There are loads of people getting told off by other people who where let down by this game in general, but also the developers inability of fixing known bugs (networkcode, alt+tab etc) and still releasing it, people dont trust reviews any more, why should they? Look at cane and lynch for instance, what people trust is what others tell them, and at the moment outside these forums there arent many happy thoughts.
I wasn’t aware you had a direct connection to all of the people who purchased Demigod and were able to speak on their behalf. My statement was that, on the forums, there were not many people saying they were deliberately not playing Demigod because it was shallow and were waiting until new content was released. This has nothing to do with review scores or ‘Kane and Lynch’.
As for the Developers ‘inability of fixing known bugs’, when an issue like connectivity pops up, this takes priority over ‘bugs’. The MP code was broken. It was tested under what they considered stressful circumstances and released what they believed to be a capable multiplayer system. Obviously they underestimated how many people were going to use their service on launch, and they’re now trying as hard as humanly possible to fix this. I should also add the Developer is Gas Powered Games, and Stardock are the publisher. It’s the Publisher trying to correct the connectivity issues. It has nothing to with ‘inability’ – it has more to do with there not being enough hours in the day to get it done faster.
Comparing this to DotA, where the makers of the mod did nothing connectivity wise – Blizzard Entertainment did all that prior, and used a highly capable service based on nearly 10 years in the industry; Battle.net. Being as Battle.net is actually one of if not the best multiplayer services around this would be like comparing an Independent Film to a Hollywood Blockbuster in terms of computer generated effects and marketing; no comparison.
Please list some of these best combinations.
Razor, Mirana, Axe, Kardel, Darkterror, Faceless Void comes to mind right off the bat. Sven, Vengeful. Viper, Luna, Abbadon is another I saw quite a bit (All stars).
Feel free to tear these down, as I know you will, however it won’t change the fact that I’ve seen these exact combinations on pre-arranged teams far too often.
You leave your lane walks towards your oponent, hope to catch him offguard and then hopefully kill him, how do you "manipulate" game mechanics when it is working as intended?
’Ganking’ is a term referred to in several games, where you catch your opponent at a disadvantage where the odds are stacked heavily in your favour. While this is a great way to win, it devolves the game into “Wait till he can’t possibly fight back” which is not very fun if you’re on the receiving end. As I mentioned, I used this tactic myself and became bored – when seeking an alternative method, I realised DotA places ‘Ganking’ as a core mechanic. LoS manipulation plays heavily into this ‘Ganking’ tactic, and while LoS manipulation itself isn’t bad, saved my ass a few times, the fact that the general strategy is to remove your opponents ability to fight back at all removes the fun of ‘fighting’.
Demigod doesn’t use LoS as a core mechanic of its battles amongst Demigods – it’s available to give you an edge, but it’s not something you need to manipulate in order to succeed. The fact that LoS manipulation played so heavily into success in DotA as opposed to the actual Heroes themselves – agreed that some Heroes are better suited than others – shows that the Heroes lack depth because they have to revert to LoS manipulation. Track down the original version of DotA and dig up some old forum posts; people were originally annoyed with LoS manipulation until it became acceptable for the game to devolve into LoS Gank fests. There was no way to remove the LoS manipulation from the Mod as LoS was required to hide what your team was doing providing a strategic edge – disabling the Fog of War would have ruined that aspect of the game. Again, Demigod avoided this situation altogether – placing the focus on the Demigods and their abilities.
… [the] player skill comes from using stuff like fog of war and bending it to their advantage, not to auto attack/cast spells at someone untill they (hopefully) die.
Player skill comes from using the mechanics of the game to avoid actually fighting your opponent and instead resolving to remove their ability to fight back? Ever played World of Warcraft? Ever been stun-locked from 100% to death? Not very fun, is it? Similar principle here. Great if your doing it, shite if it’s happening to you. If DotA was as deep as you claim, wouldn’t this mechanic be outdated because of a Heroes abilities and a players skill in using them?
Demigod does use a lot of the ol’ whack ‘em till they die approach, however it’s not about:
1. Walk up. Use first ability.
2. Use second ability.
3. Gauge health deficit as a result from opponent’s two abilities.
4. If winning, auto-attack. If losing, retreat.
5. Repeat.
It’s about careful use of your abilities – they’re supposed to be God-like powers, not Auto-attacks that should be used with abandon.
Take Lord Erebus, for example. His Bite ability takes health from your opponent and heals you for the damage. Most people try and open with this – completely ignoring this ability’s primary function. This is a heal spell that also damages your opponent. Open with an Auto-attack, let your opponent burn through their abilities, when your health is down the amount your Bite does in damage, use it. This ensures the cooldown will be up as soon as possible, while also negating the damage done by your opponent’s abilities. If need be, pop Mass Charm to buy you a few seconds. When your opponent is unstunned, they’ll try to pull back – use Bat to get ahead of them, while dealing damage, and close with a Bite leaving you in a great position possibly post battle and them close to death. This applies only to Melee Demigods however, and the tactic changes quite substantially when facing a ranged opponent, as opening with an Auto-attack is next to useless.
Having lots of viable options is a lot easier on the newbie then having 80 DGs with 50 of them newbie traps with the 30 viable ones having only one viable build that you have to go look up from somewhere since most of the options are just newbie traps.
I have to completely disagree with this statement on just about every level. I’m not saying 80 Demigods is a good idea, however it’s not for this reason. If developers start designing their games so damn simple that players can pick up the game and know everything about it before they’ve finished their first match then I’m retiring from playing video games altogether. EA Games has ruined its franchises with this “accessibility” bullshit. If someone is simply not smart enough to understand the mechanics of a video game then maybe this is a good indication that they shouldn’t be playing that particular video game, or simply need to actually sit down and learn how to play it for extended periods of time.
Authors don’t write their books so people who can’t read can understand them. They write their books for people who like to read.