Darkspore anyone?

[Lint of Death]

This game rules. It's absolutely, drop-dead fucking gorgeous, an excellent challenge and it only gets more fun the fuller your party is. Wasson, Jboy, Master Blaster and myself all have this game. Y'all should join us!

Let's do it.

[Hawkzombie]

Sure!................

If someone buys me a copy

[Karak]

So I admit, this game is interesting BUT I play games maybe 20/7 litterally that many hours if I am not working out or shooting people. That means singleplayer has to be good and I am hearing some sorta crappy stuff about single. How would you rate it? because 50 is alot to pay for just multi.

[Lint of Death]

Originally Posted by Karak

So I admit, this game is interesting BUT I play games maybe 20/7 litterally that many hours if I am not working out or shooting people. That means singleplayer has to be good and I am hearing some sorta crappy stuff about single. How would you rate it? because 50 is alot to pay for just multi.

Single player and multiplayer are very similar, actually. You play through the same levels either way, it's just whether you have the co-op experience or not. (And, of course, PvP is multiplayer only if you go that route) The times I've played by myself I actually have a much better time absorbing the incredible audiovisual environments.

Here are the major differences when playing alone:

• Enemies are less dangerous, e.g. they have lower hit points. Difficulty scales with the number of players.
• You do not encounter certain enemies that require teamwork to overcome.
• You might gain somewhat less loot and xp.

The learning curve is pretty gentle - I find the first ~10 levels or more to be pretty easy, and you don't unlock all the fundamental mechanics until you beat something like the 6th level - but it definitely gets harder. The enemies in this game, in terms of behavior and abilities, are some of the most advanced or varied I've ever seen. I believe they still have the feature that replaying a given level results in a more randomly generated experience so you won't get bored if you need to improve your heroes before moving forward.

Each level is about 10-20 minutes, so you can play in short bursts. Then, you can spend ages making your heroes all pretty if you want

The only catch to single player is that you still need to be connected to the Internet to play.

[Karak]

Originally Posted by Lint of Death

Single player and multiplayer are very similar, actually. You play through the same levels either way, it's just whether you have the co-op experience or not. (And, of course, PvP is multiplayer only if you go that route) The times I've played by myself I actually have a much better time absorbing the incredible audiovisual environments.

Here are the major differences when playing alone:

• Enemies are less dangerous, e.g. they have lower hit points. Difficulty scales with the number of players.
• You do not encounter certain enemies that require teamwork to overcome.
• You might gain somewhat less loot and xp.

The learning curve is pretty gentle - I find the first ~10 levels or more to be pretty easy, and you don't unlock all the fundamental mechanics until you beat something like the 6th level - but it definitely gets harder. The enemies in this game, in terms of behavior and abilities, are some of the most advanced or varied I've ever seen. I believe they still have the feature that replaying a given level results in a more randomly generated experience so you won't get bored if you need to improve your heroes before moving forward.

Each level is about 10-20 minutes, so you can play in short bursts. Then, you can spend ages making your heroes all pretty if you want

The only catch to single player is that you still need to be connected to the Internet to play.

Ok here is the thing. The IGN reviews states that single player becomes FREAKISH HARD due to being alone. But I am seeing here...you do not think that? Cause If that's so I am buying it. I just don't want one of those games that you feel your forced to play a specific way due to a bad design decision.

[Lint of Death]

Originally Posted by Karak

Ok here is the thing. The IGN reviews states that single player becomes FREAKISH HARD due to being alone. But I am seeing here...you do not think that? Cause If that's so I am buying it. I just don't want one of those games that you feel your forced to play a specific way due to a bad design decision.

Fake edit: I'll try some of the later levels (that I've already beaten) solo today and let you know how it goes

The game gets hard, period. I've played through the first 20 levels by this point, got my account to level 18/100, and I am feeling genuinely challenged. The thing is, I almost never feel like it's an unfair challenge - that if I had the right squad makeup, or used my abilities differently, or actually moved my hero around to avoid all the incoming projectiles, the challenge could be surmounted. Sometimes it comes down to not having good enough gear, because it's possible you just haven't found strong items for the heroes you like, but I can confirm that replaying a given challenge level results in a randomized experience. In this way, you can always be playing right on the edge of your abilities, and have a bit of variety in that challenge.

... Can you tell I've been reading Reality is Broken lately?

Late edit: I did levels 16-20 with my three squads of definitely-adequately equipped heroes. While it was certainly hard, and one of the randomly generated bosses nearly bested me*, I never lost a single hero (you have 3 heroes in any given stage). I earnestly believe it's much more about your tactics and strategy than equipment - and the PvP data Maxis collected from beta supports that claim -, but of course that has its limits

*It was a Hypno Mantis, for those in the know

[Karak]

Fuck whatever. I bought it.
Jezuz I have no willpower when it comes to games anymore.

