LGR - Darkspore and the Problem With Always-Online Games
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Date: 2022-04-14
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Comments and reviews: 10
Padge
I loved this game so much! After playing other ARPGs like Diablo 2 and Sacred for years, the graphics of Darkspore looked quite beautiful at the time. The level design, skills, enemies and equipment all innovated the genre, the squad based gameplay and the wonderful editor were all a breath of fresh air. Had tons of fun playing with other people and coming up with strategies to beat the toughest bosses. It got really challenging towards the end.
Was super sad and disappointed that A) this game was poorly marketed, came out at a bad time (with major ARPG competition like D3 and PoE) and never got very popular, and B) that evil company EA shut it down after 5 years without allowing for single player offline. I will always hate EA for this. Much smaller game companies like Stunlock Studios still keep servers open for dead games like Bloodline Champions, there is no excuse for some multi-billion dollar company such as EA. The executive producer of Darkspore was even planning expansions before EA pulled the plug and reassigned all the devs to other projects.
I have hope that the resurrection project will make it playable again or that at least some kind of spiritual successor game can be made that expands upon Darkspores core elements (and addresses it's flaws) while having a similar feel.
Lastly, kudos to Maxis for making the game, and all the people who went overboard editing their heroes like works of art, impressed the hell out of me, so creative.
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I loved this game so much! After playing other ARPGs like Diablo 2 and Sacred for years, the graphics of Darkspore looked quite beautiful at the time. The level design, skills, enemies and equipment all innovated the genre, the squad based gameplay and the wonderful editor were all a breath of fresh air. Had tons of fun playing with other people and coming up with strategies to beat the toughest bosses. It got really challenging towards the end.
Was super sad and disappointed that A) this game was poorly marketed, came out at a bad time (with major ARPG competition like D3 and PoE) and never got very popular, and B) that evil company EA shut it down after 5 years without allowing for single player offline. I will always hate EA for this. Much smaller game companies like Stunlock Studios still keep servers open for dead games like Bloodline Champions, there is no excuse for some multi-billion dollar company such as EA. The executive producer of Darkspore was even planning expansions before EA pulled the plug and reassigned all the devs to other projects.
I have hope that the resurrection project will make it playable again or that at least some kind of spiritual successor game can be made that expands upon Darkspores core elements (and addresses it's flaws) while having a similar feel.
Lastly, kudos to Maxis for making the game, and all the people who went overboard editing their heroes like works of art, impressed the hell out of me, so creative.
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IanSane
The problem with this is that those of us who truly care about this sort of thing are obviously in the minority. If customers cared enough to not buy always-online games then the publishers wouldn't be able to afford to make them. For most people videogames are disposable entertainment. They play it for a bit until they beat the game or get bored of it and move on to something else. Gamestop had a business model that relied on people trading in their old games. Obviously game collectors, archivists or historians would have no interest in such a thing but a lot of people do and it's the same kind of disposable mentality. If you had no interest in hanging on to your physical copies why would you care if an online-only game you haven't played in a few years and have no real interest in playing again is no longer available to you? Obviously trading in a game isn't the same as the game being gone forever for everybody but it's not exactly odd to encounter people that don't really care about things that don't affect them at that current point in time. One thing I would ask of anyone that does care about this is to have some self-control and not buy always-online games even if you want to play it. We won't get anywhere if we talk the talk and then proceed to financially reward the companies that do this.
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The problem with this is that those of us who truly care about this sort of thing are obviously in the minority. If customers cared enough to not buy always-online games then the publishers wouldn't be able to afford to make them. For most people videogames are disposable entertainment. They play it for a bit until they beat the game or get bored of it and move on to something else. Gamestop had a business model that relied on people trading in their old games. Obviously game collectors, archivists or historians would have no interest in such a thing but a lot of people do and it's the same kind of disposable mentality. If you had no interest in hanging on to your physical copies why would you care if an online-only game you haven't played in a few years and have no real interest in playing again is no longer available to you? Obviously trading in a game isn't the same as the game being gone forever for everybody but it's not exactly odd to encounter people that don't really care about things that don't affect them at that current point in time. One thing I would ask of anyone that does care about this is to have some self-control and not buy always-online games even if you want to play it. We won't get anywhere if we talk the talk and then proceed to financially reward the companies that do this.
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Billii
Hey man, thanks for the review! Not enough people got to enjoy this game before they took away the opportunity to play more.
