Company News Bizarre rumours: Troika shutting down?

[Jed]

Ex used to be a stand-up guy, but something went wrong about six or nine months ago. I think it's the silicone leaking from his cheek implants affecting his personality. At any rate, he sure doesn't determine "editorial policy"--that's St. Proverbius' jurisdiction. Ex is mostly just the visual design guy and resident flip-flopping whiner.

Someone should really take away his ability to delete posts, though.

 

[Avé]

I really, REALLY dont understand all the criticism about VTM:B.

It has the best dialogue in a game I've played since Ja2, when I started a new char as a Malkavian, I didnt stop laughing for the whole first hour.

Sure combat wasnt awe inspiring, but neither was it a piece of shite like people say.

Imperfect? Sure

Great game? You betcha

(btw, my brother runs an athlon XP 2500, GF4 Ti4400, 1gb ram and it runs Bloodlines fairly smoothly, none of this 5minute loading malarky)

 

[Sol Invictus]

Troika has never delivered a "high brow product." Get your fucking head out of your pompous little ass. Just because you have to think really hard not to hate the game doesn't mean it's "high brow."

Fuckwits like you make me sick. Go the fuck away, you salad-tossing queef.

Spoken like a true Blizzard fan.

Spoken like the fan of a company which has been going down the toilet ever since it was first created.

As far as I see it, the problem is not with Troika, but with the little sociopaths who now predominate the PC gaming scene. Look at Exitim. A classic example.

I may be a sociopath, I'm not denying that - it's been observed in the past. But I'm certainly not little. I don't see how my post is in any way sociopathic, though. Would you care to elaborate on that?

And this is who you chose to edit your site? What did Troika ever do to him to get the kind of abuse he's heaped up?

I bought their games. That's reason enough, I should think. Why should Troika get a free blowjob while almost every other company we cover (Bethesda, Bioware, those idiots who made The Fall) receive a kind of response that akins us to abused former lovers?

What did he ever produce in his fautious little life?

Fautious isn't a word.

What a mean spirited little turd to be glorifying in the demise of a wonderful group of devs, to so insensitively dance on their grave.

*Vomit* Fanboys like you make me sick, and you're the reason companies like Troika keep producing the buggy games they produce because of reaffirmations from idiots like you who seem intent only on giving them free rides (There's that term again!) instead of improving the quality of their games before signing off on it to the publisher, and to the public.

I hang around for what people like Vault Dweller have to say, and a few others
--

There's that free blowjob thing again.

but how can you possibly reconcile "putting the role back in RPG" with a cunt like Exitim determining editorial policy? Oh wait, he's not even supposed to be expressing his moronic opinion:

Exitium - exitium@rpgplanet.com - Graphics design

Stick to the layout and leave the opinion to the adults.

What? And leave VD to sap over how 'full of shit' he thinks Pete Hines is or offer Tim Cain yet another free blowjob everytime his name is mentioned? I don't think so, asa.

I write reviews and do the news, you dumb cunt. If that's the best snappy comeback you can think up you've got a long way to go.

It might come to you as news but I've been doing reviews and editorial shit like this since long before Vault Dweller joined the crew. Don't think I don't respect his opinions. I do. He's got every right to say what he wants, and so do I. Hell, we might not see eye to eye on lots of things, especially things like this, but I certainly respect his ass a lot more than I respect you. Who the fuck do you think you are, trying to determine editorial policy at the Codex?

 

[asa]

Time Cain I respect. You on the other hand are a loud mouth little shit. I can't imagine why they've allowed you to contine to post on this site, unless it's for the amusement, like a little organ grinder's monkey.

 

[dojoteef]

What did he ever produce in his fautious little life?

Fautious isn't a word.

I believe the word he was looking for is fatuous. Sometimes when a person has only heard a word, they might know the meaning but don't know the spelling; it happens.

