Wall of text means that someone posted a bunch of unreadable text without passages or any kind of enhancements to help readability. OP clearly made passages, included bold letters, and wrote clearly. It's not a wall, there's just a lot of reading. It's kind of rude to dismiss it just like that for the opportunity to maybe sound funny.
Comment has been collapsed.
it's really not. it's broken up well to point to all the sub-topics. if it's "too much" then some people are just not interested to read it to begin with. the very first paragraph highlights what it was about and then the bold helped navigate to each specific title and whatever you thought (I didn't read!, mostly because I haven't played any EA titles and only have 2-3 in my library).
dungeon's dashers is one I was looking forward to but the dev got rich and too busy to finish it, I guess.
Comment has been collapsed.
Well, there's still some hope when you're a millionaire dev though last I read it looked like it might be outsourced and redone in another engine. I hope if it does get finished that the style remains the same since I think it would have changed with their "plan" on how to finish the game.
Comment has been collapsed.
Varies wildly by game.
I've been playing Unturned since day 1, and the game has improved significantly, the community has an effect shaping the game, I think it could be quite a different game if it had never gone into EA.
Some other games, however, like The Repopulation, have a much more troublesome EA.
I also heard good things about Starbound, but that one's out of EA now.
EA is a tool, some devs can use it well, other... well, the abandoned games on steam speak for themselves.
Comment has been collapsed.
Broforce is the only early access game i remember playing much off. Was and is a great offline co-op game, and had good support and updates throughout
Comment has been collapsed.
I played a lot more Broforce cause Mercenary kings wouldn't run on my laptop. from what I know, Broforce has more characters with a wide range of abilities, and destructible terrain, whereas I'd say Mercenary kings is more like a normal Contra/Metal Slug game
Comment has been collapsed.
I played one game during early access. Master of Orion
First time playing - turned it off after 15 minutes. No glitches. The overall structure was in place, but the game was very boring. no balance adjustments, very few events, by-the-numbers playthrough was too easy.
Second time playing, about 2-3 months later, and about a month before release - played a full game. It was beginning to take shape. Kept me entertained for a single playthrough, but wouldn't justify a second. There were more events, the balance was better, but still not much of a challenge.
Third time playing, after release from early access - it's an ok game. It's a prettier but not quite as challenging version of Master of Orion 2, which came out 20 years earlier. To be fair, it's a pretty good and pretty accessible 4x space game. If you've never played a MoO game, give this a shot.
It's like comparing New Super Mario Bros to Super Mario World.... yes, it's prettier, yes, it's pretty much the same game, but the older one is just that little bit better. and like Mario, MoO really is the standard bearer when it comes to space 4X
Comment has been collapsed.
The original and the first sequel are rightly hailed as landmark games. The new one is ok. Even though the gameplay is pretty much the same as the earlier build, the improvements they made in terms of pacing and balance make a world of difference. If you can get hold of a recent version, you should give it a shot. but it's certainly not worth the $30 they're asking for
Comment has been collapsed.
Although people love the 2 one more, I prefer the first. I think theres too many buildings\not enough benefits on the second, and I got my ass kicked a few times because I didnt prepare quick enough.
The "simplicity" of the first one pleases me, played a lot more. Although it was annoying that the council for diplomatic victory happened too fast in my opinion.
Comment has been collapsed.
I too prefer the first one. I think MoO and MoO:BaA are two completely different games that really shouldn't be compared to each other. While they're both fantastic, the gameplay is completely different. With 1's simplicity being deceptively deep, and 2's complexity being surprisingly simple. With 1, you need to spend more time and effort worrying about your opponents, whereas in 2 you spend more time and effort worrying about your empire.
The new game is basically a recreation of 2. and a very pretty one at that. Most of the changes are minor, such as a reworked tech tree and an improved UI. I don't think it's quite as deep as 2, but then, I haven't played 2 many many years, so I might be remembering it being better than it actually was.
Comment has been collapsed.
