All Posts by Soldarith

Originally posted by bezado

Both are two entirely different pieces of software-hardware. Blueray is 1080p and HD-DVD is 1080i. Blueray hardware doesn't even utilize the full features of blueray yet, something like only 60% of the actual blueray capability is used.

Most people still do not have a 1080p HDTV to display blueray, a good market of the HDTV used today are either 720p or 1080i. Also consumer electronics said that over 30% of people who have bought blueray did not own a 1080p display to use the blueray enhanced video 1080p, which is why HD-DVD is still the best and can you really hear all those extra sounds clear enough with blueray over HD-DVD hd sound? No. So why bother with blueray anyway.

I think consumers are the ones in the end to be polarized and blindsided, because they do not research and check the technologies before investing money into them.

So how is the 360 a POS because it doesn't have a blueray addon? Please give me a break.

I have to interject here and correct you on a couple of points.

First and foremost: Both Blue Ray and HD DVD format discs display their pictures in 1080p. Period. There is no visual difference in the two disc formats.

Secondly, picture quality (a'la 1080p, 1080i, etc) has absolutely nothing to do with sound quality. A few items are taken into consideration for audio output quality:

Media capabilities. The HD DVD, Blue Ray DVD, regular DVD, or CD you are playing was recorded using what type of sound (linear PCM, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, etc)?

Player capabilities. Is it coponent, HDMI, etc output capable? If it is HDMI, what version (1.3 being the latest)? Each of these output standards, and cables, have their own audio capabilities.

Output device. Your output device, audio system, HDTV, etc have their own audio capabilities and compatibilities as well. You will need to understand them in order to decide how your sound from the whole system will output and be heard.

Blue Ray and HD DVD differences? Well, it certainly isn't picture quality. HD DVD offers double-sided discs (one side HD DVD, the other side regular DVD), whereas Blue Ray does not. Blue Ray has a higher capacity on their discs compared to HD DVD - Although, you are correct in that the space is not all used. Studio support is another difference between the two formats, as it is ever-changing through the format war.

Sony is the major player behind the Blue Ray format, and Microsoft/Toshiba are the major players behind HD DVD. That is why Microsoft supported the optional HD DVD drive and not a Blue Ray drive on their XBox 360. Do they "suck" because of it? I suppose that depends on which format you are buying. The game console, however, is still fully capable of playing games (it's original purpose) just fine without an external drive attached to it.

You really need to be able to block/report emails you receive on this site from other members. Right now it is pretty uncontrolled and some members take advantage of this by sending some pretty nasty emails to other members.

I'm going to voice the same advice that everyone has mentioned already: Wii isn't for you then. It's ok, it isn't for everybody (certainly it isn't my type of console either) - I personally chose the Xbox 360 for pure power, HD DVD, and graphics.

I will, however, say that when we purchased a Wii for 3 kids this past Christmas, that six kids and ten adults could not get enough of it; the entire Christmas day (we're talking from morning until late evening when we kicked people out to go to bed) - They played ALL day long. It was absolutely funny watching couples "box" one another in the ring, or teams forming up to bowel against one another, or to watch the other interactive games they played - I had a great time watching everyone else enjoy themselves playing with the console.

Like any console, you have to consider their title line-up, their IP (intellectual properties), partnerships, and capabilities before deciding on which console is best suited for your gaming needs - And "none" is a valid decision as well.

There is no mistaking the numbers, however, that the Nintendo Wii is the hottest console to ever land on the market, to-date. The company cannot manufacture the consoles fast enough, and Nintendo is producing more consoles than Sony Playstation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 combined - They have to be doing something right, to achieve this level of success.

Well after my girlfriend and I installed the game and fired up the 21-day free play offer, we ran around just that evening. My mind was pretty much made up: Leave the memories as they are: perfect and unspoiled.

Running through the lands did take me back to very good memories, however, it just wasn't as I remembered it (nothing ever is). They've made some graphics changes to textures, like smoothing them out, but in the process the land lost some of the features I remembered. Of course the graphics are absolutely God-awful but we expected that, to an extent. However, the world was in fact a ghost town (for the expansions we had). Even the Bazaar was completely devoid of players or their vendors. It was sad and somewhat depressing to see the world dying such a slow and painful death.