[Lint of Death]

Originally Posted by Karak

Fuck whatever. I bought it.
Jezuz I have no willpower when it comes to games anymore.

Ooh, I just tried adding you as a Steam buddy. If we play together sometime I can give you handy tips

Edit: dammit, there's like more than a dozen Karaks and I don't even know which one received the invite. How do I find the real you? Edit edit: I think I found you in the CoG group.

[Karak]

Originally Posted by Lint of Death

Ooh, I just tried adding you as a Steam buddy. If we play together sometime I can give you handy tips

Edit: dammit, there's like more than a dozen Karaks and I don't even know which one received the invite. How do I find the real you? Edit edit: I think I found you in the CoG group.

That would be awesome.

I have the Green Samurai as my pic, you can also try to search me as Malanthrax.

However, I still haven't got Darkspore to even start yet. The patching process is right out of the dos days. Looking at what it is doing and how it is doing it in process explorer is a lesson in how NOT to patch things. Going on hour 3. I bet a good deal of it is because it is always connected online which then sets off a ton of my firewall/security settings and process interrupting programs. Jezuz.

[Karak]

Jesus
EA says my email is in use so I ask for a password reset and get "Email doesn't exist."
An EA logic loop.
Fuck it. Sent them a ticket email. Same old shit that happened with the original spore. That one took over 4 months for them to resolve.

[Lint of Death]

Ugh, that sucks. I assure you the game itself is extremely well put-together once you navigate whatever transgenerational witch curses you seem to suffer from.

Edit: The EA account you can add to your stalk-list is DustManEXE.

[Karak]

Originally Posted by Lint of Death

Ugh, that sucks. I assure you the game itself is extremely well put-together once you navigate whatever transgenerational witch curses you seem to suffer from.

Edit: The EA account you can add to your stalk-list is DustManEXE.

Ok I will when I can. Sigh.

[Exodus]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...rkspore-review

This is Darkspore in a nutshell for me.

[AliasRomanian]

Originally Posted by Karak

Fuck whatever. I bought it.
Jezuz I have no willpower when it comes to games anymore.

This has got to be my favorite post of ever. .

[Lint of Death]

Originally Posted by Karak

Ok here is the thing. The IGN reviews states that single player becomes FREAKISH HARD due to being alone. But I am seeing here...you do not think that? Cause If that's so I am buying it. I just don't want one of those games that you feel your forced to play a specific way due to a bad design decision.

OK, I know you bought the game but I've made some progress in the second-tier difficulty to elaborate a bit more on the "freakish hard"ness. I never tried the first tier's end boss solo, but that seems like it would be hard as hell (as it should be), as it was super tough when I played with Blaster and ACfromDC. We still beat it on the first try, but I can see how it might be worse solo.

As for the second-tier difficulty (invasion), the challenge rises considerably. A variety of enemies with unusual or even seemingly useless abilities start getting put together to create a cohesive and lethal whole. However, I have played the first few levels both solo and with a group (2-3 total players, not yet 4), and honestly single player does not feel any harder. The only exception to that is if you encounter an elite enemy whose randomized attributes make him a near-perfect counter to your squad - you won't have a friend to cover for you in your moment of need.

Hopefully a patch will adjust things slightly, but on the whole I like the difficulty as it is. You get a lot of replay value out of any level you are capable of beating because the next time through will be a random level + assortment of enemies, and eventually you'll develop the skills you need to tackle harder levels (and find loot that makes your favorite or most useful heroes more viable in the process).

[Acidpoptart]

For anyone interested, the game is on sale for $25 on Amazon download today.

[CappinCanuck]

Originally Posted by Acidpoptart

For anyone interested, the game is on sale for $25 on Amazon download today.

The disk version too is going for $29.99.
http://www.amazon.com/Darkspore-Pc/dp/B003X0LG1Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305422594&sr=8-1

[Lint of Death]

The four of us are still playing quite avidly - almost made it to Apocalypse mode! - and I'm still happy to recommend the game. Don't be afraid to ask me to join ya even if you're new, 'cause te way the game works I can play with you during the early stages just fine, my heroes get downgraded to your level and I get rewards that are more appropriate for my true level.

Get well soon Karak

[Lint of Death]

Darkspore is on sale on Steam for $30, that's well worth it

[Hawkzombie]

Originally Posted by Hawkzombie

Sure!................

If someone buys me a copy

This still applies