What do you dislike about Spore?

[Knicky]

We were very focused, if anything, on making a game for more casual players. “Spore” has more depth than, let’s say, “The Sims” did. But we looked at the Metacritic scores for “Sims 2″, which was around 90, and something like “Half-Life“, which was 97, and we decided — quite a while back — that we would rather have the Metacritic and sales of “Sims 2″ than the Metacritic and sales of “Half-Life.”

—Will Wright

Guess they didn't want it being too complex. It's a real shame though, this game feels just butchered to me, I was expecting something a whole lot different than what I was given... the game to me just feels like a repetitive grind equal to that of levelling up on MMOs.
The cell stage was perfect though for the whole "pacman" concept it was given; but other stages such as Tribal and Civ were just a 'get so many of a certain unit and order them to attack' No real strategy needed to win, as many have already said, it's way too easy.

The 2005 demo showed the Tribal to be more of a learning experience. Helping your creatures understand how to act and use the tools it was given. It was dumbed down so much its just tedious and boring.
I’m very disappointed with the final product.

[Banquet]

Originally Posted by BeyondBirthday

I wish, in the space stage, (or even the city stage) you could come out your ship and walk on the new planet. Walk around like in the stage.

You can when you get the hologram scout. You need either the trader 5 badge (50 trade routes) or Misionista 5 badge (do 50 missions)

I just got it in one of my games. It's quite cool. You move slower than in the creature phase, and seem to get stuck/blocked more.. but it get's you down there. I would have a lot of fun with it, but usually as soon as I land I get a pirate attack..

It's a shame you don't get it straight away but I guess they're keeping the cool stuff as rewards.

[StarPaladin]

Ok, this is my last post (in this link). Had my neice over again last night; we decided to keep giving Spore a chance. She still hates it. She said it was like playing the games like the Barbie's Adventures, Barnie's color/shapes search, and other kids computer games she use to play. I'm a hard core gamer, and asside from the great creature looks/animations, I really dislike the gameplay, it's tedious, shallow, and is over too fast (We both, taking turns playing, got to space again in FOUR days). It's so dumbed down, even a little girl (who loves computer games) finds it borring and tedious.

My neice went back in to play Mario Kart; according to her, that's much more fun and has way more statagey than Spore. We all just have to spread the word about this game to as many people as we can, because the reviewers are obviously paid off or brain-dead or stuck in the hype, or all 3.

And for those wondering why there was really no Beta testing, that's because you guys all ARE beta testing it now, and it only cost you $49 for the honor

[Ezarphant]

I would have like more depth in the tribal, you know your creature is just as inteligent as the are in space! I'de like bit of: find this, domesticate this, solve mystery A, give item B to colony C you know? Why just totaly kill or be really freindly? I love the powers but theres so much potencial! Maby an expansion pack might upgrade tribal.

[AnnoyedDragon]

The planet destroyer needs a note, considering everyone is selling the things; you would think you could actually use one without every civilisation declaring war on you for 'breaking the galactic code'. What code? Plus why was I only informed of its existence when I broke it?

Spent 2.5 million on a weapon no one will let me use!

[Vocorus]

Originally Posted by Kyle1000

The game is 12+ it's not for all ages

I wasn't referring to the rating the game comes with, what I meant was that the game is targeted at the younger audience as well as the older audience.

[DamienDemento]

I'd like the space stage to be slightly easier to traverse, given the size of the damn thing. As alot of other people have said I think more should have been done with the civ stage, better interaction ebtween races and maybe missions along the lines of the space stage. Still love the game though....

[Vocorus]

Originally Posted by StarPaladin

Ok, this is my last post (in this link). Had my neice over again last night; we decided to keep giving Spore a chance. She still hates it. She said it was like playing the games like the Barbie's Adventures, Barnie's color/shapes search, and other kids computer games she use to play. I'm a hard core gamer, and asside from the great creature looks/animations, I really dislike the gameplay, it's tedious, shallow, and is over too fast (We both, taking turns playing, got to space again in FOUR days). It's so dumbed down, even a little girl (who loves computer games) finds it borring and tedious.

My neice went back in to play Mario Kart; according to her, that's much more fun and has way more statagey than Spore. We all just have to spread the word about this game to as many people as we can, because the reviewers are obviously paid off or brain-dead or stuck in the hype, or all 3.

