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I don't hate the game - the concept is very interesting. What pisses me off is the attitude of the developers towards the community. You say they are cool guys who work hard and fix bugs often. While I say they just spit into the face of the community by releasing a project that's not even nearly ready to release. And instead of encouraging such behaveor, as you do, they should be criticized and pointed their mistakes untill the game is playable by EVERYONE (not just chosen ones), and then they should be remembered as a team whos games worth buying only a few months after release and THAT with extreame caution.

The way how patches actually introduce more bugs to the game is just laughable. This way there'd be looong time untill the game is fully stable.

Hmmm. I had a problem with Chapter 6 mind battle. I kept crashing in it every time, so many times. I didn't trash the product because of it, or wish I had never bought it. The way I figured is that it was gonna get fixed pretty soon, and that I had already had a lot of fun with the game. It did get fixed, and I'm still having a blast. If others are not, well, each of us is just one person, so we can't really comment on the general state of the game. The only comment that can be made is game and DLC sales. If their product is in good shape they wil make enough cash to keep going. If it isn't they won't.

EDIT: despite the seemingly large number of posts complaining about issues (which is very normal in such a forum in my experience) there might be 100 times more people having no issues, we just don't know, afterall they would hardly bother to register to post "hey im having no issues". In which case the percentage of users having issues would be very small.

The OP asked if this was a good game: yes it is, but that is subjective and his impression will depend on the number of positive and negative posters in the thread. He asked if most of the bugs were fixed: yes they are, after all they have released many many patches. He asked if it is worth his money? Yes it is, because he will get much more value out of it than almost anything else he can spend £10 on.
 
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The game could be a really good game, but for the fact that it lacks one simple thing that many games have... A difficulty slider for those times that you get stuck at points and are feeling overwhelmed with the developers seemingly throwing everything at you but the kitchen sink (much like Majesty 2 felt like).

Add that option for both the single player as well as the person that hosts the multiplayer game and it would be a really enjoyable game. My son wants to play it but can't get past a certain point and is getting quite frustrated with it now.
 
Yeah, a difficulty slider wouldn't be a bad idea. I know the system with enemy casters doesn't really allow your spells to do more damage than theirs, but what could (and should) be possible is adjusting the enemies' and your own health. Basically, have a slider like Morrowind with the standard difficulty being 0 and going from, say, -50% to +50% (or even higher) and if it's on -10%, all enemies have 10% less health and the player characters have 10% more health.
Maybe I'm over- or underestimating the impact this would have and underestimating how hard this would be to implement, but I guess it would be easier to implement than having the enemies simply do less damage.
 
Does he still play it tho? If he does, I think he will remember this game as a real treasure for the rest of his days. :>

Ummm, I suppose you could say that he still plays it. He just never gets past the one area. He just keeps restarting and playing the beginning up to the point that he can't seem to pass. He has far more patience it seems than I do.
 
despite the seemingly large number of posts complaining about issues (which is very normal in such a forum in my experience) there might be 100 times more people having no issues, we just don't know
Well, of 7 people I know who play this game, only 2 could clear single player, one of them did it only after another patch, and strangely, he has GF 6600 GT wich is far worse than graphix cards of everyone others. 1 man can't get it to start. 2, including me, have graphix crashing. 2 have crashes on a certain points of a game. And only one experienced no bugs. That was singleplayer.
Oh, and multiplayer is unfinishable by everyone.

That's if you want statistic. It's just that not everyone even bother to register on a forum because of one laggy game.

Personally, I haven't seen a game like that before.
 
What specs do you all have?

And statistically it's quite possible that only 7 people in the world have crash problems and they're all your friends... statistics are odd that way. They aren't evenly distributed across the entire population.

But without specs (preferably dxdiags dumps) the only thing we can go on are the bug reports here. Most of the bug reports here are either something minor (that has already been fixed) or are made by people with below spec equipment. It would probably take you less effort to make a bug report which may get your problem fixed than trolling the forums.
 
And statistically it's quite possible that only 7 people in the world have crash problems and they're all your friends... statistics are odd that way.

Statistically, those 7 people are a lot more likely to be running something else on their systems that cause this game to crash in the "hey, try this software it's great!" kind of way.
 
I just thought I'd chime in. As many of you won't be surprised, I have to take Akumetsu's side. The game is unfinished and should not have been released in this state. Good game or not, I'm still undecided, I'll have to play more of it. I finally got the game to work (through a hack, you'll have to read my other post for details) and will play more this weekend.

