Proof positive that you can never, ever, EVER please ALL pf the people all of the time, D3Publisher of America recently updated the official Earth Defense Force Insect Armageddon page as well as the game's Facebook page last week with the absolutely grand news that split-screen cooperative gameplay (or couch co-op) is now a part of the upcoming release. While a good deal of cheers and back-slapping has lightened the mood of assorted message boards, there are STILL some die-hard hard-heads griping about aspects of the game that would ONLY be truly justified complaints if these posters actually got their hands on an up-to-date (and still in-progress build).
Yeesh. Cue any sort of facepalm theme music or related animated GIF at this point
Look, guys and gals, you've WON, so celebrate the moment and MOVE on, dammit. The game now has speedy online play AND faster split-screen play than previous entries PLUS a few other elements from past EDF games. Yes, much of this comes all thanks to your input from petitions, lengthy, detailed posts about playing through EDF 2017 with your really smart three-legged Labradoodle or how you turned your mom on (wait for it...) to blasting bugs for fun instead of asking you to turn that noise down and get some sleep.
HOWEVER, given that it's STILL a WORK IN PROGRESS, could you please (pretty please?) STOP disrespecting Vicious Cycle's programming talents UNTIL you actually see how the game actually plays in a more FINISHED product? Sure, those short movies don't show the massive hordes of bugs found in the Sandlot-developed originals and sequels, but there are still a few months to go before the game ships. If VC could do up split-screen based on your gentle to near arrest-worthy threats, I'm sure we'll see increased enemy counts unless they really smack the VERY smooth frame rate around (which is the main issue with the Japanese and US NTSC versions - UK gamers and their 50hz TV's don't get to suffer the slowdown we see here).
Besides... the REAL cosmic joke here would be VC and D3P punking us all since the original announcement and getting away with it big time. Part of me thinks that they were bluffing and had the co-op code done from the get-go. Why? WHY, WHYYYYY? you ask? Well, why not? Think about it for a second: it would be a damn brilliant way to actually see just how many people care about EDF (and hell, all you grievers had better BUY the damn game after all that virtual ink spilled). I don't know too much about game development (little in-joke there), but after seeing the 30 or so seconds of split screen play and how smooth it ran, I seriously doubt VC slapped that together after a few weeks of getting bombarded with everything from nicely written requests to flat out hate mail.
Anyway, I say let them do their thing and wait for this cake to cool before you cut into it. Vicious Cycle is putting 110% into EDFIA and despite it being a "budget" release, I'm thinking it'll be a hit over Xbox Live and PSN once folks see just how much of a blast the game is. Oh, and knock of the oddball gamer "racism" about how "westernized" games not being as good as Japanese made games or how "western" elements destroy games. Hell, some Japanese developers would actually find that to be a huge complement if you really did enough research on the subject...
Love it... thank you for spewing a little sanity..
ReplyDelete2017 Rocked, and IA is going to knock the socks off the world. Talk about sleeper hits though. None of my friends have ever heard of the games. :( But they still kick so much ass. :D I used to sit around the spawn points in 2017 just to get more weapon drops XD Bring it on bugs. I'm gonna smear you with a rocket launcher like I did that fly with yesterday morning's news paper! Hoorah!
ReplyDeleteSo True I love edf I hope it will have more bugs before launch good luck Vc.
ReplyDeletecant wait, improvement over the first will be awesome enough. my kids loves this game. hopefully there will a little better job pertaining to the achievements though. definetely a good buy game.
ReplyDeleteCan't agree. If the complaining is what got people split screen and weapon drops, why should they stop complaining when there are still more aspects of the previous games that people want, but haven't been shown?
ReplyDeleteIf VC really wants to know what the fans want in the game, then they need to be prepared to put up with some of the more volatile posters online. If anything, the fan community should be encouraged to give as much feedback as they can at this point, while VC still has time to make adjustments.
If a developer is willing to listen to the fan community it makes no sense to wait for them to release a bad game and THEN complain about it when you can offer input which goes towards making a good game, instead.
Who said Vicious Cycle was making a BAD game in the first place or wasn't listening to fans? Some of the last posts I've read about the game were two guys arguing just to argue about screens, trailers and previews while second guessing everything and dumping on VC as if they're a bunch of untalented monkeys.
ReplyDeleteIt's gone from a handful of nicely vocal folks speaking their minds to a nonsense-packed sideshow that any developer shouldn't care about after one read.
