To the Maxis™ Devs...

[trojanrabbit.gg]

One feature that I think this game desperately needs is the ability to create a hero spore from the ground up. I like the idea that you slowly acquire new heroes over the course of the game and are able to customize them in great length, but the base character underneath all the decorations is still one that is chosen for the player. I think it would be great if you could create your own custom squad leader all the way, and choose what class you want it to be afterwards, and then have a hero that is completely 100% unique within the world. The tools in the Spore creator are definitely their, they just need to be fully implemented into the game.

[Trancua]

This is exactly what's on everybody's mind. I wonder why we can't do that as of yet? Maybe they're saving the idea for an expansion pack or something, it IS EA and Maxis... :P

[l3reak]

This is exactly what's on everybody's mind. I wonder why we can't do that as of yet? Maybe they're saving the idea for an expansion pack or something, it IS EA and Maxis... :P

In a multiplayer game like this, whether it's co-op, or especially in PvP, it's really important to be able to recognize who your opponent is playing as, so you know what abilities he has. Think about a fighting game like Street Fighter IV, or an RTS like Starcraft 2. You need to be able to tell what's coming at you. Is it going to use ranged attacks, or go at you from up close? It takes away a lot of the strategy if you have no idea what your opponent will do.

Right now, even with the huge customization options, you can recognize what Heroes your opponent is using just by looking at them. If you could make one that looked like anything, it would take away from that. That's probably the biggest reason this feature isn't available.

[Sweeney47]

In a multiplayer game like this, whether it's co-op, or especially in PvP, it's really important to be able to recognize who your opponent is playing as, so you know what abilities he has. Think about a fighting game like Street Fighter IV, or an RTS like Starcraft 2. You need to be able to tell what's coming at you. Is it going to use ranged attacks, or go at you from up close? It takes away a lot of the strategy if you have no idea what your opponent will do.


You could argue that although it allows for more strategy, it takes away a bit of the skill. Especially considering there is no customisation on skills, it will very quickly become a rock paper scissors game...

It's like in WoW, you see a warrior running down a hill to you, you dont know what spec he is until the combat starts (or you recognise significant features like dual wield), then its a matter of shifting your playstyle to counter his. In this game its, OK thats Magnos he does XYZ. That element of "what am I up against" gives you a buzz in PvP... at least for me anyway.

In BF2 etc you don't know what enemy you're facing, how many assault, medics, Snipers you're up against. What weapons and accessories they have... that game has lots of strategy to it, in fact it has a lot of strategy because of the lack of knowledge. The game would have been rubbish if MEC were forced to all have AK's and US were all forced to have M16's.

Needless to say, I don't buy that argument and I can't believe you compared an "Action RPG" to a fighter & RTS either :)

[l3reak]

You could argue that although it allows for more strategy, it takes away a bit of the skill. Especially considering there is no customisation on skills, it will very quickly become a rock paper scissors game...

It's like in WoW, you see a warrior running down a hill to you, you dont know what spec he is until the combat starts (or you recognise significant features like dual wield), then its a matter of shifting your playstyle to counter his. In this game its, OK thats Magnos he does XYZ. That element of "what am I up against" gives you a buzz in PvP... at least for me anyway.
And that's a good comparison. If you see a warrior, you don't know exactly what build he's running, but you generally know what to expect, you know that his stats and abilities and play style are going to be a lot different than, say, a frost mage. You can get a general idea just by looking.

In BF2 etc you don't know what enemy you're facing, how many assault, medics, Snipers you're up against. What weapons and accessories they have... that game has lots of strategy to it, in fact it has a lot of strategy because of the lack of knowledge. The game would have been rubbish if MEC were forced to all have AK's and US were all forced to have M16's.

Needless to say, I don't buy that argument and I can't believe you compared an "Action RPG" to a fighter & RTS either :)

Hah, yeah, they're not the closest comparisons, I was just using stuff that I thought the most people would be familiar with. I guess I forgot I'm on a pretty hardcore gaming forum, and I don't just have to stick with the biggest titles!

So, it would be better to compare it to DotA or LoL, then, where there are specific Heroes you face. Same general principle, though.

