Posted March 15, 2013
Hello fellow villains and henchmen,
as the title states i have something to say, try to inform you of something and want to take EG to some degree under my wings.
My deepest intent with this post will be part III, so feel free to skip everything before and you may read it if ye interested.
I.
Many people seem to find only bugs in this fine game what -as i conceive it- is at best unfair and at worst plain dumb. Some people refer to e.g. the time your minions are in hiding when ordered so on the world-domination-screen (f. WDS) as a "bug" or a left alone briefcase and/or chest with an built/bought item in it as game breaking. This is true in only one aspect. It is maybe annoying but it caused -at least for me- my games never to "break" or become "frustrating". These minor inconsistencies are uncomfortable at most. Till now I encountered it only once, when a bought item was -at first glance- lost due to some bug or illogic event handling/priorities within the action consideration of your lazy workers. Or the thing with the stupid acting minions in your base towards enemies and attack-tags, I never thought this was such a big deal for so many people since there are two alarm states you can get your base in, and when armed even the workers are not too bad. Ok, not against the 6-soldier-squads or SpecOps-Scuba-Divers (inspired by Never Say Never Again? :) ) but with their respective weapons your minions are pretty useful. Many people seem to ignore that it is a challenge to keep your base (main rooms) working, minions in the field and fulfil your tasks WHILE enemies all around your island and within your base. Not to mention the pesky tourists. To find the right balance with the alarms and combination towards your composition of minions is -so understood by me- a part of the game and the challenge. The seemingly malfunctioning traps are also a well abused topic. To this I can only shake my head and say: "Your minions have stats that interact with the world and in this particular case, the traps!" And yes, some traps are very powerful, so managing theses is an expertise of its own. Google for trap layouts and trigger mechanisms. You will be surprised how ingenious some people can be. The free will is also often criticized for fiddling with you success and frustration. I think, and that's just my humble opinion on that, that this is inspired by the James Bond movies from the 60s and 70s (Sean Connery FTW) and is part of the overall style of the game and something which isn't too dramatic and responsible for the atmosphere of the game. I cannot see what drives some folks to complain about that. I think it is a hell of a fun to watch 'em. Even the tutorial video (at least in German language) refers to the workers as "fawning lakeys who work until they flake out".
I play this game since almost its release date (bought it in 2005; nowadays I own only a copy of the two discs since some dickhead -called a friend back in the time- never gave me back my originals). I dumped several hundred hours in this game because of its style AND realization. All the nagging around goes till the maximum condemnation, and you can find this anywhere in the webs concerning this game: wonderful idea, bad realization. I think that's a pretty strong statement. Myself conceives the less comfortable features in this game as a challenge and the way it is meant to be played. Also on YT are some vids of people playing this game in a manner you wouldn't believe and they did not fiddle around with the core mechanics as some people wished for the game should be. Hence I would say the game is far from broken or bad realized, it even gives room for different play styles. So for my understanding most people complaining 'bout the "mechanics" -or what they think they might by- are out of context. However, I clearly do not want to entertain the idée fixe that the game is "technically" at a best possible level. It is clearly not. CTDs, sound bugs, typos and the like are persistent in the game since its release. But that's another story. Baseline: many denouncers seem to "misunderestimate" the game.
II.
I think the most players which played the game for a longer time or many matches would agree with me, if I say the minion managing is the most important thing. If you manage right and keep a balance of minions according to you play style your base layout and or room management can be lacking in some aspects. If you are more the builder type, then your subtly laid out base can accommodate a more laissez faire minion management (also remember the door management).
So if one of your LvL3 or 4 minions dies this is arguably highly unpleasant, since the education works straight. Losing a sniper results in: train a bodyguard & a mercenary etc. you know the drill. And rightly people complain about when these (time-) costly minions (since the game can't be accelerated time seems the more valuable source) drop for no apparent reason when out on the field (WDS), or come out to early once sent into hiding, or die out of seemingly plain stupidity when encountering an enemy with or even without a tag. Or when a super agent shows up and construes half of your base usually many highlevel minions drop, this is atrabilious. As already said, the free will of your minions is one thing you have to play with the other would be the alarm states and or maybe the WDS.
III.
If there is one thing that should be suss'd out then it would be something concerning the minions and I think I have found "something". Over the past few days I tried several things with different versions of EG, because I found out, that STEAM, GOG and my "old original" Version are in some aspects different. The STEAM Version seems to be the one with the most problems (bugs, inconsistencies). I encountered some of the problems many people complain about, and I can understand that this version looks like a bad realization. The GOG version is somewhat better but still not the version I played in the last ~8 years.
