Malefactor wrote on 02/07/17 at 18:09:56:
Perhaps it's baiting a bit, but more or less just not being diplomatic about it. It's common fan base (of any game mind you) to blame the publisher as if in every scenario it's the publisher's fault. Fact is sometimes it's the game's developer. Sony made a business decision that made sense.
Nobody here is suggesting that ESP could do no wrong. They were the root cause of TM 2012's failures, but at the same time, Sony certainly has blood on its hands too. In my opinion, Sony's executive decision to have ESP tack on a half-baked single player at the expense of funnelling time and resources out of the online experience was a major cause of why the game was so rushed and hastily coded.
I'm sure that expanding the scope of the game granted the team more time for development, but it clearly wasn't enough considering so many features intended for online play had to be dropped. Heck, the game was originally slated for October 2011, and it wasn't until less than two months before the planned release date that it was pushed back into 2012. I can imagine the deadline was a panic for most of 2011 (considering they barely made the 2012 deadline and still required a day one patch), hence the game's lack of polish.
Twisted Metal is a prime example that if you push out a product fast and cheap, it will most likely lack quality. Suggesting that the level of bugs present in the game at launch was purely because ESP was incompetent is extremely short-sighted. Yes, there are an endless number of issues with the design and gameplay that can't be attributed to Sony, but as far as the glitches and network errors go, you can't not place some level of responsibility on the publisher for placing such pressure on a small contracted dev.
It's not a black and white issue, and every party played a part. Even when ESP's contract expired and it was in the hands of SMS to tweak and patch the game (the expenses for which are a drop in the bucket for Sony), there was no sense of urgency and it took them far too long to make extremely obvious and necessary tweaks. The blame is on Sony for not allocating the resources to that effort. It's a terrible idea for Sony to not support its exclusives, because there's a lot more on the line than just a single game. Exclusives are what drive people to purchase consoles, and as long as Sony doesn't have an exclusive experience I can't already play on PC, like a AAA vehicle combat game, a consumer like me has no reason to invest in their hardware.
Malefactor wrote on 02/07/17 at 18:09:56:
You rarely have any idea about what you're talking about.
Case in point. In the above you point out that TM:2012's health and weapons were on a timer.
Same is true of TMBO. So . . . I've pointed out on numerous occasions (and so has The Truth mind you) how this kind of thing, which you do on a regular basis, just makes you look clueless.
Are you sure? Are you
really, really sure? Considering you are wrong, you are one of two things:
1. Someone uninformed about the game you rant and rave about, to the point that a
TM 2012 player knows more about it than you do, and in an effort to call me clueless you simply made yourself to look clueless yourself.
2. A bigot who figured you could present an alternative fact and have it go unnoticed. It's especially ironic that you ignored first two sections of my post (which I presume from you lack of objection you simply agree with, regardless that it contradicts your earlier statements)... aside from this one attempt at correcting me, which you got wrong.
Perhaps if you think I'm a TM 2012 fanboy while I criticize the game to the extent I do, perhaps you should check yourself to see if you're irrational about your attachment to TMBO yourself. There's no need to be a TMBO apologist yourself, because Black is fantastic game. Nobody denies that. Either you're willingly ignorant to its few faults, or are willing to blatantly lie for the sake of your own pride.
Malefactor wrote on 02/07/17 at 21:35:13:
In previous Twisteds, any car could beat any level, but in this version, you simply HAVE to be the speedy cars in order to pass the races. Furthermore, the races often come down to pure luck. Did everything line up or not? If they did you win the race. If not, start again. .
This might come as news to you, but you can also win the races by killing every opponent, making it very possible to win with any vehicle (especially considering the HP for all the opponents is dramatically for the races). Fun fact: I hold the world record times for all the race stages on twisted difficulty having used Shadow for each one. Shadow isn't particularly speedy. Yes, it's usually easier to win just by completing the race and killing off the few other lightweights that may pose a threat, but you aren't boxed into that strategy. In fact, killing the enemies is easier in the Diesel City stage with there being less opponents, which is likely why ESP made checkpoints for that event rather than gates, so you can go off-track. You'd be aware of this if you played the game in the last four and a half years, perhaps).
And for the record, I don't endorse the races having been included in the game. I would have rather seen the resources put into designing those events and coding the AI invested in the online components of the game. Twisted Metal isn't combat racing; it's vehicle combat. Same with the bosses. I certainly got my money's worth out of playing the different stages, but wouldn't want to see entire events dedicated to them in a future game.
The Truth wrote on 02/07/17 at 22:35:16:
We aren't fanboys who will blindly support anything with Twisted Metal's or Sweet Tooth's name slapped on it.
Did you not read me write "We want a new Twisted Metal. We want it done right."? Yes, I don't want to see another Twisted Metal that fails the genre. Don't put words in my mouth, and don't make out as if the brand is ruined with the presumption that everyone shares your same personal vendetta towards Sony, Jaffe, the dev team, and so on. Yeah, they fucked up with TM 2012, but it's still very possible we'll see another strong entry in the series in the future. Simply put, you're a part of an extreme minority that happens to be vocal due to the negativity that has surrounded this forum for many years. How many people do you see on social media, YouTube and so on saying "I hope this series stays dead because there will never be a good vehicle combat game again"? Virtually nobody. Fans want a new game, and if questioned about it, of course they'd agree they want it done right.
The Truth wrote on 02/07/17 at 22:35:16:
It would be great if enough of us still owned TMX and could stomach playing it for a few weeks. Just to show you nothing has changed and the game still lacks the depth of past TMs. It wouldn't take long till a group of us that haven't played the game since months after launch were taking turns winning with a group of "pros" that have been playing since launch.
How typical of you. All words, no action. Very ironic considering you're supposedly "The Truth" and multiple times you have barked claims that it would take little effort to beat a TM 2012 player at their own game, but never have any intention of ever backing up such grandiose claims. Perhaps you should change your username to "My Opinion". Or perhaps for you to perceive something as the truth, it doesn't require proof or merit and simply has to align with your worldview.
One of these days, you should put your money where your mouth is. I'd imagine since you say you spent time with the game upon release you'll be aware of the maps, vehicles and general abilities in the game, so I'm sure it would take little time for you to become adept with the game if your view of it being a spamfest is correct. It only costs $15 and a little knowledge of a stripped-down game you believe lacks depth to prove your point.
Spag wrote on 02/07/17 at 23:09:47:
I encourage you to play as well Muddeh. We have our disagreements on TMX but I'm not gonna try and discourage you or others from playing TMBO with us.
Play with us consistently and you'll get use to the pacing and get better as you go basically.
Thanks, looking forward to it.