SE:V, I'll be honest

[Slick]

I've played the demo a few times and tried out as many things as I could. I've looked at the data files. I've read the opinions of others. I've really worked at trying to like this game. I want to like this game. But it is just missing something intangible. I just don't get that "just one more turn" feeling. I have come to the realization that having to work at liking this game means that I just don't find it fun. I'm a huge SE fan and it hurts me to say these things but I think honesty is the best policy. I want so badly to like this game that I actually stopped playing the SE:V demo and started a new game of Starfury just to cheer me up a little. I'll give it some time to sink in.

I see huge potential for "funness" in this game but it's just not there yet. There's no single thing that has taken away the fun for me but here's a list of some things that I find disappointing:

- the UI. Enough said in other threads.

- the bugs; there are waaay too many at T-minus-one-month to release. I am hoping that MM will live up to past expectations and fix these but they will surely turn potential buyers off permenantly.

- the overall cumbersomeness of the game. This partially overlaps with the UI issue but there is more. Things are not very intuitive. Yes, once I figure it out, I know how to do it, but there is still a lot of cumbersomeness. Information that I want is there but not readily accessible. Too many of the things that I think should be options in-game are only modifiable in the data files.
This may sound trivial to most people but I know several people who won't mod the game based on the principle that they shouldn't need to for changing basic options - and they are very "turned off" as potential customers and won't be buying the game over this issue alone.

- the great unknown of what will be fixed after release. MM has a great reputation for continuously improving the game. I give him 100% credit for that. Without getting into an argument over the possibility of bug-free games here, there is a customer expectation of a certain level of performance at the time the game is installed. Frequent, hard crashes are unacceptable. Many of the issues are not fatal (software) flaws; many are just the cumbersomeness issues, so how many of these will be fixed?


I really want this game to be good, but it's just not there yet. Will I buy it? I am still not sure. I know it's too late, but I'll say this anyway: I am willing to wait as long as it takes for the release if the time is being spent to improve the game.