My observation is, that when you are in the world-domination-screen (WDS) and agents show up in the regions you're active in you have some time to order your minions into hiding. I took the time and your minions come out of their hiding after exactly 2 minutes. The enemy agents patrol their respective regions for about 1min and 30sec. Also you get a small visual notification when overlooking the base and agent show up in the WDS; the earth-symbol in the lower right corner flickers red once. But this is my old version. Neither the STEAM nor the GOG version has this "feature" (anymore?). Maybe it got patched out or something, what I would find a rather strange decision,or -as i hope- STEAM and GOG got hands on a different release candidate. (For STEAM that is quite well known for some older games acquired for their catalogue. Eg. Hitman: Bloody Money: an almost -technically- broken version was released; needs some minor *.cfg fiddling to get working)
Also no minions drop for no reason on the WDS. They will die only because of two events: enemy agents if you don't send them into hiding (this apparently requires you to enter the WDS from time to time!); you have ~20sec till they die and they will die in two or three steps if not in hiding. So you have time to react and minimize your losses. The other death-criteria would be the missions. That they die out of no apparent reason, forcing you to constantly educate highlevel minions is a pretty annoying strategy to lengthen the game with tedious managing work. So i cannot see why this would be the actual game. This leaves me wondering.
Another point is, that the concept.cfg is different in the STEAM/GOG versions. Under the [Sound] section are only two lines for the STEAM and GOG versions:
[Sound]
SoundOn=true
Subtitles=false
My version also has this:
# Achtung - want to hear something cool? Speak English? Set these to 'true' then
PlayFeedback=true
PlayNewsflashes=true
If these lines enabled, spoken -and I have to admit funny ones- messages will sound when you fail or success at a mission in the WDS. It is one point that the game itself does not point to this but the STEAM and GOG versions withholding it from you by deleting the note. Why? Maybe they are enabled by default in the "anglish" version of the game but in the German version you have to "true" 'em.
These are the points I wanted to speak about and I hope it makes you -the reader- wonder as it did me: are there different version out there? Why we got hands on a weird version and cannot enjoy the game in its intended beauty and fun, and why are some folks so harsh in their verdict? :)
P.S.: that the game has not the slightest acceleration features -even me thinks- is total crap! :D
as the title states i have something to say, try to inform you of something and want to take EG to some degree under my wings.
My deepest intent with this post will be part III, so feel free to skip everything before and you may read it if ye interested.
I.
Many people seem to find only bugs in this fine game what -as i conceive it- is at best unfair and at worst plain dumb. Some people refer to e.g. the time your minions are in hiding when ordered so on the world-domination-screen (f. WDS) as a "bug" or a left alone briefcase and/or chest with an built/bought item in it as game breaking. This is true in only one aspect. It is maybe annoying but it caused -at least for me- my games never to "break" or become "frustrating". These minor inconsistencies are uncomfortable at most. Till now I encountered it only once, when a bought item was -at first glance- lost due to some bug or illogic event handling/priorities within the action consideration of your lazy workers. Or the thing with the stupid acting minions in your base towards enemies and attack-tags, I never thought this was such a big deal for so many people since there are two alarm states you can get your base in, and when armed even the workers are not too bad. Ok, not against the 6-soldier-squads or SpecOps-Scuba-Divers (inspired by Never Say Never Again? :) ) but with their respective weapons your minions are pretty useful. Many people seem to ignore that it is a challenge to keep your base (main rooms) working, minions in the field and fulfil your tasks WHILE enemies all around your island and within your base. Not to mention the pesky tourists. To find the right balance with the alarms and combination towards your composition of minions is -so understood by me- a part of the game and the challenge. The seemingly malfunctioning traps are also a well abused topic. To this I can only shake my head and say: "Your minions have stats that interact with the world and in this particular case, the traps!" And yes, some traps are very powerful, so managing theses is an expertise of its own. Google for trap layouts and trigger mechanisms. You will be surprised how ingenious some people can be. The free will is also often criticized for fiddling with you success and frustration. I think, and that's just my humble opinion on that, that this is inspired by the James Bond movies from the 60s and 70s (Sean Connery FTW) and is part of the overall style of the game and something which isn't too dramatic and responsible for the atmosphere of the game. I cannot see what drives some folks to complain about that. I think it is a hell of a fun to watch 'em. Even the tutorial video (at least in German language) refers to the workers as "fawning lakeys who work until they flake out".
