Move Along, Nothing to See Here

[ceremony]

Originally posted by aldin:
Warcraft III's 'polish' seems primarily to be in it's simplicity.

I don't think simplicity is the same as polish. Polish means getting the little things right, and in interface terms means anticipating what a player might want to do, and giving him a way to do it that's as straightforward and as easy to use as possible. I love Dom2 to death, but the game definitely isn't "polished." There are a ton of things that could be cleaned up. These things range from the completely inconsequential - like typos, and the text in some windows exceeding the window space - to the mildly annoying - like the lack of a mouse map scroll - to the truly aggravating - like the inability to scroll the army setup screen except by clicking on the scroll bar. Dom2's interface isn't as bad as some people say it is - I feel that, as you say, it lets you do most things you want to do - but it certainly could be much better, and isn't "polished" in any way. There are lots of places for improvement: the message screen, the army setup screen, the way information is presented about what is in an enemy province, etc. There should be a command to just cycle through (or reveal) your own scouts, since these are the commanders most often "lost" in a game since you can't see them on the main map if you don't have their province selected. Yes, you can cycle through all idle commanders using [N]ext idle commander, but I almost never want to do this - I just want to find my scouts. In the late stages of PBEM games, where I might not have seen my map for a few days, this is the first thing I forget, and want to be able to do. But I can't. Lack of polish.

A good example of polish in a fairly complex real-time strategy game is Rise of Nations. The designers there anticipated almost everything a player might want to do in a game, and gave him or her a simple way to do it (not in terms of strategy, but simply interface mechanics). In Dom2, you can also do most of what you want to do, but it's a much bigger pain.

I think Dom2 is the best strategy game I've ever played. However, I do understand when people complain about its lack of polish. I think that the game is so rewarding that this lack of polish is forgivable. I disagree with those who claim the game should cost less because the lack of polish doesn't justify a $50 price - I think that's crazy when you consider how many hundreds of hours of total enjoyment you'll probably get out of the game. But as to the simple claim that the game is unpolished, I have to agree.

[Pocus]

Fyron, tell us when you get into dom II demo. as a pillar of the Shrapnel forums, your opinion is rather interesting to hear.

It would be the first time (truely!) that I hear from a grognard strategy gamer that he dont appreciates dominions. Perhaps you will be such person, but I hope you will be as engrossed as us by the richness beyond belief of this game.

Happy playing.

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
I had edited it to mention Dominions 1 instead at the top quite some time before you made your post... My statements still stand about Dominions 1.

Hmmmmm I would be willing to debate that but I think Im a rare person still playing Dom1 games.

I would be interested in your opinion of the Dom2 demo. That is if you dont mind feeling like your in the wrong bar of the wrong town talking about the wrong team.

[ January 07, 2004, 13:41: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

[Fyron]

In time. There is this meddlesome school...

Originally posted by Pocus:
Fyron, tell us when you get into dom II demo. as a pillar of the Shrapnel forums, your opinion is rather interesting to hear.

Laf. Noone has ever refered to me as a "pillar" before. Just cause I blab too much makes my opinion more valuable?

[ January 08, 2004, 04:27: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

[Daynarr]

9806 Posts!!!!!

[Unknown_Enemy]

Originally posted by Daynarr:
9806 Posts!!!!!

You are not allowed to call Fyron a "noisy fellow" unless you are involved in a Space Empire4 PBW and battling him for good.

[Fyron]

But there is no noise in outer space...