And for those wondering why there was really no Beta testing, that's because you guys all ARE beta testing it now, and it only cost you $49 for the honor

Lol, it took you four days to get to the space stage? *giggle* nah, im just teasing. When you reach space stage - it's not over - you have to make your way to the center of the galaxy, through an extremely powerful empire, you are far from over. You and your niece simply don't have the patience to sit through it and take control of an Empire that can span, literally, thousands of worlds.

"We all just have to spread the word about this game to as many people as we can," - everyone has their favourite game; Mario Karts to me, looks incredibly dull and uninsteresting - it doesn't mean it is and im not going to running around "telling as many people as i can" that the game sucks. You sound as if your going to grab all your mates and each of you is going to stalk through a different store that sells pc games and yell @ anyone that attempts to buy Spore - seriously dude, that was a very immature comment to make. If you dont like it, fine - but dont go around pressing YOUR opinions on others.

"I'm a hard core gamer, and asside from the great creature looks/animations, I really dislike the gameplay" this game was designed for people that like to sit back and relax while using their imagination. I love games that take time to play, with simple controls, easy to use interface and easy gameplay, and give you alot of freedom in certain areas - it's just my personal preference. I found the entire Creature Creator system to be pure genius in the world of gaming as it has opened many new ideas for other game companies and it's just a hell of a lot of fun to create something unique.

every single person i know/have met that calls themselves a "hardcore gamer" usually just plays CS, QuakeWars, UT or any other hardcore/action-packed game. I'm not saying this is you, but being a "hardcore gamer" doesn't mean diddly.

"Barbie's Adventures, Barnie's color/shapes search," <- erm, no?

"It's so dumbed down, even a little girl (who loves computer games) finds it borring and tedious." - little girls and boy generally don't know what their talking about, anything that doesn't hold their interest for more than 5min is boring to them so you'll excuse me if i disregard your niece's statement.

I'm sorry if this post comes across as an attack, it's not - it's more of a rebuttal against your attitude in the post. This thread is about mentioning things you don't like about the game, not prattling on about how your little niece likens it to Barbie or Barnie and how your going to tell everyone it sucks.

A simple: "I didn't like the gameplay, and I found the game to be somewhat shallow and tedious. This is not a game for me" would have surficed.

/endrant

I think i need more coffee lol - or i've had too much already >_<

[booly]

The only thing I dislike about Spore enough to stop me playing (and I have had to due to related RSI) is the ratio of compulsory arcadey fighting to exploration and building in the Space game. These last two are time consuming and relaxing and delightful but it is impossible to do these and missions and defend against all the neighbour and pirate attacks. There just isnt enough time in the game.

Biohazard alerts seem to be about the right frequency but attacks seem to be about two or three times what would be about right IMHO. Spore gets the "nice concept but unplayable realisation" badge from me at the moment I am afraid.

[tommo83]

Cell to Civ Stages : No serious issues, mostly excellent.

Space Stage: There's always some trivial problem to be attended to every 5 mins, even in easy mode (Pirate/Eco/Attack) which is WAY to frequent for the game to be enjoyable. Also, why can't allies help themselves and why do they never help you?

Minor note: It would make the management of cargo a hell of a lot easier if you could just drag items from one box to another in the inventory; the current system is shockingly basic.

So apart from the major gripe about being forced to spend 70%+ of my time in the space stage dealing with attacks or eco disasters, and the lack of cargo management, the gameplay is great.

NB Mine still crashes randomly in the space stage (planet zooming / d3d9.dll) see tech forums for details from the hundreds (not exaggerated!) of folks who've posted on it so far on the issue.

[SharonQ27]

The first four phases of the game are way to easy on the easy setting. My seven year old child played through right up to the space phase and all he needed was a quick explanation of what to do on each phase. However the game kind of forces you to start off on easy because the space phase is just ridiculous on anything but the easy setting. It fact the space phase is still frustrating even on the easy setting. The amount of pirate attacks and other urgent alert things really need to be made a lot less frequent.