Well I thought 2 had too many buildings and a focus on it instead of warring, which is a far departure from 1. I dont mind building around, did it alot on CIV series and other 4x like Endless Space, but I just didnt enjoy it on MoO2. Dont know why, really. I tried to play recently and didnt like it any better.
Nostalgia goggles is one hell of a thing, so yeah it may be very well that, although I cant tell you if its the case. I will try the new one again eventually, although I wish they had remade the first.
Comment has been collapsed.
The only Early Access i've bought in my gamer life: http://store.steampowered.com/app/399820/
Other then i always bought games years after their release and always at -75% discount and under 5€/7€
Comment has been collapsed.
I'm quite selective with my Early Access purchases and was always lucky so far. With Grim Dawn and Prison Architect, for example.
Currently I'd consider Endless Space 2, but I have so much else to play. But I don't doubt that I'd be satisfied with it.
Comment has been collapsed.
Divinity: Original Sin - didn't like the mechanics when I first played it but eventually it became better. I haven't played the enhanced edition though, but I will get to it!
Shroud of the Avatar - looked promising on Kickstarter, but it didn't live up the expectations at all. I didn't like the game play or the graphics. Tried a few mins after each update and just gave up on it.
There are some other games that I backed that are in early access but I prefer to wait till they are released to play them.
Comment has been collapsed.
Divinity sounds like a great game, I look forward to a good sale (I am spoiled due to knowing it wil get to 75% off eventually). Did you beat the game? I dont know if the enhanced edition brings enough to the table to play it again.
Shround also seemed interesting. A pity they havent been progressing quickly apparently.
Comment has been collapsed.
Only game I liked on EA was Don't Starve. Most of the others couldn't even fulfill their basic promises but Don't Starve even added extra features that gamers wanted.
Comment has been collapsed.
H1Z1: Bought day 1, worst EA game I've purchased. Was fun for the first few weeks, but as time went on, the company has become all about income, and none of the initial "plans" for the game are being worked on. To me, it was a bait and switch. I've moved my attention to Arma 3 ExileZ, and Project Zomboid.
The Long Dark: Story mode has been delayed, and some features implemented aren't really to my liking (at least not in sandbox mode, in story mode they'd be fine, like crafting arrows, can only be done in one location now), but... Still a great game. I've not played it in awhile, but I'm looking forward to playing it more after a few more updates.
Comment has been collapsed.
I played Prison Architect in Early Access and it was quite good. Monthly updates with video to show whats new.. some dev trash talk.. I just loved it.
The next is Killing Floor 2. I really enjoyed playing the first one so I just buyed it right away but I dind't was in the mood to play it all that long. It felt a bit boring first, cause I coudn't get the feeling I had when I played the first one. Now there is much more content but you have to play it with friends to make it much more enjoyable.
After all I really consider if I really want to buy this game early. In some cases it's good for a game to get directly a good amount of player feedback but on games like the new Hitman, which is not labeled as "Early Access" but for me it kinda feels like it with the episodes coming out, when they are done...
That's why I didn't play the Telltale games like The Walking Dead only after they have all episodes and translations out.
Comment has been collapsed.
No it was just the lack of content and I expected something else. It felt kinda boring to play it.
So a Early Access can hurt your moot of playing it or not.
Comment has been collapsed.
The Forest has updates every 15 days or so. Best EA case in my opinion. Can't wait for the full release (or at least for the storyline)
Comment has been collapsed.
i heard stories of abandoned early access games wich looked neat but by the non action of developpe, either the game was shitty or (if online game) full of cheater breaking the fun of the game..
Since i don't want to buy an early access product by myself, my only experience is with ARK : survival evolved. And it is a great experience ! when i played the game at first, it was fun, there was enough content to play a lot of time and not feeling like it was just an early access games without much content. Yet they are still adding more and more stuff, optimizing more and more too. There is still some bugs, but that is quite understandable with the tons of content they continue to add, it is hard not having some bugs coming with it. I never saw such active dev on a games and it made me revisit the "pre--judgment" i had of early access games based on what i read on steamgift. Ark is still today in early access, i believe they could easely put a stop to update and content adding, and realease their game, grab money and move on and it will still be far better and complete than tons of "released" stuff i saw on steam... Yet they stay in early access, that way they can still just throw in lots of content and modify the games without the community to bitch too much, and continue improving this game.