 

[Killzig]

how did we end up talking about Blizzard anyways? They got great with a massive marketing campaign and appealing to the lowest common denominator not making games that broke barriers and tested waters.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Time Cain I respect. You on the other hand are a loud mouth little shit. I can't imagine why they've allowed you to contine to post on this site, unless it's for the amusement, like a little organ grinder's monkey.

There's that free blowjob again.

how did we end up talking about Blizzard anyways? They got great with a massive marketing campaign and appealing to the lowest common denominator not making games that broke barriers and tested waters.

That's arguable considering Diablo was released at a time when dungeon crawlers and dungeon hacks were all but unavailable to the mainstream gaming public, and their release of Warcraft 1 happened a couple of years after Dune 2. Nobody even knew what RTS's were back then. I can't think of any game that was like Lost Vikings, either.

Things have changed since then, of course, but in its heyday, Blizzard was pretty original and it dared to make games that broke barriers and tested waters.

 

[Killzig]

please... diablo was just a MUD with FMVs. Dune 2 was a well received game IIRC. and C&C arrived only just a year or two after WC. Vikings was just a platformer. Granted. Blizzard takes the time to polish everything they do and that's what sets them apart but they're kind of like the romans. They don't make anything really new, they just streamline existing stuff and build off of that. and that's not to their detriment, its great for them for what they do and an obvious money maker but they really shouldn't be compared to troika as its two different approaches and goals. Troika had three basic tenants right? Design, Art and Code? They failed miserably at code and fluctuated intermittently on the other two. All in all, I think they might have been too ivory tower for their own good.

 

[dagobach]

dojoteef, I do agree with you that many problems were probably due to mismanagement, and that Troika learned some lessons too late from ToEE. I am just trying to show people the circumstances under which games are made. I think that if bloodlines had been started after ToEE, rather than ToEE finishing in the middle of Bloodlines development then maybe more lessons from ToEE could have been implemented. In the end, yes Troika had lots of problems, but they had the best of intentions, and they tried thier hardest to make games that were true to thier name, nothing watered down or sacrificed for the intent of selling to a wider audience. The number of studios left in this industry that can still say they do that I could easily count on one hand and have some fingers to spare, so I just think this is very sad if it ends up being true. I just have a hard time sitting idly by while Exitum screams out that he was taken advantage of by this terrible evil company.

 

[Ellester]

Just addressing the q&a issue. I’m sadly at work here on Sunday working on bug no. 1278. There are probably about 1350 bugs that have been found within our product so far, and I’m sure we’ll break 2,000 before 2005 is over. It’s not a game but a software application used for insurance management systems.

Anyway, you need a q&a staff. Depending on a publisher to try and q&a a game in a few months just sounds terrifying. I couldn’t imagine this ever working. If Troika can’t ever have some q&a testers in-house I don’t see their bug problem ever getting better (disregarding they are probably folding).

 

[Jinxed]

I really, REALLY dont understand all the criticism about VTM:B.

It deserves a fair bit. But going as far as saying BG is better than Bloodlines is.. There's that entertainment thing asa mentioned.

 

[Sol Invictus]

"No Free Rides"
Blah. Was taking up space.

edit: Before anyone gets all puffed up over that, realize that it's just a joke.

 

[Killzig]

are go kart tracks free in china? population control measures or something? get all you little chinkees out there and hope to thin out the herd? cool.

 

[Sol Invictus]

No, we just shoot activists.

 

[Hory]

edit: Before anyone gets all puffed up over that, realize that it's just a joke.

Thanks for the warning, at first I though it was just some uninspired fiction.

 

[Volourn]

"Ex used to be a stand-up guy, but something went wrong about six or nine months ago."

You mean the day he woke up and realzied spamming the Codex opinion like it was fact was just plain stupid? You eman he became a non stand up guy because he no longer agrees with yuou? Just admit it. You are taking a piss with Exitum because he doens't agree with you. You are one of those people who believe brainwashing is ok as long as YOU are doing the brainwashing.

R00fles!