Anyway, even if you see Magnos, like you said, it's not quite so simple. It's actually a lot like the comparison you made with BF2. You mentioned in that game you might see one enemy, but you don't know what else is out there, how many snipers, medics, etc. It's the same in Darkspore, actually. You may see Magnos coming towards you, but you don't know who else is in his squad! Does he have a squad that's completely full of other tanks, or does he have some healers in there, too? Maybe even someone focused on DoT damage, like Viper or Jinx with their poisons and curses, respectively.

Different gear layouts can really change things, too; is he geared totally for damage, or is he just going to try to tank and make you use up all your energy so he can switch in the glass cannon DPS guy and safely wail on you? Or does he even have some specialized items that allow him to stun you with one of his abilities, or use it without cooldown? Special items like that do exist that modify how you fight, adding status affects to your attacks or abilities, changing how they work, all kinds of crazy.

When players start using variant Heroes, it might get even crazier. We haven't really gotten to look at them yet, but I bet it's going to take a lot of skill to quickly tell the difference between each variant with just a glance after plays customize them to hell and back. If you can recognize them, you'll get a leg up on your opponent since you know exactly which variant skill they have; otherwise, it's just guesswork. Maybe players will even customize variants to look like a different version, just to play mindgames!

[Sweeney47]

well you do have some valid points, im just not sure it enough for me, as I've said in other posts its the lack of attachment to any of the characters that is preventing me from enjoying it.

Even if you could make a custom dude who was tied to a main guy. So you make a custom plasma hero based on Magnos. Therefore you inherit all of Magnos' abilities and your looks are similar (same size etc) so that you're recognisably based around him yet unique... you know like you're his brother who just happened to inherit his fathers 3rd eye.

[l3reak]

Even if you could make a custom dude who was tied to a main guy. So you make a custom plasma hero based on Magnos. Therefore you inherit all of Magnos' abilities and your looks are similar (same size etc) so that you're recognisably based around him yet unique... you know like you're his brother who just happened to inherit his fathers 3rd eye.

Heh, well, now that's starting to sound a lot like the customization that is available in the game. ;) Sure, you can't totally edit everything about a Hero right off the bat, you don't have a whole lot of pieces available to you, but Spore was the same way. I would encourage you to play around with the accessory pieces that come pre-attached to each Hero. You can often do some pretty big customization just with that. Sometimes I wonder, though, if the game should include a feature that lets people name their versions of the Heroes.

But if you're not super into the game, you've got every right, of course. Even though I'm talking about why I like the game a lot, I'm not here to try to make people like it. I'm just a community volunteer who happens to like the game and have high hopes for it!

[Sweeney47]

the game has potential, the problem is I dont buy full priced games on potential (been burnt too many times before on this) so I normally wait for them to drop in price. Issue with this is I think I would only enjoy this game if I played with friends, meaning my purchase is relying on them still playing when its dropped in price...

Access to pre-made profiles with access to the hardest difficulty etc would have been nice as its hard to judge potential when you're playing it on easy mode...

Maybe if I didnt have a huge amount of games to play (still backlogged from Christmas games lol) I might consider it more.

[Teranasaurus]

One feature that I think this game desperately needs is the ability to create a hero spore from the ground up.

No thanks. I can do without playing with a giant phallic shaped hero with phallic shaped arms and legs and a giant phallic shaped appendage in the crotch area.

[Fatdude]

Different gear layouts can really change things, too; is he geared totally for damage, or is he just going to try to tank and make you use up all your energy so he can switch in the glass cannon DPS guy and safely wail on you? Or does he even have some specialized items that allow him to stun you with one of his abilities, or use it without cooldown? Special items like that do exist that modify how you fight, adding status affects to your attacks or abilities, changing how they work, all kinds of crazy.

When players start using variant Heroes, it might get even crazier. We haven't really gotten to look at them yet, but I bet it's going to take a lot of skill to quickly tell the difference between each variant with just a glance after plays customize them to hell and back. If you can recognize them, you'll get a leg up on your opponent since you know exactly which variant skill they have; otherwise, it's just guesswork. Maybe players will even customize variants to look like a different version, just to play mindgames!

So you can see what type of equipment oter hero has by just looking at the hero?Yeah Sure...