So as my only experience of EA games, i can say it is positive :D
Comment has been collapsed.
Prison Architect, The Long Dark and Subnautica. I've had my moneys worth from all of them already.
Comment has been collapsed.
Prison Architect I made a couple of suggestions that the developers picked up on.
Subnautica I have given them feedback but no idea if it will make any impact on anything yet.
Long Dark requires more time from my side before I can say anything of value about the game really, I haven't found anything that really needs changing that they aren't already aware of.
Comment has been collapsed.
The Forest devs are slowly but surely delivering on all their promises.
Comment has been collapsed.
Starpoint Gemini 2, probably the only EA game I bought that delivered on the promised date with everything in it.
I own piles of now-abandoned games in that category though. Finally stopped buying them after taking a risk on Riding Out, they pulled the singleplayer component of it just after the initial sale ended and tried to hide it ever had one. It's sorta back in now after a decent uproar on their Facebook page, but the game's not seen an update in around two months at this point.
Comment has been collapsed.
I only tried a few early access games, even tho I think I actually own many more but in most cases I just wait for them to be finnished before playing them.
And in most cases my experience was generally positive but it still felt like just the promess of a game, sooner or later I would reach the point where they runned out of content and I got forced to stop playing and just wait and hope for an eventual full release. Very recently I was pleying POI, and that games is really good even tho it's not complete, so when I runned out of levels and missions to do the lack of a proper conclusion felt really bad, it made me sad that a game I enjoyed sudenly stopped with a "come back later when we are done".
So yeah, I have mixed feeling about early access.
Comment has been collapsed.
It's nice to have access to a sequel of your favorite game, or being able to play a game that you think looks interesting asap..
BUT
at the same time you're thinking god damn does anybody finish these dumbass games before releasing anymore?
Comment has been collapsed.
invisible inc: i played it after it left early access and it was great. seems like devs are awesome and/or they listened to the community and improved the game.
killing floor 2: either too easy or too difficult for me, there's no middle difficulty i can get used and enjoy playing.
panoptes: really liked this one. it was missing interface stuff like animations and sounds, but the core mechanics work fine.
starbound: bored me, like terraria.
warframe: just too much grinding for my taste. couldn't play it with friends so it was worse i suppose.
Comment has been collapsed.
Invisible Inc. had a very nice release... bought it on EA too and was a bit bored and BAM the release version added so much that the game feeled different, on a good way...
Comment has been collapsed.
Invisible Inc. makes sense, it's from the devs of Don't Starve and their releases have all been consistently great and well reviewed by the community (Mark of the Ninja, Shank, Shank 2, Eets) Plus, I liked the evolution of the Shipwrecked DLC EA for DS from the buggy mess it was then to the brilliantly challenging and entertaining expansion it is today (though DS is my favorite game, so I might appear to be biased D: )
Comment has been collapsed.
Invisible seems like a great game, but it didnt "got" me when I played the free weekend. When its a low price I will try it again.
I suck at killing floor, which makes it unfun to me. I played the free weekend of the second on insistance of my friends and didnt find it any better. At least they added a crosshair, which was good for a guy who suck like me.
Comment has been collapsed.
