Hellgate: London .. i am not impressed

Downloaded the demo yesterday. i don't have a power gaming rig with me now, just a laptop with Geforce 6150. The game ran reasonably ok with low-medium settings with AA turned off( of course). I really had a good feeling about this game for sometime now, and i felt that Flagship did a good job at least in scaling the performance on lower machines, since www.systemrequirementlabs.com had failed my laptop for the game. But as i played the demo, i felt that this game could have delivered more: as if something was missing. First of all, the demo was quite short. It was over before i knew it. Second,the monsters were quite easy to kill. Although the gameplay was reasonably good, it didn't quite give the feeling i got in the Diablo days. It really felt as if not made by the old Blizzard guys. No epic feeling at all.

Perhaps this feeling is due to the fact that there have been quite a number of demon killing games lately,like DOOM, and the concept doesn't feel that fresh anymore. (another hell portal? oh please) .

But i do hope that the retail product would be quite better, so i am keeping my hopes still held high. From the cutscenes that i have watched, the game sure looks polished. After all, the Blizzard guys sure are experienced. So they get my benefit of doubt.

I am looking forward to see how the game really fares. Till then........

First of all stop judging because of the demo.

2. your laptop is crap

3. FSS press released that a major patch will be availible upon the day of release

4. This is the 26th forum topic on the same topic, out of 400+ posts relative who hasn't heard your ignorant opinion

5. you shouldn't be gaming on a laptop period expecting Crysis like material handed down to you from God.

6. You weren't anywhere involved in the beta

7. Like D2, D1, WoW, GW, L2, or Any MMO RPG Type, The Gameplay Experience Doesn't Pick Up Until 10+ hours of gameplay

8. If Your going to make such a have-assed judgement on a 3hour 4 quest tour, its probably better for the HG:L community that you personally not buy the game.

9. Did You even check to See that This Topic Was Created over 26 times on this site alone.

10. What made you think that an Radomly Generating Engine Could Out Do Hand Polished Level Designs in the First place

12. This Game Was Under Rush Developement By EA

13. Just Because Lvl 1-4 Was Easy Doesn't Mean Lvl's 5-50+ Won't Be

14. Did You even think to read Beta Reviews or endgame material ex: GameTrailers.com

15.It's Only The Beginning of the MMO,Starting MMO Content Always Changes

16. You Don't Have DX10

17. You Were Running it On Low-Medium Settings

18. It's Still Under Developement as We Speak Due to Patches

19. dude you really just need to....look around and actually think of what your doing, i view you as a troll your killing FSS sales and subscriptions. which is one of the important parts of MMO type gameplay. who's going to play if people like you keep running curious fanbase off?

20. If You Don't Understand what i'm Saying Scroll Up To Step 1 And Re-Read The List

Downloaded the demo yesterday. i don't have a power gaming rig with me now, just a laptop with Geforce 6150. The game ran reasonably ok with low-medium settings with AA turned off( of course). I really had a good feeling about this game for sometime now, and i felt that Flagship did a good job at least in scaling the performance on lower machines, since www.systemrequirementlabs.com had failed my laptop for the game. But as i played the demo, i felt that this game could have delivered more: as if something was missing. First of all, the demo was quite short. It was over before i knew it. Second,the monsters were quite easy to kill. Although the gameplay was reasonably good, it didn't quite give the feeling i got in the Diablo days. It really felt as if not made by the old Blizzard guys. No epic feeling at all.

Perhaps this feeling is due to the fact that there have been quite a number of demon killing games lately,like DOOM, and the concept doesn't feel that fresh anymore. (another hell portal? oh please) .

But i do hope that the retail product would be quite better, so i am keeping my hopes still held high. From the cutscenes that i have watched, the game sure looks polished. After all, the Blizzard guys sure are experienced. So they get my benefit of doubt.

I am looking forward to see how the game really fares. Till then........

arindam1

Easy monsters eh?
What do you expect?
It's the beginning! Neither Diablo2, Doom3 and Quake4 had any hard monsters in the beginning.
Diablo2 had really easy monsters!