As for Troika, I enoyed 2 out of 3 of their games. Bottom line, however, if this is true and theya re folding, they deserve to. I got no mercy for wekalings. Only the strong survive.

And, none of this bullshit about its not Troika's fualt because theya re small time devs while the Big Bad Bioware huge. Go play a violin. Bioware wans't always big. They earned their staus - just like Troika did.

Period.

 

[EvoG]

Story's linear but I thought the gameplay was pretty fuckin rad. Sandbox mode still has this game on heavy rotation on my box. In fact. I just had to buy a new copy because my disc was so abused. And I'm still enjoying Mercenaries d00d. Being a mohammed loving suicide car bomber is fun. Except I can dive out of the car that's going 70 mph and escape unscathed. ROOFLES. Helicopters are funz0r too. Destroy all Humans looks to be like another entry into the silly excuse to fuck shit up category. Works for me. Seems like Pandemic is lining the coffirs up pretty well, hopefully they start broadening their scope a bit and give us something a little deeper to play? mmm yeah? and what the fuck, you still haven't called me bitch!!! What?! Did your animation queue for Pokemon Worlds Online just triple or something? PIKA CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

and

Are you KIDDING? Mercenaries is the best pile of shit on the XBox right now. The gameplay is, as Killzig says, fucking rad. Pandemic really pulled a good game off with it so it's a pity that they didn't decide to port the game to the PC like they did with FSW, which I didn't like.

What I like most about Pandemic is that they are focused on creating GAMES. GAMES that don't pretend to be movies, or books, or anything -- but GAMES! Fucking shit up is a fun as hell genre unto itself.

Alright fine. You guys know I'm the biggest proponent of SandboxGames.tm if there's anyone ( I worship GTA ) so of course I was eager as hell to play Mercs. Well here's my list of gripes :

This game is about both shooing and driving.

• --Shooting is an unsatisfying affair, having to shoot someone a dozen times if you dont get the head zinger. Barely any intersting weapon variety other than how much ammo each holds. Bullets go everywhere but not at the target, even in the oh-so-accurate M4. The miniguns from the helicopters SOUND like their firing a lot of rounds, but hell if I can hit a person on the ground without a lot of effort. Remember thats supposed to be 3000 rounds per minute, or 48 rounds per second...if my crosshairs are red and I fire, that dude is paste, but alas he can dodge and weave out of the way. Many games have had exhilerating gun fights, so whats the problem here?
  
  --Driving is absolutely the worst. The physics are amateurish and weak as hell. If you've all played GTA, especially San An, then you know what good physics feels like. How about going over bridges and unexpectedly rolling over an invisible barrier and jostling your tank right off said bridge. Or train tracks in a tank! Its a goddamn tank and I'm tossed up in the air from train tracks. All wheeled vehicles steer PAINFULLY slow. Did you see the sports car yet? It accelerates like a humvee. All the vechicles feel the same...and yes the only redeeming quality are the tanks and heli's, which is why I mentioned the M2, and the helicopters cant turn worth shit, have no chaffes for SAMS which knock your ass out of the sky effortlessly with no good early warning unless you fly REAL slow and avoid all the red triangles on the map.
  
  --How about when you knock out a card, and are surrounded by NK's in mountains, have no other vehicles and cant call in an EVAC, and order from MOM your own EVAC HELICOPTER, the same used in, uh...EVACS, and you cant load him onto it!!? Thats terrible ass design, not 'play balancing'.
  
  --Hey, know those explosive anti-armor fragmentation shells from the auto-cannons on APC's? It blows up tanks...it doesn't kill PEOPLE unless they are smacked in the forehead. I should be acing the motherfucker behind a tree with an RPG eating away at my tank...laying into him round after round...only to see him emerge and waste my ride.
  
