Spore Galactic Adventures Comments by Kieron Gillen

First.

Oh vey! Stop it with the firsts already...

So, my first question is this: "Better than the City of X mission maker doodad"? That excited me and I've never touched CoX, so this could well scratch that itch for me.

I still think Spore is the very first attempt at what will eventually be the greatest game ever! Or possibly the greatest 'genre' ever. I would just love editors like those in Spore to be available to more conventional games like Civilization, allowing me to totally customise the appearance of the units, buildings and improvements or even the actual people.

A bit like LittleBigPlanet Scimarad?

it didn't just alienate core gamers, it put me off gaming entirely. I haven't played one since Spore to any extent because it showed such an appalling future for gaming in general.

I feel alienated already

it didn't just alienate core gamers, it put me off gaming entirely. I haven't played one since Spore to any extent because it showed such an appalling future for gaming in general.

Well now you're just being silly.

"Nah, didn't play Left 4 Dead. The existential bleakness of Spore ruined it for me."

Haha. By that logic Red Moose, when you read a bad book you just stop reading. Alrighty then.

No sale, regardless of how the critics review the expansion. Spore was my biggest disappointment of 08, and probably of the decade to date.

I wonder how many of the copies sold were still actively being played a week after release? The crazy hype and build up to this tech demo sucked a lot of people in, myself included.

Expected so much more of Spore. Massive, massive letdown.

Do not want.

Every time EG mentions this hateful 'game' I'm going to torture another orphan.

I'd have preferred something like Spore hero added to the PC original to beef up the middle stages. I got bored very quickly with the space stage, it was the early bits that interested me.

Oh god that game was bad. It made Black and White look good by comparison, which is quite a feat.

Haven't touched Spore since launch weekend, neither has my housemate. Massive disappointment; promised much but was ultimately as shallow as a puddle.

I enjoyed Spore with my hardcore openmindedness to play all games. Hardcore yo!

*licks finger and draws imaginary 1*

I had this spores lark pegged as nonsense from the get go. I was unfortunate enough to go to one of those Will Wright reveal conference/press things and I was the only person who said "You know you can't actually do what you say you are going to do right?". Everyone else there was full of hollow hype mongering praise for the game (maybe afraid that they wouldn't get invited to another freebee event or something).

After the hype that was spores. I see that the gaming press were taken far less seriously than before. A year or so on and it's pretty much open season on any journo who hypes up a crap game out of ignorance or (speculatively ;) ) some back handed, under the table freebee/advertising wonga.

Spores burned a lot of people and while I'm sure there will be a few million muppets out there who will buy this expansion. I'm equally sure I'm not going to be one of them.

@Penhalion

I'd really reserve judgement until you see the thing in action. Spore Galactic Adventures is extremely, extremely, impressive.

Its certainly the next step beyond what something like LBP is offering.

I waited for the review of Spore, Eurogamer. You gave it a great score. I bought it. It was a massive disappointment. In so much as a subjective review can be wrong, your spore review was the wrongingest. The only game is the very last stage, everything leading up to that is very stylish but completely lacking in gameplay.

There's no way I'm giving Maxis any more of my money.

"You can't actually do what you say you are going to do" - what kind of negativity goes around your house?

Spore could have done all of the things it promised. The problem wasn't in the idea, it was in the execution of the idea. As for what was released, it saddened me. There is still room for a game to actually do what Spore originally promised.

I think I'd rather castrate myself with a pair of rusty garden shears than buy any more Spore.

it could certainly do what it promised, but we already know that the "cute" team dumbed down the game (I really think this has to do with Will Wright "leaving" EA)

to me they have gone the "Nintendo" way, trying to do everything "casual"-friendly and all, avoiding more complicated stuff which might put down other gamers. interestingly, they are adding a full-fledged movie editor to The Sims 3, while with Spore you'll need to buy this exp to have something remotely similar.

it was something that should be there from the start, in the end there wasn't a good integration between the editors and the game, why the hell would you like to play as a crippled creature?