First of all stop judging because of the demo.

2. your laptop is crap

3. FSS press released that a major patch will be availible upon the day of release

4. This is the 26th forum topic on the same topic, out of 400+ posts relative who hasn't heard your ignorant opinion

5. you shouldn't be gaming on a laptop period expecting Crysis like material handed down to you from God.

6. You weren't anywhere involved in the beta

7. Like D2, D1, WoW, GW, L2, or Any MMO RPG Type, The Gameplay Experience Doesn't Pick Up Until 10+ hours of gameplay

8. If Your going to make such a have-assed judgement on a 3hour 4 quest tour, its probably better for the HG:L community that you personally not buy the game.

9. Did You even check to See that This Topic Was Created over 26 times on this site alone.

10. What made you think that an Radomly Generating Engine Could Out Do Hand Polished Level Designs in the First place

12. This Game Was Under Rush Developement By EA

13. Just Because Lvl 1-4 Was Easy Doesn't Mean Lvl's 5-50+ Won't Be

14. Did You even think to read Beta Reviews or endgame material ex: GameTrailers.com

15.It's Only The Beginning of the MMO,Starting MMO Content Always Changes

16. You Don't Have DX10

17. You Were Running it On Low-Medium Settings

18. It's Still Under Developement as We Speak Due to Patches

19. dude you really just need to....look around and actually think of what your doing, i view you as a troll your killing FSS sales and subscriptions. which is one of the important parts of MMO type gameplay. who's going to play if people like you keep running curious fanbase off?

20. If You Don't Understand what i'm Saying Scroll Up To Step 1 And Re-Read The List

middito

1. Demos reflect on how the game will be. Whats the point of demos if not to get a feel for how the game is?

2. If it plays it, it plays it. Only thing a cheap labtop would change is graphics. Gameplay etc... the same for everybody

3. Gaming politics mostly. Who didnt see that coming?

4. none of them are wrong imo

5. see #2

6. Is that his or anybodies Else's fault. He should be happy he didn't pre-order this game. From what most beta testers say, it rather disappointing also.

7. Way off base here. Usually your hooked by the 1st quest completed.

8. your opinion

9. see #4. Theres a reason why theirs so many topics. This might possibly be 1 of the biggest disappointing games of all time. I like many was expecting a game to match d2 addictive artistic style & HGL does a sad job at it.

10. Right

12. EA is the grinch of the gaming industry. I hope 1 day they go down in flames

13. In level 1-5 you get that taste of bigger & better things to come & hopefully your impressed by the missions/quests & story about to be played out. I still can't believe quests are not voice acted. What is this - 1995?

14. Most review sites will probably now be bought by EA to give that extra bump in ratings. Since most beta & demo testers think negative about the game.

15. Hopefully it improves

16. Shouldn't need it.

17. Doesn't change the most important aspect of any rpg (gameplay & story)

18. This game will always be under development

19. They should have developed this game much longer. It's not ready. FSS & EA reap what they sow.

20. Your either under FSS payroll or you have little taste in role playing games cuz HGL fails miserably.

This game might turn out to be a decent game but I bet it will be with a expansion & a sh!tload of patches. FSS 2nd game will probably be much improved.

i read your reply. i would be glad to answer ur "points" since i like to make things clear.

1.First of all stop judging because of the demo.

A)game demos are released so that opinions can be gathered and makes way for changes by the developers.besides i didn't say the game sucks. judgement is the sole right of the player whether he is a pro or not.

2. your laptop is crap

A) laptop with a GeForce 6150 is not crap. what about the Intel chipset ones? my laptop is for work only with occasional gaming.i actually praised the graphics engine for scalability, didn't condemn it. Did/do you actually read the words carefully?

3. FSS press released that a major patch will be available upon the day of release

A) in that case all the better for the game. i am pleased. i dont want it to be a failure. besides, i didn't mention the game to be buggy. Did/do you actually read the words carefully?

