All gamers read this!!

Tattitude · Post by **Tattitude** » Sun Sep 30, 2001 10:20 am

Dear Fellow Gamer:

This post may not apply to this particular site's game, but it does apply to you as a consumer and buyer of gaming software.

Ubi Soft and Stormfront Studios have recently released a game entitled "Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor". It appears that the game is bug ridden and in many cases, unplayable in its initial release form. In the worst case, it has caused people's Operating Systems to fail. We, the purchasers of this game, would like to recommend that, at the least, you refrain from purchasing this game until the manufacturer can assure that this product will work safely at least, if not well, on all computers.

So what, right? Weren't planning on buying this one? Well, that's ok, we understand... but there's a deeper issue here. Ever buy a game that needed a patch JUST TO RUN? Ever wait for a game with excitement, only to have hours of frustration trying to get the thing to run? You're not alone. There are far too many products like that released on a yearly basis. Issues that could be fixed with better Quality Assurance teams. Products that were rushed out the door. Games that don't run well unless you have a Supercomputer.

The reason that these companies can continue to behave like this is that we, as consumers, continue to allow them to. Buy the game, it doesn't work, we wait for the patch to fix it, install the patch, play the game, and then let them off the hook. No apology from the issuers because of the technical issues, no repercussions to their bottom line, no further mention of your time wasted, your frustration, or your inconvenience.

How long, as a segment of the US economy, will we wait until we hold producers to a higher standard? To make them do a better job. I'm not talking bug free releases, I'm not delusional. But shouldn't the game you buy AT LEAST RUN? Be able to start up and play to a say 95% performance level? Without having to reinvent your machine?

Stay tuned... we're mad over here. We may not let Ubi Soft off easy for this one (they do have lots of titles you might be familiar with).

If you're intrigued by this message, want to join the cause , or just want to check out the situation in progress, visit the Pool of Radiance message boards at:
[url="http://www.poolofradiance.com/forum"]http://www.poolofradiance.com/forum[/url]

Look for a post entitled "PR Disaster...UBI SOFT READ ME". We're hoping to draw other people who have had gaming problems, in order to get a more effective response together.

Thank you in advance for your time,
Your Fellow Gamers

I copied this post from the above mentioned site, and I hope that you as fellow gamers/PC enthuasits(sp?) help out!!! Check out the thread, and do your part to help. Stand up and be noticed!

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Sun Sep 30, 2001 10:43 am

I am removing the thread in the Speak Your Mind forum, once is enough and anyone who wishes to comment on this can do it in the forum.

mikeheitz · Post by **mikeheitz** » Sun Sep 30, 2001 12:43 pm

I just have to say... I installed on Friday, and have been playing nothing but POR since without a single hiccup. No offense but, it's not possible to make a game that will work on EVERY system as you are asking for. I haven't even read about the bugs until today because I haven't done anything but play it. Maybe I am the lucky one, but so far i am enjoying the game immensely.

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Sun Sep 30, 2001 2:44 pm

Like our friend mikeheitz, I installed the game the day I bought it (Friday, 29 September 2001) and have not had any problems related to crashes or bugs. My system is a custom-built system, not a proprietary name brand: Intel P3-866 MHz, 384 MB PC133 RAM, 20 GB hard drive, Soyo 7-VCA2 motherboard, onboard sound, ATI Rage Fury Pro video, Windows 98SE.

My problems with the game are because I am slow to adapt to the engine and have not hit the steep end of the learning curve, not because of any technical deficiencies in the game. If it is the case that Ubisoft has released a defective product, then I will be the first person to return it (a la Star Wars: Force Commander or Star Trek DS9: Dominion Wars). However, I have not encountered any problems with the game on my computer.

I agree that games should not be released with the intention of later releasing a patch to fix bugs that should have been addressed in production, but I also agree with mikeheitz that there will invariably be compatibility problems and that trying to release a product that will run perfectly on 100% of all computers is impossible.

fable · Post by **fable** » Sun Sep 30, 2001 8:14 pm

I've read this same post up on the main PoR boards, where anybody who had the nerve to disagree with it was tarred and feathered with every overused four-letter word in existence. That's one sorry board.

Personally, I like the game--I prefer P:T and BG2, but I still like PoR. True, it's buggy--so what? I've seen some legendary games that went through nine major bugfixes.

You don't like it? You want to complain? Be my guest. But I'm not about to join anybody's vague, unstated "cause" to make their points, behind a rabblerousing banner.

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Mon Oct 01, 2001 6:02 am

I was poking around the POR message board on the Ubisoft webpage and noticed a couple of things. First of all, a lot of people referred to the company as Ubi Sucks (or some variation) and did a lot of complaining and moaning about various problems. Second, they've obviously bought ROMD because they were complaining and moaning about how many defects it had and how clumsy the engine is.