I was a bit surprised and disappointed to see that SOE did not enhance the UI or features into the game, at all, since we left so many years ago. The UI was still clunky, there was still no minimap, you could only mem 8 spells, etc.  I was actually shocked at the same old issues still within the game, after so many years and expansions - I guess I assumed that SOE would have fixed things along the way...my fault for assuming.

Most discouraging of all for me was a run through HighPass Hold. Running through there at level 65, I would have expected the very low level Orcs and Gnolls to have just left me alone, or fallen over after one swing of my weapon. To my dismay, my Paladin is exactly what frustrated me during the years I played: Totally ineffective in melee; even against a creature that is in the high teens, very low twenties. This just should not happen but it does.

These experiences brought up some very deep-rooted buried feelings that just were not good toward the game or the character I played for so many years - I didn't want that. All-in-all, we logged and said goodbye to the world, never to see it again. I could not continue because doing so would taint and possibly destroy all of those very good memories I had of this game. Perhaps those memories are delusionary but nonetheless they are mine to keep forever.

Thank you all that replied to this thread.

The only thing a gamer knows best is what he/she likes for themselves. Period.

While I understand your frustration with the game and the company (similar to mine), I don't believe you truly understand how the patching system works.

From my understanding, you do not need to subscribe in order to download and install the patches - There are many fixes in there, including class balancing, that are for everyone (not just subscribers). The problem is that the single-player and multi-player clients are treated and patched separately, so they are not at the same patch level. For example, 0.7 has been released for the multi-player client, however, you are currently only at 0.6 in the single-player client.

Hi there!

My girlfriend and I played EQ back during retail release (March, 1999) all the way up through "Lost Dungeons of Norath" expansion. We left sometime shortly after that. We used to play on Rathe server but transferred with some friends over to Zebuxoruk server when the ability presented itself.

Anyways, our accounts have been inactive for years, but we've recently got an urge to try to log them in and see how the world has progressed. This, of course, opens up a few questions:

1.) Will our characters still be available for play on our accounts?
2.) Is the Zebuxoruk server still around?
3.) We were very well geared out in excellent end-game raiding gear for Planes of Power. How has the game progressed since this time?
4.) Are the old world cities, dungeons, and zones a ghost town or do players still populate them? Places like Befallen, Unrest, Freeport, etc?
5.) What would you recommend for very long time veterans returning to the game?
6.) Did they allow characters to keep very old items like the Guise of the Deceiver (the one that was usable by all)?

Thanks for any help you be able to provide!

I just wanted to post here that I too have been experiencing this issue on Windows/Firefox for well over a month now.

I just decided to switch to Traditional BBML text editing, to use my Firefox built-in spelling checker until the issue is resolve.

There is a freely available demo on Filefront:

http://files.filefront.com/Hellgate+London+Demo/;8828967;/fileinfo.html

Despite what some players may say, I found the demo to be pretty much spot-on for what the game can offer you (in terms of content, look, feel, and gameplay. Albeit the demo is somewhat short (just a few levels into the first station, you will grasp the game's basic backdrop and premise: get to the next station via a linear route you are forced to take in order to progress, once at the station you pickup quests and as you complete quests other zones at that station open up, ultimately when you complete enough quests with said station you are told to move on to the next. Rinse and repeat until you beat the game, then do it all over in a more difficult setting via harder skill levels, Nightmare, Hardcore, etc.

IMO the game is very shallow but some do find it entertaining. Goodluck!

Originally posted by killion81

 

But you get to shoot things.  The FPS aspect of the game adds to the replayability in my opinion.  The RPG aspect gives a reason to continue on (leveling, skills, gear).  Personally, I've gotten at least 60 hours of entertainment so far (meaning with the collector's edition, I've paid $1/hour).  That seems like a good price to me.  I've also got someone to play with (my GF) which makes a big difference, as with any online game.

 

Good points, and while I agree to them in principle I have to say (personally speaking) that the game just fails on both the FPS and RPG aspect of the game.