4. This is the 26th forum topic on the same topic, out of 400+ posts relative who hasn't heard your ignorant opinion

A) 26th? does that mean people stop posting their views because someone before him has done it already? what is this forum for then?

5. you shouldn't be gaming on a laptop period expecting Crysis like material handed down to you from God.

A) i didnt say i expected lifelike graphics on my basic GeForce laptop. i merely stated the fact that it ran well even on a lower chipset. i actually praised HG. same question again, Did/do you actually read the words carefully?

6. You weren't anywhere involved in the beta

A) so?

7. Like D2, D1, WoW, GW, L2, or Any MMO RPG Type, The Gameplay Experience Doesn't Pick Up Until 10+ hours of gameplay

A)you are right on this one. but still i feel demo is somehow important. i bought D2 only after i played the demo. the demo was sufficient enough for me to love D2.

8. If Your going to make such a have-assed judgement on a 3hour 4 quest tour, its probably better for the HG:L community that you personally not buy the game.

A)i didn't make an ultimate decision that HG is bad. read the last lines about my hopes.

9. Did You even check to See that This Topic Was Created over 26 times on this site alone.

A)refer to your own question 4. Did/do you actually read the words carefully? including what you write yourself?

10. What made you think that an Randomly Generating Engine Could Out Do Hand Polished Level Designs in the First place

A)i didnt say anything regarding bad levels.Did/do you actually read the words carefully?

12. This Game Was Under Rush Developement By EA

A) u yourself are saying that the project was hurried. usually good things don't come when hurried. now you indirectly imply that the game might not deliver ?think before you criticize.

13. Just Because Lvl 1-4 Was Easy Doesn't Mean Lvl's 5-50+ Won't Be

A) u are right.

14. Did You even think to read Beta Reviews or endgame material ex: GameTrailers.com

A) do i have to? are u saying that i give my opinions after i have read others'? where is the freedom of speech then?no one should do things based on others views.

15.It's Only The Beginning of the MMO,Starting MMO Content Always Changes

A) i didnt say anything about the contents or that it was bad.

16. You Don't Have DX10

A) so? will DX10 push up a game's ratings? this much i understand.how long have you been playing games?

17. You Were Running it On Low-Medium Settings

A) again, i didnt say the graphics sucked. i appreciated it rather.Did/do you actually read the words carefully?

18. It's Still Under Developement as We Speak Due to Patches

A)once sent to publishers, a game (or any product) is considered finished.October is the D-day of release and it is still unfinished? come on. patches come later as an after-sales-support. do u work for Flagship or what? besides i didnt say HG had bugs.

19. dude you really just need to....look around and actually think of what your doing, i view you as a troll your killing FSS sales and subscriptions. which is one of the important parts of MMO type gameplay. who's going to play if people like you keep running curious fanbase off?

A)if i wanted to demoralise the fan-base i would have said" don't buy the game. save the cash". i have been into gaming since 1997. where were u then?i know what i am doing. question is, do u?

20. If You Don't Understand what i'm Saying Scroll Up To Step 1 And Re-Read The List

A) true. i REALLY NOW dont understand what u actually meant to say. if u still unsure follow your own Step 1 & read my answers.

"First of all, the demo was quite short."

True

"Second,the monsters were quite easy to kill."

True, but the demo takes place at a very low level. Every H&S RPG is like this. Gotta remember...there is 50 levels as well as harder difficulty levels.

"Although the gameplay was reasonably good, it didn't quite give the feeling i got in the Diablo days. It really felt as if not made by the old Blizzard guys. No epic feeling at all. "

Can't argue with you about your "feelings", but I will say maybe nostalgia has something to do with that.

"Perhaps this feeling is due to the fact that there have been quite a number of demon killing games lately,like DOOM, and the concept doesn't feel that fresh anymore. (another hell portal? oh please) ."

I really don't see how Doom is related to this type of game other then both of them having demons...

"But i do hope that the retail product would be quite better, so i am keeping my hopes still held high. "

Good approach. If were not impressed so far, absolutely nothing wrong with taking a step back to see how things improve. I think the game will be great though. The Beta is much better then the demo, and I think FSS will continue to add and to improve thier game.

