope....high hopes for a great sequel though.

[TCO]

If you take that article at face value, it is a pretty damning swipe at Alan Emrich's project management and design choices. Not only did he make wrong choices but they weren't removed early enough.

[Sarxis]

Boycotting Gamespot..

[will secretly read the preview later ]

[Xentax]

Originally posted by GP
If you take that article at face value, it is a pretty damning swipe at Alan Emrich's project management and design choices. Not only did he make wrong choices but they weren't removed early enough.

It wouldn't have been Alan's decision when or if to remove various features of the game. Arguably it could have been at least partly his decision on HOW, and it may have been.

Also, it's unclear who if anyone campaigned for making changes sooner, and who if anyone resisted that idea.

[TCO]

Originally posted by Xentax


It wouldn't have been Alan's decision when or if to remove various features of the game. Arguably it could have been at least partly his decision on HOW, and it may have been.

Also, it's unclear who if anyone campaigned for making changes sooner, and who if anyone resisted that idea.

as lead designer, he bears a stigma for coming up with a design full of "unfun" elements and that required extra time to correct (i.e. delayed the launch.)

(Remember I said "if you take the article at face value"...)

[Rantz]

Originally posted by Xentax
To my knowledge, you don't HAVE to hold your spies' hands; you can set high-level goals and let the AI handle the details.

Correct, the elements that you could 'fire and forget' are still there. Spies even in futzing with them, you *can't* hand-hold them. You say what type, what their training is, and where you want them, but once they are in the field (inserted into an empire), you can retire them or call them back... not a lot of tweaking or maintenence.

[moomin]

Originally posted by Rantz


Correct, the elements that you could 'fire and forget' are still there. Spies even in futzing with them, you *can't* hand-hold them. You say what type, what their training is, and where you want them, but once they are in the field (inserted into an empire), you can retire them or call them back... not a lot of tweaking or maintenence.

Well, Rantz, I'm very happy to hear that. That shot had me worried.

On a side note, it's a pleasure seeing you guys here, although I guess you don't exactly have all the time in the worls to hang around. We all wish you all the best and a brilliant success with Moo3.

After all, how can you ever do Mom2 otherwise?

[LDiCesare]

Still... IFPs are gone, but multiplayer will get a fee bonus/malus for time spent over some time limit. That is a bit of the same back.
As long as AI is not tested, we won't know what the game is worth. If it is poor, the game will be poor because players like me will want to micromanage in order to avoid the silly AI. Since the game design made heavy use of AI with IFPs, and poor AI was OK for me there because it modelled silly bureaucrats, it may well turn into a MM nightmare.
How come there is no word on the actual AI? When will they have time to tune it if there is none of it to be seen right now?