Actually I game with my girlfriend as well (we play side-by-side in our house together). We both bought HG:L and had high expectations for it. She gave up on it after about two days worth of playing and countless technical issues. I have to admit that having a significant other playing a game with you is a huge draw, and it should not underestimated. However, the draw is just as strong when your significant other dislikes a game - And I suppose that helped influence my ultimate decision, as I saw how FSS/Ping0 almost completely ignored technical problems for weeks on the forums after the game released.

Nonetheless, for my playstyle and interest, the game just falls very hard and very flat on both the FPS and RPG elements.

Originally posted by killion81

 

The replay value really depends on your expectations of the game.  If you expected it to be like Diablo (ARPG), where you farm out the perfect set of gear to complete your character, there is replay value.  If you expected it to be like WoW (full MMORPG), you're not going to see the replay value.

 

Honestly, no. I do not mean replay value = full-fledged MMORPG.

I never played Diablo.

Let me give what I believe is an excellent example of a game that has zero replay value (and some people will hate me for mentioning this): Guild Wars. Plainly put, it is boring for me. Don't get me wrong, I think it is an excellent title for some people (and obviously, lots of people enjoy the title). However, it doesn't hold my interest in the slightest way. Why? OK, so you play through the regions in a very linear fashion (just like HG:L) and run through the quests in those regions. Once you're done, now what? What if you do not belong to a guild and are not interested in PVP? Other than creating a new character of a different class and then running through the EXACT same content again, there just isn't any replay value. Sure you can pickup one of their expansions, but it is just more of the same linear gameplay (and, yes, I did pickup Factions and  Night Fall in the hopes that something would change). That is what HG:L represents to me: Guild Wars, without the PVP, without the guild focus and perks, without the enormous amount of content, without the vast varying outdoor zone feel and graphics, and without the ability to skip past areas in the strict linear play. Sounds pretty boring, in my own opinion...

Originally posted by baff

I truley believe that this game has sold millions of copies and that most people who bought it have neither subscribed nor are actively playing it online.

Now I haven't canvased the world. I can't tell you for sure, I can only share with you my personal experience and my opinions based around this.

If we take for example another comparative selling title released around the same time, Enemy Territory, I can tell you that there is currently 10's of thousands of players online. Or I can give you the example of a much older game that has sold a similar amount of copies since HGL's release, World of Warcraft, which was also billed as the sequel to Diablo and which still has 100,000s or thousands of players currently online and is still outselling HGL.

I do feel that 6,000 players online is more than an adequate number for people to enjoy a decent community. And it is by no means my assertion that no one enjoys the MP. However, I don't especially, and neither does anyone I know. That's not to say we "hate" it, only that it didn't meet the requirements to hold our attention for more than a few days.

 

It is also true to say that all forums, official or otherwise are always full of complaints. Even games of the highest calibre are flooded with demands for patches, refunds and bug fixes etc.

That is why in my posts I have attempted to describe the shortfalls that has resulted in my unwillingness to play this game multiplayer, (and the unwillingness of my friends), rather than just post messages of "hate". Please be aware that we are not all teenagers who listen to death rock and that for most of us, there are very few things on the planet that we actually hate. For the most part we endaeavour to take as much pleasure as we can from the things around us, especially entertainment packages that we have just spent £30 on.

Try and be objective please, people don't just complain because they hate the world any more than people post their satisfaction because they all work for the company.This game hasn't been remarkably well received. It isn't going to be a big "game of the year" winner. And while it may be enjoyable, there are many more enjoyable titles to choose from if multiplayer is your thing.

You may enjoy it. So may many others, but it has been universally panned both in the reviews and in the bulk of personal feedback given by individual gamers online. There is no conspiracy of hate. The game falls short of excellence.

 

I just wanted to chime in and say, "well said". Just because someone disagrees with your opinion does not mean that they are involved with the "grand conspiracy".

While I am sure that many people do enjoy the game, it is clear by any of the forums I have read (including the official ones that require an account just to view), that there are a great deal of people who are not happy with the game (be it because of bugs, design, replay value, etc). And while I do agree that any game's forums is just not a good indicator of a game's playerbase and how it feels, it is nonetheless the only one available for other players to see and partake in.

