Luxangel7

Granted, aggressive title, but it's warranted after paying $50 and trudging through about 20 hours of campaing tutorial to find out that the game is completely broken. Here is the problem: I plodded through all the clunkiness of the first part of the campaign and the horrendously boring and poorly made fps segments until I nuked Fulcrum and unlocked the part where the enemy carrier is active. aka, the "real" part of the game. Now however, the carrier has unlimited fuel, can't ever die, when I FINALLY manage to track it down (because it always runs away from you) and "kill" it, it literally IMMEDIATELY respawns at the next island over and starts capturing Islands again. Oh and by the way, if you don't immediately go to an Island thats being attacked, you will lose it effectively reverting it back to square one as if you had NEVER captured it. That means that any of these magically defeated islands (carrier doesnt deploy anything or fight ANYTHING it just auto captures after a ridiculously short amount of time) will revert to how they were when you first attacked them. So any scramblers, mission objectives, etc etc everything has to be done all over again. As if this wasn't bad enough, even if you tell yourself that you can do it and try to go through it all again by the time you're about half way done recapturing the enemy has already definitely captured one island and started taking another. (not to mention the amazingly sloppy cherry on top of all of the team mate video com messages playing again as if you were playing the first time, for example if the first island is captured, your officers talk to you as if your carrier needs all repairs again....very sloppy) This effectively stops all campaign gameplay and turns it into a never ending war (if it can even be called that) of attrition where you are slowly losing to an enemy that can capture islands in the time it takes you to even get there. This game has amazing potential, so much so that I chose to overlook the HORRENDOUS walrus AI, or the fact that they have the rpm power of golf carts, or the fact that mantas are made of paper and die after a few hits even with max armor, or the fact that the fps segments were about as polished as something a university student would have made or serious and missed opportunities like not being able to customize your carrier or anything on the islands you capture, but this is just too much. The game is unplayable. To quote a friend "It's bad and you should feel bad". I could already complain how the enemy carrier never deploys any units and that you never ACTUALLY fight over any islands, you never go up against the carrier because you have to shoot it while it's running away from you, and since you're both at the same speed if you're lucky to intercept you can fight it.... but making it so that you constantly lose islands almost magically??? Sorry, but that's where I wanted to throw the proverbial controller through the screen and just completely quit and uninstalled the game. After knowing you for Arma series, I would never have expected such an unfinished game. From now on, I will always pirate the game, finish it, and if it proves to be a well made product (whether I liked it or not) THEN I will buy it. Because I am SOOOOO tired of being essentially duped into buying an unfinished game. This is the third time in two months. (obviously not from the same dev studio) And of course, I am just one unsatisfied customer, but I can guarantee two things: 1) If the devs don't fix this enormous game breaking issue, and at least attempt to address all the other stuff like Walrus AI and low rpm power then they will have lost a customer forever. Selling something that's unfinished is just deceitful and should be illegal. 2) I am just one person, but I would be wiling to bet anything that there are countless more people like me that had the same reaction.

Hello Dram, It was such a surprise to see a developer respond to my post, and I must say, your message was truly appreciated and it cleared up and explained a lot of things for me. You addressed the main problem I posted and hearing you explain some of the other issues was a side bonus and I really got excited when you talked about the modding toolkit you guys are working on. I must admit, that now that you cleared up and explained so much in such a considerate way I feel like I over reacted with how much disillusionment I felt towards the game (and my choice in thread title...). In my 'defense' for my over reaction I think it stemmed from how much I love the concept and gameplay of the game, and you ugys as a dev studio, and the simple fact that there is a dev stuodio out there that isn't just churning out another "white noise" game but something that's actually unique and special (even if a remake). But that's not meant as an excuse, just as an explanation. What I'm trying to say is that you taking time out of your day to write to an "angry fan" really hit me in a good way, and because of you being so considerate and actually helpful I reinstalled the game and am loving it just as much as before I ran into what I thought made the game unplayable. Needless to say, you brought my faith back in you guys, and I hope this doesn't come across as condescending, but I am once again a happy and proud "day1 purchase" supporter, if I had ever come online to the forums and seen how supportive you devs are then I probably wouldn't have freaked out so much... Anyway, thanks again, what you wrote was sincerely appreciated and (with respect) although this game has a few things that could be improved, I want you to know that I am back to enjoying it again, the unique gameplay, the great graphics, and I am excited to see you guys realize the potential of this game....*cough cough* get rid of fps, customize Islands and carrier more *cough cough* :P I wish you the best of luck with your work, I look forward to seeing what you guys do next with this, and I know I said it already, but thank you. :)

Thank you for your suggestion Species1571, unfortunately I tried that, and the real problem that comes up with that is that by the time I had taken my second enemy Island after fulcrum, I had lost half of the Islands I conquered in the first part of the game. This effectively turned any hopes I had of producing replacement parts for lost units or new parts I got from research labs impossible. Thats a big part of why the game is unfinishable, it's not just because I "don't want" to lose any islands, it's because due to the problem with the enemy carrier if I choose to ignore it my game effectively turns into a "Battlestar Galactica" scenario where I dont have any reinforcements or resupply yet I'm still expected to win the war....it's just not possible. I honestly can't understand how you were able to finish it....I wasted over 40 fuel packs just chasing the enemy carrier for half an hour as it capture FIVE islands in half an hour!!!! I mean it took me that long when I was capturing an Island if I was taking my time and enjoying the game, but rushing as much as I could it still takes me 15 minutes or so at least, since all the mission objectives get reset...it's just not possible to keep up....

