My first game was on hard, and it was interesting.  Getting to the center was very very tough (and I was a Knight, max health of 1500) and took a lot of reloading.  Civ was pretty scary for me - economic, and on hard it seems the military quickly trounces any of the smaller empires (little hint - don't buy a city that's under attack, you become at war with the other nation then).  So, there I was, with one city while the other civs fought and killed and grew and expanded and got planes - it was down to me with one city, and 3 other military civs.  One was on my continent, the other two on the big continent.  I paid off the other two civs to attack the one on nearest to me, bought off one of their cities, and took all their spice derricks.  I was able to buy out their other 2 cities, kept one as military, and by that point I had a good amount of income, so I could build a giant army that I used to crush each of the other opponents.  Very tough and nail-biting, but loads of fun. 

Tribal was fairly easy for me, I allied with the first two tribes, killed off the rest (I had the animal master tool, which is great to use on a group of animals, and send them and your chieftain to create a diversion while your army goes in for the kill on the rivals.

Those were my experiences on my first hard game.  I'm now starting my second, and I'm in creature.  Oh, and I'm doing it without eyes.  Very challenging so far.

-m.

Ok, I know there have been other posts about this, but now that it seems (Oz) GS members have Spore, I think it's time for a temporary leave of absence from the gamingsteve forums.  I know I haven't posted here all that much, and I've enjoyed lurking in these forums for the past 3 years, but I don't want the ending accidentally ruined before I have a chance with my first (of many) playthrough.  However, I'll definitely be seeing all of your creatures in my game!  So, I'll probably be back around the 14th or so, if I'm able to get enough play time in that first week.  See you all on the other side, hooray!!!

-m. 

No, it's just all one installer file, not actually seperate files or anything.  So, come release day, it downloads the last little bit to make the installer run and unpack all the files.  - As far as I know, anyways, I didn't really look all that deeply at what it downloaded.

-m.

Having said that, I suppose galaxies containing masterful races that destroy others genocidally for displeasing aesthetics does add a sense of flavour to things. 

Funny, I just watched Hot Fuzz yesterday, reminds me of this.

"We had to wipe out the Synocast species!  Its laugh was atrocious!!"

As far as my own two cents on this - if you didn't laugh out loud at the absurdity of the 200 foot tall chair attacking grandpas in wheelchairs in the PC Gamer review, and don't look forward to that in your game, then just block it.

I personally can't wait until I see the absurd creatures fighting it out in my universe.  How awesome would it be to get chased down and almost destroyed by a race of whack-a-moles?

-m.

Pic looks like X3 to me.

-m.

Quote from: Hydromancerx on August 16, 2008, 09:49:07 pm

the next Shakespearian work if we need to use spell check?

I disagree with this comparison. The use of a Spell Checker only eliminates the need for a writer to trouble an Editor/Proofreader. It doesn't take away from the quality of the work. Besides, Shakespeare made spelling mistakes and made up words all the time. He made up a lot of words throughout the course of his works.

However, as noted by many of the comments here, spellchecker isn't all catching and fool-proof, as is no other program made to keep things simple - one of my biggest pet peeves in spelling is using "loose" when you're trying to say "lose".

I just don't want people to loose the artistic skills...might actually cause people to loose artistic skills. Thats not to say loose creativity but loose the skills needed for art.

about artists loosing the art of art

...And so forth.    Just an example that while the art is made more simple with these technologies, there are things lost in translation that can detract from the overall experience.

-m.

Quote from: CosmicD on July 31, 2008, 03:19:39 am

This morning , I couldn't resist asking one of the biggest media stores if they will have spore (even when my digital version is long preordered befor + cc coupon), the guy said "we've ordered a huge stock of this game, and should be here "soon". I don't know why but it made me as glad as a kid

I always hate that I'm so excited when I buy a new game that my first thought is usually  "Man if I die on the way home this is really really going to suck."

Yeah, I usually have this leading up to the game release ("That game looks so awesome, I'll probably die before it comes out!") - of course, with the delays on Spore, it was looking like for the first time the odds of that happening were getting pretty great!

As far as playstyle, I'm going to start from cell, create a new creature, and evolve my playstyle as my creature evolves.  I am a god who will take into account the history of my creation - I have no set path for my creations.  Other, than of course, arriving at the center of the universe to meet their creator's god - Will Wright's head. 

-m.