Why am I not happy with the game and the over $200USD I spent on it (pre-order + founders)? Simply because I feel like it did not live up to its promises and just doesn't deliver on the quality I was expecting. To add to this, FSS pulled some of the key subscriber only features, or just gave them to everyone - This made me feel like "bait and switch" and I did not like it. To top it all off, Ping0 (Bill started that company at the same time as FSS) goes and signs a deal with a huge notorious gold farming company - Sure, it is probably for their other title but I am 100% against farming and the support of it; for a company to go do that, regardless of which title it is in support of, condems all their titles in my own opinion (and it sickens me to think my money went to supporting that).

I was under the impression, that after well over a decade of MMO gaming under my belt, that all development companies take the best and brightest ideas and incorporate them into their MMO - This is called evolution and it brings MMO consumers the best the genre has to offer.

Originally posted by killion81

A lot of people find the game quite fun.  More and more people are subscribing every day.  I'm not trying to change your opinion, but it's poor practice to speak for everyone when you really only represent your own opinion.

Honestly, when I played last about 3 weeks ago, before I reformatted my hard drive, the stations were fairly dead and the only people in chat channels were the "gold farmers" spamming and people complaining about it.

I kept telling people in chat channel to please stop ruining my single player experience and to stop typing...funny but so very true. The game is a single player game, period. Multiplayer was a functionality that was just tacked onto the title as an after-thought. The fact that they throw a subscription plan ontop of that is just a crime.

By-the-way, where are you getting your insider knowledge that "more and more people are subscribing every day."? Because everywhere I have read (read: not only on these forums), reviews are fairly accurate in stating: Stay away!

I gave up on poor little G4TV after only a few months of programming. Yep, just after a few month's time G4 did what MTV could had only dreamed of: They morphed themselves into utter content worthlessness and off-topic drivel shows that spew of reality shows. Honestly, I suspect there will be a G5, G6, G7, etc channel sometime soon, to make up for the fact that the channel doesn't actually cater to its original audience (just like MTV had to do, in order to actually play...music videos!).

G4 has turned into a totally bought and paid for walking and talking advertisement, when it actually has game content being shown and discussed. Their reviews are lop-sided and they tend to focus on the absolutely worthless aspects of a game.

With all of this being said, however, I would agree that HG:L is NOT worth investing into. Repeating tilesets are the bane of this title (how many times can you play through some newly named place with the same graphics before it becomes dull and absolutely boring), along with repetitive gameplay, an over-abundance of uninteresting skills, extremely poor launch and billing system, dumb monster AI, very limited item graphics, and a host of other annoyances.

Unfortunately for me, I pre-ordered the game and picked up the founders offer before most of these things came to my realization - Believe me, if I could take it back I would. I will say this: I formated my drive about 3 weeks ago and I have not bothered to reinstall the game. WoW has replay value. LORTO has replay value. Hell, Battlefield 2142 has replay value. HG:L has zero replay value.

I'd recommend Samsung for anything 22 and under for LCDs - I've had one for a very long time now that I use for a secondary system (for over 3 years now and no problems).

For higher-end, I'd strongly recommend the Apple Cinema HD Display (I've been using the 23" for two+ years now and would never use anything else).

While I understand and do respect what you are saying, you should try to understand that half of the reason to own an Xbox 360 is for the online playability and content (via XBox Live).

Many titles require updates to their code, to address issues that could not be fixed prior to the title going gold and manufactured/distributed - This is what makes the Xbox Live service so very valuable (among other significant reasons, such as downloading new and free content for your games, etc). Not that this is an excuse, I'm just explaining what you probably already know yourself.

All of this being said, however, I would agree that ANY game for ANY console should work right-out-of-the-package, without any downloads, updates, or internet connectivity. Is this ideal? Clearly, no. However, it should not be required in order to enjoy a title.

Edit:

Also, as I saw above, yes, you can get updates, content, and downloads, for free, off the official Xbox magazine disk that is included - I used to get these monthly for my old Xbox and loved it (debating it for my 360 Elite). It may not address your personal issue, however, they do push out a good amount of content monthly on those disks.