[wotbetatesting]

I'd like to be able to actually load it. Then I might have an opinion on what I like/dislike.,

[Vocorus]

Originally Posted by SharonQ27

The first four phases of the game are way to easy on the easy setting. My seven year old child played through right up to the space phase and all he needed was a quick explanation of what to do on each phase. However the game kind of forces you to start off on easy because the space phase is just ridiculous on anything but the easy setting. It fact the space phase is still frustrating even on the easy setting. The amount of pirate attacks and other urgent alert things really need to be made a lot less frequent.

Cool sig, did u make it?

[StarPaladin]

Vocrus: You make a post 4 times larger than mine (which is a second part to my first post, and would have been my last), quoting every thing I wrote, to point out each and every detail of "how you would have written it different"??? How Nerd-Nazi of you. I don't see your "Content Police" badge? You tell me HOW I should have worded my own words? You put words in my mouth I never wrote. You tell me what my attitude "shoud" be? Please open a window in your parents basement and get some air (and a life). . .

[retep01665]

Originally Posted by StarPaladin

Ok, this is my last post (in this link). Had my neice over again last night; we decided to keep giving Spore a chance. She still hates it. She said it was like playing the games like the Barbie's Adventures, Barnie's color/shapes search, and other kids computer games she use to play. I'm a hard core gamer, and asside from the great creature looks/animations, I really dislike the gameplay, it's tedious, shallow, and is over too fast (We both, taking turns playing, got to space again in FOUR days). It's so dumbed down, even a little girl (who loves computer games) finds it borring and tedious.

My neice went back in to play Mario Kart; according to her, that's much more fun and has way more statagey than Spore. We all just have to spread the word about this game to as many people as we can, because the reviewers are obviously paid off or brain-dead or stuck in the hype, or all 3.

And for those wondering why there was really no Beta testing, that's because you guys all ARE beta testing it now, and it only cost you $49 for the honor

completely agree, it takes me a little under 2-3 hours to blast through all the games until space and its just not worth it, people keep saying the release version is just a better game for casuals, and tbh thats dog poo.

The space game is by far the most frustrating, time consuming and tedious part of the whole game, its the exact opposite of casual, and civ/tribal can be completed by just rushing thru it asap, theres no reason to even aquire all the items/buildings on offer.

[Teiman]

It could be a host for good games, once the mod community star KILLING and RAPING the code of this thing, releasing modding tools, like extractors, viewers, enconders, etc..

[pipsqueek1956]

It is a lousy,shallow,tedious and boring game.

A total waste of £35.

Up to Civ stage,the individual,non linked games are over in no time.Then you hit space,which is so overly demanding that it is no fun,having to repeatedly return to defend.

The best is creating the creatures,not that their looks or parts make any difference to the game play.

It could have been so much better,and still cater for the many different types of players it is now aimed at.

Oh well,once bitten,twice shy.I for one will not be buying either the expansion or add on packs.

[animationtyd]

I think i'd agree with the vast majority of the comments made so far.
For me the game seems too casual. Whats there is good and polished to a mirror shine. But its not what we expected, Which is a real shame.
Cell phase is fine - more parts might be nice but its good as is.
Creature phase - spore is a single player game, why is there grind? the way that the creature phase appeared to be pitched in 05/06 was as an competative evolutionary phase. What happened to procedural verbs? Its just not competative, you mearly grind through the levels and have minions to help you. I know many game developers are hooked on mmorpgs but theres a time and a place and the creature phase or in fact spore in general is not the place for it. Really guys - the creature phase came across as a really interesting game in its own right (maybe a bit like black and white in some ways i guess) and its turned into a simplifed clone of a certain well known mmo. Theres no real need to evolve, theres no penalty for dieing, your race (the creatures not in your pack) seem to do nothing. Other than to get through it as quickly as possible and build an ok looking creature it seems a bit well 'pointless' might be a bit strong but you get the idea.

It really is too simple - and the transition from creature to tribe (and tribe to civ) is very abrupt.

