Any opinions so far?
I’ve been following its development ever since it was announced, and it looks very good, but you know, so did Spore. So I’ll wait until there are reviews of it to see if I buy it or not.
Played the demo on XBL, loved it.
Pre-ordered it on Steam about 3 weeks ago following about a dozen playthroughs of the first 3 levels.
Couldn’t wait to play it, bought it on XBL. So much goodness.
Started again today on the PC, still a load of fun.
The replayability is massive on this title. Especially if you are hunting achievements like the one with you having less than 5 villagers die over the whole campaign.
The levels with vulcanoes are my favorite so far. The fire element keeps you on your toes.
Terraforming the land never gets old, fighting the elements all the way.
And the visuals… oh the visuals. On the X360 it looked good, but on the PC it looks even better in my opinion.
I must say that this game was underhyped, at least here in the Netherlands.
I feel like this game is a pilot. Is that true?
I will buy it maybe.
I’m kind tempted to buy it but I want to read some more opinions first.
How are the controls on PC?
@King_Kaddo
FD does a couple of nifty things. There is not much to it. The gameplay is easy, with a low learning curve, and very straightforward.
The game can be very short if you rush to get your men out to the next level as soon as possible.
If you go for the sidequests like visiting stones, getting all elemental wards and covering 100% of the lands in flora it will take a bit longer, this will net you with additional background information about what is going on.
The game is longer still if you go overboard with your god-like terraforming abilities and (re)create the landscape in whatever twisted image you wish to see it.
Is it a pilot? Could be, but it also depends on your playstyle. If you are a gamer who plays just to finish the game, you will feel cheated and see the game as a glorified physics demo.
Then again, it is not a full priced game, deal with it.
@Maxey
To be quite honest: the controls are a mixed blessing.
As said before, I played the game on the XBox first, so I got used to playing with a controller. I’ll compare.
For the Xbox: Easy as can be. Gently squeezing the trigger to pick up water/sand/lava makes you not suck up a lot of material in one go. Especially handy when you are going for precision pick ups.
Downside: moving the controller around is not very precise. It takes a while before you get the hang of dropping your material in the exact right spot. More troublesome when you are rushing to extinguish fires threatening your villages. Many a villager ran around with their hair on fire before dying.
For the PC: It took a lot of getting used to. I haven’t tried plugging in a 360 controller to play the game, although it did cross my mind. To be honest; I don’t know if it is supported.
Anyway, playing with a mouse and keyboard combination allows for a heck of a lot more precision, no surprise there to be honest. Controls are fully customizable, default for moving the screen is w-a-s-d.
However, for some reason the game does not detect any additional buttons you might have got on your mouse. Left, middle and right click all work like a charm, but anything extra: not so much. I hope this will be corrected in a patch, since some actions you actually want bound to your mouse. And come on people, it is 2011 for crying out loud, mice with multiple keys are out on the market for years now!
For some weird reason dispatching the men to an objective and cancelling the order are two seperate buttons, I cannot recall this being the case on the Xbox version. Very weird in my opinion.
Picking up resource is all or nothing. As stated above, on a controller you can gently squeeze the trigger to slowly pick up material, with the mouse this is not possible.
Control wise, FD seems like a bad port, and I prefer the X360 controller.
Graphics wise, it is top notch, better than its console counterpart.
Overall:
The game is… different. Don’t compare it to other god games like Black & White, because it really does not compare. The emphasis is on terraforming in this game, and on some maps you have to be real careful with your available resources or you will get stuck.
The elements really interact. Having a stream of water mix with earth will muddy the river. This can be picked up and if you drop it all on barren rock, some sand (sediment) will be left behind allowing for trees and grass to grow.
Waves and tides will erode the land over time. So better to reinforce your sand dunes which you will put up to protect your villages. Crashing waves break your barriers even faster.
And I hate fire with a passion. Many a village was destroyed by it. Later levels provide you with elemental wards against fire, which saves you from lava too. That, and seeing lava rise up against an invisible barrier, cool and then sollidify creates a beautiful effect. I’ve had villages which normally would be burried beneath layers of ash and lava form a crater in the landscape just because they were protected. Seeing lava flow around the village really does make you feel like a god-like being.
Getting the men out of the village is a different story.
Luckily, the totems which the men will use as their village center often grants you a special ability. Some of these can be combined to enhance the effects of your basic powers. The combo Enhance Breath and Infinite Earth spring to mind. They both work for 10 seconds but you basically are raising whole island from the sea floor with that in moments.
About your villagers, or the men as they are called… there is very little actual interaction. Other than directing them to a new totem, having one fetch an item which will protect your village(s) and guiding them to the exit portal. If the men cannot reach a certain spot, you will be visually clued in. The path they take is shown in a white flowing line, the part which they cannot traverse will show up red. It is up to you to clear the obsctruction. The AI can be a bit troublesome at times, but it is not like they are willfully walking into a lava stream. Oh, and they are not as annoying as those damn villagers from some other god games I know.
Sending your men to fetch an item, create a new village or head for the exit all come down to timing. Periodical flooding, errupting vulcanoes and tidal waves will kill your men quite fast. But if you manage to build a village and see a villager install an elemental ward (which needs to be picked up from a pre-existing village or the original elemantal ward stone itself) at the last possible moment before a tidal wave hits is very satisfying.
Tl;Dr?
Good-ass-mother-fucking-game.
i heard it sucks
Only if I had some money…
Oh well, I’ve my good buddy Piratebay. I’m sure he’ll hook me up. :retard:
Yeah, it seems people are saying this a shoddy PC port.
No graphical settings besides resolution, capped to 30 fps and kinda glitchy.
True, graphical settings are very limited.
Framerate is actually limited to 60, but the option to turn it up seems to be not very responsive at times.
Still, the game does look better than on a TV screen.
Question you will need to ask yourself is this:
Do I want marignally better graphics, or better controls?
If you go for the former --> PC.
If you want the latter --> Console (PS3/X360).
Yeah, other than that it’s ok. Didn’t realize it was capped to 30 FPS.
Ubifuck DRM means you need an internet connection to play, too.
you heard wrong
He heard hipster.
i can’t hear you from my 30 fps
People really should stop with this graphic-bitching. Fuck graphics man, don’t you see the awesome terrain physics effects??!!
No, my eyes are burning from not having 120fps.
well that’s your problem then buddy