One quick note, you indicated in the video that there was 0 penalty for failing a level. That is only partially true, the reward system for the game would 'rate' how you performed on the level (did you kill 100% of enemies, find all hidden loot etc) and then add your score rating into your 'reward box' score. You could choose at the end of each level, to either take your reward box 'roll' right then and there, or you could 'save' it up and continue to the next level. If you completed the next level, that score could be added to your current score, and your 'reward boxes' chances of giving up more/higher level loot would increase. If you had chose to 'save up' your points, but failed the next level you tried, you would lose 100% of your 'reward points' and thus chance for loot.
Other than that, we (me and my gf) are bummed they took this game away from us. We enjoyed the coop aspect of the missions, and are always on the lookout for fun/basic style games that offer coop options!
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Hey man, thanks for the review! Not enough people got to enjoy this game before they took away the opportunity to play more.
One quick note, you indicated in the video that there was 0 penalty for failing a level. That is only partially true, the reward system for the game would 'rate' how you performed on the level (did you kill 100% of enemies, find all hidden loot etc) and then add your score rating into your 'reward box' score. You could choose at the end of each level, to either take your reward box 'roll' right then and there, or you could 'save' it up and continue to the next level. If you completed the next level, that score could be added to your current score, and your 'reward boxes' chances of giving up more/higher level loot would increase. If you had chose to 'save up' your points, but failed the next level you tried, you would lose 100% of your 'reward points' and thus chance for loot.
Other than that, we (me and my gf) are bummed they took this game away from us. We enjoyed the coop aspect of the missions, and are always on the lookout for fun/basic style games that offer coop options!
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Dina
1: 27 I like archiving too. I don't want a piece of history to be lost forever.
I never played Darkspore, only Spore and its Wii and DS spin-offs. Even though the Spore servers do work, it makes me feel so sad and empty seeing it on 2021. I feel like I am visiting a graveyard of a long-dead civilization that is going to become more and more decayed. People who had fond memories of the Nintendo DS and Wii Wi-Fi can understand this feeling.
It has outdated news about merch from the 2010s that will never be updated. It has a Maxis Adventures tab that will never be updated. Spore GA Adventures don't gain more points so I am forced to play old ones to grind, thus making the game feel more old, dead, and barren. Great and popular Spore accounts fell silent. EA support is useless when you try to get help with Spore. The disc version of Spore doesn't even connect to the servers.
And worse of all, despite so many people being fond of Spore and talking about Spore-like games, a true Spore successor still isn't out. How many years has it been? 13?
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1: 27 I like archiving too. I don't want a piece of history to be lost forever.
I never played Darkspore, only Spore and its Wii and DS spin-offs. Even though the Spore servers do work, it makes me feel so sad and empty seeing it on 2021. I feel like I am visiting a graveyard of a long-dead civilization that is going to become more and more decayed. People who had fond memories of the Nintendo DS and Wii Wi-Fi can understand this feeling.
It has outdated news about merch from the 2010s that will never be updated. It has a Maxis Adventures tab that will never be updated. Spore GA Adventures don't gain more points so I am forced to play old ones to grind, thus making the game feel more old, dead, and barren. Great and popular Spore accounts fell silent. EA support is useless when you try to get help with Spore. The disc version of Spore doesn't even connect to the servers.
And worse of all, despite so many people being fond of Spore and talking about Spore-like games, a true Spore successor still isn't out. How many years has it been? 13?
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Zed
I believe that, even worse than the fact that you can no longer play Darkspore anymore, is the lack of imagination put into Spore-s spinoff. Look at how much inventiveness and near-limitless creative power the original Spore had, even with all its flaws. If anything, Spore itself should have been improved upon, remade into something twice as good as the previous, with all the technology that three extra years gave it. Imagine a game like Spore with the technological juggernauts of computing power we have in the modern day. It saddens me to know that we-re likely never going to get a proper sequel from EA, but. such is life.
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I believe that, even worse than the fact that you can no longer play Darkspore anymore, is the lack of imagination put into Spore-s spinoff. Look at how much inventiveness and near-limitless creative power the original Spore had, even with all its flaws. If anything, Spore itself should have been improved upon, remade into something twice as good as the previous, with all the technology that three extra years gave it. Imagine a game like Spore with the technological juggernauts of computing power we have in the modern day. It saddens me to know that we-re likely never going to get a proper sequel from EA, but. such is life.
