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Funcom make good games.
Roaki
Member Posts: 66
Age of Conan - Yes, it got off to a rocky start (I don't know any MMO that hasn't) but now its one of the best MMO's available right now, no doubt about that.
Anarchy Online - Again, rocky start, but turned into one of the best MMO's of all time.
Dreamfall - My personal favourite story in an MMO, ever. I absolutely loved these games, the fact that the man behind these is working on the Secret World can only be a great thing.
Plus they made the Pocahontas and Casper video games, need I say more? 
Point is, even if their games don't do too well to begin with, they shape up to be some of the best games about.
And yes, I know this is all opinion, but so is all the "Funcom won't deliver" crap.
I don't mean to sound big headed... But I know Voldemort.
Comments
Alot of the time the game is only part of the problem. While there may be some issues that the community typically is eager to point out. The company that they have to deal with can be right jerks. They either ignore their fan base. Or simply go in another direction.
this is where your defense fell apart o_0
I see where you're coming from, but at the same time, from what I understand, the amount of "rockiness" at the launch directly impacts the future of your game. Sure you can recover, but you lose a WHOLE lot.
I do think they will have learnt from Age of Conan. Anarchy picked up and its rocky start wasn't really a problem, it made millions for the company. Age of Conan though lost about 70% of its pre-order player base within a week, and the rocky start of AoC lost the company literally HUNDREDS of millions. Plus with the money they have made from AoC they can now afford to leave releasing The Secret World a little longer, to finish it up.
So I really do think they won't make that mistake again, The Secret World will have a rocky start, like every single MMO ever released, but it won't be as bad as Anarchy Online or Age of Conan, I can almost gaurentee that.
I don't mean to sound big headed... But I know Voldemort.
Let's play a game, it's called, "Hi, have you met my friend SOE."
Some things I have to agree with in this thread
1) Funcom games are fun, but they suffer from poor releases.
2) I'm not going to assume any company has learned from their past mistakes until they have proven they do. To many companies continue to repeat the same mistakes.
Funcom actually promised several times that they learned from the release of Anarchy Online and they would not repeat that with Age of Conan. The secret world is about the only game I'm excited about, really excited about, but it is hard to ignore this companies past.
On the flip side, they do a much better job of improving their games after bad releases than most other companies do. They seem to think way outside the box and are not affraid to try new ideas and innovate somethings. Something the genre is in desperate need of.
If you can quantify these pieces of information (ie: the proof of loss of hundreds of millions because of AoC, then making enough money off AoC to create The Secret World without such a rocky start as AoCs)
How can you guarantee us this? I would like to believe you, because I agree AoC is actually a very cool game now, always was. I am looking foward to The Secret World because it will seemingly spice up AAA MMORPGs.
Proof and I'm yours.
FunCom have great concept people and some great ideas, unfortunately they also have a couple of really strong negatives:
They have serious problems getting handling the network requirements of a large online game. Most of the reason AO was such a trainwreck of a game was just terrible instancing, zone hand off and other networking issues. It took them a very long time to even "mostly" solve those problems and some of them were still cropping up years after launch. AoC had many similar issues at launch. I cannot explain how such a basic element of the industry remains a significant problem for a company that has been doing this for a decade now.
They have a terrible record of presenting concepts and things they *want* to do as completed features. There were things claimed pre-launch of AO that never materialized. (To be fair, some did...but far from all) AoC had similar problems. They seem to have a real problem assessing what they can actually deliver on versus what they can dream up.
Lastly, I do not feel as though they have ever treated their customers with sufficient respect and consideration. They never made what I would consider an adequate effort to "make things right" for those who bought into their disastrous launches.
PS In so far as I know, they did not "lose hundreds of millions" on AoC's launch. They very nearly went bankrupt immediately prior to launch and their stock price plummetted, but they were able to secure a last minute loan/source of funding and finish the launch. They recovered more than enough from the box sales at launch to cover their investors, creditors and assorted debts. However the subsequent massive exodus of players does raise questions about how much operating capital they have at the moment.
(They are a publicly traded company so if you are really interested you can wade through their financial statements)
i can cut anarchy online a lot of slack because back then every MMO launch was a disaster, but AOC was a total trainwreck yes it is currently a good game but people should be concerned about how well they 'manage' prodcuts......
Pocahantas, Casper, Dreamfall? Hardly the best credentials to prove your MMORPG street cred.
AO was always hampered by its bad launch from which it never recovered, AOC, ditto. Doesn't matter how good they make the game now, they blew their window of opportunity which has been forever lost.