"17. Doesn't change the most important aspect of any rpg (gameplay & story)"

Story is not the most important aspect of a game like this. You think people played Diablo II for years for it's story? Sorry dude, wrong on this point. Most important aspect of a Action-RPG is:

a) Good skills and character customization

b) Large assortment items (random and unique)

c) Good gameplay and satisfying monster killing

A good story is deffinetly a plus, but not essential. Not to mention, how can you judge the story of a game demothat doesn't even start to touch the main story line? Not to mention it's missing all the cut scenes.

i thank you for your reply. at least u have a pragamtic approach unlike the other guy middito who quite literally thrashed me for stating my opinions( or at least tried to). but i would like to state that i didn't make any comment about the lack of story depth or something like that. my opinions were based on how the game demo played out from start to finish. a demo cannot be the flagship of the main story.perhaps u got mixed up with some other user's postings.arindam1

That wasn't aimed at you at all. I just saw it somewhere in the thread and thought it was off base :)

why do plp say don't judge it on a demo.. whats the point of a demo then? rofldarkfox101

Depends on *what* you are judging. Gameplay, graphics, soundand general things like combat...ya absolutely...a demo is a good indication of what to expect.

Story lines, overall difficulty, continuing content, multiplayer, level sizes, ect, ect cannot be judged on a short demo.

[QUOTE="darkfox101"]why do plp say don't judge it on a demo.. whats the point of a demo then? rofldnuggs40

Depends on *what* you are judging. Gameplay and general things like combat...ya absolutely...a demo is a good indication of what to expect.

Story lines, overall difficulty, continuing content, multiplayer, ect, ect cannot be judged on a short demo.

Thats really not true, storylines can easily be judged by a demo. You can look at any number of games released in the last 9 months and see the storyline easily in the demo versions. The simple fact is, that FSS released a poor demo,and they are getting bashed for it on the net.

[QUOTE="dnuggs40"]

[QUOTE="darkfox101"]why do plp say don't judge it on a demo.. whats the point of a demo then? roflboyd62

Depends on *what* you are judging. Gameplay and general things like combat...ya absolutely...a demo is a good indication of what to expect.

Story lines, overall difficulty, continuing content, multiplayer, ect, ect cannot be judged on a short demo.

Thats really not true, storylines can easily be judged by a demo. You can look at any number of games released in the last 9 months and see the storyline easily in the demo versions. The simple fact is, that FSS released a poor demo,and they are getting bashed for it on the net.

Not disagreeing that the demo is poor, but no, if you are not even introduced to the main bulk of the story line, how can you determine it stinks? It doesn't even start to really pick up until act 2.

The demo was horrible; the beta is awesome.

I played the demo and was really disappointed, however the beta has me completely sold. Got my beta key yesterday and I simply can't put it down.

It seems to me the difficulty was toned down in the demo, even at those very early areas the game is a little more challanging in the beta. And the difficulty ramps up pretty quickly after the first station, the Museum is the first "difficult" area, and it's alot of fun too.

[QUOTE="boyd62"][QUOTE="dnuggs40"]

[QUOTE="darkfox101"]why do plp say don't judge it on a demo.. whats the point of a demo then? rofldnuggs40

Depends on *what* you are judging. Gameplay and general things like combat...ya absolutely...a demo is a good indication of what to expect.

Story lines, overall difficulty, continuing content, multiplayer, ect, ect cannot be judged on a short demo.

Thats really not true, storylines can easily be judged by a demo. You can look at any number of games released in the last 9 months and see the storyline easily in the demo versions. The simple fact is, that FSS released a poor demo,and they are getting bashed for it on the net.

Not disagreeing that the demo is poor, but no, if you are not even introduced to the main bulk of the story line, how can you determine it stinks? It doesn't even start to really pick up until act 2.