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James
I definitely understand your position, and most of the games you listed gave no excuse for online single player. The one I'd defend is Elite Dangerous, since it's more of an MMO, which most people don't put in the same category. Yes, a solo mode exists, but you still interact with and impact the same galaxy. It's more of a -keep the greifers away- thing. Would it work as true single player? Probably, if you gutted Powerplay. Still, it seems to me more of an MMO with a solo mode tacked on than the scumbag DRM schemes in games like Battlefront 2 and Darkspore. Short sighted perhaps, but not malicious.
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I definitely understand your position, and most of the games you listed gave no excuse for online single player. The one I'd defend is Elite Dangerous, since it's more of an MMO, which most people don't put in the same category. Yes, a solo mode exists, but you still interact with and impact the same galaxy. It's more of a -keep the greifers away- thing. Would it work as true single player? Probably, if you gutted Powerplay. Still, it seems to me more of an MMO with a solo mode tacked on than the scumbag DRM schemes in games like Battlefront 2 and Darkspore. Short sighted perhaps, but not malicious.
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Swissbahamut
Thanks for this great video specially for talking about the -always online- problematic because I ask myself several times what happens to this games when the server will be shutdown. And I will never understand why single player modes needs Internet connection. It-s ok if there are some features using the internet but using them should be optional. As LGR mention it in the video The Devision for example will be unplayable for no reason when Ubisoft shutdown the server. I wonder if it-s possible to sue a company because you paid for the game but can-t use it anymore in such a case.
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Thanks for this great video specially for talking about the -always online- problematic because I ask myself several times what happens to this games when the server will be shutdown. And I will never understand why single player modes needs Internet connection. It-s ok if there are some features using the internet but using them should be optional. As LGR mention it in the video The Devision for example will be unplayable for no reason when Ubisoft shutdown the server. I wonder if it-s possible to sue a company because you paid for the game but can-t use it anymore in such a case.
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Daisy
Its ridiculous. I was so excited when I found a used copy of Sims 4 at goodwill for a few bucks. it was even the collectors addition. But once I picked it up I remembered. this is an EA game. what are the chances I can play a used copy. I bought it anyway and of course, I couldn't play it because the code was used. When the game went on sale for $5 I got it online. but I have in the back of my mind. this isn't my game. its EA's and if they ever decide to drop it or shut down its gone, or if I get tired of it I can't sell it. I hate it. but I love the sims.
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Its ridiculous. I was so excited when I found a used copy of Sims 4 at goodwill for a few bucks. it was even the collectors addition. But once I picked it up I remembered. this is an EA game. what are the chances I can play a used copy. I bought it anyway and of course, I couldn't play it because the code was used. When the game went on sale for $5 I got it online. but I have in the back of my mind. this isn't my game. its EA's and if they ever decide to drop it or shut down its gone, or if I get tired of it I can't sell it. I hate it. but I love the sims.
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CoTeCiOtm
It's ironic that piracy is many times at the forefront of preservation by providing ways to play games that otherwise are impossible to play nowadays. They come up with all these crappy DRM schemes to try to deter pirates from cracking their games, yet it's them the ones who are making things right. Yeah, it might be illegal, but at least I consider cracking a game ultimately more morally and ethically correct than just killing it off and leaving useless paperweights in the shape of DVD boxes in countless homes.
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It's ironic that piracy is many times at the forefront of preservation by providing ways to play games that otherwise are impossible to play nowadays. They come up with all these crappy DRM schemes to try to deter pirates from cracking their games, yet it's them the ones who are making things right. Yeah, it might be illegal, but at least I consider cracking a game ultimately more morally and ethically correct than just killing it off and leaving useless paperweights in the shape of DVD boxes in countless homes.
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scbtripwire
I remember this, they made it backward compatible for the previous generation of computers.
The result of this was menus which took 5 minutes -PER (SUB/)MENU TRANSITION-, resulting in me spending 10-15+ minutes between game maps JUST LOADING AND PLAYING MENU ANIMATIONS to be able to play the game at all, resulting in me spending 80% of my time in the menus instead of the game. I hope they were proud of those menus because those were my experience with this travesty.
Absolute garbage, that game.
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I remember this, they made it backward compatible for the previous generation of computers.
The result of this was menus which took 5 minutes -PER (SUB/)MENU TRANSITION-, resulting in me spending 10-15+ minutes between game maps JUST LOADING AND PLAYING MENU ANIMATIONS to be able to play the game at all, resulting in me spending 80% of my time in the menus instead of the game. I hope they were proud of those menus because those were my experience with this travesty.
Absolute garbage, that game.
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