I play this game since almost its release date (bought it in 2005; nowadays I own only a copy of the two discs since some dickhead -called a friend back in the time- never gave me back my originals). I dumped several hundred hours in this game because of its style AND realization. All the nagging around goes till the maximum condemnation, and you can find this anywhere in the webs concerning this game: wonderful idea, bad realization. I think that's a pretty strong statement. Myself conceives the less comfortable features in this game as a challenge and the way it is meant to be played. Also on YT are some vids of people playing this game in a manner you wouldn't believe and they did not fiddle around with the core mechanics as some people wished for the game should be. Hence I would say the game is far from broken or bad realized, it even gives room for different play styles. So for my understanding most people complaining 'bout the "mechanics" -or what they think they might by- are out of context. However, I clearly do not want to entertain the idée fixe that the game is "technically" at a best possible level. It is clearly not. CTDs, sound bugs, typos and the like are persistent in the game since its release. But that's another story. Baseline: many denouncers seem to "misunderestimate" the game.
II.
I think the most players which played the game for a longer time or many matches would agree with me, if I say the minion managing is the most important thing. If you manage right and keep a balance of minions according to you play style your base layout and or room management can be lacking in some aspects. If you are more the builder type, then your subtly laid out base can accommodate a more laissez faire minion management (also remember the door management).
So if one of your LvL3 or 4 minions dies this is arguably highly unpleasant, since the education works straight. Losing a sniper results in: train a bodyguard & a mercenary etc. you know the drill. And rightly people complain about when these (time-) costly minions (since the game can't be accelerated time seems the more valuable source) drop for no apparent reason when out on the field (WDS), or come out to early once sent into hiding, or die out of seemingly plain stupidity when encountering an enemy with or even without a tag. Or when a super agent shows up and construes half of your base usually many highlevel minions drop, this is atrabilious. As already said, the free will of your minions is one thing you have to play with the other would be the alarm states and or maybe the WDS.
III.
If there is one thing that should be suss'd out then it would be something concerning the minions and I think I have found "something". Over the past few days I tried several things with different versions of EG, because I found out, that STEAM, GOG and my "old original" Version are in some aspects different. The STEAM Version seems to be the one with the most problems (bugs, inconsistencies). I encountered some of the problems many people complain about, and I can understand that this version looks like a bad realization. The GOG version is somewhat better but still not the version I played in the last ~8 years.
My observation is, that when you are in the world-domination-screen (WDS) and agents show up in the regions you're active in you have some time to order your minions into hiding. I took the time and your minions come out of their hiding after exactly 2 minutes. The enemy agents patrol their respective regions for about 1min and 30sec. Also you get a small visual notification when overlooking the base and agent show up in the WDS; the earth-symbol in the lower right corner flickers red once. But this is my old version. Neither the STEAM nor the GOG version has this "feature" (anymore?). Maybe it got patched out or something, what I would find a rather strange decision,or -as i hope- STEAM and GOG got hands on a different release candidate. (For STEAM that is quite well known for some older games acquired for their catalogue. Eg. Hitman: Bloody Money: an almost -technically- broken version was released; needs some minor *.cfg fiddling to get working)
Also no minions drop for no reason on the WDS. They will die only because of two events: enemy agents if you don't send them into hiding (this apparently requires you to enter the WDS from time to time!); you have ~20sec till they die and they will die in two or three steps if not in hiding. So you have time to react and minimize your losses. The other death-criteria would be the missions. That they die out of no apparent reason, forcing you to constantly educate highlevel minions is a pretty annoying strategy to lengthen the game with tedious managing work. So i cannot see why this would be the actual game. This leaves me wondering.
Another point is, that the concept.cfg is different in the STEAM/GOG versions. Under the [Sound] section are only two lines for the STEAM and GOG versions:
[Sound]
SoundOn=true
Subtitles=false
My version also has this:
# Achtung - want to hear something cool? Speak English? Set these to 'true' then
PlayFeedback=true
PlayNewsflashes=true
If these lines enabled, spoken -and I have to admit funny ones- messages will sound when you fail or success at a mission in the WDS. It is one point that the game itself does not point to this but the STEAM and GOG versions withholding it from you by deleting the note. Why? Maybe they are enabled by default in the "anglish" version of the game but in the German version you have to "true" 'em.
These are the points I wanted to speak about and I hope it makes you -the reader- wonder as it did me: are there different version out there? Why we got hands on a weird version and cannot enjoy the game in its intended beauty and fun, and why are some folks so harsh in their verdict? :)
P.S.: that the game has not the slightest acceleration features -even me thinks- is total crap! :D
Post edited March 15, 2013 by SgtKnumskull