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Boris Godunov
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Portland, OR
Aug 2001
time: 00:26
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There is no way you can say Civ3 is the most disappointing game ever. While it may not have met expectations for some fans, it maintained enough of what Civ is to be at least playable.
The game that most dissapointed the longtime fans of a series has to be (my favorite whipping boy) Ultima IX: Ascension. Here we had the most popular computer RPG series, which since Ultima II had been steadily building a huge fan base. The games got better and better. Ultima V is, to this day, my favorite RPG, followed closely by Ultima VII, Ultima VI and Ultima IV.
Then came Ultima VIII: Pagan. Oooookay, this one wasn't that hot. But it wasn't terrible, either. While the lack of a party system, the ungangly interface and the bewildering magic system were not well-received, it was still a playable game with a deep, interesting story.
So, despite this being a dissapointment, U9 was anticipated greatly. I mean, considering how long it was in development, fans were absolutely salivating over it. When Lord British announced it would be the last of the series, we expected a triumphant grand finale.
What we got was complete and utter CRAP. Beautifully done crap, but crap nonetheless. For some inexplicable reason, they retained everything people hated about U8 and continued to toss out the things people liked. Worse still, the game was no longer an RPG, but rather an adventure game wherein you could only follow the story rather than actively partipate and shape it. I watched in absolute frustration as my Avatar went and did things I didn't want him to do, but were forced on me by the game. And then the story itself was shallow, melodramatic claptrap that pretended to be deep, but wouldn't fool a 9 year old. Even worse than that, you could break the game at many points by missing a crucial quest or item needed for later. You couldn't just go back and get what you needed--you had to reload to a point before.
Then there was the enemy AI...or lack thereof. Basically, monsters were programmed to run and attack you when you got within a certain distance. But half the time they wouldn't respond, and you could just walk up and kill them without any resistance. Group attacks were never coordinated. If 3 giant rats were near, you could just carefully step within the range of one, it would run and attack you, and you could step back a little and kill it. Its buddies would remain blissfully unaware of anything going on at all. Then there were the monsters getting stuck in rocks and such, which was fun. Of course, you didn't even have to fight the monsters. You could just run past them, and if you got outside a certain distance, they'd stop chasing you and you'd be free to go on your way. This was probably preferable, because combat was a joke of just mindlessly bashing the target. There weren't any variations or different attacks...just click and hit.
Add in to all that the fact that the game was released horribly buggy, rendering it unplayable on most machines. The design itself was fundamentally flawed to make it a constant chore to play. I can't think of any game, Civ3 included, that had more technical problems on release. Origin had to issue a patch CD to those who had bought the game, which included an apology and a free trial of Ultima Online.
The problem was that Origin tried to take the computer RPG into a different direction, but it was a terrible idea that made it more of a first-person action game than an RPG. They eliminated story branches, choices and pretty much any elements of actual role-playing and dumped the player into a movie wherein he had no choice of what path to follow or what order to do the game. What's bewildering about this is that the story that emerged was still terrible!
When I see where RPGs have gone today with Neverwinter Nights, Morrowind, Baldur's Gate, and even the Diablo series to some extent, I shake my head in utter frustration at the implosion of the Ultima series that was Ascension.
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BustaMike
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You think you're better than me? You've been handling my ass pennies!!!
Nov 1999
time: 21:26
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Disappointing but good overall - Xenosaga Ep. 1.
I just beat it. I was really enjoying the game, then it was over... no climax, no resolution, no closure. The freakin game just said TO BE CONTINUED. I know it's supposed to be a 6 part game, but I really thought at least one bad guy would get beaten or something important would happen or something. The game just ends in the middle of all this action. That was disappointing.
As for Civ3, here's why I say it's the most disappointing game I've ever played. The TBS I played previous to it was SMAC, which IMO is the best TBS game ever made by far. Enter Civ 3... the leaders look retarded, there are no movies, 1/3 of the techs serve no purpose, there are less techs, the differences between Civs are trivial at best, all terraforming ends up resulting in the same square (mine + grassland, irrigation + plains, it's all the same), there is no multiplayer (until the expansion comes 6 months later... too late and I won't pay for it anyway), I could go on and on... Basically, with no options and no rewards like movies or something, the game was spectacularly boring. I didn't even finish one full game before I went back to SMAC.
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Andrew1999
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"A Line In The Sand"
Strategy game of Gulf War I from SSI. In the readme file it noted several things that had to be removed from the game at the last minute, such as naval transport. Ever try moving the U.S. Army to Saudi Arabia without transports?
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10-03-2003 20:04
!
Let's see............
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