you've said nothing to the main point of my post, yet your posts presume absolute correctness in your opinion. Someone else even asked how the game is able to be finished, since you and others seem to purport that the biggest issue is the walrus pathfinding, (which is way worse than you make it out to be, especially when an undocked walrus just goes around in circles near my carrier forever) So since you ignored his first request, I'll ask you blatantly: HOW did you finish the game? Be simple and direct, because I and others found it to be impossible. and to the moderator: noted about the rules, but honestly, you can call my post a rant, but you very well know its not. Everything I posted regarding the shortcomings of the game are valid and obvious issues, whether or not I'm disillusioned and angry because I was made to fork over full price for an unfinished game most certainly doesn't magically turn it into a "rant". Honestly, calling it that came across as you trying to insult me in the most passive way possible. And whether or not I used search or if a dev somewhere said "we're working on things" doesn't justify the underlying game stopping problem being there in the first place. This isn't aimed at you specifically mod, but It's really sad that people can't just come to terms with something being broken and simply admitting "yeah, that shouldn't have happened". Good grief, from some of the reactions to my post it's almost as if this got read by a dev's grandma who thinks they can do no wrong. Rules say I shouldn't have talked about piracy? Yeah ok, my bad. But should people blindly defend an unfinished, waaaay overpriced game that can't even be completed? Hell no.

wow so much arrogance in so few words.... First - Success or failure is determined based upon what KIND of success you are talking about. You are talking about profit and monetary success, I am talking about whether this game is a success as a GAME. Which it is not, because it IS unfinishable. Second - Just because you or some others finished it that doesn't mean the game is acceptable. If you weren't so blatantly hostile and looked at all the threads and posts regarding the MANY problems of the enemy carrier (not just this HUGE one) then you would realize that you are lucky to have not been stopped dead in your tracks by this sloppy game mechanic problem. A game that has a completely unbalanced, sloppy mechanic that makes the game unwinnable is by definition a fatal, game stopping flaw. I don't know what else you would consider it to be, maybe if it made your PC explode? would it count then? Third - First of all, I made a generic statement about pirating "games" and never referred to this game or any game made by this company, so put on hold your apparent plans to report me to the CIA.... Apart from this, I spoke the truth, as an honest gamer who trusted a company to deliver a finished product and supported them with my hard earned money, unlike countless thousands that will never tell you the truth or admit to it, much less buy the game, and I did so out of a justifiably reaction of distrust and dismay after having been swindled out of not only money, but also time. If they censor me, oh no, I think I'll go cry somewhere lol. It sounds like you need to chill the fuc* out dude. I post about a game breaking bug and you and another guy on here come on doing exactly what fanboys do and then get offended when other people call you out for it.

I'm not calling anybody fools, and sometimes people can let their emotions lead them to say something that others may find offensive, try to understand and don't let it get to you, what is really the point here is that this is most definitely not a rant thread. I have a busy life, things to do etc etc. Hell, I don't ever go on forums and stuff unless I need to find the fix to a bug or something. But this is absolutely unforgivable. This game is BROKEN. I outlined some other problems, but the main point about how the enemy carrier works (or doesn't) and how it instantly captures islands and always instantly respawns making the campaing unplayable is absolutely a game breaking issue. Something that should have been fixed WAY before releasing the game. Like I said in my OP, I'm not ranting about the sloppy, cheap fps segments, or the horrendous path finding AI of the walruses, or all the missed opportunities for customization and gameplay facets that they missed out on. All I'm saying is that if you sell me a game for full price, and because of your incompetence I'm not even able to finish the game, then you don't deserve my money. You only deserve scorn and contempt. That is a very basic concept and there is simply no rational or ethic explanation for disagreeing with it. ---------- Post added at 01:35 ---------- Previous post was at 01:31 ---------- I definitely hear what you're saying, and I appreciate your "insider" point of view, and I completely agree with you, I hope you believe me. However, here we are not talking about "one more tweak" or anything of the sort. Devs are artists, that is what I believe, just like any person who creates something. Having someone telling them to release something and work on improvements later is one thing. Releasing a game that cannot be finished because of sloppy programming or whatever is the case, is effectively like releasing a cool car that the customer likes, and when I go to fill up the tank with gas, I find out that there's no hole to put gas into. Here I'm talking about a game breaking, game stopping, fatal flaw that effectively turns my 50$ purchase into a $50 donation. And I'm not okay with that.

Maybe I should have been more clear, more than "well made" what I meant was "finished" and not obviously rushed out the door in a deceitful attempt to just cash in to as many people as possible even though you KNOW that the game is BROKEN. ---------- Post added at 17:30 ---------- Previous post was at 17:26 ---------- In answer to your first point, you are absolutely and completely wrong. The vast majority of games ARE finished products when they are sold. They may have bugs to fix or dlc down the road, but a GAME BREAKING problem like the one I outlined, that doesn't let you FINISH the game, is absolutely not something that is normal or by any means acceptable. In answer to your second point, I don't even know how that is possible, since as I said if you play campaign mode as soon as the enemy carrier is active the game is unplayable and in skirmish mode as soon as I get to my second island the enemy carrier shows up and since its apparently made of cardboard it dies after I shell it a few times with my deck gun. Game ends. I understand if you're a fan of the devs, but what you posted amounts to little more than "nuh-uh!"