For example in the creature phase you might need to show your race how to do certain prequiste things, throwing rocks blowing into shells or whatever (brain level effects how likely they are to learn, how long it takes and how may hybrid 'verbs' they can hold in their little squishey brains).
Descovering (have a few ways of doing this) fire could be the trigger to move to the next stage.
Eating other races (or befreinding them) really should be a secondry thing to improving your race not a prequiste. DNA points should also be gained automaticly over time (a long time though). Gaining new parts should be more based on actions and time scale rather than arbitary eating befreinding or harvesting. If i keep attacking things with my evil claws of death then i should get better evil claws of death, in the editor i like the way its layed out but having parts araged in a tree (sub menu?) of evolution for the perposes of seeing what sort of thing you need to do to get the next part might be nice. When you evolve your former form should remain around on the planet for you to have to compete with.
Procedural evolution - really there should be a (relativly simple) set of rules that mutate offshoot speices in your world. It would be a great experiment to just leave the game running and see what emerges, just have a level of variance based on the environment and race chariterisitcs. It would also be good to have a way of quantifying how good, evolutionaryily how fit a race is. this can then be used in the space game to see if an introduced species will out compete locals (mmmmm bio weapons, makes terraforming more of a subtle art rather than a rubber stamp), think plauges of space bunnies.
Less grind, more game basicly.

Tribal phase - whats there is good, but look, if your going for the AOE style approch to the genre it needs more progression. while the creature phase has used mmo's as a model far too much (turned into a chore rather than a game) it looks like the tribal phase team went to far in the other direction. Let me build huts anywhere, let my tribe found more villages (on the sites of destroyed ones?) let me build walls etc in short let me get to a point where i've essentially built the city(s) for the civ phase and depending on how i've played the tribe phase see if they break away into their own goverments.
Reacearch please (even if its a crazy shaman in a hut making use of spice, it would be a good point to introduce the player to spice as it would make it more part of the story, vary the colour of the spice so its not always red! or make a bigger deal of it being different colours - "wow dude it comes in other colours!?").

Civ- ummmmmmm build lots of tanks, conquer city repeate. Its really very very boreing.
Really having it as an expanded tribe phase would be better (more like AOE).
I do like the city building linking city puzzel system though.
I would like to be able to expand the boarders of the city (global cities please). Walls and walls with turrets should there for be a building as part of the puzzel rather than arbitarily existing. Pay a certain amount (which increases for every 'ring') to add another 'ring' of complexity to your city. the religon and economic 'attack' systems need seperate and different systems to the 'war' mechanic.
Theres so many things wrong with the civ phase that I'll leave it with - Some things just dont work no matter how polished they are: Try again, get it right.

The space phase should really be started by a space race during the civ phase - with rocket blasting off and blowing up etc. dont give us the ufo straight away make us work for it! introduce us to the space phase gradually - probes, space stations, space elevators or whatever. once the home world is unified you can always get to the full space phase quickly. Make us work for intersteller travel. really we should have got the hang of terraforming, colinization etc in our home system.Having a crashed space ship is a bit of a get out short cut. Have it in a nearby system reached by slow multi year ship. Theres a massive missed story opertunity for the player to recover the ship and then descovering more and more evidence of the galaxtic horror that is the grox.
The Alien ship could be found and reverse engineared to give your race its 'ufo'. and entering the space phase propper.

You need fleets! Have fleets aranged in a similar way to the city system. A hub 'capital ship' with linked colony (houseing), industrial and trade (entertainment)and escort (turrets) ships.

In empire trade should be handeled directly by fleets (and produce money directly less the cost of running the fleets) along with defence, random missions (up to a point) and inter empire trade routes.
You should be able to get a fleet to ally with you so that use can use it offensivly, or to aid in founding a colony.
Space needs to be less densley populated and less speedy. I'd rather have fewer races and more depth in the game.

There are many many more things i could say but this is a bit of a rant as it is. As to the people demanding that they get what is essentially spore 2 in the form of free patches i dont think thats realistic as really what many people want ammounts to Spore 2. More science, simulated evolution if players want it (on off option in game) more depth - NOT (as) CASUAL!!!!

Graphical things - but for the love of spode fix the gameplay first!

Small animation thing, since the animation through out the game is excellent (well done ladies and gentelmen) and conveys emotion very well, its just a shame that the eyes are fairly lifeless. Some procedural looking code would have been nice and since all the eyes (with pupils anyway) appear to have spherical balls it would be relativley simple to have node there controlled in code. Several other developers/publishers have demonstrated things along this line and its just a bit supriseing its ommited.

Eye decals - beging able to alter the type of eyeball iris would a a nice minor thing - octopus eye, ect. Colour as well.