There are many good points to the game such as:
  • excellent and smooth (at least for me) graphics
  • the details by spell casting are very impressive
  • spell combinations, you can get very creative
  • ability to play co-op (at least head to head)

But there are bad points as well:
  • the bugs (I know, getting patched all the time)
  • inability to play multiplayer over lan or internet (haven't tried, don't really want to)
  • so far not challenging, maybe that is untrue since I've only played a limited amount, but I wish there were levels of difficulty
  • kinda boring, mostly arcade action, I always use the same 2 or 3 spell combinations and am really not forced into thinking. Wish there were more puzzles, riddles or critical decision making. Again, hopefully that will change as the game progresses

I'm trying to be as objective here as possible. I too eagerly awaited this title and am currently disappointed. Naturally, I hope that will change and in the end I'll have fond memories. But what really surprises me is the censoring of criticism. Unless you praise this game, you're trolling. You're opinion doesn't matter and should be ignored. That's a fantasy world; people do have issues with this game and should be heard.

Anyway, I've invited a friend over this weekend to play. He's bringing over his nvidia 9600 (that's why I invited him) and I'll switch my older card out for it. Hopefully that will clear up my graphics problems. I'll let you know next week.
 
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Constructive criticism is fine and is generally handled well by the community (I think. Opinion, sure, but still). Blatantly slagging off the game and the developers is not appreciated. You need to understand that a lot of people on the forum here enjoy the game and come here to discuss it. Bug reports are fine (and belong in the tech / bug report forum) and often teh community try help people to get the game going. Why would you go into a forum filled with fans to slag off a game? Trolling is the only reason I can think of... you want to get into a fight.

Your pros and cons list is just fine.. even if i disagree with some of the points (and it does get more difficult the further you get in). I didn't like your original post as it was flameworthy and trolling, but you've been civil since. Akumetsu has been less civil and more aggressive.

The other thing to remember is this: This is an indie game. Sure it would have been nice if there was more QA time. Sure it would have been nice if it ran on every system from the nintendo 64 upward. But the reality is Arrowhead have limited resources and they did a very good job with those resources and continued to work hard to correct any mistakes after release. The game is super-cheap too. It's ambitious and reminicent of the good old days when a game was about a new core concept and not about flashy graphics and the ability to teabag your opponent.

I'm glad you can finally play and I hope you do find the fun in the game. Personally the game has entertained me for more than 12 hours so far and I'm still having fun.
 
What specs do you all have?
Most of, more than enough, believe me. And repeating the specs issue over and over gets pretty annoying. Everyone ho has troubles instantly get "what's your specs???!!?!?!" from someone. Well off course, it's not a game, it's the people's hardware that gives errors like "Index out of range" ^___^

And statistically it's quite possible that only 7 people in the world have crash problems and they're all your friends...
Statistically, those 7 people are a lot more likely to be running something else on their systems that cause this game to crash in the "hey, try this software it's great!" kind of way.
Statistically it's far more possible that the game code is really bugged and you are trying to make dumb remarks and small-troll laughs on the basis of "hey, I like this game and he annoys me, so wtf?".

This is an indie game.
Have you palyed indie games before? I assume not. They are generally far mor stable than big and complicated things. There are a few reasons for that.
1) Simpliness of the gameplay, wich applies to Magicka as well, results in a fairly easy program structure with not much places to get mistakes.
2) A small development staff, where there are generally only 1-2 programmers working. It's eather you write in by yourself, and know every inch of your code, or you have another guy or two and you all work in very tight cooperation.
3) A one-shot basis, that's generally the thought of the indie team that if they screw up with the release, they are screwed up in every way. Unfortunately not applyable to this project, because developers were pretty confident with the support of Paradox Games.

But the reality is Arrowhead have limited resources and they did a very good job with those resources and continued to work hard to correct any mistakes after release.
Don't make me laugh, ok? Have you got any idea about what specifically a game programming and developement is? Well I do, and frankly most of the bugs of this game are the result of very VERY bad skills at programming. To start with I really doubt there was some planning and schemeng before the actual coding. Errors like (my favorites) "Index out of range" or "Not enough system memory" (that said, 4GB RAM should be enough practically for anything) clearly states that there are screws in the coding side. Very NOOBISH screws I should point out.
Some patch mistakes like "Books no longer falling through ground, instead PLAYERS DO NOW" Makes me wonder, did the programmer have any education in coding at all. You know, I could build the engine for magicka in, like, 100 or 150 hours (not graphix but game logics ofc). I'm not trying to look cool, I just point out that it's not very lot of actually coding. So why are there so much bugs? Why does it have so poor compatability while it's build on XNA? Only one answer.