What is with is presumption that Spore didn't achieve what its promised? Why are people imagining that Wright was aiming to make anything more? His recent work has been on light, accessible software for the mainstream.

I think it is delusional to believe Wright promised some complicated RPG/RTS/TBS/FPS/MEGAEVERYTHINGSUPERCOMPLICATEDHARDCORE game. He didn't. We all thought he did because we saw the general scope of what Spore was.

'What is with is presumption that Spore didn't achieve what its promised? Why are people imagining that Wright was aiming to make anything more? His recent work has been on light, accessible software for the mainstream.

I think it is delusional to believe Wright promised some complicated RPG/RTS/TBS/FPS/MEGAEVERYTHINGSUPERCOMPLICATEDHARDCORE game. He didn't. We all thought he did because we saw the general scope of what Spore was.'

He promised that creature design decisions would have a profound impact on the rest of the game. It didn't.

The customization was good up until the point that you had to put things on that were not really customizable (eyes, mouths, spike etc.)

He promised that creature design decisions would have a profound impact on the rest of the game. It didn't.

He made that statement in 2005 for the second stage only or so, it was pretty clear that wasn't going to work out by the time the game was released as many previews/reviews/movies close to the release of the game already revealed. There was another focus, the massively online singleplayer experience which was genius. Spore did what it was meant to do if you followed it more closely. Certainly a highlight of 2008 aside from the DRM and the accidental deletion of some Sporecasts.

Galactic Adventures looks like it could be big, like a simplified NWN without the need to go to external sites like the IGNVault to download new modules and such. This could be the future of content sharing alright.

All I want them to do is to make the end game about exportation not about defending your planets, that's all you could do, you could never explore because any time you went anywhere you had your home planet bitching about being attacked.

Spore is great.

"A bit like LittleBigPlanet Scimarad?"

Kind of, but LittleBigCivilization:)

He made that statement in 2005 for the second stage only or so, it was pretty clear that wasn't going to work out by the time the game was released as many previews/reviews/movies close to the release of the game already revealed. There was another focus, the massively online singleplayer experience which was genius. Spore did what it was meant to do if you followed it more closely. Certainly a highlight of 2008 aside from the DRM and the accidental deletion of some Sporecasts.

You're right i didn't follow it too closely...but surely if they change focus and design and strategic decisions don't affect later stages of the game, this ruins continuity. It then becomes more like a series of shallow mini-games than the deep, complex experience that many people would have been expecting.

To me, Will Wright's statements about consequences of design decisions always seemed to be the main attraction, although I was very sceptical as AI would be an absolute nightmare to code.

As an online multiplayer model, i agree that spore is innovative. I think though, it'll have to stew for a couple more years before you can truly call it revolutionary.

Spore was a letdown on a number of levels, but I appreciated the effort. Tinkering with established formulas, if not revolutionizing them outright, is still commendable... so I respect Maxis for Spore while knowing that I'll never play it again.

Pardon me for I'm not English, but..

''- hnngh - expand the franchise''

I suppose this sound was ment to illustrate a feeling like having a really big filthy shit where you have to pressreally hard to finally execrete the unwanted product? Please do correct me if my interpretation is way off!

*edit* Omroth: Oh god that game was bad. It made Black and White look good by comparison, which is quite a feat.

HOLY SH- THAT BAD? OMG, I was intended to pick spore up for 20 or 10 euros since it contains that hateful DRM, but this is pretty discouraging. B&W is one of the main pillars of my moulineuxhatred (to be read as one word).

"I suppose this sound was ment to illustrate a feeling like having a really big filthy shit where you have to pressreally hard to finally execrete the unwanted product? Please do correct me if my interpretation is way off!"

Despite claiming to not have a great grasp of English, you have explained it so very well. Full marks. Actually made me giggle heartily.

I thought Molyneaux had the whole "talk shite for two years, produce excrement" genre wrapped up and was fairly gutted to see Will Wright go down the same path. Really expected much more. Spore was awful. Planetary sized disappointment. It will need something really big and impressive to make me go back and, so far, I don't see anything like that happening.