I’ve actually been putting this post off for awhile because I’m so torn about it. You see, Demigod is an absolute gem of a game. Except for when it’s not. That doesn’t really help you though so instead I’ll paint you a picture.
Pretty good, right? I’ve been practicising. Now let me paint you another…
I launch Demigod, I log in to multiplayer, I click Skirmish and wait for the system to find players for me. So far, so good. The problems start as soon as I start the search though… Will the system find me three to seven actual players? Will it pretend to find me players only to kick me into a game with the overly dumb AI? Will it find me a game, but some bug will make it so it counts as a loss? Or will it work and just the little things will have to be dealt with (favor might not work, your DG might not listen and your minions almost assuredly won’t work correctly most of the time).
So the picture I’m painting would be half blissful multiplayer fun and half being eaten by a grue.
I can’t decide how much longer I’ll stick around for Demigod, but being that we’re now three weeks past the release and I’m still dealing with the exact same problems that have existed in the game since launch, I’m getting fed up.
The worst part is I really, really like Demigod when it works. It changes the RTS genre in a way I didn’t think was so easily possible. I’ve got twenty ideas for how other games could go from here or five different game types for this system would drastically change it but still be the basic Demigod model. When it works, it’s a dream. I’m controlling a would be god, with fantasical powers and minions to do their bidding. I’m playing multiplayer tower defense in an absolutely beautiful world where all of the Demigods feel un-balanced, but in reality work pretty damn well against each. Not to mention that each god can be a very different build by the time it hits level 20 (the max level in a single game). And the different game types we get now are all fun and change each map more than enough to make it feel different each time.
The other side of that coin is that getting a good game going is still a crapshoot. Sometimes I can do a Pantheon or Skirmish game and I get a 2vs2 (I haven’t played a non 2vs2 game in awhile now) that works great, but most likely I’m going to get one the following. An error when it tries to join games. Sitting there forever at the finding a game screen. A game does start, but it’s all against AI and according the stats that will be published online later, I’ve already lost the game (even if I win). Oh yeah, and when the game starts I may or may not get favor points/items (stats that carry across games and allow you to buy extra items), I may or may not being playing a balanced game (I see 1vs2 probably as often as not), and it’s assured that the god damn AI is dumb, both for bots and for the minions.
Here’s my absolute biggest problem though. What other RTS game has bots as part of the game when you join a random multiplayer game? None. I don’t click multiplayer, log in and wait for the system to find me a multiplayer game to have it load up the game filled with bots. Fuck the shit out of that. I get why they did that, so people that don’t know better think they found a game instead of having it error out. Well laddy fucking da. That doesn’t help me out at all. I don’t want to play agains the dumb AI. I couldn’t give a crap about how good I am against the AI. I want to play against other people. I want a challenge. Heck, I’d love to have a teammate.
It comes down to this… if Stardock and GPG, both comanies of which I have a lot of respect for, can’t get their shit together and get this game working right, not only am I going to quit playing I’m going to…no, that’s pretty much it. No hot rage of a thousand suns, no petitions online, no ranting and raving (well, beyond this). I’m just going to quit playing. Oh, and think less of two companies that until this point I really thought I had a good shot at quality when buying from them.
Which is pretty sad.
What Would Matt Do: Do you remember when you did something wrong as a kid, but instead of getting angry and upset, your Dad/Mom would just tell you they were really disappointed in you and that was much worse? That’s what I’m about to do to Stardock and GPG. Don’t think I’m kidding, I’ll do it.
#1 by Brad Wardell on May 18th, 2009 - 10:55 pm
We plan to add a param for people who really hate bots that will have the match making take as long as needed to have a pure human game.
#2 by Matt on May 19th, 2009 - 8:55 am
Yeah, that’d be great. Along with that, could we get team joining? Those two things would go a LONG way to giving Demigod long term viability. At least for me.
As I said though, I love the game. I’m just getting a bit frustrated by all of the stuff that often goes along with playing it. I got lucky in a sense that I wasn’t hit by most of the critical bugs you guys are fixing (connection stuff), but on the other side of that, I’ve been dealing with these same bugs, the non-critical ones (favor, dg not listening, etc) since the beginning.
All of that aside, I hope the best for both of your companies and Demigod. I know all of the work you guys have put in to it, both before and after the release. I just hope I’m still around once Demigod is all the way up to speed.
#3 by Brad Wardell on May 19th, 2009 - 10:02 am
Team joining and scheduled games are things we’re already working on. Hopefully by end of June.
Seems obvious in hindsight but didn’t occur to us until after release.
#4 by Matt on May 20th, 2009 - 8:31 am
Yeah, I hadn’t really thought how necessary it was until I played DoWII. :)