It seems like most people's complaints, including my own,are about the gameplay, repetitiveness, graphics (especially artistic quality and animations), and sound, and not the story. No one should expect a great story from a hack n' slash like this, but gameplay is critical. I got bored after about 5 minutes of the demo, so it's safe to say this isn't for me. I didn't really care for Diablo too much either.

It seems like most people's complaints, including my own,are about the gameplay, repetitiveness, graphics (especially artistic quality and animations), and sound, and not the story. No one should expect a great story from a hack n' slash like this, but gameplay is critical. I got bored after about 5 minutes of the demo, so it's safe to say this isn't for me. I didn't really care for Diablo too much either.

SacrificiaLamb

Well...if you didn't care for Diablo (the shinning example of the genre) then ya, this game is deffinetly not for you.

/sighmiddito

U made some good points and others just made me laught. Specially #16. You need Direct 10 to enjoy the game? HAHA

The demo was horrible; the beta is awesome.

I played the demo and was really disappointed, however the beta has me completely sold. Got my beta key yesterday and I simply can't put it down.

It seems to me the difficulty was toned down in the demo, even at those very early areas the game is a little more challanging in the beta. And the difficulty ramps up pretty quickly after the first station, the Museum is the first "difficult" area, and it's alot of fun too.

Velocitas8

I disagree, the beta is pretty aweful too.... in fact, worse, because you get to see more of the repetitive streets, more of the annoying npc dialog (even though it's been retuned, it's still bad) and just more of the game NOT getting any better as it progresses. I feel sorry for anyone dumping money into this who is expecting D3.

[QUOTE="Velocitas8"]

The demo was horrible; the beta is awesome.

I played the demo and was really disappointed, however the beta has me completely sold. Got my beta key yesterday and I simply can't put it down.

It seems to me the difficulty was toned down in the demo, even at those very early areas the game is a little more challanging in the beta. And the difficulty ramps up pretty quickly after the first station, the Museum is the first "difficult" area, and it's alot of fun too.

delirin

I disagree, the beta is pretty aweful too.... in fact, worse, because you get to see more of the repetitive streets, more of the annoying npc dialog (even though it's been retuned, it's still bad) and just more of the game NOT getting any better as it progresses. I feel sorry for anyone dumping money into this who is expecting D3.

"First of all, the demo was quite short."

True

"Second,the monsters were quite easy to kill."

True, but the demo takes place at a very low level. Every H&S RPG is like this. Gotta remember...there is 50 levels as well as harder difficulty levels.

"Although the gameplay was reasonably good, it didn't quite give the feeling i got in the Diablo days. It really felt as if not made by the old Blizzard guys. No epic feeling at all. "

Can't argue with you about your "feelings", but I will say maybe nostalgia has something to do with that.

"Perhaps this feeling is due to the fact that there have been quite a number of demon killing games lately,like DOOM, and the concept doesn't feel that fresh anymore. (another hell portal? oh please) ."

I really don't see how Doom is related to this type of game other then both of them having demons...

"But i do hope that the retail product would be quite better, so i am keeping my hopes still held high. "

Good approach. If were not impressed so far, absolutely nothing wrong with taking a step back to see how things improve. I think the game will be great though. The Beta is much better then the demo, and I think FSS will continue to add and to improve thier game.

"17. Doesn't change the most important aspect of any rpg (gameplay & story)"

Story is not the most important aspect of a game like this. You think people played Diablo II for years for it's story? Sorry dude, wrong on this point. Most important aspect of a Action-RPG is:

a) Good skills and character customization

b) Large assortment items (random and unique)

c) Good gameplay and satisfying monster killing

A good story is deffinetly a plus, but not essential. Not to mention, how can you judge the story of a game demothat doesn't even start to touch the main story line? Not to mention it's missing all the cut scenes.

dnuggs40

I wonder if two paragraphs of story at the end of each episode in Doom 1 was enough "story" for him.

Lemme also mention that after playing Just Cause .. even through the story was for crap, the game itself is pretty fun..

Games are more to have fun.. if you didn't have fun playing the game.. then move on, you don't need to make yet another thread about it... For you, you save money and time with one less game to worry about "finishing".