Maybe have a visual effect around the edge of the screen linked to the type of eye, or a creatures eye veiw button so you can see the world from your creatures point of veiw (that could be very weird).

Appologies for the massive post, please forgive any spelling and gramatical errors hopefully i've got the point across. I'll shush now...

[Anticap]

Cell - Good, but I'd like to have seen player created cells, and a few more parts in the creator.

Creature - Good, but I'd like to see more creatures walking about in the wild rather than hanging around their nests. Some do wander around, but not many.

Tribe - This is a bit shallow. You have 3 options:

a) kill everyone
b) make friends with everyone
c) a mixture of a and b

I'd like to see maybe some quests you can get off tribes, and different ways to interact with them.

Civ - This is OK, but it's slightly boring after the first time. again, more option and possible side quests would make this more interesting. I know they wanted it to be simple and easy to use, but in my eyes Command and Conquer is simple and easy to use and there's a hell of a lot more options in C&C than in the Civ stage on Spore.

Space - This and the Cell stage are my favourite stages, but sometimes the space stage is frustrating. How many times will I have to run back to my empire to stop a pirate raid/grox attack/enemy attack/eco disaster? I've been told to go and find out about the Grox but there's a fat chance of that when I can't even get 4 stars away from my empire.

Your allies should help you more, people should look out for themselves without relying on you for EVERYTHING and the rate of pirate raids/grox attacks/enemy attacks/eco disasters should be turned way way down.

Creators - These are good, and the possibilities are endless, but a few more parts would be nice, and the ability to paint your creatures with the paint tin, or with your mouse rather than choose a pre made design or choose that three tier system.

I suspect some of these issues such as the frequency of raids etc will be addressed in a patch. The other stuff such as more parts or depth will probably be addressed in an expansion.

[fauxterror]

Spore is....ok. Just OK.

A little over a year ago, Spore was shaping up to be a living universe populated by an infinite diversity of planets each as detailed as the first, each with an entire ecosystem of creatures interacting as ecosystems do. Each stage was to be a game in of itself you could play indefinitely unless you chose to advance.

Cell stage is actually pretty fun. I have nothing bad to say about it.

Creature stage... wait, why are 95% of the animals just lazing about around cookie-cutter nests, surrounded by generic, deserted forests? They could easily have created a thriving (albiet SOMEWHAT simplified) ecosystem to explore, but instead they turned it into...something boring.

Wait, whats this? My creature's brain got bigger? Funny, last I heard that was going to be the CHOICE of the player, not FORCED progression. Why does a bigger brain automatically give you more health? Why can't I design a mentally lalalalalalaed insect with hundreds of hit points that trundles around squishing other animals like pudding? What ever happened to learning how to perform actions (grabbing + moving = dragging. Remember that?)?

Tribal stage. Cookie cutter villages instead of cookie cutter nests. Why does my raptor insect design huts with identical design to the five-armed skunk-monkey's? What ever happened to guiding your creature into the development of culture and religion and all that jazz? Why are there exactly xyz number of tribes?

City stage...why are my raptor-insects talking about nuclear bombs and tanks? How did they go from stone axes to huge metal death machines? Why do they suddenly not sound like insects anymore (in diplomacy)? What about advancing technologically towards the space age?

Space Stage.......why the hell does the mayor of my homeworld colony- a colony of evil killer insects bent on universal domination- sound like Mrs. Puff?

I understand the limitations of computer technology, but the game as it was originally envisioned was easily possible with the technology of the time. The developers could have created a deep, incredible experience, with unparalleled freedom to the players. Due to pressure from EA or their own obsession with the casual gamer, they chose not to. What a shame.

Spore is...OK. I regret paying for it, but I don't mind owning it. But it could have been so much more...

[ComradePassmore]

In a way I am glad I bought this heap of lalalala other wise I would have kicked my self for missing out when I could have tryed it out and then found the awful truth through forums missing out of the enjoyment of some of the game.

[varnado]

Originally Posted by fauxterror

Spore is....ok. Just OK.
...
Spore is...OK. I regret paying for it, but I don't mind owning it. But it could have been so much more...

I regret why I paid for this, Galactic Edition... I think maxis fallen badly by this causal gameplay strategy. I'll stick back to good ole simcity, I still enjoy it very much but spore was good for a while. you can't expect long term gamplay from spore, maybe for just a few days.

