If you think I didn't mention any of the game's favorable points, I'd invite you to reread what I wrote. I can quote it here if you'd rather not.
And as I wrote to someone else above, the broken puzzle quests aren't the only major problems with the game. Those are instead the problems that destroyed my confidence in the game as it was designed.
And, yes, you're absolutely right that if the game is patched, it will be a better game. It's a shame they couldn't have released it that way, isn't it?
did you read the same review I did? An MMO with glorius aha moments that goes on to compromise them because the player is unsure they are actually the puzzle they are in. Sounds like it describes exactly what Tom liked and how it was broken.
MT, you seem to have skipped the first paragraph. I can paste it here if you like.
Terrible review. What quests did you find that don't work? The only one I encountered that had issues was Something Wicked, and a quick port to another server fixed that right up. It's an MMO for gods sake. Interact with the players and ask for help.
I love how a lot of the players spam "Quest XXX does not work" simply because they are not smart enough to figure it out.
I have been playing TSW almost non stop for a few days now. Having a broken leg and a reprieve from work gives me plenty of time to experience what is quite possibly the best MMORPG I have played in years.
In over 50 hours of play time I have only encountered one broken quest, and like I said - A quick question and I was ported by another player to an instance where it worked.
Long story short - how come I managed to do the quests you say are broken?
that is an interesting question. I have been waiting for them to get back to that ever since I hit the non ending to dreamfall.
What about an MMO with gameplay that is inherently interesting? One not reliant on a web of compelling but ultimately empty rewards?
Power creep is only an issue for games that have no way to hold a player's attention besides steadily increasing his arbitrary numbers. 'Content' in a modern MMO is simply raising the upper limit of whatever currencies the player has been taught are valuable.
Team Fortress 2 will be a great game long after Valve stop releasing updates. What MMO can say the same?
Each time someone posts a comment, that Tom Click guy gets 50 cents. Stop posting. Now.
Are you under the mistaken impression that Tom works for MetaCritic? Or that he decides whether or not they use his reviews? Tom writes for his readers, the people who value his writing and opinions, not for MetaCritic.
If you find yourself regularly disagreeing with his reviews, then find another reviewer whose taste in games is more like yours, read that guy instead, and ignore Tom. Internet 101. Having a variety of kinds of reviewers who write about games in different ways is a feature, not a bug.
I agree with your comment. Love the game so far and am about 30 hours in. Only encountered one broken quest so far.
Gave up on Something Wicked but I will take your advice and see if anyone can port me to an instance where it isn't broken.
Thanks!
Also successful: Nickleback.
You're quite lucky. I have run into broken quests in every zone I've been in, often several per zone. In FM, it's Something Wicked and BiBV was broken (but got fixed). In SC, Life Imitating Art and the Black House are both broken and the Jack quest has some serious bugs to it (and I keep thinking there's another I just can't remember). In BM, the one with fire team Beta (I think... the ones on the beach) breaks on the last step pretty often. In Egypt, Terrible Picture and the one at the loch are broken (and I'm not that far in). Those are just the ones that I've personally had break on me.
If you haven't run into a lot of broken quests, then you're lucky. However, I know just from the group I've been chatting with that you're not in the majority.
I don't agree with Tom's review score, personally, but that's his opinion and it's defensible. Anyone that acts like the bugs don't exist are either very lucky to have not seen them or they're deliberately ignoring the game's flaws.
Well, TSW had virtually no promotion going on for it. Does that count for something? You almost literally had to search it out to find it was going to be released.
Maybe he wrote the review like this to just earn som money.
While I agree that the game has flaws, I finished all of the quests you mentioned. Three quests required a port to another instance, but that is a minor price to pay for such an awesome game. I still finished the quests, I just had to ask other players for help. I wish Funcom would allow us to port to different dimensions instead of begging in the Help channel.
The only bugs I encountered (that really suck) are the broken chat issues and the stupid full screen to windowed bug. But that's it. Those are the only two bugs I can't really fix.
The quests can ALL be completed if you simply go to another instance.
Don't forget how he stiffed combat. The guy is an idiot. Combat is all about combining skills into a working combinations. It's fluid and evolving.
If you just jam your keys, you will die quite often. But applying some effect to the enemy, then synergizing that effect with another like a heal or a damage reduction, etc. is what the game is all about.
The combat is awesome, and so is the PvP.
A bit more on the quests. There are a few that are broken but like you said asking to go to another instance or re-doing it again fixes the problem.
Tom, one of things I've been told -- this came up during out Secret World podcast, which you might enjoy listening to -- is that some of the scripting errors came from the way they propagate their shards, or whatever. Basically, scripts that worked fine during beta were broken when the game went live across multiple shards, servers, dimensions, or whatever you want to call them. Whereas some people like you didn't have many issues, some of us can't swing a dead drauga without hitting an impossible puzzle quest.
Hope your leg gets better!
" Do you feel that's too soon to run a review?"
Yes, of course it is. This is an MMO, slapping an unchangeable Metacritic score on it after a week is pretty much irresponsible. Doesn't matter that others do it too, it's just as wrong.
I really want to do the Jack quest, but it requires Something Wicked, and I don't have the heart to tackle that until I'm sure it's going to work.
That's not true, Mr. SkillGamer. Otherwise, I'd have finished Big Terrible Picture by now.
My response to that, Mr. Charming, would be that if it's too soon for a review, it's also too soon to sell the game. Once a company starts taking money, they can also take whatever lumps they get for the state of the game.