As with Ninja Theory's reboot of DMC, one of the biggest issues I have with the whining is NOT ONE of the folks wasting time sending hate mail has actually PLAYED the new game. We've only seen in-progress trailers and screens to date. Like any relaunch, there will be those that are unhappy with the results no matter how good they are. But those folks shouldn't step in the path of new players who want to buy the game, period.
You can't make a sound judgment on ANY game based on a build that early, so a LOT of the griping is pointless. Everyone is indeed entitled to an opinion... except when they're wrong. The you sit down, zip it and try to learn something, either about game development or when to cool it when one doesn't know what one is talking about.
As for the petitioning for co-op, again, until a D3 rep comes forward and says it was NEVER intended to be in the new game, I'd have to say it's a brilliant PR move on their part to gauge interest, or at least something that bought VC a little time.
it COULD just be that the developer had planned to fit it split-screen in but wanted to make SURE that it ran 100 percent smoothly before finally announcing it. One of the biggest issues with the older EDF games was the massive slowdown and the generally choppy frame rate in single player or co-op, particularly when many bugs and/or explosions were on screen. UK gamers didn't notice this because PAL TV sets run at 50 Hertz, so the stuttering was less bothersome.
(to be continued...)
Part Deux:
ReplyDeleteThe remaining complainers more or less want the old art style back, want Sandlot back and some even want the exact same controls or other elements back that WOULD make EDFIA a "bad" game experience... if judged by other games in the same genre.
Again, I say TRUST the developer first, period. Suggestions and criticism are more than fine as long as they HELP make a better product. On the other hand, it would be foolish for any message board denizen to even THINK that VC hadn't played the earlier games in the series so they could see what worked and what didn't while they worked on updating things for a Western audience more used to certain types of controls, visuals and yes, online play (all three of which were complained about by some, by the way).
Amusingly enough, most of the complaints I've seen are from people who have ONLY played EDF 2017, which is actually NOT the best entry in the franchise. Some of the elements they're screaming about adding or not fussing with would actually be a step backward. For the record, EDF 2 had more stages, enemies, weapons and challenge plus IMPOSSIBLE mode (which is quite that once it's unlocked).
The only suggestion I've personally made to D3 so far was that it would be awesome to see all the older games on the game disc as bonuses (or as DLC if they want to go that route, but I'd prefer on-disc for those without PSN or XBLA accounts). However, given that this is a cross-platform release (I haven't seen a PS2 game come to the 360 yet), it's a guessing game as to how they'd make that happen.
Another thing: perhaps D3 wants the game to stand alone or be seen as the adventures of the US branch of the EDF, which is actually mentioned in the import games (that bug invasion actually takes place around the world and radio chatter mentions EDF forces in certain US and foreign cities). If you play EDF 2, the game OPENS in and has a few missions that take place in London before jumping to Japan.
I pray for the replay value that is all 6 months 2017 I haven't beaten the thing.Every bit worth $40 dollars I don't think they want to let down the fans I think their headed in the right direction so far 8.8 out 10 from me.I'm so importing the others I haven't played yet.
ReplyDeleteFor the record (and in addition to pre-ordering EDFIA to support D3!), you'll need a PS2 that can play Japanese games or PAL format games (which run at 50hz and don't play on US PS2's or US TV's for that matter).
ReplyDeleteThe two games you're looking for are Simple 2000 Vol. 31 (The Chikyuu Boueigun) and Simple 2000 Vol. 81 (The Chikyuu Boueigun 2). The UK releases are Monster Attack and Global Defence Force (but again, you need a PAl-format TV and console to run these).
The first EDF is the shortest at a mere 25 stages and five difficulty levels. NO spiders to worry about at all (or underground maps, for that matter), but some tough robots and a final boss on the harder difficulty levels.
EDF 2 is the gem of the series - over 70 levels, a number of TOUGH enemies that didn't make it into 2017, Pale Wing and her separate suite of weapons and more.
It's actually funny in EDF 2 to face off against the final mothership in EDF 1 as a standard enemy this time out and there's a giant monster boss battle that's terrifying when you see how huge the thing is (and how much damage it can do).
Also, the mothership in EDF 2 is a total beast to defeat, as you need to blast apart a few layers of weapons systems to expose the core while dealing with lasers, plasma bombs and later, saucers that all want you dead...