[Vocorus]

Originally Posted by StarPaladin

Vocrus: You make a post 4 times larger than mine (which is a second part to my first post, and would have been my last), quoting every thing I wrote, to point out each and every detail of "how you would have written it different"??? How Nerd-Nazi of you. I don't see your "Content Police" badge? You tell me HOW I should have worded my own words? You put words in my mouth I never wrote. You tell me what my attitude "shoud" be? Please open a window in your parents basement and get some air (and a life). . .

Firstly, I wasn't pointing out "how i would have written it differently", I was trying to get across the message (a message you clearly missed) that the way in which you wrote it can be considered rude to some and that you should learn to express your feelings in a way that adheres to more "politically correct" structure. I found your post to be derogatory to the point of unwarranted rudeness, border-lining an anti-Spore movement. Granted, this may not have been what you were saying, but it is what your message brought across to me - so in good conscience I felt a need to respond.

The reason I responded as I did was because of a single line: "We all just have to spread the word about this game to as many people as we can". That ****ed me off because you took the stance of "Oh this game sucks, now we have to tell everyone about it" like it's your God-given right to basically force your opinions on others, to put it in a religious context you sounded like a religious zealot that believes his beliefs outweigh everyone else's and "heathens" must be convinced to "see the light" or follow the "right path".

I can't stress enough that this is how your post came across to me, if it wasn't your intention then I apologise for any offense I may have caused you.

Finally, don't assume I live with my parents. I'm 24, my mother lives in Gauteng (1900km away from me, as I live in Cape Town (check a map if you want)) and my father lives in the UK, I haven't lived with my parents for over 4 years. k? got it? good.

You can reply if you want, but it would be rather fruitless as as far as I am concerned, this discussion is over and any further posts you make towards me will be ignored.

[BurntEffigy]

Hoping this is not too negative as i AM really enjoying the game (the hour or so I set aside to play always seems to end up as 2/3 hours - not sure why though!)

Things I don't like...

The cell stage was way too simple and seems a bit pointless.

I love the creators, but: I would rather not be allowed to totally change my evolving creature at each stage (evolution doesnt work that way, and I feel there should be some kind of restriction to the amount of changes to the creature? )

Space Stage is addictive, but only after i restarted and concentrated on becoming allies with every neighbouring race: First game I 'dived in' and made a couple of enemies, it was hellish annoying having to repeatedly defend my home planet.
Also, not sure if this is a bug - but my first game had every race with the same spaceship (namely, mine), so it was crazy trying to laser them down when they all looked identical.

...and lastly, I hate that every member of my family has to use the same login - really, really want them to have their own creations/buddies/content without populating my game.

[Kritter]

My no. 1 dislike is that it's published by EA. It's well known that they have the most dire reputation in the industry for after sales support and that they're only interested in your money. Well, Spore is their last chance ever for me. I don't care who develops what game, if they publilalalala through EA, they're not getting my custom. I've been saying for years "I'd boycott EA if it wasn't for Spore". Should have known better. Why would Spore be any different an experience from the EA norm?

Secondly, it's a buggy, flakey and badly designed pile of something nasty. I have had no end of problems, the most major of which was it destroying my entire history of all saves, because someone thought it would be a good idea to link every save to a single crucial but flakey stars database.

EA Support, having had my dxdiag back, have said that I need to run it on a single core, a single graphics card and stop my hardware accelerated sound. How pathetic is it that I have to disable half the hardware on my pc to run it? I know they started coding it like 6 years ago, but does it only work on six year old pc’s or something?

Third, even if you are one of the lucky ones who can play it, it's possibly the most shallow,repetitive and linear game ever dressed up in cute procedural characters and cut scenes, and is nothing like the experimental sandbox we were always lead to believe it would be; a six hour long, four stage character generator for a sub par and woefully unbalanced space game.

Disappointed is not the word.

[EDIT]

Oh, and of course, SecureROM and three activations.

Oh, and of course, no autosave.

Oh, and of course, the one account per activation key limitation... we all know that it was not designed to be that way, that's a last minute decision from a higher-up to not bother implementing that bit. I mean, notice when you share ANYTHING it reminds you what account you're sharing as? Funny that, why would it bother if it was designed so that you can only ever have one account?