The game is super-cheap too.
For a developement team of 8 people (as I heard), even if Paradox get's 7 dollars out of 10, the rest is pretty good money if you ask me. Yes it's cheap. But it's because the staff was not 50 people but less. Also if it'd cost more, it would be just too much. It's buggy, it's short as hell, and on top of it it would have been more expencive? Come on, it simply couldn't be sold that way, and lot's of people would ask a refund.
 
Most of, more than enough, believe me. And repeating the specs issue over and over gets pretty annoying. Everyone ho has troubles instantly get "what's your specs???!!?!?!" from someone. Well off course, it's not a game, it's the people's hardware that gives errors like "Index out of range" ^___^
We ask that because a lot of the time people have substandard specs or it is a known issue with a piece of hardware that someone has AND it helps the developrs find bugs.

Statistically it's far more possible that the game code is really bugged and you are trying to make dumb remarks and small-troll laughs on the basis of "hey, I like this game and he annoys me, so wtf?".
Not really. I'm pointing out that an anecdote is not statistics and that you cannot base statistics on a sample group of 7 unless you want an error level of about 99.99%.

Have you palyed indie games before? I assume not.
You assume wrong. I've played many indie games and have had my fair share of indie games that just never worked.

Meh.. I was going to post more on this but your aggressive manner doesn't really make me feel like having a civil discussion with you. I'm going to say I disagree with you and you disagree with me. You're not going to change my mind with the kind of arguments you make or the manner you make them in. I'm not likely to change your mind for various reasons.
 
Ah statistics... thou fickle siren!

Ok, you amy base your judgement not on the 7 people I know, but on those who post on this forum. That's more people. And it's still would be that 50% can't play it normally.

That's not a good basis for a statistical study because there is a bias in the forum.
To get a proper statistic you'd need to randomly (truely randomly) poll a large number of people who bought the game. Since that's not possible for us to do we cannot create any meaningful statistics. Even if we could do that we'd still have error levels to be aware of because it's still possibly that purely randomly we poll only working / not working copies. Statistics are not your friends and can be twisted to say what you will.

For example: "100% of the people i've personally seen play this game loved it and have encountered 0 bugs." Technically that is 100% true. It's also a worthless statistic because my sample size is 1: myself.

If you look at any game forum, especially for recently released games, you will find a large number of bug reports and complaints. The reason for this is that it is partly what the forums are designed for: it attracts the complaints and the bug reports because the developers need all that information in one easy to get to place. And people place them there to be heard by the developers. Also: people are more likely to complain about an issue than they are to say they have no issues. There would be no point in posting a new thread saying "This game works. That is all." so people don't.
Like I say: you can't get any good statistics from a forum.

It sucks that you and your friends are having issues. I hope they get sorted out for you soon.
 
I must revise my earlier position somewhat. I have run into a number of game breaking bugs in Chapter 3 that have made me increasingly frustrated.

Like getting hung up on one of the direction pillars (--> Dunderhaed) and having to restart, crashing the airship and having "Defeated" splashed across the screen yet it still allows me to play or the screen randomly moving to the the lower left, ensuring a quick death as I can't see my character. Restarting from teh checkpoint didn't change anything.

The game obviously has great potential but a lot of work needs to be done.
 
Well consider this: FIRST get the Demo, if you liek the humor and gameplay, and do not feel annoyed by bugs, then buy it if you have people to play with, and at least ONE of them has a fast internet connection.

That is the only way to determine if the game really suites you, and you won't go screaming: what a pisshole. Banana!!! Where is my money.

For myself, I can only say: yay. The game is great. I am a scientist, and the game plays like mad science. Bugs? Well. Yeah, some are annoying, but if you know where they are, you can avoid them.
I'd wish one of those goblin boats will take you to different levels, that would have been fun.
 
Ok, you amy base your judgement not on the 7 people I know, but on those who post on this forum. That's more people. And it's still would be that 50% can't play it normally.
And you can't base your judgment on the amount of bug postings in this forum. Most of the people who have no problem with the game aren't even posting here. Btw: Your rage in this thread doesn't look very mature. Register your game first if you want to complain about it.
 
The game is great on concept, but there are a handful of bugs that persist due to shoddy programming. Things like goblin heads floating in the air after the airship flies away, weapons hanging and spinning in mid air instead of lying on the ground, and if you could make it so there are less issues with people getting cornered in the campaign, especially against the leaping bulls and the charging ones. Even with the teleport staff, haste, lots of heals and barriers I still can't get past that one part of chapter 3.

Oh, for that here is a solution. Just use your (e) shield, and then heal it beyond its health bar--Most easily done by just spamming (e)(w)(Shift right click)--then just spawn (e)(d)(f)(f)(f) on the other side. They'll die eventually, and you can move on.
I'm 90% sure healing the shield to outrageous amounts is a bug, as well as summoning stuff beyond the barrier.