What's wrong with this picture? If the company has a history of releasing lousy products, and you know their next game is going to be bug-ridden and bad, then why buy it?

It's like the people who listen to Howard Stern and then complain about all the talk of fake boobs, porn, and lesbians. You know that's what 90% of Howard's show is about, so if you don't like it, go listen to Bob and Sheri or turn the dial on your radio to "off."

If Ubi Soft is such a bad software company, don't buy its products. Or better yet, shut the hell up and start your own software company to compete with them and then deal with throngs of fans slaming about your inferior products.

[ 10-01-2001: Message edited by: HighLordDave ]

fable · Post by **fable** » Mon Oct 01, 2001 6:51 am

@HLD, you're preaching here to the choir.

But I'm afraid there's a mindset that buys based on advertising claims, then screams bloody murder for ages even after returning the product.

PoR's developers definitely shot themselves in the foot on this one, and I strongly suspect (from internal comments) that Ubi Soft rushed the game out--another month might have made a world of difference. Let's hope the patch quiets things down, so people can simply evaluate the game in some other light than the lurid one cast by their bizarre need for vengeance.

mikeheitz · Post by **mikeheitz** » Mon Oct 01, 2001 6:52 am

Well, I for one am enjoying the game. It's going to be rough getting to work on 3 or 4 hours sleep this week.

THE JAKER · Post by **THE JAKER** » Mon Oct 01, 2001 4:35 pm

Originally posted by mikeheitz:
<STRONG>It's going to be rough getting to work on 3 or 4 hours sleep this week. </STRONG>

Hah! I know that feeling. I think this is the best endorsement for a game - I think I'll go right out and buy it!

VoodooDali · Post by **VoodooDali** » Mon Oct 01, 2001 5:41 pm

I've been over on the PoR forum as well. I haven't heard many complaints about the game itself--but the fact that it can wipe your OS when you uninstall it is just an unacceptable flaw. As far as I'm concerned, there is no excuse, and as long as we keep excusing gaming companies for releasing games which are not only buggy, but can seriously damage our systems, the situation will only get worse. I for one am running games on my business computer--a risk I've been willing to take, but I can't afford to lose my OS!!! All software is released before it's ready--seems that Microsoft perfected that strategy--but it has really gotten out of hand in the gaming industry. Look at what happened with WWII online! The thing that I find really intolerable is the fact that Ubisoft doesn't seem to care enough to even respond.

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Tue Oct 02, 2001 10:07 am

I have yet to hear a single credible claim that installing ROMD crashed someone's OS.

If anyone out there has installed ROMD and then had their OS go bad, please respond here with details (which OS, full/minimum/recommended installation, video card, etc.).

There have been a lot of rumours and stories circulating about this problem, but ROMD runs fine on my machine with Windows 98SE. It apparently runs fine for a fair number of other folks as well, so I don't believe this to be a problem that is endemic to the game.

There are a lot of reasons not to like ROMD. However, I have yet to encounter a single technical difficulty with the game. If it is the case that UbiSoft shipped ROMD with known defects that can crash someone's computer, then they deserve to be put out of business. However, I have yet to encounter any software problems and have yet to hear of anyone who's lost their entire hard drive because they installed ROMD.

johndo · Post by **johndo** » Tue Oct 02, 2001 10:21 am

I am from Holland and I just cancelled my order from Amazon in America. too many bugs to buy it in another country. the fact was aswell that amazon did't receive any copies from ubisoft to deliver it in time. i don't know, i want to wait till it is fixed and can be bought in holland.
has anyone seen the official statement from ubisoft? i have in a dutch forum. most of it is not translated and can be seen here: [url="http://www.gamers.nl/nieuws/9868"]http://www.gamers.nl/nieuws/9868[/url]

Turin · Post by **Turin** » Tue Oct 02, 2001 10:39 am

We, the purchasers of this game, would like to recommend that, at the least, you refrain from purchasing this game until the manufacturer can assure that this product will work safely at least, if not well, on all computers.

It'll never happen there are far too many hardware and software configurations.

There are ALOT more people who are having no trouble with this game at all and are playing happily and loving it than there are people having problems.

Its a shame you feel it necessary to trash the company and the game because an overly vocal minority is having issues.

ALL games have issues at release and 90+% are from software configuration and hardware issues. It will never be possible for any game manufacturer to guarantee 100% success on every machine unless they are ALL configured exactly the same w/ same hardware and same software.