  --Fancy an Abrams or Apache? Good luck finding one sitting there waiting for you. And you have to shoot the pilot of the Apache with a sniper rifle if you want to gank that. All the best shit in the game is impossible to get or find, leaving you with, oh, civilian cars and hummers and the south Korean versions with TOWS, but they hate you every other day so they can zip by and blow you up effortlessly as well. Sure thank goodness for MOM, but please, those vehicles aren't THAT exciting.

I think theres more griping, like draw distance ( hey, could help with SAMS if I could see through the pea soup feet from my window ). In all fairness, the parts that I did enjoy, like tank fights and helicopters when not hounded by SAMS, kept me playng through to my second deck and ACE capture ( on third now ). I actually enjoy running around as Han Solo and exploring the countryside in a heli, though there really isn't anything to find. The GTA games are the only games I continue to play BECAUSE of the sandbox. I take trips to and fro between the cities and throught the desert and over to Los Santos and up into Mt. Chilliad and it just doesn't get old. Driving around is immensly enjoyable and getting into turf wars, though a bit lame on the AI, is still satisfying.

You know I'm 100% about gameplay over everything Ex, but come on, you dont see these glaring problems in this game?


Cheers

 

[Killzig]

BAh. calling in air strikes is fun and I usually know enough to leave a vehicle at strategic spots for evac. its a lot of fun. I agree with you about the draw distance and yeah some things in the game handle like shit ... IE THE TANK.

 

[Killzig]

HEY STEVE Y AREN'T U ONLINE LOL!?

 

[Fez]

I thought GTA never aimed for realistic physics? They always said it was "movie style" physics.

 

[Jed]

You mean the day he woke up and realzied spamming the Codex opinion like it was fact was just plain stupid? You eman he became a non stand up guy because he no longer agrees with yuou? Just admit it. You are taking a piss with Exitum because he doens't agree with you. You are one of those people who believe brainwashing is ok as long as YOU are doing the brainwashing.

No, I mean before he got his flip-flops, back when he liked RPG games. Now he's just a graphics whore.

 

[EvoG]

I thought GTA never aimed for realistic physics? They always said it was "movie style" physics.

You should check out San An. While you're right, its not THAT far from realism. Gameplay over realism but at the same time, quite realistic. Cars in racing games for example never flip due to low centers of gravity...unrealistic. Cars in GTA can flip and roll and explode on top of predictable suspension and collision. To get techincal, they're using Renderwares Physics System with raycasting for the suspension ( the wheels themselves aren't used for true friction, collision and suspension ). Raycasting fires a RAY ( a vector ) from each wheel well down to the ground, and that in turn determines suspension and friction. Its a faster system and not that different than true-wheel physics ( which is what I'm using personally in my project ) but still quite good, and CERTAINLY not evident in Mercenaries.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

For arguments sake I'd like to see a source on the claim they had as many as 40 or 50 employees, as I have been led to understand that's never been the case and is nothing more than internet exageration.

Terra-Arcanum Bloodlines Interview, 5th Question:

We have 32 people working on Bloodlines right now. I'll skip identifying each one's specific job, as a lot of people here wear more than one hat.

I'm guessing a few more and 40 is close enough. That'd be their max staff though as I'm fairly certain everyone went on to Bloodlines as soon as ToEE was erm... "finished" so to say.

Now I agree, ToEE wasn't the worlds greatest example of a computer game but god damn it, it was one mistake. Christ. There are plenty of other developers who make two, three or four mistakes yet no-one puts them down. Bloodlines had a major quest bug which was a disappointment but that was fixed a week after release with the first - and only - patch. The game hasn't needed anymore patches. Troika learned.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Bloodlines had a major quest bug which was a disappointment but that was fixed a week after release with the first - and only - patch. The game hasn't needed anymore patches. Troika learned.

A week? It was only fixed after a month and much whining.

 

[Jinxed]

A week? It was only fixed after a month and much whining.

At first, I thought DU meant an unnoficial patch when exit mentioned this on IRC...

if you change the word "patch" with "workaround" it's correnct. Leon was pretty quick in posting on how to progress further into the game.