warspite1
Posts: 41353
Joined: 2/2/2008
From: England
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First off let me just say as someone who has bought a dud of a PC game more than once over the years (who hasn’t?) I feel your pain that the computer version is far from the finished article. Of that there can be no disagreement (and Matrix management are fully aware) and we hope and pray that the game eventually is finished - but right now that is NOT the case.
However, based purely on what you have written, I think there are two separate issues here:
1. The problems with MWIF (Bugs, incomplete scenarios, no fully functioning PBEM, optionals missing etc)
2. What people expect from the game – assuming it was finished.
From your post I suspect that while point one is a frustration, the second point is more the 'problem'.
quote:
Gameplay is mystifying.
Firstly you are a WIF player of old – albeit it sounds like many years ago – so I am a little surprised that gameplay is mystifying. I last played WIF 5 so there has been plenty for me to learn but the fundamental concepts are the same. That said, the game does have a lot of concepts that are unique when compared to other board war games and so from that point of view, mystifying is perhaps appropriate. Given that MWIF is supposed to be a faithful reproduction of this incredible board game, the gameplay will be no more and no less mystifying than in the board version.
quote:
There's no way to zoom out
I do not know what this means, there are 8 zoom levels + minimaps as well (far more than many (all?) other games so not really sure what you refer to here).
quote:
The interface is clunky.
Fair enough – that is personal choice and I agree there could have been more elegant solutions for a few things – but nothing I think that really hurts the game.
quote:
The "tutorials" are a joke
Again, this is really surprising. I have never come across a game with so much by way of (eight? lengthy) tutorials.
But the thing that makes me believe your ‘issue’ is with the game itself is the following:
quote:
But then the add-ons started coming. Days of Decision (which, admittedly, was fun). This in Flames. That in Flames. More rulebooks. LONGER rulebooks. I gave up.
And
quote:
First, MORE, LONGER rulebooks. Hundreds of pages! I mean, honestly, who wants to read hundreds of pages to play a computer game, much less to understand why that unit won't move when I click it!
Are you sure you are not just out of love with the way the game developed and how complicated it became? The first comment above suggests that, but then the second does not really make sense in the context of what MWIF is trying to be.
If the boardgame took 100+ pages for the rules to be made clear, and this is a faithful reproduction of the board game, how can you not have the same number of rules for the computer version? Which rules would you expect MWIF to drop (there are a few differences where necessary but these are kept to a minimum) and still be WIF? Why won’t units move when you click them? Well it’s in the rule book! One of the really contentious issues with MWIF was the hardback manuals. But it was Matrix appreciation that this is a reproduction of the board game that made them believe (quite rightly I think) that the manuals were a good thing (constant cross referencing required). This is NOT a game you can just play without reading the rules - its as simple as that. This means that this game will not be for everybody - but then no game is!
Having MWIF means you don't need a table the size of Birmingham to play it and a lot of the number crunching is done for you. But having MWIF does not mean you do not need to understand the rules.
From what you have said in your post it sounds to me like MWIF is not the game for you (which is perfectly fair enough) and that you were hoping computer WIF would not really be WIF at all (or at least a heavily watered down version). But if so, then firstly, that was never the basis on which Matrix and ADG did the deal (from day one they stated that this would be a faithful reproduction), and secondly, that has nothing to do with the coding problems – those coding/bug problems simply masked what I believe is your main issue.
By the way, as of right now, Soltaire is playable (still some bugs though) and PBEM is possible. Netplay is being worked on as a priority and has made great strides in the last 6 months - but is by no means complete. I appreciate all the above only matters if you want to play the game - and as said above - that means having to read the manual because its that sort of game.
< Message edited by warspite1 -- 11/7/2015 10:30:37 PM >
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