UberJason · Post by **UberJason** » Wed Oct 03, 2001 6:30 am

Well, I agree that most games often have minor bugs and issues that need to be cleared up with a patch. The problem with POR is that there are several MAJOR bugs that makes the game entirely unplayable. Three of my friends have purchased the game and all of us are having problems running it on three different high end systems. I am currently unable to save any games without the game crashing (although I just visited the technical support page and will try out their reccomended fixes...) Even when we get it to work it runs painfully slow.

While I think a lot of people are suffering from a "chicken little" syndrome, (the sky is not falling, it's just a game, and it will be fixed) UbiSoft most definitley deserves the criticism it is receiving. I mean when your program crashes a computer at a game site reviewing your game, that's pretty bad.

I for one am not planning on whining about it, hopefully a decent patch will come out and I will be able to play. I will in the future however, not purchase a game from Ubisoft until I am satisfied that it does not have these kind of problems.

UberJason

olaf · Post by **olaf** » Wed Oct 03, 2001 8:31 am

This game was rushed and/or inadequately tested. In addition to that, they are not devoting half of what they should to support and tweak the game at this point. There was almost zero publisher/developer support for it during its first weekend of release.

olaf

[ 10-03-2001: Message edited by: olaf ]

fable · Post by **fable** » Wed Oct 03, 2001 9:44 am

Originally posted by olaf:
<STRONG>This game was rushed and/or inadequately tested. In addition to that, they are not devoting half of what they should to support and tweak the game at this point. There was almost zero publisher/developer support for it during its first weekend of release.

How do you know what attention is being placed on tweaking the game? I heard two days ago that it was undergoing a massive patch, due out in about a week. What information do you have that contradicts this?

[ 10-03-2001: Message edited by: olaf ]</STRONG>

jim0525 · Post by **jim0525** » Thu Oct 04, 2001 5:54 am

this dude needs to relax. with all the custom/different systems out there one can not expect it to go perfect. i feel that computer games have come a long way. i used to have trouble with all my games but over the last couple of years i have been quite satisfied.

i have had no problems with this game and i am very happy with it (its no bg but it is good none the less). my current system:
1 gig processor (PIII)
512 ram
ati rage fury 32mb
sound blaster

people need to make sure they have the latest drivers (i had to do this when i played evercrack, so i tend to check prior to installing new games).

give the company a break man.

Dragonqueen · Post by **Dragonqueen** » Fri Oct 05, 2001 9:53 pm

Wow, I come here for the first time and I already see people ripping the manufacturers. Since no one here has stated a problem, I guess I will.

I started playing this game, and even though it took me a while to get used to it after being addicted to BG2 for the last ten months, but I thought it was okay if a bit dull. Colorful, graphically advance, but dull. No NPC personalities whatsoever. But this is only nitpicking, not my problem.

My problem is every half-hour of so, usually in a battle but a few times when my party was just walking, the game would suddenly freeze. I'd jiggle the mouse and the cursor would jerk across the screen, and a bit of music would play, but then it would freeze again. This process would repeat a dozen or so times till I got annoyed and reset my pc. Very frustrating. It may be a bug, a bad install, or perhaps the disc is scratched. I doubt the problem is my computer. I don't know the exact doodads my pc is equipped with, but it has a Pentium 4 processor, 128 RAM, and almost 40 GB of space, plus it's brand new, so I don't think the problem is outdated hardware.

This is my very first Ubi Soft game ever; figures I get a dud. I hope their future releases work better for me if I decide to buy them.

chuck0215 · Post by **chuck0215** » Sat Oct 13, 2001 12:02 pm

I have a question if anyone can shed some light on this subject for me. How can a game work on some systems perfectly and just not work on others. I have a ganeric P3 600mhz system with a generic graphics card(Hell i dont even know the name of it) and the game runs fine, no problems with install, or anything( one on ehting i thought was a bug was just my poor ability choosing, i.e. charisma, did not know it needed to be high for laying of hands) I think the game is great. I have BG2, TOB, IWD, HOW, and POR all installed on my ganeric system and have not had any problems with any game and i bought POR when it came out.

chuck0215 · Post by **chuck0215** » Sat Oct 13, 2001 12:03 pm

I have a question if anyone can shed some light on this subject for me. How can a game work on some systems perfectly and just not work on others. I have a ganeric P3 600mhz system with a generic graphics card(Hell i dont even know the name of it) and the game runs fine, no problems with install, or anything( one on ehting i thought was a bug was just my poor ability choosing, i.e. charisma, did not know it needed to be high for laying of hands) I think the game is great. I have BG2, TOB, IWD, HOW, and POR all installed on my ganeric system and have not had any problems with any game and i bought POR when it came out.