120 Comments - Last post 11 minutes ago by Amitte
1,232 Comments - Last post 14 minutes ago by Draconiano
47,118 Comments - Last post 1 hour ago by Fewithor
60 Comments - Last post 1 hour ago by Gamy7
56 Comments - Last post 2 hours ago by Mantve
16,338 Comments - Last post 3 hours ago by Peiperissimus
1,866 Comments - Last post 4 hours ago by rongey420
21 Comments - Last post 5 minutes ago by Amitte
210 Comments - Last post 6 minutes ago by AlohaHawaii
95 Comments - Last post 8 minutes ago by Ninglor03
16,296 Comments - Last post 8 minutes ago by Mishasama
31 Comments - Last post 11 minutes ago by Myrsan
40 Comments - Last post 17 minutes ago by reigifts
11 Comments - Last post 22 minutes ago by Marshdemallows
For no reason at all I thought of this topic, searched the forums but didnt find a similar thread. What are the games that are\were Early Access that you got and what were your experience with them? That include games that SHOULD had been Early Acess, even major titles. Overall, you like the idea of Early Access to see how the game is being shaped and maybe contribute to it, or you think its a bad idea and would prefer that games be released when finished? I dont have much experience, but here is mine in no particular order:
Gnomoria: Great game. I played Dwarf Fortress in the past (but never managed to do well, didnt understood certain things. My best experience was my wrestler squad killing off a giant) and decided to give Gnomoria a go, and didnt regret it. Its much simpler but much more accessible too. Had great amount of fun with it. Some people got angry because the developer had some additional plans for it but scrapped them, but not me, I am happy with what I got and recommend the game for anyone who wants to dwelve in this genre but think DF is too complicated.
Warframe: This game is fun specially with friends, and have a mindless grind that distracted me (usually I dont like grind, but some games manage to make it enjoyable). The amount of bugs it got were too high at first, but it was a experience seeing them fixed (I reported some) and seeing the game grow. Its probably too different now from what I played.
Smash+Grab: Great game with fun combat (it had its problems, like not being able to counter people when I clearly pressed the button at the right time). Its a pity that the developers (who didnt get a publisher) had to close down, specially since they didnt add IP support and locked bot matches to a login feature, so its not possible to play offline when the servers go down.
Trove: Interesting game, had fun for a while with friends but honestly its too barren. The grind to get new items didnt appease me.
Dont Starve: Now this one I dont remember If I played EA, but I think I did. Really interesting title, had some good moments with it. They added more content now but I havent played that yet.
Worlds of Magic: I really, really, but REALLY wanted to play that because I love Master of Magic and caved in and bought full price to support the developers (I first tried a... ahem... alternative copy). Way too buggy. The developers started focusing on a mobile game to get funds to continue patching (a bad sign) then they made a new game and gave it away for free for users who got WOM, havent tried that one yet.
ORION: Prelude: This game kept changing names on development. Overall a fun experience, but nothing too major. Quite cheap too.
Godus: Now this one had really bad comments all over but I decided to spend my GMG credits on it because I love god games and decided to try it. Quite disappointed by it, really boring.
Valhalla Hills: Was really excited for this one, paid full price on it. And ended up with little things to do, and a balance problem that bothered me: I couldnt get enough food for my citizens no matter what. Theres been some updates since and even expansions, I will try them out eventually, but its one of the few that I didnt like.
Terraria: It was not EARLY ACCESS by name but it was in practice. The developers rushed to release it due to the realy good reception it got. At first I hated the game and even uninstalled it quickly, but decided to give a try dont know why and loved it. The amount of content it got eventually was amazing. My only complaint is that they focused on the hardcore people and made most of it too hard. I couldnt defeat the cultist boss or access the lunar\alien one. Also they nerfed the useful ball of light to oblivion and it became a glorified paper weight, and made the alternative item wayyyy too hard to get and by the time you already got it you are finished with the game. ;_:
Craft The World: I was really attracted to it and did something I usually dont: Impulse buy. Boy am I glad I did. I loved the game and it had a lot of things to do. The developers added more stuff but to be honest I prefer the way it was, some things added are kinda useless\complicated. Multiplayer support wasnt interesting to me.
Edge of Space: Nothing to do. Decided to wait for full release, then I didnt knew what to do. Also the graphics put me off for some reason.
A Valley Without Wind: Now this game (And others from the same developer apparently) changed a lot in development, it was amazing how much stuff changed, hopefully most for the better. It was quite a grind initially but I didnt mind. Havent tried the finished game yet, I lost my save because the developers put it on the game folder instead of my documents and I didnt backed that up, and I dont want to restart from scratch.
Overall I had a good experience with Early Access. I didnt contributed to the game development besides reporting bugs, but had fun seeing some games change over time. So, whats YOUR take on it?
Comment has been collapsed.