09-05-2002 12:37									#1
	GAMESPOT preview Remove this text

http://gamespot.com/gamespot/storie...2864668,00.html

	09-05-2002 13:00									#2
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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.

	09-05-2002 15:27									#3
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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...

	09-05-2002 20:36									#4
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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.

	09-05-2002 20:47									#5
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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...

	09-05-2002 21:02									#6
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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.

Last edited by wmtrexler on 10-05-2002 at 15:55

	10-05-2002 05:20									#7
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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.

	10-05-2002 06:06									#8
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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.

	10-05-2002 08:46									#9
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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.

	10-05-2002 09:05									#10
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Boycotting Gamespot..

[will secretly read the preview later ]

	10-05-2002 18:40									#11
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quote: 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.

	10-05-2002 22:41									#12
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quote: 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"...)

	11-05-2002 03:42									#13
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quote: 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.

	11-05-2002 03:50									#14
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quote: 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?

	12-05-2002 01:46									#15
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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?

	13-05-2002 21:19									#16
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quote: Originally posted by LDiCesare 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?

There's plenty of AI to be seen and tuning continues apace.

	16-05-2002 11:44									#17
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

Good grief. Soon you'll need a $20 "super happy extra special number one hyper-exclusive" membership just to see the front page of gamespot. God that site has gone to hell in a handbasket. Exclusive content? That was ok... but now about 85% of the site is membership. You can't even download patches without a membership. I'm going to find me a better site.

	17-05-2002 06:30									#18
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Not only that, but half the time the screen shot that showed up was not the one on the menu, but one from a previous release of screen shots.

	17-05-2002 07:28									#19
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We're getting OT here, but I so agree. I don't use their forums, their video, or so many of the theings that are the reason for the new charges. Too bad.

-m

	30-05-2002 08:09									#20
	Suffering from ads?

Yeah, subscriber gaming sites are really sucking out a lot of what people go to them for. IGN used to be good. But now every good thing is insidered and a lot of the things you go to may be insider without there even being mention of it before hand. Or the fact that in their console coverage they seem to have been bought off by Microsoft by the bias they give towards XBox. And now they segment every preview and review to stuff more ads down people's throats. Online sites are almost as bad as gaming mags now it seems.

Hopefully people like Markos can keep their sites afloat without having to go down the path towards a complete pay for service. By focusing more on content they trying to fish hook people into paying for content it shows more enthusiasm for gaming and encourages more interest really in what they [site owners and editors] give to their visitors.

	30-05-2002 12:50									#21
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

This is one of the few sites I would pay fore, actually. But then, since so much of the real valuable content is user-generated, we could probably expect a lot of it to vanish if the site took the toll-booth road, making it uninteresting to pay for.

Tricky, that.