So I'd disagree with the OP's assertion that they make good games, one man's opinion.
I have hope for TSW, but I won' t be pre-ordering unless open beta reports are glowing along the lines of Rift.
If it launches like the last few titles have I won't excuse it, nor will I buy it, regardless what it may one day become. (until of course, it actually delivers on its promises)
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
AoC is a fun, great game, at least from my experience, it was that already from the start but the rushed, bugged launch made it harder to see that for many. A bad launch is just that, a bad launch, it has little to do with how a game is at its core, nor how a game is after 6 months or a year.
Personally I don't care how other people judge it, if they're so shortsighted to set their viewpoints in stone based on how something is at launch then that's their flaw; I find that kinda thinking foolish, but admittedly, everyone's entitled to define their own requirements for gaming fun.
But if I have to look at what the most fun and entertaining MMO's are right now, then AoC how it is is certainly among the top 5 and has been right there definitely after the first half year, imo.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
"Potentially" a key word I should have put in there. Funcon potentially lost hundreds of millions, if it would have kept the player base that played the game within the first month (or even a number close) for say a year, they would have made hundreds of millions, rather than just millions. They could have kept nearly a million subs if the game hadn't set off on a rocky start, instead they went down to less than 200,000 within a month.
So, by the knowledge above, a smart company would realise that this mistake should not happen again, especially so soon after their last mistake. Anarchy Online was many years before Age of Conan, they had moved on from its bad launch and forgot about it, understandable. But with the Secret World, I don't think it will happen, its too soon after the Age of Conan mess.
But, numbers aren't important to me, neither is a player base as long as there are enough players to keep the server I'm playing on up. I play with family and friends. So even if I had to wait for the Secret World to recover from "the worst MMO lauch ever" I will wait. Because I have faith in Funcom that even if the game has a bad start (like AoC or AO) that they will make the game playable, fun and amazing after a few months like they have done in the past.
And I'm sure everyone will agree, if its released and unplayable, won't many of you wait and try it out again, in the hopes that the company can turn it around like they have done with Age of Conan and Anarchy? I will.
So, either way, its a win/win situation for me. I believe that no matter what The Secret World will be a great game, whether at release or not (I'm hoping for release though!)
I don't mean to sound big headed... But I know Voldemort.
Funcom is interested in one thing your money they hype there games but delivere a poor product. Track recored says they fail at releaseing what they say they have in a game.
MAGA
True, but aren't all compaines interested in money? Yes.
Also, like I said, I couldn't care if they release what they say at launch, as long as its in the game eventually, and the gmae is good eventually. (LIke AoC of AO.)
If people can't see past a bad launch and wait for the game to get good, then they don't deserve to play games, an MMO can't be perfect at launch, yes I know they can still be better than Funcom's previous launches, but at least we know they will make a good game eventually.
So my faith in Funcom is restored after AoC, they can make good games, simple as that.
I don't mean to sound big headed... But I know Voldemort.
Actually I had both Pocohauntas and Casper when I was yonger and loved them, no they are not made for serious games or older gamers, they are made for younger games, and the game was perfect for younger games. Because a game isn't made for older/mature gamers does that make it bad? No. Those two don't give any good MMO credit though no, I was just saying they were good games.
Dreamfall on the other hand though sort of does give them some good credit, not only is it one of the best games of all time, but its very story driven, and it won't be hard to make an MMO in the same light as Dreamfall, so if they can do it with Dreamfall then they can do it with an MMO
Funcom will deliver with The Secret World, it might not be at launch, but eventually we'll have one of the best MMO's from Funcom.
I don't mean to sound big headed... But I know Voldemort.
This will just be another trainwreck. Huge promises and nothing gets delivered. AoC has 1 fully developed area (Tortage), the rest is just boring. The whole PvP never worked and is just another murder point system. Sieges are still broken. Crafting is a bad joke. Everything seems to be tacked onto the great teaser called Tortage they used to sucker everyone into thinking AoC is a great game.
If you really believe they can deliver a decent MMO then you are a hopeless optimist.
Or you're an eternal pessimist that has trouble enjoying most MMO's, that could be the case too
Despite its flawed launch and launch bugs, AoC is a decent, good MMORPG. They did a lot of things right in AoC, even if it wasn't an MMORPG that everyone could enjoy bc of differing tastes.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Locking. There's only one stickied thread in this forum, so you should've seen it. Please redirect discussion here: http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/314860/AllPurpose-Funcom-Discussion-Thread.html
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